“And abide in your houses and do not display yourselves as [was] the display of the former times of ignorance. And establish prayer and give zakah and obey Allah and His Messenger. Allah intends only to remove from you the impurity [of sin], O people of the [Prophet’s] household, and to purify you with [extensive] purification.” (Qur’an 33:33)
“Then whoever argues with you about it after [this] knowledge has come to you – say, “Come, let us call our sons and your sons, our women and your women, ourselves and yourselves, then supplicate earnestly [together] and invoke the curse of Allah upon the liars [among us].” (Qu’ran 3:61)
﷽
Today we are going to take a look at ‘The Hadith of the Cloak’.
Let us look at the stages of this hadith.
Stage 1. A simple observation about the Prophet (saw).
“A’isha reported that Allah’s Apostle (ﷺ) went out one morning wearing a blanket made of (camel’s or sheep’s) black hair with patterns of camel saddles upon it.”
Source: (https://sunnah.com/muslim:2081)
“Narrated ‘Aishah:
“The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) went out during the morning wearing a Mirt made of black hair.”
Source: (https://sunnah.com/tirmidhi:2813)
‘Aishah said:
The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) went out one morning wearing a variegated garment of black goat hair.
Narrated Utbah ibn AbdusSulami: I asked the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) to clothe me. He clothed me with two coarse clothes of linen.
Source: (https://sunnah.com/abudawud:4032)
That is it. The Blessed Prophet (saw) went out of his home and he was wearing a particular garment. Aisha (ra) asked to be clothed in one cloak and she was cloaked twice!
Stage 2. The Theological machination begins.
‘A’isha reported that Allah’s Apostle (ﷺ) went out one morning wearing a striped cloak of the black camel’s hair that there came Hasan b. ‘Ali. He wrapped him under it, then came Husain and he wrapped him under it along with the other one (Hasan). Then came Fatima and he took her under it, then came ‘Ali and he also took him under it and then said:
Allah only desires to take away any uncleanliness from you, O people of the household, and purify you (thorough purifying)
Source: (https://sunnah.com/muslim:2424)
Pause and reflection:
The making of a great hotdog!
How do we go from plain ol frank to an ultra galactic mega hotdog?!
The plain ol frank.
“A’isha reported that Allah’s Apostle (ﷺ) went out one morning wearing a blanket made of (camel’s or sheep’s) black hair with patterns of camel saddles upon it.”
Source: (https://sunnah.com/muslim:2081)
This is the hadith of the cloak. (Hadith al-kisa) before the Kufan spices and seasonings. Before the merchants of falsehood snatched it up and turned an innocent hotdog into something extra!
You will note that the above hadith appears under the heading:
Chapter: Humility In Dress/Clothing And Sticking To Coarse And Simple Clothes, Furnishings Etc., Permissibility Of Wearing Clothes Made From Camel Hair And Those On Which There Are Markings.
This hadith which comes to us by way of Mus’ab bin Shaybah himself originally rejected in hadith (munkar al-hadith) as he has rejected narrations. More on this latter insh’Allah.
The chain: So, on the authority of Mus’ab bin Shaybah, on the authority of Safiyyah bint Shaybah, on the authority of Aisha, who said: “The Prophet (saw) went out one morning wearing a striped cloak made of black hair.” End of point. That’s it. Nothing else. The hadith ended right there, just in the chapter of ‘Humility in Clothing.’ There is nothing else in it!
The ultra galactic mega hotdog.
So how did it develop? How did it become the ultra galatic mega hotdog that so many quote to us?
Now it is in The Book of the Merits of the Companions! With the subheading: Chapter: The Virtues Of The Household Of The Prophet (saw).
The exact same chain: Mus’ab bin Shaybah, on the authority of Safiyyah bint Shaybah, on the authority of Aisha. The same one, the exact same chain. With the exact same text: “The Prophet (saw) went out one morning wearing a striped cloak made of black hair.” Period. That’s it! It should have stopped there.
But the Kufans would not have it to be the case.
“Then Al-Hasan bin Ali came.” He was actually very small!
How could he come by himself when he was only three years old?
How did he know? Did he know that the Prophet (saw) had just gone out? I mean, what kind of coincidence brought Hasan’s exit together with the exit of the Prophet? And how did Aisha (ra) see this scene? How did she know about this scene?
