with anopenclaimto thecaliphate,hesent spiesinto Iraq,the seatof
Imam Hasan’s caliphate, to incite rebellion and opposition.
AfterthespiesofMu‘āwiyahwerecapturedandpunished,ImamHas-
an wrote him “... It is surprising that after the Prophet’s death, the
Qurayshfoughtforthecaliphateandconsideredthemselvesassuperior
to other Arabs because they were from the tribe of the Prophet. The
Arabs accepted their argument.
“ButthentheQuraysh[basedonsamelineofthought]refusedtoac-
cept our superiority and shunned us aside although we were more
closelyrelatedtotheProphetthanthey.Weadoptedforbearancesothat
the enemies and hypocrites do not destroy Islam.
“Andtodayweareamazedbyyourclaimtothecaliphateeventhough
youdonotdeserveitintheleast;neitheryouhaveanyreligioussuperi-
oritynor anygoodrecord inthe past. You are aproduct of the group
thatfought againstthe Prophetandthe sonof the worstenemyof the
ProphetamongtheQuraysh...”TheImamendedtheletterwithanad-
viceforMu’awiyahtoacceptthedecisionoftheMuslimcommunityand
pledge allegiance to him.
Mu’awiyahreplied:“...Youandmysituationissimilartoyourfamily
andAbuBakr’ssituation.AbuBakroccupiedthecaliphateonthepretext
ofhavingmoreexperiencethanyourfather.Similarly,Ifindmyselftobe
more experienced than you... ”
Mu’awiyah not only refused to recognize Imam Hasan, he also
marchedwithhisarmyintoIraq.WarensuedduringwhichMu’āwiyah
gradually subverted the generals and commanders of Imam Hasan’s
armywithlargesumsofmoneyanddeceivingpromisesuntilthearmy
rebelledagainstImamHasan.Oneshouldrealizethatnotallthepeople
in the Imam’s armywereShi‘as; they belonged to variousgroups: the
KhawārijcamebecausetheyalsoopposedMu’awiyah;theopportunists
who came for materialgain if Imam Hasansucceeded;those who just
followed their tribal leaders and owed loyalty to them and not the Imam.
TheImamwas,finally,forcedtomakepeaceandtoyieldthecaliphate
to Mu’āwiyah provided: