Dr. Ali M. Sallabi <fe oZakho Oahu~o Sm. J. aro .•.r.t.,v..-.;.; .;>;U lN••i•n eveh · Tell / IN THE NAME OF ALLAH THE ALL-COMPASSIONATE, ALL-MERCIFUL At-HASAN IBN 'ALI IBN ABI TALIB His LIFE AND TIMES \ "' ISLAMIC HISTORY SERIES PART II THE RIGHTLY GUIDED CALIPHS 5 AL-HASAN IBN 'ALI IBN ABI TA.LIB His LIFE AND TIMES Dr. Ali M. Sallabi Translated by Nasiruddin al-Khattab Edited by Huda Khattab INTERNATIONAL ISLAMIC PUBLISHING HOUSE • = • CONTENTS • Pronunciation and transliteration chart . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Arabic honorific symbols used in this book . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Hadith grade terms in this book . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 About the word 'Lord' ............. \. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 When jihad refers to fighting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 The Islamic viewpoint on slavery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 Publisher's note. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 Dedication. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 Partl Al-I:Iasan ibn 'Ali (~) from birth to the caliphate Chapter One His names, lineage, birth and family............ 45 1.1 His name and lineage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 1.2 His birth, naming, titles, and the Prophet's way of naming newborns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 1.3 The Messenger of Allah (~) recites the call to prayer in al-Hasan's ears. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 1.4 Tal:zneek . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 1.5 Shaving his head . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 1.6 The animal sacrifice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 1.7 The circumcision................................. 50 <•) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.8 His wet nurse: Umm al-Fac,il 51 6 Al-Jjasan ibn 'Ali 1.9 His marriages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 1.10 His children.................................... 58 1.10.1 Zayd ibn al-I:Iasan ibn 'Ali ibnAbi Talib(~)..... 59 1.10.2 Al-I:Iasan ibn al-I:Iasan ibn 'Ali ibn Abi Talib. . . . . 60 1.11 His siblings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62 1.11. l Al-I:Iusayn ibn 'Ali ibn Abi Talib. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62 1.11.2 MuJ::i.assan ibn 'Ali ibn Abi Talib . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64 1.11.3 Umm Kulthoom hint 'Ali ibn Abi Talib . . . . . . . . . . 64 1.11.4 Zaynab hint 'Ali ibnAbiTalib................. 65 1.11.5 Muhammad ibn al-I:Ianafiyah. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65 1.12 His paternal uncles and aunts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66 1.12.1 Talib ibnAbi Talib.......................... 66 1.12.2 'Aqeel ibnAbi Talib......................... 67 1.12.3 Ja'far ibn Abi Talib. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67 1.12.4 UmmHani'bintAbi Talib .................... 68 1.12.5 Jumanah bintAbi Talib....................... 68 1.13 His maternal uncles and aunts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68 1.13.1 Zaynab, daughter of the Messenger of Allah(~)... 69 1.13 .2 Ruqayyah, daughter of the Messenger of Allah (~) . . 71 1.13.3 Umm Kulthoom, daughter of th.e Messenger of Allah (~). . . . . . . . ....7 2 Chapter Two His mother, Fatimah az-Zahra' . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75 2.1 Her dowry and trousseau. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75 2.2 Her wedding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77 2.3 The wedding feast. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78 2.4 The lifestyle of' Ali and Fatimah . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78 2.5 Her asceticism and patience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80 2.6 The Messenger of Allah's love and protective jealousy for her . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82 2. 7 Her sincerity of speech . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85 2.8 Her leadership in this world and the hereafter . . . . . . . . . . 85 Contents 7 2.9 Abu Bakr af;'-$iddeeq, Fatimah and the Prophet's estate... 86 2.10 Her goodwill toward Abu Bakr. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87 2.11 Her death. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90 Chapter Three His status in the eyes of his grandfather, the beloved Prophet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . \95 (~) 3.1 The Messenger of Allah's love and compassion for al-l:lasan, and the time he spent with him . . . . . . . . . . 95 3.2 Guidelines on the emotional development of children. . . . 