The genealogy of this person is as follows: ʿAbbās b. ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib b. Hāshim b. ʿAbd Manāf al-Qurashī al-Hāshimī Abū al-Faḍl al-Makkī. He is the uncle of the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him). He is the ancestor of the Abbasid caliphs. He was two or three years older than the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him). He was taken captive at the Battle of Badr. He ransomed himself by paying a ransom. He also paid the ransom for his nephews, ʿAqīl b. Abī Ṭālib and Nawfal b. al-Ḥārith, and thus freed them from captivity.
As mentioned on previous pages, when ʿAbbās was taken captive and bound, while all the Muslims were asleep, the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) could not sleep and remained awake. He was asked:
– O Messenger of God, what is the matter?
He replied:
– I hear ʿAbbās groaning, bound among the captives. That is why I cannot sleep.
Upon this, one of the Muslims got up and loosened ʿAbbās's bonds, his groaning ceased, and the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) was able to sleep. ʿAbbās became Muslim during the conquest of Mecca. The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) met him at Juhfa, and he returned together with the Messenger of God. ʿAbbās was present at the conquest of Mecca. According to reports, he had become Muslim even earlier, but continued to reside in Mecca with the permission of the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him). Indeed, a hadith has been transmitted on this matter. Allah knows best the truth of it.
The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) showed him respect and honored him as a son honors his father. He used to say, "This is the remnant of my forefathers." Among people, ʿAbbās was the one who showed the most compassion to the Quraysh and maintained kinship ties the most. He was a man of insight and sound intellect. He was tall and fair-skinned, and he used to cover his face with a veil. He had ten sons, apart from his daughters. His sons were: Tammām (the youngest), Ḥārith, ʿAbd Allāh, ʿUbayd Allāh, ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, ʿAwn, Faḍl, Qutham, Kathīr, and Maʿbad. He also freed seventy of his slaves.
Imam Aḥmad b. Ḥanbal narrated from Saʿd b. Abī Waqqāṣ that the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) said about ʿAbbās: "This ʿAbbās b. ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib is the most generous of the Quraysh and the one who maintains kinship ties the most."
According to what is established in the Ṣaḥīḥs of al-Bukhārī and Muslim, when the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) sent ʿUmar to collect zakat, people said: "The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) exempted Ibn Jamīl, Khālid b. al-Walīd, and his uncle ʿAbbās from this duty and did not send them." The Messenger of God then said to ʿUmar: "Ibn Jamīl does not seek revenge, but as for Khālid, you are wronging him. He has dedicated his armor and equipment in the way of Allah. ʿAbbās is, in my view, like him. O ʿUmar, have you not heard that a man's uncle is like a part of his father?"
According to a narration in the Ṣaḥīḥ of al-Bukhārī from Anas, when ʿUmar went out to pray for rain (istisqāʾ), he would take ʿAbbās with him, and, for the sake of his status, would supplicate to Allah for rain, saying: "O Allah, when we were afflicted by drought, we used to ask You for rain by means of our Prophet, and You would grant us rain. Now we ask You for rain by means of the uncle of our Prophet." Upon this supplication of ʿUmar, Allah sent rain to the Muslims. It is reported that when ʿUmar and ʿUthmān passed by ʿAbbās on horseback, they would dismount to honor him.
According to al-Wāqidī and others, ʿAbbās died on the Friday following the twelfth night of the month of Rajab in the thirty-second year of the Hijra. According to another report, he died in the month of Ramaḍān in the thirty-second year of the Hijra at the age of eighty-eight. His funeral prayer was led by ʿUthmān, and he was buried in the Baqīʿ cemetery. There are also reports that he died in the thirty-third or thirty-fourth year of the Hijra. There are indeed many virtues and merits related to him.