son of Abdalmothileb, and Mahomet's uncle, opposed his nephew with all his power, esteeming him an impostor and infidel; but in the second year of the hegira, being overcome and made a prisoner at the battle of Bendir in 623, a great ransom being demanded for him, he represented to Mahomet, that his paying it would reduce him to poverty, which would redound to the dishonour of the family. But Mahomet having been informed of Abbas's having secreted large sums of money, asked him after the purses of gold he had left in his mother's custody at Mecca. Abbas, upon this, conceiving him to be really a prophet, embraced his new religion; became one of his principal captains; and saved his life when in imminent danger at the battle of Henain, against the Thakefites, soon after the reduction of Mecca. But besides being a great commander, Abbas was a famous doctor of the Musulman law, infomuch that he read lectures upon every chapter of the Koran, as his nephew pretended to receive them one by one from heaven. He died in 652, and his memory is held in the highest veneration among the Musulmans to this day.

Abul Abbas, furmamed Saffah, was proclaimed khalif; and in him began the Dynasty of the ABBASSIDES, who possessed the khalifate for 524 years; and there were 37 khalifs of this race who succeeded one another without interruption.