(5) Musaddad bin Mustawrid narrated from Hammad bin Zayd from Mujalid that Massrooq had said: “While we were sitting with ibn Mass’ood after the sunset and he was teaching us the Qur’an, a man asked him: “O Abu Abdurrahman, have you asked the Prophet (S) how many caliphs this umma will have?” Ibn Mass’ood said: “No one asked me about this since I had come from Iraq. Yes, he (the Prophet (S)) said: “Your caliphs are twelve as the number of the chieftains of the Israelites.”