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171-535: The Fatimid dynasty emerged as the leaders of the clandestine early Isma'ili missionary movement ( da'wa ) in the ninth century CE, ostensibly acting on behalf of a hidden imam, implied at the time to be Muhammad ibn Isma'il . The Isma'ili da'wa spread widely across the Islamic world, then ruled by the Abbasid Caliphate . In 899, the future first Fatimid caliph, Abdallah , proclaimed himself to be

342-431: A full marriage , but had slave concubines, who could rise to the high status of an umm walad upon the birth of a son. Several caliphal daughters are not even known by name, and for those that are, it is likely that they never married at all as a matter of policy, even though they are often mentioned only by their teknonyms . Although politically inactive, the members of the dynasty enjoyed immense riches, founded on

513-576: A council ( shura ) after Mu'awiya, and preference for the Banu Hashim over the Banu Umayyad in pensions. Another condition was that Mu'awiya should end the ritual cursing of Ali in mosques, writes Mavani. Jafri similarly notes that the terms are recorded differently and ambiguously by al-Tabari, Dinawari, Ibn Abd al-Barr, and Ibn al-Athir, while al-Ya'qubi and al-Mas'udi ( d.  956 ) are silent about them. In particular, Jafri finds

684-555: A hundred years after Muhammad's death, in the wake of 'Abbasid propaganda against the then ruling Umayyad clan in the 720s. However, the 'Abbasid daʿwah ceased as soon as the 'Abbasids were in power—a fact that attests to its political nature. Daʿwah as a truly missionary activity, albeit still within the Muslim Ummah , appeared in the form of the Isma'ili daʿwah of the 9th through 13th centuries. Isma'ilis, in many ways, can be seen as

855-495: A letter, which he refused. As the news of the mutiny against Hasan and the attempt at his life arrived, however, both sides abstained from fighting and awaited further developments. Veccia Vaglieri writes that the Iraqis were reluctant to fight and a group deserted every day. By one account, 8,000 men out of 12,000 followed Ubayd Allah's example and joined Mu'awiya. When Hasan learned about this, al-Ya'qubi writes that he summoned

1026-498: A mutiny at his military camp near al-Mada'in . Among the five surviving accounts, Jafri prefers the one by Abu Hanifa Dinawari ( d.  895 ), which states that Hasan was concerned about his troops' resolve by the time he reached the outskirts of al-Mada'in. He thus halted the army at Sabat and told them in a speech that he preferred peace over war because his men were reluctant to fight. According to al-Mada'ini ( d.  843 ), Hasan also quoted Ali as saying, "Do not loathe

1197-696: A part of their political theory (through relating daʿwah to jihad) and life (using the concept of daʿwah in their political agendas). Taken in general, the intertwining of daʿwah and politics, then, has been a feature throughout the Muslim history, though practical implications of this have been different in different ages. A classical example of diversion in daʿwah can be seen in the case of Yusuf in prison when two prisoners asked him to interpret their dreams. One of them said: "I saw myself pressing wine." The other said: "I saw myself carrying bread on my head and birds were eating from it." They asked: "Inform us of

1368-518: A peace treaty with Mu'awiya on the condition that the latter should rule in compliance with the Quran and the sunna , a council should appoint his successor, and Hasan's supporters would receive amnesty. Hasan retired from politics and abdicated in Medina where he died either from illness or poisoning, though the early sources are nearly unanimous that he was poisoned. Mu'awiya is commonly viewed as

1539-619: A pious fiction. States People Centers Other Both the Twelvers and the Seveners held that their final imams were not dead, but had simply gone into concealment, and that they would soon return as a messiah, the mahdi ('the Rightly Guided One') or qa'im ('He Who Arises'), to usher in the end times . The mahdi would rapidly overthrow the usurping Abbasids and destroy their capital Baghdad , restore

1710-454: A pretext for him to seize the caliphate, according to Jafri. In the surrender ceremony, Mu'awiya demanded Hasan to publicly apologize. Hasan rose and reminded the people that he and Husayn were Muhammad's only grandsons and the right to the caliphate was his and not Mu'awiya's, but he had surrendered it to avoid bloodshed. Mu'awiya then spoke and recanted his earlier promises to Hasan and others, saying that those promises were made to shorten

1881-608: A problem complicated by the Isma'ili claims that the hidden imams assumed various aliases for safety. Thus the pro-Isma'ili Prince Peter Hagop Mamour, in his 1934 apologetic work Polemics on the Origin of the Fatimi Caliphs , lists no fewer than fifty variations of the line of the four hidden imams between Isma'il ibn Ja'far and al-Mahdi, claiming that the various names represent pseudonyms. Early Isma'ili sources tend to be silent on

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2052-407: A problem for Mu'awiya, who planned to designate his son Yazid ( r.  680–683 ) as his successor, in violation of the peace treaty with Hasan. Jafri thus believes that Mu'wiya should be suspected in the murder of Hasan, which removed an obstacle to the succession of his son. This view is echoed by Momen and Madelung. Hasan did not disclose who he suspected of his poisoning, fearing that

2223-404: A religious worker or in a volunteer community effort, is called a dāʿī ( داعي , plural duʿāh دعاة [dʊˈʕæː] ). A dāʿī , is a person who invites people to understand and accept Islam through dialogue and other techniques, who may be regarded as a missionary inviting people to the faith, prayer, and manner of Islamic life. The term daʿwah has other senses in

2394-507: A renewed Fatimid attempt to conquer Syria. At the same time, around 970/71, the two holy cities of Mecca and Medina , recognized Fatimid suzerainty, an important symbolic victory for the Fatimids. In 978, Caliph al-Aziz ( r.  975–996 ) captured Damascus, but Fatimid power in Syria continued to be challenged, whether by powerful generals or by the restive Bedouin of Palestine under

2565-508: A request from Mu'awiya to subdue a Kharijite revolt near Kufa. He wrote back to Mu'awiya that he had given up his claim to the caliphate for the sake of peace and compromise, not to fight on his side. Between his abdication in 41/661 and his death in 50/670, Hasan lived quietly in Medina and did not engage in politics. In compliance with the peace treaty, Hasan declined requests from (often small) Shia groups to lead them against Mu'awiya. He

2736-642: A result, many sources into the 20th century referred to the Fatimids by the derogatory name Ubaydids. Fatimid expansion into the Levant, and the ideological challenge that the ascendancy of Shi'a regimes represented, resulted in the Sunnis rallying around the Abbasid Caliphate in response, triggering the Sunni revival of the 11th century. Faced with internal turmoil, and the arrival of the Seljuk Turks and then

2907-732: A series of hereditary governors, the Kalbid dynasty , governed Sicily on the Fatimids' behalf. The Fatimids also expanded west to the rest of the Maghreb, where Fez and Sijilmasa were captured in 920–921, although these conquests were difficult to hold, and brought the Fatimids into conflict with the Umayyads of Cordoba. In an attempt to supplant the Abbasids, al-Mahdi's son and heir, al-Qa'im bi-Amr Allah, led campaigns eastward to capture Egypt in 914 and 919 . Both endeavours failed, leaving only

3078-469: A share of five thousand dirhams in Umar's system of state pension. According to Ibn Isfandiyar , Hasan also took part in an expedition to Amol during the caliphate of Umar, though the veracity of such reports have been questioned by Paktchi et al. Defying Uthman, Hasan joined his father in bidding farewell to Abu Dharr al-Ghifari ( d.  652 ), who was exiled from Medina after he preached against

3249-405: A truce and then offering Ubayd Allah a million dirhams to switch sides. Ubayd Allah accepted and deserted at night to Mu'awiya, who fulfilled his promise to him. The next morning, Qays ibn Sa'd took charge of Hasan's troops as the second-in-command and denounced Ubayd Allah in a sermon. Mu'awiya now sent a contingent to force surrender but was pushed back twice. He then offered bribes to Qays in

3420-480: A vanguard under Ubayd Allah ibn al-Abbas to block Mu'awiya's advance until he arrived with the main army. Meanwhile, Hasan was severely wounded in an abortive assassination attempt by the Kharijites , a faction opposed to both Ali and Mu'awiya. This attack demoralized Hasan's army and led to widespread desertion. Ubayd Allah and most of his troops also defected after Mu'awiya bribed him. In August 661, Hasan signed

3591-522: Is considered the most reliable, reporting that Hasan had fifteen sons and nine daughters with six wives and three known concubines. His first marriage was contracted with Ja'da , daughter of the Kinda chief al-Ash'ath ibn Qays , soon after Ali relocated to Kufa. Madelung suggests that Ali with this marriage intended to establish ties with the powerful Yemeni tribes in Kufa. Hasan had no children with Ja'da, who

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3762-445: Is described as a good orator, he might have also suffered from a speech defect, according to Abu al-Faraj al-Isfahani. In contrast to Hasan, Madelung suggests that Husayn might have inherited his father's "fighting spirit." The sources hostile to Hasan interpret his peace treaty with Mu'awiya as a sign of weakness, saying that Hasan intended to surrender from the beginning. Some authors instead suggest that Hasan's decision to abdicate

