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| Ahl al-Bayt |
Ahl al-Bayt (Arabic: أهل البيت ) is a 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 ibn Ali and Husayn ibn Ali 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
Shia view the general meaning of "Ahl al-Bayt" as "people of the house" or "my family" and believe that in an Islamic context it refers to "Ali, Fatimah, Hasan ibn Ali, Husayn ibn Ali and their progeny and none else" in the same way zakat generally means "making pure," but when used as an Islamic term it means "giving alms". The Shi'a argue Ali, Fatima, and their children were singled out because they were free from sin and showed perfect faith in Islam. The Shi'a cite the Event of the Cloak hadith as proof that Muhammad claimed his daughter's family as his own and excluded his wives.
The Shi'a further argue that Muhammad's wives and widows demonstrated their unfitness to be part of the "Ahl al-Bayt" through 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 (see Battle of Basra.