Birth and Early Life of Abbas (a.s.)

Al-Abbas, was the first child of Umm-ul-Banin. With his birth, Medina shone and the whole world glittered. Waves of pleasures flowed in the family of Ali (a), for the birth of their magnificent moon that would light this world with his merits, and would add immortal glory to the numerous glories of the Hashemites.

As soon as Imam Ali (a) was given the good news of the birth of this blessed child, he hurried to take him, kiss him frequently, and hold the Shariite ceremonies of newborns. The Imam (a) recited the azan 44 in his newborn's right ear and recited the iqama 45 in the left. Hence, the first voice that penetrated this great newborn's hearing was his father's, shouting:

Allahu Akbar -Allah is the Greatest…

La ilaha illa (a)llah -There is no god but Allah.

These great words, which are the message of all prophets and the melody of all the God-fearing, found a ground in the inner self of al-Abbas. They, later on, became the most significant elements of his personality. In his future, he would adopt the calling to the true application of these words for which he would lose all his limbs.

On the seventh day of birth, Imam Ali (a) shaved the newborn's hair and gave golden and silver alms as weighty as the cut hair. As he had done to al-Hasan and al-Hussein, Imam Ali (a) slaughtered a ram as offering to God on behalf of his baby. These practices are adopted from the Prophet (s) whose words, practices, and confirmations are regarded as authoritative ground, altogether with the holy Koran, for Muslims.

Year of Birth

Historians 46 have confirmed that al-Abbas was born on the fourth of Shabaan, AH 26.

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44. Azan (Announcement) is the Muslim call to the ritual prayers.

45. Iqama is the prefatory statements of the ritual prayers.

46. See Qamar Bani Hashim; 2/5 and Anees ush-Shia.

Adopted from the book : "Al-Abbas"