The Twelve Imams (Arabic: ٱلْأَئِمَّة ٱلْٱثْنَا عَشَر, al-ʾAʾimmah al-ʾIthnā ʿAšar; Persian: دوازده امام, Davâzdah Emâm) are the spiritual and political successors to the Islamic prophet Muhammad in the Twelver branch of Shia Islam, including that of the Alawite and Alevi. [1]

Muhammad ibn Hasan 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.

The reappearance of Muhammad al-Mahdi is the Twelver eschatological belief in the return of their Hidden Imam in the end of time to establish peace and justice on earth. For Twelvers, this would end a period of occultation that began shortly after the death of Hasan al-Askari in 260 AH (873–874 CE), the eleventh Imam.

Muḥammad al-Mahdī al-Ḥujjah (disappeared 878) is venerated by the Ithnā ʿAshariyyah, or Twelver sect, the main body of Shīʿite Muslims. It is believed that Muḥammad al-Mahdī al-Ḥujjah has been concealed by God (a doctrine known as ghaybah, or occultation) and that he will reappear in time as the mahdī, a messianic deliverer.

2018年2月16日 · Who Are The 12 Imams Of Twelver Shia Islam? Depiction of the Twelve Imams seated together (left) and the Mahdi's triumphant return (right). The Twelve Imams, together with Prophet Mohammed and his daughter Fatimah al-Zahra, make up the fourteen infallible according to the Shia Islam faith.

The Imam rises with justice with dismay of the ignorant and baffle of the controversial. He stands with radiant light, practical cure, shining truth and flourishing explanations. He stands on the right path, upon which his forefathers, the truthful, passed.

According to this belief, the Imams and caliphs after Prophet Muhammad (S) are twelve people from Quraysh and Bani Hashim, the twelfth of which is Imam Muhammad Ibn Hasan Askari (a.s.), who is alive but hidden.