There was not a single piece of news that arose in Mecca without al-ʿAbbās putting it in writing and sending it to the Prophet. The believers who still lived there drew strength from him, would come to him, and he proved an aid to them in practising their Islam.

He repeatedly sought permission to join the Prophet, but the Messenger of Allah ﷺ wrote to him, “Your remaining where you are is a praiseworthy form of jihad.” So he stayed, in obedience to the Prophet’s command. Its chain of transmission is weak (1).

Had this report been sound, the Prophet would not have demanded ransom from al-ʿAbbās on the day of Badr; the stronger view is that his acceptance of Islam came after Badr.

Ismāʿīl ibn Qays ibn Saʿd ibn Zayd ibn Thābit narrated—through Abū Ḥāzim, from Sahl—who said:

Al-ʿAbbās asked the Prophet ﷺ for permission to perform the hijra (emigration). The Prophet wrote to him: “Uncle, stay where you are, for Allah will seal the hijra through you just as He sealed prophethood through me.” (2) Ismāʿīl is weak.

ʿAbd al-Aʿlā al-Thaʿlabī transmitted—from Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, from Ibn ʿAbbās—that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “Al-ʿAbbās is of me, and I am of him.” Its chain is not strong (3).

The hadith masters devoted special effort to collecting the virtues of al-ʿAbbās out of consideration for the caliphs. In any case, if our Prophet ﷺ had left an estate to be inherited, no one after his daughter and his wives would have inherited from him except al-ʿAbbās.

Sovereignty did indeed pass into the line of al-ʿAbbās; it has remained there and been held successively by thirty-three rulers.