Grand Ayatollah Shirazi: Imam Hussein, other Imams inheritors of all prophets

The daily scholarly meeting of Grand Ayatollah Seyyed Sadegh al-Hosseini al-Shirazi was held on Sunday, the seventh of Sha’ban. In this session, like the previous meetings, the Marja answered the questions of the attendees about various jurisprudential issues.

In relation to passages from the “Ziyarat Warith” and some other Ziyaraat that address the Ma’sumeen, peace be upon them, as the inheritors of a number of divine prophets, Grand Ayatullah Shirazi said: In order to explain the concept of how the Ma’sumeen, peace be upon them, inherit from the prophets as per these Ziyaraat, one can use the Persian proverb to help establish a better understanding; it says: “You possess all the good attributes that other saints have,” and therefore, all the virtues that the Divine Prophets had combine in the pure Imams, peace be upon them, so they are the inheritors of all the prophets, and this is not specific to Imam Hussain (peace be upon him).

His Eminence continued: Based on various narrations, every virtue that is mentioned to praise one of the fourteen Infallibles is also true about the rest of these noble figures.

Referring to the passage from the Ziyarat of Imam Reza, peace be upon him: I bear witness that you are aware of my place, hear my words, and answer my greetings, the Supreme Marja said: Although this phrase appears in the Ziyarat of Imam Reza, peace be upon him, it is true about all the Innocents, peace be upon them, and applies to every place, so even if someone salutes Imam al-Hussain or Imam Hassan al-Askari from the planet Mars, they will benefit from this merit.

Grand Ayatollah Shirazi continued: I have repeatedly said that the 14 Infallibles, peace be upon them, are the same in every aspect, except that they differ from each other in two ways: First, the Prophet was the Messenger of God, and secondly, the status ranking of the Ma’sumeen, peace be upon them, are different.