RasulAllah ﷺ said: 'There shall be twelve caliphs after me. Abu Bakr will only remain a short duration.' (Mu'jam Kabir Tabrani, 1:90) #Alahazrat writes: 'It refers to those caliphs who will be the caretakers of the nation and will rule according to justice and shariah. It is not a condition that they be consecutive nor does anything in the hadith point to this. From them, the four caliphs, Imam Hasan, Amīr Mu'āwiyah, Hadrat AbdAllah b. Zubayr, Umar b. Abd al-Aziz and, in the end times, Imam Mahdi are known. Allah is well pleased with them all. These are nine and the other three are not known with certainty.' Fatāwā #Ridawiyyah, 27:51