The Mission-Driven Stance of al-ʿAbbas (a)
Husayn al-Khushaymi*
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Al-ʿAbbas..! A name toward which hearts yearn, and grow tender and broken.. He is a personality wondrous in loyalty, so much so that we have not found one resembling it in all the pages of history, nor any equal to its courage in the most prominent historical epics. He is the bearer of the standard of his brother al-Husayn and the bearer of the banner, and so after his martyrdom he became the fluttering banner of loyalty; and he is the protector of al-Husayn's womenfolk and the defender who was a volcano of jealous honor and zeal.
Al-ʿAbbas (a) was the heart of his brother al-Husayn—indeed, he was his soul between his ribs; therefore, when he asked him for permission to fight, al-Husayn wept intensely until his noble beard was dyed with tears; and when he (a) fell a martyr, al-Husayn (a) said his famous saying ((Now my back is broken)), expressing the magnitude of the pain that afflicted him (a) at losing him.
Al-ʿAbbas had numerous stances in the epic of Karbala in which he proved the extent of his love, sincerity, loyalty and obedience to Imam al-Husayn (a). He is the one who offered his brother al-Husayn the sacrifice of brotherhood, when he put forward before al-Husayn his three brothers—ʿUthman, Jaʿfar and ʿAbd Allah—to defend al-Husayn (a); and again when he carried the waterskin, seeking water from the bank of the Euphrates for the children, but his enemies prevented that and killed him (a) before he could give the children water to drink.
Bringing water to the tents was the mission of al-ʿAbbas (a), and he did not care if he were killed for its sake; thus he embodied for us absolute obedience to the divine leadership embodied in Imam al-Husayn. Emotions had no role in his carrying this mission; rather, he saw in al-Husayn the leader and the Imam whose obedience is obligatory. It was within his power to refuse the task of fetching water and to send someone else, on the pretext of staying with al-Husayn, or of guarding the tents, or so that his brother's army would not be broken; but he knew that the command of al-Husayn (a) must be obeyed, because it is the command of Allah. So he took upon his shoulders the task of fetching water and went out without caring, and he had no other goal before him in those moments except bringing water to the tents. When his enemies struck him, his determination increased, as though he wanted to ransom the waterskin with his own self; and they cut off his two hands, yet determination and hope still remained before him (a) of bringing the water. But after the wounds and stabs had multiplied, he began to lose hope of achieving the desired goal, and he began calling upon his Lord and conversing with Him intimately in that state, asking Him for patience and steadfastness. So he was a martyr in the way of his mission, and in the way of Allah, of Islam and of his Imam al-Husayn (a); and history immortalized al-ʿAbbas, because he gave up all his lifeblood in the way of Allah and in the way of his mission, so Allah gave him miraculous favors (karāmāt). So upon you from me be the peace of Allah, my master, Abu al-Fadl; and I bear witness that you went to the utmost in sincere counsel and gave the utmost effort, so may Allah raise you among the martyrs and place your spirit with the spirits of the felicitous.
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*Holy Karbala
9 Muharram 1433 AH
