Considering the critical importance of the subject, it will not be surprising to see that the Shia differ from some Sunnis in this subject. In fact, the Sunnis do not have one voice in specifying the Members of the House the Prophet. Most Sunnis are in the opinion that the Ahlul-Bayt of the Prophet (PBUH&HF) are:
Fatimah al-Zahra (AS) (the daughter of the Messenger of Allah),
Imam Ali (AS),
Imam al-Hasan (AS),
Imam al-Husain (AS),
Wives of the Prophet (PBUH&HF)
Others among the Sunnis further include ALL the descendants of the Prophet to the list! Some other Sunnis are very generous and include all the descendants of Abbas (the Abbasid) as well as the descendants of Aqil & Ja'far (the two brothers of Imam Ali) to the list. It should be noted, however, that there have been some leading Sunni scholars who did NOT consider the wives of the Prophet among Ahlul-Bayt. This happens to be consistent with the Shia point of view.
THE ANSWER to the question, what makes a Shi'ite different requires an encyclopedia and a profound length of time to come to gribs with the subject. I mean even the Roman Catholic Church does not concentrate on Geneological Charts when deciding on the Pope. The likelihood the Shi'ites will ever see the world differently than they do now, it slim to none.
The question then is, will the Shi'ites and Sunnis ever resolve differences to cooperate with each other in a 'Unity Government' in Iraq.
