Karbalā

Abū al-Faḍl Al-ʿAbbās(a)

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Al-ʿAbbās b. ʿAlī, known as Abū l-Faḍl1, Abū l-Qāsim2 and Qamar Banī Hāshim3, is the son of Imām ʿAlī(a) and Umm al-Banīn(a). He was the commander and standard-bearer of the caravan of Imām al-Ḥusayn(a) in the Battle of Karbalā.

He is considered the exemplar of dignity, bravery, generosity, and obedience of the infallible Imām(a). In Karbalā, he was the standard-bearer and water-supplier of the army of his brother, al-Ḥusayn b. ʿAlī(a) and thus he is also known as Saqqa4 of the plain of Karbalā. Al-ʿAbbās(a) is also known as Bab al-Ḥawa’ij5, al-Ṭayyār6 and al-Shahīd7.

  • Imām al-Sajjād(a) said, "May Allāh have mercy upon my uncle al-ʿAbbās. He surely made sacrifice and did a great fight until his hands were cut and he sacrificed himself for his brother. Allāh gave him two wings like his uncle Jaʿfar al-Ṭayyār to fly in paradise together with angels. Indeed, al-ʿAbbās has a position before Almighty Allāh that all the martyrs would wish to reach on the Day of Judgment.”

  • At the beginning of the ziyārah text of al-ʿAbbās b. ʿAlī(a), Imām al-Ṣādiq(a) says, "Peace be with you, O righteous and obedient servant of Allāh and His Prophet(s), and obedient to the Commander of the Believers(a) and al-Ḥasan(a) and al-Ḥusayn(a).”

  • Imām al-Ṣādiq(a) had described al-ʿAbbās as, “(He had) an impressive insight, great intelligence, strong faith, [he made] jihad in the company of Imām al-Ḥusayn(a), sacrifice, martyrdom in the way of his Imām(a), submission before the successor of the Prophet(s), approving the Imām(a) of his time, loyalty, striving until the last resorts, …"

  • Imām al-Mahdī(a) said, "peace be with Abū l-Fadl al-ʿAbbās, son of the Commander of the Believers(a) who sacrificed his soul for his brother; used this world as a means for the hereafter and was sacrificed for his brother. He was a guardian who tried hard to bring water to the thirsty of the camp and his both hands were cut in Jihad on the way of God. May God distance his killers Yazid b. Raqad and Hakim b. Tufayl al-Ta'i from His mercy."

Footnotes

  1. The Father of Excellence ↩

  2. Adopted from Ziyārat al-Arba`een where Jabir b. Abd Allāh al-Ansari addresses him, "Peace be upon you, O Abū l-Qasim; Peace be with you O al-Abbas b. Ali”. ↩

  3. The moon of the Hashemites ↩

  4. The water-supplier ↩

  5. The gate to fulfilling people's needs ↩

  6. The flyer ↩

  7. The martyr ↩