The second Imam
Hasan b. Ali (a), born in Ramadan 3 AH, was the first grandchild of the Prophet (s), who named him and loved him openly; he was one of the People of the Cloak and stood beside the Prophet at the Mubahila as a child. After Imam Ali's (a) martyrdom in 40 AH some forty thousand men pledged allegiance to him as caliph, but Mu'awiya refused, marched against him, and worked to break his army with bribes and rumours. Wounded by a Kharijite, betrayed by Kufan chiefs who offered to hand him over, the Imam accepted a treaty in 41 AH that surrendered the caliphate on conditions Mu'awiya never honoured.
Martyrdom
When Mu'awiya decided to make his son Yazid his heir, he sent a large sum to Ja'da bint al-Ash'ath, the Imam's wife, to poison him. Imam Hasan (a) died after weeks of suffering in Safar 50 AH. He had asked to be buried beside his grandfather, but Marwan b. al-Hakam and armed Umayyads blocked the way, and to avoid bloodshed Imam Husayn (a) took the coffin to al-Baqi, where he was buried beside his grandmother Fatima bint Asad.
Observance
Most Shia scholars give 28 Safar as the date, the day also kept for the passing of the Prophet (s); the seventh is held in Najaf. The dome over his grave, shared with three later Imams, was destroyed in 1926.
Written for Shia Online Community. Dates and facts are checked against the references listed under Research & books; where the tradition records more than one date, all are given.
