Walaikumsalam
This argument is made due to ignorance of Arabic grammar. The word Ahlulbayt is actually a collective noun, and a collective noun is always addressed with a masculine plural pronoun(KUM), regardless of who is being addressed, male or female and their number. And example of this can also be found in Quran itself , 11:73 where Hz. Sarah(as) was referred was Ahlulbayt, but the pronoun used was KUM(masculine plural).
Anyone who is objective and wants to study more about this issue, should refer this article.
Why did KUM(Masculine plural) come in 33:33 instead of KUNNA(feminine plural)?
https://youpuncturedtheark.wordpress.com/2010/10/07/ahlahlebayt-a-collective-noun-and-its-usage/
Salamun Alaykum wa Rahmatollah.
Dear brother, the verse 11:73 never makes any sense. In that verse, the angels addressed the whole of family of the Abraham (as). When Sara amazed, the angels said to her that she should not marvel, because the blessings of Allah have always embraced them. For example, it was His blessing when He saved Abraham from burning in the fire, etc. So, they addressed all the family, not only Sara herself. You should note this point.
11:73
They said: Do you wonder at Allah's bidding? The mercy of Allah and His blessings are on you, O people of the house, surely He is Praised, Glorious.
This argument is again out of ignorance of Arabic language. It is being referred to family of just one person, that it is why it is called Ahlelbayt not Ahlelbuyoot.
The incorrectness of this argument which is based on ignorance, can be understood from the hadeeth which you used, from Zaid Ibn Arqam(ra), he used the term Ahlelbayt for different families , like family of Jafar, family of Aqeel, etc, these people lived in different houses(buyoot).
To find a detailed response on this issue refer the response to Argument 1 in this article.
https://youpuncturedtheark.wordpress.com/2010/10/06/usage-of-word-ahlahlebayt-in-quran/
Yes. The wives of Prophet (s) are between his household (Ahlul Bayt) and family, in general. No one can reject this issue. But according to the Sahih Hadiths from Prophet Muhammad (s), Umm Salama (ra), Imam Al-Hasan (as), Imam As-Sajjad (as) and
also Aisha, the term 'Ahlul Bayt' that is used in the verse of At-Tat_hir is a special term and only refers to the Prophet himslef, Lady Fatima, Imam Ali, Al-Hasan and Al-Husain and the other Imams from the progeny of Imam Al-Husain (peace be upon them all):
1.As I brought the Sahih Hadiths previousely, Prophet Muhammad (s) recited the verse of At-Tat_hir at the time of Salats Al-Fajr for 6 months only to the house of Lady Fatima, and not other houses.
2.As I brought the Sahih Hadiths previousely, Prophet Muhammad (s) siad at the time of revelation of that verse that only they are his Ahlul Bayt, not his wives [(O Allah, these are my Ahlul Bayt) not (O Allah, these are also between my Ahlul Bayt)].
3.Imam Al-Hasan said that they are the Ahlul Bayt that the verse of At-Tat_hir refers to [Source, Majma'uz Zawa'id by Al-Haythami, 9/146 Al-Al-Haythami says that the Hadith is authentic : Al-Hasan after the martirdom of Ali, declared a Khotbah in which he said: "We are the Ahlul Bayt for whom Allah has revealed: Only Allah desires to repel all impurity from you, O People of the Household, and purify you with a thorough purification"].
4.Imam As-Sajjad (as) said to a man who was from Ash-Sham: "Have not you read in the Chapter of Al-Ahzab: 'Only Allah desires to repel all impurity from you, O People of the Household, and purify you with a thorough purification'?" Then the man said: Are you those [Ahlul Bayt]? Then Imam As-Sajjad replied: 'Yes'. (See, Tafsir At-Tabari, V22, P12/ Tafsir Ibn Kathir V3, P495).
5.Al-Bukhari has narrated in his Sahih that Aisha said: Allah did not reveal anything from the Qur'an about us except what was connected with the declaration of my innocence [of the slander] (Sahih Al-Bukhari, V6, P42). So the verse of At-Tat_hir has no relation to Aisha and the other wives.
6.As I said, according to a Sahih Hadith, Umm Salama (ra) said: I wished that Prophet said to me, 'Yes' [when I asked him that am I between Ahlul Bayt about whom the verse of At-Tathir revealed]! So, she believed that she was not between the Ahlul Bayt to which the verse of At-Tat_hir refres.
