In the nine-year period between Hasan's abdication in AH 41 (661 CE) and his death in AH 50 (670 CE), Al-Hasan retired in Al-Medinah, trying to keep aloof from political involvement for or against Muawiyah. In spite of that, however, he was considered the chief of Muhammad's household, by the Banu Hashim themselves and the partisans of Ali, who pinned their hopes on his final succession to Mu‘awiyah. Occasionally, Shi'ites, mostly from Kufah, went to Hasan and Husayn in small groups, and asked them to be their leaders, a request to which they declined to respond. Hasan has been quoted as commenting "If Muawiyah was the rightful successor to the Caliphate, he has received it. And if I had that right, I, too, have passed it on to him; so the matter ends there."