Jaʿfar ibn Abī Ṭālib answered, “We say about him only what our Prophet has brought: he is Allah’s servant, His messenger, a spirit from Him and His word which He cast into Mary, the chaste virgin—indeed, a spirit from Him.” (1)

At this the Negus struck his hand on the ground, picked up a twig and said, “Jesus son of Mary did not surpass what you have just said by so much as this twig.” (2) His bishops snorted around him when they heard these words, but he said, “Even if you snort—by Allah—go, for you are suyūm in my land.” —and suyūm in their tongue means “secure.” (3) “Whoever insults you shall pay a fine—whoever insults you shall pay a fine. I would not wish to possess a dabr of gold—dabr in Abyssinian means ‘mountain’—if that meant that I had harmed a single one of you. Return to them their gifts; I have no need of them. By Allah, when God restored my kingdom to me He did not take a bribe from me, so why should I accept a bribe concerning it? The people did not compel me in this matter, and I shall not follow them in it.”

Umm Salama said: So the two of them left his presence disgraced, their gifts handed back, while we remained with him in the best of dwellings beside the best of neighbors.

(She continued: “By Allah, we were still in that state when a man from Abyssinia descended upon him, contending with him for his throne.”) (4)

She said: “By Allah, we never knew grief greater than the grief we felt then, fearing that that man might prevail over the Negus and that there would come a ruler who…” (5)