Bismillah
All praises due to Allah.
وَقَرْنَ فِي بُيُوتِكُنَّ وَلَا تَبَرَّجْنَ تَبَرُّجَ الْجَاهِلِيَّةِ الْأُولَى وَأَقِمْنَ الصَّلَاةَ وَآَتِينَ الزَّكَاةَ وَأَطِعْنَ اللَّهَ وَرَسُولَهُ إِنَّمَا يُرِيدُ اللَّهُ لِيُذْهِبَ عَنْكُمُ الرِّجْسَ أَهْلَ الْبَيْتِ وَيُطَهِّرَكُمْ تَطْهِيرًا
[33:33]
“And stay in your houses and do not display your finery like the displaying of the ignorance of yore; and keep up prayer, and pay the poor-rate, and obey Allah and His Apostle. Allah only desires to keep away the uncleanness from you, O people of the House! and to purify you a (thorough) purifying.”
According to correct opinion of Ahlus Sunnah scholars, the above verse revealed regarding the wives of the Prophet [SAW] but “Ahlal Bayt” (People of the House) also includes other relatives of the Prophet [saw].
But according to shia view, the red part of the verse revealed specifically for five personalities only, viz., 1. Fatima [ra] 2. Ali [ra] 3. Hasan [ra] [4] Husain [ra] 5. Nine descendents of Husain [ra].
To support their claim they give many arguments. One of their argument is that the red part of the verse uses masculine gender.
However this is a weak argument because these type of gender change are not new for Quran. Quranic arabic is very rich and many times goes against the modern arabic grammer. Just take a simple example, while talking to the wife of Ibrahim [as], angels also used the same masculine gender.
قَالُوا أَتَعْجَبِينَ مِنْ أَمْرِ اللَّهِ رَحْمَةُ اللَّهِ وَبَرَكَاتُهُ عَلَيْكُمْ أَهْلَ الْبَيْتِ إِنَّهُ حَمِيدٌ مَجِيدٌ
[11:73]
“They said: Do you wonder at Allah’s bidding? The mercy of Allah and His blessings are on you, O people of the house, surely He is Praised, Glorious.“
As we see here also, the Quran calls the wife of Ibrahim [as] Ahlal Bayt, and that while using the musculine gender in sentence.
The verse say “salamun ‘alaikum ahlal bayt“, and the “kum” is the same term which is used in 33:33, and is a masculine term.
Now let me give an exact example from Hadith where Prophet [saw] used masculine gender while referring to his wives as “Ahlal Bayt”.
It is mention in Sahih Muslim, Book of Marriage..
قال أنس: وشهدت وليمة زينب. فأشبع الناس خبزا ولحما. وكان يبعثني فأدعوا الناس. فلما فرغ قام وتبعته. فتخلف رجلان استأنس بهما الحديث. لم يخرجا. فجعل يمر على نسائه. فيسلم على كل واحدة منهن “سلام عليكم. كيف أنتم يا أهل البيت؟” فيقولون: بخير. يا رسول الله ! كيف وجدت أهلك ؟ فيقول “بخير” فلما فرغ رجع ورجعت معه. فلما بلغ الباب إذا هو بالرجلين قد استأنس بهما الحديث. فلما رأياه قد رجع قاما فخرجا. فوالله ! ما أدري أنا أخبرته أم أنزل عليه الوحي بأنهما قد خرجا. فرجع ورجعت معه. فلما وضع رجله في أسكفة الباب أرخى الحجاب بيني وبينه. وأنزل الله تعالى هذه الآية: {لا تدخلوا بيوت النبي إلا أن يؤذن لكم} [33 /الأحزاب/ الآية 53] الآية
[Sahih Al-Bukhari, (arabic source)]
Translation of the relevant part is…
Anas said: I also saw the wedding feast of Zainab, and he (the Holy Prophet) served bread and meat to the people, and made them eat to their heart’s content, and he (the Holy Prophet) sent me to call people, and as he was free (from the ceremony) he stood up and I followed him. Two persons were left and they were busy in talking and did not get out (of the apartment). He (the Holy Prophet) then proceeded towards (the apartments of) his wives. He greeted with as-Salamu ‘alaikum to every one of them and said: Members of the household, how are you?? They said: Messenger of Allah, we are in good state ‘How do you find your family? He would say: In good state. [Sahih Bukhari, (english source)]
Here Prophet [saw] greeted his wives as “Assalamu’alaikum. Kaifa antum ya Ahlal Bayt“. The blue parts in the sentence represent masculine gender. Hence, we see Prophet [saw] used the masculine sentence while greeting to his wives. Use of masculine gender in the above hadith doesn’t change the fact that Prophet was referring to his wives not any other members of his family.
The point here is Quranic arabic is very rich and modern arabic grammer doesn’t cover all aspects of it. We can’t just distort the context of Quran, just because it uses the masculine gender while talking to feminine, whose usage is proven for feminine by the way in the arabic books.
Now the following are some narrations which prove without doubt that Wives of the Prophet [saw] were among Ahlal Bayt…
Hazrat Aisha did consider herself among Ahlal Bayt:
35 – (1995) وحدثنا زهير بن حرب وإسحاق بن إبراهيم. كلاهما عن جرير. قال زهير: حدثنا جرير عن منصور، عن إبراهيم. قال:
قلت للأسود: هل سألت أم المؤمنين عما يكره أن ينتبذ فيه؟ قال: نعم. قلت: يا أم المؤمنين! أخبريني عما نهى عنه رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم أن ينتبذ فيه. قالت: نهانا، أهل البيت، أن ننتبذ في الدباء والمزفت [source]
Ibrahim reported: I said to Aswad if he had asked the Mother of the Believers (in which utensils) he (the Holy Prophet) disapproved the preparation of Nabidh. He (Aswad) said: Yes. I said: Mother of the Believers, inform me about the utensils in which) Allah’s Apostle forbade to prepare Nabidh. She (Hadrat ‘A’isha) said: He forbade us, the members of his family [Ahlal Bayt], to prepare Nabidh in gourd, or varnished jar. I said to him: Do you remember green pitcher, and pitcher? He said: I narrated to you what I have heard; should I narrate to you which I did not hear? [Sahih Muslim (source)]
Note- Ahlal Bayt in bracket is by me as a transliteration of what is present in arabic source.
Prophet (pbuh) called Aisha (ra) “Ahli Baytee” (my family) on pulpit, during the incident of Ifk:
فقام رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم فاستعذر يومئذ من عبد الله بن أبي ابن سلول، فقالت: فقال رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم وهو على المنبر: (يامعشر المسلمين، من يعذرني من رجل قد بلغني أذاه في أهل بيتي، فوالله ما علمت على أهلي إلا خيرا، ولقد ذكروا رجلا ما علمت عليه إلا خيرا، وما كان يدخل على أهلي إلا معي [source]
“…So Allah’s Apostle got up (and addressed) the people an asked for somebody who would take revenge on ‘Abdullah bin Ubai bin Salul then. Allah’s Apostle, while on the pulpit, said, “O Muslims! Who will help me against a man who has hurt me by slandering my family? By Allah, I know nothing except good about my family, and people have blamed a man of whom I know nothing except good, and he never used to visit my family except with me,”
[Sahih Bukhari- source]
Wassalamu’alaikum