‘”Then Al-Hasan bin Ali came, so he let him in…”
Okay, let him in where? Meaning, did he stand in the street and sit down, placing the blanket over his head? Where? Where did he go back to, the house? We don’t know.
فَجَاءَ الْحَسَنُ بْنُ عَلِيٍّ فَأَدْخَلَهُ
fa-jāʾa al-Ḥasan ibn ʿAlī fa-adkhalahu
“Then al-Hasan ibn Ali came, so he brought him inside.”
Notice that the Arabic does not explicitly say “inside the cloak” here. The object of أَدْخَلَهُ (adkhalahu, “he brought him inside”) is implicit from the context.
“Al-Hasan came, so he let him in. A little later, Al-Husayn came.”
ثُمَّ جَاءَ الْحُسَيْنُ فَدَخَلَ مَعَهُ
thumma jāʾa al-Ḥusayn fa-dakhala maʿahu
“Then al-Husayn came, and he entered with him.”
Here the wording changes. The Prophet (saw) is not explicitly said to have adkhalahu (“brought him inside”); rather:
فَدَخَلَ مَعَهُ — “and he entered with him.”
So up to this point the Prophet (saw) is just waiting around for Al-Husayn to arrive? Furthermore, how old was Al-Husayn? I mean, the Verse of the Cloak, which they say are in Surah Al Ahzab, was revealed in the year 5 or 6 AH (After Hijrah). Think about it! How old were these grandchildren when the Blessed Prophet (saw) passed away. So how old are they here? Coming out one by one?!
Al Hasan was around two to three years old. So how old was Al Husayn? Definitely less than two years old! How did he come?
Where was their mother? Is it believable, that a mother would leave her children to go out in the street like that? Because at this point in the narration, there is no mention of their mother. She hadn’t entered yet, May Allah be pleased with her.
It says:
‘”Then Fatima came, and he let her in. Then he (Ali) came.”
Okay, what brought Ali out? We can understand Fatima (ra) going out to catch up with her children—that makes sense, it’s a justified matter. But why did Ali bin Abi Talib come out?
“Then he said, after letting them in: “Allah intends only to remove from you the impurity [of sin], O people of the household, and to purify you with [extensive] purification.”‘
The Blessed Prophet (saw) did he only have one daughter named Fatima(ra)?
Where are the rest of his daughters?
Where is Um Kulthum (ra)? Where is Zainab (ra)? Zainab was definitely alive; she didn’t pass away until 9 AH. Zainab was absolutely present. This incident happened in 6 AH or let’s say 5 to 6 AH. Therefore, Zainab was definitely present, and her sister was present, may Allah be pleased with them both. Where is Um Kulthum (ra). Um Kulthum was alive. Ruqayyah had passed away before that, may Allah have mercy on her.
Why didn’t the Messenger of Allah (saw) purify them along with Fatima (ra)? Why did he purify Fatima and leave her sisters?
Why?
And why did he only purify his grandsons Hasan and Husayn, but did not purify Umamah bint Abi al-As bin al-Rabi’ (Ra). She was the daughter of Zainab, who is also his granddaughter! She is a grandchild too! And why didn’t he purify Zainab bint Ali (ra), the sister of Husayn? And why didn’t he purify Abdullah bin Uthman bin Affan (ra)?
The Absences Are Telling.
The story’s silence about Zaynab and Umm Kulthum. The Blessed Prophet’s other daughters who were alive at the time is difficult to explain if this were a spontaneous historical event. If the Prophet (saw) wanted to honor his family, why exclude his other daughters? The only coherent answer is that the story’s purpose was not to honor “his family” broadly, but to define a specific lineage. One that runs through Ali and Fatima. That is a Shi’i theological concern, not a general historical one.
The narrative reads like a carefully choreographed scene rather than anything that actually happened.
The arrival sequence:
The hadith has each person arrive one after another:
- Hasan comes → wrapped
- Husayn comes → wrapped
- Fatima (ra) comes → wrapped
- Ali comes → wrapped
This implies the Prophet (saw) was waiting under the cloak (or holding it) while each person independently walked to him.
- How did Hasan and Husayn know to come?
- Why would a 1–2 year old leave the house alone and find his grandfather?
