Imamah and the Quran - An Objective Perspective

Testimony from Ayatollah Lankarani’s office

This is an excerpt from a series of questions posed to the Office of the late Grand Ayatollah Mohammad Fazel Lankarani, and available on his official site:

Q. (72 ) Is it of the essentials of faith to believe that Imam Ali (Alayhi Salām) is superior to all prophets?

A. No, it is not of the essentials of faith.

Q. (73) What are the different degrees of prophethood? Imam Ali (Alayhi Salām) is not higher in rank than Prophet Muhammad (saws), but he is higher than the other prophets. What is the basis of this claim?

A. Prophets can be divided into two categories: 1) The Arch-Prophets who were sent on a mission by Allah (swt). They are considered as the prophets of Law and religion. They include Noah (Alayhi Salām), Abraham (Alayhi Salām), Moses (Alayhi Salām), Jesus (Alayhi Salām) and Muhammad (saws), whose religions were spread in a wide area at their times. The Last Prophet, Muhammad (saws), is the last of the divine prophets who brought the universal religion, which will remain until the Last Day. There is no prophet after him. 2) The second category includes those prophets who propagated the religions of the Arch-Prophets. The extent of their prophethood and mission was not so great.
Imam Ali (Alayhi Salām) is higher in rank than other prophets, because of his Imamate, but he is not higher in rank than the Prophet Muhammad (saws), because Muhammad (saws) was both Prophet and Imam.¹⁴

As a response to the first question, the Ayatollah answers that it is not one of the essentials of the Shia faith to believe in the superiority of Ali (Radhia Allahu Anhu) over all Prophets. Yet, he expresses his own view when he says that Ali (Radhia Allahu Anhu) is higher than all Prophets except Muhammad (Salla Allahu Alayhi wa Sallam). It is of importance that the reason given for Ali’s (Radhia Allahu Anhu) superiority over all other Prophets is due to his Imāmah. In addition, the reason why Muhammad (Salla Allahu Alayhi wa Sallam) is higher than Ali (Radhia Allahu Anhu) is that Muhammad (Salla Allahu Alayhi wa Sallam) is also an Imām in addition to being a Prophet. This is an important part of the response, since it shows once again the high status Imāmah enjoys in Shiaism. (The issue of Muhammad (Salla Allahu Alayhi wa Sallam) as an “Imām” will be discussed later in this work).