HASBEYA, a small Druse town of the Beka', situated at the foot of Mt. Hermon, 36 m. W. of Damascus and set in the midst of olives, vines and other fruit trees. Its castle was held by the Crusaders but recaptured by the Druses (1 In the immediate neighbourhood is the chief sanctuary of the Druses and the place where the founder of the sect dwelt. A large number of Christians were massacred here in 186o. In the course of the punitive expedition the sacred and secret books of the Druses were discovered. The ground around Hasbeya is volcanic and there are bitumen pits in the neighbourhood. An identification of the site with the Baal-Gad or Baal-Hermon of the Bible has been suggested. (E. Ro.) HASDAI IBN SHAPRUT (c. 915-97o/9o), the founder of the new culture of the Jews in Moorish Spain in the loth century, was born at Jaen and died at Cordoba. He was both physician and minister to Caliph Abd ar-Rahman III. in Cordoba. A man of wide learning and culture, he encouraged the settlement of Jewish scholars in Andalusia, and promoted the Jewish renaissance in Europe.
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