Birth of al-Hasan ibn Ali

Al-Hasan ibn Ali was born in Ramadan 3 AH — the first son of Ali ibn Abi Talib and Fatimah al-Zahra, and the Prophet's ﷺ first grandchild to survive into childhood. (Ali and Fatimah had lost an earlier child, Muhsin, in infancy.) The Prophet ﷺ was present at the birth and immediately performed the acts that would become the normative Sunnah for Muslim newborns: he recited the adhan in Hasan's right ear, the iqamah in his left, and performed the tahnik — chewing a small piece of date and rubbing it on the palate of the newborn. On the seventh day he named the child Hasan — a name with no prior precedent in Arab tradition, chosen (according to some narrations) under divine suggestion. The aqiqah sacrifice was performed, the head was shaved, and charity equal to the weight of the hair in silver was given. These practices — adhan at birth, tahnik, naming on the seventh day, aqiqah, and charitable silver — became the Sunnah model that hundreds of millions of Muslim families have followed when welcoming children into the world. The Prophet ﷺ's love for Hasan was expressed openly and consistently. He called Hasan and his brother Husayn 'the masters of the youth of Paradise' (Sayyida Shabab Ahl al-Jannah) and 'my two fragrant flowers in this world.' He would carry them on his shoulders, hold them during prayer rather than set them down, and interrupt his own prostrations rather than disturb them when they had climbed on his back. He would sit Hasan beside him at the pulpit in the mosque. Companions noted that Hasan bore a remarkable physical resemblance to the Prophet ﷺ — the face, the way of walking, the shape of the neck. Hasan lived approximately fifty years after the Prophet's ﷺ death. After Ali's assassination in 40 AH, the people of Kufa pledged allegiance to him as caliph. He governed for six months and then, to prevent further Muslim bloodshed, negotiated a peaceful transfer of authority to Mu'awiyah ibn Abi Sufyan. The Prophet ﷺ had foretold this: 'This son of mine is a sayyid, and perhaps Allah will reconcile two great parties of Muslims through him.' The year became Aam al-Jama'ah — the Year of Community. Hasan's birth was the beginning of a lineage the Prophet ﷺ loved above all others in his family, and the birth practices modeled at his arrival became a gift to every Muslim family that followed.