Peace Treaty of Imam al-Hasan (a): Difference between revisions

=== Protection of His Shi'a and His Life ===

:"I visited Imam al-Hasan (a) and said to him: “You son of the prophet! Why did you accept peace with the cruel and corrupt Mu'awiya despite the fact that you already knew you were right? He (Imam) replied: "If I had not done so, no one of our followers would have remained on earth and they all would have been slaughtered."

*His Excellency says in another hadith:

:"I swear to God that what I did is better and more beneficial for my shi'as than sunset and sunrise."

:"It is not like this that all the people want what you wish, or think as you do. What I did was just for your protection and survival and no more."

:"When Mu'awiya came to kufa, Imam al-Hasan (a) went up the pulpit and after praising God said: "I take oath to God, if people pledged allegiance to me and helped me, the sky would generously grant them its rain and the earth would give them its bless, and you Mu'awiya would never be tempted to take over caliphate."

:"If I had a friend or a companion, I would never hand the caliphate on to Mu'awiya, since the caliphate is prohibited to Bani 'Umyya." Moreover, he replied to the person protesting the peace: "I handed the caliphate on to Mu'awiya on account that I did not have enough companions to fight with him. If I had some, I would fight with him day and night to finally defeat him."

=== Preventing bloodshed ===

:"I thought it would be appropriate to behave towards Mu'awiya peacefully and to declare ceasefire. I knew preventing bloodshed is better. My only purpose was your survival and goodness."

:"I had all Arabs' heads in my hand, if I established peace, they would do so, and if I fought, they would take arms, but I ignored it because of God's satisfaction and saving Muslims' lives."

:"I see something way beyond what you see, and I did not do so but only to prevent bloodshed." Imam al-Hasan (a) explained elsewhere that: "I thought preventing bloodshed is better than the opposite."

:"If I wanted to fight with any Muslim, the first one of them would be you. But I did not make a war against you for Muslims' goodness and protection of their lives."

One of the main reasons why Imam al-Hasan (a) accepted the peace treaty is protecting the religion, since fighting with Muslims would have exposed the Islamic territories to the danger of the religion becoming extinct. To go on war against Mu'awiya, was not a beneficial decision to make, neither for Kufa nor Sham. It only paved Rome Empire's path to attack Islamic territories.

:"Mu'awiya returned to Sham in [[41]]/661. Having been notified about Rome large army, Mu'awiya sent an ambassador to them and established peace by offering 100 thousand dinars.

:"I was afraid Muslims be eradicated and no one remained. Therefore, I consented to peace in order to save God's religion.”

Imam al-Hasan (a) told the people who had pledged allegiance to him and promised to give him a hand in fighting against Mu'awiya that:

Then, Imam (a) set out for Mada'in. Those who had really decided to fight went along with Imam, yet a large number of them, turned out to be unfaithful to Imam and did not fulfill their promises. They deceived Imam al-Hasan (a) as they had deceived his father Imam 'Ali (a), the last Commander of the faithful.

:"I'm surprised of a nation who has neither any sense of embarrassment nor any rank of faith in religion. If I hand the caliphate on to Mu'awiya, I take oath to God you will not live easily and Bani 'Umayya will torment you with the most severe behaviors and tortures."

:"I saw you have been slow towards war ([[jihad]]), and I do not enforce you to do something you are unwilling to do."

=== Harm of Khawarij ===

:"One of the main reasons Imam al-Hasan (a) accepted peace was that he was aware that khawarij had surrounded him. So, if he kept on fighting with Mu'awiya, khawarij would take the control of Islamic lands. On the other hand, if he fought with khawarij, Mu'awiya (indulged in the fantasy of domination) would take over the Islamic regions under Imam Hasan (a)'s control."

=== Inconsistent army ===

:"The people accompanying Imam Hasan (a) were from different groups and different interests; a number of them were his or his father's shi'a, a group of them were supporters of [[hakamiyyat]] (khawarij) that were influenced (by the desire of) fighting with Mu'awiya by means possible. Some of them were men who loved discords and were anxious for booties of war, some of them were doubters, others were tribal supporters who followed the leaders of their tribes without reference to religion."

An army essentially composed of these people would divide in any incident. Khawarij accompanied with Imam al-Hasan (a) to contrive their deceitful schemes, they fought ([[jihad]]) but by the purpose of corruption. There is no one more dangerous than the enemy who pretends friendship. Such an enemy shows you friendship openly, but he fights against you secretly. So the most dangerous enemy is he who fights against you with hatred, malice, and tribalism.

:"Imam al-Hasan (a) had no alternative but to accept peace and abandon war, since his followers had weak beliefs and were discouraged to fight due to Mu'awiya’s worldly promises. They no longer had much faith in Imam al-Hasan (a) so as to fight Mu’awiya. According to what happened, they disagreed with him and merited taking his life as halal. They wanted to turn him over to his enemy. His cousin Ubayd Allah b. Abbas gave up assisting him and joined his enemy and generally people turned their faces to the worldly desires and disregarded blesses of [[Akhira]]."