Hassan ibn Thabit

“ Lebid, one of the seven great bards, whose works were called al-moallakat, the suspended, because they hung on the walls of the Kaaba for public admiration, tore his own down, as unworthy of the honour, the moment he had read the sublime exordium of the second sura of the Koran. Hassan, the satirist, who lampooned the prophet, on which verses of the Koran descended from heaven, was forced, at the conquest of Mecca, to confess the irresistible power of his word and his sword ”

“ It will be a grateful sacrifice to the Prophet. God is merciful! The Sultan is too indulgent to the infidels."
"Woe to thee, O Moslim!" said Hassan in an excited tone. "Think you the pangs and shrieks of a son of Adam in torture can be grateful to a merciful God? Think you the diabolical spirit of the murderers can be pleasing to a beneficent Creator? In the infancy of the faith the Prophet's policy allowed this; [90] now it is useless, barbarous! And this is a woman! O God! O God!" And he pressed his hands to his eyes as though the flames blasted them.
Ali gazed on him with unfeigned surprise ”

“ After a short reign of four years Hassan was assassinated by his brother-in-law, and his son Mahommed II. succeeded. One of his first acts was to slay his father’s murderer, with all his family and relatives; and his long rule, extending over a period of forty-six years, was marked by many similar deeds of cruelty. He had to contend with many powerful enemies, especially with the great Atabeg sultan Nureddīn, and his more celebrated successor, Saladin, who had gained possession of Egypt after the death of the last Fatimite caliph, and against whom even secret assassination seemed powerless. ”

“ Hassan remained outside the guard-house talking to the kawàss on various subjects until he had seen Abou-Hamedi and his family clear of its precincts, and retiring in the direction of the desert. The Arab, looking back once at the figure of his preserver, muttered to himself: “Allah preserve you, brave youth. If ever you meet Abou-Hamedi again when you are in need, you shall find that he remembers good as well as evil; but we will leave this cursed district, where sorrow and tyranny pursue us; we will go to our cousins who have their tents near Fayoom.” ”

“ So she questioned him and he told her what had passed between himself and the Persian, which when she heard, her heart fluttered and she strained him to her breast, saying, ‘O my son, beware of hearkening to the talk of the folk, and especially of the Persians, and obey them not in aught; for they are sharpers and tricksters, who profess the art of alchemy and swindle people and take their good and devour it in vain.’ ‘O my mother,’ answered Hassan, ‘we are poor folk and have nothing he may covet, that he should put a cheat on us. ”

“ A bright gleam shot from the eyes of Mohammed Ali as he replied—
“You are a brave youth, Hassan, and all shall be done as you desire. Go in with the hakim to his room, prepare the letters, and despatch your messenger. Allah be with you.”
Hassan retired, and in a short time Abou-Hamedi 421was despatched with the letters and full verbal instructions. An hour later our hero was arrested and sent into the Esbekiah Palace under a strong guard, and the news was spread all over Cairo that Hassan Ebn-el-Heràm was to be tried and judged on the following day. ”

“ Knowst thou not that the folk would suspect us and we should lose our lives? If I teach thee this craft, thou must practise it but once a year; for that will suffice thee from year to year.’ ‘True, O my lord,’ answered Hassan, and sitting down, threw charcoal on the fire and set on the melting-pot. Quoth the Persian, ‘What wilt thou, O my son?’ And Hassan replied, ‘Teach me this craft.’ ‘There is no power and no virtue but in God the Most High, the Supreme!’ cried the Persian, laughing. ”

“ It pleased him and he shook his head, saying, ‘By Allah, thou art a cunning goldsmith!’ And he continued to look at his wares, whilst Hassan read in an old book he had in his hand and the folk were taken up with his beauty and grace and symmetry, till the hour of afternoon prayer, when the shop became clear of people and the Persian accosted the young man, saying, ‘O my son, thou art a goodly youth! What book is that? Thou hast no father and I have no son, and I know an art, than which there is no goodlier in the world. ”

“ And you shall call me Emir of the Faithful, Redresser of Wrong, the Shadow of God on Earth, and Peacock of the World. But in this garden you are Hassan, and I am your friend Haroun, and you must address me as a friend a friend.
HASSAN (Kissing the CALIPH's hand) O master, you speak gently, but I must fear you all the more.
CALIPH But why? I am but a kindly man. I love single-heartedness in men as I love simplicity in my palace. There you have seen floors with but one carpet—but that carpet like a meadow. You have seen walls with but one curtain—but that curtain a sunset on the sea. ”

