I congratulate you all for the birth anniversary of Imam Hassan (A.S). On the third year of Hijra, 15th of Ramadhan, the first son for Imam Ali and Lady Fatima (P.B.U.T) was born, but the Prophet (S.A.W.W) treated him not as a grandson but as one of his sons or as his son. Indeed, the Prophet (S.A.W.W) loved Hassan a lot, and on many occasions described him and his brother Hussain as being the masters of the youth in paradise (الحسن والحسين سيدا شباب أهل الجنة). If Al Hassan and Al Hussain are the masters of the people in paradise, this means that if you walk on the same path, if you follow them, if you adapt all their characteristics you end up in that bliss of paradise. In another occasion the Prophet (S.A.W.W) said that Hassan and Hussain both are Imams, whether they stand up or sit down. In reference to when Imam Hussain (A.S) has chosen the revolution or to stand in the face of Yazid, but Imam Hassan (A.S) had to deal with him in treaty and ceasefire. Here, let us remember that how Imam Hassan was dearly loved by the Prophet (S.A.W.W). Historians tell us that on one occasion the Prophet(S.A.W.W) prolonged his prostration and the narrator says that I asked Prophet afterwards “O Messenger of Allah, you prolonged your Sajda as if you were receiving the revelation from Allah (S.W.T)”, but the Prophet (S.A.W.W) said “No, Hassan was mounting on my shoulder whilst I was in sajda, and I did not want to move him or cause him any harm”. So, to that extent this was the way that the Prophet used to treat Hassan. Once, when the Prophet (S.A.W.W) was addressing the companions, the young Hassan came near to the mimbar, but he fell down. The Prophet (S.A.W.W) immediately descended from the mimbar to pick him up, to hug him and to console him. This is the way that the Prophet (S.A.W.W) showed his love to Hassan. We remember that when Imam Hassan (A.S) was only six or seven years old, the Prophet (S.A.W.W) accompanied him for Mubahala, and we know that the Christians of Nijran, who believed in Jesus being son of God. The Prophet (S.A.W.W) first argued with them with logic, with logical argument to tell them that this is impossible because Allah does not beget or is not begotten (لَمْ يَلِدْ وَلَمْ يُولَدْ) so this is not right. But that did not work with them, with the Christians. Then, Allah (S.A.W.W) revealed to the Prophet “whoever disputes with you in this matter, (which means that Isa (A.S) not being an aspect of Godhood) then tell them let us summon our sons and your sons, our women and your women, ourselves and yourselves and then let us humbly pray and invoke Allah to curse those who lie”. And it is known as Mubahala which took place on 25th of Thil Hijja, two months and a few days before the departure of the Prophet (S.A.W.W) to his eternity.
Here, we notice that for such a great argument for this crucial issue in theology, whether we believe in Jesus being the son of God or reject that, the Mubahala or the application of this Aya, addressed our sons and your sons. What happened? According to all authentic narrations the Prophet (S.A.W.W) took Ali as his self and his soul, Fatima, his daughter as our women and Hassan and Hussain as our sons, so he really called them sons and not grandchildren. Here, it is important for us to know how it was the way that the Prophet (S.A.W.W) accepted and used Hassan and Hussain in their early days as great personalities, as people whose word to be a way to certify the truth. In the beginning of Da’wa, people from the tribe of Thageef came to sign a treaty the Prophet (S.A.W.W). The Prophet prepared a tent for them in the mosque and permitted them to listen to the recitation of the Quran, to see how Muslims pray and then they sat down to sign the treaty. Do you know who was the witness for that treaty? In addition to Imam Ali (A.S), the young Hassan and Hussain, who then Imam Hassan was only five years old. The Prophet asks as young as five years old, Hassan, to witness that treaty. And you know that treaty was very, very important between the Prophet (S.A.W.W) as the head of state and the representatives of a very famous tribe and that meant a lot.
Imam Hassan (A.S) was always with his father, Imam Ali (A.S). During the Battle of Siffeen, he was brave enough to be in charge of a very important group of the troops with Imam Ali (A.S). He was brave enough to be ready to challenge all those who were led astray by Mu’awiya. In the time of Uthman, when he expelled the great companion Abu Thar outside Medina, because Abu Thar was criticising the Caliph for wasting Baytul Maal (treasury) for distributing Baytul Maal amongst his own family, his cousins and relatives. Because of that, Uthman decided to expel him to Rabatha. And he stopped anyone to come and say farewell to him. But Imam Ali (A.S), with Ammar, Salman and both Hassan and Hussain joined to bid farewell to the great companion Abu Thar. And history records that the words of both Hassan and Hussain in bidding farewell to Abu Thar were so strong. Imam Hassan said “Oh uncle ( addressing Abu Thar) you only feared these people for their religion, you are worried about their religious commitment, whether it is right or not, but they feared and were worried about the worldly affairs, so you are doing the right thing and let them remain unfaithful to the religion”. These were very strong words from Hassan bidding farewell to Abu Thar. Even a day before his departure to the eternal life, we notice that one of his companions, one of his disciples called Junada came to him and asked him for advice, although the Imam was not well because he was poisoned and it was only a day before his death, but still they man was so keen to give advice to Junada. We are choosing here three paragraphs from that advice. The first one, the Imam said to Junada “Be prepared for the journey but before you depart, make ready what you need to take with you. For you may be certain that while you are in pursuit of the pleasures of this dunya, death is in pursuit of you”. In another very important advice the Imam said to Junada, “Stay active in your worldly affairs as if you are to live forever but remain continuously aware of the hereafter as if you demise tomorrow” and the other important advice was “If you feel the need to socialise, befriend those from whom you may gain wisdom and assistance for such people will appreciate your good characteristics and if they observe your behaviour to be lacking, they are in a position to provide sound advice”.
Brothers and sisters, these are few advices and few points from the life of Imam Hassan (A.S) that we learn lessons from and we ask Allah (S.W.T) on this birth anniversary to enable us all to follow his footsteps and we ask Allah (S.W.T) to remove this calamity of the pandemic. May Allah give us a relief from all that.