I know that the rank of Prophet Mohammad (s) is higher than Imams and other people, but somebody orally told me that:
the rank of the Imams (I mean 12 Imams of Shiite) is spiritually higher than the rank of all the prophets other than Prophet Mohammad(s).
So, is there any tradition regarding mentioned issue?
(Note: I am looking for the perspective of Shiite according to the Ahadith)
Yes, of course. Actually, the rank of (Shia Islam) Imams is higher than all prophets (except Prophet Mohammad [peace be upon him and his family]).
More explanation:
It has been stated in our religious teachings that all prophets and messengers have no advantage and virtue over the imams, other than the fact that they bear prophethood, while the imams are the bearers of whatever knowledge all of the prophets before them ever possessed. Also, according to hadiths, “The Great Name” of Allah (swt) consists of seventy three “letters” in which the prophets only knew a few of; even Prophet Ibrahim (pbuh) only knew eight of those “letters”, while Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) was aware of all but one of them and passed on this knowledge to the imams (as) after him.
To read the complete illustration, you can refer to the source of the answer, as following:
