AL-ABBAS IN THE BATTLE OF SIFFEEN

Some historians have slackened the reins when they ascribed exaggerate situations of fighting to al-Abbas ibn Ali. As a matter of fact, it is not strange for a hero like al-Abbas to record astonishing situations of fighting from his early youth, because he was the son of that hero and the descendant of the heroes of the Arabs, and, originally, he was prepared for showing supreme heroism and courage. Besides, history has recorded for the Hashemites such unparalleled situations of heroism from early stages of their lives. For instance, Mohammed ibn al-Hanafiyya, son of Imam Ali, showed great heroism in the battles led by his father while he was twenty year old or maybe less.¹¹⁶
Some historians have mentioned that al-Abbas supported his brother Imam al-Hussein who led the division that defeated Muawiya's troops and occupied the two banks of the River Euphrates during the battle of Siffeen.¹¹⁷
Historians, also, have referred to the following narration:
During the battle of Siffeen, a sublime, courageous young man of about seventeen year old putting a veil on the face advanced for fighting. Muawiya, seeing that people feared that warrior, asked Abu'sh-Shaathaa to fight with him. Abu'sh-Shaathaa refused claiming that he was too courageous to fight with such a young warrior. He suggested he would send one of his seven sons to fight. That young warrior could kill all the sons of Abu'sh-Shaathaa who became angry and decided to fight with that warrior himself. The warrior could kill Abu'sh-Shaathaa and return to the camp. Showing their admiration of the heroism and courage of that young warrior whom nobody knew, the companions of Imam Ali recognized that he must have been one of the Hashemites. When Imam Ali removed that veil from the warrior's face, he was al-Abbas. ¹¹⁸

Al-Khawarzmi, in his book titled Manaqib ut-Talibiyyin; 147, records the following incident:
Kuraib the strong soldier in Muawiya's army advanced and could kill three of the horsemen of Imam Ali's army. He then challenged Imam Ali. Saddened by this challenge, Imam Ali called his son al-Abbas who was mature and ordered him to ride off his horse and take off his clothes. The father put on his son's clothes, rode on his horse, and asked his son to dress his clothes and take his horse so that Kuraib will not shrink in fear and withdraw fighting…
These two incidents emphasize that al-Abbas ibn Ali participated in the battle of Siffeen with his father and brothers.
Some historians, however, have denied the participation of al-Abbas ibn Ali in that battle, claiming that it was al-Abbas ibn al-Harith, not al-Abbas ibn Ali, who attended that battle.
This is in fact not accurate, because there are other narrations, recorded in books of history such as al-Khawarzmi's Maqatil ut-Talibiyyin; 105, referring to the roles of al-Abbas ibn al-Harith in that battle.

MORE ORDEALS

After the farce of the arbitration, Imam Ali had to encounter other ordeals created by Muawiya who used the hypocrites and the ignorant as means for achieving his vile purposes. Those classes of people criticized Imam Ali for accepting the opinion of the arbitration after they had obliged him to do so. After the cessation of the battle of Siffin, those groups left the army of Imam Ali and adopted a new course in thought and practice. They were called Khawarij 'the mutineers'. The Imam sent some messengers to convince them to change their opinions, but they did not respond. They went on shedding the blood of innocent people and spreading horror among Muslims.
As a second attempt, Imam Ali decided to visit them hoping he would take them back to the right path. Although he proved their being wrong through undisputable proofs, the Khawarij insisted on mutiny. As Imam Ali noticed that they formed a great danger against the Islamic society, he had to wage war against them. In a place called an-Nahrawan, a horrible fighting occurred between the Khawarij and Imam Ali's army. In that war, the Khawarij were killed completely and none was saved except nine persons.
By the way, al-Abbas ibn Ali, probably, did not participate in this battle, because historians have not referred to any situation for him in this battle. At any rate, some historians believe that Imam Ali prevented some of his sons, including al-Abbas, from fighting in the battles of Siffin and an-Nahrawan because he wanted to save them from death.
After the ordeal of the Khawarij, Muawiya went on enhancing his power through the many raids that he made against some territories of Kufa; the capital of the Islamic State. He also occupied Egypt to take it out from the control of Imam Ali.
Those ordeals that inflicted the Islamic world saddened Imam Ali very much since he felt the coming ordeals, which would be more horrible.
The Khawarij held a conference in Mecca and decided to get rid of Imam Ali, Muawiya, and Amr ibn al-Aas because, as they thought, those three persons were the reasons beyond people's disorder. The ruling authority of Mecca knew about that meeting and, probably, supplied one of the conferee with money to facilitate his mission of killing Imam Ali.
The man, Abdur-Rahman ibn Muljim, came to Kufa and went on preparing for doing his mission with the help of the hypocrites of that city.
At the nineteenth night of the holy month of Ramadan, Imam Ali went to the mosque for leading the collective Fajr prayer. When he raised the head after the prostration, the infidel struck him on the head with his sword. As soon as the Imam felt the stroke, he smiled and declared: "By the Lord of Kaaba, I have won."
He was carried to his house where his sons, daughters, and harem gathered around him. The Imam distributed his sights among his sons as he predicted each one's role in the future. The Imam looked at his son al-Abbas with sights of affection and emotion when he remembered the divine prediction regarding this courageous son and the role that he would play in supporting the religion of God. He then instructed his sons on the high moral standards, commitment to the right, and perseverance on principles.
As the poison of the sword that struck the Imam spread to his entire body, death crept to him in sure steps. The Imam then departed life.
His elder son, Imam al-Hasan, along with his brothers, prepared the funeral rituals of his body. They washed his body, put it in the coffin, and carried it to the burial place in Najaf.
From the conduct of his father, along with the problems and ordeals that happened during his reign, al-Abbas learnt how to stand everything for sake of keeping the principles and achieving justice on this earth. He did believe in the brilliant goals to which his father called and for the application of which he sacrificed everything including his holy soul.
These lessons contributed greatly in creating that high spirit enjoyed by al-Abbas ibn Ali.

