Under the Cloak

'A'ishah reported that one morning the Prophet ﷺ went out wearing a cloak of black hair, woven with patterns. Al-Hasan came and he took him in under it, then al-Husayn, then Fatimah, then 'Ali. Then he recited: ﴿إِنَّمَا يُرِيدُ اللَّهُ لِيُذْهِبَ عَنكُمُ الرِّجْسَ أَهْلَ الْبَيْتِ وَيُطَهِّرَكُمْ تَطْهِيرًا﴾ (“Allah only wishes to remove impurity from you, O people of the household, and to purify you thoroughly”) (33:33) (Sahih Muslim 2424).

When the verse of mutual invocation was revealed — calling the Christians of Najran to bring ﴿أَبْنَاءَنَا وَأَبْنَاءَكُمْ وَنِسَاءَنَا وَنِسَاءَكُمْ﴾ (“our sons and your sons, our women and your women”) (3:61) — the Prophet ﷺ called 'Ali, Fatimah, al-Hasan and al-Husayn and said, "O Allah, these are my family" (Sahih Muslim 2404).

And of Fatimah herself he said: "Fatimah is a part of me; whoever angers her angers me" (Sahih al-Bukhari 3767). Love of the Prophet's household is therefore part of the faith of every Muslim, Sunni and Shi'a alike — even where they differ on what follows from it.