3933-404: Is little or no independent confirmation", as even Isma'il ibn Ja'far is an obscure figure, let alone his supposed hidden successors. While pro-Fatimid sources emphasize their Alid descent—the dynasty named itself simply as the 'Alid dynasty' ( al-dawla al-alawiyya )—many Sunni sources instead refer to them as the 'Ubaydids' ( Arabic : بنو عبيد , romanized :  Banu Ubayd ), after

4104-503: Is often accused of poisoning him. Umm Bashir was Hasan's second wife and bore him his eldest son Zayd, his daughter Umm al-Husayn, and probably another daughter Umm al-Hasan. Umm Bashir was the daughter of Abu Mas'ud Uqba ibn Amr , who had opposed the Kufan revolt against Uthman. Madelung writes that Ali was hoping to bring Abu Mas'ud to his side with the marriage. After his abdication and return to Medina, Hasan married Khawla, daughter of

4275-401: Is the proselytism for Islam . The plural is daʿwāt ( دَعْوات ) or daʿawāt ( دَعَوات ). Daʿwah [ˈdæʕwæh] literally means "issuing a summons" or "making an invitation". Grammatically, the word represents a gerund of a verb with the triconsonantal root d-ʕ-w ( د-ع-و ) meaning variously "to summon" or "to invite". A Muslim who practices daʿwah , either as

4446-455: The mahdi . In this chaotic atmosphere, and with the Abbasids preoccupied with suppressing the Zanj uprising, the Isma'ili da'wa spread rapidly, aided by dissatisfaction among Twelver adherents with the political quietism of their leadership and the recent disappearance of their twelfth imam. Missionaries ( da'i s) like Hamdan Qarmat and his brother-in-law Abu Muhammad Abdan spread

4617-534: The sayyid s ( lit.   ' chiefs ' ) of the youth in the paradise. Madelung adds that this hadith is widely reported, while Veccia Vaglieri ( d.  1989 ) notes that its authenticity was disputed by the Umayyad Marwan ( r.  684–685 ). The same source and the canonical Shia source Kitab al-Irshad narrate the prophetic hadith, "He who has loved Hasan and Husayn has loved me and he who has hated them has hated me." Similarly,

4788-531: The Crusades , Fatimid power began to decline in the later 11th century. the dynasty was saved by passing power to powerful military viziers , but this also meant that the imam–caliphs often were mere puppet rulers. The initial dynamism of the da'wa was diminished by bitter succession disputes, which resulted in large parts of the Isma'ili community, such as the Druze , Nizaris , and Tayyibis , breaking off from

4959-642: The Cyrenaica in Fatimid hands. Between 916 and 921, al-Mahdi built a new residence, the fortified palace city of Mahdiyya , on a rocky promontory on the Ifriqiyan coast. When Al-Mahdi died in 934, he was succeeded by his son, al-Qa'im ( r.  934–946 ), who continued his father's policies. Another attempted invasion of Egypt in 935 was defeated by the country's new strongman ruler, Muhammad ibn Tughj al-Ikhshid . The most notable event of al-Qa'im's reign

5130-528: The Fall of Rometta in 965, as well as the reconquest of the western Maghreb by the Fatimid general Jawhar in 958–960, temporarily expelling Umayyad influence from the region and extending Fatimid rule to the shores of the Atlantic Ocean. After these successes, al-Mu'izz once again turned to the abandoned project of the conquest of Egypt. Meticulous military and political preparations were undertaken, and

5301-684: The Jarrahids . Al-Aziz's attempts to capture the Hamdanid emirate of Aleppo brought the Fatimids into conflict with the Byzantines, who considered the city their protectorate. Attempts to take Aleppo failed in 983, 992/3 and 994/5, and effective Fatimid power reached little past Tripoli in the north. In 987, the Fatimid suzerainty was recognized by the Ya'furids in Yemen, but Fatimid attempts to induce

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5472-552: The Qur'an . In sura (chapter) 30:25, for example, it denotes the call to the dead to rise on the Day of Judgment . When used in the Qur'an, it generally refers to Allah's invitation to live according to His will. Thus, when used in the first centuries of Islam, it usually referred to that message and was sometimes used interchangeably with sharī‘a and dīn . Daʿwah is also described as

5643-605: The event of the mubahala . During the caliphate of Ali ( r.  656–661 ), Hasan accompanied him in the military campaigns of the First Fitna . Following Ali's assassination in January 661, Hasan was acknowledged caliph in Kufa . His sovereignty was not recognized by Mu'awiya I ( r.  661–680 ), the governor of Syria, who led an army into Kufa while pressing Hasan for abdication in letters. In response, Hasan sent

5814-457: The "Umayyad propaganda" reflected in the account of al-Zuhri, quoted by al-Tabari. Since Ali and his house rejected the conduct of Abu Bakr and Umar in the shura after Umar in 23/644, Jafri believes that the clause about following the Rashidun caliphs was inserted by later Sunni authors. That Mu'awiya agreed to an amnesty for the supporters of Ali indicates that the revenge for Uthman was

5985-792: The Banu Amir tribe, but the Muslims were again killed in revenge for the assassination of Khalid bin Sufyan by Muhammad's followers. 70 Muslims were killed during this expedition. During the Expedition of Khalid ibn al-Walid (Banu Jadhimah) in January 630, Muhammad sent Khalid ibn Walid to invite the Banu Jadhimah tribe to Islam. This is mentioned in the Sunni Hadith Sahih al-Bukhari , 5:59:628 . Mus'ab ibn 'Umair

6156-544: The Banu Hashim and Banu Umayyad, respectively, soon gathered with weapons. Muhammad ibn al-Hanafiyya reportedly intervened and reminded Hasan's burial request. He was then buried in al-Baqi. Dinawari writes the Umayyads shot arrows at the body during the standoff, and this is also the Shia view. Madelung suggests that Mu'awiya later rewarded Marwan for his stand by reinstating him as the governor of Medina. As Hasan's body

6327-598: The Family of the Prophet. Ali's commander Qays ibn Sa'd was the first to pledge his allegiance to Hasan. Qays offered his oath based on the Quran, precedent ( sunna ), and jihad against those who declared lawful ( halal ) what was unlawful ( haram ). Hasan, however, avoided the last condition by saying that it was implicit in the first two. About this episode, Jafri ( d.  2019 ) suggests that Hasan

6498-465: The Fatimid allegiance, and tarnished the prestige and authority of the dynasty. The last of the Fatimid imam–caliphs were powerless child rulers that were pawns in the hands of their viziers. The last of these viziers, Saladin , deposed the dynasty in 1171, after the death of Caliph al-Adid . The remaining members of the dynasty and their offspring were placed under house arrest in Cairo until their deaths;

6669-503: The Fatimid court to a new palace city, al-Mansuriyya near Kairouan , but died soon after, and was succeeded by his son, al-Mu'izz li-Din Allah ( r.  953–975 ). Al-Mu'izz was an excellent planner and organizer, and the state he inherited had regained internal stability, after the turmoils of Abu Yazid's revolt. His early reign saw successes against the Byzantines, where the last remaining Byzantine strongholds were extinguished with

6840-686: The Fatimid imam–caliphs extended their rule over most of the Maghreb as well as Sicily , before conquering Egypt in 969. Founding Cairo as their new capital, for the next two centuries, the Fatimids would be based in Egypt and identified with the country. At their height, the Fatimids claimed control or suzerainty over much of North Africa, Sicily, Egypt, the Levant , the Hejaz , Yemen, and Multan . The Fatimids' claimed pedigree of descent from Fatima and Ali

7011-587: The Fatimids' ambitions were not limited to Ifriqiya. The Fatimid caliphs aimed to overthrow not only the rival Muslim monarchs—the Abbasids of Baghdad and the Umayyads of Cordoba —but also the Byzantine Empire , claiming a divine right to universal sovereignty. Fatimid power quickly expanded across the sea to Sicily , which had been conquered by the Aghlabids from the Byzantines, but Fatimid rule

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7182-583: The Fazara chief Manzur ibn Zabban. Khawla already had two sons and a daughter from Muhammad ibn Talha , who was killed in the Battle of the Camel. After her father protested that he had been ignored, Hasan presented Khawla to her father and remarried her with his approval. Khawla bore Hasan his son, Hasan . Hasan in Medina also married Hafsa bint Abd al-Rahman ibn Abi Bakr . It is said that al-Mundhir ibn al-Zubayr

7353-635: The Imam victorious. Hasan was born in Medina in c.  625 . Sources differ on whether he was born in the Islamic months of Sha'ban or Ramadan , though most early works give his birthdate as 15 Ramadan 3 AH (2 March 625 CE), which is annually celebrated by the Shia. Hasan was the firstborn of Muhammad's daughter Fatima and his cousin Ali . Their union holds a special spiritual significance for Muslims, write Nasr and Afsaruddin , and Muhammad said he followed divine orders to marry Fatima to Ali, narrates

