At a glance
- Roles
- Companion · Merchant
- Counted among
- Sunni
- Era
- The Prophetic Era · The Rashidun Caliphate
- Region
- Arabia
- Identifiers
- Wikidata
- Review
- Draft Completeness 2/5 · Help complete it
Life in time
In space
Map: Natural Earth, public domain · places and route from the graph
Family, marriage and kinshipFactions, splits and schisms
Place in the story
- OpponenttowardThe early Muslim community · March 624 CE · Ramadan 2 AH† – March 624 CE · Ramadan 2 AH†Tradition
- Convert to Islam · c. 630 CE · c. 9 AH†Tradition
- Companion · c. 630 CE · c. 9 AH† – c. 653 CE · c. 32 AH†Tradition
- Family of the ProphetTradition
Arabian polytheism (transmitted) · Sunni (transmitted)
Roles are dated and sourced; the museum describes the act and attributes the judgement.
Al-Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib was the Prophet ﷺ's uncle and the oldest of the uncles who lived in his time. He accepted Islam before the conquest of Mecca, stood with the Prophet at Hunayn when the army wavered, and from his line came the Abbasid state many years later.
Al-Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib ibn Hashim was the Prophet ﷺ's uncle, the eldest of his uncles alive in the prophetic era, who held the office of watering the pilgrims with his brother Abu Talib before Islam. The sira books record that he was captured at Badr with the polytheists and ransomed himself and his sons, that he accepted Islam before or at the conquest of Mecca, and that he was the Prophet's eye on the Meccans. At Hunayn he stood firm with the Prophet when the army broke, and called with his loud voice to the men of the tree until they returned. From his line came the Abbasids whose call overthrew the Umayyads in 132 AH; he died in Medina in Uthman's caliphate.
Storytellers (10–12) read the Explorers text, then cross to the Scholars text.
Al-Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib ibn Hashim was the Prophet ﷺ's uncle, the eldest of the uncles living in the prophetic era, who with his brother Abu Talib held the watering of the pilgrims before Islam. The sira books record his capture at Badr with the polytheists and his ransom of himself and his sons Aqil and Nawfal, then his Islam before or at the conquest of Mecca — some accounts have him writing Meccan news to the Prophet. At Hunayn he stood firm when the army broke, and his loud voice called the men of the tree and of the pledge back to the Prophet. He has standing in the mubahala hadith and in the Siffin episode when the polytheists raised the masahif. From his line came the Abbasids whose call brought down the Umayyads in 132 AH and founded a five-century state. He died in Medina in Uthman's caliphate around 32 AH, outliving his father by two years; Umar loved him, and the accounts preserve the famous prayer for rain made through him.
Summary
Al-Abbas was an uncle of the Prophet, a wealthy Meccan merchant who was taken prisoner at Badr while fighting in the Meccan army, and who later became Muslim. He is the ancestor from whom the Abbasid caliphs trace their descent.
Life
Born about 568 CE, al-Abbas traded, and he had a share in the pilgrims' water supply at Mecca 1. When the Meccan army marched to Badr in 624 CE, he marched with it and was taken prisoner. The tradition reports that he paid his own ransom, and some reports say he had secretly become Muslim already 2.
He openly embraced Islam at the conquest of Mecca in 630 CE, fought with the Muslims at Hunayn, and lived in Medina until about 653 CE, honoured as the last surviving uncle of the Prophet 1.
Legacy
From al-Abbas descended the line that, a century later, overthrew the Umayyads and founded the Abbasid caliphate, the dynasty of Baghdad for five centuries. Wherever people disputed the status of the Family of the House, the Abbasids based their claim on him.
For young visitors
Al-Abbas was taken prisoner at the greatest battle of his time, on the losing side. Later he joined the winning side, and his great-grandchildren founded an empire.
In the introduction to al-Raheeq al-Makhtum
Al-Raheeq al-Makhtum says that the watering and the feeding, which were held by Hashim, then al-Muttalib, then Abd al-Muttalib, remained with the sons of Abd al-Muttalib until Islam came and the office passed to al-Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib (may God be pleased with him) 3 4 5. See the offices of Quraysh.
