Editing Abbas B. Ali B. Abu Taleb (section)

==Abbas in Popular Culture==
The cult of Abbas incorporates many features related to water and fertility. In Kashefi’s Fotovvatnama-ye soltani<ref>ed. M. J. Mahiub, Tehran, 1350 Š./1971.</ref>, he ranks in the selsela (lineage) of the [[ saqqa]] saints, second in line after Ali; those who, out of devotion for the martyrs of Karbala, become saqqa, i.e., give water to the thirsty as an act of charity, “do it in imitation of Abbas-e Ali.” But there is no mention of his name in a later treatise on water carriers popular in Indo-Persian corporations.<ref>A. M. Kassim, “Etudes sur les corporations musulmanes indo-persanes,” REI, 1927, pp. 249f.</ref> Invocations such as “Ya Hazrat-e Abbas!” (O, exalted Abbas) or “Ya Abu’l-Fazl!” are generally engraved on the metal hand (panja) with outstretched fingers symbolizing the Ahl-e Bayt fixed on top of the standards ([[Alam|alam]]) carried in [[Muharram]] processions. Special votive ribbons are attached to these alams, and ex-votos are brought to their bases by women on the eve of Ashura to obtain protection for their infant children. Parents dedicate their young sons to the activity of supplying water to attendants at the Moharram ceremonies in memory of Hazrat-e Abbas. Such acts fulfill vows made when seeking children’s recovery from illness. Devotees used to offer special oblation ([[nadhr]]) consisting of a certain amount of bread and yoghurt—nan o mast, colloquially nun-o-mas (nadhr-e Hazrat-e Abbas)—to be increased each year. Other widespread practices of invocation to Abbas have been observed in Persia. Thus, to avenge oneself or to harm somebody, one may say: “Ya Hazrat-e Abbas!” or “Hazrat-e Abbas kur-et kone!” (“May H. A. blind you!”).It seems that in recent years the making of a vow in relation to Abbas has become more common among women, who, to fulfill a vow, organize religious gatherings called [http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/sofra sofra] Hazrat-e Abbas, during which food is shared.<ref>Gustav Thaiss, “Religious Symbolism and Social Change: The Drama of Husain,” in Scholars, Saints and Sufis, ed. Nikki R. Keddie, Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1972, pp. 352ff.</ref>

Abbas’s likeness, generally as a warrior riding his white stallion, has been represented in many ways (sometimes while cleaving his enemies to the waist with a single blow of his sword) in frescoes, paintings on wooden tablets, glass, and cloth (qalamkar), oil-painted shamayel used for pardadari (q.v.), on standards, in ceramics, lithographed illustrations, and so on. [[Saqqakhanas]] (water fountains), often built near a [[tekya]] (hall for the Moharram ceremonies), are generally dedicated to Hazrat-e Abbas. Such votive chapels (few are extant) are sometimes decorated with tilework (kashikari) scenes depicting Abbas’s heroic deeds and martyrdom similar to those found on tekya walls.