al-Hasan ibn ʿAlī when Abū Hurayrah met us and said, “Show me the place that I saw the Messenger of Allah—peace and blessings be upon him—kiss.” Al-Hasan lifted his shirt (1), whereupon Abū Hurayrah kissed his navel.

Aḥmad alone transmitted this report, and he later narrated it again through Ismāʿīl ibn ʿUlayyah from Ibn ʿAwn.

Aḥmad said (2): Hāshim ibn al-Qāsim narrated to us; Ḥarīz (3) narrated to us, from ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Abī ʿAwf al-Jurashī, from Muʿāwiyah, who said: “I saw the Messenger of Allah—peace and blessings be upon him—suck his tongue—or, he said, his lip, meaning the tongue or lip of al-Hasan ibn ʿAlī—and indeed no tongue or lips that the Messenger of Allah—peace and blessings be upon him—has sucked will ever be punished.” Aḥmad transmitted this report exclusively.

It is soundly established in the Ṣaḥīḥ from Abū Bakrah (4), and Aḥmad also relates from Jābir (5) ibn ʿAbd Allāh, that the Messenger of Allah—peace and blessings be upon him—said: “This son of mine is a leader, and perhaps Allah will reconcile through him two great factions of the Muslims.” This ḥadīth was cited earlier in Dalāʾil al-Nubuwwah and was mentioned again shortly before the account of al-Hasan relinquishing the caliphate to Muʿāwiyah; the event unfolded exactly as he—peace and blessings be upon him—had foretold (6).

Abū Bakr al-Ṣiddīq used to revere, honor, and love him, and would have ransomed himself for him. The same applied to ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb: al-Wāqidī narrates, from Mūsā ibn Muḥammad ibn Ibrāhīm ibn al-Ḥārith al-Taymī, from his father, that when ʿUmar established the dīwān (state register), he assigned to al-Hasan and al-Ḥusayn the same stipend as the veterans of Badr—five thousand each.

ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān likewise cherished and honored al-Hasan and al-Ḥusayn. On the Day of the House, while ʿUthmān was besieged, al-Hasan ibn ʿAlī stayed with him, sword at his side, defending him. ʿUthmān, fearing for his safety, made him swear to return home in order to reassure ʿAlī and out of concern for al-Hasan—may Allah be pleased with them.

ʿAlī, for his part, treated al-Hasan with exceptional respect, honor, and veneration. On one occasion he said to him, “My son, will you not stand and address the people until …”