THE REIGN OF IMAM AL-HASAN

After his father, Imam al-Hasan held the position of the leadership of the Islamic State. All the political and social circumstances were not stable. The great majority of the military commanders, including the general commander, showed loyalty to Muawiya who seduced them by means of precious bribes. The false idea of the Khawarij, too, worked as a destructive factor that ruined the building of the Imam's wing. As a result, many attempts of assassination, though unsuccessful, were made against the Imam. Finally, some hypocrites accused him of infidelity.
All these ordeals encouraged Muawiya to declare war against the Imam. Thus, Muawiya gathered his powerful army and directed towards Iraq.
Accompanied by a few divisions of his army, Imam al-Hasan directed towards al-Madaain where he resided. Peace treaty with Muawiya was the only solution that would save the Imam's soul and save Muslims from disunity and apostasy. Thus, Imam al-Hasan had to sign a peace treaty with Muawiya.
After that peace treaty, Imam al-Hasan, along with his household and brothers including al-Abbas, left Kufa to Medina. He resided there and began spreading his knowledges among seekers of studies and conferring upon the needy and the poor with his abundant generosity. By the presence of Imam al-Hasan, Medina regained its leading position as the spiritual capital of the Islamic world.
The bitter trials that Imam al-Hasan encountered opened the eyes of al-Abbas on new facts regarding the nature of both the society and the ruling authorities.

MUAWIYA'S REIGN; HORRIBLE NIGHTMARE

After the peace treaty with Imam al-Hasan, Muawiya ibn Abi-Suffian; the mortal enemy and the son of the mortal enemies of Islam, could hold the position of the leadership of the Islamic State after he had eradicated the government of Ali and his descendants-the one and only government, after the Prophet's, that was characterized by ideal justice.
With the collapse of Imam Ali's government, all the values of humanity and morality were replaced by values of paganism, altogether with all of its disadvantages, which Muawiya exerted all efforts for confirming them as an alternate for the principles of Islam.
Under the shades of the Umayyad reign, vice, immorality, despotism, and corruption spread all over the Islamic provinces. Muslims had to encounter insufferable ordeals that tested their perseverance on their principles and the scope of their faith and steadfastness against misfortunes.¹¹⁹
Muawiya, first of all, directed towards the policy of eliminating the Islamic attentive personalities, such as Hijr ibn Edi, Amr ibn al-Hamq, Rushaid al-Hujari, Saad ibn Abi-Waqqas,

