Hudayth (mother of Imam al-Hasan al-'Askari (a))

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Hudayth (mother of Imam al-Hasan al-'Askari (a))
TeknonymUmm al-Hasan
EpithetJadda
Places of ResidenceMedina , Samarra
Burial PlaceThe Holy Shrine of 'Askariyyayn (a)
Notable rolesExecutor of Imam Hasan al-'Askari's (a) Will


Ḥudayth (Arabic: حُدَیث) was Imam al-Hadi's (a) wife and Imam al-Hasan al-'Askari's (a) mother. She was the executor of Imam al-Hasan al-'Askari's (a) will administrating his endowments and charities and a medium between Imam al-Mahdi (a) and people. According to Shiite sources, she was an honorable and pious woman. Since Ḥudayth was Imam al-Mahdi's (a) grandmother, she came to be known as "Jadda" (grandmother). She is buried in the holy shrine of Imam al-Hadi (a) and Imam al-Hasan al-'Askari (a).

Names and Kunyas

She is known as Hudayth, Salil, Susan, Hurayba,[1] 'Asfan,[2] and Jadda.[3] Her teknonym was Umm al-Hasan.[4] She is called Jadda (grandmother) because she is Imam al-Mahdi's (a) grandmother.

Virtues

According to a hadith from Imam 'Ali al-Naqi (a):

Salil is immune from harms, vices and impurities. Then the Imam (a) told Salil: soon will God give His hujja (proof) to people. He will fill the earth with justice, as it is filled with cruelty.[5]

She is admired and praised in Shiite sources.[6] In his Jala' al-'uyun, 'Allama al-Majlisi praised her as a virtuous, honorable and poius woman,[7] and in his Anwar al-bahiyya, Shaykh 'Abbas Qummi said that Imam al-'Askari's (a) honorable mother was the most virtuous, pious, pure, and prominent woman of her time, and narrators of hadiths counted her as an ascetic, righteous woman.[8]

Children

Like mothers of some other Imams (a), Hudayth was a bondwoman.[9] Her children with Imam al-Hadi (a) were Imam al-Hasan al-'Askari (a), Muhammad, Husayn, Ja'far,[10] and 'A'isha.[11]

Dispute with Ja'far

Before his demise, Imam al-Hasan al-'Askari (a) sent his mother to the hajj pilgrimage.[12] When she heard that Imam al-Hasan al-'Askari (a) passed away, she left Medina to Samarra. When she learned that her other son, Ja'far al-Kadhdhab claimed the position of imamate for himself and seized all of his father's heritage, she complained to the ruler,[13] and the judge ruled in her favor. After a while, Ja'far lost his money, and Jadda had to pay for his living expenses, as well as those of his children and animals.[14]

Imam Hasan al-'Askari's (a) Executor

Imam al-Hasan al-'Askari (a) appointed his mother, Hudayth, as the executor of his will and the administrator of his endowments and charities. According to some historical sources, Ahmad b. Ibrahim said that:

In 262/875-6, I visited Hakima, the daughter of Muhammad b. 'Ali al-Rida (Imam Muhammad al-Taqi (a)), Abu l-Hasan al-'Askari's sister in Medina and talked with her about some secret issues and asked her who she takes as the Imam. She said: such and such the son of Hasan (a), and named him. I told her: did you see him or hear about him? She said: I heard about him from Abu Muhammad (Imam al-Hasan al-'Askari) (a) in a letter he wrote for his mother. I asked Hakima: where is that child? She said: he is hiding. I asked: so who should Shiites refuge to? She responded: to his grandmother, Abu Muhammad's (a) mother. I asked: should I follow someone who appointed a woman as his executor? She replied: Imam Hasan al-'Askari (a) followed Imam al-Husayn (a) who apparently addressed his will to his sister, Zaynab bt. 'Ali (a) in order to save Imam al-Sajjad (a)'s life. She then said: you are an informed person. Have you not heard in hadiths that the ninth son of Husayn (a) is alive while his heritage will be distributed?[15]

In Kitab al-Ghayba, al-Shaykh al-Tusi wrote that Imam Hasan al-'Askari (a) appointed his mother as the executor of his will to hide the birth of his son. Al-Tusi goes on to say that the same thing was done by Imam al-Sadiq (a) who appointed five people as his executors, one of whom was a woman called Hamida Barbariyya.[16]

Resting Place

Jadda willed to be buried in her own house.[17] Her resting place is now inside the holy shrine of Imam al-Hadi (a) and Imam Hasan al-'Askari (a) in Samarra.[18]

