SHAFAQNA- Dr Saeed Tavousi Masrour, a member of the academic faculty of the Shia Studies Department of Allameh Tabatabai University, says: “The peace between Imam Hassan (AS) and Muawiya was the best and wisest thing, and the most important message of the peace agreement was that government is not hereditary.”
He believes that if Imam (AS) had not made peace, there would have been no Ashura uprising, and today we should have a better and more accurate understanding of peace.
Tavousi Masrour emphasized: “Today, we need Imam Hassan (AS) a lot for various reasons, including the “dignity and good character” that he had.
What moral points did Imam Hassan (A.S) emphasize in dealing with people and talking to opponents?
From the historical and narrative evidences and narrations, it appears that “dialogue” has an important place in the life of Imam Hassan (AS), like his father and his grandfather. Imam Hassan (AS) used to talk to both people who were among his friends and relatives, and also to people from opposition fronts and currents.
Basically, the logic of the Imams (AS) was dialogue, and they were never the initiators of the war, and they only entered the war when someone attacked and violated them and they defended themselves. Even until the last moment, they preferred dialogue, which has many examples, such as in the battle of Nahrwan, when Imam Ali (AS) sent Abdullah Ibn Abbas, and he talked with the Khawarij, and 4 thousand of them repented and were willing to not fight with Amir Al-Mu’minin Ali (A.S).
Imam Hassan (AS) was also a follower of such a father. The fact that they went to war with Muawiya was not because they were warlike, it was Muawiya who repeatedly attacked the territory of Imam Ali (AS), so Imam Hassan (AS) went to war with Muawiya after his caliphate was approved, to deal with this atmosphere.
The Grand Ayatollah Makarem Shirazi has a book about the debates of Imam Ridha (AS) and he says that one should review these debates once and see how much dialogue was important in the life of Imams (A.S) and how much entitlement has been emphasized in these conversations.
What position and value did Imam Hassan (AS) place on people’s opinions? Mention examples in this regard.
One of the issues that we see in the life of Ahlul-Bayt (AS) is that they give importance to people’s opinions and wishes, even if that opinion is not correct, that is, they do not impose their opinion on sensitive and vital issues, but guide them.
The difference between the Imam and the Sultan is that the Sultan pursues his goals and if the people cooperate, he will achieve his wish, and if the people do not cooperate, he will force and impose, but the Imam does not do this.
Basically, one of the main reasons for Imam Hasan’s (AS) peace was that he cared about people’s opinions, so he said to them, “O’ people, if you want honor, your honor is in the continuation of the war with Muawiya. If you want to live, even if you do not have honor, let’s make peace. Then the people shouted “we want to live”; We want to survive; On this basis, the Imam (AS) made peace according to the people’s wishes.
Basically, the burden of war is on the shoulders of the people, and the commander only gives orders and leads. So Imam Hassan (AS) did not use coercion when he was under pressure from Muawiya’s army and agreed to make peace. Although throughout history some people praised Imam Hassan (AS) under the pretext of peace, but he never used coercion and respected the will and opinion of the people.
What was the state of the society during the time of Imam Hassan (AS) from a political, social perspective and the type of relationship between the people and the Imam and vice versa?
From the political and social point of view, the situation in the region where Imam Hassan (AS) was present was not favorable and the reason was that the people had become accustomed to a series of issues during the 25 years of the caliphate of the first three caliphs. For example, in the case of conquests, which had thousands of cultural and economic burdens, some people only collected booty, and some people were used to receiving the money classified by the second caliph. After Imam Ali (AS) took over the government, he wanted to change this situation, but it was not possible, and three civil wars occurred, and the situation was not suitable in any way. During this period, we saw a laxity among the people and the people were humiliated.
Imam Hassan (AS) and Imam Ali (AS) considered Muawiya to be the cause of this atmosphere.
Therefore, in order to put an end to it, Imam Hassan (AS) entered into a war with Muawiya, the war itself was initially from the opposite side, and the people initially accompanied them, because perhaps they were tired of this atmosphere, but again, the situation changed because the army that Muawiya brought from Syria was a bigger army than the Iraqi army, there were several divisions in the Iraqi army and there was no spirit of sympathy and the reason was that part of the army of Imam Hassan (AS) were Khawarij who wanted Muawiya not to rule.
In short, the situation was very complicated and finally the Imam was forced to make peace because the people wanted peace.