There are some prophetic traditions collected by Sunnī scholars about the 12 imams, even though most Sunnī scholars have understandably avoided publicizing these traditions in their key texts. The following are a few examples of such traditions:

1. According to ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbbās, the Messenger of Allāh (ص) said, “I am the chief of the prophets (sayyid al-nabiyyīn) and ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib is the chief of the executors (sayyid al-waṣiyyīn). The executors after me are twelve, the first of whom is ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib and the last of whom is al-Mahdī.” (Maʿālim al-Madrasatayn 1:547 quotes this from a hand-written manuscript of Farāʾid al-Simṭayn, page 160.)

2. According to ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbbās, the Messenger of Allāh (ص) said, “Verily my khalīfs and executors and the proofs (ḥujjah) of Allāh upon creation after me are twelve, the first of whom is my brother and the last [of whom is] my son.” He was asked, “O Messenger of Allāh, who is your brother?” He said, “ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib.” He was asked, “So who is your son?” He said, “The Mahdī who will fill [the earth] with righteousness and justice just as it is was filled with injustice and oppression. By He who sent me with the truth as a bringer of glad-tidings and as a warner, if but one day of this world remains, Allāh will lengthen this day so that my son al-Mahdī will rise in it and Jesus, the son of Mary and the spirit of Allāh, will come down and pray behind him so that the earth will shine by the light of its Lord, and [so that] His sultanate will reach the east and the west.” (Maʿālim al-Madrasatayn 1:547-548 quotes this from a hand-written manuscript of Farāʾid al-Simṭayn, page 160.)

3. ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbbās said: I heard the Messenger of Allāh (ص) say, “I and ʿAlī and Ḥasan and Ḥusayn and nine of the offspring of Ḥusayn are pure and protected [from sin] (muṭahharūn maʿṣūmūn).” (Maʿālim al-Madrasatayn 1:548 quotes this from a hand-written manuscript of Farāʾid al-Simṭayn, page 160.)

These three traditions appear in Farāʾid al-Simṭayn of Juwaynī. Of note, Juwaynī was not only one of the leaders of the Ashʿarīs (Milal wa Niḥal 83-4), but also one of the teachers of the famous Sunnī scholar Dhahabī. At the conclusion of Tadhkirah al-Ḥuffāẓ, Dhahabī has listed his masters and said in regards to Juwaynī, “The imām, preeminent and outstanding scholar of tradition, Fakhr al-Islām (the pride of Islām), Ṣadr al-Dīn (the heart of religion) Ibrāhīm ibn Muḥammad ibn Muʾayyad ibn Ḥamawiyyah al-Khurāsānī al-Juwaynī.” (Tadhkirah al-Ḥuffāẓ, “Shuyūkh-i Ṣāḥib-i Tadhkirah.”) The following are two examples of prophetic traditions specifically naming the twelve imāms:

4. According to Jābir ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Anṣārī, the Messenger of Allāh (ص) said, “My executors are twelve... The first of them is the chief of the executors (sayyid al-awṣiyāʾ), the father of the imāms, ʿAlī, then his two sons, Ḥasan and Ḥusayn, so stick to them and do not allow the ignorance of the ignorant to deceive you... When the time of Ḥusayn passes, the imām will be his son ʿAlī, entitled Zayn al-ʿĀbidīn. After him will be his son Muḥammad, entitled al-Bāqir. After him will be his son Jaʿfar, called al-Ṣādiq. After him will be his son Mūsā, called al-Kāẓim. After him will be his son ʿAlī, called al-Riḍā. After him will be his son Muḥammad, called al-Taqī and al-Zakī. After him will be his son ʿAlī, called al-Naqī and al-Hādī. After him will be his son Ḥasan, called al-ʿAskarī. After him will be his son Muḥammad, called al-Mahdī, al-Qāʾim, and al-Ḥujjah. He will go into occultation and then come out. When he comes out [of occultation], he will fill the earth with righteousness and justice the same way it was filled with oppression and injustice. The patient ones during his occultation will be blessed with the blessings of the pious for their love [of these imāms]. Allāh has described them in His Book, [where] He says, ‘a guide for the pious—those who believe in the unseen.’” (Qurʾān 2:2-3; Yanābīʿ al-Mawaddah 3:284-5.)

5. The Prophet (ص), while describing the events of the miʿrāj, said, “I looked at the right of the throne and saw ʿAlī, Fāṭimah, Ḥasan, Ḥusayn, ʿAlī ibn Ḥusayn, Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī, Jaʿfar ibn Muḥammad, Mūsā ibn Jaʿfar, ʿAlī ibn Mūsā, Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī, ʿAlī ibn Muḥammad, and Ḥasan ibn ʿAlī, with Muḥammad ibn Ḥasan shining like a star among them. Allāh said, ‘O Muḥammad! These are My proofs (ḥujjah) upon my servants, and they are your executors (awṣiyāʾ). Al-Mahdī is among them and will rebel against the killers of your offspring. By My grandeur and majesty, he will take revenge from my enemies and reach out to my servants (walīs).’” (Yanābīʿ al-Mawaddah 3:380-1.)

