Islamic Teachings Book 2

Successors of Prophet Muhammad (S)

The successors of Prophet Muhammad (s), who guided the people after him, are called Imams. We have Twelve Imams and their names are as follows:

  1. Imam Ali al-Murtadha

  2. Imam Hasan al-Mujtaba

  3. Imam Husayn al-Shaheed

  4. Imam Ali al-Sajjad

  5. Imam Muhammad al-Baqir

  6. Imam Ja'far al-Sadiq

  7. Imam Musa al-Kadhim

  8. Imam Ali al-Ridha

  9. Imam Muhammad al-Taqi

  10. Imam Ali al-Naqi

  11. Imam Hasan al-Askari

  12. Imam Muhammad al-Mahdi

(May peace and benediction be upon them all).

Our Holy Imams acquitted themselves well of their responsibility as successors of the Holy Prophet of Islam. They did their best to guide the people and suffered great hardships to achieve this purpose. The role performed by Imam Husayn (a) in fighting the hypocrites and in toppling over the machine of tyranny, by Imam al-Baqir (a) and Imam al-Sadiq (a) in spreading Islamic knowledge and other sciences, and by Imam al-Ridha (a) in defending Islamic tenets and in providing intellectual guidance against the invasion of foreign ideas at the time of the spread of Islam over vast territories of the world, are undeniable. The same is true of the role performed by other Imams in their respective circumstances.

The pure lives and instructive sayings of our Holy Imams are beacon lights for the guidance of entire mankind. They always worked for the happiness and prosperity of the people. The sacred teachings of Islam can be learnt only from this Household (Ahl al-Bayt) which was selected by Allah for the revelation and prophethood.

The lives of our Imams are beacon lights for the guidance of mankind.

Questions

    1. What are the successors of the Prophet of Islam called? How many are they in number?

  2. How did the Holy Imams discharge their responsibilities?

  3. What are the beacon lights for the guidance of mankind?