Imam al-Hasan b. Ali al-Mujtaba (a): Difference between revisions

There are various reports about the number of Imam al-Hasan's (a) children and wives. Although historical sources do not mention the names of more than eighteen women<ref>Shūshtarī, ''Risālat fī tawārīkh al-nabī wa al-āl'', p. 71-72; Zamānī Aḥmad, ''Ḥaqāyiq-i pinhān, pazhūhishī dar zindigānī-yi sīyāsī-yi Imām al-Ḥasan'', p. 339-340; Al-Qarashī, ''Ḥayāt al-Imām al-Ḥasan'', vol. 2, p. 455-460.</ref> as the wives of the Imam (a), some of them claim that the Imam (a) had 70,<ref>Majlisī, ''Biḥār al-anwār'', vol. 44, p. 173.</ref> 90,<ref>Balādhurī, ''Ansāb al-ashrāf'', vol. 3, p. 25.</ref> 200,<ref>Muqaddasī, ''al-Bidaʾ wa al-tārīkh'', vol. 5, p. 74.</ref> or 250 wives.<ref>Ibn Shahrāshūb, ''al-Manāqib āl-i Abiṭālib'', vol. 4, p. 30.</ref> It has been claimed that Imam al-Hasan (a) was mitlaq (one who marries and divorces numerous women)<ref>Ibn Saʿd, ''al-Ṭabaqāt al-kubrā'', vol. 10, p. 290 and 302; Balādhurī, ''Ansāb al-ashrāf'', vol. 3, p. 25; Kulaynī, ''al-Kāfī'', vol. 6, p. 56.</ref> and that he had many concubines, with some of whom he had children.<ref>Balādhurī, ''Ansāb al-ashrāf'', vol. 3, p. 73.</ref>

This claim has been subjected to much criticism in past and recent scholarly works.<ref>Mahdawī Dāmghānī, ''Ḥasan b. Alī, Imām'', p. 309.</ref> According to [[Madelung]], the first person to have spread the rumor that Imam al-Hasan (a) had ninety wives was Muhammad b. al-Kalbi, and the number was made up by al-Madaʾini (d. 225/839-40). However, al-Kalbi himself mentions only the names of eleven women as the Imam's wives, and from these eleven, five were arguably not the Imam's wives.<ref>Wilferd Madelung, ''Jānishīnī-yi Muḥammad'', p. 514-515.</ref> Al-Qurashi maintains that these reports were fabricated by the [[Abbasids]] to tarnish the reputation of the descendants of Imam al-Hasan (a) who led several revolts against them.<ref>Al-Qarashī, ''Ḥayāt al-Imām al-Ḥasan'', vol. 2, p. 453-454.</ref>

There is disagreement as to the number of Imam al-Hasan's (a) children. According to [[al-Shaykh al-Mufid]], they were fifteen,<ref>Mufīd, ''al-Irshād'', vol. 2, p. 20.</ref> but [[al-Tabrisi]] considers them sixteen, among whom was Abu Bakr who was martyred in the [[event of Karbala]].<ref>Ṭabrisī, ''Iʿlām al-warā'', vol. 1, p. 416.</ref>