99 3.2. l Kissing and showing compassion and kindness to children . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99 3.2.2 Joking and playing with children . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99 3.2.3 Giving children gifts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100 3.2.4 Patting children's heads ...................... 101 3.2.5 Welcoming children ........................ 101 3.2.6 Checking on children and inquiring after them . . . . . 102 3.3 The resemblance of al-l:lasan ibn 'Ali to the Prophet(~) 103 3.4 Al-l:lasan and al-l:lusayn: Leaders of the youth of paradise.. 106 3.5 «They are my two fragrant plants in this world». . . . . . . . 108 3.6 Al-I:Iasan's leadership in this world and the hereafter. . . . 109 3. 7 «l seek refuge in the perfect words of Allah from every devil and poisonous reptile, and from every envious evil eye» . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112 3.8 Hadiths narrated by al-l:lasan from the Messenger of Allah (~) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113 3.9 Al-l:lasan's description of the Messenger of Allah(~) . . . 118 3.10 The verse of purification and the hadith of the cloak . . . . 122 3.10.1 Flaws in Shiite arguments about the verse of purification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126 3.11 The verse of mubahalah and the delegation of Christians from Najran . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136 3.12 The upbringing of al-I:Iasan ....................... 138 8 Al-lfa san ibn 'Ali 3 .12.1 Sincerity and knowing the importance ofupbringing. . 139 3.12.2 Setting a good example for children... . . . . . . . . . . 139 3.12.3 Kindness. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140 3.12.4 Treating children on a fair and equitable basis. . . . . 140 3 .13 The impact of social reality on al-l:fasan 's upbringing. . . 141 Chapter Four During the time of the Rightly-Guided Caliphs .......................... 143 4.1 During the caliphate ofA bu Bakr a~-$iddeeq. . . . . . . . . . . 143 4.1.1 Abu Bakr's reaction to the Prophet's death ......... 144 4.1.2 Saqeefah Bani Sa'idah ........................ 145 4.1.3 Some characteristics ofA bu Bakr's rule ........... 149 4.1.4 'Ali's oath of allegiance to Abu Bakr a~-$iddeeq.... 150 4.1.5 Abu Bakr sends out the army ofUsamah .......... 153 4.1.6 The apostasy wars ............................ 156 4.2 During the caliphate of 'Umar ibn al-Khattab . . . . . . . . . . 158 4.3 During the caliphate of 'Othman ibn 'Affan. . . . . . . . . . . . 160 4.3.1 During the conquest ofNorthAfrica. ............. 161 4.3.2 'Ali's attitude concerning the turmoil faced by 'Uthman . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162 4.4 During the caliphate of his father, 'Ali binAbi Talib ..... 166 4.4.1 Commander of the Faithful 'Ali ibnAbi Talib sets out for Kufa ............. 166 4.4.2 Al-l:fasan's advice to his father. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167 4.4.3 Al-l:fasan's impact on mobilising the people of Kufa. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169 4.4.4 Attempts at reconciliation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170 4.4.5 The Battle of the Camel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170 4.4.6 Tlle Battle of $iffeen. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172 4.4.7 Al-l:fasan's view concerning the wars ........................... 177 / Contents 9 4.4.8 The martyrdom of Commander of the Faithful 'Ali ................ 179 4.4.9 Final advice of Commander of the Faithful 'Ali to his sons ..................... 180 4.4.10 Commander of the Faithful 'Ali prohibits mutilating his killer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185 4 .4 .11 Al-l:f asan 's speech after his father was slain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186 4.4.12 Mu'awiyah's reaction to the martyrdom of 'Ali ........................ 186 Part2 Al-Basan' s caliphate and his reconciliation efforts Chapter Five Oath of allegiance to al-I:Iasan ibn 'Ali(~) ...... 191 5.1 The falseness of the idea that al-l:fasan was appointed to the caliphate by his father . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193 5.2 What the Twelver Shiites quote as evidence from the Sunni books for limiting the number of imams. . . . . . . . . . 199 5.3 Duration of the caliphate of Commander of the Faithful al-l:fasan and the view of ah! as-Sunnah concerning his caliphate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202 5.3.1 Abu Bakr ibn al-'Arabi. ......................... 203 5.3.2 Al-QaQ.i 'IyaQ.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203 5.3.3 Al-l:fafidh Ibn Katheer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204 5.3.4 IbnAbil-'Izz al-l:fanafi ........................ 