Beni Hassan

Beni Ḥassan (Arabic: بني حسان "sons of Ḥassān") is a nomadic group of Arabian 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 tribes.

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, Arabian 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.

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.

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

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