Minhaj as-Sunnah - Ibn Taimiya - (5/526)

A hadith—[if authentic]—(1) states:

“I wish that I had seen…”

or he said:

“May Allah have mercy upon my successors.”

They asked, “Who are your successors, O Messenger of Allah?”

He replied, “Those who revive my Sunnah and teach it to the people.” (2)

If this is authentically established as a statement of the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—it constitutes evidence concerning the matter at issue. Even if it is not his statement, it still shows that, in the milieu of whoever fabricated it, the term “successor” was customarily applied to someone who succeeded another, even if that other person had not appointed him as his successor. Thus, if someone takes another’s place and fulfills his role in certain matters, he is his successor in that respect.

(1) “If authentic”: omitted from (N) and (M). (2) Al-Suyūtī cited the hadith in *al-Jāmi al-Kabīr*, 1/535. It begins, “May Allah have mercy upon my successors,” and at the end he wrote: “Abū al-Nasr al-Sijzī in *al-Ibāna*; *Kr* (‘Ibn Asākir in his *Tārīkh’*), from al-Hasan ibn Alī.”

وَفِي الْحَدِيثِ - [إِنْ صَحَّ] - (١) : " «وَدِدْتُ أَنِّي رَأَيْتُ» " أَوْ قَالَ: " «رَحْمَةُ اللَّهِ عَلَى خُلَفَائِي " . قَالُوا: وَمَنْ خُلَفَاؤُكَ يَا رَسُولَ اللَّهِ؟ قَالَ: " الَّذِينَ يُحْيُونَ سُنَّتِي، وَيُعَلِّمُونَهَا النَّاسَ» " (٢) . وَهَذَا إِنْ صَحَّ مِنْ قَوْلِ النَّبِيِّ - صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ - فَهُوَ حُجَّةٌ فِي الْمَسْأَلَةِ، وَإِنْ لَمْ يَكُنْ مِنْ قَوْلِهِ فَهُوَ يَدُلُّ عَلَى أَنَّ الَّذِي وَضَعَهُ كَانَ مِنْ عَادَتِهِمُ اسْتِعْمَالُ لَفْظِ " الْخَلِيفَةِ " فِيمَنْ خَلَفَ غَيْرَهُ وَإِنْ لَمْ يَسْتَخْلِفْهُ، فَإِذَا قَامَ مَقَامَهُ وَسَدَّ مَسَدَّهُ فِي بَعْضِ الْأُمُورِ فَهُوَ خَلِيفَةٌ عَنْهُ فِي ذَلِكَ الْأَمْرِ.

(١) إِنْ صَحَّ: سَاقِطَةٌ مِنْ (ن) ، (م) . (٢) ذَكَرَ السُّيُوطِيُّ الْحَدِيثَ فِي " الْجَامِعِ الْكَبِيرِ " ١/٥٣٥ وَأَوَّلُهُ: " رَحْمَةُ اللَّهِ عَلَى خُلَفَائِي وَقَالَ فِي آخِرِهِ: " أَبُو النَّصْرِ السِّجْزِيُّ فِي الْإِبَانَةِ كِرْ " ابْنُ عَسَاكِرَ فِي تَارِيخِهِ " عَنِ الْحَسَنِ بْنِ عَلِيٍّ.