- If Fatima (ra) came after her children, was she not watching them? Did they wander off?
- Why did Ali come last? Was he not with Fatima (ra)? Did he not see his children leave?
- Where were Zaynab (ra) and Umm Kulthum (ra), the Prophet’s other daughters who were alive at the time? Their absence is conspicuous.
The ages:
- The event is typically dated to around 5–6 AH, based on the association with Surah Al-Ahzab.
- Hasan was born in 3 AH, so he would have been 2–3 years old.
- Husayn was born in 4 AH, so he would have been 1–2 years old.
- A 1–2 year old walking out on his own, knowing where his grandfather went, and arriving at the right moment to be wrapped under a cloak? This strains credulity.
- A 2–3 year old doing the same is only slightly less implausible.
The Size of the Cloak
This is a genuinely under-discussed issue. The hadith describes the Blessed Prophet (saw) wrapping Hasan, Husayn, Fatima (ra), and Ali under a single cloak. In some versions, he himself is under it too.
A few observations:
- The cloak is described as a “striped cloak of black camel’s hair” (kisa’ min sha’r aswad). These were typically rectangular wool or hair garments, not enormous tents. They were worn as outer wraps.
- To cover five people (Ali was a grown man, Fatima (ra) was an adult woman) plus two small children under one such garment requires either:
- A cloak of exceptional size which is not indicated in the text.
- The narrative detail that he went out wearing it, then let each person in one by one, suggests a staged, deliberate scene rather than a spontaneous moment. That raises the question: if he was standing outside, how did a cloak cover everyone?
The text as narrated doesn’t explain the mechanics and that’s a legitimate gap.
The Zayd ibn Arqam Contradiction in Sahih Muslim. One of which is certainly not like the other!
Exhibit A.
Yazid b. Hayyan reported, I went along with Husain b. Sabra and ‘Umar b. Muslim to Zaid b. Arqam and, as we sat by his side, Husain said to him:
Zaid. you have been able to acquire a great virtue that you saw Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ) listened to his talk, fought by his side in (different) battles, offered prayer behind me. Zaid, you have in fact earned a great virtue. Zaid, narrate to us what you heard from Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ). He said: I have grown old and have almost spent my age and I have forgotten some of the things which I remembered in connection with Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ), so accept whatever I narrate to you, and which I do not narrate do not compel me to do that. He then said: One day Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ) stood up to deliver sermon at a watering place known as Khumm situated between Mecca and Medina. He praised Allah, extolled Him and delivered the sermon and. exhorted (us) and said: Now to our purpose. O people, I am a human being. I am about to receive a messenger (the angel of death) from my Lord and I, in response to Allah’s call, (would bid good-bye to you), but I am leaving among you two weighty things: the one being the Book of Allah in which there is right guidance and light, so hold fast to the Book of Allah and adhere to it. He exhorted (us) (to hold fast) to the Book of Allah and then said: The second are the members of my household I remind you (of your duties) to the members of my family. He (Husain) said to Zaid: Who are the members of his household? Aren’t his wives the members of his family? Thereupon he said: His wives are the members of his family (but here) the members of his family are those for whom acceptance of Zakat is forbidden. And he said: Who are they? Thereupon he said: ‘Ali and the offspring of ‘Ali, ‘Aqil and the offspring of ‘Aqil and the offspring of Ja’far and the offspring of ‘Abbas. Husain said: These are those for whom the acceptance of Zakat is forbidden. Zaid said: Yes.
Source: (https://sunnah.com/muslim:2408a)
Exhibit B.
Yazid b. Hayyan reported:
We went to him (Zaid b. Arqam) and said to him. You have found goodness (for you had the honour) to live in the company of Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ) and offered prayer behind him, and the rest of the hadith is the same but with this variation of wording that lie said: Behold, for I am leaving amongst you two weighty things, one of which is the Book of Allah, the Exalted and Glorious, and that is the rope of Allah. He who holds it fast would be on right guidance and he who abandons it would be in error, and in this (hadith) these words are also found: We said: Who are amongst the members of the household? Aren’t the wives (of the Holy Prophet) included amongst the members of his house hold? Thereupon he said: No, by Allah, a woman lives with a man (as his wife) for a certain period; he then divorces her and she goes back to her parents and to her people; the members of his household include his ownself and his kith and kin (who are related to him by blood) and for him the acceptance of Zakat is prohibited.
