30/07/2023
Eighth of Moharram is reserved all over the shii world for narrating the martyrdom of Hazrat e Abbas Alamdar, the brother of Aba Abdillah and the standard bearer of handful of Hazrat Imam Hussain's friend and relatives on roz e Ashura.
He according to some historical account got an amnesty from Ibney Ziyad forces on the eve of 10th of Moharram as he was related from his mother's side to Shimr. He refused amnesty and preferred to die with Imam Hussain hence his name has been a part of folklore of the marshy region of southern Iraq. A tribal Iraqi may lie after taking Hussain's name but once he takes the name of Abbas, he is likely to speak only truth and nothing else. An Iraqi often refers to him as Imam Abbas.
His name is often repeated when one is supposed to profess loyalty to his master or friend. His death in the dying moments of the battle had a devastating effect on Imam Husain and his surviving relatives especially his niece Sakina bintey Husain. Mir Anees captures the helplessness of Imam and his household following the death of Abbas thus, "ghar yun ulat pulat tha imam e Hejaz ka......jaisey key toot jata hai langar jahaz hai."
In the following image, the painter beautifully captures the scene when towards the culmination of the battle Abal Fazl went to Nahr e Alqama to fetch some water for the daughter of Husain, hence the title Saqqa e Sakina, before being ambushed by Ibney Ziyad forces who were hell bent upon preventing a single drop of water from reaching to the Khyam e Hussaini. "Pahunchey jab Abbas ba jaho hashm....reg e sahil nein liye naqsh e qadam....Alqama key un kinaroon par salaam.....
Another story being narrated to us orally "sina ba sina" through generation is very exciting. It so happened that the British forces after acquiring Iraq as a result of Mandate system following WWI in 1919 happened to pass through Karbala. While they were passing through the various shrines at Karbala they stopped at each place for a while in order to salute the martyrs. However, when they happened to pass through the shrine of Hazrat Abbas the British forces stopped twice as they had come to know about the sacrifice and loyalty of this young man in the face of clear amnesty being offered to him by Ummayads. No wonder the British forces were coming from the land of Lord Alfred Tennyson the composer of famous poem "The Charge of Light Brigade" during the Crimean War. They knew what obeying one's master was all about. In other words "wafa jiska padhey kalma usey Abbas kehtey hain......woh pyasa pyas nein jiskee kiya sairab darya ko....woh jiskee pyas hai darya usey Abbas kehtey hain."
The standard carried by Hazrat Abbas on Yaum e Ashura known as Alam e Abbas has got quite a strong religion symbol in the Shia world so much so that an Iranian, according an anecdote told by my late father, when he happened to see the huge black steam engine of a train in colonial India for the first time in his life thus reported the same in a letter back home. He wrote "A huge black giant was emitting steam and heat and was unwillingly to leave its place despite lot of persuasion by black coat wearing men (Station Master). They went to the extent of showing him the Kitab e Khuda/book of God (the Railway book which used to be shown before the departure of a train). It refused to move even after all those things. 'Dar Akhir Alam e Hazrat e Abbas bey aawurd" meaning thereby that the green flag which is shown to get the train to leave the platform was brought. And the black giant after screaming wildly at the sight of Alam e Abbas left its place."
Salaam Ya Abal Fadl Abbas.
