Hazrat Hasan Ibn Ali RaḍyAllāhu 'anhu was the son of Hazrat Ali binAbi Talib RaḍyAllāhu 'anhu and Hazrat Fatima RaḍyAllāhu 'anha, the daughter of the Holy Prophet ﷺ. The Holy Prophet ﷺ himself named him Hassan, meaning the beautiful one. As a child, he would often be seen sitting in the Holy Prophet's play lap, alongwith his younger brother Hussain RaḍyAllāhu 'anhu and Usamah bin Zaid RaḍyAllāhu 'anhu. HolyProphet Hazrat Muhammad ﷺ used to invoke Allah saying,
I love them O Allah! Please love them too!
Hassan RaḍyAllāhu 'anhu was about eight years old when his maternal grandfather passed away.
Hassan Ibn Ali RaḍyAllāhu 'anhu served, faithfully, all the
caliphs of Islam, including his father, the fourth caliph of Islam, Ali bin Abi Talib.
After his father, he too stayed in office for about a year after which he
stepped down in favour of Mu'awiya RaḍyAllāhu
'anhu.
After stepping down, he spent the
rest of his life in scholarly activities, as befits the scholarly son of a
great father, and the learned grandson of Allah's messenger Hazrat Muhammad ﷺ.
He died in 50AH (670 AD) and was buried at Madinah.
Importance of Hasan RaḍyAllāhu 'anhu in Islam
Being a grandson of the Messenger
of Allah, he became a source of continuing his program. He also emerged as a
symbol and example of kind treatment of children since the Messenger of Allah
used to treat Hasnain (Hasan and Husain) just like his own children. Moreover,
Hazrat Hassan RaḍyAllāhu
'anhu is the second of the twelve Imams for the Shia community.
