Notice his majestic youth and blooming vigour, patience, compassion, piety, modesty, and devoutness. Notice his fearlessness, generosity, purity, chastity, honesty, and trustworthiness. Notice his magnificent nature, virtue, and greatness. Do not let the fact that all these excelling traits were found in one man astonish you, for you are looking at a man who resembled the Prophet (saw) in his looks and conduct.You are about to meet the twittering heavenly sparrow, Jaafar Ibn Abi Talib, one of the great Muslims who contributed much to shaping the conscience of life.

Jafar had a very close resemblance to the Prophet. It is said there were five men from the Hashim clan who resembled the Prophet so much, they were often mistaken for him. They were: Abu Sufyan ibn al-Harith and Qutham ibn al-Abbas both of whom were cousins of his. As-Saib ibn Ubayd, the grandfather of Imam ash Shafi: al-Hasan ibn Ali, the grandson of the Prophet, who resembled him most of all; and Jafar ibn Abi Talib.

Jafar and his wife, Asma bint Umays, accepted Islam together and were among the early Muslims. Even though they belonged to the Hashim clan, they had to bear their share of persecution at the hands of Quraish which they withstood with courage and joy so much so that were among the first migrants to Abyssinia.There, they settled for a number of years, during which they had three children: Muhammad, Abd Allah and Awf.

When the Quraysh learnt of the departure of the small group of Muslims and the peaceful life they enjoyed under the protection of the Negus, they made plans to secure their extradition and their return to the great prison that was Makkah. They sent two of their most formidable men, Amr ibn al-Aas and Abdullah ibn Abi Rabiah, to accomplish this task and loaded them with valuable and much sought after presents for the Negus and his bishops.

Now, the Quraish were afraid lest they should not be able to convince him of their viewpoint. Therefore, their two delegates carried many expensive gifts for the bishops and archbishops of the church and were advised not to meet An-Najaashi until they had given those presents to the bishops and convinced them of their viewpoint so that they would support them before An-Najaashi.

As soon as the two delegates arrived in Abyssinia, they met the spiritual leaders and lavished the gifts on them. Then they sent An-Najaashi his presents. Afterwards, they began to incite the priests and bishops against the Muslim immigrants and asked them to support them in their plea to An-Najaashi to expel them. A day was set for the Muslims to meet An-Najaashi and confront, before his eyes, their spiteful and mischievous enemies.

On the appointed day, An-Najaashi sat on the throne in awesome dignity, surrounded by the bishops and his retinue. Right in front of him in the vast hall sat the Muslim immigrants, enveloped by Allah's calmness, tranquillity, and mercy which He had sent down upon them. The two Quraish delegates stood to reiterate their accusation which they had presented before An-Najaashi in a private meeting right before this huge audience.

Amr and Abdullah then went to the An-Najaash himself and presented him with gifts which he greatly admired. They said to him:

"O King, there is a group of evil persons from among our youth who have escaped to your kingdom. They practice a religion which neither we nor you know. They have forsaken our religion and have not entered into your religion. The respected leaders of their people - from among their own parents and uncles. and from their own clans - have sent us to you to request you to return them. They know best what trouble they have caused."

An-Najaashi looked towards his bishops who said: "They speak the truth, O King. Their own people know them better and are better acquainted with what they have done. Send them back so that they themselves might judge them."

An-Najaashi addressed the Muslims saying, "What is that religion that made you abandon your people's religion and refuse to embrace our religion?" Jaafar stood to perform the task for which he had been chosen by mutual consultation immediately before this meeting.He made a speech that was moving and eloquent and which is still one of the most compelling descriptions of Islam.

the appeal of the noble Prophet and the condition of Makkan society at the time. He said:

"O King, we were a people in a state of ignorance and immorality, worshipping idols and eating the flesh of dead animals, committing all sorts of abomination and shameful deeds. breaking the ties of kinship, treating guests badly and the strong among us exploited the weak.