7524-620: The Iraqi nobles and reproached them for their unreliability and fickle-mindedness, echoing the speeches of Ali after Siffin. Mu'awiya now sent envoys to propose that Hasan abdicate in his favor to spare Muslim blood. In return, Mu'awiya was ready to designate Hasan as his successor, grant him safety, and offer him a large financial settlement. Hasan accepted the overture in principle and sent his representative(s) to Mu'awiya, who sent them back to Hasan with carte blanche , inviting him to dictate whatever he wanted. Hasan wrote that he would surrender

7695-461: The Muslim rule to Mu'awiya if he would comply with the Quran and sunna , his successor would be appointed by a council ( shura ), the people would remain safe, and Hasan's supporters would receive amnesty. His letter was witnessed by two representatives, who carried it to Mu'awiya. Hasan thus renounced the caliphate in August 661 after a seven-month reign. This year is considered by a number of

7866-452: The Qur'an preaches monotheism . Muhammad saw Islam as the true religion and mission of all earlier prophets. He believed that their call had been limited to their own people but that his was universal. His mission as the final prophet was to repeat to the whole world this call and invitation ( daʿwah ) to Islam. Muhammad wrote to various non-Muslim rulers, inviting them to convert. The importance of daʿwah has been emphasised many times in

8037-550: The Quran. There was no response at first, possibly because some tribal chiefs were bribed by Mu'awiya. Hasan's companions now scolded the crowd and inspired them to leave in large numbers for the army campgrounds in Nukhayla. Hasan soon joined them and appointed Ubayd Allah ibn Abbas as the commander of a vanguard of twelve thousand men tasked with holding Mu'awiya back in Maskin until the arrival of Hasan's main army. Ubayd Allah

8208-509: The Quran: Who is better in speech than one who calls to Allah, does righteous deeds and says indeed I am among the Muslims. You are the best nation raised up for humankind. You enjoin righteousness, forbid corruption and you believe in Allah . Let there arise among you a group inviting to all that is good, enjoining righteousness and forbidding evil. Those are the successful ones. Call to

8379-552: The Shia who might have transferred the blame to his daughter. Alternatively, the Sunni al-Haytham ibn Adi identifies the daughter of Suhayl ibn Amr as the murderer . Another account by the Sunni al-Waqidi pins the crime on a servant of Hasan at the instigation of Mu'awiya. Yet another account is that Yazid proposed to Zaynab bint Ja'far ibn Abi Talib , who refused and instead married Hasan. The enraged Yazid subsequently had Hasan poisoned. A recent article by Burke et al. examined

8550-658: The Sunni Ibn 'Abd al-Barr ( d.  1071 ) lists Hasan as a commander at Siffin and the Shia Nasr ibn Muzahim ( d.  827-8 ) narrates that Mu'awiya offered Hasan to switch sides at Siffin but was rejected. Haj-Manouchehri writes that Hasan persuaded some neutral figures to support Ali at Siffin, including Sulayman ibn Surad al-Khuza'i. He adds that Hasan vigorously opposed the arbitration process after Siffin, alongside his father. In November 658, Ali placed Hasan in charge of his land endowments. In January 661, Ali

8721-602: The Sunni al-Suyuti ( d.  1505 ), among others. Ali reportedly had chosen another name in Sunni sources but deferred to Muhammad who named the child Hasan ( lit.   ' good, virtuous ' ). To celebrate his birth, Muhammad sacrificed a ram, while Fatima shaved Hasan's head and donated the weight of his hair in silver. Hasan was raised in Muhammad's household until the age of seven when his grandfather died. Early sources widely report Muhammad's love for Hasan and his brother Husayn, saying that Muhammad allowed

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8892-571: The absence of his family and the majority of the Muhajirun ( Meccan Muslims). Ali, Fatima, and some supporters did not recognize the caliphate of Abu Bakr, saying that Muhammad had appointed Ali as his successor, possibly referring to the Ghadir Khumm in 632. Fatima died also in 632, within six months of Muhammad's death, at the age of about eighteen or twenty-seven years old. Shias hold that she miscarried her child and died from

9063-733: The agents of the Isma'ili da'wa engaged to promote the Fatimid cause in Egypt and suborn officials of the weakened Ikhshidid regime. As a result, when the Fatimid army under Jawhar arrived in Egypt in summer 969, it faced little organized resistance. Jawhar entered the Egyptian capital, Fustat , in July 969, and claimed the country for his master. Immediately he began establishing a new capital city near Fustat, which came to be known as al-Qahira al-Mu'izziyya ('the Victorious One of al-Mu'izz'), modern Cairo . Jawhar governed Egypt for

9234-505: The attention of the authorities, and he moved on to the small town of Salamiyah on the western edge of the Syrian Desert . There he settled as a merchant from Basra, and had two sons, Ahmad and Ibrahim. When Abdallah died c.  827/8 , Ahmad succeeded his father as the head of the Isma'ili movement, and was in turn succeeded by his younger son, Muhammad, known as Abu'l-Shalaghlagh. In later Fatimid doctrine, Abdallah al-Akbar

9405-423: The boys to climb on his back while he was prostrate in prayer, and interrupted a sermon to pick Hasan up after his grandson fell. On one occasion, Hasan later recalled, his grandfather took away a date from him and explained that receiving alms ( sadaqa ) was forbidden for his family. A hadith ( lit.   ' saying ' ) in the canonical Sunni collection Sunan ibn Majah names Hasan and Husayn as

9576-532: The caliphate within the Quraysh. Hassan also wrote that Mu'awiya had no true merit in Islam and was the son of Muhammad's arch-enemy Abu Sufyan . Mu'awiya replied that he was better suited for the caliphate because of his age, governing experience, and superior military strength, thus implying that these qualities were more important than religious precedence. Jafri comments that Mu'awiya's response made explicit

9747-432: The caliphate. Jafri suggests that he might have hoped to force Hasan to abdicate or attack the Iraqi forces before they were fortified. Mu'awiya might have believed that Hasan would remain a threat even if he was defeated and killed, since another Hashemite could continue the fight. If Hasan abdicated in favor of Mu'awiya, he writes, such claims would have no weight. The view of Momen is similar. Their letters revisit

9918-449: The caliphate. Some Shia reports add that Ali also designated Hasan as his waliu'l amr , thus giving him his own authority to command, and also his waliu'l dam , responsible for punishing his assassin. Some authors have noted that Muhammad's surviving companions were primarily in Ali's army and must have therefore pledged allegiance to Hasan, as evidenced by the lack of any reports to

10089-468: The canonical Sahih Muslim and Sahih al-Tirmidhi . Madelung suggests that their inclusion by Muhammad in this significant ritual must have raised the religious rank of his family. A similar view is voiced by Lalani. Muhammad died in 11/632 when Hasan was about seven. As his family prepared for the burial, a group of Muslims gathered at the Saqifa and appointed Abu Bakr as Muhammad's successor, in

10260-489: The canonical Sunni source Sahih al-Tirmidhi ascribes to Muhammad, "Whoever loves me and loves these two [Hasan and Husayn] and loves their mother and father [Fatima and Ali], will be with me in my station on the Day of Resurrection ." After an inconclusive debate in 10/631-2, Muhammad and the Najranite Christians decided to engage in mubuhala , where both parties would pray to invoke God's curse upon

10431-424: The circumstances surrounding Hasan's death. Using mineralogical, medical, and chemical evidence, they suggested that the mineral calomel (mercury(I) chloride, Hg 2 Cl 2 ), sourced from the Byzantine Empire , was the substance primarily responsible for Hasan's death. Because historical sources indicate that another member of Hasan's household also suffered similar symptoms, the article considers Hasan's wife to be

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10602-408: The claimant of God: So speak to him, both of you, mildly in order that he may reflect or fear God. (Quran  20:44 ). Muhammad was reported by his wife, Aisha to have said "Whenever gentleness is in a thing, it beautifies it, and whenever it is withdrawn from something, it defaces." Muhammad was quoted by Jareer as saying,"One deprived of gentleness is deprived of all good." Muslims made it

10773-497: The claims were by al-Mada'ini and were often vague; some had a clear defamatory intent. In particular, the ninety-wives allegation was first made by Muhammad al-Kalbi and later picked up by al-Mada'ini, who was unable to list more than eleven names, five of whom are uncertain or highly doubtful. Veccia Vaglieri holds that the marriages of Hasan received little contemporary censure. In contrast, Lammens ( d.  1937 ) suggests that Hasan married and divorced so frequently that he

10944-687: The community was split between the two factions, but in Bahrayn, the local da'i s split off from Salamiyah and established an independent Qarmatian state that lasted into the 1070s. On the other hand, Zakarawayh and his loyalists now began a series of anti-Abbasid uprisings in Iraq and Syria in 902–907, with the support of the Bedouin tribes. Calling themselves the Fatimiyyun , the uprisings enjoyed some ephemeral success, but were eventually suppressed by

