Ḥassān ibn Thābit (Arabic: حسان بن ثابت) (born c. 563, Medina died 674) was an Arabian poet and one of the Sahaba, or companions of Muhammad, who was best known for poems in defense of the Islamic prophet Muhammad.
Hassan ibn Thabit حسان بن ثابت | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Personal | |
| Born | c. 564 CE Yathrib, Hejaz, Arabia |
| Died | 674 (aged 110–111) Medina, Umayyad Caliphate |
| Religion | Islam |
| Spouse | Sirin bint Shamun |
| Children | Abdul-Rahman ibn Hassan |
| Occupation | Poet |
| Relations | Banu Khazraj (from Azd) |
He was born in Medina, and was a member of the Banu Khazraj tribe.[1] Muhammad gave him a slave, Sirin as a concubine.
His writings in defense of Muhammad refer to contemporary events that have been useful in documenting the period. He was also Islam's first religious poet.
Life
editAccording to Islamic tradition Ḥassān lived for 120 years, sixty years before converting to Islam and another sixty thereafter.[2] In his youth he traveled to Al-Hirah and Damascus, then he settled in Medina, where, after Muhammad's arrival, he accepted Islam and wrote poems in his defense.[1][3]
Poetic Career
editHassan bin Thabit wrote more than two thousand satires and elegies. He is said to have written about 1,000 poems of three to twenty lines. Those poems were composed satirizing Abu Sufyan, Ibn al-Jibara, Amr bin al-Ash, Hatim bin Hisham and Abu Jahl. He belittled them by comparing them to monkeys, goats, ostriches, and foxes.
Death
editHassan bin Thabit passed away in Al-Madinah between the years 655 and 661 and during the caliphate of Ali ibn Abi Talib at the age of around 120. Some historians suggest that Hassan bin Thabit died during the caliphate of Muawiyah ibn Abi Sufyan between the years 670 and 674.[4]
Legacy
editThe Palestinian poet Salim Al-Ya'qubi titled himself as "Hassan of Palestine" and chose it as a literary pseudonym.[5]
See also
edit
Notes
edit- ^ a b One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Thatcher, Griffithes Wheeler (1911). "Ḥassān ibn Thābit". In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 13 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 51.
- ^ Thomas Patrick Hughes, 1885/1999 rept., Dictionary of Islam, New Delhi: Rupa & Co.
- ^ Tabari, p. 131.
- ^ IslamKotob. أسد الغابة - باب الحاء (in Arabic). IslamKotob.
- ^ "معجم البابطين لشعراء العربية في القرنين التاسع عشر و العشرين -سليم بن حسن اليعقوبي". www.almoajam.org. Retrieved 2024-05-29.
References
edit- Tabari (1997). Vol. 8 of the Tarikh al-Rusul wa al-Muluk. State University of New York Press.