Abu al-Fadl al-‘Abbas (as) -The standard-bearer

[S.M.H.A.]

 

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Al-’Abbas in Arabic

Referring to the linguistic meaning of the Arabic al-’Abbas, Ibn-Manzhour5 in his al-Ayn, writes down:

Al-’Abbas - the lion that other lions fear and escape6

https://www.al-islam.org/al-abbas-badr-shahin/birth-and-early-life#al-’abbas-arabic

Epithets

Epithet is a word or phrase that expresses a quality or attribute which is considered to be a characteristic of the person or thing mentioned.1 Epithets then reflect one’s characteristics, whether good or bad.

To al-’Abbas a number of lofty epithets expressing his kind mentality and high moral standards have been ascribed:

https://www.al-islam.org/al-abbas-badr-shahin/epithets#bab-ul-husayn

Al-’Abbas in the Imams’ Sight

https://www.al-islam.org/al-abbas-badr-shahin/al-abbas-imams-sight

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Hamil ul-Liwaa

The holding of standards in wars is the most significant position in armies. Standards are given exclusively to the soldiers who enjoy special military abilities. During the battle of at-Taff, the standard was in the hand of Abu’l-Fadhl al-’Abbas who preserved and held it from the beginning of the tragic journey from Medina to up until the last spark of his life.

Al-’Abbas protected that standard so bravely and uniquely that he embraced it to his chest when his two hands were severed. In more than one situation, al-’Abbas asked his brother Imam al-Husayn for permission for fighting, but the Imam used to say to him, “You are the standard-bearer of my army. If you are martyred, my troops will separate”.

It is also well known that standard-bearers are chosen according to special qualifications:

The standard-bearer must be accepted by everybody and must bear qualities such as courage, chivalry, and honor.

The standard-bearers must also exert all efforts to keep the standard high. For this reason, al-’Abbas exerted unique efforts for keeping the standard high. When his right hand was severed, he held the standard in the left. And when this one was also severed, he embraced the standard to his chest and held onto it until the last breath of his life.

Historians have also recorded that when the Umayyad army raided at the camp of Imam al-Husayn after his martyrdom - they robbed everything including the standard borne by al-’Abbas.

In Syria, when Yazid’s sight fell on that standard, he was amazed. He noticed that it was completely stabbed at all places except at the place of its handle, where it was held. He asked about the bearer of that standard and was told that it was al-’Abbas ibn ‘Ali.

Astonished by the courage of al-’Abbas, Yazid turned his face to the attendants and said: “Look at this standard! It is stabbed in every place except its handle. This clearly means that its bearer was so courageous and chivalrous that he faced all stabs and strokes without letting that standard fall from his hand. This is the true loyalty to a brother!!”

Hence, al-’Abbas was called ‘Hamil ul-Liwaa’, the standard- bearer.

https://www.al-islam.org/al-abbas-badr-shahin/epithets#hamil-ul-liwaa

In the special ziyara of al-’Abbas that Abu-Hamza ath-Themali narrated, Imam as-Sadiq (a) says:

“Salaam be upon you, the righteous servant!”

[S.M.H.A.]

How good the Lord's many sacrifices

Offered on the banks of the Euphrates!

The best of guidance is that

Sacrifices come from those who guide,

After having said their prayers

Spent to be for the prayers sacrifices.20

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The one whose light enables all to see

At Karbla’ is killed and none to bury,

O Grandson of the Prophet! May He

Reward you with goodness for us and for me,

May your balance of Good Deeds never fall short.

To me you were a mountain where I seek resort.

To be kind to kinsfolk you used to always exhort.

Who now shall to the orphans and the destitute import

And to whom shall the helpless go when in need?

By Allah! Never shall I fall short of my every deed

By trading you for anyone else's worth

Till I am buried between the sands and the earth

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The mighty lions mourn their youths

And their saviours when calamity overwhelms,

Mourning them with blood. So tell the burning heart

How the red sigh does ascend;

It yearns, but its yearning is crying,

It mourns, but its mourning is only by sign.23

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O soul! After al-Husayn nobody does count!

After him, you should to nothing amount,

Here is al-Husayn nearing his end

While you drink of cool water?!

By Allah! Such is not a deed

At all enjoined by my creed!25

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I do not fear death when it calls upon me,

Till among the swords you bury me.

My soul protects the one

Who is the Prophet's grandson,

Al-’Abbas am I, the water bag do I bear

When I meet evil, I know no fear!

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By Allah! If you cut off my right hand,

I shall not cease defending my creed,

And an Imam true to his conviction do I defend,

A son of the trustworthy Prophet whom Allah did send.

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Beside al-’Alqami he fell, how I wish to witness

Those who subdued him drinking of bitterness.

