House of Abbas (may Allah be pleased with him)

This is the approximate area, outside the place of Sa’ee where the house of Abbas (may Allah be pleased with him) was located. Abbas (may Allah be pleased with him) was a paternal uncle of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be on him) and protected him while he was in Makkah.

Abbas ibn Abdul Muttalib was about three years older than his nephew. A wealthy merchant, during the early years of Islam he protected the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be on him) while he was in Makkah, but only became a convert after the Battle of Badr in 624 CE (2 AH). His descendants founded the Abbassid caliphate in 750 CE.

In spite of his noble standing among the Quraysh, Abu Talib, another uncle of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be on him), was quite poor. He had a large family and did not have enough means to support them adequately. His poverty-stricken situation became much worse when a severe drought hit the Arabian peninsula. It was during this time of drought, before his call to prophethood, that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be on him) said to his uncle, Abbas: “Your brother, Abu Talib, has a large family. People as you see have been afflicted by this severe drought and are facing starvation. Let us go to Abu Talib and take over responsibility for some of his family. I will take one of his sons and you can taken another and we will look after them.”Abbas approved and together they went to Abu Talib and said to him: “We want to ease some of the burden of your family until such time as this distressing period has gone.”Abu Talib agreed and the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be on him) took Ali into his household and Abbas took Jafar into his. Jafar stayed with his uncle, Abbas, until he was a young man.

Abbas was one of the youngest brothers of the Prophet’s (peace and blessings of Allah be on him) father Abdullah. During the early years while Islam was gaining adherents, Abbas provided protection to his kinsman but did not adopt the faith.

He was captured during the Battle of Badr and accepted Islam just before the fall of Makkah, 20 years after his wife, Umm al-Fadl. Umm al-Fadl (may Allah be pleased with her), whose real name was Lubaba bint al-Harith, was one of the earliest converts to Islam and was a close friend of Khadija (may Allah be pleased with her), the first wife of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be on him).

Abbas (may Allah be pleased with him) was given the right to provide Zamzam water to pilgrims, the rights of which was passed down to his descendants. He is buried at the Jannatul Baqi cemetery in Madinah.

The house of Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) was close to the house of Abbas (may Allah be pleased with him).

References: The History of Makkah Mukarramah – Dr. Muhammad Ilyas Abdul Ghani, Wikipedia, MuslimAccess.com