He was killed in a desperate attempt to bring water from the Euphrates river to quench the unbearable thirst of the besieged family of the Islamic prophet Muhammad.

Abbas is said to have inherited Ali's boldness and bravery, and was praised by Shia imams for his faith and fortitude in defending Husayn.

[2] Abbas is said to have inherited the boldness and bravery of his father Ali ibn Abi Talib,[3][2] always carrying the victorious standard on the battlefield.

According to the Sunni historian Ibn Sa'd (d. 845), he had not yet reached puberty when Ali was assassinated in 661, whereas some others have written that Abbas was thirty-four at that time.

[11] A tradition attributed to Husayn identifies his intention as fighting the tyranny of Yazid, even though it would cost his life, as reported in al-Irshad, a biographical work by the prominent Shia scholar al-Mufid (d. 1022).

[12][13] Husayn similarly wrote in his will for his brother Ibn Hanafiyya that he had not set out to seek "corruption or oppression" but rather to "enjoin what is right and forbid what is wrong.

"[14] At any rate, on their way to Kufa, Husayn's small caravan was intercepted by Yazid's army and forced to camp in the desert land of Karbala on 2 Muharram 61 (2 October 680) away from water and fortifications.

[17] Among other experts, D. Pinault similarly writes that the camp suffered from thirst and hunger during the siege,[18] and the opinion of A. Hamdar is close.

The governor did not relent, however,[17][11] and finally ordered Ibn Sa'd to fight, kill, and disfigure Husayn and his supporters unless they pledged allegiance to Yazid, in which case their fate would be decided later.

Shamir extended again this offer to Abbas and his brothers on the eve of the battle, but they remained defiant and pledged their full support to Husayn.

As the Umayyad army approached, however, Husayn dispatched Abbas and some companions, who requested Ibn Sa'd to delay the confrontation until the following day.

[11][21][22] Husayn and his companions spent that night praying and reading the Quran,[23] as reported by the Shia jurist Ibn Tawus (d. 1266) and in most maqatil works.

[25] There is a report by Ibn Tawus that Abbas was killed on Tasu'a in a failed sally to bring water,[2][24] though most traditions place his death on Ashura.

[2] On the morning of Ashura (10 Muharram), Husayn organized his supporters, some seventy-two men,[17] and designated Abbas as his standard-bearer, an indication of his privileged position among the companions.

[26] The Umayyad army then showered the camp with arrows,[17] thus commencing the battle which lasted from morning till sunset and consisted of incidents of single combat, skirmishes, assaults, and retreats.

[2] When Husayn's last warrior fell, the Umayyad army converged on the lone imam, who also fought until the end.

[29] Maqatil al-Talibiyyin by the early historian Abu al-Faraj al-Isfahani (d. 967) reports that the murderer of Abbas dreamed of being flung into hell every night,[30] while reports attributed to the Shia imams Ali ibn al-Husayn (d. 713) and Ja'far al-Sadiq (d. 765) highly praise Abbas for his faith and fortitude in defending Husayn.

In support of this account, the Islamicist A. Bahramian and his co-author note that the traditional supplications for pilgrims contain references to Abbas' mission to fetch water and his arms being severed.

[31] As with Husayn and his other companions, the head of Abbas was severed and brought to Yazid in Damascus,[2] in his case by Harmala ibn K'ahil al-Asadi.

[32] There exist special prayers and rituals for pilgrims and several Muslim figures are buried in the precinct of Abbas' shrine.

One of his descendants was Abbas ibn al-Hasan al-Alawi, who reached fame as a poet and scholar during the reigns of the Abbasid caliphs, al-Rashid (r. 786–809) and al-Ma'mun (r. 813–833).

The Zanj rebellion was ignited in Iraq and Bahrain in the ninth century by Ali ibn Muhammad Sahib al-Zanj, who claimed descent from Abbas.