Imam Hasan al-Mujtaba

Imam Hasan's life opens with the Qur'anic honour of Ahl al-Bayt and the Prophet's own explanation preserved in authentic hadith. Qur'an 33:33 proclaims purification for the Prophet's household, and Sahih Muslim 2424 records the Hadith of the Cloak: Prophet Muhammad, Peace and Blessings Be Upon Him and His Family, gathered Imam Hasan, Imam Husayn, Lady Fatima al-Zahra and Imam Ali, peace be upon them, beneath his cloak and recited the purification passage. Read together, the Qur'anic verse and this Prophetic report clearly illuminate Imam Hasan's honoured inclusion in Ahl al-Bayt.

Qur'an 3:61 commands the Prophet during the Mubahala to call “our sons, our women and ourselves.” Sahih Muslim 2404d reports that Prophet Muhammad, Peace and Blessings Be Upon Him and His Family, brought Imam Ali, Lady Fatima al-Zahra, Imam Hasan and Imam Husayn, peace be upon them, and declared them his family. The Prophetic report thus identifies the persons through whom the Qur'anic command was enacted and gives clear testimony to Imam Hasan's presence in this momentous event.

Authentic hadith records the Prophet's direct affection for Hasan. Sahih al-Bukhari 3749 reports that the Prophet carried him on his shoulder and prayed that Allah would love the child whom he loved. Sahih al-Bukhari 3752 records his strong physical resemblance to his grandfather. Jami al-Tirmidhi 3781 transmits that Hasan and Husayn are the chiefs of the youth of Paradise. These reports explain the enduring titles al-Sibt, the Prophetic grandson, Rayhanat Rasul Allah and Sayyid Shabab Ahl al-Janna.

Nasab Quraysh by al-Zubayri places his birth in Medina in the middle of Ramadan 3 AH, conventionally identified as 15 Ramadan, and records that the Prophet named him Hasan and that his kunyah was Abu Muhammad. Hasan spent his earliest years in the Prophet's household and was about seven when his grandfather died. Jami al-Tirmidhi 2518 also records from Hasan the Prophetic teaching to leave what creates doubt for what creates no doubt, because truth brings tranquillity while falsehood produces uncertainty. His formation joined direct family companionship with moral transmission.

During the caliphate of his father Ali, Hasan lived through the political and military crisis of the first civil war and moved with the household to Kufa. After Ali was killed in 40 AH, the people of Kufa pledged allegiance to Hasan. Al-Dhahabi's Siyar Alam al-Nubala and al-Tabari's history preserve this transfer of allegiance. The sources differ over the strength and loyalty of the forces available to him, but they agree that he held real political authority and faced an approaching confrontation with Muawiya.

The decisive event of his public life was the peace of 41 AH. Sahih al-Bukhari 2704 records both the negotiations and the earlier Prophetic statement that Hasan was a noble leader through whom Allah would reconcile two great groups of Muslims. The report describes large forces facing one another, envoys sent by Muawiya and Hasan's acceptance of peace. Al-Tabari, Ibn al-Athir and Ibn Kathir likewise record the transfer of political authority and Muawiya's entry into Kufa. The central historical result was the ending of immediate large-scale war.

The exact clauses of the peace agreement vary among historical transmissions, so they should not be combined into an artificial document without qualification. Shared sources firmly support reconciliation and the transfer of temporal rule, while differing over financial terms, guarantees and future succession. In Twelver belief, as presented in al-Mufid's Kitab al-Irshad, Hasan remained the second divinely designated Imam after Ali, and the peace did not surrender his spiritual imamate. This school-specific interpretation is distinguished from the shared political history.

After the peace Hasan returned to Medina and remained a leading member of the Prophetic family, a transmitter and a source of counsel. Siyar Alam al-Nubala preserves reports that he performed pilgrimage on foot many times, with variants giving fifteen or twenty-five, and that he divided his wealth for charity on several occasions. The same biography relates that he sent ten thousand dirhams to a man who had prayed for provision. These are transmitted biographical reports showing how classical scholars remembered his worship, generosity and concern for others.

Early historical sources widely report that Imam Hasan died from the effects of poisoning. Siyar Alam al-Nubala preserves a report that he had been poisoned more than once, yet he refrained from naming a person lest revenge fall upon someone innocent. Some reports name his wife Jada bint al-Ashath as the person who gave the poison, while other transmissions mention inducement by Muawiya; Kitab al-Irshad also transmits that latter detail. These reports are presented according to their sources, without this account issuing its own final judgment against any individual.

Reported death years include 49, 50 and 51 AH; the strongest genealogical notice used here is the common date of 50 AH, with Nasab Quraysh mentioning five nights into Rabi al-Awwal. Kitab al-Irshad relates that Imam Hasan instructed Imam Husayn to carry his blessed body first to the Prophet's grave to renew his covenant, then to bury him in Jannat al-Baqi beside his honoured grandmother Fatima bint Asad, without allowing bloodshed. When opposition and the risk of conflict arose, Imam Husayn honoured this instruction, avoided fighting and completed the burial in al-Baqi. Some other historical reports use the wording “beside his mother Fatima”; because Lady Fatima al-Zahra's burial place is itself historically disputed and al-Irshad's detailed account names his grandmother Fatima bint Asad, both reports are recorded with their proper attribution. His final insistence on preventing bloodshed gives a fitting close to a life marked by dignity, reconciliation and care for the Muslim community.