Source: (https://sunnah.com/muslim:2408d)
In Exhibit A, Zayd bin al-Arqam (ra) is asked by people. He says: “And his wives are among his household (Ahl al-Bayt)?’ He says: “Yes, his wives are among his household. And the family of Abbas, the family of Aqil, and the family of Ja’far.”
Yet, under the same people, the same narration, the same day, the same place, they ask him a second time: In Exhibit B “And his wives are among his household?” [And Zayd replies]: “By Allah, no! They are not of his household.”
Yet, Allah (swt) says in the Qur’an: “O wives of the Prophet!” (Qur’an 33:32)
So there is a problem. Either Muslim brought Exhibit B hadith to show its weakness, because The Blessed Prophet (saw) said: “Go to my household, I remind you of Allah concerning my household,” who are his wives in the first place!
His wives are originally his household, okay? So if you go to “I remind you of Allah…” in the same hadith… I am saying this just for the sake of public awareness, nothing more and nothing less. Because sometimes a Shi’i might come to you and make your head spin, saying to you: “Go to Muslim, you have Zayd bin al-Arqam saying: ‘No, by Allah [they are not].'” While the verse of the Qur’an is clear!
It says: “O wives of the Prophet,” (Qur’an 33:32) and “Allah intends only to remove from you the impurity [of sin], O people of the [Prophet’s] household (Ahl al-Bayt), and to purify you with [extensive] purification” (Qur’an 33:33)
Yet the detractors will say: “Yes, he divorces her and does this and that!” Did the Blessed Prophet (saw) divorce Aisha (ra). Did he permanently divorce any of his wives (May Allah be pleased with them all).
What are these scams? What are these lies?
The Blessed Prophet (saw) never permanently divorce a wife, sent her away from his household, or remained separated from her until death! Every blessed woman who truly lived with him as a wife in his household remained his wife until either her death! For example: Khadijah (ra) and Zaynab bint Khuzaymah(ra).
Hafsah (ra) he took her back immediately. The divorce was completely undone. For the women like hte one from Banu Jawn, the marriage contract (Nikah) was signed, but the marriage was never consummated.
So the hadith here: https://sunnah.com/muslim:2408d. Muslim brought it to show its weakness. Because if it were otherwise, then there is a blatant contradiction!
And let no one come and say to you: “Well, it is because charity is forbidden to them [the household],” because there is the following hadith:
“11016 – Waki’ narrated to us, from Muhammed bin Sharik, from Ibn Abi Mulaykah, that Khalid bin Sa’id sent a cow from the charity (Zakat) to Aisha, but she returned it and said: ‘We are the family (Aal) of Muhammed ﷺ; charity is not permissible for us.’”
Source: (https://shamela.ws/book/333/12504)
“The second are the members of my household I remind you (of your duties) to the members of my household.”
Of course, the household, are the wives of the Blessed Prohet (saw). From the very start, they are the wives of the Prophet (saw). This house. Who are its inhabitants? The inhabitants of the house are the household who live in it. Not his cousin. Fatima (ra) is from the household of Ali bin Abi Talib, by the way.
For if there are others why not bring the whole family in?! The more the merrier! Why do we let some people in and exclude the others? The whole family: Aqil, the family of Ja’far, the family of Abu Talib, the daughters: Zainab, Ruqayyah, Um Kulthum.
Why the descrimination when dealing with the text? “I remind you (of your duties) to the members of my household.”
Narrated Anas:
A banquet of bread and meat was held on the occasion of the marriage of the Prophet (ﷺ) to Zainab bint Jahsh. I was sent to invite the people (to the banquet), and so the people started coming (in groups); They would eat and then leave. Another batch would come, eat and leave. So I kept on inviting the people till I found nobody to invite. Then I said, “O Allah’s Prophet! I do not find anybody to invite.” He said, “Carry away the remaining food.” Then a batch of three persons stayed in the house chatting. The Prophet (ﷺ) left and went towards the dwelling place of Aisha and said, “Peace and Allah’s Mercy be on you, O the people of the house!” She replied, “Peace and the mercy of Allah be on you too. How did you find your wife? May Allah bless you. Then he went to the dwelling places of all his other wives and said to them the same as he said to Aisha and they said to him the same as Aisha had said to him. Then the Prophet (ﷺ) returned and found a group of three persons still in the house chatting. The Prophet was a very shy person, so he went out (for the second time) and went towards the dwelling place of `Aisha. I do not remember whether I informed him that the people have gone away. So he returned and as soon as he entered the gate, he drew the curtain between me and him, and then the Verse of Al-Hijab was revealed.
