delivering a sermon and saying: “O people of Kūfa! Be mindful of Allah with regard to us, for we are your leaders and your guests, and we are the Household about whom Allah has said: ‘Indeed, Allah intends only to remove from you all impurity, O People of the House, and to purify you completely’ (Q 33:33).”
He said: “Never in my life have I seen more weeping than on that day. (1)”
Abū ʿAwana—reporting from Ḥuṣayn ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, from Abū Jamīla Maysara ibn Yaʿqūb—related that while al-Hasan was praying, a man suddenly rushed at him and struck him with a dagger.
Ḥuṣayn added: “My uncle witnessed the event, and they allege that the blow landed on his hip, leaving him bedridden for months. When he later ascended the pulpit he said, ‘Fear Allah concerning us, for we are your rulers and your guests—the very ones about whom Allah has spoken.’”
He continued: “I did not see anyone in the mosque except that he was sobbing aloud. (2)”
ʿAbd Allāh ibn Muḥammad narrated to us; Sufyān narrated to us, from Abū Mūsā, who said:
“I heard al-Hasan declare, ‘By Allah, al-Hasan ibn ʿAlī marched toward Muʿāwiyah with battalions that loomed like mountains.’
ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀṣ remarked, ‘I see troops who will not retreat until they have slain their counterparts.’
Muʿāwiyah—who, by Allah, was the better of the two men—replied, ‘O ʿAmr! If these men kill those men, and those men kill these men, who will look after the affairs of the Muslims for me? Who will care for their women? Who will safeguard their property?’
He then sent two men of Quraysh—ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Samura and ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿĀmir ibn Kurayz—and said, ‘Go to this man, present my offer to him, speak with him, and make your request of him.’
They came to al-Hasan, and he said, ‘We, the descendants of ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib, have already received our share of this wealth, and the community has spilled enough of its own blood.’
They said, ‘We are prepared to offer you such-and-such, and we beseech you and request from you.’
He asked, ‘And who will guarantee me that?’
They replied, ‘We…’