Hasan ibn Ali

Hasan ibn Ali الْحَسَنِ بْن عَلِيّ
Amir al-Mu'minin Al-Mujtaba
Calligraphic seal featuring Hasan's name, on display in the Hagia Sophia
Caliph
Reign	28 January 661 – August 661
Predecessor	Ali ibn Abi Talib
Successor	Mu'awiya I (as Umayyad caliph)
Non-governmental responsibility 2nd Shia Imam In office 28 January 661 – 2 April 670 Preceded by Ali Succeeded by Husayn ibn Ali
Born	c. 625 Medina, Hejaz, Arabia
Died	2 April 670(670-04-02) (aged 44) Medina, Umayyad Caliphate
Burial	Al-Baqi Cemetery, Medina
Spouse	Hafsa bint Abd al-Rahman Hind bint Suhayl Ja'da bint al-Ash'ath Khawla bint Manzur Umm Bashir bint Abi Mas'ud Umm Ishaq bint Talha
Issue	Abd Allah Abd al-Rahman Abu Bakr Amr Bishr Hasan Husayn (Athram) Muhammad Qasim Talha Zayd Fatima Ruqayya Umm al-Hasan Umm al-Husayn Umm Salama
Tribe	Quraysh (Banu Hashim)
Father	Ali ibn Abi Talib
Mother	Fatima bint Muhammad
Religion	Islam

Part of a series on
Hasan ibn Ali
Family Family tree of Hasan
Life Event of Mubahala Life under the first four Caliphs First Fitna Abdication Poisoning
Battles The Camel Siffin Nahrawan
Perspectives Ahl al-kisa' Hasan as Caliph The Fourteen Infallibles Imam (The Twelve Imams)
Islam portal Shia Islam portal
v t e

Part of a series on Shia Islam
Beliefs and practices Monotheism Holy Books Prophethood Succession to Muhammad Imamate Ismaili Twelver Zaydi Angels Judgment Day Mourning of Muharram Intercession Clergy The Four Companions Arbaʽeen Pilgrimage
Days of remembrance Ashura Arba'een Mawlid Eid al-Fitr Eid al-Adha Eid al-Ghadir Mourning of Muharram Omar Koshan
History Verse of purification Two weighty things Mubahala Khumm Fatimah's house First Fitna Second Fitna Battle of Karbala Origin Persecution
Branches and sects Ja'fari Akhbari Usuli Shaykhi Zaydi Houthi Isma'ili Musta'li Tayyibi Dawoodi Bohra Progressive Hebtiahs Bohra Atba-i-Malak Bohra Sulaymani Bohra Alavi Bohra Qutbi Bohra Hafizi Nizari Khoja Satpanth Ghulat Alawi Alevi Bektashi Bektashism and folk religion Qizilbash Ishiki Extinct Shi'a sects
Ahl al-Kisa Muhammad Ali Fatima Hasan Husayn
Holy women Fatima Khadija bint Khuwaylid Umm Salama Zaynab bint Ali Umm Kulthum bint Ali Umm al-Banin Fatima bint Hasan Ruqayya bint Husayn Rubab Shahrbanu Fatima bint Musa Hakimah Khātūn Narjis Fatimah bint Asad Umm Farwah bint al-Qasim Ruqayya bint Ali Sayyida Nafisa
Shia Islam portal
v t e

Hasan ibn Ali (Arabic: الْحَسَنِ بْن عَلِيّ, romanized: al-Ḥasan ibn ʿAlī; c. 625 – 2 April 670) was an Alid political and religious leader. The eldest son of Ali and Fatima and a grandson of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, Hasan briefly ruled as Rashidun caliph from January 661 until August 661. He is considered as the second Imam in Shia Islam, succeeding Ali and preceding his brother Husayn. As a grandson of the prophet, he is part of the ahl al-bayt and the ahl al-kisa, and also participated in the event of the mubahala.

During the caliphate of Ali (r. 656–661), Hasan accompanied him in the military campaigns of the First Fitna. Following Ali's assassination in January 661, Hasan was acknowledged caliph in Kufa. His sovereignty was not recognized by Mu'awiya I (r. 661–680), the governor of Syria, who led an army into Kufa while pressing Hasan for abdication in letters. In response, Hasan sent a vanguard under Ubayd Allah ibn al-Abbas to block Mu'awiya's advance until he arrived with the main army. Meanwhile, Hasan was severely wounded in an abortive assassination attempt by the Kharijites, a faction opposed to both Ali and Mu'awiya. This attack demoralized Hasan's army and led to widespread desertion. Ubayd Allah and most of his troops also defected after Mu'awiya bribed him. In August 661, Hasan signed a peace treaty with Mu'awiya on the condition that the latter should rule in compliance with the Quran and the sunna, a council should appoint his successor, and Hasan's supporters would receive amnesty. Hasan retired from politics and abdicated in Medina where he died either from illness or poisoning, though the early sources are nearly unanimous that he was poisoned. Mu'awiya is commonly viewed as the instigator in the murder of Hasan, which removed an obstacle to the succession of his son Yazid I (r. 680–683).

Critics of Hasan call his treaty with Mu'awiya an indication of weakness, saying that he intended to surrender from the beginning. Given Mu'awiya's military superiority, supporters of Hasan maintain that his abdication was inevitable after his soldiers mutinied and that he was motivated by the desire for unity and peace among Muslims, which was reportedly predicted by Muhammad in a Sunni hadith. Another Sunni hadith, also attributed to Muhammad, predicted that the prophetic succession would last for thirty years, which may have been interpreted by some early Sunni scholars as evidence that Hasan's caliphate was rightly-guided (rāshid). In Shia theology, the divine infallibility (isma) of Hasan as the second Shia Imam further justified his course of action. As the rightful successor of Muhammad in Shia Islam, Hasan's all-inclusive temporal and religious authority came from divinely-inspired designation (nass), which was not annulled by abdication to Mu'awiya, who usurped only the temporal authority. The imamate and caliphate are viewed as separate institutions in Shia Islam until such time that God would make the Imam victorious.