So, it is clear that the verse of At-Tat_hir is irevelant to the wives of the Prophet (s). Yes, they are between the household of Prophet, but as it has become clear, the Ahlul Bayt which is in the verse of At-Tat_hir only refers to Prophet himself, Lady Fatima and 12 Imams.
A lot of people fail to understand this hadeeth of Thaqalayn and they incorrectly use it in relation to 33:33.
Firstly, what one must keep in mind that hadeeth thaqalayn has NO RELATION with verse 33:33. The Ahlelbayt addressed in hadeeth Thaqalayn and 33:33 are not all same. In fact as per Shia belief, Hadeeth Thaqalayn doesn't include Fatima(ra), it only include their 12 Imams, where as 33:33 does include Fatima(ra) too. So you see, even as per Shia belief 33:33 and hadeeth thaqalayn have no relation.
Secondly, as for the view of Zaid(ra) then look at this hadeeth:
“He (Husain) said to Zaid: ‘Who are the members of his household? Aren’t his wives the members of his family?’ Thereupon he said: ‘His wives are the members of his family but here the members of his family are those for whom acceptance of Zakat is forbidden.’ And he said: ‘Who are they?’ Thereupon he said: ‘Ali and the offspring of Ali, Aqil and the offspring of Aqil and the offspring of Jafar and the offspring of Abbas.’ Husain said: ‘These are those for whom the acceptance of Zakat is forbidden?’ Zaid said: ‘Yes.’”
(Sahih Muslim, Book 31, Chapter 4, Hadith 5920)
So you see, Zaid(ra) agreed that in general wives of Prophet(saws) are Ahlulbayt, but the Ahlelbayt mentioned in hadeeth thaqalayn are those members on whom acceptance of charity(sadaqa) is forbidden.
However, Zaid(ra) wasn't aware that acceptance of sadaqa was also forbidden for wives of Prophet(saws). Which implies wives of Prophet (saws) are also included in Ahlelbayt mentioned in hadeeth thaqalayn.
ابن أبي مليكة أن خالد بن سعيد بعث إلى عائشة ببقرة من الصدقة فردتها وقالت إنا آل محمد صلى الله عليه وسلم لا تحل لنا الصدقة
Narrated with sahi sanad From Ibn Abu Malika [narrated] that: Khaled Ibn Saeed sent a cow from the Sadaqah to Aisha, so she sent it back and said: We are the Aal of Muhammad(saw) the sadaqah is not permissible for us.[This hadees(narration) is authentic. Which was even said by sheikh Abdul Muhsin bin Hammad Al-’Abbad Al-Badr in his book the status of Ahlebayt in the sight of Ahle Sunnah, page 12 ]
As I said and proved, the wives of Prophet are between his households, but the Ahlul Bayt which is in the verse of At-Tat_hir is irrevelant to them.
Also, according to the Hadith of Thaqalain, Ahlul Bayt and Quran never separate from each other. But, Aisha disobeyed Quran, so that she separated from it, because Quran ordered the wives of Prophet: Stay in your houses [33:33]. But Aisha exit from his house and fought Imam Ali (as). Also, Prophet frequentely warned her not to fight Imam Ali, but she ignored the clear orders of Allah and His Prophet and did what she did! Al-Albani has confessed that Aisha made a mistake in this doing of her (Silsilatul Ahadith As-Sahihah by Al-Albani, V1, P. 854, ولا نشك أن خروج أم المؤمنين كان خطأ من أصله).
Also, according to the Hadiths that At-Tirmidhi has grated as Hasan and Al-AlBani has grated as Sahih (Sahih Al-Jami' Al-Saqir, V1, P482), Hakim has grated as Sahih (Al-Mostadrak Aala As-Sahihayn by Al-Haakim, V 4, P 72), Al-Asqalani has grated as Sahih (Al-Matalibul Aliyyah by Ibn Hajar Asqalani, V16, P142) and Al-Haythami has grated as Sahih (As-Sawa'iq, V2, P438), too, we must follow and obey Ahlul Bayt (as) for being guided to the straight way and not to go astray [إِنِّي تَارِك فِيكُم مَا إِن تمسكتم بِهِ لن تضلوا بعدِي أَحدهمَا أعظم من الآخر كتاب الله عز وَجل حَبل مَمْدُود من السَّمَاء إِلَى الأَرْض وعترتي أهل بَيْتِي وَلنْ يفترقا حَتَّى يردا عَليّ الْحَوْض فانظروا كَيفَ تخلفوني فيهمَا]. So that, I am wondering If we consider Aisha as the Ahlul Bayt to which the verse of At-Tat_hir refers, while she ignored the orders of Allah and His Prophet in his battle against Imam Ali (as), we had to follow her if we were in that time?!