Abd-ur-Rahman ibn Khalid, Abd-ur-Rahman ibn Abi-Bakr, and, finally, Imam al-Hasan.
He then dedicated all his possibilities to antagonizing the Ahl-ul-Bayt because they acted as oppositionists, represented the genuine and true trend of Islam, and belonged to that great Prophet who smashed the glories of the other Koreishite clans, especially Muawiya and his father who had stood against him openly as possible as they could until he conquered their city, captured them, and, then, set them free.
He established a faction of fabricators whose missions were to invent words, ascribed falsely to the Prophet, praising the other companions (of the Prophet) so as to be a front against the Ahl-ul-Bayt, invent other words dispraising the Ahl-ul-Bayt, and invent a third collection of words praising the Umayyads. Unfortunately, the influence of these inventions have still been effective and many Muslims have been still deluded by such fabrications that were aimed at deceiving the Islamic nation by taking it away from the actual leadership that God, His Prophet Mohammed, and intellect have selected.
Muawiya, also, issued a formal decision ordering the officials of his government to revile at Imam Ali openly from the mimbars of Masjids all over the Islamic State.
Furthermore, Muawiya used the teaching institutions for achieving his blind goals of eradicating the Ahl-ul-Bayt. Hence, the new generations were brought up on malice against the Ahl-ul-Bayt. All the same, the policies of Muawiya have failed and he was terribly disappointed. Amir ul-Mu'minin Ali ibn Abi-Talib has been the world's song of human perfection and freedom, while the Umayyads have become nothing but a corruptive germ detested by everybody.
All these policies of persecution and grievous forms of discrimination that the Ahl-ul-Bayt had to suffer during the reign of the Umayyads increased in the mentality of al-Abbas the necessity of the struggle against oppression. He also believed in the obligation of revolting against the Umayyads for sake of fulfilling the religious duty and saving the Muslim community against the deviations and wrong policies of those illegitimate rulers.
The gravest danger that Muawiya brought to the Islamic nation was his naming Yazid; his lascivious son as the next ruler of the Islamic State.
Historians have unanimously mentioned that Yazid ibn Muawiya was empty of any humanitarian value. He was sunken in sins and crimes. He declared openly that he had not believed in God or His Prophet and that he had had one and only mission-to eradicate the Prophet's progeny so as to revenge himself against the Prophet and his family who killed many of his fathers and humiliated the others.
Finding his faithless son as the best one to achieve the evil aims of his fathers and him, Muawiya appointed Yazid as the coming leader and instructed him to do some matters that achieve the continuity of the Umayyad dynasty as absolute rulers of this nation.
Even during the funeral ceremonies of Imam al-Hassan, the Umayyads aroused a seditious matter when they prevented the holy body of the Imam to be buried beside the holy body of the Prophet. They exploited the malice that Aisha bore against the Ahl-ul-Bayt for achieving their wicked purposes.
Moreover, they threw the coffin of the Imam with darts. As he could no longer stand the situation, al-Abbas tried to attack the Umayyads and tear them into pieces with his sword, but Imam al-Hussein stopped him and asked him to comply with the will of the dear deceased who ordered them not to shed a single drop of blood because of a matter concerning him.
Thus, the funeral ceremonies were ended peacefully and the holy body of Imam al-Hasan was buried in al-Baqee.
When Muawiya surpassed the limits and adopted policies in violation of the interests of Muslims, Imam al-Hussein, in Medina, denied and exerted all efforts for exposing Muawiya's policies and called Muslims to revolt against such an illegitimate authority. The secret agents in Medina reported all these activities to Muawiya who was frightened; therefore, he forwarded a message to the Imam threatening him with severe procedures if he would not stop. The Imam answered with a strongly-worded message in which he renounced Muawiya's policies by mentioning his horrible political events and declared an opposite situation against that government.¹²⁰
During the season of the hajj, Imam al-Hussein held a political conference by the participation of a good number of Muhajirs, ¹²¹ Ansar, ¹²² and their followers. He delivered a sermon in which he referred to the harsh ordeals that the Prophet's household, as well as all Muslims, had had to encounter during the reign of Muawiya. The Imam also asked the attendants to convey his message to everybody they trust so that Muslims would not be deluded by the mean policies of Muawiya and his agents. ¹²³

THE REVOLUTION OF IMAM AL-HUSSEIN

Abu'l-Fadhl al-Abbas attended all the chapters of the great revolution of his brother-the giant revolution that changed the course of history, shook the whole world, freed the Muslim individuals, and provoked the Muslim publics to stand against the wrong authorities and antagonize every item of despotism and oppression. Indeed, it has been one of the most important revolutions of humanity.
Al-Abbas contributed in this revolution so positively and effectively as he understood all the goals and believed in the necessity of applying them to humanity in general and the Muslim society in particular. He was one of the most important characters of the march of that revolution. He supported his brother, believed in his movements, and trusted his standards. Since the Imam left Medina, al-Abbas did not leave him for even a single moment. Hence, you can find the ghost of al-Abbas attending every item of Imam al-Hussein's march until he lost his life for the sake of that great uprising.
Let us now refer to some chapters of Imam al-Hussein's revolution.