“ The Hashishin were the members of a Moslem secret society, founded in 1090 by one Hassan of Khorassan. There is a persistent tradition in parts of the Orient that this sect still flourishes in Assyria, under the rule of a certain Hassan of Aleppo, the Sheikh-al-jebal, or supreme lord of the Hashishin. My careful inquiries, however, at the time that I was preparing matter for my “Assyrian Mythology,” failed to discover any trace of such a person or such a group.
I accordingly assumed Hassan to be a myth—a first cousin to the ginn. I was wrong. He exists. ”

“ Not with the sword, not with the sword!
HASSAN Let me taste the ecstasy of power. Let me drink of the fulness of life. Let me be one of those who conquer because they do not care. (He draws the sword: Yasmin cries out loud.) You are Yasmin, the poor, the beautiful, the proud: I am Hassan, rich and passionate and strong. You have hurt me, I will hurt you; it is the rule of the game, and the way of the world. ”

“ How then canst thou come at this place and who shall bring thee thither? Wherefore I conjure thee by Allah, O my son, do thou reckon them [15] as dead and turn back forthright and weary not thy soul! Indeed, I give thee good counsel, an thou wilt but accept it.’ At these words Hassan wept till he fainted, and the princesses sat round him, weeping for his weeping, whilst the youngest rent her clothes and buffeted her face, till she swooned away. ”

“ If we had another war with the Wahabees, or with any other nation, that lad might soon be a Pasha; but in these dull times there is no fortune to be won by the sword. So Hassan must remain khaznadâr of a very small khazneh. [65] Such is destiny, Amina—all is destiny. ”

“ With him, as with all true Mussulmans, it is next to impossible. They have got the one great undeniable truth—the Unity of God—so indelibly stamped upon their conviction that any attempt to make them understand, or even consider, the doctrine of the Trinity is attended with such difficulties as amount almost to an impossibility! The words with which Hassan closed our conversation were these: “There is no God but Allah; the days of fighting the Mushrekin and planting the true faith with the sword are gone—now we can only pity them.”’
“‘Who are the Mushrekin?’ I inquired. ”

“ THE SWORD OF DAMASCUS
An armorer's shop very like the one described has been brought from Abbeville and set up in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in one of the rooms devoted to armor.
THE WISDOM OF THE GALLEYS
“Y'Allah!” (O God!) is a common exclamation, often used as meaning “Make Haste!” Abu Hassan is “the father of Hassan,” In Moslem countries a father often uses his son's name in this way, allowing his own to be almost forgotten.
Khawaja, Khawadji or Howadji is a title of respect given exclusively to unbelievers. ”

“ We part as friends, I hope?”
“Mashallah! your hand is always open,” shouted the freebooters, ashamed of their late conduct. “Stay with us, and be still our leader; we will never disobey you again.”
369“It cannot be,” said Hassan; “my destiny compels me to go to Cairo, where certain death would await you all, and where it is not unlikely to await me also: but what is written must come to pass—there is neither power nor strength but in Allah. Abd-hoo, bring me my horse. Farewell, comrades; may happiness attend your path.” ”

“ When Hassan appeared before the Sultan, the prince put several questions to him relative to the situation and finances of the empire. Hassan had recourse to his papers, and found them incomplete; he hesitated, stammered, and could not answer. Nizam-el-Moulk skilfully took advantage of his tergiversations to degrade Hassan in the mind of Melik-chah. “Wise and prudent men,” said he, “required two years to perform the work commanded by your majesty; an ignorant man, who has pretended to terminate it in forty days, is unable to give satisfactory answers to the questions put [419] to him.” ”

“ Before proceeding to the etymology of this name, we ought to observe, that Hassan, and the two princes who succeeded him in the sovereignty over the Ismailites of Persia and Syria, although attached to the peculiar tenets of the sect, nevertheless observed all the laws of Islamism; but, under the fourth prince of this dynasty, a great change took place in the religion of the Ismailites. This prince, who was named Hassan, son of Mohammed, pretended that he had received secret orders from the imam, by virtue of which he abolished all the external practices of Musulman worship ”

