Will you give information about Hz. Hasan's multiple marriages and divorces?

Hz. Hasan is famous for marrying and divorcing a lot. It is even said that once Hz. Ali, his father, clearly asked the people of Kufa not marry their daughters off to Hasan fearing that the tribes of the women he married and divorced would be enemies of him. (Dhahabi, Siyar A'lam an-Nubala, Beirut 1406/1986, III/267) The thing that Allah rendered halal but dislikes is divorcing arbitrarily. Are his divorces arbitrary or based on a reason? If they were necessary, would you explain the issue?  

Dear Brother / Sister,

This question can be answered based on different viewpoints as follows:

1. It was a tradition to marry (and divorce) many women during the Era of Jahiliyyah. They adopted polygamy probably due to some reasons like “having wealth, property and sons”. At that time, children, especially sons, were important because they were the power of the family. Male children prevented a person from being suppressed and enabled the tribe to be powerful. Male children were necessary and indispensible for “wealth (trade) war and raids”. The descent of a family continued with the male children. They regarded male children as honor and were called (nicknamed) by being associated with their male children. (1) Verses of the Quran and the practice of the Prophet (pbuh) decreased the limitless number of wives of the Era of Jahiliyyah to four, limiting the number of women a person can be married to at most four women at the same time. Besides, the verse laid it as a condition to treat one's wife justly (equally) if he married more than one woman. Those who feared being unable to act justly would marry only one woman. The following is stated in verse 3 of the chapter of an-Nisa regarding the issue:

“…but if ye fear that ye shall not be able to deal justly (with them), then only one..."(2)

2. When the relevant verses of the chapter of an-Nisa were sent down, Hz. Prophet (pbuh) asked the Muslims who had more than four wives to keep four wives and to divorce the others. For instance, Qays b. Harith, who had eight wives, asked the Prophet (pbuh) about his situation and divorced four of his wives after the explanation of the Prophet. Ghaylan b. Salama of Taif had ten or eleven wives. He acted in accordance with the limitation and divorced his wives except four of them.(3)

3. According to the decrees of the verses, divorcing is halal and permissible just like marrying. Divorce is possible on the day of wedding even before sexual intercourse. There are examples of it in the Era of Bliss.(4) If the chapters of hadith books related to marriage are viewed, it will be seen under the light of hadiths (sunnah) that divorcing like that is legitimate.

4. There were some Companions who divorced their wives from time to time; in fact, the Prophet sometimes said that it was permissible to divorce one's wife due to various reasons.(5) For instance, the following statement belongs to the Prophet (pbuh):

“…If you try to straighten a woman fully, you will break her; her breaking is divorce.”(6)

5. Divorce is legitimate but it is a legal practice and deed that is disliked and abominable. The Prophet (pbuh) said,

“...The most disliked one among halal deeds in the eye of Allah is divorce.”(7)

Thus, he pointed out that random, thoughtless, impetuous divorces that are not based on valid reasons and that are due to trivial, petty mistakes were not appropriate. However, different advice about divorce aims to realize what is ideal and perfect about divorce.

It is not possible for all Muslims to do and attain what is ideal and best in all issues. In that case, nobody needs to make any mistakes and commit abominable deeds and sins. A Muslim always needs to do the best, not the inappropriate one though it is permissible. In that case, nobody in the community will make mistakes and commit sins; it is impossible; it has never happened up to now. We think Hz. Hasan did not always do what is ideal and appropriate regarding divorce. This can be seen as his personal weakness. However, what he did was not "haram and forbidden by Islam" though it might be arbitrary.

The reasons why divorce causes dislike are due to being a big psychological blow to the spouses - or one of them -, the situation of the children, the hard and unsuitable situations the widow or widower can find themselves in, the possibility of their committing a haram deed, causing hatred and enmity between families, etc.  

6. At that time, marriages and divorces were easier; therefore, divorces took place a lot.

7. Hz. Hasan was a person that divorced a lot; therefore, he was given the nickname “mitlaq / a person who divorces a lot”. He also has other nicknames like “mujtaba (chosen), taqiy (pious), zakiy (intelligent), sibt (grandchild)”. The rumor, narration and exaggeration that he married about “ninety to one hundred women” is talked among people. It is even included in some books.(8) According to the Shiite writer Ibn Shahrub, he also had 250- 300 female slaves.(9) In our opinion, they are unreal rumors and narrations; they are unreal factoids and exaggerations produced by the imagination of the people overestimating and exaggerating Hz. Hasan as a leader and grandson of the Prophet. They are even epic elements.    

Similar things are valid for the other imams and saints. For instance, in Kyrgyz epics, Hz. Ali wears an armor of sixty batmans (the weight of one batman changes from 2,5 kg to 10 kg) like Kyrgyz epic heros; he is a hero that eats five sheep at one meal, drinks bowls of kumis and sacrifices grizzly mares like Kirgiz people. He conquered Turkestan and married Turkish girls.(10) However, none of them are in compliance with historical facts. They are the things that were imagined and spread by the people who love Hz. Ali in order to elevate him. 

 Baqir Sharif al-Qurashi, who made a separate research on Hz. Hasan, determined that he married only “thirteen women".(11) There are different narrations about the number of Hz. Hasan's children like his marriages: The number of his children are mentioned as 12, 13, 15, 16, 19, 20 and 23. According to Cevdet Paşa, he had fifteen sons and eight daughters.

