العباس

To ‘Abdullāh ibn al-‘Abbās

To Qutham ibn al-‘Abbās, his Governor of Mecca

To Qutham ibn al-‘Abbās, his Governor of Mecca

Given to ‘Abdullāh ibn al-‘Abbās at the time of his appointment as his Governor of Baṣrah.

Given to ‘Abdullāh ibn al-‘Abbās, at the time of his being deputed to confront the Khārijītes.

To ‘Abdullāh ibn al-‘Abbās (This letter has already been included with a different version)

To ‘Abdullāh ibn al-‘Abbās after Muḥammad ibn Abī Bakr had been killed.

Imam Ali (AS), in what he wrote to Qutham b. ‘Abbas said, ‘Sit for them in the afternoon, and give verdicts to the questioner, teach the ignorant, and remind the knowledgeable.

321. ‘Abdullāh ibn al-‘Abbās once advised Amīr al-mu’minīn, peace be upon him, against his views, so he said: You have only to advise me but then I have to see (what to do); and if I act against your advice you have to follow me. [1]

476. When Amīr al-mu’minīn, peace be upon him, put Ziyād ibn Abīh in place of ‘Abdullāh ibn al-‘Abbās over Fārs (in Persia) and its revenues, he had a long conversation with him in which he prohibited him from advance recovery of revenue. Therein he said:

O’ Abu’l-‘Abbās, may Allāh have mercy on you, keep yourself restrained in whatever you say or do, good or bad about your people, as we are both partners in this (responsibility). Prove yourself according to my good impressions about you, and do not prove my opinion (about you) wrong; and that is an end to the matter.

“I heard Abu ‘Abdillah (a.s.) saying, ‘Whoever wants leadership is destroyed.’”

“When Al-Ma’mun pledged allegiance to Ar-Ridha’ (a.s.), Al-Ma’mun had him (a.s.) sit next to himself. Abbas - the orator - stood up, delivered a good speech and ended it with the following poem:People can’t live without the sun and the moonNow you are the sun and he is the moon.”

Look! They have chosen for themselves one who is nearest of all of them to what they desire, while you have chosen one who is nearest to what you dislike. You may certainly recall that the other day ‘Abdullāh ibn Qays (Abū Mūsā) was saying: “It is a mischief, therefore, cut away your bow-string and sheathe your swords.” If he was right (in what he said) then he was wrong in marching (with us) without being forced, but if he was lying then he should be viewed with suspicion. Therefore, send ‘Abdullāh ibn al-‘Abbās to face ‘Amr ibn al-‘Āṣ. Make use of these days and surround the borders of Islam. Do you not see that your cities are being attacked and your prowess is being aimed at?

When Al-Ma’mun pledged allegiance to Ali ibn Musa Ar-Ridha’ (a.s.), the Imam (a.s.) told him, ‘O Commander of the Faithful! It is obligatory to be sincere with you. It is not proper for a believer to be tricky. The masses of the people do not like what you did to me. Especially, the elites do not like what you did with Al-Fadhl ibn Sahl. Now it is best for you to send both of us away from yourself until you can manage your own affairs.’” Ibrahim said, “By God! It was these words which resulted in what happened to him (death).”

The Messenger of Allah (s) said: When Allah is angry with a nation and does not descend chastisement upon it, its prices increase, its life will be shortened, its merchants will not make a profit, its fruits will not ripen, its rivers will not be bounteous, its rain will be upheld from it, and its evil people will rule over it.

Prophet (MGB) said, “The Fire shall speak to three people on the Resurrection Day: rulers, knowledgeable ones and the wealthy. The Fire shall tell the ruler, ‘O ye to whom God granted power but you did not act justly!’ Then it will devour him just as a bird devours a sesame seed. The Fire will tell the knowledgeable one, ‘O ye who were proud of yourself near the people and disobeyed God!’ It will devour him also. The Fire will tell the wealthy, ‘O ye to whom God granted a lot of wealth in the world but were greedy and did not even grant a small loan to those who were in need asking you for small loans.’ It will devour him also.”

