17. Muhammad ibn Yahya has narrated from Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn ‘Isa from al-Hassan ibn Mahbub from Ishaq ibn Ghalib from Abu ‘Abdallah in a special sermon in which he has described the The Holy Prophet and the Imams , and their qualities as follows:

“The great sins and people’s bad deeds did not prevent Our Lord, due to His forbearance, caring and kindness, from choosing for the people the best of His prophets. (The Lord chose) Muhammad ibn ‘Abdallah ﷺ, the most respectable one to him and he was born in an honorable environment and to a noble family. His association was unsuspicious and his lineage was not unknown to the people of knowledge to describe. The glad news of his coming was mentioned in the books of the prophets and spoken of in the words of the scholars and his qualities were discussed in the thinking of the people of wisdom. No person of Hashemite descent has ever reached the level of his discipline or paralleled him, and no person of the inhabitants of Abtah has ever climbed to his high position. Restraint (from meaningless matters) was of his attributes and generosity was part of his nature. He was made with the dignity of prophethood and its discipline. His nature was formed out of the qualities of the Divine message and its wisdom. The means and measures of Allah brought him to the appointed time and the decree by the commands of Allah proceeded to their goals. The determined decision of Allah delivered him to their objects. Every nation gave the glad news about him to the one thereafter and every father would deliver to the next one from one generation to the next. No indecency ever mixed his element and no conjugal relation ever made him unclean from Adam to his father, ‘Abdallah. He was in the best group and of most honorable descent, the tribe of glory, in the well preserved womb and in the best protective hands. Allah had chosen him as it pleased Him, selected him, gave him the keys to knowledge and the sources of wisdom. He (the Lord) raised him as the mercy and blessings for His servants and as the season of spring for His lands. Allah sent to him the Book in which there is communication and explanations. It is a reading in Arabic free of complexities, so that they (people) may perhaps observe piety (before Allah). He has explained it to people. He has arranged it into a system with the knowledge that explains in detail and a religion that he has clarified its obligations, determined its limits for the people and has clarified them.

There are matters that He has stated to His servants openly. In it (the book) there is guidance to salvation and evidence to show the right guidance. The Messenger of Allah has preached the message that he had brought and demanded obedience to what he was ordered to preach and delivered the responsibilities of a prophet towards his followers. He exercised patience for the sake of his Lord and strove hard in the way of the Lord. He gave good advice to his followers and called them to salvation. He exhorted them in the matters of al-Dhikr (reminder) and showed them the right guidance. He did so with systems and potentials that he established on certain foundations for the servants (of Allah) and with the sources of light for which he raised proper beacons. He did so, so that they will not be misled after him and he was very compassionate and kind to them.”