Abbas ibn Abdul-Muttaleb, the paternal uncle of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA)

On 12th of the Islamic month of Rajab in 32 AH, Abbas ibn Abdul-Muttaleb, the paternal uncle of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA), passed away in Medina at almost 90 years of age and was laid to rest in the sacred Baqie Cemetery by his worthy son, Abdullah, the hadith narrator and exegete of the holy Qur’an, who was a disciple of Imam Ali ibn Abi Taleb (AS).
Abbas, who had become a rich merchant in the days of ignorance, did not openly profess Islam in Mecca, but it is said that he stood beside his nephew when a group from Medina came to the Prophet for the secret Allegiance of Aqaba. He was forced by the pagan Arabs to accompany them to the Battle of Badr in which he was captured by the Muslims, but later allowed to ransom himself and return to Mecca.
Shortly before the peaceful takeover of Mecca by the Prophet, he disassociated from the Meccans and submitted to the Muslims, some twenty year after his wife, Omm al-Fazl Lubaba bint al-Hareth had accepted Islam, claiming to be second woman to do so. Thereafter, he accompanied the Prophet, like other members of the Hashemite clan, in various endeavours.
Abbas knew that after the passing away of the Prophet, his other nephew, Imam Ali (AS), was the divinely-decreed leader of mankind as was evident by the historic declaration at Ghadeer-Khom. Unfortunately, some of his descendants in blind pursuit of the material world, turned away from the truth, usurped political power by deceiving Muslims, wrongly called themselves caliphs, and indulged in the persecution of the Prophet’s progeny, to the extent that six of the Imams of the Ahl al-Bayt were martyred through poisoning by the Abbasids.