Hadith of the thaqalayn

Template:Islam Template:Sidebar with collapsible lists The hadith of the Template:Transliteration (Template:Langx) refers to a statement, attributed to the Islamic prophet Muhammad, that introduces the Quran, the principal religious text in Islam, and his progeny as the only two sources of divine guidance after his death. Widely reported by both Shia and Sunni authorities, the hadith of the Template:Transliteration is of particular significance in Twelver Shia, where their Twelve Imams are viewed as the spiritual and political successors of Muhammad.

Hadith of the thaqalayn

There exist several versions of this hadith in Sunni sources.Template:Sfn The version that appears in the Musnad Ahmad ibn Hanbal, a canonical Sunni hadith collection, reads,

I [Muhammad] left among you two treasures which, if you cling to them, you shall not be led into error after me. One of them is greater than the other: The book of God (Quran), which is a rope stretched from Heaven to Earth, and [the second one is] my progeny, my Ahl al-Bayt. These two shall not be parted until they return to the pool [of abundance in paradise, kawthar.Template:Sfn

Muhammad might have repeated this statement on multiple occasions,Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn including his Farewell Pilgrimage and later at the Ghadir Khumm, shortly before he died in 632.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn The version of this hadith in Al-Sunan al-kubra, another Sunni hadith collection, adds the warning, "Be careful how you treat the two [treasures] after me."Template:Sfn Similar versions of the hadith can be found in other major Sunni sources, including Sahih Muslim, Sahih al-Tirmidhi, and Sunan al-Darimi.Template:Sfn According to the Twelver Shi'a theologian Muhammad Husayn Tabataba'i (Template:Died in), the hadith of the Template:Transliteration has been transmitted through more than a hundred channels by over thirty-five Companions of the Prophet.Template:Sfn

Shia Islam limits the Ahl al-Bayt to the Ahl al-Kisa, namely, Muhammad, his daughter Fatima, her husband Ali, and their two sons, Hasan and Husayn.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn In Shia theology works, the Ahl al-Bayt often also includes the remaining Shia imams.Template:Sfn There are various interpretations in Sunni Islam, though a typical compromise is to include Muhammad's wives in the Ahl al-Bayt, in addition to the Ahl al-Kisa.Template:Sfn In some Sunni versions of the hadith, however, ahl al-bayt has been replaced with sunna; that is, practices of Muhammad.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

Significance in Sunni Islam

Some Sunni versions of the hadith of the Template:Transliteration replace Template:Transliteration with Template:Transliteration, that is, practices of Muhammad.Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn This change is either intended to challenge the Shia implications of the hadith,Template:Sfn or, if authentic, may imply that the Template:Transliteration of Muhammad are a source of his Template:Transliteration.Template:Sfn Muhammad is indeed viewed as the 'living Quran', the embodiment of God's will in his behavior and words.Template:Sfn Both Sunni and Shia Muslims uphold the Quran and the Template:Transliteration of Muhammad, though Shia extends the Template:Transliteration to also include the traditions and practices of their imams.Template:Sfn

Significance in Twelver Shi'ism

File:ShiaImamsNames (cropped).jpg

Names of Muhammad, his daughter Fatima, and the Twelve Imams, inscribed on the tilework of the Imam Reza shrine dedicated to the eighth of the Twelve Imams, Mashhad, Iran

In Twelver Shi'ism, the hadith of the Template:Transliteration establishes a parallel between the Quran and the family of Muhammad,Template:Sfn implying that the two serve as the only sources of divine guidance after Muhammad.Template:Sfn The hadith also implicitly describes (some) descendants of Muhammad as the true interpreters of the Quran,Template:Sfn and those descendants are viewed as the living embodiments of the Quran in Twelver Shi'ism.Template:Sfn As divine guides, those descendants must also be infallible lest they lead their followers astray.Template:Sfn The hadith also implies that Earth is never void of a descendant of Muhammad, an infallible imam, who serves as the divine guide of humankind in his time. These are the Twelve Imams in Twelver Shi'ism.Template:Sfn The last of these imams, Muhammad al-Mahdi, is believed to remain miraculously in occultation since 874 and is expected to return in the end of times to eradicate injustice and evil.Template:Sfn

The belief in the Mahdi remains popular among all Muslims, possibly owing to numerous traditions to this effect in canonical Sunni and Shia sources.Template:Sfn