IMAM AL-HUSSEIN REJECTS YAZID'S LEADERSHIP

In the dusk, al-Waleed ibn Aqaba, the ruler of Medina, summoned Imam al-Hussein. As he realized the reason beyond such a summon, the Imam asked his brother al-Abbas, as well as the other men of his household, to protect him. He ordered them to sit out of the ruler's hall until they would hear his loud voice as a sign to come in and save him.
The ruler welcomed the Imam warmly before he informed him about he death of Muawiya and Yazid's decision of taking the acknowledgement of allegiance to him as the new leader of the Islamic nation from people of Medina in general and the Imam in particular.
The Imam asked al-Waleed to give him a respite until next morning. By this respite, the Imam intended to gather people the next morning to declare his rejection of Yazid's leadership and his call to mutiny against him.
Marwan ibn al-Hakam who attended that situation burst forth to agitate the fire of sedition. He addressed to al-Waleed: "If he departs you without taking the homage from him, you will never be able to take it any time else before numerous victims from both parties will fall. Detain him so as to take his acknowledgement of allegiance to the new caliph. If he does not give it, you should then behead him."
Looking at Mawran with contempt, Imam al-Hussein said to him: "Is it you or he who will kill me? By God I swear, you, the mean one, have lied."
He then turned to al-Waleed and said:
"Emir, we are the household of prophecy, the core of the divine mission, the object of the visiting angels, and the center of the (divine) mercy. Allah commenced (the creation) with us and will seal with us. Yazid is a faithless man. He drinks wines, kills the respectful soul, and declares lechery openly. My example does not acknowledge allegiance to his. But, let both of us wait until morning and see which one is more meritorious of the caliphate -the religious and political leadership of the Islamic nation- and of being acknowledged for homage…" ¹²⁴

By these words, Imam al-Hussein, indifferent to the ruling authorities and their threats, rejected paying homage to Yazid and declared the reason beyond such rejection.

TO MECCA

Imam al-Hussein, then, decided to leave Medina to Mecca so that he would betake it as his new center. Before he left, he directed to the tomb of his grandfather Prophet Mohammed (s) to complain to him about the ordeals that gathered around him. He also directed towards the tomb of his mother Fatima the Veracious (a) to say farewell. Finally he visited the tomb of his brother Imam al-Hasan (a). He then led his household and harem to Mecca. Along his march, his standard was flapping in dignity and courage in the hand of his brother al-Abbas who held the mission of supervising the affairs of his harem.
Some personalities asked Imam al-Hussein to change the way that he took to Mecca so that the authorities would not catch him. But the Imam declared courageously:
"No, by Allah. I will not leave this way before I reach Mecca until Allah does what He wills."
On the third of Shaban, the Imam's caravan arrived in Mecca and resided in the house of al-Abbas ibn Abd-ul-Muttalib. The Meccans received the Imam so warmly and frequented him severally. The Imam was also frequented by the hajjis and visitors of the Holy House of God. During all his moments, the Imam was broadcasting the political and religious knowledge among his visitors and calling people to revolt against the illegitimate leadership of the Umayyad dynasty.
Meanwhile the ruling authorities in Mecca feared very much after they had noticed the Muslims' frequentation to Imam al-Hussein and their reporting that the Imam is worthier of the leadership of the Islamic nation than the descendants of Abu-Suffian who waged wars against Islam.
The governor of Mecca, Amr ibn Saeed al-Ashdaq, hurried to the Imam and said with wrath: "What has brought you to the Holy House of God?"

With a tone of confidence and quietness, the Imam answered: "I have come to seek the refuge of Allah and this House."
As this procedure threatened the Umayyad government, the governor of Mecca sent a message to Yazid telling him about all details. As he read the message, Yazid sent a note to Abdullah ibn Abbas in which he threatened Imam al-Hussein (a) for such movement and asked him to interfere for preventing the Imam from revolting against his government. Abdullah ibn Abbas answered Yazid's note by advising him not to oppose the Imam since he left Medina because the ruling authorities there did not respect his standing and personality.
Hence, the Imam resided in Mecca for some time during which all his movements and activities were reported to Damascus; the capital of the Umayyad State.

THE SHIA'S REVOLT IN KUFA