SMHMShaheed Mudassir Hussain Mehdi
← Ahlul-Bayt

الحسن

Imam al-Hasan al-Mujtaba

peace be upon him

المجتبىal-Mujtabathe chosen one
السبطal-Sibtthe grandson of the Prophet
سيد شباب أهل الجنةSayyid Shabab Ahl al-Jannathe master of the youth of Paradise
ريحانة نبي اللهRayhanat Nabi Allahthe sweet basil of the Prophet of God
الزكيal-Zakithe pure
التقيal-Taqithe God-fearing
السيدal-Sayyidthe master
الحليمal-Halimthe forbearing
كريم أهل البيتKarim Ahl al-Baytthe generous one of the Household of the Prophet
أبو محمدAbu Muhammadthe father of Muhammad, his kunya

His life

  1. The first child of Imam Ali and Sayyida Fatima, the first grandson of the Messenger of God, and the second Imam. Born in Medina on 15 Ramadan 3 AH (625 CE) (Tarikh al-Tabari; al-Kafi 1:461).
  2. The Prophet himself named him al-Hasan, the good (Musnad Ahmad ibn Hanbal; al-Kafi); a hadith says the name came by God's command (Manaqib Al Abi Talib of Ibn Shahrashub; al-Tabaqat al-Kubra of Ibn Sa'd), and it had no precedent among the Arabs before Islam (al-Tabaqat al-Kubra; Usd al-Ghaba of Ibn al-Athir).
  3. The Prophet would carry him on his shoulders and say: O God, I love him, so love him (al-Tabaqat al-Kubra of Ibn Sa'd). When the child climbed onto his back as he prostrated in congregational prayer, he lengthened the prostration until al-Hasan came down by himself (Bihar al-Anwar 43:294). He called him the master of the youth of Paradise (Fara'id al-Simtayn of al-Hamwini; al-Fusul al-Muhimma of Ibn al-Sabbagh al-Maliki).
  4. As a child he sat in the Prophet's gatherings and repeated to his mother what had been revealed (Manaqib Al Abi Talib of Ibn Shahrashub). He is among the sons of the Mubahala, our sons in 3:61 (al-Kashshaf of al-Zamakhshari; al-Tafsir al-Kabir of al-Fakhr al-Razi; Anwar al-Tanzil of al-Baydawi), and among the People of the Cloak of the Verse of Purification, 33:33 (al-Masa'il al-Ukbariyya of al-Mufid; al-Mizan of al-Tabataba'i).
  5. The verse They give food, for the love of Him, to the needy, the orphan and the captive (76:8) was revealed about him, his parents and his brother (Tafsir-i Nimuna), and he is among the kin whose love is the reward of the Mission (42:23) (Majma al-Bayan of al-Tabrisi).
  6. After the Prophet's passing he went with his parents and his brother to the houses of the Helpers to call them to support Imam Ali (Kitab Sulaym ibn Qays), and objected to Abu Bakr sitting on the Prophet's pulpit (Ansab al-Ashraf of al-Baladhuri; al-Tabaqat al-Kubra).
  7. In his father's caliphate he was at his side throughout. Before al-Jamal he went to Kufa with Ammar ibn Yasir and Qays ibn Sa'd to call its people to Imam Ali (al-Jamal of al-Shaykh al-Mufid); at Siffin he and al-Husayn commanded the right wing (al-Futuh of Ibn A'tham; Manaqib Al Abi Talib); and he was present at al-Nahrawan (al-Isti'ab of Ibn Abd al-Barr).
  8. Before his martyrdom Imam Ali handed him the books and the weapon of the Imamate in the presence of his children and leading Shia, and declared that the Prophet had commanded him to make al-Hasan his executor (al-Kafi). On 21 Ramadan 40 AH he spoke in the mosque of Kufa; Abdullah ibn Abbas called the people to pledge allegiance to the son of their Prophet, and more than forty thousand did (al-Irshad of al-Shaykh al-Mufid; al-Isti'ab; Imta' al-Asma' of al-Maqrizi). Qays ibn Sa'd was the first to pledge (Tarikh al-Tabari).
  9. His caliphate lasted six or eight months (Muruj al-Dhahab of al-Mas'udi; Tarikh al-Islam of al-Dhahabi); Sunni historians, on a hadith they attribute to the Prophet, count him the last of the Rightly Guided Caliphs (Muruj al-Dhahab; al-Bidaya wa l-Nihaya of Ibn Kathir). Among his first acts he doubled the soldiers' pay (Maqatil al-Talibiyyin of Abu l-Faraj al-Isfahani).
  10. Mu'awiya refused to accept him and marched on Iraq (al-Irshad; al-Futuh of Ibn A'tham). At Sabat near al-Mada'in, when the Imam spoke of unity being better than division, some in his own camp called him an unbeliever, plundered his tent, and many deserted him (al-Irshad 2:11).
  11. Mu'awiya wrote to Ubaydullah ibn Abbas, commander of the Imam's vanguard, promising him money and office, and Ubaydullah went over to Mu'awiya by night with two-thirds of the army; chiefs of the Iraqi tribes wrote to Mu'awiya offering their support (al-Irshad; Ansab al-Ashraf of al-Baladhuri). Al-Shaykh al-Mufid describes the Imam's army as a mixture of his and his father's Shia, Kharijites eager only to fight Mu'awiya, seekers of booty, doubters, and tribesmen who simply followed their chiefs (al-Irshad).
