Sayed Mahmoud Al-Mosawi
Among the most famous discrepancies in historical recording are the discrepancies that occurred in determining the days, months and years of birth, and this has included the dates of the Infallible Imams (a),
especially in what the historians transmitted in their books. Nor were the narrations transmitted from the Ahl al-Bayt (a) free of divergence in determining the births of the Imams or even their deaths (a). There are general reasons for this and specific reasons, and we are not about to discuss them; but what should be emphasized is that the treatment cannot be by a single rule covering all cases, because of the differences in the particularities of transmission. Rather, there must be research specific to the event whose date of occurrence is to be determined, especially if legal rulings or a doctrinal idea depend on it.
In determining the date of the birth of Imam al-Husayn (a), these features come into play; for this reason research into it is considered important—not in terms of the necessity of certainty about the date of birth, but in terms of the necessity of a balanced view that neither forfeits a legal ruling nor undermines a doctrinal idea.
The basis of the research is the problem in the current prevailing practice (shuhra) of the Shiʿa of commemorating the birth of Imam al-Husayn (a) on the third of the month of Shaʿban, and commemorating the birth of Imam al-Hasan al-Mujtaba (a) on the fifteenth of the month of Ramadan, despite the existence of important narrations that the interval between the two births was six months and ten days. So how do we reconcile this with the chronological determination of the date of birth, from which it becomes clear that the interval—from the month of Ramadan to the month of Shaʿban of the following year—is approximately ten and a half months? This does not agree with the narrations stating that the interval between the two births is six months and ten days.
The Data of the Research
We pause at important data on the various sides of the problem of determining the date of the birth of Imam al-Husayn (a), which will enrich the research with information whose data can be examined closely so that we arrive at a clear view, whether with certainty about the date or without it. We will rely primarily on the narrational data attributed to the Ahl al-Bayt (a) or what is well known among the eminent scholars of the community (al-ṭāʾifa), and we will disregard the less well-known statements of the historians, except where the context of the research requires, so that the research does not branch out and its purpose is not undermined.
The First Datum: The Duration of the Pregnancy with Imam al-Husayn (a)
Among the special characteristics unique to Imam al-Husayn (a) is that the duration of his gestation was the minimum duration of pregnancy for a child to be complete, which is six months; in this it resembled the birth of the Prophet Jesus son of Mary (a). And the noble verse applies to him: “His mother has carried him in travail, and bore him in travail, and his gestation and weaning take thirty months” (Qurʾan 46:15), as has come in a number of reliable narrations in al-Kafi and Kamil al-Ziyarat.
Among these narrations:
In al-Kafi, from Imam al-Sadiq (a): And none was born at six months except Jesus son of Mary (a) and al-Husayn ibn ʿAli (a). Vol. 1, p. 465
And in ʿIlal al-Sharaʾiʿ, from Imam Abu ʿAbd Allah (a): And she conceived al-Husayn, and she carried him for six months, then she gave birth to him; and no newborn of six months ever lived except al-Husayn ibn ʿAli and Jesus son of Mary (a). Vol. 1, p. 205
And in Amali al-Tusi: From Abu ʿAbd Allah (a), who said: Al-Husayn (a) was carried for six months and was nursed for two years, and that is the saying of Allah (Almighty): “We have enjoined man to be kind to his parents. His mother has carried him in travail, and bore him in travail, and his gestation and weaning take thirty months” (Qurʾan 46:15), p. 660.
On this there is narrational prevalence in the reliable books.
The Second Datum: The Interval between the Births of al-Hasanayn
A number of narrations state that the interval between the birth of Imam al-Hasan al-Mujtaba (a) and the birth of Imam al-Husayn (a) was six months and ten days, and this is what is most well known among the scholars. Among these narrations is what has come:
In al-Kafi: From Abu ʿAbd Allah (a), who said: Between al-Hasan and al-Husayn (a) there was one period of purity (ṭuhr), and between them in birth there were six months and ten [days]. Vol. 1, p. 464
And in the book Taʾrikh Ahl al-Bayt (a) by al-Jahdami, from Imam al-Rida (a): Except what was between him and Abu Muhammad, and that is six months and ten days. P. 76
It appears that the expression “purity” in the narration of al-Kafi refers to a nominal purity, not a real one, because it has been established that our Lady al-Zahraʾ (a) did not see blood and was pure. So the period between the delivery of Imam al-Hasan (a) and the beginning of the pregnancy with Imam al-Husayn (a) was ten days; then the pregnancy began, whose duration was only six months.
