2 of 2 · 41 AH · 661 CE · the Year of Unity · Iraq
Al-Hasan ibn 'Ali رضي الله عنه
The Peace That Fulfilled a Prophecy
Years earlier, Abu Bakrah had seen the Prophet ﷺ on the pulpit with al-Hasan beside him, turning to the people and then to the boy and saying: "This son of mine is a sayyid, and perhaps Allah will bring about peace through him between two great parties of the Muslims" (Sahih al-Bukhari 2704).
After 'Ali was killed in Ramadan 40 AH, the people of Iraq pledged allegiance to al-Hasan. The Muslims were divided between him and Mu'awiyah in Syria, and great armies faced each other. Mu'awiyah sent two men of Quraysh, 'Abd al-Rahman ibn Samurah and 'Abdullah ibn 'Amir, to offer terms, and al-Hasan accepted. He handed over rule in 41 AH, and the year became known as the Year of Unity ('Am al-Jama'ah).
He gave up power when he had armies behind him, because he would not have the Muslims kill one another for his sake. Some of his own followers reproached him; the Prophet ﷺ had praised him for it long before it happened.
Al-Hasan's greatness was proven not by what he won but by what he gave up to spare Muslim blood.
Is there something you are holding onto that, if you let it go, would bring people together?
- Sahih al-Bukhari 2704 Sahih · in the two Sahihs
- Sahih al-Bukhari 3746 Sahih · in the two Sahihs
- Jami' al-Tirmidhi 2226 Graded by Ahmad Muhammad Shakir: Sahih · Al-Albani: Sahih · Bashar Awad Maarouf: Hasan · Zubair Ali Zai: Isnaad HasanSahih
- Ibn Kathir, al-Bidayah wa al-NihayahHistorical report
- al-Tabari, Tarikh al-Rusul wa al-MulukHistorical report
What the hadith grades mean
- Sahih (authentic): an unbroken chain of trustworthy, precise narrators, free of hidden flaws or contradiction. It is acted upon.
- Hasan (good): like sahih, but a narrator's precision is slightly lighter. It is also accepted and acted upon. "Hasan sahih" means it reaches sahih by its routes.
- Da'if (weak): a break in the chain or a narrator who is not reliable enough. It is not used to establish beliefs or rulings.
- Very weak (munkar, matruk): a seriously flawed chain or a narrator accused of lying. It is not relied on at all.
- Mawdu' (fabricated): falsely attributed to the Prophet ﷺ. It may not be narrated as his words except to warn against it.
- The two Sahihs: every hadith with a full chain in Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim is accepted as sahih by the scholars of hadith.
- Historical report: biographies and histories (Ibn Ishaq, Ibn Sa'd, al-Tabari) record events with chains that are often incomplete. They are used for the story, not for rulings.
- Hadith scholars grade a narration; the four madhhabs do not. Where a hadith carries a ruling, the page shows which schools act on it.
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