  12. Mu'awiya sent a blank sheet sealed at the bottom for the Imam to write his terms. He wrote that he handed over rule on condition that Mu'awiya act by the Book of God and the conduct of the Prophet; appoint no successor, the matter after him to be decided by a council of the Muslims; leave the lives, property and children of the people safe everywhere; and neither plot against al-Hasan, openly or in secret, nor threaten any of his companions (Ansab al-Ashraf of al-Baladhuri; Tarikh-i Tahlili-yi Islam of Shahidi). It was signed in 41 AH, in Rabi al-Awwal according to al-Mas'udi (Muruj al-Dhahab) and in Jumada al-Thani according to al-Dhahabi (Tarikh al-Islam).
  13. In his first sermon in Kufa, Mu'awiya disowned the conditions, claimed that al-Hasan had asked for peace and insulted Imam Ali. Imam al-Hasan held back al-Husayn from answering, then rose himself, explained how the peace had come about, and answered the insult to his father by setting out the standing of his family (Tarikh al-Tabari; Tuhaf al-Uqul of al-Harrani). Mu'awiya kept none of the conditions.
  14. He gave his reason in his own words: I handed the caliphate to Mu'awiya because I did not have enough companions to fight him; had I had them, I would have fought him day and night until I defeated him (al-Ihtijaj of al-Tabrisi). When Mu'awiya later asked him to fight the Kharijites, he refused: If I were to fight any of the Muslims, I would fight you (al-Kamil of Ibn al-Athir; Kashf al-Ghumma of al-Irbili).
  15. Back in Medina he sat in the Prophet's mosque after the dawn prayer until sunrise, and people gathered round him with their questions (al-Tabaqat al-Kubra; Ansab al-Ashraf; Tarikh Madinat Dimashq of Ibn Asakir). He administered the endowments of his father under Imam Ali's will (al-Kafi 7:49-51), and Ibn Abbas, though older, would hold his stirrup for him (Tarikh Madinat Dimashq). His debates with Mu'awiya and his supporters are recorded in al-Ihtijaj of al-Tabrisi.
  16. He gave away all his wealth twice in his life, and half of everything he owned three times (Ansab al-Ashraf; Usd al-Ghaba), and so was called the generous one. He gave a large gift from Mu'awiya to a servant mending his sandals (Manaqib Al Abi Talib), sent ten thousand dirhams to a man he heard praying for that sum (Kashf al-Ghumma), and would leave his i'tikaf or his tawaf to help someone in need (Tarikh Madinat Dimashq; Bihar al-Anwar).
  17. He made the pilgrimage to Mecca on foot fifteen, twenty or twenty-five times, as the reports differ, with the best camels led behind him, saying: I would be ashamed to meet my Lord without having walked to His house (Tarikh Madinat Dimashq; Manaqib Al Abi Talib; Ansab al-Ashraf).
  18. His forbearance earned him the name al-Halim (Ansab al-Ashraf; Usd al-Ghaba). When a man from Syria cursed him, he smiled, greeted him, and offered to meet his needs as a stranger in the city; the man wept and recited: God knows best where to place His message (6:124) (Manaqib Al Abi Talib). Al-Ya'qubi wrote that he resembled the Prophet more than anyone in appearance and conduct (Tarikh al-Ya'qubi).
  19. When Mu'awiya sought to make his son Yazid his successor, he induced the Imam's wife Ja'da bint al-Ash'ath to poison him, promising her money and marriage to Yazid (al-Irshad 2:16); he sent her a hundred thousand dirhams but did not marry her to Yazid (Maqatil al-Talibiyyin; Sharh Nahj al-Balagha of Ibn Abi l-Hadid). The Imam died forty days after he was poisoned (al-Tabaqat al-Kubra; al-Irshad; Manaqib Al Abi Talib); some reports say three days, others two months.
  20. He was martyred in Medina on 28 Safar 50 AH (670 CE), as al-Mufid, al-Tusi, al-Tabrisi and Ibn Shahrashub record (Masar al-Shi'a; Misbah al-Mutahajjid; I'lam al-Wara; Manaqib). Al-Kulayni gives the last day of Safar and al-Shahid al-Awwal 7 Safar, the day still observed in Najaf; the years 49 and 51 AH are also reported, and most Sunni sources give Rabi al-Awwal. He was forty-six, forty-seven or forty-eight.
  21. When Banu Hashim carried his body towards the Prophet's grave, Marwan ibn al-Hakam and a party of the Umayyads blocked the way under arms (al-Irshad; Ansab al-Ashraf; al-Akhbar al-Tiwal of al-Dinawari; al-Amali of al-Tusi), and Aisha came on a mule and urged them to stop Banu Hashim (Maqatil al-Talibiyyin). Bound by his brother's request that no blood be shed, Imam al-Husayn turned the bier to al-Baqi, where he was buried beside his grandmother Fatima bint Asad (al-Irshad; Ansab al-Ashraf). Ibn Shahrashub records that arrows were shot at the bier and seventy struck his body (Manaqib Al Abi Talib 4:44).