11115-567: The conclusion of peace with Byzantium in 1001, as well as the great tribal revolts of Abu Rukwa in Cyrenaica in 1005, and of Mufarrij ibn Daghfal in Palestine in 1012–13. In the north, the Uqaylids of Mosul briefly acknowledged Fatimid suzerainty in 1010, and in 1015, Aleppo did the same, with Fatimid troops entering the city and imposing direct control in 1017. Relations with the Zirids, who quickly had begun distancing themselves from Cairo's authority, became more strained under al-Hakim due to disputes over Cyrenaica and Tripoli , and in 1016/7,

11286-403: The contrary. In his inaugural speech at the Great Mosque of Kufa , Hasan praised the ahl al-bayt and quoted verse 42:23 of the Quran: I am of the Family of the Prophet from whom God has removed filth and whom He has purified, whose love He has made obligatory in His Book when He said, "Whosoever performs a good act, We shall increase the good in it." Performing a good act is love for us,

11457-408: The diminutive form Ubayd Allah for al-Mahdi's name, commonly used in Sunni sources with an apparently pejorative intent. Medieval anti-Fatimid polemicists, starting with Ibn Rizam and Akhu Muhsin , were keen to discredit Isma'ilism as an antinomian heresy and generally considered Fatimid claims to Alid descent fraudulent. Instead, they put forth a counter claim that al-Mahdi descended from Abdallah,

11628-399: The duty to "actively encourage fellow Muslims in the pursuance of greater piety in all aspects of their lives", a definition which has become central to contemporary Islamic thought . During the Expedition of Al Raji in 625, Muhammad sent some men as missionaries to various different tribes. Some men came to Muhammad and requested that Muhammad send instructors to teach them Islam, but

11799-441: The earlier Shi'a figure. Another suggestion, by Abbas Hamdani and F. de Blois, is that the officially published genealogies represent a compromise between two different lines of descent from Ja'far al-Sadiq, one from Isma'il and another (per al-Mahdi's letter to the Yemenis) from Abdallah al-Aftah. Other scholars, such as Halm, remain skeptical, while Omert Schrier and Michael Brett dismiss the Fatimid claims of Alid descent entirely as

11970-400: The early Isma'ili da'wa divided into two factions: those who accepted Abdallah's claims, and continued to follow him, and became the Isma'ilis proper, and those who rejected them and continued to believe in the return of Muhammad ibn Isma'il as mahdi , who became known as the Qarmatians (although anti-Fatimid sources also used the label for the Fatimids themselves). In Iraq and Persia,

12141-504: The early Muslim sources as 'the year of unity' and is generally regarded as the start of Mu'awiya's caliphate. Veccia Vaglieri finds certain variants of the treaty impossible to reconcile. She lists several conditions in the early sources and questions their veracity, including an annual payment of one or two million dirhams to Hasan, a single payment of five million dirhams from the treasury of Kufa, annual revenues from variously named districts in Persia , succession of Hasan to Mu'awiya or

12312-551: The early sources are nearly unanimous that Hasan was poisoned. Mu'awiya is usually identified as the instigator in the murder of Hasan. Aside from the Shia sources, this is also the view of some notable Sunni historians, including al-Waqidi ( d.  823 ), al-Mada'ini, Umar ibn Shabba ( d.   c.  877 ), al-Baladhuri , al-Haytham ibn Adi ( d.  822 ), and Abu Bakr ibn Hafs. These reports are nevertheless suppressed by al-Tabari, perhaps because he found them insignificant or far more likely because he

12483-540: The early sources. Jafri thus concludes that Hasan's final conditions in carte blanche were that Mu'awiya should act according to the Quran, sunna , and the conduct of the Rashidun caliphs , that the people should remain safe, and that the successor to Mu'awiya should be appointed by a council. These conditions are echoed by Madelung, who adds that Hasan made no financial stipulations in his peace proposal and Mu'awiya consequently made no payments to him, contrary to

12654-405: The existence of Maymun al-Qaddah, but later, Fatimid-era sources were forced to confront their opponents' claims about his person, and tried to reconcile the conflicting genealogies accordingly. Some sectarian Isma'ili—especially Druze —sources even claimed that during the period of concealment of the Isma'ili imams, the Isma'ili movement was actually led by the descendants of Maymun al-Qaddah, until

12825-469: The expected mahdi was not Muhammad ibn Isma'il, as commonly propagated, but Abdallah himself, and that Abdallah's ancestors, far from being simply the hujja s of the imams, were actually the imams themselves. In a letter to the Yemeni community, Abdallah claimed that 'Muhammad ibn Isma'il' was actually a cover name assumed by each incumbent imam, and denied any particular role of Muhammad ibn Isma'il as

12996-484: The expected mahdi who was to usher in the end times. These doctrinal innovations caused a major rift in the movement, as Hamdan denounced the leadership in Salamiyah, gathered the Iraqi da'i s and ordered them to cease the missionary effort. Shortly after this Hamdan "disappeared" from his headquarters, and Abdan was assassinated by Zakarawayh ibn Mihrawayh , who had remained loyal to Salamiyah. The schism left

13167-529: The expected imam, causing a rift in the Isma'ili da'wa as the Qarmatians , who did not recognize his imamate, split off. In the meantime, Isma'ili agents had managed to conquer large parts of Yemen and Ifriqiya , as well as launch uprisings in Syria and Iraq. Fleeing Abbasid persecution to Ifriqiya, Abdallah proclaimed himself openly and established the Fatimid Caliphate in 909. From there,

13338-582: The fellow Shi'a rulers of Iraq, the Buyids , to recognize their suzerainty, failed; the Buyids rejected the Fatimids' claims of Alid descent. Al-Aziz's reign saw also a transformation in the structure and nature of the Fatimid state: the Kutama, who had been the main pillar of the early Fatimid regime, were now complemented by Turkish military slaves ( ghilman ) as well as Black African slave soldiers, while under

13509-414: The final day, however, Hasan and most of the guards are said to have laid down their weapons at Uthman's request. Yet another report states that Hasan arrived at the scene of Uthman's murder in time to identify his assassins. According to Madelung, Hasan later criticized Ali for not doing enough to defend Uthman. Ali was elected caliph after the assassination of Uthman. Immediately after his accession,

13680-489: The first known ancestor of the Fatimid line, Abdallah al-Akbar , the great-grandfather of the first Fatimid caliph, initially claimed descent not from Ali at all, but from his brother Aqil ibn Abi Talib , and was accepted as such by the Aqilids of Basra. According to Brett, the line of descent claimed by the Fatimid between Ja'far al-Sadiq and al-Mahdi reflects "historical beliefs rather than historical figures, for which there

13851-409: The governance of provinces or the command of armies as in other medieval states, which might result in an independent power base that could threaten the orderly father-to-son succession of the imamate and caliphate. The sole exception was the designated successor, such as al-Qa'im, al-Mansur and Abdallah ibn al-Mu'izz, and that only in the early decades of the dynasty; as the caliphs increasingly ascended

14022-449: The governor to surrender Hasan to Mu'awiya but was rejected. The Kufan vanguard arrived in Maskin and found Mu'awiya camped there. Through a representative, he urged them not to commence hostilities until he concluded his peace talks with Hasan. This was likely a false claim. The Kufans, however, insulted Mu'awiya's envoy and sent him back. Mu'awiya then sent the envoy to visit Ubayd Allah privately, telling him that Hasan had requested

14193-425: The guidance of Ya'qub ibn Killis , the Fatimid administration became organized and regularized. Al-Aziz died in 996, while preparing a major campaign against the Byzantines and Hamdanids. He was succeeded by his eleven-year-old son, al-Hakim ( r.  996–1021 ). Initially under the tutelage of powerful officials, al-Hakim managed to seize the reins of power for himself in 1000. The early years of his reign saw

14364-416: The historical Maymun al-Qaddah is now known to have been a disciple of Muhammad al-Baqir (recognized by both Isma'ilis and Twelvers as an imam), and both he and his son Abdallah hailed from the Hejaz . For reasons of chronology alone, Ibn Rizam's version is thus proven to be untenable. Access to more sources has furthermore led to the partial reconciliation of the conflicting accounts by positing that some of

14535-585: The imam's existence, the hujja ( lit.   ' seal ' ). The first known hujja was Abdallah al-Akbar, a wealthy merchant from Askar Mukram , in what is now southwestern Iran . Apart from improbable stories circulated by later anti-Isma'ili polemicists, his exact origin is unknown. His teachings led to his being forced to flee his native city to escape persecution by the Abbasid authorities, and seek refuge in Basra . Once again, his teachings attracted

14706-469: The injuries she suffered in an attack on her house , intended to subdue Ali, at the order of Abu Bakr. These allegations are rejected by Sunnis, who believe that Fatima died from grief after Muhammad's death and that her child died in infancy of natural causes. Hasan did not play a major role under the first three caliphs, namely, Abu Bakr ( r.  632–634 ), Umar ( r.  634–644 ), and Uthman ( r.  644–656 ). He might have had

14877-404: The instigator in the murder of Hasan, which removed an obstacle to the succession of his son Yazid I ( r.  680–683 ). Critics of Hasan call his treaty with Mu'awiya an indication of weakness, saying that he intended to surrender from the beginning. Given Mu'awiya's military superiority, supporters of Hasan maintain that his abdication was inevitable after his soldiers mutinied and that he

