Imam Al-Hassan: A role Model in sublime Morals and Piety

Allah says in His Glorious Book:  Allah only desires to keep away the uncleanness from you, O people of the House! and to purify you a (thorough) purifying. On the seventh of the month of Safar, that is yesterday, was the anniversary of Imam Al-Hassan bin Ali Abi Talib and Fatima Az-Zahra. He was poisoned by his wife, having been encouraged by Muawiyah, who promised her to marry his son, and then went back on his word.

We have to learn about this distinguished Imam (a.s.) through his movement in Islamic history. He lived many tragedies and problems and maintained his exceptional sublime morals and religious values.  Despite all the troubled situations he lived in, he remained tolerant even to his enemies. He was the first baby to Ali and Fatima. Historians say that he is the one who resembled the Messenger (p.) the most in his morals and physical features to the extent that when the companions missed the Messenger (p.) they used to look at him.

The Messenger (p.) raised him with his brother in their early childhood. He gave them the medal he did not give to anyone else. But it was not an emotional gesture for the Messenger did not do or say anything on his own.

His actions and sayings were revealed to him. Therefore, he knew about their dedicated future in the service of the Message and Islam. That is why he said: "Al-Hassan and Al-Hussein are the masters of the youth of Heaven… He who loves them loves me and he who hates them hates me".          

On this occasion, we are going to review his nephew's testimony:

 He was the most worshipful of all people (and the most austere of them) and the most virtuous of them. Whenever he would go for Hajj he would go on foot and sometimes even bare-footed), and whenever he would remember death he would weep, and whenever he would remember the grave he would cry, and whenever he would remember resurrection he would wail, and whenever he would remember the passage on Siraat he would shed tears, and whenever he would remember the accountability before his Lord the Most High he would sob, and whenever he would stand before his Lord in prayers his limbs would shiver, and whenever he would remember heaven and hell he would quiver like one bitten by snake and he would pray to the Lord for Paradise and for protection from  the punishment of Hell-fire, and whenever he read in the book of God "O You who believe ......" he would respond by saying Labbaik Allahuma Labbaik .

And he was never seen in any state that he was not steeped in the remembrance of God

In this hadith Imam Zein Al-Ibidien talks about death, the grave, resurrection, the sirat, and the accountability before Allah, because these states represent the march towards Allah, and how man should prepare for death making sure that he would die as a pious Muslim: O you who believe! be careful of (your duty to) Allah with the care which is due to Him, and do not die unless you are Muslims.  (3:102). 

The banner of Ali:

We also read that Imam Ali used to send him to solve the difficult problems, sending him for example to Kufa after the wali there revolted. When Imam Al-Hassan reached Kufa he addressed the people saying:  “we came to call you to Allah, His book, the Sunnah of his Messenger and to the most knowledgeable person, (This person was obviously Imam Ali who Al- hassan began to tell them   how great he was describing him as the most pious, the most just and the most knowledgeable...) The one whom Allah made related to the Messenger in two ways: by kin and by religion… He is the one whom Allah has made the Messenger (p.) need not go to war while the people were hesitant…The one who believed in him when others did not, and the one who fought with him when others were defeated. ...  The one who believed him when others did not … The one who is the most virtuous and the first in doing good. Imam Al-Hassan also used to say: He who wants to be powerful and respected without being a member of a tribe or a ruler should move from the disgrace of disobeying Allah to the greatness of obeying Him”. 

The caliphate

He was pledged allegiance as a caliph, when his father was martyred in very difficult circumstances, that several hypocrites of the heads of tribes whom Muawiyah bought were involved. He moved to fight Muawiyah who announced himself as caliph, but those who were supposed to fight with him took their orders from Muawiyah. One of his cousins, Ubaidallah bin Abbas left the command and withdraw having received a lot of money form the Umayyad. The hypocrites even tried to kill him and stabbed him in his thigh.

Thus, he saw that the war was not proportional, for several reasons including that the people were tired and that Muawiyah had bought many of them, and also because he saw that there was a chance for peace on the basis of his father's slogan. "I’ll keep the peace as long as the affairs of the Muslims are secured”. He concluded a truce with Muawiyah but the latter did not abide by any of its stipulations.

