Sayed Mahmoud Al-Mosawi
When we call to mind the great models in history, which had a great impact on the movement of history and on changing its course, we must search for the qualities that dwelt in the awareness of those personalities, and which were in turn a fundamental starting point for their choices and an important impetus in shaping their endeavor and attaining their goals.
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Al-ʿAbbas ibn ʿAli (a) is a distinguished historical personality; he is one of the most important heroes of Karbala, and he is the one who carried the banner of Imam al-Husayn (a) in confronting the forces of injustice, darkness and corruption. He fashioned for himself a personality that history can hardly bestow, a personality that became implanted in hearts and in minds, and in free consciences, when he offered great sacrifices in the way of Allah and for the sake of reform in the umma of Islam, as he carried the banner of his brother Imam al-Husayn (a) to set right what had become crooked in the affair of the umma and to straighten what had become bent in it, even if the price of that was his noble blood, which he offered as a ransom for his sacred goal.
We must pay the utmost attention to studying the qualities with which al-ʿAbbas ibn ʿAli (a) was adorned, such that he came to dwell in the heart of every loyal follower and in the conscience of every free person, and became a source of the miraculous favors that people have experienced in their various circumstances and hardships. These qualities give us one of the secrets of greatness and an illuminating path for everyone who seeks distinction on the road to that greatness.
And as is apparent to everyone who has leafed through the history of al-ʿAbbas (a), his qualities are many; he was nourished with them from the wellspring of the divine Imamate when he was raised in the embrace of Imam ʿAli (a) and of his mother, the righteous woman Umm al-Banin (a), and after that through his living alongside the pure lineage of which he is a branch, with his brother Imam al-Hasan (a) and Imam al-Husayn (a), and likewise with his sister Zaynab al-Kubra. However, we shall draw upon two important qualities mentioned by an infallible Imam, Imam al-Sadiq (a), in order to see how important these two qualities are for our contemporary world and our present reality.
Imam al-Sadiq (a) said: (Al-Sadiq (a) said: Our uncle al-ʿAbbas ibn ʿAli was of penetrating insight and firm faith; he waged jihad alongside Abu ʿAbd Allah, acquitted himself with distinction, and passed on as a martyr).
The two qualities, then, are penetrating insight and firmness of faith. Each of these two qualities has its importance and its role in the impact that al-ʿAbbas ibn ʿAli (a) made on the sacred Husayni uprising. When Imam al-Sadiq (a) mentioned the two qualities, he mentioned after them the result, namely that he (waged jihad alongside Abu ʿAbd Allah and acquitted himself with distinction....).. This leads us to the fact that there is a strong and important connection between these two qualities and the attainment of the achievements and the greatness whose summit al-ʿAbbas ascended. Consequently, this is one of the secrets of greatness, and we must draw inspiration from it and seek illumination from its light in order to achieve the great goals, attain greatness, and gain distinction.
(Penetrating insight) means that one's insight pierces through things and penetrates into their depths, so that one reaches the realities, going beyond appearances and formalities. We can know how important this quality is when we realize that the overriding preoccupation and great concern of the promoters of corruption of every kind is their pursuit of falsification, deception, cheating and the embellishing of everything that is bad and corrupt, in order to convince people of what they have—whether those things are goods of material trade, or cultural and value-laden goods, or the distortion of the positions of personalities, or of history and biographies, and the like—all so that people are deceived and drawn to them.
Whoever does not possess penetrating insight will be led by deceptive appearances to what is a mirage that brings no benefit. As for the one with penetrating insight, he is the one who is not shaken by all the appearances of deception and embellishment and false propaganda, and so he knows the realities of matters and their inner aspects by looking at aims and intentions.
How urgently we need today the quality of penetrating insight, in a world in which various powers gang up against Islam and against the Muslim to drive him to deviate from his principles and values. They take hold of the youth under the banners of progress, take hold of women in the name of liberation and openness, and captivate minds by embellishing ideas and presenting deceptive models and personalities to serve as alternative role models in place of the true role models. Whoever acquires penetrating insight will be protected by it from deviation and from being dragged behind every fad, every fashion and every trend, and he can select what is good for his life, his society and his religion.
(Firmness of faith) is the other quality with which al-ʿAbbas ibn ʿAli (a) was adorned. This quality is extremely important in itself, and it complements the first quality, since penetrating insight performs the task of resisting temptations and recognizing the realities, while the task of firmness of faith is to equip one with immunity against the hardships of life and the challenges of reality. The personality that possesses firmness and strength in its faith in Allah, its belief in the divine laws (sunan), and its certainty in the promise of Allah the Exalted is not shaken when facing all kinds of calamities and hardships.
We truly realize the importance of firmness of faith in our world today, because of the widespread deterioration we see in people's capacity to bear the transformations and changes of life. We see defeatism, illness, and resorting to addiction and suicide as a result of the inability to face their personal or social problems, or even the problems that confront those working in the way of Allah.
For a person to be firm in faith means that he possesses the protective shield for carving out the path of greatness and distinction. It is not enough for him to possess penetrating insight; rather, the circle must be completed with the quality of firmness in faith, because the one who knows may be afflicted by a psychological state that paralyzes his thinking if he has not become accustomed to the practices of faith; the one who knows the realities may incline with the demands of the self and its desires if he does not take refuge in a firm pillar; and the insightful worker may find his movement and effectiveness brought to a halt if he is not connected to the wellspring of faith.
We see the manifestations clearly in the life of al-ʿAbbas ibn ʿAli (a), according to what Imam al-Sadiq (a) mentioned, that he (waged jihad alongside al-Husayn (a)): he adhered to the path of the Imam (a) and was not lured by all the other appearances, because he knew that Imam al-Husayn (a) is the Imam whose obedience is obligatory, and that obedience to him and his path are the truth, the Ark of Salvation and the Lamp of Guidance.
His effectiveness was the result of the firmness of his faith; that is why he (acquitted himself with distinction), so much so that he saw no value in his life alongside corruption, and so he preferred the value of the eternal, everlasting life (and passed on as a martyr).
When we call to mind these meanings in the personality of al-ʿAbbas ibn ʿAli (a), this makes it incumbent upon us to follow his way and take him as our example in our contemporary lives, in order to face the present and varied challenges in all fields and for all age groups, such that these meanings enter into educational curricula, from early upbringing up to the development of the personality in its advanced stages, so that we may gradually attain a society founded on the principles of resilience and strength, and possessing the capacity for challenge and confrontation.