15048-468: The interpretation of these things. Indeed, we believe you are one of the righteous." He replied: "Whenever food came to you as your provision, I informed you about it before it came. That is from what my Lord has taught me.... As for one of you, he will pour wine for his lord to drink, and as for the other, he will be crucified and birds will eat from his head. This is the case judged concerning which you both inquire." (Quran  12:35–41 ) Doing daʿwah in

15219-612: The last members of the dynasty died in the mid-13th century. Since the death of Caliph Ali ( r.  656–661 ) in 661, which led to the establishment of the Umayyad Caliphate , a part of the Muslim community rejected the Umayyads as usurpers and called for the establishment of a regime led by a member of the ahl al-bayt , the family of Muhammad. The Abbasids , who claimed descent from Muhammad's paternal uncle Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib and thus claimed membership of

15390-499: The liar. Madelung argues that Muhammad participated in this event alongside Hasan, Husayn, and their parents. This is also the Shia view. In contrast, most Sunni accounts by al-Tabari ( d.  923 ) do not name the participants of the event, while some other Sunni historians agree with the Shia view. During the event, Muhammad gathered Hasan, Husayn, Ali, and Fatima under his cloak and addressed them as his ahl al-bayt , according to some Shia and Sunni sources, including

15561-574: The majority of al-Sadiq's followers, followed his line down to a twelfth imam who supposedly vanished in 874. Adherents of this line are known as the Twelvers . Another branch believed that Ja'far al-Sadiq was followed by a seventh imam, who also had gone into hiding; hence this party is known as the Seveners. The exact identity of that seventh imam was disputed, but by the late ninth century had commonly been identified with Muhammad , son of Isma'il and grandson of al-Sadiq. From Muhammad's father, Isma'il,

15732-480: The matter, from a mixture of both religious imperative—since God has decreed his imams to be hidden, they should remain so—and apparent ignorance. Al-Mahdi himself, in a letter sent to the Isma'ili community in Yemen, even claimed not to be descended from Isma'il ibn Ja'far, but from his older brother Abdallah al-Aftah, who is generally held to not have had any descendants at all. Notably, later official Fatimid genealogies rejected this version. In addition, it appears that

15903-719: The meantime, in Ifriqiya, the da'i Abu Abdallah al-Shi'i had managed to convert the Berber tribe of the Kutama to the Isma'ili cause. From 902 on, the Kutama had gradually conquered the region from its Abbasid clients, the Aghlabids . On 25 March 909, Abu Abdallah and his Kutama entered the Aghlabid palace city of Raqqada in triumph. The da'i proclaimed a Shi'a regime, but kept the name of his master secret as yet, only using

16074-467: The men were bribed by the two tribes of Khuzaymah, who wanted revenge for the assassination of Khalid bin Sufyan (Chief of the Banu Lahyan tribe) by Muhammad's followers. A number of missionaries were killed in this expedition, either eight or, according to another account, ten. Then during the Expedition of Bir Maona in July 625 Muhammad sent some missionaries at the request of some men from

16245-400: The misdeeds of the powerful. When Uthman's half-brother al-Walid ibn Uqba was accused of drinking alcohol, Ali asked Hasan to carry out the punishment of forty lashes, though the latter reportedly refused and Abdullah ibn Ja'far instead administered the penalty. Veccia Vaglieri does not mention any disagreements and writes that Ali meted out the punishment himself. She also suggests that

16416-510: The modern scholar Farhad Daftary calls it, influenced Sunni historiographers throughout the following centuries, and became official doctrine with the Baghdad Manifesto of 1011. Due to the paucity of actual Isma'ili material until Isma'ili sources started to become available and undergo scholarly examination during the 20th century, the Sunni version was adopted even by some early modern Orientalists . Early Isma'ili sources ignore

16587-408: The most comprehensive account is the one given by Ahmad ibn A'tham , probably taken from al-Mada'ini, who recorded the terms in two parts. The first part is the conditions proposed by Abd Allah ibn Nawfal, who negotiated on Hasan's behalf with Mu'awiya in Maskin. The second part is what Hasan stipulated in carte blanche . These two sets of conditions together encompass all the conditions scattered in

16758-500: The movement remained hidden even from the senior missionaries, however, and a certain Fayruz functioned as chief missionary ( da'i al-du'at ) and 'gateway' ( bab ) to the hidden leader. In about 899, Abdallah ibn al-Husayn assumed the leadership of the da'wa . Soon, he began making alterations to the doctrine, which worried Hamdan Qarmat. Abdan went to Salamiyah to investigate the matter, and learned that Abdallah claimed that

16929-416: The network of agents to the area round Kufa in the late 870s, and from there to Yemen ( Ibn Hawshab , 882) and thence India (884), Bahrayn ( Abu Sa'id al-Jannabi , 899), Persia , and Ifriqiya ( Abu Abdallah al-Shi'i , 893). The real leadership of the movement remained hidden at Salamiyah, and only the chief da'i s of each region, such as Hamdan Qarmat, knew and corresponded with it. The true head of

17100-638: The new Zirid emir, al-Mu'izz ibn Badis , launched a pogrom against the remaining Isma'ilis in Ifriqiya. From 1015 on, the Fatimid Caliphate, and the Isma'ili community, were confronted by a rise in sectarianism: a series of preachers who propagated extremist versions of Isma'ilism appeared, preaching the imminence of the end times, the divinity of al-Hakim, and the abolition of the Sharia . The Fatimid religious establishment opposed such antinomian views, but al-Hakim seems to have tolerated, if not encouraged them. Although al-Hakim never officially espoused their views,

17271-415: The new caliph faced a rebellion led by Aisha , a widow of Muhammad and daughter of Abu Bakr , and Talha and Zubayr , two companions of Muhammad. Hasan and Ammar ibn Yasir ( d.  657 ) were subsequently sent to Kufa to rally support and raised an army of some 6,000 men. He also helped remove Abu Musa al-Ash'ari from the rule of Kufa, as the latter continued to hinder Ali's efforts against

17442-451: The new regime occurred quickly. Abu Abdallah al-Shi'i and his brother demanded proof of Abdallah being the mahdi , or resented the limitations on their authority placed by the new ruler. Al-Mahdi Billah was able to eliminate them in 911, but this led to a Kutama revolt, led by a child mahdi as a figurehead. The uprising was defeated, and the Fatimid control over the Kutama consolidated. Nevertheless, Fatimid power remained fragile, as it

17613-517: The next four years as viceroy of al-Mu'izz, restoring the country's finances. It was not until August 972 that al-Mu'izz left Ifriqiya, appointing the Berber Buluggin ibn Ziri as his viceroy there. In June 973, the Fatimid court arrived in Egypt and al-Mu'izz took up residence in Cairo. In the meantime, immediately after the conquest if Egypt Jawhar had tried to extend Fatimid rule into Syria . The first Fatimid invasion failed largely due to

17784-527: The oath was identical to the one demanded earlier by Ali and denounced by the Kharijites. The view of Dakake is similar. Having been at war with Ali, Mu'awiya did not recognize the caliphate of his successor and prepared for war. He marched an army of sixty thousand men through al-Jazira to Maskin, about 50 kilometres (31 mi) north of the present-day Baghdad . Concurrently, Mu'awiya also corresponded with Hasan, urging him to give up his claim to

17955-467: The opposition of the Qarmatians of Bahrayn, who did not hesitate to align themselves with the Abbasid caliph and denounce al-Mu'izz in public. The Qarmatian leader al-Hasan al-A'sam led two invasions of Egypt in 971 and again, despite al-Mu'izz's efforts to win him over, in 974. Both invasions were beaten back at the gates of Cairo, forcing the Qarmatians to retreat to Bahrayn, and opening the path for

18126-482: The payment of charity from their wealth obligatory on their rich to be given to their poor. If they accept that, then take it from them and avoid the best part of people's property." With regard to Muhammad's mild nature in preaching Islam , the Quran says: And by the mercy of Allah you dealt with them gently. If you were harsh and hardhearted, they would have fled from around you. (Quran  3:159 ). The Quran says about Moses and Aaron who preached to Pharaoh,

18297-434: The pioneers of the organized Muslim missionary activities: their highly institutionalized and sophisticated daʿwah structure has hardly been repeated until today. Moreover, for the Isma'ilis, daʿwah was a state priority. The Isma'ili daʿwah encompassed extra- and intra-ummatic forms and blended both theology and politics. In Islamic theology , the purpose of daʿwah is to invite people, Muslims and non-Muslims, to understand

18468-407: The possession of properties in the capital, Cairo, and its environs, as well as commerce. The caliph himself was not above such enrichment, and owned extensive parts of Cairo; according to the mid-11th traveller Nasir Khusraw , all 20,000 shops in the city, as well as its caravanserais and baths, and 8,000 other buildings that paid a monthly rent to the caliph's private purse ( diwan al-khass ) or

