Jafar ibn Abi Talib - Biographies of the Companions (Sahabah)

In spite of his noble standing among the Quraysh, Abu Talib, an uncle
of the Prophet, was quite poor. He had a large familyand did not have
enough means to support them adequately. His poverty-stricken
situation became much worse when a severe drought hit the Arabian
peninsula. The drought destroyed vegetation and livestock and, it is
said, people were driven to eat bones in the struggle for survival.
It was during this time of drought, before his call to prophethood,
that Muhammad said to his uncle, al Abbas: "Yourbrother, Abu Talib,
has a large family. People as you see have been afflicted by this
severe drought and are facing starvation. Let us go to Abu Taliband
take over responsibility for some of his family. It will take one of
his sons and you can taken another and we will look after them."
"What you suggest is certainly righteous and commendable," replied
al-Abbas, and together they went to Abu Talib and said to him: "We
want to ease some of the burden of your family until such time as this
distressing period has gone." Abu Talib agreed.
"If you allow me to keep Aqeel (one of his sons older than Ali), then
you may do whatever you like ," he said.
It was in this way that Muhammad took Ali into his household and
al-Abbas took Jafar into his. Jafar had a very close resemblance to
the Prophet. It is said there were five men from the Hashim clan who
resembled the Prophet so much, they were often mistakenfor him. They
were: Abu Sufyan ibn al-Harith and Qutham ibn al-Abbas both of whom
were cousins of his. As-Saib ibn Ubayd,the grandfather of Imam ash
Shafi: al-Hasan ibn Ali, the grandson of the Prophet, who resembled
him most of all; and Jafar ibn Abi Talib.
Jafar stayed with his uncle, al-Abbas, until he was a young man. Then
he married Asma bintUmays, a sister of Maymunah who was later to
become a wife of the Prophet. After his marriage, Jafar went to live
on his own. He and his wife were among the first persons to accept
Islam. He became a Muslim at the hands of Abu Bakr as-Siddiq, may God
be pleased with him.
The young Jafar and his wife were devoted followers of Islam.They bore
the harsh treatment and the persecution of the Quraysh with patience
and steadfastness because they bothrealized that the road to Paradise
was strewn with thorns and paved with pain and hardship.
The Quraysh made life intolerable for them both and for their brethren
in faith. They tried to obstruct them from observing or performing the
duties and rites of Islam. They prevented them from tasting the full
sweetness of worship undisturbed. The Quraysh waylaid them at every
turn and severely restricted their freedomof movement.
Jafar eventually went to the Prophet, peace be upon him, and sought
permission for himself and a small group of theSahabah, including his
wife, to make hijrah to the land of Abyssinia. With great sadness, the
Prophet gave his permission.It pained him that these pure and
righteous souls should be forced to leave their homes and the familiar
and cherished scenes and memories of their childhood and youth, not
for anycrime but only because they said, "Our Lord is One. Allah is
our Lord."
The group of Muhajirin left Makkah bound for the land of Abyssinia.
Leading them was Jafar ibn Abi Talib. Soon they settled down in this
new land under the care and protection ofthe Negus, the just and
righteous ruler of Abyssinia. For the first time since they became
Muslims, they savoured the tasteof freedom and security and enjoyed
the sweetness of worship undisturbed.
When the Quraysh learnt of the departure of the small group of Muslims
and the peaceful life they enjoyed under the protection of the Negus,
they made plans to secure their extradition and their return to the
great prison that was Makkah. They sent two of their most formidable
men, Amr ibn al-Aas and Abdullah ibn Abi Rabiah, to accomplish this
task and loaded them with valuable and much sought after presents for
the Negus and his bishops.
In Abyssinia, the two Quraysh emissaries first presented their girls
to the bishops and to each of them they said: "There are some wicked
young people moving about freely in the King's land. They have
attacked the religion of their forefathers and caused disunity among
theirpeople. When we speak to the King about them, advise him to
surrender them to us without his asking them about their religion. The
respected leaders of their own people are more aware of them and know
better what they believe."
The bishops agreed.
Amr and Abdullah then went to the Negus himself and presented him with
gifts which he greatly admired. They said to him: "O King, there is a
group of evil persons from among our youth who have escaped to
yourkingdom. They practice a religion which neither we nor you know.
They have forsaken our religion and have not entered into your
religion. The respected leaders of their people- from among their own
parentsand uncles and from their own clans - have sent us to you to
request you to return them. They know best what trouble they have
caused."
