Al-Hasan ibn ʿArafah said:
“Yahya ibn al-Yaman narrated to us, from ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Abi Sulayman, from Saʿid ibn Jubayr, from ʿUmar, that he said to Ibn ʿAbbas: ‘You have gained a knowledge we never attained.’ (1)

Al-Awzaʿi reported that ʿUmar said to Ibn ʿAbbas: “You are the most radiant of our young men in face, the soundest of them in intellect, and the most learned among them concerning the Book of Allah—glorified and exalted is He.”

Mujalid related—through al-Shaʿbi—from Ibn ʿAbbas, who said: “My father once told me, ‘ʿUmar ibn al-Khattab brings you close and seats you with the senior Companions, so remember three things from me: never divulge any of his secrets, never backbite anyone in his presence, and never let him discover you in a lie.’” (2)
Al-Shaʿbi added: “I said to Ibn ʿAbbas, ‘Each one of these counsels is better than a thousand.’ Ibn ʿAbbas replied, ‘Rather, each one is better than ten thousand.’

Al-Waqidi said: “ʿAbd Allah ibn al-Fadl ibn Abi ʿAbd Allah narrated to us, from his father, from ʿAtaʾ ibn Yasar, that ʿUmar and ʿUthman used to summon Ibn ʿAbbas to travel with the veterans of Badr, and he continued issuing legal verdicts throughout the caliphates of ʿUmar and ʿUthman until the day he died.”

I (the author) say: He was present at the conquest of Ifriqiyyah in 27 AH alongside Ibn Abi Sarh. (3)

Al-Zuhri narrated—through ʿAli ibn al-Husayn, from his father—that the latter looked at Ibn ʿAbbas on the Day of the Camel as he walked between the two lines of troops and exclaimed, “May Allah gladden the eye of anyone who has a cousin like this!”

Ibn ʿAbbas fought with ʿAli at the battles of the Camel and Ṣiffīn, commanding the left flank, and he also joined him in the fight against the Khawarij.

He was among those who advised ʿAli to leave Muʿawiyah in charge of Syria at first and not to depose him immediately, even telling him: “If you wish to remove him, appoint him for a month and remove him for a lifetime.” ʿAli, however, resolved to fight him, and events unfolded as already related. (4)

When the two parties agreed to arbitration, Ibn ʿAbbas asked to represent ʿAli so that he might counterbalance ʿAmr ibn al-ʿAs, but the tribes of Madhhij and the people of Yemen insisted that Abu Musa al-Ashʿari be ʿAli’s delegate; the story of the two arbiters is well known.

ʿAli later appointed him governor of Basra. In one year he led the people in the pilgrimage, delivering a sermon on the Plain of ʿArafat in which he explained Surah al-Baqarah—and, according to another report, Surah al-Nur. Those who heard him said, “He expounded it so clearly that, had the Romans, the Turks, and the Daylam heard it, they would have embraced Islam.” (5)