Ibn Hajar on those, who believe, that imams are better than prophets

Ahmad Ibn Hajar Al-Asqalani writes:

فَـالـنَّـبِـيُّ أَفْـضَـلُ مِـنَ الْـوَلِـيِّ وَهُـوَ أَمْـرٌ مَـقْـطُـوعٌ بِـهِ عَـقْـلًا وَنَـقْـلًا وَالـصَّـائِـرُ إِلَـى خِـلَافِـهِ كَـافِـرٌ لِأَنَّـهُ أَمْـرٌ مَـعْـلُـومٌ مِـنَ الـشَّـرْعِ بِـالـضَّـرُورَةِ

,,Thus the Prophet is better than the near one (Wali) and this is a matter, about which there is complete certainty through the intellect and narrative and the one who disagrees with it is a disbeliever (Kafir), because this is a matter which is established by the legislation as a necessity.” [Fath-ul-Bari, Volume 1, page 221]

Comment:

Ibn Hajar belonged to the Shafi’ite school and was an Ash’arite theologian. Thus, he was neither Salafi, nor Wahhabi, nor Zionist. Thus, that Imamites are only excluded from Islam from these circles is a falsehood.