Notes

  1. Majlisī, Biḥār al-anwār, vol. 50, p. 237-238.
  2. Nawbakhtī, Firaq al-shīʿa, p. 105.
  3. Qummī, Muntahā l-āmāl, vol. 2, p. 649.
  4. Maḥallātī, Rayāḥīn al-sharī'a, vol. 3, p. 24.
  5. Masʿūdī, Ithbāt al-waṣīyya, p. 244.
  6. Qummī, Muntahā l-āmāl, vol. 2, p. 649.
  7. Majlisī, Jalāʾ al-ʿuyūn, p. 989; Muzaffarī, Mādarān-i chāhārdah maʿṣūm, p. 210.
  8. Muzaffarī, Mādarān-i chāhārdah maʿṣūm, p. 210; Qummī, Anwār al-bahīyya, p. 473.
  9. Mufīd, al-Irshād, vol. 2, p. 313; Majlisī, Biḥār al-anwār, vol. 50, p. 237-238.
  10. Khuṣaybī, al-Hidāya al-kubrā, p. 313; Mufīd, al-Irshād, vol. 2, p. 312.
  11. Mufīd, al-Irshād, vol. 2, p. 312.
  12. Masʿūdī, Ithbāt al-waṣīyya, p. 271; Dāʾirat al-maʿārif buzurg-i Islāmī, vol. 20,p. 618.
  13. Ṣadūq, Kamāl al-dīn, vol. 2, p. 476.
  14. Maḥallātī, Maʾthar al-kubrā fī tārīkh Sāmarrāʾ, vol. 1, p. 311.
  15. Ṣadūq, Kamāl al-dīn, vol. 2, p. 501.
  16. Ṭūsī, al-Ghayba, p. 108.
  17. Ṣadūq, Kamāl al-dīn, vol. 2, p. 442.
  18. Kulaynī, al-Kāfī, vol. 2, p. 159.

References

  • Khuṣaybī, Ḥusayn b. Ḥamdān al-. Al-Hidāya al-kubrā. Beirut: al-Balāgh, 1377 AH.
  • Kulaynī, Muḥammad b. Yaʿqūb al-. Al-Kāfī. Translated by Muḥammad Bāqir Kamari'ī. 3rd edition. Tehran: Intishārāt-i Islāmīyya, 1379 sh.
  • Majlisī, Muḥammad Bāqir al-. Biḥār al-anwār al-jāmiʿa li-durar akhbār al-aʾimmat al-aṭhār. Third edition. Beirut: Dār Iḥyāʾ al-Turāth al-ʿArabī, 1403 AH.
  • Majlisī, Muḥammad Bāqir al-. Jalāʾ al-ʿuyūn: tārīkh-i chāhārdah maʿṣūm. Edited by ʿAlī Imāmīyān. Qom: Surūr, 1382 Sh.
  • Maḥallātī, Ḍhabīḥ Allāh. Rayāḥīn al-sharī'a. Tehran: Dār al-Kitāb al-Islāmīya, [n.d].
  • Maḥallātī, Ḍhabīḥ Allāh. Maʾthar al-kubrā fī tārīkh Sāmarrāʾ. Qom: Maktabat al-Ḥaydarīyya, 1384 Sh.
  • Masʿūdī, ʿAlī b. al-Ḥusayn al-. Ithbāt al-waṣīyya. Third edition. Qom: Muʾassisat Anṣārīyān, 1426 AH.
  • Mudarrisī Tabātābaʾī, Sayyid Ḥusayn. Maktab dar farāyand-i takāmul. New Jersey: Muʾassisa Intishārātī Darwin, 1374 Sh.
  • Muzaffarī, Ḥaydar. Mādarān-i chāhārdah maʿṣūm. Qom: Intishārāt-i Markaz-i Jahānī ʿUlūm-i Islāmī, 1382 Sh.
  • Mufīd, Muḥammad b. Muḥammad al-. Al-Irshād fī maʿrifat ḥujaj Allāh ʿalā l-ʿibād. Edited by Muʾassisat Āl al-Bayt li-Iḥyāʾ al-Turāth. Qom: Kungira-yi Shaykh al-Mufīd, 1372 Sh.
  • Qummī, Shaykh ʿAbbās. Muntahā l-āmāl fī tawārīkh al-Nabī wa al-Āl. Qom: Jamāʿat al-Mudarrisīn, [n.p].
  • Ṣadūq, Muḥammad b. ʿAlī al-. Kamāl al-dīn wa itmām al-niʿma. Edited by ʿAlī Akbar Ghaffārī. Tehran: Islāmīyya, 1359 Sh.
  • Ṣadūq, Muḥammad b. ʿAlī al-. Kamāl al-dīn wa itmām al-niʿma. Edited by ʿAlī Akbar Ghaffārī. Tehran: Islāmīyya, 1395 AH.
  • Ṭūsī, Muḥammad b. al-Ḥasan al-. Al-Ghayba. Edited by ʿIbād Allāh Tihrānī & ʿAlī Aḥmad Nāṣiḥ. Qom: Muʾassisat al-Maʿārif al-Islāmīyya, 1411 AH.