1. Historical Background

Abū al-Faḍl al-ʿAbbās b. ʿAlī (killed in the massacre at Karbalāʾ on 10 Muḥarram 61/10 October 680), known as ‘Qamar Banī Hāshim’ (‘Moon of the Banū Hāshim’), was a famous son of ʿAlī b. Abī Ṭālib, and half-brother of al-Ḥusayn b. ʿAlī.

His mother, Umm al-Banīn (see Abū Naṣr al-Bukhārī, 88, where she is given the name Fāṭima), the daughter of Ḥizām b. Khālid b. Rābīʿa from the Arab tribe of Banū Kilāb, was the mother …