The Negus looked towards his bishops who said: "They speak the truth,
O King. Their own people know them better and are better acquainted
with whatthey have done. Send them back so that they themselves might
judge them."
The Negus was quite angry with this suggestion and said: "No. ByGod, I
won't surrender them to anyone until I myself call them and question
them about what they have been accused. If what these two men have
said is true,then I will hand them over to you. If however it is not
so, then I shall protect them so long as they desire to remain under
my protection."
The Negus then summoned the Muslims to meet him. Before going, they
consulted with one another as a group and agreed that Jafar ibn Abi
Talib and no one else should speak on their behalf.
In the court of the Negus, the bishops, dressed in green surplises and
impressive headgear, were seated on his right and on his left. The
Qurayshite emissaries were also seated when the Muslims entered and
took their seats. The Negus turned to them and asked:
"What is this religion which you have introduced for yourself andwhich
has served to cut you off from the religion of your people? You also
did not enter my religion nor the religion of any other community."
Jafar ibn Abi Talib then advancedand made a speech that was moving and
eloquent and which is still one of the most compelling descriptions of
Islam, the appeal of the noble Prophet and the condition of Makkan
society at the time. He said: "O King, we were a people in a state of
ignorance and immorality, worshipping idols and eating the flesh of
dead animals, committing all sorts of abomination and shameful deeds,
breaking the ties of kinship, treating guests badly and the strong
among us exploited the weak. "We remained in this state until
Allahsent us a Prophet, one of our own people whose lineage,
truthfulness, trustworthiness and integrity were well-known to us. "He
called us to worship Allah alone and to renounce the stones and the
idols which we and our ancestors used to worship besides Allah.
"He commanded us to speak thetruth, to honor our promises, to be kind
to our relations, to be helpful to our neighbors, to cease all
forbidden acts, to abstain from bloodshed, to avoid obscenities and
false witness, not to appropriate an orphan's property nor slander
chaste women.
"He ordered us to worship Allah alone and not to associate anything
with him, to uphold Salat, to give Zakat and fast in the month of
Ramadan.
"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.
"Thereupon, O King, our people attacked us, visited the severest
punishment on us to make us renounce our religion and take us back to
the old immorality and the worship of idols.
"They oppressed us, made life intolerable for us and obstructed us
from observing our religion. So we left for your country, choosing you
before anyone else, desiring your protection and hoping to live in
Justice and in peace m your midst."
The Negus was impressed and was eager to hear more. He asked Jafar:
"Do you have with you something of what your
Prophet brought concerning God?" "Yes," replied Jafar.
"Then read it to me," requested the Negus. Jafar, in his rich,
melodious voice recited for him the first portion of Surah Maryam
which deals with the story of Jesus and his mother Mary.
On hearing the words of the Quran, the Negus was moved to tears. To
the Muslims, he said:"The message of your Prophet and that of Jesus
came from the same source..." To Amr and his companion, he said:" Go.
For, by God, I will never surrender them to you." That, however, was
not the end of the matter. The wily Amr made up his mind to go to the
King the following day "to mention something about the Muslims belief
which will certainly fill his heart with angerand make him detest
them" On the morrow, Amr went to the Negus and said:
"O King, these people to whom you have given refuge and whom you
protect say something terrible about Jesus the son of Mary (that he is
a slave). Send for them and ask them what they say about him."
The Negus summoned the Muslims once more and Jafar acted as their
spokesman. The Negus put the question: "What do you say about Jesus,
the son of Mary?"
"Regarding him, we only say what has been revealed to our Prophet ,"
replied Jaffar. "And what is that?" enquired the Negus.
"Our Prophet says that Jesus is the servant of God and His Prophet.
His spirit and His word which He cast into Mary the Virgin."
The Negus was obviously excitedby this reply and exclaimed: "By God,
Jesus the son of Mary was exactly as your Prophet has described him"
The bishops around the Negus grunted in disgust at what they had heard
and were reprimanded by the Negus. He turned to the Muslims and said:
"Go, for you are safe and secure. Whoever obstructs you will pay for
it and whoever opposes you will be punished. For, by God, I would
rather not have a mountain of gold than that anyone of you should come
to any harm."
Turning to Amr and his companion, he instructed his attendants:
"Return their gifts to these two men. I have no need of them." Amr and
his companion left broken and frustrated. The Muslims stayed on in the
land of the Negus who proved to be most generous andkind to his
guests.