204 5.3.5 Al-Mannawi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204 5.3.6 lbn l:fajar al-Haythami . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205 5.4 Speeches that cannot be soundly attributed to al-l:fasan following the murder of his father. . . . . . . . . . . . 205 5.4.1 Al-I~fahani, author of al-Aghani. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207 10 Al-lfa san ibn 'Ali 5.4.2 Nahj al-Balaghah ............................ 209 Chapter Six His characteristics and social life. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213 6.1 His most important characteristics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213 6.1.1 His knowledge .............................. 213 6.1.2 His worship. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224 6.1.3 His asceticism and lack of interest in worldly gain. . . 227 6.1.4 His generosity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229 6.1.5 His forbearance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233 6.1.6 His humility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235 6.1. 7 His leadership . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236 6.2 His physical characteristics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238 Chapter Seven His behaviour in the society . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239 7 .1 His refutation of the belief in raj 'ah . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239 7.2 His meeting people's needs ......................... 240 7.3 His marriage to the daughter ofTall).ah ibn 'Ubaydullah .. 242 7.4 His marriage to Khawlah bint Mandhoor .............. 243 7 .5 He did not see the Mothers of the Believers without their veils . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244 7.6 His great care to refrain from abusing his connection to the Prophet(~) ................................ 244 7. 7 He offered the funeral prayer for al-Ash'ath ibn Qays. . . . 245 7 .8 How he treated those who mistreated him . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245 7.9 His etiquette in gatherings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246 7 .10 His good attitude with the people . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246 7 .11 His playing with stones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 7 7 .12 His avoidance of excessive speech . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 7 7.13 His honouring Usamah ibn Zayd ................... 248 7.14 His explanation to the poor Jew .................... 248 7.15 lbn 'Abbas' respect for al-I;Iasan and al-I;Iusayn ....... 249 7.16 'Abdullah ibn az-Zubayr's praise for al-I;Iasan ........ 250 Contents 11 7 .17 The relationship between al-l:fasan and al-l:fusayn . . . . . 251 7 .18 The one with the noblest parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251 7.19 People's love for him and his brother al-l:fusayn, and how they crowded around them at the Kaaba . . . . . . 252 Chapter Eight His words, speeches and exhortations. . . . . . . . . . . 253 8.1 His warning against spiritual diseases ..... '. . . . . . . . . . . . 253 8.2 The concept of contentment as understood by al-l:fasan and Abu Dharr. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255 8.3 Sublime character and attitude . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255 8.4 Avoiding conjecture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 258 8.5 Consultation and discussion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259 8.6 Important principles enjoined by al-l:fasan. . . . . . . . . . . . . 260 Chapter Nine Prominent figures during his caliphate. . . . . . . . . . 263 9 .1 Qays ibn Sa' d ibn 'Ubadah . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264 9.2 'Ubaydullah ibn 'Abbas ibn 'Abdul-Muttalib al-Hashimi: Abu Muhammad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265 9.3 'Abdullah ibn Ja'far ibn Abi Talib al-Hashimi .......... 266 Chapter Ten From his peace deal with Mu'awiyah until his death ..................... 271 10.1 The most important stages of the peace deal. .......... 274 10.1.l The first stage .............................. 274 10.1.2 The second stage. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 276 10.1.3 The third stage. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277 10.1.4 The fourth stage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 278 10.1.5 The fifth stage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279 10.1.6 The sixth stage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281 10.1. 7 The seventh stage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285