18639-406: The posts, thereby arousing the hostility of the Fatimid elites. As a result of a conspiracy among the latter, al-Hakim was murdered during one of his night rides outside Cairo, and his corpse disposed of, never to be found. Members of the dynasty were carefully kept out of public affairs; even princes and princesses of the blood did not have a special position at court, let alone being entrusted with

18810-717: The prime suspect. The article cites a historical document, according to which the Byzantine emperor (likely Constantine IV ) sent Mu'awiya a poisoned drink at the request of the latter. The authors thus conclude that their forensic hypothesis is consistent with the historical narrative that Hasan was poisoned by his wife Ja'da at the instigation of Mu'awiya and with the involvement of the Byzantine emperor. Before his death, Hasan had instructed his family to bury him next to Muhammad. According to Madelung, if they "feared evil," Hasan asked them to bury him near his mother in al-Baqi cemetery. The Umayyad governor of Medina, Sa'id ibn al-As ,

18981-676: The private treasury ( khizana al-khass ). Fatimid princesses are likewise recorded as being extremely wealthy, in part from estates allocated to them, and in part due to their own commercial and entrepreneurial activities. Thus at their death in 1050/51, two daughters of Caliph al-Mu'izz left estates of about 1.7 million gold dinars each, while Sitt al-Mulk is known to have employed an extensive staff of able administrators of both sexes for her far-flung economic interests. Da%27wa Daʿwah ( Arabic : دعوة , Arabic: [ˈdæʕwæ] , "invitation", also spelt dâvah , daawa , dawah , daawah or dakwah )

19152-411: The prominent Kufan tribal chief who undermined Ali at Siffin (657) by supporting the arbitration , and sabotaged Ali's campaign after being bribed by Mu'awiya, according to Madelung. As with Jafri, Veccia Vaglieri notes that many early sources hold Ja'da bin al-Ash'ath responsible for poisoning Hasan at the instigation of Mu'awiya, though she also observes that al-Ash'ath was regarded as a traitor by

19323-433: The question of their identity is impossible". The main problem arises with the succession linking al-Mahdi with Ja'far al-Sadiq. According to Isma'ili doctrine, the imams that followed Muhammad ibn Isma'il were in concealment ( satr ), but early Isma'ili sources do not mention them, and even later, official Isma'ili genealogies diverge on the number, names and identities of these 'hidden imams' ( al-a'imma al-masturin ),

19494-524: The rebel armies and captured Abu Yazid in August 947. The victory over the rebel leader, who had almost destroyed the Fatimid state and was symbolically called the Dajjal ('the false Messiah') by the Isma'ili da'wa , was the moment when Abu Tahir declared himself as the imam and caliph in succession to his father, with the name of al-Mansur bi-Nasr Allah ('The Victor with the Help of God'). Al-Mansur moved

19665-455: The rebels. Hasan later fought in the Battle of the Camel (656) against Aisha, Talha, and Zubayr. Hasan also fought against Mu'awiya ( r.  661–680 ) in the Battle of Siffin (657), though (Sunni) sources do not view him as a prominent participant. Madelung writes that Hasan criticized Ali's alleged aggressive war policy, saying that it stoked division among Muslims. In contrast,

19836-504: The reign of Mu'awiya," which Madelung finds incredible. Taking the speech as a sign that Hasan intended to pursue peace, Kharijite sympathizers in Hasan's army looted his tent and pulled his prayer rug from under him. Alternatively, Jafri and al-Ya'qubi ( d.  897-8 ) hold Mu'awiya responsible for the mutiny through his network of spies, about which letters were earlier exchanged between Mu'awiya and Hasan and Ubayd Allah. As he

20007-405: The reign of al-Amir, the caliph's single full brother ( shaqiq ), Ja'far, is accorded first place in the hierarchy, while their half-brothers from other women are listed much lower, after the caliph's own concubines, followed by the "sons and daughters of cousins". For similar reasons, Fatimid princesses were usually not wed outside the family, and the caliphs themselves did not usually engage in

20178-406: The restoration of the true line with the Fatimid caliphs. Later Tayyibi Isma'ili authors also used the figures of Maymun al-Qaddah and his son Abdallah to argue for the legality of there being a substitute or representative of the imam, whenever the latter was underage. A further controversy that emerged already in medieval times is whether the second Fatimid caliph, Muhammad al-Qa'im bi-Amr Allah ,

20349-438: The revolts instigated by Zakarawayh were suppressed, Abdallah moved to Tulunid Egypt in early 904. As the Abbasids recovered control of Egypt in the next year, the small party fled again. While his companions expected to head to Yemen, where the Isma'ili da'wa had enjoyed great success, Abdallah turned westward, and established himself at the oasis town of Sijilmasa , in what is now southwestern Morocco , in August 905. In

20520-411: The right location. For example, Mount Safa in the time of Muhammad was used for announcements. So Muhammad went there to make his point. He chose that particular location because he knew the people who he was inviting to Islam . He knew their nature and characteristics, so he chose Mount Safa. He climbed up to its summit and addressed his people saying: "O people of Quraysh , if I were to tell you there

20691-485: The second Shia Imam further justified his course of action. As the rightful successor of Muhammad in Shia Islam, Hasan's all-inclusive temporal and religious authority came from divinely-inspired designation ( nass ), which was not annulled by abdication to Mu'awiya, who usurped only the temporal authority. The imamate and caliphate are viewed as separate institutions in Shia Islam until such time that God would make

20862-473: The sect receives its name of 'Isma'ili'. Neither Isma'il's nor Muhammad's lives are well known, and after Muhammad's reported death during the reign of Harun al-Rashid ( r.  786–809 ), the history of the early Isma'ili movement becomes obscure. Official Fatimid doctrine claimed an uninterrupted line of succession between the first Fatimid caliph, Abd Allah al-Mahdi Billah ( r.  909–934 ), and Ali and Fatima, via Muhammad ibn Isma'il. This descent

21033-469: The separation of politics and religion, which later became a tenet of Sunni Islam. In contrast, Shia Islam vested all authority in the household of Muhammad. As the news of Mu'awiya's advance reached Hasan, he ordered his local governors to mobilize and invited the Kufans to prepare for war, "God had prescribed the jihad for his creation and called it a loathsome duty ( kurh )," referring to verse 2:216 of

21204-479: The son of a certain Maymun al-Qaddah from Khuzistan , that al-Mahdi's real name was Sa'id, or that al-Mahdi's father was in reality a Jew (a common antisemitic trope among medieval Arab authors). While several medieval Sunni authors and contemporary potentates—including the impeccably Alid sharifs of Mecca and Medina —accepted or appeared to accept Fatimid claims at face value, this anti-Isma'ili 'black legend', as

21375-413: The still potent Abbasid army. Zakarawayh apparently moved without Abdallah's authorization or prior knowledge, and thus placed him in danger: the Abbasid authorities began a crackdown on the da'wa , and Zakarawayh's sons unwittingly revealed the location and identity of Abdallah to the Abbasids, who launched a man-hunt against him. Already in 902, Abdallah with his household left Salamiyah for Ramla . As

21546-501: The succession for his own sons but failed, as the latter all died prematurely. During the late ninth century, millennialist expectations increased in the Muslim world, coinciding with a deep crisis of the Abbasid Caliphate during the decade-long Anarchy at Samarra , the rise of breakaway and autonomous regimes in the provinces, and the large-scale Zanj Rebellion , whose leader claimed Alid descent and proclaimed himself as

21717-496: The succession of Muhammad. Hasan urged Mu'awiya to pledge allegiance to him with the same arguments advanced by Ali against Abu Bakr after Muhammad's death. Ali had said that if the Quraysh could successfully claim the leadership because Muhammad belonged to them, then Muhammad's family was the most qualified to lead. Mu'awiya replied that Muslims were not unaware of the merits of the ahl al-bayt but had selected Abu Bakr to keep

21888-404: The succession was left open. One faction of al-Sadiq's followers held that he had designated another son, Musa al-Kazim , as his heir. Others followed other sons, Muhammad al-Dibaj and Abd Allah al-Aftah —as the latter died soon after, his followers went over to Musa's camp—or even refused to believe that al-Sadiq had died, and expected his return as a messiah . Musa's adherents, who constituted

22059-401: The teachings of men such as al-Darzi and Hamza ibn Ali resulted in the birth of the Druze faith. At the same time, al-Hakim made curious innovations in the succession, by splitting up his office in two: one to succeed the caliphate, i.e. the secular office, and one to succeed as imam, i.e. as leader of the Isma'ili community. Furthermore, he sidelined his own son and appointed two cousins to

22230-399: The throne as children, this practice was also dropped. This did not remove inter-family feuds, however, most notably in the sidelining of Nizar and the other sons of al-Mustansir at the accession of al-Musta'li, which was followed by repeated attempts by Nizar's descendants to raise a revolt and reclaim power. This led to differences in rank: a detailed list of court precedence from 1122, during

