The Myth Of
Imam's Divorces
Imam Hasan
has been the victim of a most malicious propaganda for the last 1,250
years. He is portrayed as "fond of ease and quiet" by his admirers (Ameer
Ali in
"Spirit of Islam") and "the great divorcer" by his detractors (Willi
Frischaurer in
"The Aga Khans").
Before
looking at individual reports, it is important to find out when this
allegation
was put forward, by whom and why. After a thorough study of these
reports, I
have found that the first man known to accuse Imam Hasan of "marrying
and
divorcing" was the 2nd Abbasid Khalifa, Mansur, who because of his
dynastic
policies was bent upon belittling
Amir al-Mu'minin `Ali and hisdescendants. It will help the readers to
know how
Abbasids came to power.
As Ameer
`Ali writes in "Spirit of Islam" (p.302), "the tragical fate of
Husain and
his children sent a thrill of horror through Islam; and the revulsion of
feeling which
it caused proved eventually the salvation of Faith ... It made the bulk
of Moslems
think of what the Master had done, and of the injuries which the
children of his
enemies were inflicting on Islam."
By the
beginning of the 2nd century of Hijra, "Persia, Irak and Hijaz, which
had
suffered most from the atrocities of the Bani-Omeyya, were honeycombed
by
secret organisations for the over-throw of the hated family. The
Bani-Abbas
were the most active in the movement to subvert the Omeyyad rule, at
first,
.perhaps, from a sincere desire to restore
to the Fatimids their just rights, but afterwards in their own
interests." (Ibid, p.307.)
When Bani Hashim were planning to overthrow the Umayyad dynasty, they
first
secretly called a meeting of all members of the clan. They decided that,
if they
succeeded, they would make Muhammad, Nafs al-Zikiyya (Pure Soul)
Khalifa.
Muhammad was son of Abdallah son of Hasan Muthanna son of Imam Hasan.
Among those who made the bia'a were Abu'l-Abbas (Saffah) and
Mansur.
Imam Ja'far
al-Sadiq remained aloof from all these activities and told Abdallah
(father of Nafs al-Zakiyya) that his son would not succeed; that
Mansur would sit on the throne instead. Abdullah did not like this
frankness and accused Imam Ja'far al-Sadiq of envy!
Anyhow the slogan of Rida aal-Muhammad (to please the Descendants of
the Prophet) proved a success and people gathered behind the agents
of Bani Hashim, thinking that they wanted to remove Bani Umayya and
install a descendant of the Prophet as Khalifa. Bani Umayya were
overthrown in 132 A.H.
But when the
time came to install a Khalifa from Aal-Muhammad, the Abbasids forgot
all their pledges and their bay'a to Muhammad Nafs al-Zakiyya. They put
Abu'l-Abbas Saffah on the throne.
Abu'l-'Abbas
died after four years, and his brother Mansur came to power. Muhammad
Nafs al-Zakiyya did not forget that Mansur was under obligation to
accept him as Khalifa; neither could Mansur forget it. The solution,
according to Muhammad Nafs al-Zakiyya, was to rise against Mansur. The
solution, according to Mansur, was to annihilate all the descendants of
Imam Hasan.
"The same
fierce jealousy with which the Bani-Omeyya had pursued or persecuted the
Bani-Fatima, characterised the conduct of Bani-Abbas towards the
descendants of Muhammad. They had no claim to the Caliphate themselves;
they made the affection of the people for the children of Fatima the
means for their own elevation, and when they had attained the desired
end they rewarded the Fatimids with bitter persecution." (Ibid,
p.304.)
Mansur came
to Medina in 144 A.H. and in one sweeping operation arrested all the
family of Imam Hasan and took them to Baghdad. It is not the place to
enumerate the torture - physical and mental - meted out to the
descendants of Imam Hasan.
Now Mansur
wanted to absolve himself from the legal,and moral obligations of that
oath of allegiance. It was not only the question of his own conscience;
he had to assure the public also that he was the constitutional and
rightful Khalifa.
