Twelve Imams in the context of "Esoteric interpretation of the Quran"

Sunnah is the body of traditions and practices of the Islamic prophet Muhammad that constitute a model for Muslims to follow. For Muslims, the sunnah is what all the Muslims of Muhammad's time supposedly saw, followed, and passed on to the next generations. However, what constitutes the Sunnah, and its interpretation, depends significantly on the specific Islamic sect and school of thought. Sunnis rely on six major canonical hadith collections to document the Sunnah, known as Kutub al-Sittah. For Shias, the sunnah is generally documented in Kutub al-'Arba'a, which give preference to hadiths attributed to the Prophet's family (Ahl al-Bayt) and the Twelve Imams. For Ibadis, the sunnah is documented in the two hadith collections Jami Sahih and Tartib al-Musnad. Sufis hold that Muhammad transmitted his sunnah, including his spiritual values, "through a series of Sufi teachers".

According to classical Islamic theories, the sunnah is embodied in the hadith: verbally transmitted records of the teachings, actions, deeds, and sayings, attributed to Muhammad. Alongside the Qur'an, the Hadith contains the divine revelations (wahy) delivered through Muhammad that make up the primary sources of Islamic law, beliefs, and theology. The sunnah is classified into different types based on Muhammad's specific words (Sunnah Qawliyyah), his actions such as habits and practices (Sunnah Fiiliyyah), and silent approvals (Sunnah Taqririyyah). However, some Muslims, such as Ahl al-Kalam and the Mu'tazilites, have distinguished between the Sunnah and Hadith, accepting the Sunnah as an authoritative practice while being critical of the Hadith's reliability as a source for Islamic law. The Quranist stance on the Sunnah varies from outright rejection to an approach that considers external sources as secondary and dependent on the Qur'an for verification.

Principles of Islamic jurisprudence (Arabic: أصول الفقه, romanized: ʾUṣūl al-Fiqh) are traditional methodological principles used in Islamic jurisprudence (fiqh) for deriving the rulings of Islamic law (sharia).

Traditional theory of Islamic jurisprudence elaborates how the scriptures (Quran and hadith) should be interpreted from the standpoint of linguistics and rhetoric. It also comprises methods for establishing authenticity of hadith and for determining when the legal force of a scriptural passage is abrogated by a passage revealed at a later date. In addition to the Quran and hadith, the classical theory of Sunni jurisprudence recognizes secondary sources of law: juristic consensus (ijmaʿ) and analogical reasoning (qiyas). It therefore studies the application and limits of analogy, as well as the value and limits of consensus, along with other methodological principles, some of which are accepted by only certain legal schools (madhahib). This interpretive apparatus is brought together under the rubric of ijtihad, which refers to a jurist's exertion in an attempt to arrive at a ruling on a particular question. The theory of Twelver Shia jurisprudence parallels that of Sunni schools with some differences, such as recognition of reason (ʿaql) as a source of law in place of qiyās and extension of the notions of hadith and sunnah to include traditions of the imams.

Fatima bint Muhammad (Arabic: فَاطِمَة بِنْت مُحَمَّد, romanized: Fāṭima bint Muḥammad; 605/15–632 CE), commonly known as Fatima al-Zahra' (Arabic: فَاطِمَة ٱلزَّهْرَاء, romanized: Fāṭima al-Zahrāʾ), was the daughter of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and his wife Khadija. Fatima's husband was Ali, the fourth of the Rashidun caliphs and the first Shia imam. Fatima's sons were Hasan and Husayn, the second and third Shia imams, respectively. Fatima has been compared to Mary, mother of Jesus, especially in Shia Islam. Muhammad is said to have regarded her as the best of women and the dearest person to him. She is often viewed as an ultimate archetype for Muslim women and an example of compassion, generosity, and enduring suffering. It is through Fatima that Muhammad's family line has survived to this date. Her name and her epithets remain popular choices for Muslim girls.

When Muhammad died in 632, Fatima and her husband Ali refused to acknowledge the authority of the first caliph, Abu Bakr. The couple and their supporters held that Ali was the rightful successor of Muhammad, possibly referring to his announcement at the Ghadir Khumm. Controversy surrounds Fatima's death within six months of Muhammad's. Sunni Islam holds that Fatima died from grief. In Shia Islam, however, Fatima's miscarriage and death are said to have been the direct result of her injuries during a raid on her house to subdue Ali, ordered by Abu Bakr. It is believed that Fatima's dying wish was that the caliph should not attend her funeral. She was buried secretly at night and her exact burial place remains uncertain.

