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Read the Reddit comments to understand what the thread was about, since the post has since been deleted. ....................................................................................... I'm so tired of the utterly nonsensical and VERY COMMON Sunni notion of 'I am happy to seek unity with Shias as long as they don't curse/insult/abuse any Sahaba, and especially NOT Aisha, Abu Bakr, Omar, Uthman. Firstly, any Shia claim regarding the sahabi that happens to go against the Sunni narrative is considered insulting. Secondly, and more importantly, is that the same notion is true for Shias... You are insulting the Ahlul Bayt by not accepting them as divinely appointed leaders of Allah, and infallible individuals, and perfect preservers of the religion of Islam, and a high means of seeking closeness to Allah (intercession). Not only are you insulting revered Shia figures by not following them, you are commiting MAJOR shirk by giving a false attribute to Allah, by saying that Allah has not always appointed an infallible leader on this Earth, and that there currently isn't an infallible leader. Furthermore, the real kicker is that plenty of revered Shia figures, such as Abu Talib (رضي الله عنه), are considered kuffar by Sunnis. Is this not insulting? So, how can we Shias unite with Sunnis based on their own fallacious logic? Shias are the minority, and Sunnis are the majority. It makes Sunnis think that they are Orthodox and that they have to unite with Heterodox for political and humanitarian reasons, and that Shias must make [ridiculous] compromises. Shias are far more receptive to the unity message, because we actually understand Sunni Islam, and can see the commonalities. We understand that we can't make Sunnis compromise on their beliefs. Simply by being the minority within Islam, by nature we Shias already understand Sunni beliefs, whereas Sunnis have a basic strawman understanding of Shia beliefs... which is natural, considering that they are the majority. Anyways, the point of my post is the following: Let's compile a list of revered Shia figures that are not given their proper status by Sunnis, according to Shia Islam... with an explanation given. ...This is to show that we Shias and Sunnis can unite, but we cannot unite upon revered figures and imamah. ...This will also serve as a way of showing Sunnis that this argument of theirs makes no sense. Another important question we may ask is "What about commonly revered figures like Imam Ali (عليه السلام) who is given different status in both sects? Can we unite upon Imam Ali (عليه السلام)?" ...a common Sunni criticism of political unity is that "Ali ibn Abi Talib (رضي الله عنه) is given an improper status in Shia religion because they call upon him... tawassul (intercession) of the 'dead' is Shirk! So there is absolutely no room for unity since we can't even agree on the status of the sahabi" [yes, I am aware that the Imams (عليه السلام) are still alive, but Sunnis don't believe this...] I would love to hear your thoughts. Wassalam. JazakAllah Khair. Fi sabilillah.

The traditions on the number of the Caliphs/Imams after the Prophet (SAW) are reported in both Sunni and the Shia sources. Interestingly, the traditions with slight differences are documented in all of the six Sahih books of the Sunnis and within some other Sunni references. In Sahih Muslim, the Prophet (SAW) has been reported to have said: لاَ یَزَالُ الدِّینُ قَائِمًا حَتَّی تَقُومُ السَّاعَةُ، او یَکُونُ عَلَیکُم اثنُی عَشَر خَلِیفَةً کُلُهُم مِن قُرَیش “Always the religion will be upright until the hour is established or there are twelve successors after me, all from Quraysh”. Many Sunni scholars are still grappling with the interpretation of this hadith. Several interpretations have been provided; however, they have not been able to fully explain it in accordance with their beliefs. Obviously, the tradition cannot be referring to the four “rightly-guided” Caliphs; likewise, they cannot be applied to the Caliphs of the Umayyad whose numbers are more than twelve and who were for the most part tyrants and unjust rulers. Similarly, the Abbasid Caliphs could not fit into this criterion, as they were also more than twelve and carried out the worst forms of corruption and persecution against the Prophet (SAW)’s household. In addition to the specification of the numbers of the Prophet successors, information on their names are also documented in Shia and some Sunni sources. For instance, Al-Qunduzi Al-Hanafi in his famous book Yanabiu-l-Mawwaddah reported the Prophet (SAW) as saying: انا سیّد النبیّین و عليًّ سیّد الوصیین. وإنَّ الأوصیائي بعدی اثنا عشر اوّلهم علي و آخرهم القائم المهدي “I am the leader of all the Apostles and Ali is the leader of all Successors. Verily, the (number of) successors after me are twelve, first of whom is Ali and the last of whom is Al-Mahdi.” In light of these arguments, it can be concluded that there are twelve rightly-guided Caliphs from the Quraysh to look after the affairs of the Muslims after the Prophet (SAW). These rightly-guided Caliphs are the twelve Infallible Imams from the members of the Prophet (SAW)’s household. They were divinely appointed by Allah through His noble Prophet, and their love and loyalty are compulsory upon the entire Muslim nation. The first of them is Ali son of Abi Talib (AS) and the last of them is Al-Mahdi (AS); the Imam of the time (who is presently in an occultation). http://amiseminary.ir/gazette/the-rightly-guided-caliphs/