The second is that they are members of his household, on the evidence of this hadith, in which he said:

“and upon his wives and his descendants,”

and Allah’s words:

“Allah only intends to remove impurity from you, O members of the household, and to purify you completely.”

And His words in the account of Abraham:

“May Allah’s mercy and blessings be upon you, O members of the household.”

Sarah was included in this address. Moreover, Allah excepted Lot’s wife from his family, indicating that she was included within the term “family.” The hadith of the cloak indicates that ‘Alī, Fātimah, Hasan, and Husayn have a greater claim than others to inclusion among the members of the household. Similarly, the Prophet’s statement concerning the mosque founded upon piety—“It is this mosque of mine”—indicates that his mosque has the greater claim to this description, while the mosque of Qubā’ is also founded upon piety, as indicated by the circumstances of the verse’s revelation and its context. Likewise, his wives are included in his family and household, as indicated by the circumstances of the verse’s revelation and its context.

It has thus become clear that the sounder view is that his wives are included in his household, even though their freed slaves are not counted among the freed slaves of his family. This is evidenced by charity being given to Barīrah, the freedwoman of ‘Ā’ishah, whereas he forbade Abū Rāfi‘, the freedman of al-‘Abbās, to receive it.

According to this view, are the descendants of al-Muttalib included among his family and the members of his household who are forbidden to receive charity? Two positions are reported from Ahmad:

The first is that they are included. This is the view of al-Shāfi‘ī.

The second is that they are not included. This is the position of Abū Hanīfah and Mālik.

The second view is that Muhammad’s family consists of his community, or the God-fearing members of his community. This view