Ibn Abbas

Assalamualaikum warahmatullah wabarakatuh,

Ibn Abbas or known as Abdullah ibn Abbas, the son of Abbas ibn Abdul Muttalib who is the uncle of the Prophet Muhammad (saw). So, Ibn Abbas is the cousin of the Prophet (saw). He was born 3 years before the Hijrah, which was during the time of Muslims were being boycotted and camped in the outskirt of Makkah. During this boycott, Muslims were not allowed to make any business or have marriage with the people of Makkah. Hence, there was no food and no income for the Muslims for 3 whole years. Ibn Abbas was born during this hardest time of early Islam. In the Arab culture, when a baby is born, before the the baby starts to suckle, the parent will ask a respected elderly in the community to put a sweet in the mouth of the baby to suck a little bit of sweetness. It is usually a date or honey. This ceremony is called tahnik. So, when Ibn Abbas was born, his mother asked the Prophet (saw) to do the tahnik for him. But they were too poor that they can't even find something sweet to put into his mouth to suck. Eventually, the Prophet (saw) used his saliva, his blessed saliva for the tahnik. Since then, both of them were very closed to each other. How lucky Ibn Abbas is for accepting the blessed saliva of the Prophet (saw)!

Since then, he was always with the Prophet (saw). Played & learned with him. The Prophet (saw) made du'a for him and asked ALLAH to teach him the knowledge of the Qur'an. Due to this du'a that Ibn Abbas became a very knowledgeable person and the first mufasir (exegesis) of Qur'an. Even some of the greatest companions like Umar (ra) always seeked the meanings of the Qur'an from him. He lived through the time of Khulafa Ar-Rashidun until after the caliphate of Abdul Malik. He passed away in Taif when he was 70 years old. We went to visit him during the Rihla Trip.

Masjid Ibn Abbas in Taif

The inside

Below is a story related to Ibn Abbas from Sahih Muslim:

Umar used to make me (Ibn Abbas) sit with the elderly men who had fought in the Battle of Badr. Some of them felt it (did not like that) and said to Umar: "Why do you bring in this boy to sit with us, while we have sons like him?"

Umar replied "Because of what you know of his position" (i.e. his religious knowledge).

One day Umar called me and made me sit in the gathering of those people, and I think that he called me just to show them (my religious knowledge). 'Umar then asked them in my presence: 'What do you say about the interpretation of the statement of ALLAH'. (In the Qur'an, chapter 110 (The Help) Surah an-Nasr)

Some of them said: "We are ordered to praise ALLAH and ask for His forgiveness, when ALLAH's help and the conquest comes to us". Some others kept quiet and did not say anything. On that Umar asked me: "Do you say the same, O Ibn Abbas?" I replied: "No". He said: "What do you say then?" I replied: "That is the sign of the death of The Messenger (saw) which ALLAH informed him of. ALLAH said:

(O Muhammad) when comes the help of ALLAH (to you against your enemies) and the conquest (which is the sign of your death) - you should celebrate the praises of your Lord and ask for His forgiveness, and He is the One who accepts the repentance and forgives". On that Umar said: "I do not know anything about it other than what you have said".

Wassalam.