The Birth Anniversary of al-Abbas ibn Ali (p)

[Note: The Center for Islamic Pluralism reposts this announcement in honor of Albanian Bektashi Sufi veneration of Abaz Aliu (as he is known in Albanian.)]

Bektashi shrine of Abaz Aliu, Mount Tomorr, Albania.

Monday, May 1st, 2017, marks the Birth Anniversary of al-Abbas ibn Ali (p), 4th of Sha'ban, 1438 A.H.

Name: Abbas

Title: Qamar Bani Hashim (Moon of the Hashemites)

Kunya: Abu al-Fadl

Father: Ali ibn Abi Talib (Peace be upon them)

Mother: Fatimah bint Hizam al-Qilabiyyah (Umm al-Baneen)

Born: 4th Shaban, 26 AH/647 CE in Madinah, Hejaz region of the Arabian Peninsula

Died: 10th Muharram, 61 AH/680 CE, after being martyred in the Battle of Karbala

Age at Martyrdom: 33

Buried: Karbala, Iraq

Al-Majlisi has narrated that "Al-Abbas was a handsome man. When he would mount the horse his feet would reach the ground. He was called the full moon of banu Hashim and He would keep the banner of al-Hussain, peace be upon him."

On the 10th of Muharram, when the enemy blocked him from the water, he came out against them reciting:

"I am not afraid of death because death keeps calling for retaliation, I fight until I cannot be seen in the heat of the battlefield, my soul is to protect the soul of al-Mustafa, the purified one, I have come with the waterskin [to fetch the water] and I am not afraid of [the coming] battle."

(From Behar al-Anwar, Vol. 45)

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