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Ahl al-Bayt,Ahl ul-Bayt, Ahlul Bayt or Ahl-e-Bayth is an Arabic phrase meaning People of the House, or family. In the Islamic tradition it refers to the household of the prophet Muhammad and his progeny through his daughter Fatima Zahra's marriage with his cousin Ali; their sons Hasan and Hussein were Muhammad's grandsons.
Followers of Shi'a Islam believe that the Shi'a imamate descended through the Ahl al-Bayt.
Controversy
Sunni
The Sunni normally include Muhammad's wives and widows in the Ahl al-Bayt, interpreting Al-Ahzab:33 as supporting this view (cf., for example, Tafsir Ibn Kathir.) Some vacillation on this point is observable in the hadith collections generally accepted by Sunnis: thus Sahih Muslim Book 31, No. 5920 quotes Zaid ibn Arqam as saying that his wives are Ahl al-Bayt in general (though not in the context of Muhammad's speech at Khumm), while 5923 quotes him as saying that they are not.
Shia
The Shi'a believe "Ahl al-Bayt" can refer to two things, one in the general sense, the other as a Islamic term, in the same way as zakat means in a general way "making pure" and the Islamic term means "giving alms".
Shia view the general meaning of "Ahl al-Bayt" as "people of the house" or "my family". They take the Islamic term to mean "Ali, Fatimah, Hasan, Husain and their progeny and none else". Ali and Fatima and their children were singled out, the Shi'a argue, because they were free from sin and showed perfect faith in Islam. The Shi'a cite the hadith called the Event of the Cloak as proof that Muhammad claimed his daughter's family as his own, and excluded his wives.
Muhammad's wives and widows, the Shi'a further argue, demonstrated their unfitness to be part of the "Ahl al-Bayt" by their bad behavior. They point to stories of jealousy and wrangling among the wives, to Aisha's jealousy of Fatima, and to Aisha's raising and leading an army against Ali.