As for what al-Irbili mentioned in Kashf al-Ghumma, from Imam al-Sadiq (a): Between him and Abu Muhammad there were seven months and ten days. Vol. 2, p. 40
Perhaps it is a scribal corruption of “six” into “seven”, or it means entering upon the seventh, as an emphasis on the completion of the six months without any shortfall.
And as for what Shaykh al-Saduq cited in ʿUyun Akhbar al-Rida (a) from Imam ʿAli ibn al-Husayn (a), in the words of Asmaʾ: (Then, when it was after a year, al-Husayn was born), i.e., after the birth of Imam al-Hasan (a). Vol. 2, p. 26
These are the words of Asmaʾ, so perhaps it is by way of estimation, or she meant by “a year” the general span between the two births; and it may have been six months, as is the import of the verse “and his gestation and weaning take thirty months” (Qurʾan 46:15).
Al-Tabari al-Imami, in Dalaʾil al-Imama (p. 177), attributed to Imam Abu Muhammad al-ʿAskari (a) that the period between the birth and the conception was fifty nights, and this agrees with the view of some of the Sunnis. The narration also places the birth of Imam al-Husayn on the fifth of Jumada al-Ula; and on the basis of the interval it mentioned, the birth of Imam al-Hasan (a) would be in the middle of Rabiʿ al-Awwal. So all the information contained in it is inconsistent and cannot be relied upon in the face of the reliable, clear and well-known narrations.
The Third Datum: The Birth of Imam al-Husayn (a) in Shaʿban
Regardless of the disagreement over determining the day—whether the third or the fifth of Shaʿban—we have narrations that mention the birth of Imam al-Husayn (a) in the month of Shaʿban, and this is something some have not noticed. What we have found establishing this is what was mentioned by:
Shaykh al-Tusi in Misbah al-Mutahajjid: It was issued to al-Qasim ibn al-ʿAlaʾ al-Hamadani, the agent of Abu Muhammad (a), that our master al-Husayn (a) was born on Thursday, when three [nights] had passed of Shaʿban, so fast on it and supplicate on it with this supplication—“O Allah, I ask You by the right of the one born on this day, who was promised his martyrdom...”—the hadith. Vol. 2, p. 826.
And Ibn al-Mashhadi mentioned it in his Mazar, and Sayed Ibn Tawus in al-Iqbal.
And ʿAllama al-Majlisi said in al-Bihar: Then he (rh) said, after the second supplication narrated from al-Husayn (and it is what we mentioned in the first narration): Ibn ʿAyyash said: I heard al-Husayn ibn ʿAli ibn Sufyan al-Bazawfari say: I heard Abu ʿAbd Allah (a) supplicating with it on this day, and he said: It is among the supplications of the third day of Shaʿban, and it is the birthday of al-Husayn (a). Vol. 44, p. 201.
And Shaykh al-Tusi also said in Misbah al-Mutahajjid: Al-Husayn ibn Zayd narrated from Jaʿfar ibn Muhammad (a), who said: Al-Husayn ibn ʿAli (a) was born when five nights had passed of Shaʿban, in the year four of the Hijra. Vol. 1, p. 852
Al-Kafi did not mention the month and the day of the birth of Imam al-Husayn (a); it mentioned that it was in the year three, and it mentioned the narration of the time interval between the births of Imam al-Hasan and al-Husayn (a).
As for those who mentioned otherwise, some of it is rare; and as for what is not rare—namely the view that his birth was at the end of Rabiʿ al-Awwal—the explanation of its origin will come in the treatments.