The Imam (a.s.) returned to the Madina to guide the people to Allah, The Most Exalted, and to assume the religious, ideological and spiritual leadership in all fields.

His morals

We are told by the books biography that one day he was crossing a street riding a horse. On the way, he came across a man who was one of the friends of "Muawiyah". When that man knew he was Imam Hassan (a.s..) he started using an un-respectful language. Imam (a.s.) stopped and listened to him and then facing him said, "I think you are a traveler and stranger and not a local person. You have been provoked by the enemies about us and their false words about us have made you cynical and pessimistic about us. If you have a need I may fulfill that need. If you are hungry, I will order to feed you. If you require a dress and clothes, I will order to dress you up. If you don't have residence to live in I will take you along with me to my house and extend hospitality and give you treatment. When that disrespectful person heard those words from the Imam (a.s.), he got very much ashamed and repented. He was so upset and uneasy about what he had done that he started weeping and apologized and said, "The words of your enemies had affected me. Before this (event) you and your father were the greatest enemies of mine among all the people. But now that I have witnessed this courtesy of yours, you are the most respectful and gracious to me among all the people.

I became aware that you are a family who has the capability of becoming the heirs of the Prophet (p). I will be for all my life a friend and devotee of you and would defend your right...

It is also narrated that he had a Jewish neighbour who used to tell his servant to throw the garbage in front of the Imam's house, hoping to make trouble with him (a.s). But the Imam did nothing. The man got tired and stopped his immoral behaviour. The Imam (a.s.) called him and told him: You used to send us a gift, but you stopped, why?  

The Jew was ashamed and repented.

He was of a very great prestige and solemnity that the people stopped passing in front of his house. He decided not to stand in front of his house any more so as not to bother the people.

His teachings

We read in his (a.s.) teachings: It is related that Imam Al-Hassan (a.s.) said: "If you do not commit what Allah has prohibited, you will be a worshiper, and if you are content with what Allah has given you, you will be rich - when you are content with what Allah has given you, you will feel rich with what you have and you will not look at what others have been given. “And be good to your neighbors, you will be Muslim, and treat people, as you like to be treated, you will be just…” You have seen before you people, who have accumulated a lot of wealth and built houses and had a lot of hope, but their buildings turned into ruins and their houses became graves… O man, you start ending your life the day you were born. Therefore, make sure that you take from what you have in your hands- meaning the opportunities- to use in what you are about to face in the hereafter for the believer takes along provisions, while the infidel cares about pleasures.

Thus the Imam was martyred when he was poisoned by his wife, but even on his deathbed, he wanted to make sure that the affairs of Muslims were secured. He called for his brother and said after asking him to take care of his family: he said: Bury me with the Apostle (p.) of Allah, may Allah bless him (p.) and his family (a.s.). For I am worthier of him (p.) and his family (than others). If they prevent you from doing that, then I make you swear by the relation which Allah has made close to you and by the blood relation to the Apostle of Allah, may Allah bless him family, not to shed even your blood into the cupping-glass in (carrying out) my command, till we meet the Apostle of Allah, may Allah bless him and his family, to oppose the people before him and to tell him about what we have suffered from them."

When Imam Al- Hussein   tried to bury his brother where he told him they brought the Messenger's wife to say: "Don't bury in my house those that I do not like". Although the Hashemites rejected, Imam Hussein did as his brother told him in his will and buried the Imam in Al-Baqi.

 This is Imam (a.s.) Al-Hassan. Peace be on him the day he was born, the day he died, and the day he will be brought back to life.

A new eradication campaign in Gaza

Israel launched a barbaric hysterical campaign in Gaza that destroys some of its neighbourhoods and warns its inhabitants not to stay in their houses, depending in all this on America, some European allies and even Arabs. What America and Israel want is to end the Islamic movement that is represented by Hamas and the rest of the Intifada organizations. The Enemy's war minister has declared that he ordered the occupation army to be ready to launch a big aggression against Gaza threatening to liquidate indiscriminately all the leaders of Hamas. These Zionist preparations indicated that the enemy has failed to find solutions to the Resistance rockets that created a new security Balance with the enemy.

Moreover, the enemy's terrorist actions of incursions and assassinations were not able to create a sense of security in the face of the Mujahideen's determination to confront his aggression.

