One of the beauties of the behavior of the Ahl al-Bayt (a) towards people was that they show no arrogance and superiority, while they were proofs of God and superior to all creatures and no one can be compared to them, because they were source of all virtues, knowledge and wisdom, and mine of divine mercy.
However, with all the virtues given to them by God, they did not consider themselves superior to others, as to which we mention here a narration:
One day, Imam kazim (a) passed by an untidy person, greeted him, and sat down and talked with him for a long time.
In the end, Imam Kazim (a) told the man:
“I am ready to serve, tell whatever service you want me to do!”
One of the companions said to Imam Kazim (a):
“That’s strange! You have become companion of this messy and filthy person and you still want to serve him? He really deserves to serve you!”
Imam Kazim (a) replied:
“This person is one of the servants of God, my brother in religion, and my fellow citizen. He and I are from the same father, prophet Adam, who is the best of fathers and Islam invites us to assist each other.” (1)
From the above narration, it is learned that the Ahl al-Bayt (a) did not consider themselves superior, and even they did not hesitate to serve others. Here we can understand who God has assigned as authority, Imam and leader of human beings and what kind of behavior Islam invites us to.”
Source:
(1) A’yan al-Shi’a, vol. 2, p. 7.