"The sons of Akil al-Murar"
Ibn Ishaq relates that al-Abbas and Rabi'a ibn al-Harith were merchants. When they travelled among some Arabs and were asked whose sons they were, they would say: "We are the sons of Akil al-Murar", taking pride in it because Kinda had been kings. When a delegation of Kinda claimed that lineage, the Prophet said: "Ascribe al-Abbas and Rabi'a to this lineage? No, we are the sons of al-Nadr ibn Kinana." See the delegation of Kinda. 6
On the building of the Ka'ba (al-Raheeq al-Makhtum p.63)
Al-Bukhari relates from Jabir ibn Abdullah (may God be pleased with him) that when the Ka'ba was built, the Prophet and al-Abbas went to carry stones. Al-Abbas told the Prophet to put his waist-wrap on his neck to protect him from the stones. He fell to the ground, his eyes turned to the sky, then he came to himself, asking for his waist-wrap, and tied it on him (the rebuilding of the Ka'ba) 7 8.
Al-Abbas's words to Ali during the Prophet's illness
Ibn Ishaq relates from Ibn Abbas that Ali came out from the Prophet on the day of his death, and people asked him about the Prophet's condition. He said: "He has risen in good health, praise be to God." Al-Abbas took his hand and said: "Ali, by God, within three days you will be ruled by the staff. I swear by God that I recognised death in the face of the Prophet, as I used to recognise it in the faces of the sons of Abd al-Muttalib. So let us go to him. If this authority is among us, we will know it; and if it is among others, we will ask him to charge us with it, and he will bequeath it to us." Ali said: "By God, I will not do that. If we are denied it, no one will give it to us after him." 9 See the death of the Prophet and the lidd of the Prophet.
His capture at Badr (al-Raheeq al-Makhtum p.219)
An Ansari man took him captive. Al-Abbas said that the man who captured him was a bald man on a piebald horse. The Prophet said to the Ansari: "Be silent; God has supported you with a noble angel" (the day of Badr) 10.
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Connections
- Born in
- Mecca
- Died in
- Medina
- Child of
- Abd al-Muttalib ibn Hashim
- Sibling of
- Abu Talib ibn Abd al-Muttalib· Hamza ibn Abd al-Muttalib· Atika bint Abd al-Muttalib· Safiyya bint Abd al-Muttalib
- Member of
- Banu Hashim
- Participated in
- The Battle of Badr· The Conquest of Mecca (Fath Makka)· The Battle of Hunayn· The conversion of Abu Sufyan ibn Harb· The day of Badr: the lines, the duels and the victory· The affair of the Badr prisoners· The burial of the Prophet· Fatima's claim to the Prophet's inheritance and Fadak· Abu Dharr al-Ghifari accepts Islam in Mecca through Ali· The dosing of the Prophet during his illness· The Pledges of Aqaba· The rebuilding of the Kaaba· The second pledge of al-Aqaba· Umar's Special Stipends and Equity· Umar judges the dispute of al-Abbas and Ali over the Prophet's property· The Fulfilled Umrah (Umrat al-Qada)
- Parent of
- Abdullah ibn Abbas· al-Fadl ibn al-Abbas
- Spouse of
- Umm al-Fadl Lubaba bint al-Harith
- Mentioned in
- The Farewell Sermon· Bukhari 3189 — No hijra after the conquest; the sanctity of Mecca· Bukhari 4033 — We do not inherit; what we leave is charity· Muslim 34 — Whoever is pleased with God as Lord has tasted faith's flavor· Muslim 1218 — Jabir's description of the Prophet's hajj
People and things also explored
Muhammad· Mecca· The Prophetic Era· Umar ibn al-Khattab· Abd al-Muttalib ibn Hashim· Ali ibn Abi Talib· Hamza ibn Abd al-Muttalib· Quraysh
Sources
- Ibn Sa'd, Kitab al-Tabaqat al-Kabir (Bewley translation, Ta-Ha)
- Ibn Ishaq / Guillaume, The Life of Muhammad (1955)
- al-Raheeq al-Makhtum — Safi al-Rahman al-Mubarakpuri , p.31
- al-Raheeq al-Makhtum — Safi al-Rahman al-Mubarakpuri , p.32
- al-Sira al-Nabawiyya — Ibn Hisham , 1/137-142
- al-Sira al-Nabawiyya — Ibn Hisham, al-Saqqa edition (1355/1936) , 4/232
- al-Raheeq al-Makhtum — Safi al-Rahman al-Mubarakpuri , p.63
- Sahih al-Bukhari , 1/540
- al-Sira al-Nabawiyya — Ibn Hisham, al-Saqqa edition (1355/1936) , 4/304
- al-Raheeq al-Makhtum — Safi al-Rahman al-Mubarakpuri , p.219
- Asma al-Matalib fi Sirat Ali ibn Abi Talib, vol. 1 — Ali Muhammad al-Sallabi
Cite this page
islam.museum contributors. “al-Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/person/abbas-ibn-abd-al-muttalib/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Last updated 2026-10-26.