Who are your caliphs?

- The Prophet said, “May Allah have mercy on my caliphs!” He was asked, “O Messenger of Allah! Who are your caliphs?” The Prophet said, “They are those who practice my sunnah.”
- I have seen it in several places. What is the full hadith like?

Dear Brother / Sister,

A narration regarding the issue is as follows:

The Prophet (pbuh) said, “May Allah have mercy on my caliphs!” When the Companions asked, “O Messenger of Allah! Who are your caliphs?”, the Messenger of Allah gave the following answer:

“They are those who revive my sunnah and teach it to Allah’s slaves." (1)

The hadith in question exists in the books of both first scholars and the scholars that came later. (2)

Suyuti states in his book titled Tadribur-Rawi, which is a book of methodology, that the nickname “amirul-mu’minin” given to some hadith scholars like Sufyan, Bukhari and Ibn Rahuya might be based on the hadith in question. (3)

However, Suyuti states in his book titled al-Jami’us-Saghir, in which he mentions the degree of soundness of narrations, that the hadith in question is “weak”. (4)

In fact, it is quite remarkable that the Prophet (pbuh) mentioned those who revived his sunnah and taught it to Allah’s slaves as his caliphs and prayed for them in terms of showing the importance of practicing it and conveying it to others.  

Yes, the hadith in question evokes the administrators undertaking the responsibility of the ummah and hadith scholars who learn hadiths and teach them to others but it can be said that every Muslim that fulfils that duty will take their share from the glad tiding mentioned by the hadith based on their service and being models.  

As a matter of fact, that the Prophet said in another hadith “There will be no prophets after me but there will be many caliphs” (5) and that he mentioned those who enjoined what is good and prohibited what is evil as the caliphs of Allah, His Prophet and Book (6) show that not only the material caliphate but also the spiritual caliphate will continue until Doomsday; it is also understood that he evoked the principal duties of the caliphs and encouraged every Muslim to take their shares from it.

Footnotes:
1) Abu Nuaym, Akhbaru Isfahan, 1/81; Tabarani, al-Awsat, no. 5842; Suyuti, al-Jami‘us-Saghir, 1/61.
2) see ar-Ramahurmuzi, al-Muhaddithul-Fasil, p. 163; Abu Nu’aym, Ahmad b. Abdillah al-Isbahani, Kitabu dhikri akhbari Isbahan (Tehran 1931), 1/81; al-Khatib al-Baghdadi, Sharaf, p. 30-31; Ibn ‘Abdilbarr, Jami‘, 1/46; Qadi ‘Iyad, al-Ilma‘, p. 17; Suyuti, Tadrib, 2/126; Qasimi, Jamaluddin, Qawaidut-Tahdith, p. 47.
3) see Tadrib, 2/126-127. Jamaluddin al-Qasimi (d. 1914), one of the contemporary hadith scholars, included that evaluation of Suyuti in his book. (Qawaidut-Tahdith, p. 47.
4 al-Jami‘us-Saghir, 1/61.
5) Bukhari, Anbiya, 50; Muslim, Imarah, 440 Ibn Majah, Cihad, 42, Ahmad, Musnad, 2/ 297.
6) Daylami, Firdawsul-Akhbâr, Ali Muttaqi, Kanzul-Ummal, no. 5564.

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