In Defense of Hassan ibn Thabit — The Poet of the Messenger and the Meaning of 'Obscenity' in Ibn Hisham
This great companion defended the Messenger of Allah in more than one situation, and he has a right over us that drowns us because of our inability to appreciate him. What follows is a response to those who unleashed their tongues against the poet of the Messenger, who always defended him with his tongue, not his sword.
The Objection
One of the critics raises the following claim: Ibn Hisham said: “We left out three verses from the end of Hassan’s poem, because he was too obscene in it.” Ibn Hisham, the Islamic historian, deleted three verses from Hassan’s poem, and the reason is “because he was too obscene in it.”
The Response — What Does “Obscene” Mean?
Before responding to this claim, we must first understand the meaning of the phrase “to be too obscene.” We read its meaning in the dictionary Lisan al-Arab by Ibn Manzur:
“Qadha’: indecency and obscenity. Qadha’ahu yaqdhuhu qadh’an and aqdha’ahu and aqdha’a lahu iqda’an: he accused him of obscenity and said bad things about him. Al-Azhari said: I have not heard qadha’tu without an alif from anyone other than al-Layth. And aqdha’a al-qawl means he said bad things about him. In the hadith: Whoever recites offensive poetry about Islam, his tongue is wasting away. And obscenity is the obscenity of speech that is ugly to mention. In the hadith: Whoever narrates offensive satire is one of the two insulters; offensive satire: that which contains obscenity, slander, and cursing that is ugly to spread, meaning that its sin is like the sin of the one who first said it. And he was obscene in his cursing.”
The term refers to the ugliness and harshness of satirical invective — the kind of cutting, harsh cursing directed at enemies in the poetry of war — not to sexual obscenity or moral corruption. Hassan was cursing his enemies and being harsh and cutting in his satirical poetry. This is the meaning of the phrase.
Who Is Hassan ibn Thabit?
He is Abu al-Walid Hassan ibn Thabit from the Khazraj tribe that migrated from Yemen to the Hijaz and settled in Medina with the Aws. He was born in Medina about eight years before the birth of Muhammad, may Allah bless him and grant him peace. He lived for sixty years in the pre-Islamic era and another sixty years in Islam. He grew up in a house of prestige and honor, devoted to entertainment, drinking, and flirting. His father was Thabit ibn al-Mundhir ibn Haram al-Khazraji, one of the leaders and nobles of his people. His mother, al-Fari’ah, was from Khazraj like his father. Hassan ibn Thabit was not only from Khazraj — he was also from Banu al-Najjar, the maternal uncles of the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, so he had a connection and kinship with him.
In the pre-Islamic era, Medina was a battlefield between the Aws and the Khazraj, with many disputes and wars. Qays ibn al-Khatim was the poet of the Aws, and Hassan ibn Thabit was the poet of the Khazraj — the mouthpiece of his people in the wars that broke out between them and the Aws in the pre-Islamic era — and he became widely known throughout the Arab lands.
Hassan ibn Thabit connected with the Ghassanids, praising them in his poetry. He, al-Nabigha al-Dhubyani, and Alqama al-Fahl shared the gifts of the Ghassanids. Life was pleasant for him in the shade of that abundant grace. Then he connected with the court of al-Hirah, where al-Nu’man ibn al-Mundhir was, and he took the place of al-Nu’man when the latter was in a dispute with him, until al-Nu’man returned to the shadow of Abu Qabus al-Nu’man and Hassan left him reluctantly. He benefited from his contact with kings in terms of knowledge of praise poetry and its styles, and knowledge of satirical poetry and its schools. His artistic performance in his poetry was characterized by magnification and glorification, and included powerful, eloquent words.
Thus, he was fully prepared to move into the shadow of Muhammad, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, the Prophet of Islam, and to fight for him with the weapons of his praise and satire.
His Role in Defense of the Prophet
Hassan ibn Thabit was not the only poet who responded to the plots of the polytheists — there were a large number of poets who had truly converted to Islam standing by his side. The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, praised Hassan’s poetry, urged him to compose, and prayed for him with the words: “O Allah, support him with the Holy Spirit.” He showed him compassion, brought him close to him, and divided for him the spoils and gifts.
However, Hassan ibn Thabit did not satirize the Quraysh for their disbelief and idolatry. Rather, he satirized them for the days on which they were defeated and taunted them with their faults and lineages. If he had satirized them for their disbelief and polytheism, he would not have reached the level of cutting them down effectively. Hassan ibn Thabit was not strong enough in heart for war, so he contented himself with poetry. He did not support Muhammad with his sword, and he did not witness a battle with the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, nor a raid.
The Works of Hassan ibn Thabit and the Problem of Fabricated Poetry
Narrators and critics agreed that Hassan ibn Thabit was the most eloquent poet of the city of his time, and the most eloquent poet of the people of Yemen as a whole. He left behind a huge collection of poems narrated by Ibn Habib — but a great deal of fabricated poetry entered it, because since Hassan ibn Thabit had a special position from the political and religious perspective, a great deal of fabricated poetry was inserted into his collection. This was done by the enemies of Islam, as was also done by some biographers such as Ibn Ishaq.
The presence of fabricated poetry in the collected works of Hassan ibn Thabit — inserted by enemies of Islam — is a critical consideration whenever specific verses attributed to him are cited to cast doubt on his character or on Islam. Ibn Hisham’s deletion of three verses from one poem was itself a scholarly act of editorial judgment about the harshness of their invective — not a moral condemnation of the poet or an admission of a scandal.
The claim that Ibn Hisham’s deletion of three verses for “obscenity” reflects poorly on Hassan ibn Thabit rests on a misunderstanding of what the Arabic term means. Qadha’ refers to harsh, cutting satirical invective directed at enemies — the kind of poetry that was the weapon of Arab tribal warfare — not to sexual obscenity or moral corruption. Hassan ibn Thabit was the poet of the Khazraj before Islam and became the poet of the Messenger of Allah after it, supported by the Prophet’s personal supplication that Allah strengthen him with the Holy Spirit. He was from Banu al-Najjar, the maternal uncles of the Prophet himself. His poetic collection was large and celebrated, but it suffered from fabricated insertions made by enemies of Islam. Ibn Hisham exercised scholarly editorial judgment in omitting three verses whose invective he found excessively harsh in expression — a standard practice of hadith and literary scholarship — and this has no bearing on the character or standing of Hassan ibn Thabit as the companion who defended the Messenger with his tongue in every battle.