In his narration which contains the phrase...

In his narration which contains the phrase, “And my progeny, the members of my Household” { wa ‘itrati ahla bayti }, Tirmidhi writes that the Prophet (S) has said: "إني تارك فيكم ما ان تمسكتم به لن تضلوا بعدي ، أحدهما أعظم من الأخر: كتاب الله حبل ممدود من السماء إلى والأرض عترتي أهل بيتي لن يفتقا حتى يردا عليَّ الحوض فانظروا كيف تخلفوني فيها." Verily, I am leaving among you two weighty things to which if you hold fast, you shall never go astray.

One is greater than the other: the Book of Allah, which is the cord extending from the heaven to the earth and my progeny, the members of my Household. These two will never separate from each other until they meet me at the Pond { hawd } (of Kawthar ).

Be careful as to how you will behave toward them after me.[^4] Both Muslim and Tirmidhi, who are among the compilers of Sahih s and Sunan s (compilations of hadith s regarded as authentic by the Ahl as-Sunnah), highlight the phrase, “ ”, and this evidence supports our view, and the chains of transmission of both hadith s enjoy such accuracy and special reliability that they need no discussion and argumentation.

The chain of transmission of the narration, “wa sunnati” {and my tradition} The tradition, which mentions the phrase, “ sunnati ” {my tradition} instead of “ ahli bayti ” {members of my Household}, is a fabricated hadith , which apart from the weakness of its chain of transmission, was concocted and transmitted by the ‘Umayyad agents: In his Mustadrak (‘ala’s-Sahihayn) , Hakim al-Nayshaburi relates this narration with the following chain of transmission: عباس عن بن أبي أويس عن ابي اويس عن ثور بن زيد الدّيلمي عن عكمة عن ابن عباس قال رسول الله: "يا أيها الناس إني قد تركت فيكم ان اعتصمتم به فلن تضلّوا أبداً كتاب الله وسنّة نبيّه." ‘Abbas ibn Abi Uways narrates on the authority of Abi Uways from Thawr ibn Zayd ad-Daylami from ‘Ukrumah from Ibn ‘Abbas: The Messenger of Allah (S) said: “O people, I am leaving among you two things to which if you hold fast, you shall never go astray: the Book of Allah and the tradition of His prophet!”[^5] Among the transmitters of this narration are Isma‘il ibn Abi Uways and Abu Uways—a father and a son who were not found trustworthy, and they were also accused of lying, fabrication and forgery.