The Day of the Martyrdom of Imam Hasan

The 28th of Safar is recorded in historical sources as a day of remembrance commemorating the death and martyrdom of the Prophet of Islam, the Noble Prophet Muhammad, as well as that of his eldest grandson, Imam Hasan al-Mujtaba.

Imam Hasan al-Mujtaba was the first child of Imam Ali ibn Abi Talib and Lady Fatima al-Zahra, the eldest grandson of the Prophet of Islam, and the second infallible Imam. He was born during the final years of the Prophet’s life and spent his childhood directly under the care and tutelage of his grandfather, the Prophet Muhammad.

Following the martyrdom of Imam Ali, Imam Hasan assumed the leadership of the Muslim community and exercised this responsibility for approximately six months. He was the rightful successor of the Messenger of Allah and an infallible Imam. The period of Imam Hasan’s caliphate, together with the peace treaty he concluded with Muawiya ibn Abi Sufyan, is regarded as an important episode in Islamic history, while his brief caliphate is presented as a continuation of the period of the Rightly Guided Caliphs.

In order to prevent bloodshed among Muslims and put an end to internal warfare, Imam Hasan concluded a peace treaty with Muawiya ibn Abi Sufyan and temporarily transferred political authority to him. According to the sources, however, this did not mean that Imam Hasan regarded Muawiya’s rule as legitimate or approved of it. Rather, Imam Hasan’s principal objective was to preserve Muslim lives and prevent greater corruption, division, and social turmoil within the Islamic community.

Historical and hadith sources report that Muawiya subsequently failed to abide by the terms of the peace treaty and engaged in covert actions against Imam Hasan. According to these narrations, Muawiya arranged for Imam Hasan to be poisoned through his wife, Ja’da bint al-Ash’ath, with the aim of bringing about his martyrdom. The narrations further state that she was deceived by certain promises in exchange for carrying out the poisoning.