“ YASMIN I was the sun of his existence, and now I am a child of Sheitan— and why? Never again will I trust the love of a man. I was a glory too far shed, and now he wants to open my neck. And already he has tried to poison me. Ya, Hassan, if you desire my death, send me some more enchanted sweets! ”

“ Scarcely was he out of sight ere Mohammed Ali muttered between his hard-set teeth, “Dog! hyena! serpent! Inshallah! to-morrow he shall see and feel how traitors are punished! Hakim-Bashi, you are a learned man, and read many books: I never read anything but men’s faces, and, Mashallah! I rarely read them amiss. I have long had my eye mistrustfully on this scoundrel: look from his false and malignant countenance to the open face and clear bold eye of Hassan; why, man, there is truth written there as plainly as in the Fat’hah. ”

“ You did not know, what Abou-Hashem knew, that these dahabiahs belonged to my friends—that I had eaten from their table and shared their salt! When all the provinces of Egypt are open to our swift horses and our sharpened steel, could you, brave warriors of the desert, find no more honourable foray than to attack defenceless strangers, and those, too, the friends of your leader? If such be your mind, I know you no more. Go and choose another leader from among 364thieves and moharrabin, [109] for Hassan will no longer be your chief. ”

“ Indeed this man Hassan hath gotten the mastery over us and God hath given him dominion over us and over all our realm and he hath overcome us, us and the Kings of the Jinn.’ And her sister answered her, saying, ‘Indeed, God aided him not against you nor did he overcome you nor make you prisoners, save by means of this cap and wand.’ So Nour el Huda was assured that he had conquered her by means thereof and humbled herself to her sister, till she was moved to pity for her and said to Hassan, ‘What wilt thou do with my sister? ”

“ I am ready.”
“He will not seek a quarrel with you,” said Delì Pasha, smiling at Hassan’s simplicity. “Have you heard of calumny and slander? Have you heard of poison in a cup of coffee? Have you heard of stabbing in the dark? These are the weapons that great men in Egypt use when they wish to get rid of one whom they hate.”
“I fear him not,” repeated Hassan with the same frank boldness. “My life is in the hand of Allah, and neither Osman Bey nor any other 164man can take it until the predestined day arrives. ”

“ Of this sum Hassan resolved to endeavour to obtain possession by stratagem, and he set about it with the confident coolness which characterised all his proceedings. Leaving the greater part of his band in the desert, at a considerable distance from the village, he dressed himself in his former khaznadâr uniform, and six or eight of the most resolute and best mounted of his followers in dresses becoming the attendants of a man in authority, gathered from the spoils of plundered caravans: he took with him also a firman bearing the seal of Mohammed Ali, which had been obtained by similar means. ”

“ Hassan, the story-teller, in the retinue of the Arabian physician.—Sir W. Scott, The Talisman (time, Richard I.) .
148Hassan (Al) , the Arabian emir of Persia, father of Hinda. He won the battle of Cadessia, and thus became master of Persia.—T. Moore, Lalla Rookh (“the Fire-Worshippers,” 1817) .
Hassan surnamed Al Habbal (“the rope-maker”) , and subsequently Cogia (“merchant”) ; his full name was then Cogia Hassan Alhabbal. Two friends, named Saad and Saadi, tried an experiment on him. Saadi gave him 200 pieces of gold in order to see if it would raise him from extreme poverty to affluence. ”

“ The family of Abi Hafsa came next to that of Hassan in poetical gifts. The reason was, according to one statement, that they could "all touch the point of their nose with their tongue, and this denotes a talent for speaking with elegance and precision." "God knows," Ibn Khallikan adds, "how far that may be true!"
It was Marwan Ibn Abi Hafsa, of this family, who made such a mistake (in a poet depending on the beneficence of the exalted) as to commit himself to the sweeping statement, in his elegy on the death of Maan, the Emir, that patronage had died with him. ”

“ RAFI, KING OF BEGGARS The Salaam, O man of Basra. I see thy fellow-merchant in the robes of the Grand Vizier. But the negro, that most disgusting Negro, seems to be absent. To Hassan, my congratulations on his advancement.
CALIPH Thou dost speak with the impudence of a king, but thy subjects are taken from thee. They will soon be black crows in the pine-wood by the walls. ”