Imam Hasan al-Askari – Life, Imprisonment and Martyrdom

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Who is Imam Hasan al-Askari?

Born	232 AH / 854 CE
Martyred	260 AH / 882 CE, Samarra
Age	28
Father	Imam Ali al-Naqi
Mother	Susan
Wife	Nergis

After the martyrdom of Imam Ali al-Naqi he assumed the office of the Imamate in 876 CE, at the age of 22. Because he lived in a quarter called Askeriye in Samarra, Iraq, he is known by the epithet al-Askari. The Imam’s other epithets are Zekiyy and Naki. His honorific name (künye) is Ebu Muhammed.

The life of Imam Hasan al-Askari lasted twenty-eight years. His only child and heir (vasi), the light of his existence, is the twelfth Imam, Hüccet al-Mahdi. During his lifetime this eleventh Imam, Hasan al-Askari, saw six Abbasid caliphs:

• Caliph al-Mutawakkil (Mütevekkil)
• Caliph al-Muntasir (Muntasır)
• Caliph al-Musta‘in (Mustain)
• Caliph al-Mu‘tazz (Mutezz)
• Caliph al-Muhtadi (Muhtedi)
• Caliph al-Mu‘tamid (Mutemid)

Imam Hasan al-Askari, who came to the office of Imam at 22, held the Imamate after his father for six years. During these six years he exercised his Imamate in the times of the caliphs al-Mu‘tazz, al-Muhtadi and al-Mu‘tamid.

Persecution under al-Mu‘tazz and al-Muhtadi

During the caliphate of al-Mu‘tazz, the close friends of Imam Hasan al-Askari were subjected to unbelievable pressure and cruelty. He had more than seventy people descended from Cafer-i Tayyar and Akil bin Ebu Talip brought to Samarra as prisoners and had them tortured to death in the dungeons. Some complained of this to the Imam. The Imam’s answer to them was: “In three days you will be rid of this tyrant.” The military commanders who had been wronged in the palace rose up, seized the caliph and imprisoned him in a dungeon from which he would never come out, and there he died.

After the death of al-Mu‘tazz, al-Muhtadi ascended to the caliphate. Al-Muhtadi was a man who acted with great cunning. He removed the flatterers, sycophants, courtly singers, dancers and the like from the palace. He forbade alcohol to be brought into the palace. He began killing slaves and non-Arabs. He had thousands tortured to death in the dungeons. After a while, however, he also threw Imam Hasan al-Askari into prison. He even wanted to kill him. But God Almighty did not give him the opportunity. In those very days he was killed by Turkish troops.

Caliph al-Mu‘tamid, the prison years and the unruly mule

In his place al-Mu‘tamid ascended the throne of the caliphate. Like the other Abbasid caliphs, al-Mu‘tamid was a tyrant and an enemy of the Ehl-i Beyt (Ahl al-Bayt, the family of the Prophet). Historians write that during his rule more than half a million supporters of the Ehl-i Beyt were killed. He sent Imam Hasan al-Askari to the prison of Salih bin Vasıf, and assigned the two cruellest men in the prison to torment the Imam. But when these men saw that the Imam fasted by day and prayed by night, their consciences pricked them, and they did not torture the Imam.

A second time he sent the Imam to the prison of Nihrir, a man with the soul of an executioner. According to the order he had received, Nihrir was to have the Imam torn apart by wild beasts. After some time the jailer Nihrir put the Imam in the place where the wild beasts were and locked the door. When he came back a few hours later and looked in, the Imam was praying in the middle, and the wild beasts were watching him. Hearing the door open, Imam Hasan al-Askari stood up, stroked the animals’ heads and walked out.

The jailer reported this to Caliph al-Mu‘tamid. On hearing it, the caliph ordered the Imam to be released from prison. A number of enemies of the Ehl-i Beyt who did not want the Imam to be freed were not at all pleased. While they were thinking about what trap to set, the caliph’s clumsy, unruly mule came to mind. This mule would let no one but its master on its back. Of all who had tried to ride it, it had killed them with its kicks as hard as steel. These traitors wanted to make use of this unruly mule.

With this in mind, the traitors found an occasion to ask the caliph to have Imam Hasan al-Askari ride this mule. The caliph approved of this treacherous plan, had Imam Hasan al-Askari summoned to the palace and said that he wished to give him his favourite mule as a gift. The Imam, knowing that there was a trick behind it, accepted. When that unruly animal came up to the Imam, it became meek and calm. The Imam mounted the mule, rode around for quite a while, then came back to the caliph and asked him: “So do you really want to give me this mule?” The caliph said: “Yes, I am giving it to you. But be careful, it is the most unruly of all the mules I have ridden.” The Imam replied: “And I suppose it is the calmest of all the mules I have ridden.” Thus, of course, this treacherous plan also came to nothing. In short, the people’s love for the Ehl-i Beyt, their faith in the Imams, their trust and the respect they showed them aroused resentment and hatred in the caliphs. This was the reason why they treated the Imams badly and cruelly. It is clear that, just like the other Imams, they threw Imam Hasan al-Askari into prison again and again. Even when he was not in prison, the comings and goings at the Imam’s house were kept under control. Other people were forbidden to visit the Imam.

His martyrdom and his works

Throughout his six-year Imamate he had always done good, served the faith, won everyone’s heart and become the one source of goodness in which people trusted. But one day he suddenly fell ill. Caliph al-Mu‘tamid immediately sent his own personal physicians to treat him. According to rumours, those who were to treat him gave him poison instead of medicine and so martyred him.

When the tradesmen of Samarra received the news of his death, they closed their shops and held a great mourning. It spread as a very strong probability that he had been martyred by poison mixed into his medicine. The news of the Imam’s death caused unbelievable agitation among the people.

Ebu İsa bin el-Mütevekkil, known to be close to the caliph, while performing the funeral service uncovered the venerable man’s face before the people, who were saying “No, the Imam has not died”: “As you see, this man is Hasan bin Ali bin Muhammed bin Ali Rıza. He has died a natural death. During his illness, by order of the caliph, personal physicians tried to treat him, but they could not save him.”

This behaviour of his, and his insistence that Caliph al-Mu‘tamid had sent him his physicians during his illness, aroused the conviction that the Imam had indeed been poisoned by these physicians. Imam Hasan al-Askari was buried in Samarra beside his father, Imam Ali al-Naqi. He had only one son: the last of the Imams of the Ehl-i Beyt, the twelfth Imam, Hüccet bin Hasan al-Mahdi. According to information we have obtained from Shiite sources – the works themselves are not in our hands – the following works of the Imam survive today:

• A Qur’an commentary (tafsir)
• Short sayings
• Letters
• A treatise on the permitted and the forbidden (helâl and haram)

Source: Seyit Derviş Tur, Erkânname – Aleviliğin İslam Yorumu ve Alevi Erkânları (The Alevi Interpretation of Islam and Alevi Rites), expanded 3rd edition (ISBN 975-6791-52-7).

Translated from the Turkish original by Seyit Derviş Tur.