Source: (https://sunnah.com/bukhari:4793)
Anas narrates the story of the Prophet’s wedding to Zaynab bint Jahsh. Three men overstay their welcome. The Prophet, being shy, leaves and goes to Aisha’s dwelling, saying:
“Peace and Allah’s Mercy be on you, O the people of the house (Ahl al-Bayt)!”
Aisha replies, and he does the same at the dwellings of all his other wives. Then he returns, finds the men still there, leaves again, and finally when he enters, he draws the curtain and the Verse of Al-Hijab (33:53) is revealed.
Key observations:
- “Ahl al-Bayt” here explicitly refers to Aisha and the other wives. The Blessed Prophet (saw) addresses each wife’s dwelling with “Peace be upon you, O Ahl al-Bayt.” This is a direct, unambiguous Prophetic usage of the term for the wives.
- The context is domestic and legal. The Verse of Al-Hijab (Qur’an 33:53) is about modesty, privacy, and boundaries in the Prophet’s household. It addresses the believers: “And when you ask [his wives] for something, ask them from behind a partition.” The entire passage is about the wives’ status and the sanctity of the Prophet’s home.
- This is the same Surah (Al-Ahzab) that contains 33:33. That is the Verse of Purification used in the Hadith of the Cloak. The immediate context of 33:33 is:
- 33:28–34: Addresses to the wives of the Prophet.
- 33:33: “Allah intends only to remove from you the impurity, O Ahl al-Bayt, and to purify you.”
- 33:53: The Verse of Al-Hijab, again about the wives and the Prophet’s household.
So the Quranic usage of Ahl al-Bayt in this surah is consistently about the wives, with 33:33 embedded in a passage about them.
“To be, or not to be, that is the question” The Companion included and the Wife rejected.
Let us move to the next report.
Narrated ‘Umar bin Abi Salamah – the step-son of the Prophet (ﷺ):
“When these Ayat were revealed to the Prophet (ﷺ): ‘Allah only wishes to remove the Rijs from you, O members of the family, and to purify you with a thorough purification (33:33)’ in the home of Umm Salamah, he called for Fatimah, Hasan, Husain, and wrapped him in the cloak, and ‘Ali was behind him, so he wrapped him in the cloak, then he said: ‘O Allah! These are the people of my house, so remove the Rijs from them, and purify them with a thorough purification.’ So Umm Salamah said: ‘And I, Prophet of Allah?’ He said: ‘You are in your place (meaning you are already a member of my household), and you are goodness.’ (HERE WE TRANSLATE THE UNTRANSLATED ARABIC WHICH IS AS FOLLOWS: Tirmidhi says ” He [Imam at-Tirmidhi] said: ‘This hadith is Gharib (scarce/unfamiliar) from this route, from the narration of ‘Ata from ‘Umar bin Abi Salamah.'”
Source: (https://sunnah.com/tirmidhi:3205)
*note* the comment: (meaning you are already a member of my household) is not in the Arabic text. It is an editorial comment in English.
Fāṭimah went to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ calling him until he came. He said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ came and entered, and I entered with them. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ called Ḥasan and Ḥusayn and seated each one of them on his thigh, drew Fāṭimah near to his lap, then wrapped his garment over them while I was leaning back. Then he said, {Allah only intends to remove from you impurity, O people of the household, and to purify you thoroughly.} Then he said, “These are my family.” Wāthilah said, “I said, ‘O Messenger of Allah, and am I of your family?’ He said, ‘And you are of my family.’” Wāthilah said, “It is indeed the most hope I have.”
Source: (https://hadithunlocked.com/tabarani:2670)
Prima Qur’an comments:
So what is going on here? Umm Salamah (ra) gets excluded while Wāthilah (ra) gets included?