The Conversion of Naʾthal by the Prophet (ص) Naming of the Twelve Imāms

Sulaymān ibn Ibrāhīm al-Qundūzī al-Ḥanafī has related the following tradition from Mujāhid from Ibn ʿAbbās:

A Jew named Naʾthal (This may be the same Naʾthal that ʿĀʾishah would compare ʿUthmān to because they both had similar long beards [Tārīkh Dimashq 39:327].) came and said, “O Muḥammad! I will ask you about matters that have created a disturbance in my heart for some time. If you answer my questions, I will convert to Islām.”

The Prophet (ص) said, “Ask, O Abū ʿUmārah!” He said, “O Muḥammad! Describe for me your Lord.” The Prophet (ص) said, “He is not described except by that with which He has described His own self. And how would [we describe] the creator, [Who is] incomprehensible to intellects, unassailable by the figments of the [human] mind, not limitable by thoughts, and not perceivable by the eyes, [Who is] the glorious and high, Who is pure from how the describers describe Him? He is the How of the how and the Where of the where. So do not say regarding Him, ‘Where is He?’ as He is pure of quantity and location. He is unique and without need, as He has described Himself; the describers cannot describe His qualities. He has neither offspring nor has He been born, and there is none comparable to Him.”

[Naʾthal] said, “You have spoken the truth, O Muḥammad! So explain to me your word that He is One with no likeness. Isn’t Allāh One and man one?” [The Messenger of Allāh] said, “Allāh, the glorious and high, is [the only] truly unitary one. This means that there are no parts or components to Him. Man is called a unity but is composed of spirit and body.”

He said, “You have spoken the truth. Tell me about your executor (waṣī). Who is he? There is no prophet except that he has an executor. Our Prophet Moses, the son of ʿImrān, made Yūshaʿ (Joshua) ibn Nūn his executor [after Aaron died].” The Messenger of Allāh (ص) said, “My executor is ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib and after him are my two sons Ḥasan and Ḥusayn. After them will follow nine imāms from the loins of Ḥusayn.” He said, “O Muḥammad, name them for me.”

[The Prophet (ص)] said, “When Ḥusayn passes away, it will be his son, ʿAlī. When ʿAlī passes away, it will be his son, Muḥammad. When Muḥammad passes away, it will be his son, Jaʿfar. When Jaʿfar passes away, it will be his son, Mūsā. When Mūsā passes away, it will be his son, ʿAlī. When ʿAlī passes away, it will be his son, Muḥammad. When Muḥammad passes away, it will be his son, ʿAlī. When ʿAlī passes away, it will be his son, Ḥasan. When Ḥasan passes away, it will be his son, al-Ḥujjah (the proof), Muḥammad al-Mahdī. So these are the twelve.”

[Naʾthal] asked, “Tell me about the death of ʿAlī and Ḥasan and Ḥusayn.” The Prophet (ص) said, “ʿAlī will die by the strike [of a sword] on his head, Ḥasan will die by poison, and Ḥusayn by beheading.” [Naʾthal said], “Where will they be?” [The Prophet (ص)] replied, “In paradise, at my level.”

[Naʾthal] said, “I bear witness that there is no god but Allāh and that you are the Messenger of Allāh, and I bear witness that they are the executors after you. I have indeed found in the books of the earlier prophets—and in it Moses the son of ʿImrān has made a pledge with us—that towards the later times a prophet will rise who is referred to as Aḥmad and Muḥammad. He will be the last of the prophets, as there are no prophets after him. The executors (waṣīs) after him will be twelve, the first being his paternal uncles’ son and his son-in-law, the second and third being two brothers among the children [of the first]. The nation will kill the first by the sword, the second by poison, and the third along with a group of his family by the sword while suffering thirst in a far-away land. He will be beheaded like a child taken freely as booty. He will show patience upon his [impending] murder so as to elevate his position and the position of his family and his offspring, and so as to save those who love him and his followers from the fire. The other nine executors will be from the offspring of the third executor. This twelve is the number of the leaders [of the tribes of the Children of Israel].”

[The Prophet (ص)] asked, “You know the leaders?” [Naʾthal] said, “Yes. They were twelve, the first being Lāwī ibn Barkhiyā, who was the one who was absent from the Children of Israel during his absence (ghaybah), and who later returned. By him Allāh clarified His divine law (sharīʿah) after its destruction. He fought Qarastīyā the king and killed him.”

The Messenger of Allāh (ص) said, “In my nation there will be what there was among the Children of Israel. They will follow them inch by inch. The twelfth from my offspring will disappear until he cannot be seen and [until] a time comes for my nation when nothing remains of Islām but its name and nothing remains of the Qurʾān except its wording. At that time, Allāh, the holy and high, will order him to rise. Allāh will make Islām manifest by him and restore it [through him]. Blessings be upon those who love them and follow them, and woe be upon those who despise and oppose them, and blessed be those who stick to their guidance.” (Yanābīʿ al-Mawaddah 3:281-3.)