Hasan ibn Ali
Hasan ibn Ali was an Alid political and religious leader. The eldest son of Ali and Fatima and a grandson of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, Hasan briefly ruled as caliph from January 661 until August 661. He is considered as the second Imam in Shia Islam, succeeding Ali and preceding his brother Husayn. As a grandson of the prophet, he is part of the and the, and also participated in the event of the mubahala.
During the caliphate of Ali, Hasan accompanied him in the military campaigns of the First Fitna. Following Ali's assassination in January 661, Hasan was acknowledged caliph in Kufa. His sovereignty was not recognized by Mu'awiya ibn Abi Sufyan, the governor of Syria and a rival claimant to the caliphate, who led an army into Kufa while pressing Hasan for abdication in letters. In response, Hasan sent a vanguard under Ubayd Allah ibn al-Abbas to block Mu'awiya's advance until he arrived with the main army. Meanwhile, Hasan was severely wounded in an abortive assassination attempt by Al-Jarrah Ibn Sinan, a member of the Kharijites, a faction opposed to both Ali and Mu'awiya. This attack demoralised Hasan's army and led to widespread desertion. Ubayd Allah and most of his troops also defected after Mu'awiya bribed him. In August 661, Hasan signed a peace treaty with Mu'awiya on the condition that the latter should rule in compliance with the Quran and the Sunnah, a council should appoint his successor, and Hasan's supporters would receive amnesty. Hasan retired from politics and abdicated in Medina where he died either from illness or poisoning, though the early sources are nearly unanimous that he was poisoned. Mu'awiya is commonly viewed as the instigator in the murder of Hasan, which removed an obstacle to the succession of his son Yazid I.
Critics of Hasan call his treaty with Mu'awiya an indication of weakness, saying that he intended to surrender from the beginning. Given Mu'awiya's military superiority, supporters of Hasan maintain that his abdication was inevitable after his soldiers mutinied and that he was motivated by the desire for unity and peace among Muslims, which was reportedly predicted by Muhammad in a Sunni hadith. Another Sunni hadith, also attributed to Muhammad, predicted that the prophetic succession would last for thirty years, which may have been interpreted by some early Sunni scholars as evidence that Hasan's caliphate was rightly-guided. In Shia theology, the divine infallibility of Hasan as the second Shia Imam further justified his course of action. As the rightful successor of Muhammad in Shia Islam, Hasan's all-inclusive temporal and religious authority came from divinely-inspired designation, which was not annulled by abdication to Mu'awiya I, who usurped only the temporal authority. The imamate and caliphate are viewed as separate institutions in Shia Islam until such time that God would make the Imam victorious.
Early life
Birth
Hasan was born in Medina in. Sources differ on whether he was born in the Islamic months of Sha'ban or Ramadan, though most early works give his birthdate as 15 Ramadan 3 AH, which is annually celebrated by the Shia. Hasan was the firstborn of Muhammad's daughter Fatima and his cousin Ali. Their union holds a special spiritual significance for Muslims, write Nasr and Afsaruddin, and Muhammad said he followed divine orders to marry Fatima to Ali, narrates the Sunni al-Suyuti, among others. Ali reportedly had chosen another name in Sunni sources but deferred to Muhammad who named the child Hasan. To celebrate his birth, Muhammad sacrificed a ram, while Fatima shaved Hasan's head and donated the weight of his hair in silver.Lifetime of Muhammad
Hasan was raised in Muhammad's household until his death, when Hasan was aged seven. Early sources widely report Muhammad's love for Hasan and his brother Husayn, saying that Muhammad allowed the boys to climb on his back while he was prostrate in prayer, and interrupted a sermon to pick up Hasan after he fell. Hasan later recalled an incident where his grandfather took a date from him, and explained to him that receiving alms was forbidden for his family.A saying of the prophet that was recorded in the canonical Sunni hadith collections Sunan al-Tirmidhi and Sunan ibn Majah names Hasan and Husayn as "the two s of the youth in paradise". Madelung adds that this hadith is widely reported, while Veccia Vaglieri notes that its authenticity was disputed by the Umayyad Caliph Marwan. The Sunan ibn Majah and the canonical Shia source Kitab al-Irshad narrate the prophetic hadith "He who has loved Hasan and Husayn has loved me and he who has hated them has hated me." Similarly, the Sunan al-Tirmidhi ascribes to Muhammad the saying "Whoever loves me and loves these two and loves their mother and father , will be with me in my station on the Day of Resurrection."
Mubahala
After an inconclusive debate in 10/631-2, Muhammad and the Najranite Christians decided to engage in, where both parties would pray to invoke God's curse upon the liar. Madelung argues that Muhammad participated in this event alongside Hasan, Husayn, and their parents. This is also the Shia view. In contrast, most Sunni accounts by al-Tabari do not name the participants of the event, while some other Sunni historians agree with the Shia view.During the event, Muhammad gathered Hasan, Husayn, Ali, and Fatima under his cloak and addressed them as his, according to some Shia and Sunni sources, including the canonical Sahih Muslim and Sahih al-Tirmidhi. Madelung suggests that their inclusion by Muhammad in this significant ritual must have raised the religious rank of his family. A similar view is voiced by Lalani.
