Original post by mil88Salam
Shia isn't an ideology, and you're correct in saying that it means to follow. But however, it can be used to represent a specific group of people. For instance, Shia of Ali, means those who follow Ali as their leader. Thus, denoting a specific group.
An imam is a leader, and the Holy Prophet has indeed said there will be 12 leaders after me. In our belief, the 12 imams are the 12 leaders that the Prophet was referring to, as they were appointed by God and they're part of his Ahlulbayt, who we are already ordered to follow, from numerous hadiths. Thus, there's a link.
Respectfully brother/sister, I wasn't giving a 'shia' view on the last part, rather just stating a fact and then giving my opinion at the end. Indeed, the Holy Prophet did fulfill his prophet hood, but as stated in the hadith, he was interrupted and frankly got angry after that. It's also vital to note that he wanted to inform us, but was interrupted. Notice how the exact same wording has been used in two different yet clearly related hadith, which are:
Follow Quran and Ahlulbayt, and you will never go astray
I will write something for you, that if you follow you will never go astray (the reply was) The Quran is enough.
Hopefully, you can see that the only thing missing from the second one is Ahlulbayt, which is why even some sunni scholars have said that the Prophet was going to reveal the Ahlulbayt.
Last thing on this specific event, (of course you don't have to answer this), it honestly seems like you don't believe that the whole Calamity of Thursday incident (which caused Ibn Abbas to cry to the extent that the stones beneath him became soaked) occurred. I apologize if this isn't the case, but it is clear that the Prophet wanted to give the companions something that will ensure they will never go astray, but was stopped. From reading your response which says that the Prophet would never leave us in such a state, is rather contradictory, as something that was really important, clearly wasn't said to the companions?