Name : Hasan
Title : al-Mujtaba (The Chosen One)
Kuniyat : Abu Muhammad
Father : Imam Ali (A)
Mother : Bibi Fatima Zahra (A)
Birthdate : 15th of Ramadhan 3 A.H. in Madina
Imamat : From 40 A.H. to 50 A.H.
Martyrdom : 28th Safar 50 A.H.
Buried : Madina, Saudi Arabia.
His Birth
He was born in Medina on the night of the middle day of the month of Ramadan, in the year 3 A.H. He was the eldest son.
When
Al-Hasan was born, the Prophet, may Allah bless Him and his family,
took Him. Then the Prophet said the adhan (call to prayer) in Al-Hasan's
right ear, and said the iqama (words similar to the adhan) in his left
ear. Then he sacrified a ram for Him (in the ceremony of Aqiqa). Then he
shaved his hair. He (i.e, the Prophet) gave silver qual to his hair. So
the weight of Al-Hasan's hair was a the aqiqa and giving alms as equal
as the weight of of hair have become Sunna (an act of the Prophet)
The
Prophet named Him Hasan. People did not know such a name in the
pre-Islamic period. Also he gave Him Kunya (i.e the name by which an
Arab is usually referred to and which refers to Him as the father of
someone, usually his eldest son) as Abu Mohammad, Al-Hasan had no Kunya
other than this (Abu Mohammad).
His Nick-Names
al-Sibt, al-Sayyid, al-Zaki, al-Mujtaba, al-Taqi.
His Wives
Al-Hasan
married Umm Ishaq bint (the daughter of) Talha b. 'Ubayd Allah, Hafsa
bint (the daughter of) Abd al-Rahman b. Abu Bakr, Hind bint (the
daughter of) Suhayl b. Amru, and Juda bint (the daughter of) al-Ash'ath
b. Qays, whom Mu'awiya tempted to kill Al-Hasan. So she killed Him with
poison.
His Children
Al-Hasan had fifteen
children, both male and female: Zayd, Al-Hasan, Amru, al-Qasim, Abd
Allah, Abd al-Rahman, Al-Hasan al-Athram, and Talha, Umma Al-Hasan, Umma
al-Hasayn, Fatima, Umm Salama, Ruqayya, Umm Abd Allah, and Fatima.
His Characteristics
No
one was more like the Apostle of Allah, may Allah bless Him and his
family, than Al-Hasan b. 'Ali, peace be on Him, in form manner, and
nobility.
In this manner the describers have described Al-Hasan
and said; "He (Al-Hasan) had a white, reddish face, He had black eyes,
smooth cheeks, thick heard, and curly, plentiful hair, His neck was as
white as a jug of silver, His body was good. He had large shoulders, and
bid fleshy bones. He was of medium height; neither long nor short, He
was handsome; the best of all people in face.
Al-Hasan, peace be on Him, was as the poet said:
When some handsomeness creeps into the insights of imaginations, He (Al-Hasan) has the special share.
His forehead from under his forelock is like
The full moon that illuminates the dark night
His ambergris and musk is far above the perfume of
The people of the earth, so he is the heavenly perfume.
Ibn Sa'ad siad; "Al-Hasan and Al-Husayn used to dye with black."
Wasil b. Ata, said "Al-Hasan b. 'Ali, peace be on them, had the visage of prophets and the glory of kings.
The
Holy Imam (A) was the eldest child of Imam Ali (A) and Bibi Fatima
Zahra (A). When the Holy Prophet (S) received the happy news of the
birth of his grandson, he came at once to his beloved daughter's house.
He took the newly born baby in his arms and recited the Adhaan in its
right ear and the Iqamah in its left ear. Then, in accordance with the
command of Allah, he named the child Hasan.
The Holy Imam (A)
spent the first seven years of his life under the care and guidance of
his grandfather, the Holy Prophet (S). This early training made the Holy
Imam (A) outstanding in his knowledge, piety, tolerance, intelligence
and courage.
The Holy Imam (A) and his brother Imam Husain (A)
were very dear to the Holy Prophet (S). He used to carry them on his
shoulders and once told the people, "Hasan and Husain are the leaders of
the youth of Paradise."
Bibi Fatima (A) once brought her two
sons to her father and said, "O Apostle of Allah, these are your two
grandsons. Give them something as an inheritance." The Holy Prophet (S)
replied, "Hasan shall have my form and my nobility and Husain shall have
my generosity and bravery."
As a child, the Holy Imam (A) used
to listen attentively to the verses of the Holy Qur'an as they were
revealed. To the surprise of the Holy Prophet (S), his daughter Bibi
Fatima (A) would often recite the exact text of a newly revealed verse
before he personally told her about it. When he asked her how she knew,
she informed him that the Holy Imam (A) had already taught her the verse
when he heard the Holy Prophet (S) recite it in the mosque in front of
the people.
He was quite wealthy and could have lived in luxury
if he desired, but he preferred to spend his money to help the poor and
needy. Twice in his life he gave away his entire wealth in charity and
began all over again.
Once a stranger arrived in Kufa and asked a
man working in a garden for directions. The man showed him the way and
then invited him to share his meal. The stranger was touched by this
offer and accepted. But when he was handed some flat bread to eat, he
found that it was so hard that he could not even break it on his knee,
let alone with his teeth. He tried dipping it into some water but that
did not help. The gardener saw the stranger's discomfort and pointed him
towards a guest house where free meals were given to all.