Israel has exploited the internal Palestinian complications between Fateh and Hamas which made it feel free to pressurize Gaza and the entire Palestinian people, and practice all its terrorist acts without any powerful stand by the Palestinian Authority that would threaten the relations with it and undermine the international, especially the American, attempts to deceive the Palestinians that are made by Blair and those who supervise the road map. In addition, we are faced by the Arabs League silence towards all these aggressions and planned destructions.

The Arab world is politically dead:

 Israel has decided that the Arab world is politically dead. That is why it feels free to prolong the occupation and turn Palestine into a big prison for its people without anybody even protesting. There has even been a threat to the Palestinians that their hands and legs will be broken if they dare to cross the borders to ease their starvation and treat their sick people.

On another level, the American President continues to try to disrupt the Arab-Iranian relations by trying to convince the Arabs that Iran is the enemy that threatens their security and interests to force the Arabs to support their policies at a time America is begging Iran to enter into negotiations concerning the security in Iraq to ease the pressures on its soldiers who are being hit by the liberating resistance.

A scientific Iranian war:

The issue of the Iranian peaceful nuclear project is still controversial and is threatening to become a source of a major problem to the Europeans who insist, under American pressure, to pass the sanctions in the Security Council, despite of the reports of both the International Atomic Agency and the American intelligence that confirm that there is no Iranian military nuclear projects.

The Islamic Republic which has celebrated its 29th anniversary of its establishment through the Islamic liberation revolution that was led by Imam Khomeini, has been able to build its strength despite the military wars as in the past, and economic and political wars as in the present. We hope that this process of building of strength will continue and prosper through the indusial revolution that will enable Iran to defend itself.

We hope that Iran will continue to follow its civilized and authentic Islamic line that rejects backwardness, and opens up on the new generations spreading  the Islamic thought at all levels, especially in the universities, creating a big Islamic movement that open up on the entire world.

Meanwhile, the Muslim world continues to suffer form the bloody pressures through the brutal massacres made by the occupation and the Takifiri groups in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere while the US moved due to its incompetence, to ask some of the European countries to deploy its droops to back the American occupation in these regions.

In this respect, we would like to say that although we have certain reservations on the doctrinal and ideological lines of some of the Islamic powers, we notice that they strongly face the occupation, giving it a strong lesson that the occupation will not solve its problem and that the war on terrorism will not yield any results, since the nations, are not defeated as a result of its points of weakness, but rather try to gather and increase their points of strength.

Obstructing initiatives in Lebanon

The American Administration, and its internal allies, are still trying to intensify the tensions in Lebanon, taking the crisis from one troubled situation to another more troubled and complicated one. It is refusing any real partnership that might suggest that the situation has settled down allowing the Resistance to continue its struggle against the enemy, for America's strategy is to protect the Israeli security and thwart any resistance to its aggressions.

That is why the US has worked on weakening the Arab initiative aimed at solving the crisis in Lebanon and stirred political as well as sectarian tensions among the Lebanese.

The Lebanese fear that the violence might resume especially due to the foreign, regional and international interference in all our affairs whether minor or major, to the extent that the Lebanese no longer represent one party or a coherent and strong nation.

As for the aids, it is provided to all leaders who distribute it in a way that promotes their political interests, while the Lebanese are hungry and suffering, and cannot attain the necessities of a decent living, but left, according to the drawn plan, to eat up from the slogans instead of freedom, and independence.

Imad Mughniyeh: A dawn of victory

Lastly, the Great Islamic Leader and freedom fighter, Hajj Imad Mughniyeh has been martyred. He has dedicated all his life for the cause or Allah and to confront Zionism that have dislocated an entire nation, confiscated its land and spread terrorism in all Muslim and Arab lands.

This man who haunted the enemy and was a mystery to the international arrogance has passed away to meet his god as a martyr after formulating a unique creative movement in the march that defeated Israel, and opened the eyes of Arabs and Muslims on a new dawn of victory with the enemy no longer that monster that terrorizes the region or the world.

Faced by this coward crime, we believe that the Resistance is able to continue with the same momentum and strength against all kinds of occupation and terrorism.

And we say to the American Administration that the world without it will be a better world being a world in which the nations move towards freedom and justice and not the killing, destruction and terrorism of America and Israel.