Hasan ibn Ali

Hasan ibn Ali (Arabic: الْحَسَنِ بْن عَلِيّ, romanized: al-Ḥasan ibn ʿAlī; c. 625 – 2 April 670) 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 Rashidun 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 ahl al-bayt and the ahl al-kisa, and also participated in the event of the mubahala.

During the caliphate of Ali (r. 656–661), 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 (r. 661–680), the governor of Syria, 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 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 (r. 680–683).

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 (rāshid). In Shia theology, the divine infallibility (isma) 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 (nass), 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.

Hasan was born in Medina in c. 625. 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 (2 March 625), 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 (d. 1505), among others. Ali reportedly had chosen another name in Sunni sources but deferred to Muhammad who named the child Hasan (lit. 'good, virtuous'). To celebrate his birth, Muhammad sacrificed a ram, while Fatima shaved Hasan's head and donated the weight of his hair in silver.

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 (sadaqa) was forbidden for his family.

A hadith (lit. 'saying') in the canonical Sunni collection Sunan ibn Majah names Hasan and Husayn as the sayyids (lit. 'chiefs') of the youth in the paradise. Madelung adds that this hadith is widely reported, while Veccia Vaglieri (d. 1989) notes that its authenticity was disputed by the Umayyad Caliph Marwan (r. 684–685). The same source 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 canonical Sunni source Sunan al-Tirmidhi ascribes to Muhammad, "Whoever loves me and loves these two [Hasan and Husayn] and loves their mother and father [Fatima and Ali], will be with me in my station on the Day of Resurrection."

After an inconclusive debate in 10/631-2, Muhammad and the Najranite Christians decided to engage in mubahala, 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 (d. 923) 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 ahl al-bayt, 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.