Ja'far ibn Abi Talib

Ja‘far ibn Abī Tālib ( Arabic : جعفر ابن أبي طالب / جعفر الطيار ) (died 629), also known as Ja‘far at-Tayyār , was the son of Abu Talib ibn 'Abdul Muttalib (the uncle of the Islamic prophet Muhammad ), and the elder brother of the fourth Sunni Khalīfah, Ali ibn Abi Talib . Jafar was raised by his uncle, Abbas ibn 'Abdul Muttalib , for his father was a poor man and had to support a big family. Jafar left his uncle Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib ’s house when he became a young man and got married to Asma bint Umays . They were among the very first persons to embrace Islam, and as a result suffered greatly at the hands of the Quraish . The Quraish restricted their movements and freedom until they could not bear it anymore. That is why Jafar went to Muhammed and took his permission to immigrate to Ethiopia along with a small group of Sahabas . They settled down in this new land under the protection of Negus Ashama ibn Abjar , and for the first time since they had become Muslims they knew what freedom was, and could worship Allah without any hindrances. However, Quraish would not let them enjoy freedom and peace for long; soon they sent Abdullah ibn Abu Rabiah and another man from Quraish in order to negotiate with Negus and get all the Muslims back to Mecca. They took a lot of presents to the Negus, which pleased him a lot, and then told him that there is a group of wicked men moving about freely in his country and asked him to capture them before they cause any harm to his kingship as they did in Quraish. But the Negus refused to do that until he calls them and questions them regarding Quraish’s allegations. So he asked the group Muslims, among which was Jafar ibn Abu Talib, to come and meet him and the Muslims chose Jafar to be their spokesman. The Negus asked them “what is this religion that has cut you off from your people, and made you in no need of our religion”..? Jafar answered him saying “we were living in darkness and this religion came and commanded us to speak the truth, to honor our promises, to be kind to our relations, to cease all forbidden acts, to abstain from bloodshed. To avoid obstinacies and false witness, nor to appropriate an orphan's property or slander chaste women, Muhammed ordered us to worship Allah only and not to associate any god with Him, to uphold Salat , to give Zakat and fast in the month of Ramadan, so we believed in him and what he brought to us from Allah and we follow him in what he has asked us to do and we keep away from what he forbade us from doing.” The Negus was eager to know more about what Jafar said, and so he asked Jafar to read him a part from what Muhammed brought concerning Allah. Jafar recited for him the first portion of Surah Maryam, which narrates the story of Jesus and his mother Mary. On hearing the words of the Quran, the Negus was moved and the bishops around him began to weep. The Negus said that he will never harm them. However the two Quraish emissaries did not stop at that, they went to the Negus again and told him that the Muslims say that Jesus is a slave, and asked him to call them and ask them what they think of Jesus. The Negus called the Muslims and asked them, so Jafar answered him saying, "Our Prophet says that Jesus is Allah’s prophet." The Negus gave back the gifts to Amr so he and his companion left broken and frustrated.¹