The Hadith of Thaqalain says that we must follow Ahlul Bayt and they never separate from Quran, because Allah has purified them with a throught purification. So, the wives can not be considered as the Ahlul Bayt which are mentioned in Aya At-Tat_hir and Hadith Ath-Thaqalain.
Certainly the term Ahlul Bayt in the verse of At-Tat_hir never refers to the wives.
You lack knowledge about this topic. Seems you haven't researched about them at all. Refer this article for proofs, where wives of Prophet(saws) were called Ahlelbayt.
Quran and several sahi narrations explicitly shows that wives of prophet(Saw) are Ahlelbayt.
https://youpuncturedtheark.wordpress.com/2010/10/06/quran-explicitly-shows-that-wives-of-prophetsaw-are-ahlebayt/
As I said, the wives are the household of Prophet in general. No one can reject that the wives of a man are his household. But, as I proved by different Sahih Hadiths, the term Ahlul Bayt in the verse of At-Tat_hir is a special term that as Prophet introduced to us, it only refers to special family and progeny of him, i.e., Prophet himself (s), Lady Fatima (as) and 12 Imams (as).
Differente eminent Sunni scholars have also siad that Ahlul Bayt in the verse of At-Tat_hir refers to Ali, Fatima, Al-Hasan, Al-Husain (as), but does not refer to the wives:
1.Ibn Hajar Al-Haythami: The majority of the Mufassireen have believed that it [i.e., Aya At-Tat_hir] was revealed for Ali, Fatima, Al-Hasan, Al-Husain (As-Sawa'iq by Al-Haythami, V2, P421)
2.Ibn Hajar Al-Asqalani after narrating the Hadith of Aya At-Tat_hir from Umm Salama (ra) says: The Ahl Al-Bayt in this case refers to the Khadija, because Al-Hasan and Al-Husain are from Fatima and Fatima is her duaghter, and Ali grew in her house while he was little. So it is obvious that the term Ahl Al-Bayt of Prophet refers to Khadija, and
not others (Fath Al-Bari by Al-Asqalani, V7, P138).
3.Allama Al-Azizi: Ahlul Bayt are Ali, Fatima Al-Zahra and the descendants of them (Al-Siraj Al-Monir, V1, P46).
The wives of Prophet(saws) were given certain commands, which are a "means of purification", adhering to these means of purification wives of Prophet(saws) were to be purified.
This article gives a logical and rational response to this question.
https://youpuncturedtheark.wordpress.com/2010/10/09/for-whom-the-verse-of-purificationtatheer-was-revealed-and-what-is-the-concept-of-purification-let-the-quran-answer/
The word إنما (only) in the first of the verse reject your saying. Contrary to what you think, the will of Allah in this verse is Takwinniyya, not Tashri'iyya (purifying by giving some commands). Because, the Tashri'iyya will of Allah is to purify all people, not only the wives of Prophet (s). But this verse has إنما which restricts the will of Allah to Ahlul Bayt. So, this will can not be Tashri'iyya.
Because of this Takwiniyya will of Allah, Prophet Muhammad (s) said: Allah placed the tribes in different houses and placed me in the best of them, this is because of His saying: "Only Allah desires to repel all impurity from you, O People of the Household, and purify you with a thorough purification."
So my Ahl Al-Bayt and myself are pure from the sins.Ash-Shookani has said that it is permisible to refer to this Hadith [وَقَدْ ذَكَرْنَا هَاهُنَا مَا يَصْلُحُ لِلتَّمَسُّكِ بِهِ دُونَ ما لا يَصْلُحُ] (Fath Al-Ghadir, V4, P323). Hakim At_Tirmidhi, At-Tabarani, Al-Bayhaqi and Ibn Mardowayh have narrated this Hadith in their books.
Waffaqakumullah.