this is a lie about them both. Al-Hasan relinquished authority and handed it over to Muāwiya even though the armies of Iraq were with him (1). He never chose to fight the Muslims, and this is established through widely transmitted accounts of his life (2).

As for his death, it has been said (3) that he died from poisoning. That would constitute martyrdom (4) [for him] (5) and an honor in his case, but he did not die fighting.

Al-Husayn—may Allah be pleased with him—did not set out intending to fight (6). Rather, he thought that the people would obey him. When he saw them turn away from him, he sought to return home, go to a frontier post, or go to Yazīd. But those wrongdoers would allow him neither the first course nor the second [nor the third] (7). They demanded to take him captive to Yazīd, but he refused and fought until he was unjustly killed as a martyr. Fighting had not been his original intention.

As for his statement about al-Hasan, that “he wore wool beneath his [fine] garments” (8), this is akin to his claim concerning Alī that he used to perform a thousand units of prayer. There is no virtue in that, and it is a lie. For if wearing wool beneath garments of cotton or other fabric were meritorious, the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—would have prescribed it (9) [for his community] (10),