Beni Ḥassān

Beni Ḥassan (Arabic: بني حسان "sons of Ḥassān") were a nomadic group of Arab origin, one of the four sub-tribes of the Maqil Arab tribes who emigrated in the 11th century to the Maghreb with the Bani Hilal and Banu Sulaym Arabs.^[1] In Morocco they first settled alongside their Maqil relatives in the area between Tadla and the Moulouiya River. The Sous Almohad governor called upon them for help against a rebellion in the Sous, and they resettled in and around that region.

The Beni Hassan and other warrior Arab tribes established dominance over the Sanhaja Berber tribes of the area, and after the Char Bouba war of the 17th century. As a result, Arab culture and language came to dominate, and the Berber tribes were more or less arabized. The Bani Hassan's dialect of Arabic became the tongue of the region and is still spoken in the form of Hassaniya Arabic.

Beni Hassan were descendants of the Maqil, an Arab tribe whose exact origin is unknown and subject to debate, but they were probably originally from Yemen. Beni Hassan included:

• The descendants of Hasan ben Mokhtar ben Mohamed, son of the forefather of the Maqils.
• The Shebanat: descendants of Shebana, brother of Hassan, and son of Mokhtar ben Mohamed
• The Reguitat: descendants of Jallal, Salem and Uthman, brothers of Mokhtar and sons of Mohamed.

Several other Arab tribes joined the Maqils and became part of the Beni Hassan tribe.

Many descendants of the Beni Hassan tribes today still adhere to the supremacist ideology of their ancestors. This ideology has led to oppression, discrimination and even enslavement of other groups in Mauritania.^[2]

See also

• Maqil
• Banu Sulaym
• Banu Hilal
• Char Bouba war
• Tekna

Ref

• Almsaodi, Abdulaziz. Modern History of Yemen
• Power and Interest News Report

References

1. Ahmed Annaçéri's Handwritten "Talaàt Al Mouchtari" (died in 1717)
2. • AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL, 7 November 2002, MAURITANIA, "A future free from slavery?" The formal abolition of slavery in 1981 has not led to real and effective abolition for various reasons, including a lack of legislation to ensure its implementation.
   http://web.amnesty.org/library/index/engAFR380032002!Open
   • http://www.afrol.com/articles/17518 : "The practice of slavery in Mauritania is most dominant within the traditional upper class of the Moors. For centuries, the so-called Haratin lower class, mostly poor black Africans living in rural areas, have been considered natural slaves by these Moors. Social attitudes have changed among most urban Moors, but in rural areas, the ancient divide is still very alive.
   There have been many attempts to assess the real extension of slavery in modern Mauritania, but these have mostly been frustrated by the Nouakchott government's official stance that the practice has been eliminated. In 1994, Amnesty International claimed that 90,000 Blacks still live as "property" of their master. The further estimated that some 300,000 freed slaves continued to serve their former masters because of psychological or economic dependence."