Editorial status: draft awaiting review by qualified scholars. Report corrections through the contact page.
Imam Hasan عليه السلام, the Prophet’s eldest grandson, led the community for a short time after his father’s martyrdom before concluding a peace treaty with Mu‘awiya to protect the believers. The Twelver tradition honours him as the second Imam, renowned for his generosity, and as a model of principled restraint.
Childhood with the Prophet
Hasan’s zahoor was in Medina on 15 Ramadan 3 AH; he was the first child of Ali and Fatima. The Prophet named him, and reports in both Shia and Sunni collections describe the Prophet’s deep love for him and his brother. He was present at the Mubahala and among those gathered under the cloak at the revelation of the Verse of Purification.
Sahih al-Bukhari records the Prophet saying of him that this son of his was a sayyid, through whom God might bring peace between two great groups of Muslims.
Under his father
He took part in his father’s campaigns, carrying messages to Kufa before the Battle of the Camel and fighting at Siffin. Imam Ali designated him as his successor before his death.
Imamate and the peace treaty
After Ali’s martyrdom in Ramadan 40 AH the people of Kufa gave allegiance to Hasan. Mu‘awiya, governor of Syria, refused to recognise him and advanced on Iraq. Hasan mobilised an army, but defections — including that of his commander Ubayd Allah ibn al-Abbas — and divisions within his own ranks left him exposed.
In 41 AH he concluded a treaty with Mu‘awiya. The sources record its terms differently, but they commonly include that Mu‘awiya would rule according to the Qur’an and Sunna, would not appoint a successor, would guarantee the safety of Ali’s followers, and would end the public cursing of Ali. Twelver scholars regard the treaty not as surrender but as the decision of the rightful Imam to preserve the lives of the faithful and expose the true nature of his opponent. Mu‘awiya later broke its conditions, above all by designating his son Yazid.
Life in Medina
Hasan returned to Medina, where he taught and led the family of the Prophet. He became proverbial for generosity: reports describe him giving away all his wealth more than once and sharing it equally with the poor on other occasions. Many reports state that he made the pilgrimage to Mecca on foot many times.
Martyrdom and burial
In 50 AH he was poisoned. Many historians, Shia and Sunni, name his wife Ja‘da bint al-Ash‘ath as the poisoner, reportedly at Mu‘awiya’s instigation. He had asked to be buried beside his grandfather; when his funeral approached the Prophet’s grave it was blocked, and Imam Husayn, honouring his brother’s wish that no blood be shed, buried him in al-Baqi beside their grandmother Fatima bint Asad.
Significance in Twelver Shia belief and Fiqh-e-Jafariya
He is the second Imam, designated by his father. His treaty is an enduring lesson in Shia thought: the Imam alone judges when to fight and when to make peace, and preserving the community can require patient restraint. In jurisprudence the treaty is cited in discussions of the legitimacy of truce (sulh).
Significant dates
- 15 Ramadan 3 AH (625 CE)Zahoor in Medina
- 9 or 10 AHPresent at the Mubahala
- 36–37 AHCampaigns of the Camel and Siffin
- 21 Ramadan 40 AH (661 CE)Beginning of his Imamate
- 41 AH (661 CE)Peace treaty with Mu‘awiya
- 28 Safar 50 AH (670 CE)Martyrdom by poison; burial in al-Baqi
Narrations and texts
The Prophet said that Hasan was a sayyid and that God might reconcile two great groups of Muslims through him.
Sources: al-Jami‘ al-Sahih (Kitab al-Sulh)
The Prophet said that al-Hasan and al-Husayn are the masters of the youth of the people of Paradise.
Sources: al-Jami‘ (Sunan al-Tirmidhi) (Abwab al-Manaqib, virtues of al-Hasan and al-Husayn); al-Musnad
Narrations are given as careful paraphrases, not verbatim translations. See the Editorial Methodology
Differing reports
- Date of martyrdom: 28 Safar 50 AH is most widely commemorated; other reports give 7 Safar, and some 49 AH.
- The exact terms of the treaty differ between sources.
- Reports that Imam al-Hasan عليه السلام married a very large number of women go back to al-Mada’ini and Ibn al-Kalbi; Wilferd Madelung and Baqir Sharif al-Qarashi have argued that they are unreliable.
- Abu Bakr ibn al-Hasan: al-Tabrisi names him among the martyrs of Karbala; al-Mufid does not list him among the children.
Sources
- Kitab al-Irshad fi Ma‘rifat Hujaj Allah ‘ala al-‘Ibad — al-Mufid, Muhammad ibn Muhammad ibn al-Nu‘man (d. 413 AH / 1022 CE). chapter on Imam al-Hasan
- al-Kafi — al-Kulayni, Muhammad ibn Ya‘qub (d. 329 AH / 941 CE). Kitab al-Hujja, Bab mawlid al-Hasan ibn Ali
- Maqatil al-Talibiyyin — Abu al-Faraj al-Isfahani, Ali ibn al-Husayn (d. 356 AH / 967 CE)
- Tarikh al-Ya‘qubi — al-Ya‘qubi, Ahmad ibn Abi Ya‘qub (d. after 292 AH / 905 CE)
- al-Jami‘ al-Sahih — al-Bukhari, Muhammad ibn Isma‘il (d. 256 AH / 870 CE)
- The Origins and Early Development of Shi‘a Islam — Jafri, S. H. M.
- The Succession to Muhammad: A Study of the Early Caliphate — Madelung, Wilferd
- I‘lam al-Wara bi-A‘lam al-Huda — al-Tabrisi, al-Fadl ibn al-Hasan (d. 548 AH / 1153 CE)