He saw the loneliness of his brother who was encircled by the meanest of enemies...

He saw the loneliness of his brother who was encircled by the meanest of enemies, intending to kill him so as to win the prize of the governor of Kufa. In the midst of all these crises, al-’Abbas submitted to his Lord completely without showing any weakness. Loyalty Loyalty is the noblest characteristic one can have. Al-’Abbas set a record in this field when he represented all features of loyalty distinguishably.

Loyalty to the Religion Al-’Abbas was the most faithful and the best defender of his religion. When Islam had to encounter the danger of eradication by the Umayyad band, who renounced Islam completely and declared war against it, al-’Abbas dedicated himself to fighting on all fronts for defending his religion and raising the word of God on earth. For sake of the principles of his religion, his hands were cut and he was martyred.

Loyalty to the Nation As he noticed his nation sinking down under the gloomy nightmare of humility due to the absolute despotism of the Umayyad band that played with people’s fates, al-’Abbas understood that his mission was to proceed for saving them from this scathing fait accompli. Along with his brother, family members and those glorious companions, they raised the slogan of freedom and declared holy jihad[^2] ceaselessly until they were martyred for doing so.

This in fact is the ever most elevated loyalty to the nation. Loyalty to the Homeland One of the Umayyad rulers, once, declared: “Iraq is no more than a garden possessed by Koreshites.”[^3] Hence, they regarded the Islamic homeland as a garden at their disposal. On this account, poverty and misery were the two major characteristics of the Islamic homeland. Besides, the righteous and the free people were being subjected to humiliation.

Thus, al-’Abbas, under the commandment of his brother, opposed this ruling regime and its authorities who thanks to the self-sacrifices of al-’Abbas and his party, collapsed. This was the true loyalty to the Islamic homeland. Loyalty to his Brother It is incumbent upon each Muslim to swear allegiance to the Imam who lives in his time. Hence, al-’Abbas gave the best example of being faithful to the allegiance to the Imam of his time, al-Husayn (a).

All over history, you cannot find an item of loyalty more exalted than that of al-’Abbas to his brother and leader. Hence, his loyalty has become an ultimate goal that attracts every free, honest man.