Jafar and his wife Asma spent about ten years in Abyssinia which
became a second home for them. There, Asma gave birthto three children
whom they named Abdullah, Muhammad and Awn. Their second child
waspossibly the first child in the history of the Muslim Ummah to be
given the name Muhammad after the noble Prophet, may God bless him and
grant him peace.
In the seventh year of the hijrah,Jafar and his family left
Abyssiniawith a group of Muslims and headed for Madinah. When they
arrived the Prophet was just returning from the successful conquest of
Khaybar. He was so overjoyed at meeting Jafar that he said: "I do not
know what fills me with more happiness, the conquest of Khaybar or the
coming of Jafar."
Muslims in general and the poor among them especially were just as
happy with the return of Jafar as the Prophet was. Jafar quickly
became known as a person who was much concerned for the welfare of the
poor and indigent. For this he was nicknamed, the "Father of the
Poor". Abu Hurayrah said of him: "The best of men towards us indigent
folk was Jafar ibn AbiTalib. He would pass by us on hisway home and
give us whatever food he had. Even if his own food had run out, he
would sendus a pot in which he had placed some butterfat and nothing
more. We would open it and lickit clean..."
Jafar's stay in Madinah was not long. At the beginning of the eighth
year of the hijrah, the Prophet mobilized an army to confront
Byzantine forces in Syria because one of his emissaries who had gone
in peace had been treacherously killed by a Byzantine governor. He
appointed Zayd ibn Harithah as commander of the army and gave the
following instructions:"If Zayd is wounded or killed, Jafar ibn Abi
Talib would take over the command. If Jafar is killed or wounded, then
your commander would be Abdullah ibn Rawahah. If Abdullah ibn Rawahah
is killed, then let the Muslims choose for themselves acommander."
The Prophet had never given such instructions to an army before and
the Muslims took thisas an indication that he expected the battle to
be tough and that they would even suffer major losses.
When the Muslim army reached Mutah, a small village situated among
hills in Jordan, they discovered that the Byzantines had amassed a
hundred thousand men backed up by a massive number of Christian Arabs
from the tribes of Lakhm, Judham, Qudaah and others. TheMuslim army
only numbered three thousand.
Despite the great odds against them, the Muslim forces engaged the
Byzantines in battle. Zayd ibn al-Harithah, the beloved companion of
the Prophet, was among the first to fall. Jafar ibn Abi Talib then
assumed command. Mounted onhis ruddy-complexioned horse, he penetrated
deep into the Byzantine ranks. As he spurred his horse on, he called
out: "Howwonderful is Paradise as it draws near! How pleasant and cool
is its drink! Punishment for the Byzantines is not far away!" Jafar
continued to fight vigorously but was eventually slain. The third in
command, Abdullah ibn Rawahah, also fell. Khalid ibn al-Walid, the
inveterate fighter who had recently accepted Islam, was then chosen as
the commander. He made a tactical withdrawal, redeployed the Muslims
and renewed the attack from severaldirections. Eventually, the bulk of
the Byzantine forces fled in disarray.
The news of the death of his three commanders reached the Prophet in
Madinah. The pain and grief he felt was intense. He went to Jafar's
house and met his wife Asma. She was getting ready to receive her
absent husband. She had prepared dough and bathed and clothed the
children. Asma said: "When the Messenger of God approached us, I saw a
veil of sadness shrouding his noble face and I became very
apprehensive. But I did not dare ask him about Jafar for fear that I
would hear some unpleasant news. He greeted and asked, 'Where are
Jaffar's children?' I called them for him and they came and crowded
around him happily, each one wanting to claim him for himself. He
leaned over and hugged them while tears flowed from his eyes.
'O Messenger of God,' I asked, 'why do you cry? Have you heard
anything about Jafar and his twocompanions?'
'Yes,' he replied. 'They have attained martyrdom.' The smilesand the
laughter vanished from the faces of the little children when they
heard their mother crying and wailing. Women came and gathered around
Asma.
"O Asma," said the Prophet,"don't say anything objectionable and don't
beat your breast." He then prayed to God to protect and sustain the
family of Jafar and assured themthat he had attained Paradise.
The Prophet left Asma's house and went to his daughter Fatimah who was
also weeping. To her, he said: "For such as Jafar, you can (easily)
cry yourselfto death. Prepare food for Jafar'sfamily for today they
are beside themselves with grief."

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And Allah Knows the Best!

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Published by :->
M NajimudeeN Bsc- INDIA

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