For this
purpose, he gave a public address after that mass arrest, in which he
shamelessly said:
"By God, we
left the descendants of Abu Talib and the Khilafat; we did not
interfere at all. `Ali ibn Abi Talib became Khalifa. After him Hasan
ibn `Ali became Khalifa. By God, he did not deserve it. He was offered
money, which he accepted; Mu'awiya sent him a message that he would
make him his successor. So, Hasan abdicated the Khilafat and left the
government and power. He left everything to Mu'awiya, and turned his
attention, to women, marrying one woman today, divorcing another
one tomorrow. He remained like this till he died in his bed."
(AI-Mas'udi;
in Muruj al-Dhahab, Vol.3, p.226)
The main
theme of this address was that Muhammad Nafs al-Zakiyya had no claim of
Khilafat because his great-grand-father, Imam Hasan, has relinquished
this power.
Accordingly,
he wrote a letter to Muhammad who was still at large and was gathering
an army to fight against Mansur:
"The
Khilatat of your ancestor (Ali) reached to Hasan; he sold it to
Mu'awiya in consideration of money and cloth Now, if you had any right
in the Khilafat, you had already sold it and received its price."
But Mansur
knew that this line of argument solved only the immediate problem of the
bay'a of Muhammad Nafs al-Zakiyya. It could not prevent one of the
descendants of Imam Husain from claim to the Khilafat for himself.
Therefore, he left no stone unturned to prove that the Fatimids were not
entitled to the inheritance of the Holy Prophet at all; and that Bani'
Abbas were the rightful heirs of the Holy Prophet.
In Arabia,
prior to Islam, inheritance "was governed by the rule of agnacy." It
means that only those persons who were connected with the deceased
'through males' were recognised as entitled to take a share in his
inheritance (they are called 'agnatic relatives'), and neither
women nor persons connected to the deceased through them had any right
of succession, (they are called 'uterine relatives').
"Thus it
was that whilst adopted sons and even slaves had rights, the children
of daughters and sisters had no place in the customary rules which
regulated succession."
(Ameer `Ali in 'Mohammedan Law', Vol.2, p.75)
Islam put an
end to such affront to human nature, and in the Qur'an there are
specific provisions for the succession of daughters, mothers and
sisters.
But Mansur,
in rank defiance of the Qur'an, revived the old custom of agnacy. Ameer
`Ali writes:
"When the
Abbasids succeeded in overthrowing the Omeyyads, they found it
necessary to legitimatise their title to the Caliphate, for the eyes
of the Moslem world were still turned to the descendants of the
Prophet as the rightful heirs to his temporal and spiritual heritage
and in effecting this they found their chief support in the doctrine
of agnacy. They claimed that as descendants of the Prophet's uncle,
Abbas, they were his 'agnates' and as such had a better title than the
descendants of his daughter Fatima. And this was the keystone of the
fabric built up by the ablest monarch of the House of Abbas, Mansur,
the real founder of the Sunni Church."
(Ibid, p.76)
And as a
result, the Sunni Law still retains largely the customary rule of
pre-Islamic Arabs. Ameer `Ali says:
"The rule
of agnacy has thus remained, chiefly from dynastic reasons, a part of
Sunni system. In early times it was strongly enforced as under the old
Romans. If a person died without leaving any 'agnatic' relations but a
daughter's or sister's child, his property did not go to the latter
but escheated to the Caliph (i.e. was taken over by the Caliph).
In 896 A.D. the Caliph Mutazid Billah abolished this cruel rule,
and laid down that in the absence of sharers and agnates (Asabah)
the "uterine relations" should succeed. And this has remained the
law ever since."
(Ibid)
But even
after this half-hearted amendment, the uterine relations are placed in
the last category, and it is only in the absence of sharers, agnates and
(even) the emancipated that they receive any share in the
inheritance.
(Ibid, p.68)
Thus this
"ablest" monarch of the House of 'Abbas contrived to silence Muhammad
Nafs al-Zakiyya by alleging that Imam Hasan had sold his right of
Khilafat; and then by an ingenious reversion to pre-Islamic custom,
disinherited all descendants of Fatima for ever! But, as Ameer `Ali has
pointed out, descendants of Fatima were also descendants of `Ali who, as
the son of Abu Talib, was 'agnate relative' of the Holy Prophet
(connected to him by male relation)!"
This is not
the place to explain why Imam Hasan entered into treaty with Mu'awiya;
nor do I want to comment upon the claim made by Muhammad Nafs al-Zakiyya
that he was entitled to Khilafat "because he was a descendant of
Fatima."
