al-Hasan al-Basrī

Islamic leader

• Born: 642
• Birthplace: Medina, Arabia (now in Saudi Arabia)
• Died: 728
• Place of death: Basra (now in Iraq)

Al-Ḥasan was the most famous of Muslim teachers and preachers of the generation that followed the age of the Prophet Muḥammad and his companions. His views on religion and politics in the early stages of the Islamic Empire, as well as his code of conduct, made him the model of the pious Muslim in the formative age of Islam.

Early Life

Al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī (ahl-KEH-sahn ahl-BAHS-ree) was born in Medina, ten years after the death of the Prophet Muḥammad. His father, Yasar, of non-Arab origin, had been taken prisoner when the Muslims conquered Maysan in Iraq. He was brought to Medina, where he was manumitted by his owner, and married Ḥasan's mother, Khayrah, also a slave. Some medieval Arab historians assert that al-Ḥasan's parents were manumitted only after his birth.

Al-Ḥasan's childhood is surrounded by the mist of legend. The tradition that was formed around him after his death placed his childhood in the sacred circle of the Prophet Muḥammad himself. It is said that as an infant he was at times suckled by one of the wives of the Prophet, Umm Salama, who owned his mother. One source has it that by drinking from a pitcher that had been used by the Prophet, the boy imbibed divine wisdom.

He grew up in Wadi al-Qura, near Medina, where he was exposed to the pure Arabic tongue of the Bedouins, who were Arab desert nomads. The child accompanied his mother while she served in the house of Umm Salama. Thus he was exposed, at a very early age, to the circle of the Prophet's house and to some of the companions (sahaba) of the Prophet who were still living. At fourteen, al-Ḥasan had already memorized the Qur՚ān and was adept in writing and arithmetic.

Al-Ḥasan grew up to be tall and handsome, with a fair complexion and blue eyes. His appearance was slightly marred by a small deformation of his nose, the result of a riding accident. His family moved to Basra, Iraq, in 657. At age twenty-two, al-Ḥasan participated in the campaigns of Arab conquests in the East. He saw action in northeastern Persia and in Afghanistan, assisting at the storming of Kabul. At age thirty, he became a secretary to the governor of Khorāsān Province.

Life's Work

Al-Ḥasan returned from the East at age thirty-two to reside in Basra until the end of his life. Basra was a bustling city situated between Arabia and the newly conquered territories to the east. The Arabs who were flocking to Basra shared the city with an increasing number of mawali (non-Arab Muslims who were clients of Arabian tribes), whose influence in the economic, political, and religious life of the Islamic Empire was increasing steadily.

Being one of the mawali did not hinder al-Ḥasan from becoming the most celebrated teacher of his age. Most of the religious scholars of that age, in fact, were of this class. He was one of many learned men who established a circle of followers and students. He met with his disciples at the mosque, or occasionally at his residence, lecturing on and discussing theological and ethical subjects. At this early stage of Islamic history, these circles were the closest thing to a collegiate institution of learning.

Al-Ḥasan's fame spread to other areas of the expanding Islamic Empire. He was well known and respected by the governors of the province of Iraq as well as at the seat of the caliphate in Damascus. He was a contemporary of ten caliphs, some of whom sought his advice on matters of policy, dogma, and ethics. A letter by al-Ḥasan to the Umayyad caliph ՙAbd al-Malik (r. 685-705) has been preserved; it responds to an inquiry by the caliph as to al-Ḥasan's opinions on the subject of free will.

To draw a fully accurate picture of al-Ḥasan's lifework may prove an impossible task, despite the fact that most Arabic medieval chroniclers, historians, and theologians make reference to him. He emerges from these writings as a man for all seasons, a teacher of universal appeal. Almost all Islamic sects and schools of thought that came after his time regarded him as a champion or patron. It is impossible to separate totally the legend from the historical man.

The rebellion that led to the assassination of the third caliph, ՙUthmān ibn ՙAffān (r. 644-656) which al-Ḥasan witnessed in Medina as a boy of fourteen along with the wars of conquest in Asia, was instrumental in forming al-Ḥasan's lifelong philosophy of peaceful living and religious piety. He spoke eloquently against both insurrection and the divisive political and religious argumentation that was rampant at that time. It was this attitude that kept him from arousing the ire of the governors and caliphs of his time, although he did occasionally criticize their incessant pursuit of wealth and power; indeed, he pointed out their misdeeds with clarity and audacity.

Al-Ḥasan's teaching career was not the only reason for his legendary status among his contemporaries and later generations. His powerful Arabic prose style and rhetoric, resplendent with vivid images and striking antitheses, were praised and imitated by later writers and preachers. There is a wealth of pronouncements and clever sayings in flawless Arabic attributed to him by medieval Arab authors.

Al-Ḥasan's lifestyle was another important factor in the making of the legend. Islamic mystics (Sufis) honor him as their first master. He preached the renunciation of this world and its goods in order to seek the rewards of the afterlife, a principle that he applied to his own conduct. His fear of God and constant awareness of the coming Day of Judgment made him a sober man who rarely smiled. Al-Ḥasan ruled himself and his household by the principle of zuhd, voluntary poverty. For example, he refused a grant of uncultivated state land; when he received a gift or donation, he would distribute most of it to the poor, keeping only enough to meet his immediate needs. He refused to give his daughter in marriage to a rich man, for he judged that such a wealthy individual either must have amassed his money by dishonest means or must be selfish and miserly.