To be, or not be, that is the question. Imagine a scenario where Umm Salamah (ra), the wife of the Blessed Prophet (saw) gets rejected where she witnesses this companion, Wāthilah get accepted!
Ahl al-Kisa’ are Al-‘Abbas and his descendants?
Narrated Ibn ‘Abbas:
“The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said to Al-‘Abbas: ‘On the night of Monday, come to me, you and your offspring, so that I may supplicate for them with a supplication that Allah will benefit you and your children by.’ So he went, and we went with at night, so he (ﷺ) covered us in a Kisah (shawl), then said: ‘O Allah, forgive Al-‘Abbas and his offspring, for what is open and what is secret, with a forgiveness that does not leave any sins. O Allah! Take care of him concerning the affair of his offspring.‘” (HERE WE TRANSLATE THE UNTRANSLATED ARABIC WHICH IS AS FOLLOWS: Tirmidhi says: “This is a good but scarce (Hasan Gharib) hadith; we do not know it except from this path.”
Source: (https://sunnah.com/tirmidhi:3762)
He reported Allah’s messenger as saying to al-`Abbas, “When Monday morning comes come to me with your children so that I may make for you a supplication by which Allah may benefit you and your children.” He and they came in the morning, and when he had put his cloak over them he said, “O Allah, grant al-`Abbas and his children such forgiveness without and within as will not leave a sin. O Allah, guard him in his children.” Tirmidhi transmitted it, and Razin added, “And cause the Caliphate to remain among his descendants.” Tirmidhi said this is a gharib tradition.
Source: (https://sunnah.com/urn/5661580)
The political intrigue here is too obvious not to see it. Razin added, “And cause the Caliphate to remain among his descendants.”
This Hadith of the Cloak does not even exist with an authentic chain of narration.
Al-Bukhari did not narrate it. It is not in the Muwatta. It is not in the Musnad al-Rabi’ ibn Habib and Muslim narrated it via Mus’ab bin Shaybah.
The primary chain (Aisha → Safiyya bint Shaybah → Mus’ab bin Shaybah → Zakariyya) runs through Kufa, a city with strong early Shi’i sympathies. The key narrator, Mus’ab bin Shaybah, is criticized by multiple hadith critics (Ahmad, Abu Hatim, al-Nasa’i, al-Daraqutni) as weak or having “rejected” narrations.
Source: (https://shamela.ws/narrator/6173)
The tradition’s common link is Zakariyya ibn Abi Za’ida, a Kufan with Banu Hamdan tribal ties again, a milieu associated with proto-Shi’i sentiment.
The Abbasid Sunnis* turn to Ikrima (ra) for help!
*Abbasid Sunnis is a reference to the vast majority of those who consider themselves: Ahl al-Sunnah wa-l-Jamāʿah. During the Abbasid era a Shification of the Proto-Sunni Umayyads takes place.
Ibn Abi Hatim recorded that Ibn `Abbas said concerning the Ayah: “Allah wishes only to remove Ar-Rijs from you, O members of the family. “It was revealed solely concerning the wives of the Prophet .”
Ibn Jarir recorded that ‘Ikrimah used to call out in the marketplace: إِنَّمَا يُرِيدُ اللَّهُ لِيُذْهِبَ عَنْكُمُ الرِّجْسَ أَهْلَ الْبَيْتِ وَيُطَهِّرَكُمْ تَطْهِيرًا ( Allah wishes only to remove Ar-Rijs from you, O members of the family, and to purify you with a thorough purification. ) “This was revealed solely concerning the wives of the Prophet.” Ibn Abi Hatim recorded that Ibn ‘Abbas said concerning the Ayah: إِنَّمَا يُرِيدُ اللَّهُ لِيُذْهِبَ عَنْكُمُ الرِّجْسَ أَهْلَ الْبَيْتِ ( Allah wishes only to remove Ar-Rijs from you, O members of the family, ) “It was revealed solely concerning the wives of the Prophet ﷺ.” ‘Ikrimah said: “Whoever disagrees with me that it was revealed solely concerning the wives of the Prophet ﷺ, I am prepared to meet with him and pray and invoke the curse of Allah upon those who are lying.”
Source: (https://surahquran.com/tafsir-english-aya-33-sora-33.html)
Having Aisha(the wife of the Prophet) also narrate this is doubly suspicious. After all one side says Aisha is part of the Ahl Bayt (which the Qur’an explitily affirms) and the other side says no she’s not.
