That which supports this matter is a traditional report from...

That which supports this matter is a traditional report from Amirul Momineen ‘Ali (as) that he said: “We are the creations of our Lord, and the creatures after that were created by us.” Many traditions prove this point some of which are as follows: Shaykh Sadooq has quoted an authentic tradition from His Eminence, ‘Ali bin Moosa ar-Reza (as) from his father, Moosa bin Ja’far from his father, Ja’far bin Muhammad from his father Muhammad bin ‘Ali from his father ‘Ali bin al-Husain from his father, Husain bin ‘Ali from his father ‘Ali bin Abi Talib that the Holy Prophet (s.a.w.s.) said: “The Almighty Allah has not created any creature better than me and there is no one more respectable near Him than me.” ‘Ali (as) says that he asked, “O Allah’s Messenger, you are better or Jibraeel?” He (the Prophet) replied, “O ‘Ali, the Almighty Allah has given superiority to the Messenger Prophets over His proximate angels and He gave me superiority over all the Messengers and Prophets.

And O ‘Ali, after me you and after you the Imams are having superiority over them because the angels of God are our servants and servants of our friends. O ‘Ali, the bearers of the Arsh and the angels around it praise and glorify their Lord and they pray for the forgiveness of those who believe in your Wilayat (mastership).

O ‘Ali, if we hadn’t been there, the Almighty Allah would neither have created His Eminence, Adam (as) nor Her Eminence, Hawwa (as) neither Paradise nor Hell, neither the earth and the sky. And why shouldn’t we be superior to the angels? We have preceded them in praising and glorifying our Lord. It is so because the first creations of Allah were souls and He made us speaking with His unity and magnification. Then He created the angels.

When they saw us with an effulgence (Noor), they considered our affair to be of a great importance. I said: ‘Glory be to Allah’, so that the angels may understand that we are creatures and servants of God. And that the Almighty Allah is more exalted and purified of our qualities. So by our glorification the angels learnt how to glorify Allah and they understood that God is purified and clean of qualities (of the creatures).

And when they noticed our greatness and majesty, we said: ‘There is no god except Allah’, so that the angels may understand that there is no one worthy of deification except Allah and that we are the servants of God, we are not partners in His divinity.