At a glance
- Roles
- Companion
- Counted among
- Sunni · Venerated by Twelver Shia
- Era
- The Prophetic Era · The Rashidun Caliphate · The Umayyad Period
- Region
- Arabia
- Identifiers
- Wikidata
- Review
- Draft Completeness 2/5 · Help complete it
Contested: This record includes matters on which scholars differ. The speaker's views are labelled as his, and other views are marked where no cited source yet exists.
Life in time
In space
Map: Natural Earth, public domain · places and route from the graph
Sects and schoolsPeace-making and coexistenceCivil wars and revolts
Place in the story
- Family of the ProphetTradition
- RulertowardRashidun Caliphate · January 661 CE · Ramadan 40 AH† – c. August 661 CE · c. Rabi' II 41 AH†Historical
Sunni (transmitted)
Roles are dated and sourced; the museum describes the act and attributes the judgement.
On screen
- Muawiya, Hassan and Hussein· Series · About · historical drama
Al-Hasan ibn Ali (may God be pleased with him) was the Prophet ﷺ's elder grandson, son of Fatima and Ali, and one of the masters of the young of Paradise for Muslims. People made him caliph after his father in 661 CE, then he gave it up to Mu'awiya to spare Muslim lives, and lived in Medina until he died.
Al-Hasan ibn Ali (may God be pleased with him) ibn Abi Talib (may God be pleased with him) was born in Medina around 625 CE, the elder of the Prophet ﷺ's two grandsons. After his father's death in 40 AH (661 CE) the people of Iraq pledged to him as caliph in Kufa, and he marched out against Mu'awiya; but he accepted a treaty giving the caliphate up on conditions the historians name — safety for the people of Iraq and an end to the cursing — and that year was called the Year of Unity. He returned to Medina and died there around 49 or 50 AH, with the sources differing on the cause. Sunnis count him among the rightly guided caliphs and Shia as their second imam.
Storytellers (10–12) read the Explorers text, then cross to the Scholars text.
Al-Hasan ibn Ali (may God be pleased with him) ibn Abi Talib (may God be pleased with him) (c. 3–49/50 AH) was the Prophet ﷺ's elder grandson, 'his sweet basil' in the hadith, one of the People of the Cloak and, for Sunnis, a master of the young of Paradise. When his father was killed in 40 AH the Iraqis pledged to him in Kufa; he raised an army against Mu'awiya ibn Abi Sufyan, but with his army splintering and himself wounded at al-Mada'in he chose peace: he ceded the caliphate to Mu'awiya on conditions the histories list, among them safety for the people, an end to bloodshed and the removal of his father's cursing from the pulpits — so the historians named 41 AH the Year of Unity (am al-jama'a). He lived in Medina until he died, poisoned on the best-known account, and was buried in al-Baqi after the Umayyads blocked burial beside the Prophet in one telling. For Shia he is the second imam after his father; for Sunnis the man of reconciliation in whose favor the Prophet said 'this son of mine is a master, and through him God may reconcile two great parties'.
Brief
Life
He was born in Medina in the middle of 625 CE 1. He grew up in the household of prophethood, and traditions tell of the Prophet's tenderness toward him and his brother Husayn.
When Ali was assassinated in January 661 CE, the people of Kufa pledged allegiance to Hasan. Facing Mu'awiya's Syrian army, which was stronger, and reports of defections in his own camp, he negotiated a concession that year, which included an amnesty. Some accounts also mention a condition that Mu'awiya should not appoint anyone to succeed him 2. He then withdrew to Medina, where he died around 670 CE. It is widely said that he was poisoned, but historians regard this as unestablished 2.
Legacy
His abdication is one of the founding moments in the memory of early Islam for Sunnis and Shi'is alike. The same act is read by one community as wisdom, and by another as tragedy.
For young visitors
Hasan was given a choice: a war he might not win, or giving up rule to keep the peace. Muslims have been debating his choice for fourteen centuries.
Your choice is kept in this browser only.
Opinions on the question
The question: How is Hasan ibn Ali's abdication of the caliphate understood?
First opinion · Sunni tradition (the museum's frame)Main reference
More opinions (2)
Academic viewSecondary opinion
Shia (Twelver) viewOther opinion
Connections
- Parent of
- Al-Qasim ibn al-Hasan
- Born in
- Medina
- Died in
- Medina
- Buried in
- Medina
- Child of
- Ali ibn Abi Talib· Fatima bint Muhammad
- Sibling of
- Husayn ibn Ali· Zaynab bint Ali
- Member of
- Ahl al-Bayt· Banu Hashim
- Participated in
- Ali's stance during the siege of Uthman· Ali carries out the drinking penalty on al-Walid ibn Uqba· Ali frees two men who each confessed to one killing and pays the diya from the treasury· The Year of the Community (am al-jama'a)· The birth, naming and aqiqa of Hasan ibn Ali· Conquest of Tabaristan· Death of al-Hasan ibn Ali· The delegation of Najran· The hadith of the cloak and the verse of purification of the household· Ali's muster at Dhi Qar
- Mentioned in
- Arba'un 11 — leave what makes you doubt for what does not· Muslim 2421 — O God, I love him, so love him· Muslim 2424 — The cloak report and the purification verse· Muwatta 1446
- Subject of
- Muawiya, Hassan and Hussein
People and things also explored
Ali ibn Abi Talib· Husayn ibn Ali· Fatima bint Muhammad· Muhammad· Medina· Zaynab bint Ali· Ahl al-Bayt· The delegation of Najran
Sources
- Ibn Sa'd, Kitab al-Tabaqat al-Kabir (Bewley translation, Ta-Ha)
- Madelung, The Succession to Muhammad (1997)
- Momen, An Introduction to Shi'i Islam (1985)
- Muruj al-Dhahab — al-Masʼudi
- Sahih Muslim
- Asma al-Matalib fi Sirat Ali ibn Abi Talib, vol. 1 — Ali Muhammad al-Sallabi
Cite this page
islam.museum contributors. “Hasan ibn Ali”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/person/hasan-ibn-ali/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Last updated 2026-10-26.