The Logical Problem and how the Abbasid Sunnis attempt to reconcile reports.
If Aisha (ra) is the narrator of the Hadith of the Cloak, and the hadith’s function is to exclude the wives from Ahl al-Bayt, then Aisha is narrating her own exclusion.
Why would she do that?
- If she agreed with the exclusion, she is narrating something that diminishes her own status. Possible, but unusual.
- If she disagreed with the exclusion, why narrate it at all? Why preserve a tradition that undercuts your own position?
The most common answer given is: she narrated what she saw, regardless of its implications. That’s a pious answer, but it doesn’t resolve the literary problem. It assumes Aisha (ra) understood the event the same way later Shi’i interpreters did. This is as an act of exclusion. But nothing in her narration says she saw it that way. The exclusion is an interpretation imposed on the event by later readers, not something Aisha (ra) herself states.
The Deeper Suspicion
Here’s where it gets more interesting. If the tradition was shaped in proto-Shi’i circles to establish the exclusive Ahl al-Bayt, why attribute it to Aisha at all?
There are several reasons:
- Authority laundering. A tradition attributed to Aisha carries weight with Sunni audiences. If you want a Sunni to accept a Shi’i-leaning theological point, you attribute it to a figure they trust. Aisha is the perfect vehicle. She is a wife, she was in the household, and she is highly respected in Sunni Islam.
- Plausible deniability. If Aisha narrates it, it can’t be dismissed as a “Shi’i fabrication”. It’s in the most trusted Sunni collection, narrated by the Mother of the Believers herself.
- The irony is the point. Some have argued that the tradition’s power lies precisely in the fact that Aisha narrates her own exclusion. It makes the exclusion appear undeniable. If even Aisha reports it, who can argue?
But this creates a theological trap for the Sunni reader:
- The Quran addresses the wives as Ahl al-Bayt (33:33 in context).
- Aisha, a wife, narrates a hadith that seems to exclude the wives from Ahl al-Bayt.
- Zayd ibn Arqam, in the same Sahih Muslim, gives contradictory answers on whether the wives are included.
What Aisha’s Narration Actually Says
If you strip away the later theological framing, Aisha’s narration says:
- The Prophet went out one morning wearing a cloak.
- Hasan, Husayn, Fatima, and Ali came and were gathered under it.
- He recited the purification verse.
That’s it. It does not say:
- “These are the only Ahl al-Bayt.”
- “My wives are not included.”
- “This verse is exclusively about these five.”
Those are interpretations added by later communities. Aisha’s narration is descriptive, not prescriptive. The prescriptive reading, the one that makes it a boundary-setting document, is a later Shi’i development.
So Why Is It Suspicious?
It’s suspicious because the tradition functions as a boundary-setting document in its fully developed form, but it is narrated by someone whose inclusion in Ahl al-Bayt is precisely what’s being debated. That’s not how organic historical memory usually works. It’s how contested traditions get shaped: they are attributed to authoritative figures on both sides of a debate to lend them weight.
Aisha narrating her own exclusion is either:
- A sign of her incredible objectivity (the pious reading), or
- A sign that the tradition was crafted by people who wanted to use her authority to settle a debate she may not have even known was happening (the critical reading).
The second is more consistent with what we know about how sectarian traditions developed in the first two centuries of Islam.
The attempt to trick and swindle the Muslim Ummah.
The blatant contradiction between the hadith of Umm Salamah (ra) and Aisha (ra).
Narrated ‘Umar bin Abi Salamah – the step-son of the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم):”When these Ayat were revealed to the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم): ‘Allah only wishes to remove the Rijs from you, O members of the family, and to purify you with a thorough purification (33:33)’ in the home of Umm Salamah, he called for Fatimah, Hasan, Husain, and wrapped him in the cloak, and ‘Ali was behind him, so he wrapped him in the cloak, then he said: ‘O Allah! These are the people of my house, so remove the Rijs from them, and purify them with a thorough purification.’ So Umm Salamah said: ‘And I, Prophet of Allah?’ He said: ‘You are in your place (meaning you are already a member of my household), and you are goodness.’ (HERE WE TRANSLATE THE UNTRANSLATED ARABIC WHICH IS AS FOLLOWS: Tirmidhi says ” He [Imam at-Tirmidhi] said: ‘This hadith is Gharib (scarce/unfamiliar) from this route, from the narration of ‘Ata from ‘Umar bin Abi Salamah.'”