"We remained in this state until Allah sent us a Prophet, one of our own people whose lineage, truthfulness, trustworthiness and integrity were well-known to us. "He called us to worship Allah alone and to renounce the stones and the idols which we and our ancestors used to worship besides Allah.

"He commanded us to speak the truth, to honor our promises, to be kind to our relations, to be helpful to our neighbors, to cease all forbidden acts, to abstain from bloodshed. to avoid obscenities and false witness, not to appropriate an orphan's property nor slander chaste women.

"He ordered us to worship Allah alone and not to associate anything with him, to uphold Salat, to give Zakat and fast in the month of Ramadan.

"We believed in him and what he brought to us from Allah and we follow him in what he has asked us to do and we keep away from what he forbade us from doing.

"Thereupon, O King, our people attacked us, visited the severest punishment on us to make us renounce our religion and take us back to the old immorality and the worship of idols.

"They oppressed us, made life intolerable for us and obstructed us from observing our religion. So we left for your country, choosing you before anyone else, desiring your protection and hoping to live in Justice and in peace m your midst."

When Jaafar finished his glorious words which were as clear as daylight, An-Najaashi was gripped by compassion and grace. He addressed Jaafar saying, "Do you have a scroll on which you have written the words of your Prophet?" Jaafar replied, "Yes." An-Najaashi ordered, "Read it aloud." Jaafar recited a number of verses from Surat Maryam which deals with the story of Jesus and his mother Mary in such a slow, sweet, subdued, and captivating voice that An-Najaashi was moved to tears.

To the Muslims, he said: "The message of your Prophet and that of Jesus came from the same source..." To Amr and his companion, he said:" Go. For, by God, I will never surrender them to you."

The meeting was over. Allah had helped the Muslims and made their feet firm; whereas the Quraish delegates were bitterly defeated. Yet Amr Ibn Al-Aas was a resourceful, crafty man who could neither accept defeat nor despair easily.

On the following day, Amr hastened to meet the king and said, "O King. these people to whom you have given refuge and whom you protect say something terrible about Jesus the son of Mary (that he is a slave). Send for them and ask them what they say about him." At once, the bishops were agitated by this short but fatal sentence. They asked the Muslims once again to meet the king so as to clarify their religious standpoint concerning Isa AS.

An-Najaash summoned the Muslims once more and Jafar acted as their spokesman. The Negus put the question: "What do you say about Jesus, the son of Mary?"

"Regarding him, we only say what has been revealed to our Prophet ," replied Jaffar. "And what is that?" enquired An-Najaash.

"Our Prophet says that Jesus is the servant of God and His Prophet. His spirit and His word which He cast into Mary the Virgin."

An-Najaash was obviously excited by this reply and exclaimed: "By God, Jesus the son of Mary was exactly as your Prophet has described him"

The bishops around An-Najaash grunted in disgust at what they had heard and were reprimanded by the Negus. He turned to the Muslims and said:

"Go, for you are safe and secure. Whoever obstructs you will pay for it and whoever opposes you will be punished. For, by God, I would rather not have a mountain of gold than that anyone of you should come to any harm."

Turning to Amr and his companion, he instructed his attendants: "Return their gifts to these two men. I have no need of them." Amr and his companion left broken and frustrated. The Muslims stayed on in the land of An-Najaash who proved to be most generous and kind to his guests.

After the Quraish delegates had been utterly disgraced, they headed back to Makkah. The Muslims headed by Jaafar went on with their secure life in Abyssinia. They settled in the 'most hospitable land of the most hospitable people' until Allah gave them permission to return to their Prophet SAW, who was celebrating with the Muslims the conquest of Khaibar when Jaafar and the rest of the emigrants to Abyssinia arrived.He was so overjoyed at meeting Jafar that he said: "I do not know what fills me with more happiness, the conquest of Khaybar or the coming of Jafar."

