Hadith About Twelve Imams

1. Hadith on itself is not a source of deriving our obligatory beliefs. Any obligatory belief needs to have its establishment in the Qur’an. If you know of any verses of the Qur’an that says we need to follow certain individuals after the Prophet (sws) then you need to follow that verse, otherwise people who hold a belief based on Ahadith like what you mentioned need to answer the question that why the clear book of guidance that is supposed to include everything for our guidance has not mentioned an obligatory belief.

2. The Hadith you referred to is narrated by Jabir ibn Thamura who at the time was only a kid. He says that the Prophet (sws) said those words in presence of people. The fact that this Hadith is only narrated by Jabir is quite suspicious.

3. The Hadith is not about 12 Imams. It is about 12 Amirs. Amir means someone who has the power in hand. From among the Imams of Shia only Ali (rta) and for a very brief time Hassan (ra) had power.

4. The Hadith does not direct Muslims to follow these 12 Amirs. In fact it does not even say that these 12 Amirs are rightly guided ones. It merely says that at their time Islam is in powerful position. If it was an obligation to follow these Amirs then (beside the fact that it had to come in the Qur’an as well) the Prophet (sws) would have made sure that everyone had heard it and would have made it very clear that following them were obligation.

5. History informs us of existence of only 11 of the Shia Imams. There is no reliable historical evidence about the existence of the 12th Imam of Shia. The existence of the 12th Imam of Shia is mostly argued based on theological and philosophical reasoning rather than any hard historical facts.