Majma al-Zawaid — Hadith 7074

Imam al-Sha'bi narrates: I was present with Sayyiduna Imam Hasan bin Ali (may Allah be pleased with them both) at al-Nukhaylah when Sayyiduna Mu'awiyah (may Allah be pleased with him) made peace with him. Sayyiduna Mu'awiyah (may Allah be pleased with him) said to him: "Since this has happened, stand up and speak, and tell the people that you have handed the rule over to me." Here the narrator Sufyan sometimes reported the words: "Tell the people about this matter which you have relinquished." So Sayyiduna Imam Hasan (may Allah be pleased with him) stood up. He delivered a sermon from the pulpit, praising and extolling Allah Almighty. Imam al-Sha'bi says: I was listening to this. Then he said: "Now then! The greatest wisdom is piety, and the greatest folly is sinfulness. As for this matter over which there was a dispute between me and Mu'awiyah: if it was my right, then I am leaving it for Mu'awiyah so that there may be betterment within this Ummah and the shedding of their blood may stop; and if it was the right of someone who has more right to it than me, then I have done so (and given it up). I do not know; perhaps this situation too is a trial for you and an enjoyment for a fixed time."
Al-Tabarani recorded it in al-Mu'jam al-Kabir; its chain contains Mujalid bin Sa'id, about whom there is criticism, though he has been declared trustworthy; the rest of its narrators are the narrators of the Sahih.