Source: (https://sunnah.com/tirmidhi:3205)
A’isha reported that Allah’s Apostle (صلى الله عليه وسلم) went out one morning wearing a striped cloak of the black camel’s hair that there came Hasan b. ‘Ali. He wrapped him under it, then came Husain and he wrapped him under it along with the other one (Hasan). Then came Fatima and he took her under it, then came ‘Ali and he also took him under it and then said: Allah only desires to take away any uncleanliness from you, O people of the household, and purify you (thorough purifying)
Source: (https://sunnah.com/muslim:2424)
The Blatant Contradictions Between the Two Narrations. Matn Analysis.
A strict textual comparison reveals these primary contradictions:
| Feature | Umm Salamah’s Narration (Tirmidhi 3205) [1] | Aisha’s Narration (Sahih Muslim 2424) [2] |
|---|---|---|
| The Location | Indoors: Specifically inside the (Bayt) of Umm Salamah. | Outdoors: The Prophet ﷺ “went out one morning” (kharaja… ghadatan). |
| The Catalyst | The Revelation of the Quran: The event is triggered instantly because Verse 33:33 just came down. | A Spontaneous Gathering: No mention of a sudden revelation; the family members just walk up to him one by one. |
| The Order of People | Simultaneous/Grouped: He calls Fatimah, Hasan, and Husayn together, then wraps Ali. | Sequential/One-by-One: Hasan arrives first, then Husayn, then Fatimah, then Ali. |
| The Prophet’s Action | An Active Supplication: The Prophet ﷺ explicitly begs Allah: “O Allah! These are the people of my house, so remove the Rijs…” | A Passive Recitation: The Prophet ﷺ simply recites the verse aloud after they are gathered. |
| The Exclusion of Wives | Explicitly Addressed: Umm Salamah tries to enter, and the Prophet ﷺ stops her, saying, “You remain in your place.” | Entirely Absent: No one asks to join, and no exclusion is voiced. |
One event takes place inside a house and another takes place outside of the house.
These are certainly not the same. You can smell the polemic here. Because ahl bayt (literaly means people of the house) so you have to have it take place inside a house right?! So Umm Salamah’s house it is!
The issue with the chain of Umm Salamah (and why usually the learned among the Shi’i prefer to go directly to the hadith in Muslim)
Imam At-TIrmidhi from Qutaybah bin Sa’id al-Balkhi from Muhammed bin Sulayman al-Asbahani from Yahya bin ‘Ubayd Allah from ‘Ata bin Abi Rabah from ‘Umar bin Abi Salamah.
Yahya bin ‘Ubayd Allah bin Mihsan al-Khazraji al-Madani
He is the primary critical flaw in this specific chain.
- The Consensus: He is universally rejected by classical hadith critics.
- Specific Critiques:
- Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal and Yahya ibn Ma’in (two of the greatest critics) stated that his narrations are Munkar (denied/unacceptable) and that he is Da’if (weak).
- Imam al-Bukhari explicitly wrote in Al-Tarikh al-Kabir: “He is Munkar al-Hadith” (his hadiths are rejected), and added elsewhere that he is “Matruk” (abandoned).
- Imam an-Nasa’i also declared him Matruk.
- Verdict: Because of Yahya bin ‘Ubayd Allah, this specific line of transmission in Jami` at-Tirmidhi is considered highly weak (Da’if Jiddan). This is why Imam at-Tirmidhi himself flagged the route as Gharib (unfamiliar/isolated).
Source: (https://shamela.ws/narrator/6964)
Final verdict. Ahl al-Kisa’ The Hadith of the Cloak or Cruel Joke?
This hadith is a cruel joke foisted upon the Ummah of Muhammed (saw). Many have unfortunately fallen for it. Our detailed demolition of the hadith’s narrative coherence shows that the tradition is not a reliable historical report, and therefore cannot bear the weight of the doctrine built upon it.
You may also wish to read the following:
May Allah Guide the Ummah.
May Allah Forgive the Ummah.
Prima Quran 