Who were the 12 hypocrites among the Sahaba?

[ServantOfMahdi]

In the second most important Sunni Hadith source, Sahih Muslim, the Hadith about the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم)'s hypocritical companions (munafiq sahaba) has been reported with a very crucial context – Ammar ibn Yasir, after the battle of Jamal (in which he fought on Imam Ali (عليه السلام)'s side against the army of Aisha and Talha), is asked by Qays ibn Abbad the justifying Prophetic proof – if any – for all his actions backing Ali until that battle (i.e. from Saqifa to Jamal); and in reply Ammar informs him on the authority of Hudhayfa ibn al-Yaman that the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم) had said (to both Ammar and Hudhayfa,  after the post-Tabuk assassination attempt on him by some veiled hypocrites, as established from Abu Tufayl's report in Musnad Ahmad, Sahih Muslim & Tafsir Ibn Kathir):

في أصحابي اثنا عشر منافقا

Among my Sahaba are 12 hypocrites......8 of them will be shot with "dubayla"....

That clearly establishes:

1. Ammar backed Ali against those about whom he knew that they were munafiq sahaba

2. The only link between their hatred of Ali (عليه السلام) and their post-Tabuk assassination attempt on the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم) is the Prophetic declaration, while marching for Tabuk, about Ali's status with him being same as that of Aaron with Moses, barring Prophethood (Bukhari, Muslim, Tirmidhi, Nasai, Ibn Maja, Ahmad etc.) i.e. Commander of the Believers 

3. A sign of 8 of them is their death by "dubayla", a kind of internal boil

Who were these assassins? What were their objectives? What did they do later to achieve them? Which Sahaba died of dubayla? 

 

[Abu Hassanain]

Salam

not the same category, but somewhat related we have a narration from imam Sadiq as there are 12 Aimmah of guidance in there with the people of the holy house and there are 12 Aimmah miss guidance alternately in some wording will lead to hellfire and they are the Bedouins and 10 from bani Ummayyah 

wallahu Alam 

[Panzerwaffe]

On 3/16/2026 at 1:20 PM, Abu Hassanain said:

Salam

not the same category, but somewhat related we have a narration from imam Sadiq as there are 12 Aimmah of guidance in there with the people of the holy house and there are 12 Aimmah miss guidance alternately in some wording will lead to hellfire and they are the Bedouins and 10 from bani Ummayyah 

wallahu Alam 

12 is a frequently occurring number isn’t it 

[Panzerwaffe]

On 12/25/2025 at 8:59 PM, ServantOfMahdi said:

In the second most important Sunni Hadith source, Sahih Muslim, the Hadith about the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم)'s hypocritical companions (munafiq sahaba) has been reported with a very crucial context – Ammar ibn Yasir, after the battle of Jamal (in which he fought on Imam Ali (عليه السلام)'s side against the army of Aisha and Talha), is asked by Qays ibn Abbad the justifying Prophetic proof – if any – for all his actions backing Ali until that battle (i.e. from Saqifa to Jamal); and in reply Ammar informs him on the authority of Hudhayfa ibn al-Yaman that the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم) had said (to both Ammar and Hudhayfa,  after the post-Tabuk assassination attempt on him by some veiled hypocrites, as established from Abu Tufayl's report in Musnad Ahmad, Sahih Muslim & Tafsir Ibn Kathir):

في أصحابي اثنا عشر منافقا

Among my Sahaba are 12 hypocrites......8 of them will be shot with "dubayla"....

That clearly establishes:

1. Ammar backed Ali against those about whom he knew that they were munafiq sahaba

2. The only link between their hatred of Ali (عليه السلام) and their post-Tabuk assassination attempt on the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم) is the Prophetic declaration, while marching for Tabuk, about Ali's status with him being same as that of Aaron with Moses, barring Prophethood (Bukhari, Muslim, Tirmidhi, Nasai, Ibn Maja, Ahmad etc.) i.e. Commander of the Believers 

3. A sign of 8 of them is their death by "dubayla", a kind of internal boil

Who were these assassins? What were their objectives? What did they do later to achieve them? Which Sahaba died of dubayla? 