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Disappointment marked his forehead,

So the mountains crumbled for his pain.

Why not since it was the beauty of his face

And on his forehead the pleasure of his heart?

O supporter of his family, waterer of his children,

Bearer of the standard with all his determination!30

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He called, filling the valleys with his cries

Even solid stones from their horrors are in pain

O Brother! Who after you shall guard Muhammad's daughters

When they seek mercy from the merciless?

My hands after you are paralyzed,

My eyes blinded, and split is my spine,

For others, cheeks are beaten,

But these white deer before my eyes

Are now beating their cheeks.

Between your terrible death and my own

Is like I call you before and you are pleased,

Here is your sword: Who after you

Shall with it subdue the foes?

And here is your standard: Who shall with it advance?

O son of my father! You have dwarfed in my eyes

The death of all my offspring,

And the wound is healed only by

What is more painful, so

He knelt over and his tears

Painted the ground like gold,

He wished to kiss his lips but he found

No place spared from a weapon's kiss.32

https://www.al-islam.org/maqtal-al-husayn-abd-al-razzaq-al-muqarram/campaign-family-abu-talib#martrydom-al-‘abbas

 

[Hameedeh]

1 hour ago, S.M.H.A. said:

To al-’Abbas a number of lofty epithets expressing his kind mentality and high moral standards have been ascribed:

https://www.al-islam.org/al-abbas-badr-shahin/epithets#bab-ul-husayn

Al-’Abbas in the Imams’ Sight

https://www.al-islam.org/al-abbas-badr-shahin/al-abbas-imams-sight

Thank you. For those who would like the pdf of that book 'Al-Abbas' here is the link:

https://www.al-islam.org/printpdf/book/export/html/27704

[S.M.H.A.]

“Salaam be upon you, O caretaker of the caravan on its march!

[S.M.H.A.]

Bab ul-Hawaaij

People believed that God will surely settle the needs of him who implores to Him by seeking the intercession of al-’Abbas for the special rank that he enjoys in the sight of Almighty God for dedicating himself to the obedience to Imam al-Husayn. Hence, al-’Abbas is called ‘Bab ul-Hawaaij’ - the door to settlement of needs.

https://www.al-islam.org/al-abbas-badr-shahin/epithets#bab-ul-hawaaij

[S.M.H.A.]

[S.M.H.A.]

[S.M.H.A.]

[S.M.H.A.]

[S.M.H.A.]

In the special ziyara of al-’Abbas that Abu-Hamza ath-Themali narrated,

Imam as-Sadiq (a) says:

“Salaam be upon you, the righteous servant!”

https://www.al-islam.org/al-abbas-badr-shahin/epithets#al-abd-us-salih

[S.M.H.A.]

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Zayd Ibn al-Ruqad al-Jahni ambushed him from behind a palm tree assisted by Hakim Ibn al-Tufayl al-Sanbasi, dealing a sword blow to his right arm, completely severing it. He (‘a), said,

By Allah! If you cut off my right hand,

I shall not cease defending my creed,

And an Imam true to his conviction do I defend,

A son of the trustworthy Prophet whom Allah did send.

https://www.al-islam.org/maqtal-al-husayn-abd-al-razzaq-al-muqarram/campaign-family-abu-talib#martrydom-al-‘abbas

[S.M.H.A.]

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Shaikh Saduq relates from Imam Ali Zainul Abedeen (a.s.) that:

“May Allah’s Mercy be upon Abbas! He self-sacrificed fairly and underwent trials. He offered his life for his brother until both his arms were severed. And Allah, the Mighty, the Sublime, compensated him with two wings and he flies in Paradise along with the Angels as He had presented to Ja’far bin Abi Talib (a.s.). While Abbas (a.s.) possesses such a position near Allah, may He be Hallowed and Exalted, that on the day of Qiyamah all the martyrs will be envious of it”.

https://www.al-islam.org/nafasul-mahmum-relating-heart-rending-tragedy-karbala-shaykh-abbas-qummi/combat-members-imam-husayn#relating-martyrdom-our-master-abbas-bin-ali-bin-abi-talib

[S.M.H.A.]

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Now note this majestic scene!

What greatness!

What valour!

What a spirit of understanding and self-sacrifice!

A lone warrior, alone by himself, advances against a host.

The number of men who guarded the river bank was four thousand. He descends along the river bank and leads his horse into the water (all historians have written this).

First, he fills the waterskin that he has brought and lays it on his shoulder.

He is thirsty. The air is hot and has been fighting.

But as he sits on the back of his horse and the horse stands in water reaching up to its belly, he lowers his hands into water, takes water into them and raises them somewhat towards his sacred lips.

