This was the reason that on the auspicious occasion of the Ascent (Ma 'eraj), he was made the Imam (leader) of all the prophets at Bayt al-Muqaddas. Similarly, on the Day of Judgement, too, it will be he who will act as an intercessor to implore Allah Most High to give His judgements. This is the same Lauded Station (Maqam-e Mahmud) which does not befit anyone but him. All the eminent prophets and holy messengers, on that day, will not dare to act as the intercessor. Alas only he alone will stand at that station. Allamah Shehab al-Din Ibn Hajar al-Haithami al-Makki says that Allah Most High hath bestowed upon him all kinds of superiority over all other prophets and messengers. Of these, three are quite clear and apparent, ordinarily his special qualities would require volumes upon volumes for description, but here I try to describe the important peculiarities only:-

The First Special Notability

He was called for Ascent (Ma 'eraj) with the corporeal (lit. external) body and this honour has not been achieved by any one save our Holy Prophet the Chosen Muhammad  and the glory of his singularity is also displayed by the honours and dignity with which he was called. In Bayt al-Muqaddas he was made the imam (for leading the prayer) of all the angels and the prophets. When the prayer was over, Hazrat Jibra'il introduced all the prophets to him and they all Congratulated him and paid tributes of praise. Then Prophet Abraham, praising the partnerless Lord, said: "Allah Alone deserves laudation Who made me His Khalil (intimate friend) and bestowed upon me a vast spiritual realm, and made me an obedient ummah (as though one obedient man is equal to thousands of obedient men); and exalted me with His messages and took me out from Nimrud's fire and made it cool and the cause of safety for me."

Then Prophet Moses said: "All praise is for that Lord Who made me His Kalim (i.e., gave me the privilege of speaking with Himself) and exalted me; and revealed the Torah upon me and accomplished Pharoah's destruction and the Israelites' emancipation at my hands."

Then Prophet David said: "Allah Alone is worthy of praise Who invested me with Kingdom, revealed the Psalms (Zabur) upon me, made iron soft for me and made mountains subservient to me so that they and the birds used to glorify the Lord along with me; and bestowed upon me common sense and the capacity for deciding cases".

Then Prophet Solomon said: "Allah Alone deserves praise Who subjugated the winds, the genii and the humans to me and made satans obedient to me so that they used to make whatever I wished them to make - like fortresses, statues, pond-like troughs and cauldrons that would remain fixed at a place and would not admit any shaking. And He taught me the language of the animals and flowed a stream of molten copper so that I did not have to melt it and got made large vessels at the hands of the genii, and He bestowed on me such a vast empire which does not befit anyone."

Prophet Jesus said: "Allah Alone is worthy of praise for He gave me knowledge of the Torah and the Bible and made me such that, by Allah's order, I could heal the stone-blind and the lepers and revive the dead to life, and He lifted me to the sky and kept me safe from the infidels' deceit and evil, and gave me and my mother shelter from the condemned Satan and never allowed Satan to have any power over us."

After all had spoken, Muhammad Mustafa  began and said: "You all have lauded your Lord and so I too eulogise my Lord that Allah Alone is worthy of praise who sent me as mercy for the whole universe and as a harbinger of good and a warning for all the human beings, and He revealed the Quran unto me in which there is mention of every necessary thing, and He made my ummah better than all other ummahs that came to this world, and made my ummah the middle ummah, and made my ummah such that as regards honour it precedes all and as regards appearance it is the last of all. he caused my bosom to dilate and eased me of my burden and exalted my remembrance; and me alone. He (by the award of prophethood) made first and (as regards advent) the last'.'
(Tafsir-e Ibn Kathir, vol. iii, p.18).

Then Prophet Abraham alaihis salaam addressed all the prophets and said: "It is on account of these merits that Allah Most High hath given superiority to Muhammad  over you." This long hadith about the Holy Prophet's  superiority over all other prophets has been mentioned by Allamah Ibn Kathir. Since in this Hadith the Holy Prophet  has himself mentioned his notabilities, there remains nothing to write about. But the Arabic-knowing persons and religious scholars know full well how concise and succinct are the Holy Prophet's  sentences, for while the other prophets mentioned their miracles instead of their specialities, the Holy Prophet  described only the latter. Moreover, in accordance he has expressed in a few words so many meanings as if he has filled up the sea in a cup, and it is truly a fact that the words of kings are the kings of words. Even as he has had leadership over all the prophets, human beings and the jinni, his words command superiority over all other words.

