these are the Progeny of Muhammad...

these are the Progeny of Muhammad, so, shower your blessings and favours on the family of Muhammad as you showered them on Family of Abraham; You are the Praiseworthy, the Glorious… Umm Salama said that she raised the cloak to join them, but the Prophet pulled it out of her hand and said: You are (also) on the right’.

Another narration from Umm-Salama says that once the Prophet was in her house lying on a mattress, covered with a cloak from Khaitiar when his beloved daughter Fatima (a.s.) entered with a dish called aI-Khazira (a kind of food). The Prophet asked her to call her husband (All) and her two sons, Hassan and Husain. She called them and as they all sat together to eat, Allah revealed the following verse to the Prophet.

“…Allah desires to keep any uncleanness from you, o’ people of the House and make you pure as pure can be. (3) Upon this, the Prophet covered them all with his cloak and lifting his hands towards the sky said: “O Allah! This is my family and the nearest of my kin, keep away from them uncleanness and keep them pure as pure can be. Umm Salama adds that thrice the Prophet repeated these words and when she poked her head under the cloak and asked him Am I with you?

In a refraining gesture, he said twice: “You are (also) among the righteous”. On many occasions, the Prophet explained the meaning of this verse to the Muslims and drew their attention to its significance. Abi Sa’id Khidri quotes the Prophet as saying: “This verse was revealed concerning five persons): Myself, Ali, Fatima, Hassan and Husain.” “Allah desires to keep away uncleanness from you, people of the House and make you pure as pure can be ” (4).

A Tradition from A’isha who was a wife of the Prophet, also confirms the five persons meant in this verse. She says: Once the Prophet came wrapped up in a cloak of black hair. After a while, Hassan entered and he took him inside the cloak, then Husain came and joined them inside the cloak. Soon his daughter Fatima came and he took her inside also. Then Ali entered and he was also taken inside the cloak.

When all five of them were assembled under the cloak, Aa’isha says the Prophet recited (the purification verse) as a further confirmation of the Ahlul-Bayt’s dignity, as the verse had already been revealed earlier concerning these five infallible: “Allah desires to keep away uncleanness from you, People of the House and make you pure as pun can be”.