Al-Abbas, the Last of the Muhajirun

Shaykh Yasir Qadhi explains:

Barely two days out of Medina, near the valley of al-Juḥfa, the army met al-ʿAbbās ibn ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib, the Prophet's ﷺ uncle, coming the other way with his family as an emigrant, knowing nothing of the campaign, for it was top secret. Allāh had written for him a unique honour: to be the very last human ever to enter the ranks of the Muhājirūn, granted just barely, for he had not even reached Medina. There is no emigration after this, لَا هِجْرَةَ بَعْدَ الفَتْحِ, "no hijrah after the Conquest", yet it was accepted from him, because Allāh weighs deeds by intention. The Prophet ﷺ rejoiced and told him to settle his family and hurry back to join the march.

❧When Did He Believe?

The scholars dispute at length when al-ʿAbbās accepted Islam, five views run from the Meccan years, to before Badr, to after Badr as a ransomed captive, to before Khaybar (when he cried Allāhu Akbar at the news of victory), to here and now. Several hold he stayed in Mecca as the Prophet's ﷺ secret informant. Ibn ʿAbd al-Barr, Ibn Ḥajar, and Ibn Kathīr each favour a different answer. What is certain is that Badr opened his heart, recall how the Prophet ﷺ, taking his ransom, named the gold al-ʿAbbās had buried in secret with only Umm al-Faḍl as witness, and al-ʿAbbās said, "I bear witness you are truly the Messenger of Allāh." He believed thereafter, even if he declared it openly only now.

❧The Honour of the Uncle

Of the Prophet's ﷺ four uncles who lived to see the daʿwah, two died disbelievers, Abū Lahab the worst of enemies, Abū Ṭālib the best of the non-believers, while Ḥamzah rose to be Sayyid al-Shuhadāʾ and al-ʿAbbās was blessed to be the last Muhājir. He alone of the Banū Hāshim elders outlived the Prophet ﷺ, dying past eighty in 32 AH. The Prophet ﷺ said, العَمُّ صِنْوُ الأَبِ, "a man's uncle is like his father", and forbade anyone to vex him. In the drought of the 18th year (ʿĀm al-Majāʿah), ʿUmar, with all the people of Badr present, chose al-ʿAbbās for the rain-prayer: "We used to seek You through Your Prophet ﷺ; now we seek You through his uncle, stand, O ʿAbbās, and pray for us," قُمْ يَا عَبَّاسُ فَادْعُ لَنَا. And by Allāh's qadar his direct descendants became the Abbasid caliphs, ruling from 750 CE until the Ottomans, Hārūn al-Rashīd and the rest all of his line.