The Fourth Datum: The Date of the Birth of Imam al-Hasan (a)
It is among the well-known matters for both parties, the Sunnis and the Shiʿa, that the birth of Imam al-Hasan al-Mujtaba (a) was in the middle of the month of Ramadan, and none of them relied upon a narration.
As for what al-Tabari mentioned in Dalaʾil al-Imama (pp. 159 and 177) about the birth of Imam al-Hasan and al-Husayn (a), from Abu Muhammad al-Hasan the Second, they are two narrations that appear to be a single narration, but they are inconsistent in content. The first of them mentions the birth of Imam al-Hasan (a) in the middle of the month of Ramadan, and the interval between it and the pregnancy with Imam al-Husayn (a) as fifty days, the result of which is that the birth of Imam al-Husayn (a) was on the fifth of Dhu al-Qaʿda. Yet he mentions in a narration that the birth of Imam al-Husayn (a) was when five [nights] had passed of Jumada al-Ula; so it is inconsistent regarding the birth of Imam al-Husayn (a). Also, on the basis of the second narration and the fifty-day interval it mentions, the result would be that the birth of Imam al-Hasan (a) was in the middle of Rabiʿ al-Awwal, which contradicts what he mentioned in the first narration. As a result of this inconsistency, and of the conflict with the reliable narrations regarding the interval between the two births, neither of them can be relied upon.
The upshot regarding the birth of Imam al-Hasan al-Mujtaba (a) is that it is among the well-known matters for both parties.
Let us now come to mentioning two treatments of this problem.
The First Treatment
This treatment ends in the view that the birth of Imam al-Husayn (a) was not in Shaʿban but at the end of the month of Rabiʿ al-Awwal; some have held it. Its gist is that, on the basis of what is well known between the two parties—that the birth of Imam al-Hasan (a) was in the middle of the month of Ramadan—and then on the basis of the reliable narrations which mentioned that between the births of al-Hasan and al-Husayn (a) there were six months and ten days, the result is that the birth of Imam al-Husayn (a) was at the end of Rabiʿ al-Awwal, and thus the calculation is correct.
Among those who mentioned this view was Shaykh al-Tusi in al-Tahdhib, following al-Mufid in al-Muqniʿa. He said: (He was born in Medina at the end of the month of Rabiʿ al-Awwal in the year three of the Hijra, and he (a) was taken, slain, at the Taff of Karbala in the land of Iraq, on Monday, the tenth of Muharram, before the sun's declination, in the year sixty-one of the Hijra, and he was at that time fifty-eight years old) Vol. 6, p. 41
This view has also been reported from al-Shahid in al-Durus.
However, this view turned away from the three narrations we mentioned earlier, which agreed that the month of the birth of Imam al-Husayn (a) is the month of Shaʿban. ʿAllama al-Majlisi commented on this view in Mirʾat al-ʿUqul: (And I say: The Shaykh (rh) chose that his (a) birth was at the end of the month of Rabiʿ al-Awwal only in following what al-Mufid (rh) chose in al-Muqniʿa—despite its contradicting the two narrations he narrated—because of what was established for him and is well known between the two parties, that the birth of al-Hasan was in the middle of the month of Ramadan, and what has come in authentic narrations that there were only six months and ten [days] between their two births, some of which will come later. Vol. 5, p. 362
It is to be observed regarding whoever mentioned this view that he mentioned it in a book of jurisprudence, which reveals that it is an opinion of ijtihad and not one of transmission. For this reason we find that Shaykh al-Mufid, although he mentioned the end of Rabiʿ al-Awwal in al-Muqniʿa, said in al-Irshad, which is the book of narration: (His kunya was Abu ʿAbd Allah; he was born in Medina when five nights had passed of Shaʿban, in the year four of the Hijra), vol. 2, p. 27
Likewise, Shaykh al-Tusi mentioned it in al-Tahdhib following Shaykh al-Mufid; in it he basically proceeds along al-Muqniʿa of Shaykh al-Mufid and does not necessarily express what he himself adopts—contrary to what he himself narrated from the noble rescript (al-tawqīʿ al-sharīf), that his birth was in the month of Shaʿban, in his book Misbah al-Mutahajjid.
