Salih – ‘Asim – Zirr – ‘Abd Allah...

Salih – ‘Asim – Zirr – ‘Abd Allah, may Allah be pleased with him: The Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, said: “Al-Hasan and al-Husayn are the two sayyids of the youth of the people of Paradise, and their father is better than them both .”[^7] Al-Hakim states: هذا حديث صحيح بهذه الزيادة This hadith is sahih with this ziyadah . ^8 And Imam al-Dhahabi (d.

748 H) concurs: صحيح Sahih ^9 In other words, both al-Hasan and al-Husayn, ‘alaihima al-salam , are superior in the Sight of Allah to anyone who will be a youth in Paradise. Of course, everyone in Paradise will be young. Imam al-Darimi (d. 255 H) records: أخبرنا محمد بن يزيد الرفاعي ثنا معاذ يعني بن هشام عن أبيه عن عامر الأحول عن شهر بن حوشب عن أبي هريرة عن النبي صلى الله عليه و سلم قال أهل الجنة شباب جرد مرد كحل لا تبلى ثيابهم ولا يفنى شبابهم Muhammad b. Yazid al-Rufa’i – Mu’adh b.

Hisham – his father – ‘Amir al-Ahwal – Shahr b. Hawshab – Abu Hurayrah: The Prophet, peace be upon him, said: “ The people of Paradise will be hairless, beardless youth , with their eyes anointed with kohl. Their cloths will never become worn and their youth will never end .”[^10] Shaykh Dr. Asad comments: إسناده حسن Its chain is hasan . ^11 So, Imam al-Hasan and Imam al-Husayn are the best of all the people of Paradise, from Adam till the last human being to die.

The only exceptions are the Prophet himself – being the sayyid of mankind – and Amir al-Muminin, who has been explicitly excluded. The direct implication of this is that Imam ‘Ali is the sayyid of all inhabitants of Paradise with the sole exception of the Messenger of Allah. Expectedly, the Ahl al-Sunnah wa al-Jama’ah are troubled by the possibility of ‘Ali, al-Hasan or al-Husayn being superior to either Abu Bakr or ‘Umar. Its implication is severe on the legitimacy of the Sunni khilafah system.

Imam al-Mubarakfuri (d. 1282 H) therefore posits the various Sunni diversions of the hadith : قوله الحسن والحسين سيدا شباب أهل الجنة ... قال المظهر يعني هما أفضل من مات شابا في سبيل الله من أصحاب الجنة ولم يرد به سن الشباب لأنهما ماتا وقد كهلا ...

أو أنهما سيدا أهل الجنة سوى الأنبياء والخلفاء الراشدين وذلك لأن أهل الجنة كلهم في سن واحد وهو الشباب وليس فيهم شيخ ولا كهل قال الطيبي ويمكن أن يراد هما الان سيدا شباب من هم من أهل الجنة من شبان هذا الزمان His statement “al-Hasan and al-Husayn are the two sayyids of the youth of the people of Paradise” ...