the eldest of his sons. He—may Allah be pleased with him—was buried, as we have already mentioned, in the governor’s residence in Kufa, according to the soundest of the transmitted opinions. When his funeral affairs were concluded (1), the first to approach al-Hasan ibn ʿAli—may Allah be pleased with him—was Qays ibn Saʿd ibn ʿUbāda, who said, “Extend your hand so that I may pledge allegiance to you upon the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of His Prophet.” Al-Hasan remained silent; Qays therefore pledged allegiance to him, and the people followed his lead. This occurred on the very day ʿAli died. According to one report, his death took place on the same day he was struck, namely Friday, the seventeenth of Ramadan in the year 40 AH. Others say he died two days after the stabbing (2), while another view holds that he passed away during the last ten nights of Ramadan. From that day forward authority passed to al-Hasan ibn ʿAli.
At the time (3) Qays ibn Saʿd was governor of Azerbaijan, commanding forty thousand fighters who had pledged to fight to the death alongside ʿAli. When ʿAli died, Qays pressed al-Hasan to mobilize (4) against the people of Syria. Al-Hasan therefore removed Qays from the governorship of Azerbaijan and appointed (5) ʿUbayd Allah ibn ʿAbbas in his place. Al-Hasan himself had no intention of fighting anyone, but others overruled him. As a result, an enormous host gathered—the like of which had never been seen—for people inclined toward al-Hasan with great affection and obedience, since he was the grandson and cherished blossom of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him.
Al-Hasan placed Qays ibn Saʿd ibn ʿUbāda in command of the vanguard, twelve thousand strong, and he himself followed with the main army, heading toward Syria to confront Muʿawiya and the Syrians (6). When he passed through al-Mada’in he halted there and sent the vanguard ahead. While encamped on the outskirts of al-Mada’in, a herald suddenly cried out among the troops (7), “Behold! Qays ibn Saʿd ibn ʿUbāda has been killed!” The soldiers erupted in chaos, plundering one another’s belongings (8) until they even looted al-Hasan’s own pavilion, snatching away the mat on which he was sitting. As he mounted, one of them stabbed him with a blow that laid him low and wounded him severely. Al-Hasan now regarded them with intense aversion. He mounted (9), entered the White Palace of al-Mada’in, and lodged there while injured. His governor over al-Mada’in was Saʿd ibn Masʿud al-Thaqafi—the brother of Abu ʿUbayd, the commander on the Day of the Bridge (10).
When al-Hasan had settled in the palace, al-Mukhtar ibn Abi ʿUbayd—may Allah disfigure him—said to his uncle Saʿd ibn Masʿud, “Would you like honor and wealth?” “What do you mean?” he asked. Al-Mukhtar replied, “Seize al-Hasan ibn ʿAli, shackle him, and send him (11) to Muʿawiya.” His uncle retorted, “May Allah disfigure you (12) and the proposal you have brought! Would I betray the grandson of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him?”
When al-Hasan ibn ʿAli saw that his army had scattered