HASSANIA

hassania, an african tribe of semitic stock. they inhabit the desert between merawi and the nile at the 6th cataract, and the left bank of the blue nile immediately south of khartum. hassan ibn thabit (died 674), arabian poet, was born in yathrib (medina), a member of the tribe khazraj. in his youth he travelled to hira and damascus, then settled in medina, where, after the advent of mahomet, he accepted islam and wrote poems in defence of the prophet. his poetry is regarded as commonplace and lacking in distinction. his diwan has been published at bombay (1864), tunis (1864) and lahore (1878). see h. hirschfeld's "prolegomena to an edition of the diwan of hassan" in _transactions of oriental congress_ (london, 1892). (g. w. t.)