Al Abbas

The book Al Abbas is about the personality of al-’Abbas ibn ‘Ali and deals completely with all the topics and details of his life, his unique and unmatched position in Karbala.

Al Abbas
Al Abbas.jpg
AuthorBadr Shahin
LanguageEnglish
GenreHistoric
Published2001
PublisherAnsariyan Publications
Pages152

About the authorEdit

Badr Shahin got a Bachelor of Arts in Language, interpretation and translation from the University of Mosul in 1996. He has lived in Iran where he has worked as translator of Islamic books.

About the bookEdit

This book published in Ansariyan Publications (January 1, 2001), has 152 pages and best sellers rank of 23,883,635 in Books.

This book has ten chapters related to the whole lifetime of al-’Abbas ibn ‘Ali along with factors, matters, and circumstances that contributed to the formation of his great personality, such as the hereditary factors, the family and social environment, and the political circumstances that happened during his lifetime.

Abstract of chaptersEdit

Chapter 1, The Pure LineageEdit

Al-’Abbas ibn ‘Ali enjoyed a close relation with Prophet Muhammad since he was the son of Ali ibn Abi-Talib who was an independent source of honor and dignity. From the maternal side, al-’Abbas was the son of a great lady namely Umm-ul-Banin, who enjoyed excellent lineage and personality. In addition to her high moral standards, she was well known for her loyalty to the Ahlul Bayt and her devoutness.

Chapter 2, Umm-ul-BaninEdit

Umm-ul-Banin belonged to one of the most celebrated families in fields of honor, openhandedness, nobility, courage, and bravery. This chapter examines Umm-ul-Banin in the Sight of Muslims and Ahlul bayt.

Chapter 3, Brothers and SistersEdit

Al-’Abbas had fifteen brothers and eighteen sisters. In this chapter we read about the way Abbas’s father, the great Imam Ali, brought his children up on uprightness and piety. So it is not surprising for al-’Abbas, to hold all such intellectual and spiritual virtues in his unparalleled personality, since his forefathers, father, mother, brothers, and sisters were all models of human perfection.

Chapter 4, Birth and Early LifeEdit

Al-’Abbas was born on the fourth of Sha’ban, AH 26. His father named him al-’Abbas (the frowning), and nicknamed him Abu’l-Fadhl (father of virtue). He was nursed at the hands of a faithful, mother who nurtured him on faith, loyalty, knowledge, devoutness and high principles. His father too, was that great personality who is described as a copy of the Prophet, the inheritor of the prophet’s knowledge and the hero of all combats. Al-’Abbas was brought up under the custody of these parents. No wonder then that he possessed such a personality and offered such big sacrifices for the sake of his religion and principles.

Chapter 5, EpithetsEdit

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. Epithets then reflect one’s characteristics, whether good or bad. In this chapter the author mentions a number of lofty epithets of al-’Abbas expressing his kind mentality and high moral standards such as Bab ul-Husayn, Qamar Bani Hashim, As-Saqqaa, and Bab ul-Hawaaij.

Chapter 6, PersonalityEdit

Al-’Abbas ibn Ali was a whole world of virtues and merits. His personality included each and every lofty characteristic. It was however sufficient honor for him to be the son of Imam Ali Amir ul-Mu’minin– the model of human perfection. Thus, al-’Abbas inherited all elements of human perfection from his father and became, in the sight of Muslims, the epitome of virtue and high moral standardsthen the author refers to some of these elements: Courage, Faith, Disdain, Patience, Loyalty, Mercy and Kindness, Will Power.

Chapter 7 Al-’Abbas in the Imams’ SightEdit

This chapter is about Imams’ sight toward Al-’Abbas. The Immaculate Imams are the representatives of God, the successors of His Prophet and the leaders that God has assigned for people so as to make distinction between the right and the wrong. They praised many persons and also condemned many others - each according to their deeds. On that account, they described Al-’Abbas, with the finest words of praise, appreciation, and commendation and showed their admiration for his heroic performance for defending Islam.

Chapter 8, The Holy ShrineEdit

From early ages of humankind, people have showed various forms of adulation to their honorable and unique personalities. One of these forms is the sanctification of their tombs by constructing handsome buildings that are, in most cases, taken as places of worship. Here we see that not only is the holy shrine of al-’Abbas visited by the Shia, but also Muslims from other Islamic sects have made pilgrimage to that shrine ceaselessly. Thus, the holy tomb of al-’Abbas has been, day and night, visited by various kinds of people: needy who seek God’s charity, an ailing person who searches for cure from the Lord, a grieved one who hopes for relief from God, the terrified who seeks succor, and the affected who seeks solution - all through the intercession of al-’Abbas. All return with pleasure and a happy heart as the intercession of al-’Abbas, as usual, achieves success.

Chapter 9, Descendants of Al-’AbbasEdit

Al-’Abbas had five sons - Ubaidullah, al-Fadhl, al-Hasan, al- Qasim, and Muhammad, and two daughters. All of them did well during their lives and were praise and celebrated by scholars. Books of history are full of names of great personalities among the descendants of al-’Abbas ibn ‘Ali.

Chapter 10, Events and MartyrdomEdit

Being neither naive nor superficial, many events were associated with al-’Abbas right from his earliest youth. These events were links in a long series of conflict between Hashim and the Hashemites on one side and the other Koreishite descendants and clans on the other side. This conflict took different forms, passed through many stages, and finally, took the form of the conflict between right and wrong.

Al-’Abbas fell to the ground, shouted, “Peace be upon you, Abu-Abdullah!”

Imam Hussain shouted, “We have surely lost everything as we lost you, O Abu’l-Fadhl al-’Abbas.

SourceEdit