[ANSWERED] The Ahlulbayt in verse 33:33

Salam Alaikum

I know you must be busy at this time and may Allah reward you greatly for your answers inshallah

My question has to do with this very famous verse, 33:33

And abide quietly in your homes, and do not flaunt your charms as they used to flaunt them in the old days of pagan ignorance; [36] and be constant in prayer, and render the purifying dues, and pay heed unto God and His Apostle: for God only wants to remove from you all that might be loathsome, O you members of the [Prophet’s] household, and to purify you to utmost purity

Us shia interpret Ahlulbayt as being the 14 infallibles of course. But if we look at verse 33:32, the verse tht precedes this, we find:

O wives of the Prophet! You are not like any of the [other] women, provided that you remain [truly] conscious of God. [35] Hence, be not over-soft in your speech, lest any whose heart is diseased should be moved to desire [you]: but, withal, speak in a kindly way.

We see Allah swt is talking about the wives of the prophet in verse 33:32, and uses the letter و meaning 'and' to link the two verse. My question is why would Allah swt talk about the wives of the prophet in the words prior to the end of the verse of 33:33. If we take this in context, isnt the verse referring to the wives of the prophet rather than hasan, husayn and ali etc when it says 'O you members of the [Prophet’s] household, and to purify you to utmost purity'. How is it we can prove, from either shia or (if exists, preferably) sunni sources, that tjis refers to the ahlulbayt as

Thank you for clearing this up, and Allah reward you inshallah

Wasalam

Thank you dear brother Al-Ali for your beneficial question, which is a common concept always requiring clarification.

First and foremost, we must understand that the Holy Quran, although its our primary source, it is not the sole source that we use in order to understand and broaden our scope of knowledge in Islam. Without the Ahlulbayt, their teachings and actions, we would be unable to gain many valuable and essential perceptions of our religion.

Second of all dear brother, the holy Quran, was not compiled in a time-line of events, i.e. Sura fatiha is the first Sura, but that does not mean it was the first Sura revealed to the prophet. Similarly the verses in the holy quran are not always compiled in relative timeline, i.e. from beginning to end, so its very much possible at one incident a particular story is mentioned, then another, and later back to the same particular story.

Thirdly, I'm sure you are aware of that grammatically its incorrect to refer to the Ahlulbayt verse, as being in reference to the wives of the prophet, due to the pronoun used it can only be equivalent to the presnce of males and females. Hence, upon further examination and research from ahadeeth, from even one of the wives of the prophet Om Salamah, she testifes that Imam Ali, Sayeda Fatima, Imam Hassan and Imam Hussain were with the prophet as the Ahlulbayt.

Finally for our own benefit, I have inserted the link to the dialogue between two scholars in the city of Peshawar, from the very famous book "peshawar nights" whereby the verse of the Ahlulbayt, 33:33 is further explained.

Peshawar Nights Part 11


Please accept my apologies,

And Allah knows best....

with duas...

wa salam

Sayed Ali