The hadith of the twelve successors (Arabic: حَدِيْث ٱلْإِثْنَي عَشَر خَلِيْفَة, romanized: ḥadīth al-ithnā ʿashar khalīfa) is a widely-reported prophecy, attributed to the Islamic prophet Muhammad, predicting that there would be twelve successors after him. As there were many more rulers after Muhammad, Sunni authors have variously identified these twelve successors with some of these rulers. In Twelver Shia, these successors are instead identified with their Twelve Imams. Their last imam, Muhammad al-Mahdi, is believed to miraculously remain in occultation since 874 CE, and is expected to return in the end of times to eradicate injustice and evil.

Muhammad al-Mahdi (Arabic: محمد بن الحسن المهدي, romanized: Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥasan al-Mahdī) is believed by the Twelver Shia to be the last of the Twelve Imams and the eschatological Mahdi, who will emerge in the end of time to establish peace and justice and redeem Islam.

Hasan al-Askari, the eleventh Imam, died in AH 260 (873–874), possibly poisoned by the Abbasids. Immediately after his death, his main representative, Uthman ibn Sa'id al-Asadi, claimed that the eleventh Imam had an infant son named Muhammad, who was kept hidden from the public out of fear of Abbasid persecution. Uthman also claimed to represent Muhammad, who had entered a state of occultation. Other local representatives of al-Askari largely supported these assertions, while the Shia community fragmented into several sects over al-Askari's succession. All these sects, however, are said to have disappeared after a few decades except for the Twelvers, who accept the son of al-Askari as the twelfth and final Imam in Shia Islam, remaining in a state of occultation.

The Four Books (Arabic: ٱلْكُتُب ٱلْأَرْبَعَة, romanized: al-Kutub al-ʾArbaʿa) are the four canonical hadith collections of Shia Islam. The term is used mostly by Twelver Shias.

Shia Muslims use different hadith books than those used by Sunni Muslims, who prize the six major hadith collections. Unlike Sunnis, Twelver Shi'i Muslims uphold the Twelve Imams as their absolute authority of religion after the prophet Muhammad, and thus much of their hadith is transmitted on the authority of the Imams. Shi'ites considers many hadith transmitters in Sunni tradition to be unreliable, particularly due to their indifferent or, at times, antagonistic stance towards Ahl al-Bayt (Household of Muhammad).

Ali ibn Musa al-Rida (Arabic: عَلِيّ ٱبْن مُوسَىٰ ٱلرِّضَا, romanized: ʿAlī ibn Mūsā al-Riḍā, c. 1 January 766 – c. 6 June 818), also known as Abū al-Ḥasan al-Thānī, was a descendant of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, and the eighth imam in Twelver Shia Islam, succeeding his father, Musa al-Kazim in 799 CE. He is also part of the chain of mystical authority in Sunni Sufi orders. He was known for his piety and learning, and a number of works are attributed to him, including Al-Risalah al-Dhahabiah, Sahifah of al-Ridha, and Fiqh al-Rida. Uyoun Akhbar Al-Ridha by Ibn Babawayh is a comprehensive collection that includes his religious debates and sayings, biographical details, and even the miracles which have occurred at his tomb. He is buried in Mashad, Iran, site of a large shrine.

Al-Rida was contemporary with the Abbasid caliphs Harun al-Rashid (r. 786–809) and his sons, al-Amin (r. 809–813) and al-Ma'mun (r. 813–833). In a sudden departure from the established anti-Shia policy of the Abbasids, possibly to mitigate the frequent Shia revolts, al-Mamun invited al-Rida to Merv in Khorasan, his de facto capital, and designated him as heir apparent, despite the reluctance of the al-Rida who accepted the offer on the condition that he would not interfere in governmental affairs. The appointment of Ali al-Rida by the Abbasid al-Mamun immediately invoked strong opposition, particularly among the Abbasids, who revolted and installed Ibrahim ibn al-Mahdi, a half-brother of Harun al-Rashid, as the anti-caliph in Baghdad. Realising the severity of the Iraqi opposition, al-Mamun and his entourage left Khorasan for Baghdad, accompanied by al-Rida. The Imam, however, died mysteriously when the party reached Tus in September 818. His death followed shortly after the assassination of al-Fadl ibn Sahl, the Persian vizier of al-Mamun, who was publicly seen as responsible for his pro-Shia policies. The caliph is often seen as responsible for both deaths, as he made concessions to the Arab party to smooth his return to Baghdad. Tus was later replaced with a new city, called Mashhad, which developed around the grave of al-Rida as the holiest site in Iran, to which millions of Shia Muslims flock annually for pilgrimage.

The hadith of the thaqalayn (Arabic: حديث الثقلين, lit. 'saying of the two treasures') 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 thaqalayn is of particular significance in Twelver Shia, where their Twelve Imams are viewed as the spiritual and political successors of Muhammad.