The Thaqalayn Hadith: "Quran and My Ahl al-Bayt" or "Quran and My Sunnah"?

Two Books, One Farewell

In the last year of his life, the Prophet of Islam ﷺ stood before thousands of his companions and told them that his departure was near, and that he was leaving something behind — something to hold on to so they would never go astray. On this much, every Muslim on earth agrees. The two famous wordings of this farewell even agree on the first thing he left: the Book of Allah. It is the second thing on which they part ways.

Open Sahih Muslim — for Sunni Islam, among the most authentic books after the Quran — and the second thing is "my Ahl al-Bayt," the People of my House. Open the Muwatta of Imam Malik — one of the earliest hadith books ever compiled — and the second thing is "the Sunnah of His Prophet." One wording became a foundation stone of Shia theology. The other became perhaps the most quoted line in Sunni sermons. Today's question is narrow, and answerable from the books themselves: which wording is better attested?