Days

  1. 3 AH625 CEBorn in Medina, 15 Ramadan
  2. 11 AH632 CEHis grandfather passes; then his mother
  3. 36 AH656 CEWith his father at al-Jamal, then Siffin
  4. 40 AH661 CEImam after his father, 21 Ramadan
  5. 41 AH661 CEThe peace treaty with Mu'awiya; returns to Medina
  6. 50 AH670 CEMartyred by poison, 28 Safar; buried in al-Baqi

Family

رسول اللهThe Messenger of God
عليImam Ali
فاطمةSayyida Fatima
الحسنImam al-Hasan
الحسينImam al-Husayn
زينبSayyida Zaynab
أم كلثومUmm Kulthum
المحسنal-Muhsin

In the Qur’an

إِنَّمَا يُرِيدُ ٱللَّهُ لِيُذۡهِبَ عَنكُمُ ٱلرِّجۡسَ أَهۡلَ ٱلۡبَيۡتِ وَيُطَهِّرَكُمۡ تَطۡهِيرٗا ٣٣

Indeed Allah desires to repel all impurity from you, O People of the Household, and purify you with a thorough purification.

The verse of purification · Al-Ahzaab 33:33

فَمَنۡ حَآجَّكَ فِيهِ مِنۢ بَعۡدِ مَا جَآءَكَ مِنَ ٱلۡعِلۡمِ فَقُلۡ تَعَالَوۡاْ نَدۡعُ أَبۡنَآءَنَا وَأَبۡنَآءَكُمۡ وَنِسَآءَنَا وَنِسَآءَكُمۡ وَأَنفُسَنَا وَأَنفُسَكُمۡ ثُمَّ نَبۡتَهِلۡ فَنَجۡعَل لَّعۡنَتَ ٱللَّهِ عَلَى ٱلۡكَٰذِبِينَ ٦١

Should anyone argue with you concerning him, after the knowledge that has come to you, say, ‘Come! Let us call our sons and your sons, our women and your women, our souls and your souls, then let us pray earnestly, and call down Allah’s curse upon the liars.’

The verse of the Mubahala · Aal-i-Imraan 3:61

وَيُطۡعِمُونَ ٱلطَّعَامَ عَلَىٰ حُبِّهِۦ مِسۡكِينٗا وَيَتِيمٗا وَأَسِيرًا ٨

For the love of Him, they feed the needy, the orphan and the prisoner,

Al-Insaan 76:8

ذَٰلِكَ ٱلَّذِي يُبَشِّرُ ٱللَّهُ عِبَادَهُ ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُواْ وَعَمِلُواْ ٱلصَّٰلِحَٰتِۗ قُل لَّآ أَسۡـَٔلُكُمۡ عَلَيۡهِ أَجۡرًا إِلَّا ٱلۡمَوَدَّةَ فِي ٱلۡقُرۡبَىٰۗ وَمَن يَقۡتَرِفۡ حَسَنَةٗ نَّزِدۡ لَهُۥ فِيهَا حُسۡنًاۚ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ غَفُورٞ شَكُورٌ ٢٣

Such is the good news that Allah gives to His servants who have faith and do righteous deeds! Say, ‘I do not ask you any reward for it except the love of [my] relatives.’ Whoever performs a good deed, We shall enhance its goodness for him. Indeed Allah is all-forgiving, all-appreciative.

The verse of affection · Ash-Shura 42:23

Peace be upon you, O son of the Messenger of God.

Peace be upon you, O son of the Commander of the Faithful.

Peace be upon you, O son of Fatima al-Zahra, the mistress of the women of the worlds.

Peace be upon you, O Abu Muhammad, al-Hasan son of Ali, and the mercy of God and His blessings.

Sources