—Salama, who said:

“When Mecca became too constricted for us, and the Companions of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ were persecuted and tormented, and when they saw what afflictions befell them while the Messenger of Allah was unable to ward that off from them—he himself being protected by his people and his uncle so that none of the harm that reached his Companions could reach him—he said to them: ‘In the land of Abyssinia there is a king under whom no one is wronged. Travel to his country until Allah grants you relief and a way out.’

“So we departed for him in small groups until we had all gathered and settled in the best of houses beside the best of neighbors, safe in our religion (1).”

Al-Shaʿbī said: ʿAlī married Asmāʾ bint ʿUmays, and her two sons—Muḥammad b. Jaʿfar and Muḥammad b. Abī Bakr—began to boast. Each said to the other, “My father is better than yours.” ʿAlī then said, “O Asmāʾ, judge between them.” She replied, “I have never seen a youth better than Jaʿfar, nor an elder better than Abū Bakr.” ʿAlī said, “You have left nothing for us; had you said anything else I would have disliked you.” She answered, “By Allah, three men of whom you are the least are surely eminent.”

Mujālid narrated from al-Shaʿbī, from ʿAbd Allah b. Jaʿfar, who said: “I never asked ʿAlī for anything, invoking Jaʿfar’s right, without his granting it to me.”

Ibn Mahdī told us: al-Aswad b. Shaybān narrated from Khālid b. Shumayr, who said: ʿAbd Allah b. Rabāḥ came to us and people gathered around him. He said, “Abū Qatādah related to us:

‘The Messenger of Allah ﷺ dispatched the Army of Commanders and said, “Zayd is in command; if he is struck down, then Jaʿfar; if Jaʿfar is struck down, then Ibn Rawāḥah.”’

Jaʿfar leapt up and said, ‘May my father and mother be ransomed for you! I never feared that—”