The meaning of the Hadith is apparent. Islam will go through phases, which include times of glory and times of disgrace. The years of glory that were known during the time of the Prophet – peace be upon him – will continue to last until the passing of twelve caliphs, which suggests a long period of glory.
The narration does not suggest that glory will only be known during the reign of twelve caliphs, but rather, it suggests an uninterrupted era of glory, which was a significant prophecy and good news for the Sahabah, who were used to the oppression from their enemies.
There is also nothing in this narration about the nature of these twelve caliphs. They are not described in any of the narrations in a positive or negative light, but only that Islam will see glory until they pass.
The twelve caliphs according to Twelvers are: Ali, Al-Hasan, Al-Hussain, Ali bin Al-Hussain, Mohammad bin Ali, Ja’afar bin Mohammad, Musa bin Ja’afar, Ali bin Musa, Mohammad bin Ali, Ali bin Mohammad, Al-Hasan bin Ali, and Mohammad bin Al-Hasan Al-Askari, the awaited Mahdi.

There are plenty of problems with this view.
Firstly, out of the twelve men, only two were caliphs. Thus, the Twelvers have immediately gone against the apparent meaning of the Hadith to a metaphorical one from the get go.
Furthermore, even if for the sake of the argument, the narration was about twelve Imams and not twelve caliphs, we would run into another problem. The narration clearly states that Islam will stay in a state of glory until the passing of twelve caliphs. Yet, according to the Shia interpretation, Islam was not in a state of glory during the reigns of Ali or any of his children. They believe it was a time of tyranny and oppression to the extent that the Shiites were in constant hiding to escape the grip of the government and corrupt scholars.

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(Hadith of 12 Caliphs)
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(Sunni View)
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(Shia View)
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