Al-Hasan al-Basri: Difference between revisions

Al-Hasan was taught by many teachers, the most prominent among whom were Anas b. Malik, Jabir b. 'Abd Allah al-Ansari, Hudhayfa al-Yamani, 'Abd Allah b. 'Abbas, Hittan b. 'Abd Allah, 'Imran b. Husayn, and Ahnaf b. Qays. Moreover, according to Ibn Sa'd, he learned hadiths from Abu Hurayra and Samura b. Jundab. However, Ibn Sa'd quoted remarks from some people to the effect that al-Hasan never learned hadiths from Abu Hurayra. Moreover, some of al-Hasan’s hadiths and treatments imply that he was critical of both Abu Hurayra and Samura.

Al-Hasan had lectures in the Mosque of Basra in which he engaged in dialogues concerning different disciplines (including hadith, jurisprudence, beliefs, and Quranic sciences), and sometimes responded to questions about some Sufi concepts. He also had private meetings in his own house, where he only talked about asceticism, worships, and inner spiritual doctrines. According to Abu Talib al-Makki, people such as Malik b. Dinar, Thabit al-Banani, Ayyub al-Sijistani (or Sakhtiyani), al-Farqad al-Sabakhi (or al-Sinji) and 'Abd al-Wahid b. Zayd attended these private meetings. Al-Hasan had other students as well, including Wasil b. 'Ata', al-Habib al-'Ajami, Ghaylan al-Damishqi, Ma'bad al-Juhani, Muhammad b. Wasi', Qatada al-Sadusi, and 'Amr b. 'Ubayd.

In his Quranic exegesis, al-Hasan interpreted the Qur'an by appealing to the Qur'an itself, and in his exegesis of explicit texts of the Qur'an and elaboration of its rulings, he constantly drew upon hadiths from the Prophet, Qudsi hadiths, remarks from the Sahaba, including Imam 'Ali, Ibn 'Abbas, Ibn Mas'ud and Tabi'un. Another source of his exegesis included Isra'iliyyat, words of People of the Book, and remarks quoted by people such as Ka'b al-Ahbar, Wahb b. Munabbih, and 'Abd Allah b. Salam. Many of his exegetical comments are cited in Quranic exegeses such as Tafsir al-Tabari and Tafsir Ibn Kathir, as well as Sufi books, including Hilyat al-awliya' by Abu Na'im al-Isfahani, Ihya' 'ulum al-din by al-Ghazali, and al-Risalat al-Qushayriyya by al-Qushayri.

In his exegesis, he always refers to Quranic verses that have been abrogated (naskh) by other Quranic verses, although he made mistakes in taking some verses to be abrogated.

Al-Hasan met 300 companions of the Prophet and had companionships with 70 people who had attended the Battle of Badr, learning many of their hadiths and transmitting them to others. He was extraordinarily knowledgeable of hadiths, and his hadiths concerning the tradition of the Prophet and the words of Imam 'Ali and Imam al-Hasan as well as hadith in chains of transmitters of which he appears have been cited by prominent Sunni and Shiite scholars of hadiths.

A consideration of his hadiths, words, and sermons reveals that a few people from the Sahaba and Tabi'un set out to recount the words of Imam 'Ali as he did. Notwithstanding this, because of the prevalent circumstances of his time, he quoted many of Imam 'Ali’s words anonymously as “it is said” or as “Abu Zaynab” or as “one of the righteous people.” It may well be that he did not explicitly mention Imam 'Ali because of the obvious attribution of those words to him. Another possibility is that he had explicitly mentioned Imam 'Ali, but those who transmitted al-Hasan’s words did not attribute them to the Imam out of fear or other reasons.

Hadiths transmitted by al-Hasan have been criticized because of deceit, lacking a complete chain of transmitters, and paraphrasing the quoted words in hadiths. It is noteworthy that al-Hasan sometimes deployed rational criteria in his transmission of hadiths.

Aside from his prominence in hadith, al-Hasan was a great jurist and an influential mufti. There are a number of books devoted to jurisprudential views attributed to al-Hasan, including Fiqh al-Hasan al-Basri in seven volumes by al-Qadi Abu 'Abd Allah Muhammad b. Mufarrij al-Qurtubi, and Mawsu'a fiqh al-Hasan al-Basari in two volumes by Muhammad Rawas Qal'aji. Jurisprudential views of al-Hasan rely on the Book, the Tradition, sayings of the Sahaba, and personal ijtihad. His particular jurisprudential views include the following:

Impermissibility of performing wudu' with nabidh (date wine)

Permissibility of mut'a in hajj, which is also called “hajj al-tamattu'”

Impermissibility of the imprisonment of a debtor who cannot repay his debt,

The right of divorce for a woman whose husband cannot provide her with spousal support (or alimony),

Termination of 'idda for a woman who should observe 'idda for the death of her husband or for divorce if she gives birth to a baby or if she aborts the fetus,

If Muslims fight with non-Muslims, they do not have the right to kill non-Muslim captives. They should either release them without compensation or should release them after receiving a ransom (fidya).

There is no definite way to identify al-Hasan’s works. According to al-Dhahabi, al-Hasan’s scholarly works survived, but according to Ibn Sa'd, al-Hasan burned down all his books, except for one. Notwithstanding this, some works are attributed to him, including:

A letter to 'Abd al-Malik b. Marwan in the rejection of qadariyya (belief in human free will). This has been edited by Hellmut Ritter, and it is cited in Basit’s book (pp. 168-180);

A Persian essay on predestination and free will, which seems connected to the above eltter;

The book, Tafsir al-Qur'an (exegesis of the Qur'an), which might be identical to Nuzul al-Qur'an, and …