Page 253 - Pure Life 20

/
Spiritual Journey 267
He immediately started filling the water skin. In a
gesture of loyalty to his brother and Muhammad's
grandson he did not drink any water despite being

extremely thirsty.
He put the water skin on his right shoulder and
started riding back toward their tents. Umar ibn Sa'ad
ordered an assault on Al-Abbas ibn Ali saying that if
Al-Abbas ibn Ali succeeded in taking water back to his
camp, they would not be able to defeat them till the end
of time. An enemy army blocked Al-Abbas' way and
surrounded him. He was ambushed from behind a bush
and his right arm was cut off. Al-Abbas ibn Ali put the
water skin on his left shoulder and continued on his
way but his left arm was also cut off. Al-Abbas ibn Ali
now held the water skin with his teeth.
The army of ibn Sa'ad started shooting arrows at
him, one arrow hit the water skin and water poured out
of it, now he turned his horse back towards the army
and charged towards them but one arrow hit his eyes
and someone hit his head with a gurz and he fell off the
horse. In his last moments when Al-Abbas ibn Ali was
wiping the blood in his eyes to enable him to see
Husayn's face, Al-Abbas ibn Ali said not to take his
body back to the camps because he had promised to
bring back water but could not and so could not face
Bibi Sakinah, the daughter of Hussein ibn Ali.
Then he called Hussein "brother" for the first time in
his life. Before the death of Abbas, Hussein ibn Ali
said: "Abbas your death is like the breaking of my
back". Zayd ibn Varqa Hanafi and Hakim ibn al-Tofayl
Sanani are reported to be Abbas ibn Ali's murderers.