Rafed English
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Undoubtedly the family relation with the great personalities is an honor and dignity, especially when such great personality is the choice of God and the seal of the prophets. Al-Abbas ibn Ali enjoyed a close relation with Prophet Mohammad (a) since he was the son of Ali ibn Abi-Talib who was an independent source of honor and dignity. About Ali, the Prophet (a) and his family, said:

"My brother Ali ibn Abi-Talib enjoys innumerable merits. Neither jinn nor can human beings count them."
Mohammed ibn Idris ash-Shafii; the founder of the Shafiite school of law answered those who asked him to say his opinion about Ali:

"What can we say about a person whose partisans have had to hide his merits because of fear, and enemies have hidden his merits out of envy? But between these two, his merits that have become widely known are too numerous to be counted." 1

Ibn Abi'l-Hadid; the Mutazilite, says:

"The merits of Ali ibn Abi-Talib are too great and familiar to be mentioned or detailed. Even his enemies and rivalries could do nothing but confessing of the unmatched virtue of this man whose advantages are unconcealed and excellences are unrestrained. Everybody knows that when the Umayyads held the reins of the Islamic world, they spared no single effort for extinguishing the light of Imam Ali and inventing flaws against him. Moreover, they issued the decisions of cursing him openly from the mimbars of their mosques and sentenced to death everyone who would mention any of his incalculable merits. They also prevented people from reporting any narration that may refer to any of his excellences. Finally, they even prevented people from calling his name on their newborns. Nevertheless, all these procedures exalted Ali's reputation and took him to more elevated levels. He was like musk whose perfume spreads when it is screened, and like the sun that cannot be screened by one's palm, and like daylight that is seen by many eyes if one eye is closed against it." 2

Thus was the father of al-Abbas who has every right to take pride in him and learns from his morals, ethics, and excellences.

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1. See al-Anwar ul-Bahiyya.

2. See Ibn Abi'l-Hadid's Sharhu Nahj il-Balagha; the Introduction.

Adopted from the book : "Al-Abbas"