After the martyrdom of Amir al-Mu’minin (peace be upon him), the Shi’ahs in Kufa pledged allegiance to Imam Hasan (peace be upon him), and he set out with the army that his father had prepared in the final days of his life, intending to fight against Mu’awiya. He sent Qays ibn Abada with twelve thousand men ahead and himself headed towards Madain. Meanwhile, Mu’awiya camped with his army near Mosul.
One day, a cry was heard in Imam Hasan’s (peace be upon him) army, saying, “Qays ibn Abada has been killed, flee!” The people were thrown into chaos, and a group looted Imam Hasan’s (peace be upon him) tent, even pulling the rug from under him. One of the rebels even struck the Imam’s foot with a dagger. In this situation, it became clear that it was futile to go to war against Mu’awiya with such a people, who were so disorganized and undisciplined. [1]
After the martyrdom of his father, Imam Hasan (peace be upon him) faced a fragmented society with little foundation; a society that had gone through the continuous wars of Jamal, Siffin, and Nahrawan. On the other hand, the heart of Islam (Mecca and Medina) had been deprived of a great guide for many years. Numerous deceptions and mistakes had infiltrated the Muslim community, and the Islamic lands had become spiritually desensitized. The Islamic society of that time had no reassuring perspective, from which Imam Hasan (peace be upon him) could have united the people with a decisive fatwa, to rise and overthrow the usurping government. Hence, even if he had sacrificed himself, his blood would not have had the desired or ideal impact.
Additionally, historical evidence shows that if the Imam had risen with the fragile army around him, he would not have been martyred as a heroic martyr, but instead would have been captured. Mu’awiya wanted to avenge the shame that he and his family had experienced at the hands of the Muslim soldiers and had once been captured by them, by capturing one of the great figures of the family of Muhammad (peace be upon them). Therefore, Imam Hasan (peace be upon him) would not have been killed as a heroic martyr like the martyrdom of Ashura, but would have been taken as a prisoner and eventually would have perished in an unknown way. This would have been a great loss to the position of truth at that time.
Moreover, if the Imam had risen, he would have been deprived of the opportunity to create a profound Shi’ite movement that he could later utilize to begin a new revolution. Thus, to understand Imam Hasan’s actions through the lens of political jurisprudence, we say: it was necessary to give Mu’awiya more time. Yes, Mu’awiya needed to reveal his identity and the nature of his government, which the elites were aware of, to the general public. He needed to curse Ali (peace be upon him), trample the traditions of Islam, hold Friday prayers on Wednesday, and execute free men who spoke the name of Ali (peace be upon him) with the sword, and so on.
Thus, Imam Hasan (peace be upon him) refrained from an immediate uprising and instead focused on cultivating hidden talents and began spreading the revolutionary doctrine in the safest social ways[2]. In doing so, he laid the foundation for the eternal and bloody movement of Ashura within the Islamic society. Imam Hasan’s actions, by their very nature, rejected weaknesses and consolidated forces, making the losses of disunity clearer for the Shi’ahs of that time. The aim was not for everyone to rush to martyrdom like the martyrs of Ashura, but at least to stand in the temple of martyrdom and pray in the name of the heroic martyrdom. This led to the creation of the Tawabin movement, the uprising of Zayd ibn Ali, the rise of Yahya ibn Zayd, and the spreading of the bloody epic to regions like Sarakhs, Balkh, Herat, and Bayhaq. The martyrs of Fakh would rise and so on. And so, this crimson torch of martyrdom remained eternally alight—an eternal epic.
(Excerpted from the book The Life of Imam Hasan (peace be upon him) by Hujjat al-Islam Baqir Sharif Qureshi, with slight modifications)
Footnotes:
[1] Compare these with the companions of Imam Husayn (peace be upon him) who said:
“By God, if we knew we would be killed, then we would be revived and killed again seventy times, and we would not separate from you until we die in your presence. (Let alone that) one killing is nothing, and that (death) is martyrdom and eternal honor and everlasting happiness.”
[2] Political and sociological experts have said: “In social activities, one should take the farthest route, because it is the safest.”