According to the Sunni hadith collections, it is narrated that during the 9th - 10th year after hijra an Arab Christian envoy from Najran (currently in northern Yemen and partly in Saudi Arabia) came to the Muhammad (Sullah ho Alae hey wa Alaehi Wasalam) to argue which of the two parties erred in its doctrine concerning Jesus (Quran 3:61). Muhammad (Sullah ho Alae hey wa Alaehi Wasalam) offered to do the Arabic tradition known as Mubahala, where each conflicting party should cover themselves, and together all parties ask God sincerely to destroy and inflict with curses on the lying party and their families. Muhammad (Sullah ho Alae hey wa Alaehi Wasalam), to prove to them that he is a prophet, brought his daughter Fatimah (Razi Allah Taellah Anho) and his surviving grandchildren, Hasan and Hussein, and Ali ibn Abi Talib and came back to the Christians and said this is my family (Ahl) and covered himself and his family with a cloak.[1]

The Shia claim that this authentic hadith proves whom the Quran is referring to when it mentions the Ahlul-Bayt (Arabic: أهل البيت or Household), which includes only Ali(Karam Allah Wajaho), Fatimah(Razi Allah Taellah Anho), and their descendants.[2] Sunni dispute that this verse was about Muhammad(Sallallahu Alaihi wa Salaam)'s wives and their children and even their servants.

Pandangan Syiah Muslim

The Shia celebrate this event as Eid-e Mubahala.[3] This hadith provides the background for the "purification verse" or ayah al-tatheer from surah Al-Ahzab in the Quran wherby Allah explicitly identified who are the Ahlul Bayt:

"And abide quietly in your homes, and do not flaunt your charms as they used to flaunt them in the old days of pagan ignorance; and be constant in prayer, and render the purifying dues, and pay heed unto Allah and His Apostle: Allah wishes to remove all filth and impurity from you, O People of the House of the Prophet, and to render you utterly free of all pollution." (33:33)[4]

The tradition about this hadith goes from different sources to Fatimah, the daughter of Muhammad. She narrated that once her father visited her home, he had fever and was not feeling well, he asked for a Yemeni cloak which Fatimah brought to him and folded it around him. Later he was joined in that Yemeni cloak by his grandsons Hasan and Hussein, who were followed by their father Ali ibn Abi Talib, who was cousin and son-in-law of Muhammad. Finally Fatimah asked the permission to enter that cloak. When all five of them joined together under the cloak, Muhammad narrated the Quranic verse 33:33 to those under the cloak that all five of them are chosen ones, and he further stated that he wants from Allah to keep all impurities out of reach and away from all of us. Muhammad then prayed to Allah to declare all five of them as his Ahlul Bayt and keep away the Najasat (impurities). Allah at that request immediately sent Gabriel to reveal to Muhammad that all the five under the cloak are dearest and closest to Allah and they are Taher (purest of the pure) without any traces of impurities.[5]

Pandangan Sunni Islam

Many Sunni scholars remark that the "purification verse" was revealed concerning five people: Muhammad, Ali, Fatimah, Hasan and Husayn.[6] Others maintain that the "purification verse" cannot refer to the inerrancy of the Imams because the context in which it occurs relates to the wives of Muhammad and necessitates that it, too, should refer to them, or that at the very least they cannot be excluded from the category it addresses. If it were to imply inerrancy, then the wives of Muhammad would also have to be inerrant, a belief that Sunni scholars do not hold. Shia scholars, however, do believe in the infallibility of Prophet Muhammad.

Nevertheless, according to the Sunni historian al-Tabari, the term ahl al-bayt refers to ‘Ali, Fatima, Hasan, and Husayn. In reference to verse 33:33, L. Veccia Vaglieri, in her Encyclopedia of Islam article entitled "Fatima", writes:

"[…] the preceding verses contain instructions to the wives of Muhammed, and there the verbs and pronouns are in the feminine plural; but in this verse, addressed to the People of the House, the pronouns are in the masculine plural. Thus, it has been said, it is no longer a question of Muhammed’s wives, or of them alone…. The expression Ahl al-bayt can only mean “Family of the Prophet”."