130 – Hamzah ibn al-‘Abbas narrated to me; Abdan ibn ‘Uthman narrated to us; ‘Abd al-Rahman ibn Yazid ibn Jabir related, from ‘Abd al-Rahman, a man from Sana‘a, who said:

“The Negus once sent for Ja‘far ibn Abi Talib and his companions. They entered and found him in a room wearing thread-bare clothes, seated on the bare earth. Ja‘far said: We became uneasy when we saw him in that state, but when he noticed the look on our faces he said, ‘I bring you good news that delights me. A scout of mine has just returned from your land and informed me that Allah has granted victory to His Prophet and destroyed His enemy. So-and-so, so-and-so, and so-and-so have been taken captive, while so-and-so and so-and-so have been killed. The two armies met in a valley called Badr, thick with arak trees—I can almost see it before me; I used to pasture my master’s camels there, a man from Banu Ḍamrah.’

Ja‘far then asked him, ‘Why are you sitting on the ground with no mat beneath you and wearing these rags?’ He replied, ‘We find in what was revealed to Jesus, peace be upon him, that it is binding upon the servants of Allah to humble themselves to Him whenever He grants them a blessing. So when Allah granted me the victory of His Prophet, I adopted this posture of humility for Him.’”