Hasan Al-Basri on the Wisdom of Beautiful Patience in the Face of Tyranny and Oppression

Ibn Sa’d relates the story of Hasan Al-Basiri (d.110h/728ce):

A group of Muslims came to Hasan Al-Basiri seeking a verdict to rebel against Al-Hajjaj [the infamous tyrannical and despotic ruler]. So they said, “O Abu Sa’id! What do you say about fighting this oppressor
who has unlawfully shed blood and unlawfully taken wealth and did this and that?” So Hasan رحمه الله said:

أرى أن لا تقاتلوه فإنها إن تك عقوبة من الله فما أنتم برادي عقوبة الله بأسيافكم وإن يكن بلاء فاصبروا حتى يحكم اللّه وهو خير الحاكمين

I hold that he should not be fought. If this is a punishment from Allah, then you will not be able to remove it with your swords. If this is a trial from Allah, then be patient until Allah’s judgment comes, and He is the best of judges.

So they left Hasan, disagreed with him and rebelled against Al-Hajjaj – so Al-Hajjaj killed them all. Hasan used to say:

لو أن الناس إذا ابتلوا من قبل سلطانهم صبروا ما لبثوا أن يفرج عنهم ولكنهم يجزعون إلى السيف فيوكلون إليه فوالله ما جاءوا بيوم خير قط

If the people had patience when they are being tested by their unjust ruler, it will not be long before Allah will give them a way out. However, they always rush for their swords, so they are left with their swords. By Allah! Not even for a single day did they bring about any good.

[Tabaqat Al-Kubra 7/163-165]

Ibn Taymiyyah related from Hasan Al-Basiri in Minhaj us-Sunnah 4/528:

إن الحجاج عذاب الله فلا تدفعوا عذاب الله بأيديكم ولكن عليكم بالاستكانة والتضرع

Verily, Al-Hajjaj is the punishment of Allah. So do not repel the punishment of Allah with your own hands. But you must submit and show humility, for Allah the Most High stated:

وَلَقَدْ أَخَذْنَاهُم بِالْعَذَابِ فَمَا اسْتَكَانُوا لِرَبِّهِمْ وَمَا يَتَضَرَّعُونَ

And We had gripped them with suffering [as a warning], but they did not yield to their Lord, nor did they humbly supplicate…

[Surah Al-Mu’minun 23:76]

Ibn al-Jawzi related from Hasan Al-Basiri that he wrote:

Know – may Allah pardon you – that the tyranny of the kings is a niqmah (retribution) from among the retributions of Allah the Most High. And Allah’s retributions are not to be faced with the sword, but they are to be faced with taqwa (God-fearing piety) and are repelled with supplication and repentance, inaabah (remorse) and abstention from sins. Verily, when the punishments of Allah are met with the sword, are more severe. And Malik bin Denar narrated to me that Al-Hajjaj used to say, “Know that every time you commit a sin Allah will bring about a punishment from the direction of your Sultan (ruler, authority).” And I have also been told that a person said to Al-Hajjaj, “Do you do such and such with the Ummah of Muhammad?” So he replied, “For the reason that I am the punishment of Allah upon the people of Iraq, when they innovated into their religion whatever they innovated, and when they abandoned the commands of their Prophet, peace be upon him, whatever they abandoned.”

[Adab of Hasan al-Basri, p. 119-120]