embracing, kissing, and the like—among them the permissibility of kissing small children out of mercy, tenderness, kindness, and affection. The Prophet ﷺ, for example, kissed al-Hasan ibn ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib (may Allah be pleased with him). Hasan was the son of Fāṭimah, daughter of Muhammad ﷺ; in other words, the Prophet ﷺ was his maternal grandfather. The Prophet loved both Hasan and Ḥusayn and used to say, “They are the two leaders of the youth of Paradise.” Yet Hasan enjoys precedence over Ḥusayn, for the Prophet ﷺ said about him: “This son of mine is a leader, and through him Allah will reconcile two factions of the Muslims.”

Accordingly, when ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib (may Allah be pleased with him) was martyred at the hand of a Kharijite, the caliphate passed to his eldest—and worthiest—son, Hasan. Seeing, however, that contending with Muʿāwiyah over the caliphate would spill blood, claim lives, and inflict great harm, Hasan (may Allah be pleased with him) ceded the caliphate to Muʿāwiyah completely, warding off fitnah (civil strife) and uniting the community. By means of that act Allah reconciled the Ummah, and Hasan thereby attained an immense distinction: he relinquished a right that was more properly his in order to avert discord—may Allah be pleased with them both.

On one occasion Hasan was sitting with the Prophet ﷺ while al-Aqraʿ ibn Ḥābis, a chieftain of Banū Tamīm, was also present. The Prophet ﷺ then kissed