Death of Muhammad and Fatima (632)
Muhammad died in 11/632 when Hasan was about seven. As his family prepared for the burial, a group of Muslims gathered at the Saqifa and appointed Abu Bakr as Muhammad's successor, in the absence of his family and the majority of the Muhajirun. Ali, Fatima, and some supporters did not recognize the caliphate of Abu Bakr, saying that Muhammad had appointed Ali as his successor, possibly referring to the Event of Ghadir Khumm in 632.Fatima died also in 632, within six months of Muhammad's death, at the age of about eighteen or twenty-seven years old. Shias hold that she miscarried her child and died from the injuries she suffered in an attack on her house, intended to subdue Ali, at the order of Abu Bakr. These allegations are rejected by Sunnis, who believe that Fatima died from grief after Muhammad's death and that her child died in infancy of natural causes.
Rashidun caliphate
Caliphates of Abu Bakr, Umar, and Uthman
Hasan did not play a major role under the first three caliphs, namely, Abu Bakr, Umar, and Uthman. He might have had a share of five thousand dirhams in Umar's system of state pension. According to Ibn Isfandiyar, Hasan also took part in an expedition to Amol during the caliphate of Umar, though the veracity of such reports have been questioned by Paktchi et al.Defying Uthman, Hasan joined his father in bidding farewell to Abu Dharr al-Ghifari, who was exiled from Medina after he preached against the misdeeds of the powerful. When Uthman's half-brother al-Walid ibn Uqba was accused of drinking alcohol, Ali asked Hasan to carry out the punishment of forty lashes, though the latter reportedly refused and Abd Allah ibn Ja'far instead administered the penalty. Veccia Vaglieri does not mention any disagreements and writes that Ali meted out the punishment himself. She also suggests that the young Hasan and his brother Husayn lived in a state of obedience to their father Ali, following Ali whenever he opposed Uthman.
In June 656, Uthman was besieged in his home by rebels. Hasan and Husayn were likely wounded while guarding Uthman's house at the request of Ali. In particular, the reports that Hasan was among the defenders are considered numerous and reliable by Madelung. On the final day, however, Hasan and most of the guards are said to have laid down their weapons at Uthman's request. Yet another report states that Hasan arrived at the scene of Uthman's murder in time to identify his assassins. According to Madelung, Hasan later criticised Ali for not doing enough to defend Uthman.
Caliphate of Ali
Ali was elected caliph after the assassination of Uthman. Immediately after his accession, the new caliph faced a rebellion led by Aisha, a widow of Muhammad and daughter of Abu Bakr, and Talha ibn Ubayd Allah and Zubayr ibn al-Awwam, two companions of Muhammad. Hasan and Ammar ibn Yasir were subsequently sent to Kufa to rally support and raised an army of some 6,000 men. He also helped remove Abu Musa al-Ash'ari from the rule of Kufa, as the latter continued to hinder Ali's efforts against the rebels. Hasan later fought in the Battle of the Camel against Aisha, Talha, and Zubayr.Hasan also fought against Mu'awiya ibn Abi Sufyan in the Battle of Siffin, though sources do not view him as a prominent participant. Madelung writes that Hasan criticised Ali's alleged aggressive war policy, saying that it stoked division among Muslims. In contrast, the Sunni Ibn 'Abd al-Barr lists Hasan as a commander at Siffin and the Shia Nasr ibn Muzahim narrates that Mu'awiya offered Hasan to switch sides at Siffin but was rejected. Haj-Manouchehri writes that Hasan persuaded some neutral figures to support Ali at Siffin, including Sulayman ibn Surad al-Khuza'i. He adds that Hasan vigorously opposed the arbitration process after Siffin alongside his father. In November 658, Ali placed Hasan in charge of his land endowments.
Caliphate of Hasan
In January 661, Ali was assassinated by the Kharijite Abd al-Rahman ibn Muljam. Hasan was subsequently acknowledged caliph in Kufa, the seat of Ali's caliphate. Madelung writes that Ali had apparently not nominated a successor before his sudden death but had often said that only members of Muhammad's household were entitled to the caliphate. As Ali's legatee, Hasan must have been the obvious choice for the caliphate. Some Shia reports add that Ali also designated Hasan as his wali|, thus giving him his own authority to command, and also his, responsible for punishing his assassin. Some authors have noted that Muhammad's surviving companions were primarily in Ali's army and must have therefore pledged allegiance to Hasan, as evidenced by the lack of any reports to the contrary.In his inaugural speech at the Great Mosque of Kufa, Hasan praised the and quoted verse 42:23 of the Quran:
Ali's commander Qays ibn Sa'd was the first to pledge his allegiance to Hasan. Qays offered his oath based on the Quran, precedent, and jihad against those who declared lawful what was unlawful. Hasan, however, avoided the last condition by saying that it was implicit in the first two. About this episode, Husain Mohammad Jafri suggests that Hasan was probably already apprehensive about the Kufans' support and wanted to avoid unrealistic commitments. The oath stipulated that people "should make war on those who were at war with Hasan, and should live in peace with those who were at peace with him", writes the Sunni al-Baladhuri, adding that this condition astonished the people, who suspected that he intended to make peace with Mu'awiya I. In contrast, Madelung notes that the oath was identical to the one demanded earlier by Ali and denounced by the Kharijites. The view of Maria Massi Dakake is similar.