Imam al-Hasan ibn Ali
Imam al-Hasan ibn Ali
Peace Be Upon Him
Imam Abu Ṭālib (peace be upon him) said: He (peace be upon him) resembled the Messenger of God ﷺ from his head down to his navel, and he was fair in complexion and eloquent in speech. The Prophet ﷺ said of him: “He has my dignity and my nobility.”1
Allegiance was pledged to him on a Monday, with eight nights remaining in Ramadan of the year forty. He marched out to fight Mu’āwiyah and encamped at al-Nakhīlah, but his companions betrayed him and he was compelled to seek a peace settlement.
When the treacherous nation betrayed him, and the tyrants broke their covenant with him, and they rejected the words of his father — the Messenger, may God’s prayers and peace be upon him and his family — “Al-Ḥasan and al-Ḥusayn are Imams whether they stand or sit, and their father is better than them”2 — he was compelled to conclude a truce with the Banū Umayyah.
He ascended the pulpit and said — after praising God, extolling Him, and invoking blessings upon the Prophet ﷺ:
“O people, by God, between Jabāleq and Jābalṣā there is no son of a prophet’s daughter other than myself and my brother. So let your hearing of my words be proportionate to your knowledge of my right.
O people: we were fighting while patience and zeal were with us; but patience has now been mixed with anxiety, and zeal has been mixed with enmity.
And you have come to find yourselves today between two groups of weepers: one weeping for those killed at Ṣiffīn — the deserters — and another weeping for those killed at al-Nahrāwān — the avengers.
And you have been summoned to a matter in which there is neither satisfaction nor justice. If you desire God and the Last Day, we shall bring them to judgment by the edges of swords and the points of spears. But if you desire this world, we shall secure for you a settlement.”
The author of Al-Shāfī notes — when mentioning this sermon — that the people called out from all sides of the mosque: “Survival! Survival!”3
Note on the place-names: The Qāmūs states — Jābalṣā (with the bā and lām either open or silent) is a land in the west beyond which there is no human being; and Jābaleq is a land in the east.
Imam Abu Ṭālib (peace be upon him) enumerated his children as follows — al-Ḥasan, who was his father’s trustee and administrator of his charitable endowments; Zayd; ‘Umar; al-Qāsim; Abu Bakr (martyred at al-Ṭaff); ‘Abdullāh (likewise martyred); ‘Abd al-Raḥmān; al-Ḥusayn; Ṭalḥah al-Jawād (whose maternal grandfather was Ṭalḥah ibn ‘Ubaydullāh); Ismā’īl; Ya’qūb; Muḥammad; Ja’far; and Ḥamzah.
- Al-ḤasanTrustee & administrator of his father’s endowments
- Zaydlineage continued through him
- ‘Umar
- Al-Qāsim
- Abu Bakrmartyred at al-Ṭaff
- ‘Abdullāhmartyred at al-Ṭaff
- ‘Abd al-Raḥmān
- Al-Ḥusayn
- Ṭalḥah al-Jawādmaternal grandfather: Ṭalḥah ibn ‘Ubaydullāh
- Ismā’īl
- Ya’qūb
- Muḥammad
- Ja’far
- Ḥamzah
✦ Martyred at the Battle of al-Ṭaff (Karbalāʾ)
Of these, the lineage continued through only two: al-Ḥasan and Zayd.
He was poisoned by Mu’āwiyah ibn Abī Sufyān — may God requite him — and he passed away in the year 50 AH at the age of forty-six years. May God’s mercy and peace be upon him.
In the son of Hind and in the son of al-Muṣṭafā, Ḥasan,
came a perplexing enigma for minds and for thought.
— Ibn ‘Abdūn
Scholarly References & Annotations
Related by Imam Abu Ṭālib (peace be upon him) in his book Al-Ifādah fī Tārīkh al-A’immat al-Sādah. See also: Sharḥ Nahj al-Balāghah by Ibn Abī al-Ḥadīd (16/10); Tahdhīb al-Tahdhīb (2/299); Tahdhīb al-Kamāl (6/400); Tārīkh Dimashq (13/230); Asad al-Ghābah fī Ma’rifat al-Ṣaḥābah (5/467).
A full research on this narration is found in Lawāmi’ al-Anwār fī Jawāmi’ al-‘Ulūm wa al-Āthār by Imam al-Ḥujjah Imam Majd al-Dīn ibn Muḥammad al-Mu’ayyidī (peace be upon him), vol. 2, p. 521 (1st ed.); vol. 2, p. 583 (2nd ed.); vol. 2, p. 688 onwards (3rd ed.).
Al-Shāfī (1/508), edition of Maktabat Ahl al-Bayt (peace be upon them). Al-Ẓubah (like thubbah): the edge of a sword, or a spearhead, or the like. Plural: aẓhub, ẓubāt, ẓubūn, and ẓubā — noted by the Author (peace be upon him).