THE LAST DAYS OF IMAM HASAN (A.S.)

Jan 10, '13 12:01 PM for everyone

When the peace between al-Hasan, peace be on him, and Muawiya was concluded in the way we have mentioned, al-Hasan, peace be on him, left for Medina. He resided there, restraining his anger, staying close to his house, and awaiting the command of his Lord, the Mighty and High, until Mu’awiya had completed ten years of his administration. (Then) the latter decided to have the pledge of allegiance given to his son, Yazid, (as his successor).  He communicated secretly with J’uda, daughter of al-Ashath b.Qays[she was the wife of al-Hasan, peace be on him]to urge her to poison him. He gave an undertaking to her that he would marry her to his son, Yazid, and he sent her a thousand dirhams. J’uda gave him the poison to drink but he lingered on sick for forty days. He passed along his (final) road in the month of Safar in the year 50 A.H. (670).  At that time, he was forty-eight years of age. His succession (to the Imamate) had been for ten years. His brother and testamentary trustee (wasi), al-Husayn, peace be on him, undertook the washing and shrouding of his body, and buried him with his grandmother, Fatima, daughter of Asad b. Abd Manf, may God be pleased with her, in (the cemetery of) al-Baqi. Various historians have recorded that when the news of Imam Hasan's passing away arrived in Damascus, Mua'wiyyah said Allah-u-Akbar very loudly and did a sajdah of thanks.  Imam Hasan had left a last will with his brother Husayn that he should be buried next to his grandmother, Fatima binte Asad. When the funeral procession was on its way to the Baq’ee cemetery where Fatima binte Asad is buried, Imam Husayn had it stopped at the Prophet’s burial place. A’isha, a surviving wife of the Prophet, had been following the procession. She thought for a minute that they were going to bury Hasan next to the Prophet. She immediately intervened saying that she would not allow it. Suddenly the scene turned ugly. There were words exchanged between A’isha and Muhammad Hanafiyya, another son of Imam Ali.  A’isha turned to the Umayyad troops commanded by Marwan, who also had been following the funeral procession. On her instigation, Marwan beckoned to his archers and they began shooting arrows at the procession. Numerous arrows were lodged in the coffin and actually seven of them had pierced the remains of Imam Hasan. The situation was brought back under control when Husayn explained that he was stopping there for blessings only and that he would bury his brother in Baq’ee next to their grandmother.  It is to commemorate that event that when Imam Hasan’s coffin is taken out by his devotees, even today, one sees a number of arrows lodged in it. In his book titled `SIR-RUSH- SHAHADATAYN' or the secret of two sacrifices, by the well known Indian scholar Shah Abdul Azeez, also known as Muhaddith-e-Dehlavi has argued that the logical end of the story of Ibraheem and Isma'eel would be that Muhammad the Prophet of Islam would have sacrificed his life in Allah's way.  Martyrdom, the greatest glory for a Muslim was not achieved by the Prophet of Islam. Why? The Shah then answers that question as follows: A man can die only once and thus he can achieve martyrdom only one way. However, there are two types of martyrdoms: Shahadat-e-Sirri or secret or covert martyrdom, and, Shahdat-e-Jahri or overt or manifest martyrdom. If Allah had given one of those to the Prophet, he would naturally be deprived of the other.  To give his beloved Prophet the complete martyrdom, Allah gave him two grandsons, Hasan and Husayn. One was martyred by poisoning so he received the Shahdat-e-Sirri or covert martyrdom and the other received the Shahdat-e-Jahri by dying on the battlefield, or manifest martyrdom. In effect, Hasan’s as well as Husayn's martyrdom was Muhammad's martyrdom, which completes the religion Islam, which started with Ibraheem and Isma'eel.