The Imamate
is based not on inheritance, but on "Appointment by Allah" through the
Holy Prophet or the preceding Imam. Muhammad Nafs al-Zakiyya based his
claim on falsity, and Mansur tried to answer him with a bigger falsity.
But in this
conflict, the real sufferer proved to be Imam Hasan whose sacred name
was made the object of the false propaganda that he married a woman
today and divorced another tomorrow.
Bani Umayya
had established a full-fledged department to fabricate "ahadith"
to smear the names of AhI al-bayt. But they were not as successful in
their endeavours as Mansur was.
His rule of
inheritance by agnates is still followed by the Sunni schools of Law;
and his propaganda against Imam Hasan has even found its way into some
Shi'a books.
Let us now
look at these reports:
Some have
reported 70 wives. Others have increased the number to 90. Still
others have said 250 wives! The highest number is 300!
The first
report of 70 wives is given by Abu'l-Hasan `Ali ibn Abdullah Al-Basri
Al-Mada'ini, who died in 225 A.H. This man was a partisan of Bani
Umayya - he was a freed slave of Sumra ibn Habib, an Umayyad.
Ubn Adi has
said of him: He is not strong in Hadith. (Mizan al-I 'tidal, Vol.2,
p.232, Lisan al-Mizan, Vol.4, p.253)
This
Madaini does not say from where he got this number of 70.
The second
report of 90 wives appears in Nur al-Absar of Shablanji who
died in 1298 AH.
Reports of
250 and 300 wives are found in Quwwat al-Qulub (Vol. 2, p.246) of
Abu Talib Makki who died in 380 A.H. He writes:
"Hasan ibn
`Ali married 250 wives; and it is said that 300 wives. `Ali was very
much annoyed and grieved by it, because when Hasan divorced a woman,
`Ali felt embarrassment before her family. `Ali used to say that 'Hasan
is habitual divorcer; you people should not give your daughters to
him." Then a man from the tribe of Hamdan said:
'O amir al-Mu'minin,
by God, we will give him our daughters; and he may retain whomsoever
he wishes and may divorce whomsoever he dislikes.' Hearing it, `Ali
was very much pleased and recited the following poem:
"If I would
be in-charge of any gate of Paradise I would tell the tribe of Hamdan,
'Enter into Paradise with peace."
"Imam Hasan
had likeness of the Prophet in facial features as well as in manners
and character. The Holy Prophet told him, 'O Hasan, you are like me in
features and character and manners.' Also he said, 'Hasan is from me
and Husain is from `Ali.'
"Hasan,
often married 4 wives in one sitting and then divorced 4 wives in one
sitting."
Now this man
Abu Talib had become mad at the time of writing this book Quwwat al-Qulub.
He went to Baghdad and people came to see him. When they heard his
senseless talk, all went away, and avoided him. One of his savings of
that time is that "None is more harmful for the people than their
Creator." The scolars have frankly said that he has written many things
in that book which have no foundation at all.
These were
the original reporters. All those who came after them have blindly
copied from their books.
The fact is
that it was impossible for Imam Hasan to marry so many wives even if he
wanted to. All the narrations imply that he started this alleged pursuit
of pleasure during the Khilafat of his father in Kufa. `Ali came to Kufa
in 37 Hijra. Imam Hasan had at least three wives in Kufa.
-
Khawal
Fazariya, who was the mother of Hasan Muthanna (the grandfather of
Muhammad Nafs al-Zakiyya). She survived Imam Hasan. This marriage
had taken place in Medina.
-
Umm Ishaq
bint Talha. She was the mother of Husain Athram, Talha and Fatima.
This marriage also had taken place in Medina. She survived Imam Hasan;
and was later married to Imam Husain.
-
Ju'da bint
Ash-ath. This marriage took place in Kufa and she also survived Imam
Hasan. (She poisoned him on instigation of Mu'aviya.)
Islam allows
a man to marry up to four women at any given time. As Imam Hasan already
had three wives, who were with him up to the last day of his life, he
could marry only one more woman at any time.
Bearing in
mind this limitation, one can only regard the statement of Quwwat al-Qulub
with amusement: "Often he (Imam Hasan) married 4 wives in one
sitting and then divorced them in one sitting." How could he marry 4
wives in one sitting when he already had 3 wives?