Yaqoob ibn Dawood told me that he adheres to the Divine Leadership.”Ibrahim ibn Abil Bilad added, “On the night before Musa ibn Ja’far (s) was arrested, I went to see Yaqoob ibn Dawood in Medina. Yaqoob told me, ‘I was with the Vizier - that is Yahya ibn Khalid - now. He told me that he had heard Ar-Rashid address God’s Prophet (s) near the Prophet’s (s) shrine and say, ‘O Prophet of God! May my father and mother be your ransom! Please forgive me for the decision which I have made - that is to arrest and imprison Musa ibn Ja’far since I am afraid that he will cause a war in your nation in which there will be bloodshed. I think Harun Ar-Rashid will arrest the Imam (s) in the morning.’”The narrator of this tradition added, “The following morning Al-Fadhl ibn al-Rabiee’ was sent to him. The Imam (s) was standing in the Station of God’s Prophet (s) and was praying. Al-Fadhl ibn al-Rabee’ ordered that he (s) be arrested and imprisoned.”

Umar ibn al-Khattab once arrived at an assembly where ‘Ali ibn Abi Talib, peace be upon him, and Uthman and Abdul Rehman and Talha and al-Zubair were present. So Umar said: "Does everyone of you aspire to becoming a leader after I have gone?" Al-Zubair replied: "Everyone of us aspires, and believes to be fit for it. What is that you disapprove?" Umar said: "May I not tell you what I think about you?" They remained silent. (Again) Umar said: "May I not tell you about yourselves?" They kept silent. Then al-Zubair said: "Say, despite our silence." So he (Umar) said: "As far as you, O Zubair, are concerned, you are at your best when pleased and content, and you are at your worst when offended and angry. There is a day when you are a devil, and a day when you are a man. Tell me, who will be the Caliph on the day you turn to be a devil? And you, O Talha, by Allah, the Prophet, peace be upon him and his progeny, left this world displeased with you. And you, O ‘Ali, you are a man of inactivity and frivolity. And you, O Abdul Rehman, you are best qualified for it if the position ever comes to you. But surely among you there is a man whose faith encompasses the faith of the multitude, and he is Uthman."

O people! All the bloodshed at the Age of Ignorance has been wasted. The first blood that was wasted was that of al-Harith ibn Rabi’a ibn al-Harith. He had gone to seek a wet nurse amongst the Huzayl clan and someone from the Lays clan killed him (or amongst the Lays clan and someone from the Huzayl clan killed him). All the usury from the Age of Ignorance is voided. The first usury that is voided is the usury of Ab’bas ibn Abdul Mutalib.O people! The times have changed and today it is as if it is the day on which the heavens and the two Earths were created. In fact, the number of months for God is twelve and is recorded in God’s Book the day on which God created the heavens and the Earth. Four of them are the sacred months. The first one is Rajab Mizr which is between Jamadi and Shaban. The other three are Dhul-Qa’ade, Dhul-Hijja and Muharram. Then do not oppress yourselves in these months. Changing the sanctity of the forbidden months constitutes grave atheism. Those who deny this sanctity are at a great loss. They consider one of these months not to be a sacred month one year, and consider a different month as a sacred month so as to make the number of the sacred months to be the same as what God has considered to be sacred months. In one year they set the month of Safar not to be sacred and the month of Muharram to be a sacred month, while in the year on which they considered Safar to be a sacred month they considered Muharram not to be a sacred month.O people! Satan has become disappointed of being worshipped in your towns forever. Thus, it is pleased with your minor sins. O people! Whoever has been entrusted with something should return it to its owner. O people! Women are really your captives. They cannot ask for any profit or loss for themselves. They become lawful to you by God’s decrees. You have certain rights incumbent upon them and they have certain rights incumbent upon you. Amongst your rights incumbent upon them is that they should only sleep with you and they should not disobey you (in good things). Once they do so, it is incumbent upon you to feed them and clothe them as usual. You should not beat them up. O people! Indeed I will leave with you the Book of the Honorable the Exalted God adhering to which will keep you from going astray. Therefore, grab onto it.”The Prophet (MGB) added, “O people! What day is today?”The people said, “It is the sacred day.” Then the Prophet (MGB) said, “O people! What month is this month?” They said, “It is the sacred month.” Then the Prophet (MGB) said, ‘O people! What town is this town?’ They said, “It is the sacred town.” Then the Prophet (MGB) said, “Indeed the Honorable the Exalted God has forbidden the shedding of your blood, the spending of your money and the losing of your honor for the sanctity of this day of yours in this month of yours in this town of yours until the day you meet Him. Then those of you who are present should inform those who are absent that there will be no more Prophets after me and that there will be no other nation after you.” Then the Prophet (MGB) raised his hands such that his armpits could be seen. Then the Prophet (MGB) said, “O my God! Bear witness that I delivered (what I was supposed to express).”