The Second Treatment
The second treatment consists in relying on the reliable narrational data and abandoning acting upon what is well known on the tongues of the historians. Thus it is accepted that the period between the birth of Imam al-Hasan (a) and Imam al-Husayn (a) was six months and ten days, including the duration of the pregnancy with him being six months, and the narrations that the birth of Imam al-Husayn (a) was in the month of Shaʿban are accepted; but the date of the birth of Imam al-Hasan (a) is adjusted to fit the calculation contained in the narrations.
The adjustment is directed at the date of the birth of Imam al-Hasan (a) as being the weakest knot in the chain, because its determination was based on what is well known among the statements of the historians, whereas the other data are built on noble narrations. And this well-known view is not of the specialized prevalence that can affect the interpretation of narrations, as in some uṣūlī positions, but rather of general prevalence. Indeed, the most widespread determination of the date of the birth of Imam al-Hasan (a) as the middle of the month of Ramadan was among the Ahl al-Sunna in their early books, among them al-Tabaqat al-Kubra of Ibn Saʿd (died 230 AH) and the book Nasab Quraysh of al-Zubayri (died 236 AH), and all their books followed them. As for the oldest Shiʿi sources that mentioned that his birth was in the middle of the month of Ramadan, they were at the end of the fourth century and the beginning of the fifth, in al-Irshad of Shaykh al-Mufid, and in the fifth century in Dalaʾil al-Imama, and we have pointed out the contradiction and inconsistency in it. As for Shaykh al-Kulayni in al-Kafi, who is the oldest of them, he did not mention the month and the day of the birth of Imam al-Hasan (a), and was content with mentioning the year.
We had considered this treatment as a possibility and had not seen anyone holding it; but then our gaze fell upon one of the eminent scholars of the community who adopts this view, namely ʿAllama al-Majlisi in al-Bihar and in Mirʾat al-ʿUqul, where he said after citing the narrations: (Given that these reports have come, it is possible to abandon the view that the birth of al-Hasan (a) was in the month of Ramadan, since it does not rest on a reliable narration; and Allah knows). Vol. 5, p. 362
When would the birth of Imam al-Hasan (a) have been?
On adopting the second treatment—which is the more likely, out of regard for accepting the reliable reports—and fixing the date of the birth of Imam al-Husayn (a) on the third of the month of Shaʿban, the date of the birth of Imam al-Hasan al-Mujtaba (a) would be six months and ten days before it, according to the stronger view; so his birth would be in the last days of the month of Muharram.
As for the analysis of the fact that the old and the recent prevailing practice is to commemorate it in the middle of the month of Ramadan: on the basis of prevalence, one overlooks a matter in which there is latitude. For although the commemoration of deaths and births has a particularity for the day itself, the merit is broad enough for commemorating it at any time, because of the generality of the narrations about commemoration, remembering their lives, sharing their sorrows and rejoicing in their joy. So in terms of practice it is a matter consistent with the general legal criteria.
The month of Muharram is the month of sorrows, in which the Shiʿa do not hold occasions of births and joy; so there is a sound reason to commemorate the birth of Imam al-Hasan (a) on another day—as is said regarding those who relied on the narration of the birth of Imam Musa ibn Jaʿfar al-Kazim (a) on the seventh of Safar, which is likewise a month of sorrows, and called for commemorating the occasion in other months.
There is no doubt that the broader and more unifying the commemoration among people, the better, so that that day becomes a newly instituted emblem for the believers.
It was fitting for the Shiʿa to adopt what is well known among both parties in fixing the middle of the month of Ramadan as the day for commemorating the birth of Imam al-Hasan (a); on it good deeds are multiplied, since it is a blessed day in the blessed month of Allah. In this way, acceptance is achieved of the Husayni particularity in the exceptional nature of his blessed birth and the interval between the two blessed births, as well as of commemorating the third of Shaʿban as the birthday of our third Imam, al-Husayn ibn ʿAli (a), and the recommended status of the special supplication that has come for it, which is connected with his great Imamate.
And Allah knows best the realities of matters.
