Sons of Imam Ja'far al Sadiq (عليه السلام) and the 12 Imams

Wa alaykum as salaam wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu!

Thank you for your questions! There is a general respect afforded to the sons of Imam Saadiq (as). It is narrated in our sources that he sent his sons, Musa and Abdullah, to fight alongside Imam Zayd (as) in his revolt. To us, this counters the view that he appointed Imam Kaadhim (as) as an imam. As for Isma'il, I don't know of any criticism levelled against him by Zaydis, so this would entail at least an acceptance. Much of what is attributed to him as well as the other imams by the Imamis is generally seen as false. The same applies to the other imams of the 12ers.

We take much of our deen from the early imams and include their hadith and narrations in our books. We see them as legitimate sources and imams of knowledge.

There is the idea that Imam Rassi (as) criticised Imam Naqi (as) and blamed him from usurping the monies of his Shia. However, Imam Rassi (as) never explicitly mentioned the imam he was referring to. Also, he could have easily been referring to one of the many imam claimants of the time from the ismailis.

Zaydis accept Imam Ali b. Musa (as) as an imam in the complete sense and hold to the view that he was the imam of his time.

And Allah knows best!

IRS