Did Sayidina Hasan marry seventy wives?

Quran

Hadith

Islamic Text

بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَنِ الرَّحِيمِ

In the Name of Allah Most Merciful Most Kind

Short Answer

It has been mentioned in a number of classical books of Islamic history that Imam Hasan married seventy wives. However, it is important to bear in mind that the scholars have made it clear that not everything mentioned in a book of history is authentic. Instead, they clearly warned against accepting everything found in books of history.

Classical Scholars
قَالُوا: وَكَانَ كَثِيرَ التَّزَوُّجِ، وَكَانَ لَا يُفَارِقُهُ أَرْبَعُ حَرَائِرَ، وَكَانَ مِطْلَاقًا مِصْدَاقًا، يقال إنه أحصن سبعين امْرَأَةً

They said, he (Sayidina Hasan) used to marry often, and he always had four wives, and he used to divorce often and pay a lot of dowry. It is said that he married seventy women. (Imam Ibn Katheer, al-Bidayah wa al-Nihayah).

وَكَانَ مِنْكَاحاً مِطْلاَقاً، تزوَّج نَحْواً مِنْ سَبْعِيْنَ امْرَأَةً، وقلَّما كَانَ يُفَارِقُهُ أَرْبَعُ ضَرَائِرَ

He (Sayidina Hasan)  used to marry often and divorce often. He married about seventy women, and it was rare for him to have less than four wives. (Imam al-Dhahabi, Siyar A’laam al-Nubalaa).

It is important to note that when the scholars he had seventy wives, that does not mean at one time. Imam Hasan did not have more than four wives at any time. Rather, he would marry women and then divorce them so that he could marry others. This was done with complete transparency and without misleading anyone.

In any case, it is not correct to present such information as a matter of fact. Rather, we say it is narrated in books of Tareekh (history) which do not tend to have the same level of rigour in authentication found in books of Hadith. Therefore, such narrations should be treated as speculative rather than factual.

And Allah Most High Knows Best.

Answered by Shaykh Noorud-deen Rashid (04.01.21)