Those who were watching from a distance report that he hesitated for a while. Then they saw that he threw the water back and came out of the river without drinking any.

No one knew why Abu Al-Fadl did not drink water there.

But when he came out he recited rajaz verses which were addressed to himself. Now from these verses they understood why he had not drunk water:

O soul of Abu al-Fadl!

My wish is that you live not after Husayn!

Will you have a drink of cold water,

While there stands Husayn, thirsty, near the tents,

And about to drink the cup of death!?

Such is not the way of my faith,

Nor that of one who abides in conviction and truth!15

What would become of manliness? Of honour? Of caring love? And of sharing in the hardship of one's dear ones? Isn't Husayn your Imam, and you his follower?

While Husayn is about to drink the cup of death,

Will you have a drink of cold water?

Never! My faith does not permit me to do that! My loyalty does not allow me to do such a thing! Abu al-Fadl changed his route while returning and now he came through the palm groves. Earlier, he had come by the direct way, but he knew that he now carried a precious trust with him.

So he changed his route and all his concern now was to get the water safely to the camp, for it was possible that a single arrow may pierce the waterskin and fail his task of bringing the water to its destination.

In the mean while they heard that Abu al-Fadl had changed his rajaz.

It appeared that something had happened. Now he cried out:

By God!

Even if you sever my right arm,

I will persist in defending my faith,

And the Imam, who is the true one, for certain,

the Prophet's grandson, pure and trustworthy!16

That is, by God even if you cut my right arm I will not flinch from defending Husayn. Not much time passed when his rajaz changed again:

O my soul, fear not the faithless,

And receive the good news of Almighty's mercy,

In the company of the Prophet, the Master and the Elect,

Though, insolently, they should slash my left arm!17

These rajaz verses signaled that his left arm too had been severed. They write that with characteristic dexterity he somehow turned the water-skin and bent himself over it. I will not say what happened thereafter as it is most heart rending.

It is a custom to recount the account of the ordeals of this great human being on the night of Tasu'ah (9th Muharram). Let me add that Umm al-Banin, the mother of Hadrat Abu al-Fadl was alive at the time of the event of Karbala', though she was in Madinah at the time. She was given the news that all her four sons were martyred at Karbala'.

This saintly woman would go to the Baqi' cemetery and mourn over her sons. They write that her elegies were so full of pathos that they brought tears to everyone who heard them, even Marwan ibn Hakam, who was the staunchest of the enemies of the Prophet's family.

Sometimes she would remember all her sons and, at times, especially Abu al-Fadl, the eldest of them, who was senior most of the brothers, both in respect of age as well as in respect of spiritual and bodily merits.

I remember one of her two elegies and I will recite them for you. These are the elegiac verses that this grieved mother recited in mourning for her sons (in general, the Arabs recite elegiac verses in a very touching style):

You, who have seen 'Abbas make repeated forays against the base hosts,

And following him were the Lion's sons, each a mighty lion!

I have been told, my son's head was struck when his arms were cut,

Alas for my Lion's cub! Did a club fall on his head?

O 'Abbas! None would have dared to approach it,

Were your sword in your hand!18

That is, 'O observant eye, tell me, you who have been in Karbala' and watched its scenes and observed the moment when Abu al-Fadl, my son of a lion, with my other lion's cubs following him, attacked that cowardly crowd - tell me is it true what I have been told?

They say that when they had cut my son's arms an iron club fell on my dear one's head. Is that true?' Then she says, “Abu al-Fadl! My dear! I know that if you had arms there wasn't a man in the whole world to have the guts to face you! They had the temerity to do that because your arms had been severed from your body.

https://www.al-islam.org/al-tawhid/vol13-no3/ashura-misrepresentations-distortions-part-1-mutahhari/second-sermon-ashura#factors-tahrif

Ayatullah Murtadha Mutahhari

[S.M.H.A.]

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السَّلاَمُ عَلَيْكَ ايُّهَا ٱلعَبْدُ ٱلصَّالِحُ

alssal¡mu `alaykha ayyuh¡ al`abdu al¥¥¡li¦u

Peace be upon you, O righteous servant (of Allah).

....

السَّلاَمُ عَلَيْكَ يَا ابَاَ ٱلفَضْلِ ٱلعَبَّاسَ بْنَ امِيرِ ٱلْمُؤْمِنِينَ

alssal¡mu `alayka y¡ ab¡ alfa¤li al`abb¡sa ibna am¢ri almu'min¢na

Peace be upon you, O Abu’l-Fa¤l al-`Abb¡s the son of the Commander of the Faithful

https://www.duas.org/hzabbas.htm

[laithAlIRAQI]

Peace be upon you oh lion of your father.

[S.M.H.A.]