What is Shia’s belief about caliphate and successorship to the Holy Prophet (s)? Do they consider Ali (a.s.) as the immediate caliph after the Prophet (s) and reject the other caliphs who were the companions of the Prophet (s)?

According to Shia: 1. Caliphate or successorship to the Holy Prophet (s) is divinely appointed and that at God’s order the Prophet, many a time, introduced Ali (a.s.) as his successor. 2. The successors of the Prophet (s) are twelve immaculate Imams or "twelve caliphs" as reported in Shiite and Sunni sources. The first of them is Ali bin Abi Talib and the last of them is Hazrat Hujjat bin Al-Hasan Al-Askari (Imam Mahdi) – may Allah hasten his reappearance. 2. Following the demise of the Holy Prophet (s), a situation came into being as a result of which the Commander of Faithful, Ali (a.s.) who had been appointed by the Prophet (s) as his successor was deprived of his right to the caliphate. Thus, he was made to keep aloof in his house. Indeed, for the good of Islam and Muslims, Ali (a.s.), despite being dissatisfied with the performance of the caliphate, never refrained from giving his advice to the caliphs. .

اسلام کوئست

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Created in 1400/12/21

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