My father said, "I heard Ibn ʿUmar reciting the poetic verses of Abu Talib: And a white (person) (i.e. the Prophet) who is requested to pray for rain and who takes care of the orphans and is the guardian of widows." Salim's father (Ibn ʿUmar) said, "The following poetic verse occurred to my mind while I was looking at the face of the Prophet ﷺ while he was praying for rain. He did not get down till the rain water flowed profusely from every roof-gutter: And a white (person) who is requested to pray for rain and who takes care of the orphans and is the guardian of widows . . . And these were the words of Abu Talib."  

عَنْ أَبِيهِ رُبَّمَا ذَكَرْتُ قَوْلَ الشَّاعِرِ وَأَنَا أَنْظُرُ إِلَى وَجْهِ النَّبِيِّ ﷺ يَسْتَسْقِي فَمَا يَنْزِلُ حَتَّى يَجِيشَ كُلُّ مِيزَابٍ وَأَبْيَضَ يُسْتَسْقَى الْغَمَامُ بِوَجْهِهِ ثِمَالَ الْيَتَامَى عِصْمَةً لِلأَرَامِلِ وَهْوَ قَوْلُ أَبِي طَالِبٍ  

Whenever drought threatened them, ʿUmar bin Al-Khattab, used to ask Al-Abbas bin ʿAbdul Muttalib to invoke Allah for rain. He used to say, "O Allah! We used to ask our Prophet to invoke You for rain, and You would bless us with rain, and now we ask his uncle to invoke You for rain. O Allah ! Bless us with rain."(1) And so it would rain.  

اللَّهُمَّ إِنَّا كُنَّا نَتَوَسَّلُ إِلَيْكَ بِنَبِيِّنَا فَتَسْقِينَا وَإِنَّا نَتَوَسَّلُ إِلَيْكَ بِعَمِّ نَبِيِّنَا فَاسْقِنَا قَالَ فَيُسْقَوْنَ