The number of Hz. Hasan’s sons whose names are known is twelve. They are as follows: Zayd, Hasan, Qasim, Abu Bakr, Abdullah, Amr, Abdurrahman, Husayn, Muhammed, Yaqub, Ismail andTalha. (12) Hz. Hasan’s descendants continued from his sons Hasan al-Musanna and Zayd.

8. As it is mentioned in resources, Hz Hasan's divorcing a lot was not liked by people, primarily, his father. Once, Hz. Ali said to the people of Kufa, “O people of Kufa! Do not give your daughters to Hasan because he is a habitual divorcer (rajulun mitlaq).” Then a man from the tribe of Hamdan said, “We will give him our daughters; and he may retain whomever he wishes and may divorce whomever he dislikes.”(13)

In our opinion, Hz. Ali’s warning and criticism about his son's attitude is correct, reasonable and balanced. According to the words of the person from Hamdan, he regarded trivial reasons and dissatisfactions as causes of divorce and divorced his wives. In other words, he was not a person that was easily satisfied by his wives. The reason for this attitude might be his meticulousness and perfectionism. Hz. Ali warns people against “his weakness of divorce, which he does not approve”.

CONCLUSION: In our opinion, Hz. Hasan married more than ten times and divorced some women. We do not know what caused his divorces. When Hz. Ali's approach and words are taken into consideration, it is seen that his divorces are not approved and liked. However, it should not be regarded as “a big mistake, haram and sin”. It might be his “personal weakness”. In his divorces, he acted within the limits of legitimacy. He might have committed a makruh deed. We should remind you that the Companions are also human beings; they might have committed makruh deeds and even major sins. They are not perfect and sinless people.

When the conditions of the age he lived in are taken into consideration, his marrying and divorcing a lot of women was not something very important and to be exaggerated. For instance, his father, Hz. Ali, married nine times. He had fourteen sons and eight daughters from his wives.(14) However, he was not blamed by the people living in his age due to his marriages. Hz. Abu Bakr, the first caliph, had six children from his four wives.(15) Hz. Umar married eight women and he divorced three of his wives. (16) If the lives of the other Companions are searched, more examples regarding the issue can be found.

Footnotes:

(1) Murat Sarıcık, İnanç ve Zihniyet Olarak Cahiliye, Nesil Publications, İstanbul, 2004, p. 261- 262, 265.
(2) an-Nisa, 4/3; Heyet, Kur’an-ı Kerim ve Açıklamalı Meali, Medine 1987, p. 76;
(3) Ibn Kathir, Ismail b. Kathir, Tafsirul-Qur’anil- Azim. I- IV, Çağrı Publications, İstanbul 1986, I, 441; Sarıcık, Cahiliye, p. 265- 266; Muhammad Hamidullah, İslam Peygamberi, II, 715 ff.
(4) al-Baqara, 2/ 227- 231; an-Nisa, 4/ 3, 20, at-Talaq, 65/ 1-2; al-Ahzab, 33/ 50; al-Mumtahina, 60/ 10-11; Mansur Ali Nasif, at-Tajiul-Jami‘u lil- Usul, I-V, Maktabatu Pamuk, İstanbul 1981, II, 315, 325, 327.
(5) Mansur Ali, II, 327, K. Nikah, bab, 7.
(6) Mansur Ali, II, 315, K. Nikah, bab, 6; al-Ahzab, 33/ 49, 51.
(7) Mansur Ali, II, II, 337, K. Nikah, bab, 9.
(8) Haytami, as-Sawaiqul-Muhriqa, Maktabatul- Qahira, Cairo, 1385, p. 137.
(9) Ibn Shahrub, Manaqibu Ali bin Abi Talib, Najaf 1965, III, 141- 205; Ibrahim al- Musawi, az- Zanjani, Aqaidul- Imamiyyatil- Ithna Ashariyya, Beirut, 1973, I, 141, 145.
(10) Seyfettin Erşahin, “SSBC’de İslami İnancın Korunmasında Hz. Ali Kültünün Rolü”, Hayatı, kişiliği ve Düşünceleriyle Hz. Ali, Bursa Müftülüğü, Bursa 2004, 261, 263- 264.
(11) Ethem Ruhi Fığlalı, “Hasan”, DİA, XVI, İstanbul 1997, p. 283. (Baqir Sharif al-Qurashi, Hayatul-Imam al Hasan bin Ali, Beirut 1983, II, 433- 460).
(12) Fığlalı, “Hasan”, DİA, XVI, 283, A. Cevdet Paşa, Kısas-ı Enbiya, Bedir Publishing, İstanbul, 1981, I, 616.
(13) Haytami, p. 136- 137. (from Ibn Sad’s Tabaqat); Abul-Fida, Ismail b Umar, al-Bidaya, I- XIV, Egyp nd, VIII, 38; Yaqubi, Ahmed b. Abi Yaqub, Tarikhul-Ya’qubi, I-II, Daru’s-Sadr, Beirut 1960, II, 228.
(14) Murat Sarıcık, Dört Halife Dönemi, I- II, Nesil Publications, İstanbul, 2002, II, 191- 194.
(15) ibid, I, 199- 201.
(16) ibid, I, 415- 416.

Author:

Murat Sarıcık (Prof.Dr.)

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