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What is the ruling on one who says that Ali ibn Abi Talib and the Family of the Prophet are better than Abraham, Moses, Hud, and all the prophets, and does he become an apostate by that?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

The belief in preferring the Imams of the Ahl al-Bayt over prophets and messengers is a false belief held by the Rafidha (a derogatory term for some Shia groups) and contradicts the texts of the Quran and Sunnah, as well as the consensus of Muslims. Prophets are superior to saints (awliya') by agreement of the early Muslims (salaf al-ummah) and its imams. The best of this Ummah after its Prophet is Abu Bakr, then Umar, and this has been narrated extensively from Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) himself. The status of messengers is higher than that of other people in the situations of the Day of Judgment, intercession, and the Sirat (bridge). The statement that a saint is superior to a prophet is explicit disbelief, known by necessity from the religion of Islam. Therefore, whoever claims that Ali or anyone else is superior to the prophets is a disbeliever, unless he is ignorant, in which case the matter should be explained to him before ruling him a disbeliever.

Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026

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