22401-440: The timing of Mu'awiya's carte blanche problematic in al-Tabari's account. Al-Tabari also mentions a single payment of five million dirhams to Hasan from the treasury of Kufa, which Jafri rejects because the treasury of Kufa was already in Hasan's possession at the time. He adds that Ali regularly emptied the treasury and distributed the funds among the public, and this is also reported by Veccia Vaglieri. Jafri then argues that

22572-563: The title hujjat Allah , 'God's proof'; and soon set out westward, at the head of a large army, to bring his imam to Ifriqiya. The Kutama army destroyed the Kharijite Rustamid emirate on its way, and arrived at Sijilmasa in August 909. There Abdallah was acclaimed caliph by the troops. On 4 January 910, Abdallah entered Raqqada, where he publicly proclaimed himself caliph with the regnal title of al-imam al-mahdi bi'llah , 'the imam rightly guided by God'. The first crisis of

22743-399: The true religion, the religion of Adam , would be manifested without the need for symbols and other mediating devices. While the mahdi Muhammad ibn Isma'il remained hidden, however, he would need to be represented by agents, who would gather the faithful, spread the word ( da'wa , 'invitation, calling'), and prepare his return. The head of this secret network was the living proof of

22914-536: The true representatives of God on earth. This doctrine was founded on the designation ( nass ) of Ali by Muhammad at Ghadir Khumm , and later pro-Fatimid scholars held that an unbroken chain of designated imams would follow until the end of the world; indeed, these scholars argued that the imams' existence was an inevitable necessity. The sixth of these imams, Ja'far al-Sadiq , appointed ( nass ) his son Isma'il al-Mubarak as his successor, but Isma'il died before his father, and when al-Sadiq himself died in 765,

23085-661: The two provinces. Madelung regards this account as fictitious because Hasan had just refused to join Mu'awiya in fighting the Kharijites. He adds that Hasan had made no financial stipulations in his peace proposal and Mu'awiya consequently made no payments to him. Madelung suggests that the relations between the two men deteriorated when Mu'awiya realized that Hasan would not actively support his regime. Hasan most likely died on 2 April 670 (5 Rabi' al-Awwal 50 AH), though other given dates are 49, 50, 48, 58 and 59 AH. Veccia Vaglieri suggests that Hasan died from an illness or poisoning, while

23256-415: The unity of the Muslims, conquer Constantinople , ensure the final triumph of Islam and establish a reign of peace and justice. The Isma'ilis in particular believed that the mahdi would reveal the true, 'inner' ( batin ) meaning of religion, which was until then reserved for a few select initiates. The mahdi would abolish the 'outer' ( zahir ) forms and strictures of Islam, since henceforth

23427-427: The usage of the term is sometimes extended to Husayn's descendants as well. Tendentious (Sunni) reports describe that Hasan married seventy (or ninety) women in his lifetime and had a harem of three hundred concubines. Madelung regards these as absurd, and Pierce believes that these accusations were made by later Sunni writers who were nevertheless unable to list more than sixteen names. Madelung writes that most of

23598-943: The values in which dais should spread the word of Islam to Muslims and non-Muslims. Idris Imad al-Din 's work presents us with an indigenous account of the traditions of the daʿwa in Yaman. His account of the Nizari – Musta'li succession dispute reflects the official view of the Tayyibis . Similarly, modern-day platforms designated for open-air public speaking in the western world also provide platforms for debate between different denominations in Islam, with documented instances of dialogue being reported between demographics such as Quranists and Mahdi'ist based creeds such as Mahdavia . Hasan ibn Ali Hasan ibn Ali ( Arabic : الْحَسَنِ بْن عَلِيّ , romanized :  al-Ḥasan ibn ʿAlī ; c.  625  – 2 April 670)

23769-612: The variant names in the genealogies were indeed cover names for the Isma'ili imams: thus Maymun ('the Fortunate One') is suggested as the sobriquet for Muhammad ibn Isma'il, especially since a source connects him with a sect known as the Maymuniyya. This explanation is also present in an epistle by the fourth Fatimid caliph, al-Mu'izz , in 965. This would make the claim of al-Mahdi's descent from an 'Abdallah ibn Maymun' actually correct, and lead hostile sources to confuse him with

23940-499: The view of al-Zuhri ( d.  741-2 ), the Umayyad-era historian who adopted the pro-Umayyad account that depicts a greedy Hasan eager to renounce his caliphate for money. This must have been the official Umayyad account, distributed to legitimize Mu'awiya's rule in the absence of a council ( shura ) or election or designation ( nass ), suggests Jafri. While the vanguard was awaiting his arrival in Maskin, Hasan faced

24111-493: The war. As reported by the Mu'tazilite Ibn Abi'l-Hadid ( d.  1258 ) and Abu al-Faraj al-Isfahani ( d.  967 ), Mu'awiya added that he had not fought the Iraqis so that they would practice Islam, which they were already doing, but to be their master ( amir ). Al-Baladhuri writes that Mu'awiya then gave the Kufans three days to pledge allegiance or be killed. After this, the people rushed to vow allegiance to Mu'awiya. Hasan left Kufa for Medina but soon received

24282-563: The way of your Lord with wisdom and good preaching. In the Hadith ("sayings") of Muhammad , daʿwah is mentioned to emphasise importance and virtues: Muhammad sent Muadh ibn Jabal to Yemen and told him "You will be going to Christians and Jews, so the first thing you should invite them to is the assertion of the oneness of Allah, Most High. If they realize that, then inform them that Allah has made five daily prayers obligatory on them. If they pray them, then inform them that Allah has made

24453-490: The wider family, profited from this during their rise to power against the Umayyads; but their claim was rejected by the Shia , who insisted on the exclusive right of the descendants of Hasan ( d.  670 ) and Husayn ( d.  680 ), Ali's sons by Muhammad's daughter Fatima . A line of imams emerged from the offspring of Husayn, who did not openly lay claim to the caliphate, but were considered by their followers as

24624-443: The widow of Abd al-Rahman ibn Attab, who was divorced by Abd Allah ibn Amir. Hasan had no children with Hind. Hasan's other children were probably from concubines, including Qasim and Abd Allah (or Abu Bakr), both of whom were killed in the Battle of Karbala (680), and Umm Abd Allah , who married Zayn al-Abidin and bore him Muhammad al-Baqir , the fifth Shia Imam. Hasan's descendants are usually known as sharif , though

24795-462: The worship of God as expressed in the Qur'an and the sunnah of Muhammad and to inform them about Muhammad. Daʿwah as the "Call towards God" is the means by which Muhammad began spreading the message of the Qur'an to mankind. After Muhammad, his followers and the Ummah (Muslim community) assumed responsibility for it. They convey the message of the Qur'an by providing information on why and how

24966-507: The wrong person might be punished. The Shia al-Mufid ( d.  1022 ) reports that Hasan's wife Ja'da bint al-Ash'ath poisoned him with the promise of 100,000 dirhams from Mu'awiya and marriage to his son Yazid. Jafri writes that the majority of Sunni and Shia reports are similar to this one, including those by Abu al-Faraj al-Isfahani, al-Mas'udi ( d.  956 ), and al-Ya'qubi. In contrast, Ahmed regards these reports as " Alid propaganda" against al-Ash'ath, Ja'da's father and

25137-399: The young Hasan and his brother Husayn lived in a state of obedience to their father Ali, following Ali whenever he opposed Uthman. In June 656, Uthman was besieged in his home by rebels. Hasan and Husayn were likely wounded while guarding Uthman's house at the request of Ali. In particular, the reports that Hasan was among the defenders are considered numerous and reliable by Madelung. On

25308-719: Was accused by al-Mundhir. Hafsa's next marriage ended similarly. When she finally married al-Mundhir, Hasan visited the couple and forgave al-Mundhir for spreading those false rumors out of love for Hafsa. Hasan also returned Khawla to her father Manzur when he objected that he had been ignored and then remarried her with his approval. Hasan is also said to have divorced his wife Hind when he saw evidence of renewed love by her former husband. For Madelung, Hasan's divorces do not indicate any inordinate sexual appetite. He also writes that Hasan comes across as noble and forbearing in dealing with his wives. Madelung cites Hasan's advice to Husayn to marry his widow Umm Ishaq after his death. When he

25479-400: Was advised not to fight unless attacked and to consult with Qays ibn Sa'd, the second in command. Wellhausen ( d.  1918 ) names Abd Allah ibn Abbas as the commander of the vanguard, but this is rejected by Madelung, who suggests that the choice of Ubayd Allah indicates Hasan's peace intentions because the former had earlier surrendered Yemen to Mu'awiya without a fight. This is

25650-492: Was an Alid political and religious leader. The eldest son of Ali and Fatima and a grandson of the Islamic prophet Muhammad , Hasan briefly ruled as Rashidun caliph from January 661 until August 661. He is considered as the second Imam in Shia Islam , succeeding Ali and preceding his brother Husayn . As a grandson of the prophet, he is part of the ahl al-bayt and the ahl al-kisa , and also participated in

