HASSAN IBN THABIT
Hassan ibn Thabit was one of Muhammad's followers and, perhaps,
the only poet to be a companion. Duncan Black Macdonald writes:
But let me illustrate in detail. A good example is given in the stories
told about Hassan ibn Thabit, a close personal follower of Muhammad,
and, in a sense, his poet-laureate. Muhammad in general was opposed to
poetry; the poets were mostly opposed to him; but Hassan upheld his
cause with poetry of a kind, and was especially useful in replying to
satirical and abusive attacks. But this Hassan, while still a young man
in the days before Islam, and before he had made any verses, was initiated
into poetry by a female Jinni. She met him in one of the streets of Medina,
leapt upon him, pressed him down, and compelled him to utter three verses
of poetry. Thereafter he was a poet, and his verses came to him as to other
Arab poets from the direct inspiration of the Jinn. He refers himself to
his "brothers of the Jinn" who weave for him artistic words, and tells
how weighty lines have been sent down to him from heaven in the night season.
The curious thing is that the expressions he uses are exactly those used
of the "sending down," that is, revelation, of the Qur'an. Evidently
in his case there was a struggle between the idea of the Jinn - those half
or wholly heathen spirits - as inspirers and the diving inspirations of
the angels.
Further, the story runs that Muhammad used to set up for him a pulpit in
the mosque and stand by in evident enjoyment, while Hassan hurled from it
stinging verses against the enemies of Islam. This was one of the few
occasions on which Muhammad seems to have tolerated poetry, and his reported
comment is significant, "Allah aids Hassan with the Holy Spirit so long as
he is defending or boasting of the Apostle of God." But by the Holy Spirit
here, you must not understand any conception like that of the third person
of the Christian trinity. For Muhammad the phrase referred only to the angel
messenger who brought to him his revelations. The theological consequences
of the lack of the conception of the Holy Ghost, the Lord and Giver of Life,
in Islam were wide, but this is not the place to enter upon them. Here
Muhammad simply ascribed to Hassan the same kind of inspiration that he had
himself, and that is remarkable enough.
Another point to observe is the close parallel between the terms used in
the story of Hassan's initiation and that of the first revelation to Muhammad.
Just as Hassan was thrown down by the female spirit and had verses pressed
out of him, so the first utterances of prophecy were pressed from Muhammad
by the angel Gabriel. And the resemblances go still farther. The angel Gabriel
is spoken of as the companion (qarin) of Muhammad, just as though he
were the Jinni accompanying a poet, and the same word nafatha,
"blow upon", is used of an enchanter, or a Jinni inspiring a poet and of
Gabriel revealing to Muhammad. It was, or course, the nightmare of Muhammad's
earlier years - a fear of his own and an accusation of his enemies - that
he was simply a poet possessed by a Jinni; it dictated his whole attitude
to poets and poetry, and it is very plain how near the fact, the fear and
accusation lay. He was in truth a poet of the old Arab type, without skill
of verse, and with all his being given to the prophetic side of poetry.
Add to this a strange jumble of Jewish and Christian conceptions, and you
have the key to Muhammad. (Source: Duncan B. Macdonald,
The
Attitude of the Semites Toward the Unseen World; Prophecy as a Semitic
Phenomenon and Especially Among the Arabs)
According to Sahih al-Bukhari, Volume 1, Book 8, Number 444, Muhammd believed that Hassan was,
like him, inspired by the Holy Spirit, and could reply on his behalf:
Narrated Hassan bin Thabit Al-Ansari:
I asked Abu Huraira "By Allah! Tell me the truth whether you heard the Prophet
saying, ‘O Hassan! Reply on behalf of Allah's Apostle. O Allah! Help him
with the Holy Spirit.’" Abu Huraira said, "Yes."
Additional Resources
The Familiar Spirit or Qarina
The Attitude of the Semites
Toward the Unseen World; Prophecy as a Semitic Phenomenon and Especially Among the Arabs
MUHAMMAD'S PROPHETHOOD
Thoughts on the Prophethood of Muhammad
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