The Second Special Nobility

The second special and important feature amongst his special features is his leadership over all mankind and the genii. He is the chief of all the prophets and messengers, rather, the entire human species and the genii. The Sovereign of the Two Worlds and the Pride of the Two Worlds, the Confirmer and the Confirmed One, whose truthfulness has been evidenced even by enemies and of which the One and Partnerless Lord Himself is a witness, has said: -

(1) "I am myself the leader of mankind on the Day of Justice and I am not proud of it. The Banner of Divine Praise shall be in my hands and on this too I take no pride, and the whole mankind, rather the entirety of creatures, shall be under my banner and of this too I am not proud."
 

(2) It is stated in another Hadith: -  "I am the Friend (Habib) of Allah and I do not take pride on it and it is I who will be holding the Banner of Divine Praise but I am not proud of it, and it is I who shall be the first intercessor whose intercession will be accepted first and yet I do not pride over it. And I will be the first to knock at the door of Paradise which Allah Most High will get opened for me and at that time the poor believers will be with me; and I am the most respectable amongst all the ancient and the modern ones but I don't take pride on it."
 

(3) It is stated in another Hadith: -  He reports it from Gabriel and Gabriel from Allah Most High that Allah Most High told His prophet: "I have specially obliged and rewarded you with seven things : the first amongst them all is that I, in My View, have not created anyone more respectable than you in the heavens and the earth."

 (4) It is stated in another Hadith: - He states that the Angel Gabriel told him: "There is glad tidings and good news for you that you are most superior amongst all the creation of Allah Most Glorious, and accept this good news that Allah Most High hath saluted you in such a manner in which He hath never saluted any favourite angel nor any commissioned prophet; and the Beneficent Most High hath fixed a rank for you near the highest heaven which was neither given to any inhabitant of the skies nor any denizen of the earth to reach there so far. May Allah Most Glorious make this great post and His salutation auspicious for you"!

It is reported from Hazrat Abu Huraira in Bukhari Sharif: "On the Day of Judgement I will be the leader of all mankind." It says in Baihaqi's tradition: "I'm the chief of the whole world."

Due to this position of leadership he will be awarded the "Lauded Station" on the Day of Judgement, and gracing that post he will request and intercede in the Divine Court to begin the audit of all the creatures. This is the Supreme Intercession and this intercession will be made on that day when all the human beings and enterprising (commissioned) prophets will approach Prophet Adam, Prophet Noah, Prophet Abraham, Prophet Moses and Prophet Jesus and will appeal to them to request Allah Most Glorious that "either take our account or throw us into Hell for we cannot bear the severity of this place." At this each one of the enterprising prophets, remembering something about themselves, will say Nafsi, nafsi" (I'm concerned about myself, I'm concerned about myself). But on that day and at that time, our Master and Chief, His Holiness Muhammad  will say: "ana laha, ana laha" (I'll perform this, I'll perform this"). All the creatures on that day will be in need of his glance of magnanimity; their high ones as well as their low ones; their great prophets as well as their messengers. On that day, for that supreme intercession, none save our Holy Master  shall be able to say anything. Hazrat Anas reports that the Holy Prophet  said:

"Standing there I will be waiting for my ummah that it may easily cross the Bridge when, all of a sudden, will approach Prophet Jesus and say: '0 Muhammad  these great prophets have come to you for this reason that you may invoke that Allah Most High may disperse this multitude of all the ummahs from this plain of resurrection, and send them, as per the load of their sins, to the places where they are to be sent, because the people are drowning in perspiration'. However, perspiration will be flowing like catarrh from the believer, but death will be almost throttling the unbeliever (Kafir). The Holy Prophet  will say:- '0 Jesus! Wait here. I will return quickly.' Saying this the Holy Apostle will go and stand under the Divine Throne. Accordingly, he  will receive that proximity to Allah that neither any favourite angel could get nor any prophet nor any apostle. Then Allah Most High will tell holy Gabriel to tell Muhammad : "Raise your head and ask. Whatever you request will be granted, intercede; and for whomsoever you intercede, your intercession will be admitted.

The Third Special Notability

The third notability of His Holiness the Prophet  which Allamah Ibn Hajar al-Haithami al-Makki has mentioned concerns those innumerable miracles of his which will last forever:

"And by way of a miracle, the Quran itself is sufficient which will last till the approach of the Day of Doom; and in itself the Holy Prophet's  countless miracles and unlimited merits and praises have been described'.'