Now suppose
that he married a fourth wife, and then divorced her. As long as that
divorced wife was in 'idda (period of probation, normally 3 months)
she was counted legally his wife, and Imam Hasan could not marry
another wife before expiry of her 'idda.
Let us, now,
suppose that he married a woman. As divorce cannot be given in a month
in which co-habitation has taken place, the earliest that that wife
could be divorced was in next month; her 'idda continued for 3 months.
Thus, four months passed before Imam Hasan could be free to marry
another wife. One wife in four months gives us a maximum of 3 wives in a
year. Supposing that Imam Hasan had no other work except marrying and
divorcing, as Mansur said, and if we count from 37 A.H. up to his
martyrdom at the beginning of 51 A.H. to get a period of 14 years, this
will give us a maximum number of 42 possible marriages.
And the
minimum alleged by these scholars is 70 wives!
After this
clarification, there is no need for further comment upon these reports.
Yet it is worthwhile to examine these reports a little more in order to
show how absolutely unreliable they are.
Abu Talib
Makki says: "`Ali used to say that Hasan is a habitual divorcer; do not
give him your daughters." The question is, why `Ali told people in
public not to give Hasan their daughters? Had he, first, told Hasan not
to divorce so much? If so, did Hasan disobey him? Nobody says that Hasan
was, God forbid, a disobedient son. Even Abu Talib Makki admits that
Hasan was like the Holy Prophet in facial features and in manners and
character. Can a disobedient son be universally accepted as having the
character and manner of the Holy Prophet?
Or did `Ali
forbid people in public without first trying to restrain Hasan from this
alleged behaviour?
Can `Ali be
expected to do such a childish thing, degrading his heir-apparent in
public, without first advising him accordingly? As both alternatives
lead to absurdity, the only conclusion remains that this report was
forged by someone who wanted to discredit both `Ali and Hasan by one
fabrication.
The most
amusing is the report of aforementioned Abu'l-Hasan al-Mada'ini who
says: "When Hasan died, all his former wives came out in a group in his
funeral procession, with open heads and bare feet, and they were
shouting "We are the wives of Hasan!"
Who has ever
heard of such a procession in Islamic society? What was the sense in
shouting 'we are the wives of Hasan'? And how did their husbands of that
time allow them to form that comic procession?
It will be
interesting to see the gradual development of this propaganda.
First comes
Mansur, in 144 A.H., declaring that Imam Hasan was 'marrying one woman
today, divorcing another tomorrow.'
Then comes
al-Mada'ini (died 225 A.H.) who gives a specific number of 70 and
produces the procession of those divorced wives at the funeral.
Then al-Kafi
(compiled in 326 A.H.) gives two `Ahadith' that Imam Hasan divorced very
much.
Then comes
Abu Talib Makki (380 A.H.) who thought that 70 was not consistent with
'marrying a woman one day and divorcing another tomorrow'; so he
increased the number to 250; still his mathematics was not satisfied, so
he quoted an unknown source and finally said '300'.
Lastly comes
the French historian, H. Lammens, who writes in 'Shorter Encyclopaedia
of Islam':
"He
(Imam Hasan) spent the best part of his youth in making and
unmaking marriages; about a hundred are enumerated. (Remember that
Mansur had alleged this to happen after the treaty with Mu'awiya in
the last ten years of Imam Hasan's life But this 'historian' antidates
it to his youth! And so far as enumeration is concerned, only 14 are
enumerated, not 100 as he alleges.) These easy morals earned him
the title mitlak 'the divorcer' and involved `Ali in severe enmities."
(Now, on what authority this 'historian' has made this fantastic
assertion? No evidence can be produced to support this allegation.)
In another
place he writes: that Imam Hasan proved that he was very extravagant. He
built separate houses for all those wives; each had her retinue of
servants and attendants. Even during the Khilafat of `Ali when there was
hardship and strict financial control, he used to spend money in the
same way.
Did Rev. H.
Lammens produce even a fabricated Hadith or report to show that Imam
Hasan had built separate houses for all those (100!) wives with
all the paraphernalia which he so willingly enumerates? The answer is
'NO'. It is just the product of his fertile imagination. It is these
people who take upon themselves the task of producing 'authentic'
history of Islam for the receptive minds of Westerners! |