and they are included in the invocation of blessings and are entitled to [a share of](1) the one-fifth. They disagreed(2) concerning the descendants of al-Muttalib ibn Abd Manāf: Is charity forbidden to them, and are they included among the family of Muhammad—may blessings and peace be upon him?

There are two views, both narrated from Ahmad. The first is that charity is forbidden to them, as al-Shāfi‘i held. The second is that it is not forbidden to them, as Abū Hanīfah held. According to al-Shāfi‘i and the explicit position reported from Ahmad—which was also the view selected by al-Sharīf Abū Jafar ibn Abī Mūsā and other followers of his—the family of Muhammad consists of those to whom charity is forbidden, namely the descendants of Hāshim. There are two narrations concerning the descendants of al-Muttalib.

The same disagreement concerns his wives: Are they among his family, to whom charity is forbidden? Two narrations from Ahmad address this question.

As for the freedwomen of his wives, such as Barīrah, charity is lawful for them by consensus, even though it is forbidden to the emancipated clients of the descendants of Hāshim.

Another group among the followers of Mālik and Ahmad, as well as others, holds that his family is his entire Ummah. A group of Sufis holds that they are the pious members of his Ummah.

Allah has not commanded that blessings be invoked during the ritual prayer upon any specific individual other than the Prophet—may blessings and peace be upon him. If someone invoked blessings upon some members of his household to the exclusion of others—such as upon the descendants of al-Abbas but not Alī, or vice versa—he would be acting contrary to the Sacred Law. How much more so if he invoked blessings upon one specific group to the exclusion of others?

Moreover, declaring the prayer invalid because blessings were not invoked upon these people is truly astonishing. The jurists disagree over whether invoking blessings upon the Prophet—may blessings and peace be upon him—during the ritual prayer is obligatory. Most do not consider it obligatory, while those who do require blessings to be invoked upon him but not upon his family; and even if one were to