The Twelve Imams.

Guides from the Prophet’s own family

Shia Muslims believe that God did not leave the community without a guide after the Prophet. He chose twelve leaders, called Imams, from the Prophet’s household, the Ahl al-Bayt.

An Imam is not a new prophet and brings no new scripture. He protects and explains the message, and lives it as a model, just as the Prophet did.

Fāṭima, the Prophet’s daughter, and Imam ʿAlī are the parents of Imams al-Ḥasan and al-Ḥusayn. The fourth through twelfth Imams descend from al-Ḥusayn.

Three key teachings

• The two weighty things. The Prophet said: “I leave among you two precious things, the Book of God and my family. If you hold on to both, you will never go astray.” (Ḥadīth al-Thaqalayn)
• A purified family. “God only wishes to remove all impurity from you, O People of the Household, and purify you completely” (33:33).
• Love for his family. “Say: I ask no reward from you for this, except love for my near kin” (42:23).

The Imams of the Ahl al-Bayt

1. 1ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib, al-Murtaḍā — 600–661 · Najaf, Iraq.
2. 2al-Ḥasan, al-Mujtabā — 625–670 · Medina.
3. 3al-Ḥusayn, Sayyid al-Shuhadāʾ — 626–680 · Karbala, Iraq.
4. 4ʿAlī, Zayn al-ʿĀbidīn — 658–713 · Medina.
5. 5Muḥammad, al-Bāqir — 677–733 · Medina.
6. 6Jaʿfar, al-Ṣādiq — 702–765 · Medina.
7. 7Mūsā, al-Kāẓim — 745–799 · Kadhimiya, Iraq.
8. 8ʿAlī, al-Riḍā — 765–818 · Mashhad, Iran.
9. 9Muḥammad, al-Jawād — 811–835 · Kadhimiya, Iraq.
10. 10ʿAlī, al-Hādī — 828–868 · Samarra, Iraq.
11. 11al-Ḥasan, al-ʿAskarī — 846–874 · Samarra, Iraq.
12. 12Muḥammad, al-Mahdī — born 869 · Living, in occultation.

Awaiting justice

The twelfth Imam, al-Mahdī, is believed to be alive but hidden by God. Muslims await his return, when he will fill the earth with justice as it had been filled with injustice.

“I am the city of knowledge, and ʿAlī is its gate.”

Prophet Muhammad (ṣ) · reported in Shia and Sunni sources

Part 5 of 9·All nine Discovering Islam articles