Al-Ḥasan flourished during that critical period of Islamic history that followed the murder of the caliph ՙUthmān. It was a time of divisiveness in the political and religious life of the Islamic realm. The party of ՙAlī (Shia) was emerging as a strong movement of opposition to the newly established Umayyad Dynasty in Damascus; it was also presenting a challenge to the doctrinal unity of Islam. Disputes over succession and the governance of the new empire were causing political and religious schisms. A variety of schools of Qur՚ānic interpretation emerged in support of various political parties. Numerous Arab tribal conflicts, inherited from pre-Islamic time, were also re-emerging. The generation of sahaba, or companions of the Prophet, who were regarded as authorities on the interpretation of the Qur՚ān, was dying out. The Prophet's followers (called tabiՙun) were taking over the task of interpretation and judgment. Al-Ḥasan was the earliest and most prominent member of this group.

In this atmosphere of heterodoxy, dissension, and revolutions in Islam, religious scholars often championed and promoted one party or the other. Al-Ḥasan managed to steer a course above narrow partisanship. He did not refrain from criticizing those in power, yet he managed to avoid undermining their authority. There were times when he went into hiding after speaking openly and forcefully against the governor of Iraq, al-Ḥajjāj, who was known for his strictness and cruelty. Nevertheless, the two men occasionally exchanged visits and counsel.

Al-Ḥasan was able to survive and flourish in this age of conflict because of his categorical opposition to revolt against established authority. He taught that people should try to reform their own lives before taking on themselves the reformation of the state. Thus the Umayyads, who had their hands full with revolts in Iraq and farther east and who sometimes used excessive force in putting down these revolts, tolerated and even appreciated al-Ḥasan, despite his criticisms of them.

The Umayyad caliph ՙUmar II (r. 717-720), who was a devout and pious man, had a good rapport with al-Ḥasan. They exchanged many letters, and the caliph sought al-Ḥasan's advice on matters of policy. ՙUmar's reforms reflected some of al-Ḥasan's teachings, and the caliph's simple lifestyle reflected the model of piety set by al-Ḥasan.

It was during this period of time that al-Ḥasan was appointed a judge. He resigned after a short tenure, possibly because of his old age. Shortly after the death of ՙUmar II, and at the height of the Islamic Empire's territorial expansion, al-Ḥasan died. The Muslims’ trend toward power and wealth and toward political and religious dissension would continue unabated.

Al-Ḥasan did not leave any written legacy. Tradition has it that on his deathbed he ordered his books and all of his writings burned so that, as he put it, there would be nothing in them that might incriminate him on Judgment Day.

Significance

Most of the Islamic schools of thought and mystic orders that flourished in the following centuries claimed al-Ḥasan as a founder or a member. The Sufi mystics, for example, claimed him as their first master. Opposing parties of later generations often quoted him in support of their causes. As a result, the figure of al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī came to assume mythic proportions. During his long and distinguished career, he was obsessed mostly with two things: his personal salvation and pious conduct, and the unity and propagation of Islam. Without his writings, and in the absence of any impartial contemporary accounts of his life, al-Ḥasan must remain a figure of legend as much as of history.

Bibliography

Brockelmann, Carl. History of the Islamic Peoples. Translated by Joel Carmichael and Moshe Perlmann. New York: Routledge, 2000. This volume, first published in 1948, is still the classic work on Islamic history and civilization. Places al-Ḥasan within the political, cultural, and religious context of his time. Maps, bibliography, index.

Obermann, Julian. “Political Theory in Early Islam.” Journal of the American Oriental Society 55 (1935): 138-162. Addresses the question of the authenticity of the letter to Caliph ՙAbd al-Malik, attributed to al-Ḥasan. The author rules that it was al-Ḥasan’s own work.

Ritter, H. “Ḥasan al-Baṣrī.” In The Encyclopaedia of Islam. Leiden, the Netherlands: E. J. Brill, 1971. This is a concise and useful sketch of his life and work. It contains a bibliography of the most prominent sources on al-Ḥasan in medieval Arabic writings. It also includes a short list of works in French and German in which al-Ḥasan is mentioned.

Schimmel, Annemarie. Mystical Dimensions of Islam. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1975. One of the best treatments of its subject. The discussion is aimed primarily at scholars, yet the book is eminently readable. Bibliography.

Smith, Margaret. The Way of the Mystics: The Early Christian Mystics and the Rise of the Sufis. 1931. Reprint. New York: Oxford University Press, 1976. Discusses al-Ḥasan within the context of the mystical tradition, drawing parallels between early Christianity and Sufism. A scholarly work, yet accessible to the general reader. Bibliography.

Ṭabarī, al-. Biographies of the Prophet’s Companions and Their Successors. Translated by Ella Landau-Tasseron. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1998. A translation of the Arab historian al-Ṭabarī’s History, an authoritative late ninth century work on the era of Prophet Muḥammad, with some discussion of al-Ḥasan and other companions of the Prophet. Bibliography, index.