Muslim also narrated this from Aishah, who said:

“The Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—went out one morning wearing a cloak patterned with camel-saddle designs (1) and made of black hair. Hasan ibn Alī came, and he drew him beneath it. Then Husayn came, and he drew him [beneath it with him] (2). Then Fātimah came, and he drew her [beneath it with him] (3). Then Alī came, and he drew him beneath it. He then said: ‘Allah only desires to remove defilement from you, O People of the Household, and to purify you completely.’”

This report is also well known from Umm Salamah, as narrated by Ahmad and al-Tirmidhī (4). However, it contains no indication of their infallibility or their imamate.

The issue may be clarified in two respects. The first is that His words,

“Allah only desires to remove defilement from you, O People of the Household, and to purify you completely,”

are like His words,

“Allah does not desire to impose any hardship upon you” [Surah al-Mā’idah: 6];

and His words,

“Allah desires ease for you and does not desire hardship for you” [Surah al-Baqarah: 185];

and His words,

“Allah desires to make things clear to you, to guide you to the ways of those before you, and to accept your repentance. Allah is All-Knowing, All-Wise. Allah desires to accept your repentance, while those who follow their desires wish you to deviate greatly” [Surah al-Nisā’: 26–27].

Allah’s will in these verses entails His love for what is willed (5), His pleasure with it, and the fact that He prescribed it for the believers and commanded them to do it. It does not mean that He brought the thing willed into being, decreed and predestined it, or that it must inevitably occur. The proof of this is that, after this verse was revealed, the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—