This is among the matters demonstrating that those who claimed to be loyal to him rather than to Abū Bakr, Umar, and Uthmān possessed evil and unbelief which, by the unanimous judgment of Ali and all the Companions, were not found among those who opposed him and pronounced him an unbeliever. It also demonstrates that, in the judgment of Ali and all the Companions, those who hate(1) Abū Bakr and Umar are, as a class, worse than those who hate(2) Ali.

[Discussion of the Hadith of the Cloak]

Chapter

As for the Hadith of the Cloak, it is authentic. Ahmad and al-Tirmidhī narrated it from Umm Salama(3), while Muslim narrated it in his Sahīh(4) from Āisha. She said:

“One morning, the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—went out wearing a cloak of black haircloth patterned with camel saddles(5). Hasan ibn Ali came, and he drew him beneath it(6). Then Husayn came, and he drew him beneath it with Hasan(7). Then Fātima came, and he drew her beneath it. Then Ali came, and he drew him beneath it. He then said:

‘Allah only intends to remove defilement from you, O People of the Household, and to purify you completely.’”

[Surah al-Ahzāb: 33].

Fātima, Hasan, and Husayn—may Allah be pleased with them—share with him in what this hadith establishes,