God in View of Imam Hassan (AS)
It is for sure very noteworthy to read the description of God by someone who was raised by the Holy Prophet (PBUH).
Imam Hassan Mujtaba (AS) was the grandson of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) and the first child of Ali ibn Abi Talib (AS) and Hazrat Zahra (SA). He was born on the 25th day of the holy month of Ramadan in the year 625 CE.
He was seven years old when the Holy Prophet (PBUH) passed away and accompanied his father afterward in all events. People pledged allegiance to Imam Hassan (AS) after the martyrdom of Imam Ali (AS) as his successor.
Hassan ibn Ali (AS) had been raised by the Holy Prophet (PBUH) and Imam Ali (AS) and was very attentive to the society’s issues during his lifetime. He donated all his properties for the sake of God twice. He also gave half of his properties to the poor three times. Based on the teachings of the holy Prophet (PBUH), Imam Hassan (AS) had a profound and divine view of the world and what happens in it.
With such an outlook, he would consider hardships and difficulties as gifts from God to purify one’s soul and heart. That is why man should never allow his spiritual power to be undermined by difficulties and problems in life, but should maintain this power in any situation. One even gains more spiritual power by going through the problems and difficulties.
It has been narrated from Imam Hassan (AS) that in times of difficulties and problems, one sees God beside him, because God is the only hope for those who have lost all hopes.
Imam Hassan (AS) describes God like this: “He is the one Whom mankind resorts to when he loses hope in all other powers and everything except God.”
On another occasion, he was asked by someone to describe God. He said, “Every praise and veneration belongs only to God, for Whom we know neither a beginning nor an end, Who is not comprehended by intellect and Who has no limits. He does not fit into intellects and imaginations and people’s thought. Minds are incapable of comprehending His attributes to say when He has been. He neither has been created from anything, nor is visible to anything, nor is invisible in anything, nor is separate from the world of existence. He created mankind, so He was the (initiator of everything). What He initiated was unprecedented and whatever He willed, He did. This is your God Who is my God and the God of the world.”
