After the martyrdom of Amir al-Mu’minin (PBUH), the Shiites paid allegiance to Hassan ibn Ali (PBUH) in Kufa, and he left the city with the army his father had gathered on the last days of his life in order to battle Mu’awiyah. He sent Qays ibn Ibadah with twelve thousand soldiers in advance and moved towards Madaa’in himself. On the other side, Mu’awiyah and his army settled close to Mosul.
One day, someone in the army of Imam Hassan called, ”Qays ibn Ibadah is killed; run away!” The army became mixed-up; some people attacked the tent of Imam Hassan (PBUH) and even pulled the mat he was sitting on, and one of the revolutionaries stabbed Imam Hassan (PBUH) in his thigh with a dagger. In that situation, it became obvious that it was useless to face the organized and obedient army of Mu’awiyah with such people (1).
After the martyrdom of his father, Imam Hassan (PBUH) faced a diversified and unfounded society. On one hand, the society had gone through consecutive battles of Camel, Siffin, and Nahrawan. On the other hand, the capital of Islam (Mecca and Medina) had missed a great educator for many years. The nations were filled with deceit misrepresentation, and the spirit of Islamic teachings was obliterated from the Islamic nations. The Islamic society of that day lacked a reliable prospect so that Imam Hassan (PBUH) would use the power of the people, raise them with a decisive order, and overthrow the usurping government. Therefore, even if this rising resulted in his death, his blood would have gone in vain, and there would have been no desirable and ideal effect for his blood.
Furthermore, the history shows that if Imam Hassan (PBUH) rose with the unprincipled army that accompanied him, he would not have been martyred as a hero, but would have been taken captive. In fact, Mu’awiyah had the intention of revenging the disgrace of being taken captive by the Muslim soldiers by taking one of the great members of the family of the Prophet (PBUH&HP) as captive. As such, Imam Hassan (PBUH) would have not been martyred as a hero, just like the incident of Ashura; rather he would have been taken captive, and eventually been perished unknowingly. This would have been an enormous loss for the righteous party.
Besides that, if Imam Hassan (PBUH) rose, he would fail to execute plans which could eventually lead to a deep Shia movement. Thus, to interpret and explain the actions of Imam Hassan (PBUH) based on the political and religious jurisprudence, we say,” It was essential to give Mu’awiyah more opportunity. Of course, Mu’awiyah had to expose the identity of himself and his government, which was known only by some individuals, to the public, curse Ali (PBUH), neglect Islamic traditions, perform Friday prayers on Wednesday, kill freeman for saying the name of Ali (PBUH)…
Based on that, Imam Hassan (PBUH) refrained from rising, and went on to train the hidden talents of people. He began to spread the school of revolution through the most reliable social path (2), and established the background for the eternal movement of Ashura in the foundations of the society. This act of Imam Hassan (PBUH) automatically rejected weaknesses and brought the powers together. It made the losses due to dispersion more evident to the Shiites, so that they all would bow in front of the epic of martyrdom, if not became martyred as in Ashura; He did this so that Tawwabin (those who repent) would emerge; Zayd ibn Ali would rise; Yahya ibn Zayd would revolt and spread the movement to Sarakhs, Balkh, Haraat, Bayhaq, and Jozejan; the martyrs of Fakh would rise…; and so that this bloody torch would stand forever- the torch of the eternal epic of Ashura.
(Selection taken from “Imam in the Inner of the Society”, by Muhammad Reza Hakimi, with some changes)
The Roshd Website congratulates all Muslims upon 15th of Ramadan, the birthday anniversary of the generous man of the Ahl al-Bayt (PBUT), the great grandson of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH&HP), and the master of the youth of Paradise,
Imam Hassan Mujtaba (PBUH).
Footnotes:
1. Compare these to the companions of Imam Hussain (PBUH) who said, ”We swear to Allah (SWT) that if we realize that we will be killed, then we will be revived, then killed once again, and this procedure is repeated seventy times, we will not leave you alone until we die in front of you. (Let alone that) it is only one death, and it is in the form of martyrdom and eternal salvation and greatness.
2. The scholars of politics and sociology have said, ”In social activities, the longest path should be followed, because it is the most reliable one”.