 

Who is that Qays ibn Abbad ? It son of Saad ibn Ubadah misspelled?

[ServantOfMahdi]

17 hours ago, Panzerwaffe said:

Who is that Qays ibn Abbad ? It son of Saad ibn Ubadah misspelled?

No brother, he's a prominent Iraqi Tabei.

[StrangerInThisWorld]

Salamun 'alaykum, 

I remember being told that one of the merits of 'Umar bin al-Khattab was that he asked Hudhayfa bin al-Yaman whether he was among the hypocrites, whom Allah ta'ala will not forgive, despite being promised paradise. 

Back then I simply accepted this claim, as it was stated by our Mashayikh, because I had no idea why this question was even made and what the background story was. 

When I'm thinking about this today I'm really surprised how our Mashayikh managed to turn an ADMISSION into a MERIT. 

 

Now let's think about it step by step and connect the dots and look at the background story:

Rasulullah (sallallahu 'alayhi wa alih) stated - as it's mass-transmitted - to Imam 'Ali bin Abi Talib ('alayhil salam) before going to Tabuk that their relationship is like that between Musa and Harun ('alayhim al-salam), which automatically meant that Imam 'Ali is the successor of Rasulullah in every regard [with the exception of Prophethood as explicitly stated]. A group of hypocrites among the companions tried to assassinate our noble Prophet right after Tabuk [due to this statement]. 

They failed and Rasulullah (sallallahu 'alayhi wa alih) informed Hudhayfa regarding the names of these 12 hypocrites and said that Allah ta'ala would not forgive 8 of them. 

So when someone asks Hudhayfa whether he's among the hypocrites it automatically means this specific person must be from among the twelve, who tried to assassinate the Best of Creation (may endless peace and blessings be upon him and his family). 

Because a person obviously knows whether he took part in this assassination attempt or not. So the question of such a person simply would mean "Am I among the 8 that Allah ta'ala will never forgive?" and it also shows that he was never promised paradise. 

 

Anyone who was fooled concerning this person for so many years I would advice him to look at five incidents to understand the reality that was hidden from us to please the oppressive rulers of the past and the present:

1) How this person doubted Rasulullah (sallallahu 'alayhi wa alih) at the Sulh of Hudaybiyya 

2) How this person disobeyed the command of joining and marching forth under Usama, the son of Zayd bin al-Haritha

3) How this person lead the group that openly disobeyed Rasulullah (sallallahu ' alayhi wa alihi) at Raziyyat Yawm al-Khamis and was thrown out by the Messenger of Allah himself (who by the way would never do this with a real believer as is clear from the Book of Allah ta'ala!) 

4) How this person behaved at Saqifat Bani Sa'ida and the tactics he used to get Fulan and thereafter himself to power

5) How this person threatened to burn down the house upon Sayyidat Nisa al-'Alamin Fatima ('alayha al-salam) in order to force Amir al-Muminin 'Ali bin Abi Talib ('alayhil salam) to pledge allegiance, who was chosen as the leader of Muslims by Allah ta'ala himself as proclaimed at Ghadir

(Regarding the fifth point: See what is reported in Musannaf of Ibn Abi Shayba, which is an authentic report upon the condition of Bukhari and Muslim, and consider also that a major Nasibi like Ibn Taymiyya even admitted the attack upon the house of Fatima (peace be upon her) using the word Iqtiham!) 

 

Wa la hawla wa quwwata illa billah! 

 

[ServantOfMahdi]

16 hours ago, StrangerInThisWorld said:

Rasulullah (sallallahu 'alayhi wa alih) informed Hudhayfa regarding the names of these 12 hypocrites and said that Allah ta'ala would not forgive 8 of them. 

One version says 8 of the 12 will never find even the scent of Paradise, another version says the 12 will never find even the scent of Paradise and 8 of them will die of "dubayla", a kind of internal boil.

17 hours ago, StrangerInThisWorld said:

How this person behaved at Saqifat Bani Sa'ida

Another narration of Muslim says that these 12 will be at war with Allah and His Messenger in this world and on the Day of Judgement; a clear indication of them being the founders of a long lasting deviant sect.