The
guest house belonged to Imam Hasan (A), who himself welcomed the
stranger and arranged a hot meal for him. After a while, the Holy Imam
(A) saw that the stranger was eating one morsel and putting one morsel
in a bag on his side. The Holy Imam (A) told him to eat peacefully, and
if he needed extra food for his family, it would be provided before he
left. The stranger said that he had no family but was putting some food
aside for the kind gardener down the road who had only hard bread to
eat. When he heard this, the Holy Imam (A) smiled and informed him,
"That is my father Ali, the Caliph of the Muslims. He lives on simple
food so that no needy subject may be embarrassed in front of him."
The
Holy Imam (A) helped his father throughout his life until Imam Ali (A)
died when the Holy Imam (A) was 37 years old. At this age he inherited
his father and became the guardian of the Ahlul Bayt and the Shia. In
his well-known will Imam Ali (A) appointed him as the next Imam.
The
martyrdom of Imam Ali (A) on the 21st of Mahe Ramadhan, 40 A.H. marked
the beginning of Imam Hasan's (A) Imamat. The Muslims pledged their
allegiance to him and finalised the formality of Bay'at (Oath of
Allegiance). No sooner had he taken the reins of leadership in his hands
than he had to meet the challenge of Muawiya bin Abu Sufyan, the
governor of Syria, who began trying to undermine his authority.
The
Holy Imam (A) decided that Muawiya would have to be ousted by force and
he prepared for war. He appointed a representative in Kufa and proceeded
to Nukhayla where he had asked the army to gather. After 10 days, only
4,000 men had assembled, so he went back to Kufa and made another call
for people to come to arms, sending out Hujr bin Adi to do the same.
Slowly
the people answered the call for Jihad. A mixed band of people formed
the army. Some were sincere Shia, others were Kharjites who wished to
fight Muawiya by any means possible, some were men who loved fighting
and desired war booty, some were unsure about the right of the Holy Imam
(A) to the Caliphate, while others blindly followed their tribal
leaders with no thought for religion.
The Holy Imam (A) gave an
address to the army in which he first praised Allah and the Holy Prophet
(S). He then told the people that he was their sincere advisor and
urged them to unite rather than be divided in factions. This message was
misunderstood by some, who thought that he planned to hand over
authority to Muawiya. There was a riot amongst the people and a group of
them attacked the Holy Imam (A) while he was in his tent. The Shia
gathered around him and protected him.
Later, during the march
towards Syria, a man from the Bani Asad attacked the Holy Imam (A) and
struck him on the thigh with an axe. Due to the injury, the Holy Imam
(A) was forced to stop at Mada'in, from where he sent Ubaidullah bin
Abbas with 12,000 men to stop Muawiya, who had advanced into Iraq.
Muawiya
managed to bribe and threaten many of the Holy Imam's (A) followers
into abandoning him, including Ubaidullah, who was paid one million
dirhams to betray the Holy Imam (A).
The Holy Imam (A) realised
that he could not trust the intentions of most of his men and the only
people he could rely on were his Shia, who were too few to resist the
Syrian soldiers. Meanwhile, Muawiya wrote to him suggesting a truce and
peace treaty on the Holy Imam's (A) terms.
In compliance with the
Will of Allah and with the view to avoid the massacre of the few
sincere Muslims, the Holy Imam (A) entered into a peace treaty with
Muawiya on terms which were meant to save Islam and stop a civil war.
The terms of the peace treaty were as follows:
1. Muawiya would deal with the people according to the Holy Qur'an and the Sunnah of the Holy Prophet (S).
2. He would not appoint anyone as his successor.
3. The family of Imam Ali (A) and their Shia would be protected.
4. He would pay 50,000 dirhams annually out of the national revenues to the Holy Imam (A).
5. Abusive language would not be used with reference to Imam Ali (A) and his followers after Friday prayers.
Muawiya
accepted all the terms except the last one, but agreed not to abuse
Imam Ali (A) in the presence of the Holy Imam (A). With the passage of
time, Muawiya broke all the conditions of the treaty.
The Holy
Imam (A) used this opportunity to strengthen the belief of the Muslims
and increase their awareness of Islam. He moved back to Madina, where he
catered for the religious requirements of the people and devoted his
life to the propagation of Islam.
Muawiya was still not satisfied
with affairs. He knew that the treaty was never meant as a surrender of
authority by the Holy Imam (A), because he was Divinely Appointed as
the Imam.
It was merely an interim transfer of the administration
of the Islamic State, subject to the condition that it would be
returned to the Holy Imam (A) after Muawiya's death and then it would be
in turn inherited by Imam Husain (A). However, Muawiya had plans to
declare Yazid, his son, as his successor, and he decided to get rid of
the Holy Imam (A) first.
One of the Holy Imam's (A) wives was
Ju'da binte Ash'ath bin Qays. Muawiya conspired with Ju'da to give the
Holy Imam (A) some poison. In return she would get 100,000 dirhams and
he would marry her to Yazid. This evil woman put poison in the Holy
Imam's (A) drinking water and he immediately fell gravely ill as a
result. After great suffering, the Holy Imam (A) departed from this
world. Just before he died, he entrusted the affairs of Imamat to his
brother Imam Husain (A) and made him the guardian of his own family.
The
Holy Imam (A) had stated that before he was buried in Jannatul Baqee,
his body should be taken to the grave of the Holy Prophet (S) for a
final visit. When the Bani Hashim attempted to carry out the last wishes
of the Holy Imam (A), they were stopped by Ayesha and members of the
Bani Umayyah, who thought that they wished to bury him next to his
grandfather. Imam Husain (A) did not want bloodshed so he directed that
the body be taken straight to Jannatul Baqee, where Imam Hasan (A) was
buried next to his grandmother Fatima binte Asad. He was 48 years old
when he was martyred.
When Ju'da came to Muawiya to claim her
reward, he gave her the money, but refused to marry her to Yazid,
declaring that a woman who could poison one husband would certainly not
hesitate to poison another.
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