diff --git a/lib/haml/helpers.rb b/lib/haml/helpers.rb
index 73b221c3..190f3f62 100644
--- a/lib/haml/helpers.rb
+++ b/lib/haml/helpers.rb
@@ -311,7 +311,7 @@ module Haml
     #
     def haml_tag(name, *rest, &block)
       name = name.to_s
-      text = rest.shift.to_s unless rest.first.is_a? Symbol
+      text = rest.shift.to_s unless [Symbol, Hash, NilClass].any? {|t| rest.first.is_a? t}
       flags = []
       flags << rest.shift while rest.first.is_a? Symbol
       attributes = Haml::Precompiler.build_attributes(haml_buffer.html?,