Jafar's stay in Madinah was not long. At the beginning of the eighth year of the hijrah, the Prophet mobilized an army to confront Byzantine forces in Syria because one of his emissaries who had gone in peace had been treacherously killed by a Byzantine governor. He appointed Zayd ibn Harithah as commander of the army and gave the following instructions:

"If Zayd is wounded or killed, Jafar ibn Abi Talib would take over the command. If Jafar is killed or wounded, then your commander would be Abdullah ibn Rawahah. If Abdullah ibn Rawahah is killed, then let the Muslims choose for themselves a commander."

The Prophet had never given such instructions to an army before and the Muslims took this as an indication that he expected the battle to be tough and that they would even suffer major losses.

When the Muslim army reached Mutah, a small village situated among hills in Jordan, they discovered that the Byzantines had amassed a hundred thousand men backed up by a massive number of Christian Arabs from the tribes of Lakhm, Judham, Qudaah and others. The Muslim army only numbered three thousand.

Despite the great odds against them, the Muslim forces engaged the Byzantines in battle. Zayd ibn al-Harithah, the beloved companion of the Prophet, was among the first to fall. Jafar ibn Abi Talib then assumed command. Mounted on his ruddy-complexioned horse, he penetrated deep into the Byzantine ranks. As he spurred his horse on, he called out:

"How wonderful is Paradise as it draws near! How pleasant and cool is its drink! Punishment for the Byzantines is not far away!"

Jafar continued to fight vigorously but was eventually slain. Thus, Jaafar died an honourable death. He met Allah, the Most Great, the Most High, enveloped in self-sacrifice and heroism.

The third in command, Abdullah ibn Rawahah, also fell. Khalid ibn al-Walid, the inveterate fighter who had recently accepted Islam, was then chosen as the commander. He made a tactical withdrawal, redeployed the Muslims and renewed the attack from several directions. Eventually, the bulk of the Byzantine forces fled in disarray.

The news of the death of his three commanders reached the Prophet in Madinah. The pain and grief he felt was intense. He went to Jafar's house and met his wife Asma. She was getting ready to receive her absent husband. She had prepared dough and bathed and clothed the children.

Asma said: "When the Messenger of God approached us, I saw a veil of sadness shrouding his noble face and I became very apprehensive. But I did not dare ask him about Jafar for fear that I would hear some unpleasant news. He greeted and asked, 'Where are Jaffar's children?' I called them for him and they came and crowded around him happily, each one wanting to claim him for himself. He leaned over and hugged them while tears flowed from his eyes.

'O Messenger of God,' I asked, 'why do you cry? Have you heard anything about Jafar and his two companions?'

'Yes,' he replied. 'They have attained martyrdom.' The smiles and the laughter vanished from the faces of the little children when they heard their mother crying and wailing. Women came and gathered around Asma.

He was a valiant man who rushed to help the oppressed.

He fought until he was martyred. And his reward was Paradise where there are lush. green gardens.

At the end, all the poor wept bitterly over the loss of their father, for Jaafar was the 'father of the poor'. Abu Hurairah said, "The most generous man towards the poor was Jaafar Ibn Abi Talib." Indeed, when he was about to die, he wanted to be the most generous, self- denying and devoted martyr. Abd Allah Ibn Umar said, "I was with Jaafar in the Battle of Mu'tah and we looked around for him. We found that the enemy had sprayed his body with more than ninety stabs and strikes!"

But those killers did not scratch his invulnerable spirit. No, their swords and spears were the bridge which this glorious martyr crossed to be near Allah, the Most Merciful, the Most High. He was raised to a high station in heaven.

His worn-out body was covered all over with the medals of war, namely, the wounds. Now, let us hear what the Prophet SAW said about him: "I have seen him in Paradise. His head and wings – upper arms – were covered with blood!"

After his death Jafar (may Allah be pleased with him) became known as Jafar Al-Tayyar, The One of Two Wings, in reference to the Prophet ( ﷺ ) having a vision of him in Paradise with two wings.