“Al-Bahāʾ ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Ibrāhīm related to us; ʿAbd al-Ḥaqq al-Yūsufī related to us; ʿAlī ibn Muḥammad al-ʿAllāf related to us; ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Muḥammad, the preacher, related to us; Aḥmad ibn Isḥāq al-Ṭayyibī narrated to us; Ibrāhīm ibn al-Ḥusayn in Hamadhān narrated to us; ʿAffān narrated to us; Mubārak narrated from al-Ḥasan, who said:
‘Abu Bakrah told me that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) was praying, and whenever he went into prostration al-Ḥasan ibn ʿAlī would leap onto his back or onto his neck. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) would then lift him off gently, lest he fall. He did this more than once. When he finished the prayer they said, “O Messenger of Allah, we saw you do something with al-Ḥasan that we have never seen you do with anyone else.” He replied, “He is my sweet basil from this world, and this son of mine is a leader. Perhaps Allah will reconcile through him two groups of Muslims.”’
This is a hasan (sound) hadith—one of the fine narrations transmitted by al-Ḥasan. Al-Ḥasan ibn Abī al-Ḥasan alone reported it from Abu Bakrah al-Thaqafī.
As for Mubārak ibn Faḍālah, he is an acceptable shaykh (1).
In that same year passed away: Aḥmad ibn Isḥāq al-Wazzān, ʿAbd Allāh ibn Muḥammad ibn Saʿīd ibn Abī Maryam, Abū Bakr ibn Abī al-Dunyā (2), ʿUthmān ibn Khurrāzādh (3), and Abū Zurʿah.
(1) However, the narrator is a mudallis (one who concealed his sources). Al-Bukhari recorded the report in several places: 5/224–225, Book of Reconciliation, chapter “The Prophet’s saying: ‘This son of mine is a leader’ ”; 7/74, Virtues of the Companions, chapter “The merits of al-Hasan and al-Husayn”; and 13/52, 57, Book of Trials, chapter “The Prophet’s statement to al-Hasan b. Ali: ‘This son of mine is a leader.’ ”
Al-Nasaʾi, 3/107, transmits it through Sufyan b. Uyaynah – from Israʾil – from al-Hasan al-Basri – from Abu Bakrah, who said: “I saw the Messenger of Allah on the pulpit with al-Hasan b. Ali beside him; he would turn sometimes to the people and sometimes to him and say: ‘Verily this son of mine is a leader; perhaps Allah will reconcile through him two great factions of the Muslims.’ ”
Al-Bukhari also cites it, 6/472, Signs of Prophethood, through Yahya b. Adam – from Husayn al-Jufi – from Israʾil b. Musa with the same chain. Abu Dawud (4662) and al-Tirmidhi (3773) relate it through Muhammad b. Abd Allah al-Ansari – from al-Ashʿath b. Abd al-Malik – from al-Hasan – from Abu Bakrah.
The wording “He is my sweet basil from this world” is reported by al-Bukhari 7/77–78 and al-Tirmidhi (3770) from the hadith of Ibn Umar with the wording: “They are my two sweet basils from this world.”
(2) His biographical notice will appear on p. 397, no. 192.
(3) His biographical notice will appear on p. 378, no. 180.