"O messenger of Allah i wish to praise you"

al-`Abbas ibn `Abd al-Muttalib - Allah be well-pleased with him - said:

“Messenger of Allah, I wish to praise you.” The Prophet replied, upon him peace: “Go ahead - how well you speak!” (lâ yafdudillâhu fâk). Al-`Abbas said:

“Before [your translation] you were blessed
in the shades [of Paradise] and the repository (Eden)
where leaves were used for garments.
Then you alighted upon earth, neither a formed human being
nor a piece of flesh nor clot,
But as a drop that boarded the Ark
when the flood destroyed Nasr and the rest of the idols:
Transported from the loins to the wombs
in the succession of worlds and centuries.
Until your noble House, proclaiming [your merit],
took hold of the highest summit of the line of Khindif.
And then, when you were born, the sun rose over the earth
and the horizon was illuminated with your light.
So we - in that radiance and that light
and paths of guidance - can pierce through.”

Narrated from Khuraym ibn Aws ibn Jariya by al-Hakim (3:327=1990 ed. 3:369), al-Bayhaqi in Dala’il al-Nubuwwa (5:267-268) as cited by Ibn Kathir in his Sira (ed. Mustafa `Abd al-Wahid 4:51=1:195), Abu Nu`aym in the Hilya (1:364), Ibn Sayyid al-Nas in Minah al-Madh (p. 192-193) with his chain through al-Bazzar and al-Tabarani, and - as mentioned by al-Qari in Sharh al-Shifa (1:364) - Abu Bakr al-Shafi`i and al-Tabarani in al-Kabir (4:213). Al-Suyuti in al-La’ali’ al-Masnu`a (1:265=1996 ed. 1:244) said: “There is no question that these verses are by al-`Abbas.” Also cited by al-Qadi `Iyad in al-Shifa (p. 216 #393), Ibn al-Athir in Usud al-Ghaba (2:129 #1348), Ibn `Abd al-Barr in al-Isti`ab (8:447), also from Khuraym’s brother Jarir ibn Aws, Ibn Hajar in al-Isaba - in the entry “Khuraym,” al-Dhahabi in the Siyar (1-2:36-37 and 3:415=al-Arna’ut ed. 2:102-103), Ibn al-Qayyim in Zad al-Ma`ad (3:482-483), and in Sharh al-Mawahib (3:84).