Why don't we have a single descendant of Hassan among the 12 imams?

Question

To the Shi’a, the Ahlul-Bayt of the Prophet (S) consist of the following individuals ONLY:

• Fatimah al-Zahra (sa),

• Imam ‘Ali (as),

• Imam al-Hasan (as),

• Imam al-Husayn (as),

• Nine descendants of Imam al-Husayn (as)

Reference : https://www.al-islam.org/shiite-encyclopedia-ahlul-bayt-dilp-team/who-are-ahlul-bayt-part-1

Question: why don't we have a single descendant of Hassan among the 12 imams

Answer 1

Since the Shi'a believe these 14 persons are chosen by Allah (t.) the answer to why is not trivial. You're asking: Why did Allah choose these individuals and not others. Allahu a'lam.

Shias believe these 13 individuals are the best human beings after the Prophet (s.). You could also ask why was Muhammad (s.) chosen to be the last prophet and not prophet Isa (a.). The short answer is likewise: Muhammad (s.) is better.

I think there is a misunderstanding in the question. The Imamat isn't a monarchy. It's not that the next Imam has to be the first son. In many cases it wasn't. Like the first son of Imam al-Hasan (a.) was not an Imam of the Ahl ul Bayt and neither was the first son of Imam as-Sadiq (a.) (not even the oldest living son).

Side note: In a broader sense of Ahl-ul-Bayt there are more members than the ones mentioned above. For example Zainab bint Ali (a.) also referred to herself and the other captive women (like Ruqayya bin Imam al-Husayn) in Karbala as "Ahlulbayt". But your are right that usually we only mean 13 (or 14 if the prophet himself is included) individuals.

Answer 2

Imam Hasan's daughter was the mother of 5th Imam of shia Imam Mohammed Baqir a.s and Imam Hussain's a.s son Imam Zainul Abedin was his father.... So technically if you consider women as equal heirs 5th IMAm onwards all Imam are descendants of both Imam Hasan and Imam Hussain

Answer 3

After Imam Sajjad (AS), the rest of the Shiite Imams were both the son of Imam Hussein (AS) and the son of Imam Hassan (AS); Because the mother of Imam Baqir (AS) was the daughter of Imam Hassan (AS) and his father was the son of Imam Hussein (AS).

The fact that the Imamate has continued from the generation of Imam Hussein (pbuh) and after each Imam his son reached the Imamate does not mean that the other children of the Ahl al-Bayt (pbuh) did not have any position with God or that they were sinners. , But also many children of the Imams (PBUH) have been pure, knowledgeable and brave people and have rendered very valuable services to Islam. Among these people is Hazrat Abdul Azim Hassani (buried in the city of Ray in Iran), one of the prominent students of Imam Hadi (as) and a descendant of Imam Hassan (as), who has valuable scientific and jurisprudential works.

In any case, and as the Shiite beliefs are based on it, "Imamate" is in fact a divine thing that is determined by God, and the one who has the highest position in terms of science and morality, etc. God is chosen as the Imam. Jacob also had 12 children, and the line of prophecy continued in the generation of one of them [and the next prophets were not chosen from the generation of Joseph himself]. Even "Benjamin", who was the body brother of Prophet Yusuf, was deprived of this position. The answer to these has been stated by God in one word in verse 124 of Surah An'am:

اللَّهُ أَعْلَمُ حَيْثُ يَجْعَلُ رِسالَتَه

God knows best where to place His mission

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