People used to say, “Abū Hurayrah relates far too many reports.” Yet I would stay close to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ simply to satisfy my hunger, at a time when I never ate soft wheat-bread, never wore silk, and had no man or woman to serve me. I would press my belly against the gravel out of hunger, and I would ask a man to recite a verse—though I already knew it—so that he might take me home and feed me. The kindest of people to the poor was Jaʿfar ibn Abī Ṭālib: he would take us home and give us whatever he had. He would even bring out the fat-skin that held nothing, split it open, and we would lick whatever remained inside. Al-Bukhārī alone transmits this ḥadīth.

Ḥassān ibn Thābit lamented Jaʿfar, saying:

I wept—how hard to bear Jaʿfar’s loss,
the Prophet’s beloved above all humankind;
I grieved and cried when the news reached my ear:
Who now will face the fray beneath the eagle’s shade?
When gleaming swords are drawn from their sheaths
to strike, and lances come pouring in cascade?
After the blessed son of Fāṭimah—Jaʿfar—
the best and noblest of all created men;
A grievous blow: the purest of lineage,
the staunchest defender, the humblest of them;
A champion of truth whenever it was challenged,
never pretending, never uttering a lie;
The most generous of hands, the least coarse of tongue,
the farthest from indecency, the richest in gift;
In noble conduct none resembled him—
save Muḥammad—among the living, every one.

As for Ibn Rawāḥah: he is ʿAbd Allāh ibn Rawāḥah ibn Thaʿlabah ibn Imriʾ al-Qays ibn ʿAmr ibn Imriʾ al-Qays the Elder ibn Mālik ibn al-Agharr ibn Thaʿlabah ibn Kaʿb ibn al-Khazraj ibn al-Ḥārith ibn al-Khazraj, known as Abū Muḥammad—some say Abū Rawāḥah, others Abū ʿUmar. He was an Anṣārī of the Khazraj clan and the maternal uncle of al-Nuʿmān ibn Bashīr; his sister was ʿAmrah bint Rawāḥah. He embraced Islam early, attended the Pledge of al-ʿAqabah, and was one of the twelve chiefs appointed that night for Banū al-Ḥārith ibn al-Khazraj. He fought at Badr, Uḥud, the Trench, al-Ḥudaybiyah, and Khaybar. The Prophet ﷺ used to send him to estimate Khaybar’s produce, as mentioned earlier. He was present at the Lesser ʿUmrah of Compensation, entering Mecca that day holding the reins of the Prophet’s camel—others say its stirrup—reciting:

“Clear the unbelievers from his path …”

the remaining lines having been cited above. He was also one of the commanders martyred at Muʾtah, as previously noted, and he encouraged the Muslims to confront the Byzantines when they wavered in their resolve