25821-621: Was an army behind this hill would you listen to me?" Various Islamic institutions provide elaborate manuals, trainings and workshops to daʿi to prepare them for successful daʿwah . Daʿi s are given trainings in the form of physical workshops and training sessions. Daʿwah trainings are also provided in the form of online video lessons, webinars, online discussion forums, handouts and quizzes. Modern daʿwah movements are varied in their objectives and activities. Examples include: Methods may also depend upon specific creeds. For instance, among Ismailis, al-Naysaburi 's Code of Conduct depicts

25992-473: Was assassinated by the Kharijite Abd al-Rahman ibn Muljam . Hasan was subsequently acknowledged caliph in Kufa, the seat of Ali's caliphate. Madelung writes that Ali had apparently not nominated a successor before his sudden death but had often said that only members of Muhammad's household ( ahl al-bayt ) were entitled to the caliphate. As Ali's legatee, Hasan must have been the obvious choice for

26163-513: Was based almost exclusively on the—often truculent—Kutama, and later the Sanhaja tribe as well. Conversely, the local Arabs of Ifriqiya were Maliki Sunnis, while most Berber tribes further west—notably the Zenata confederation—adhered to various forms of Kharijism , and thus opposed to the Isma'ili regime of the Fatimids. Given the semi-divine status they claimed as the rightful imams of Islam,

26334-581: Was being escorted away to safety, the Kharijite al-Jarrah ibn Sinan attacked and wounded Hasan while shouting, "You have become an infidel ( kafir ) like your father." Al-Jarrah was overpowered and killed, while Hasan, bleeding profusely, was taken for treatment to the house of Sa'd ibn Mas'ud al-Thaqafi, the governor of al-Mada'in . The news of this attack further demoralized Hasan's army and led to widespread desertions. Sa'd's nephew Mukhtar ibn Abi Ubayd ( d.  687 ) reportedly recommended

26505-494: Was both accepted and challenged already in the Middle Ages, and remains a topic of debate among scholars today. As the historian of Shi'a Islam Heinz Halm comments, "The alleged descent of the dynasty from Ali ibn Abi Talib and Muhammad's daughter Fatima has been called into question by contemporaries from the very beginning and cannot be proven", while Michael Brett, an expert on the Fatimids, asserts that "a factual answer to

26676-787: Was called mitlaq ( lit.   ' the divorcer ' ) and his behavior earned Ali new enemies. Madelung rejects this claim, saying that Hasan – living in his father's household – could not enter into any marriages not arranged (or approved) by Ali. In particular, the narratives in which Ali warns the Kufans not to marry their daughters to Hasan are fabricated. Madelung believes that Hasan's marriages in Ali's lifetime were intended to strengthen political alliances, as evidenced by Hasan reserving his kunya (Abu Muhammad) for his first son with his first freely-chosen wife Khawla. When Muhammad died in childhood, Hasan chose Khawla's second son Hasan as his primary heir. Hasan divorced his wife Hafsa out of propriety when she

26847-503: Was carried to al-Baqi, however, Marwan reportedly joined the procession and paid tribute to a man "whose forbearance ( hilm ) weighed mountains." Following the norms, Hasan's funeral prayer was led by Sa'id ibn al-As , the governor of Medina . Hasan's tomb was later made a domed shrine, which was destroyed twice by the Wahhabis first in 1806 and then 1927. Sources differ about Hasan's wives and children. The account of Ibn Sa'd

27018-481: Was central to their legitimacy as the legitimate imams in an unbroken, divinely ordained line from Ali onwards. Their initial obscurity, and the publication of conflicting and incorrect genealogies by the first Fatimid caliph, Abdallah al-Mahdi Billah (known by the diminutive Ubayd Allah by his detractors), cast doubt on the accuracy of these claims, which were usually rejected by contemporary Sunni and Twelver Shi'a alike, who considered them impostors and usurpers. As

27189-401: Was concerned for the faith of the common people ( awamm ) in this and similar instances, as suggested by Madelung and Donaldson ( d.  1976 ). Some other early Sunni sources deny the poisoning, saying that Hasan died of "consumption." At the time of his abdication, Hasan was about thirty-eight years old while Mu'awiya was fifty-eight. Jafri suggests that the age difference presented

27360-443: Was established there only after a series of revolts by the local Muslims, who at times declared for the Abbasids, were suppressed. Sicily was also important as a battleground against the Byzantines, which among other things allowed the Fatimids to present themselves as champions of Islam, engaged in holy war against the infidels. In practice, relations were often more pragmatic, and warfare alternated with periods of truce. From 948 on,

27531-413: Was in love with her and his rumors compelled Hasan to divorce her. The rumors also ended Hafsa's next marriage and she eventually married al-Mundhir. Hasan also married Umm Ishaq bint Talha ibn Ubayd Allah . Mu'awiya reputedly asked her brother Ishaq ibn Talha to marry her to Yazid but Ishaq married her to Hasan instead and she bore a son named Talha . Another wife of Hasan was Hind bint Suhayl ibn Amr,

27702-447: Was motivated by the desire for unity and peace among Muslims, which was reportedly predicted by Muhammad in a Sunni hadith . Another Sunni hadith, also attributed to Muhammad, predicted that the prophetic succession would last for thirty years, which may have been interpreted by some early Sunni scholars as evidence that Hasan's caliphate was rightly-guided ( rāshid ). In Shia theology, the divine infallibility ( isma ) of Hasan as

27873-498: Was nevertheless considered the head of the house of Muhammad by the Banu Hashim and Ali's partisans, who had probably pinned their hopes on his succession to Mu'awiya. The Sunni al-Baladhuri in his Ansab writes that Hasan sent tax collectors to the Fasa and Darabjird provinces of Iran in accordance with the treaty but the governor of Basra, instructed by Mu'awiya, incited the people against Hasan and his tax collectors were driven out of

28044-483: Was not opposed to burying Hasan near Muhammad, whereas Marwan ibn al-Hakam strongly opposed it, arguing that Uthman had been buried in al-Baqi. In his opposition, Marwan was joined by Muhammad's widow Aisha , who is often considered hostile to Ali. Muhammad's companion Abu Hurayra unsuccessfully attempted to persuade Marwan to allow Hasan's burial next to Muhammad by reminding him of Muhammad's high esteem for Hasan and Husayn. Supporters of Husayn and Marwan from

28215-443: Was poisoned, Hasan also reputedly refrained from disclosing the suspect in his household to Husayn. Hasan has been described as closely resembling Muhammad in his appearance. Madelung suggests that Hasan might have also inherited Muhammad's temperament and describes him as a pacifist. Veccia Vaglieri writes that he was of mild disposition ( halim ), generous, pious, and known to have made several pilgrimages on foot. While Hasan

28386-454: Was presented as the eldest son of Muhammad ibn Isma'il, and his successor as imam, followed by Ahmad. While Muhammad Abu'l-Shalaghlagh was the head of the da'wa , however, the imamate passed to another son, al-Husayn (d. 881/2), and thence to al-Husayn's son, Abdallah or Sa'id, the future Caliph al-Mahdi, who was born in 873/4. Isma'ili texts suggest that Abu'l-Shalaghlagh was the guardian and tutor of al-Mahdi, but also that he tried to usurp

28557-454: Was probably already apprehensive about the Kufans' support and wanted to avoid unrealistic commitments. The oath stipulated that people "should make war on those who were at war with Hasan, and should live in peace with those who were at peace with him," writes the Sunni al-Baladhuri ( d.  892 ), adding that this condition astonished the people, who suspected that he intended to make peace with Mu'awiya. In contrast, Madelung notes that

28728-611: Was the first Muslim envoy in September 621. He was sent to Yathrib (now Medina ) to teach the people the doctrines of Islam and give them guidance. After Muhammad's death in 632, from the available historical evidence, it appears that after Muhammad's death Muslims did not immediately embark upon daʿwah activities—during and after the rapid conquests of the Byzantine and Persian lands, they ventured little if at all to preach to local non-Muslims. Daʿwah came into wider usage almost

28899-520: Was the revolt of the Zenata Berbers under the Khariji preacher Abu Yazid in 943/44: almost all of Ifriqiya succumbed to the rebels, and in January 945, the rebels laid siege to Mahdiyya itself. Al-Qa'im died during the siege, and was succeeded by his son, Abu Tahir Isma'il ( r.  946–953 ). The new caliph concealed his father's death, took to the field, and in a series of battles defeated

29070-494: Was the son of al-Mahdi, or whether the latter was merely usurping the position of a still-hidden imam; that would mean that al-Qa'im was the first true Fatimid imam-caliph. Modern authors have tried to reconcile the genealogies. In Origins of Ismāʿı̄lism , the Arabist Bernard Lewis suggested the existence of two parallel series of imams: trustee ( mustawda' ) imams, descended from Maymun al-Qaddah, whose task

29241-422: Was to hide and protect the existence of the real ( mustakarr , lit.   ' permanent ' ) imams. Lewis posited that al-Mahdi was the last of that line, and that al-Qa'im was the first of the mustakarr imams to sit on the throne. Research by Vladimir Ivanov , on the other hand, has conclusively shown that the supposed Qaddahite descent of the Fatimids is a legend, likely invented by Ibn Rizam himself:

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