He said, “So he sat me in front of him. Then one of Fāṭimah’s two sons—either Ḥasan or Ḥusayn—was brought, and he seated him behind him, and thus the three of us entered Madinah on a single mount.
This narration is also recorded by Muslim, Abū Dāwūd, al-Nasāʾī, and Ibn Mājah, through the chain of ʿĀṣim al-Aḥwal from Murrīq.
Imām Aḥmad likewise reported—[Rūḥ narrated to us;] Ibn Jurayj narrated to us; Jaʿfar ibn Khālid ibn Sārah narrated to us—that his father related that ʿAbd Allāh ibn Jaʿfar said:
“If only you had seen me with Qutham and ʿUbayd Allāh, the two sons of al-ʿAbbās, while we were small boys playing. The Prophet ﷺ passed by on a mount and said, ‘Lift this one up to me.’ He placed me in front of him, then said regarding Qutham, ‘Lift this one up to me,’ and seated him behind him. ʿUbayd Allāh was dearer to al-ʿAbbās than Qutham, yet the Prophet ﷺ did not shy away from his uncle’s feelings when he carried Qutham and left him.
“Then he stroked my head three times, and every time he did so he prayed, ‘O Allah, be the Guardian of Jaʿfar through his children.’
“I asked ʿAbd Allāh, ‘What happened to Qutham?’
“He replied, ‘He was martyred.’
“I said, ‘Allah and His Messenger know best where the good lies.’
“He answered, ‘Indeed.’”
Al-Nasāʾī also includes this report in “The Deeds of Day and Night,” through Ibn Jurayj, with the same wording.
This incident took place after the Conquest, for al-ʿAbbās did not arrive in Madinah until after that event.
As for the report transmitted by Imām Aḥmad—Ismāʿīl narrated to us; Ḥabīb ibn Shuhayd narrated to us, from ʿAbd Allāh ibn Abī Mulaykah—that ʿAbd Allāh ibn Jaʿfar said to Ibn al-Zubayr, “Do you remember when we went out to welcome the Messenger of Allah ﷺ—you, I, and Ibn ʿAbbās?” He replied, “Yes; he carried us and left you”—I found it in the Musnad exactly so, but it seems to be a copyist’s error, for the narration belongs to the Musnad of ʿAbd Allāh ibn Jaʿfar. The correct version is:
“ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Zubayr said to ʿAbd Allāh ibn Jaʿfar, ‘Do you remember when we went out to welcome the Messenger of Allah ﷺ—I, you, and Ibn ʿAbbās?’ He replied, ‘Yes; he carried us and left you.’”
Al-Bukhārī and Muslim likewise record it in this wording through Ḥabīb ibn Shuhayd. This is counted among the telling ripostes, and it is also related that ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbbās gave the same reply to Ibn al-Zubayr. That incident, too, occurred after the Conquest, as we have already explained. Allah knows best.