Ja'far ibn Abi Talib (Ja'far al-Tayyar)

Cousin of the Prophet and full brother of Ali; leader of the emigrants to Abyssinia and the second commander to fall as a martyr at the Battle of Mu'ta. His full name is Abu Abd Allah Ja'far ibn Abi Talib ibn Abd al-Muttalib al-Hashimi. Because the Prophet announced that, after both his arms were severed at Mu'ta, he had been given in their place two wings with which he flies in Paradise, he is known by the epithets al-Tayyar ("the flyer") and Dhu al-Janahayn ("the one with two wings"); hence the name Ja'far al-Tayyar.

He was born in Mecca around 590 and was ten years older than Ali. When his father Abu Talib was in straitened circumstances because of his many children, the Prophet took Ali and their uncle Abbas took Ja'far into their care to ease his burden; Ja'far therefore spent his youth with his uncle Abbas.

He was among the first to believe in the Prophet. When the persecution of the Muslims by the Meccan polytheists grew, he joined the second party that emigrated to Abyssinia together with his wife Asma bint Umays, and the Prophet appointed him leader of this party. His son Abd Allah was born in Abyssinia and was remembered as the first Muslim born there. When the Quraysh sent Abu Rabi'a ibn al-Mughira al-Makhzumi and Amr ibn al-As to Abyssinia so that the emigrants would be denied asylum, it was Ja'far who represented the Muslims before the Abyssinian king, the Negus Ashama. With great frankness and courage he set out the beliefs of Islam and the reasons they had left their homeland, so that the envoys of the Quraysh returned empty-handed and the Negus took the refugee Muslims under his protection. It is also said that the Negus afterwards embraced Islam through Ja'far.

After emigrating to Abyssinia he stayed there until the year 7 (628). He did not take part in the Battle of Badr, but he was one of the eight men to whom the Prophet assigned a share of its spoils and whom he declared to have the honour and reward of having been present at Badr. After the Treaty of Hudaybiya the Prophet, in his letter to the Negus, asked him to send the Muslims in his land to Medina. Ja'far returned to Arabia on a ship provided by the Negus and went straight with the emigrants to the Prophet at Khaybar. Seeing him just after the conquest of Khaybar, the Messenger of God said "I do not know which gives me more joy: the conquest of Khaybar or the arrival of Ja'far?", embraced him, kissed his forehead and gave him and sixteen of his companions a share of the spoils. On their return to Medina he set aside for him a place right beside the Prophet's Mosque and settled him there.

In the year 8 (629), after the Ghassanid chief Shurahbil ibn Amr killed al-Harith ibn Umayr, the bearer of a letter from the Messenger of God, the Prophet placed in command of the army of 3000 men that was prepared, in order, Zayd ibn Haritha, Ja'far ibn Abi Talib and Abd Allah ibn Rawaha; if one fell as a martyr, the next would take command. At Ma'an the army met the Byzantine army, reported to number 100.000 or 200.000 men, and the two armies drew up for battle at Mu'ta (Jumada al-Ula 8 / September 629). When Zayd ibn Haritha fell, Ja'far took command and charged the enemy heroically: when his right hand was cut off he took the banner in his left, when his left was cut off too he held it between his arms and his chest, and he fell as a martyr from a spear thrust. Abd Allah ibn Umar says that before he was buried they saw many wounds on the front of his body. The Prophet announced that God had granted him two wings in place of his two severed arms, with which he flies in Paradise.

He was martyred at the age of forty. The Prophet wept for the martyrs but forbade wailing and lamentation; he himself sent food to Ja'far's household for three days, and afterwards took his sons to himself and undertook their care.

He was also called Dhu al-Hijratayn ("the one of the two emigrations"), because he emigrated to Abyssinia and on his return went directly to Medina rather than to Mecca, the land of his fathers, and Abu al-Masakin ("father of the poor"), because he always looked after the needy and poor among the Companions. Abu Hurayra names Ja'far as the most generous of men after the Prophet; and the Messenger of God praised and honoured him, saying that he resembled him in character.

His Circle of Influence — His reports are very few. They were transmitted from him by his son Abd Allah, Abd Allah ibn Mas'ud, Amr ibn al-As and Umm Salama; it is stated that his other two sons, Muhammad and Awn, also transmitted from him.

His Tomb and Complex — Mu'ta is a place with extensive farmland south of the Dead Sea, 11 km from Kerak and 50 km from Jerusalem. Today at the site of the battle stand the remains of the historic Mu'ta Mosque and, 500 m from it, the tombs of the three martyred commanders. Recently the names of the martyrs of Mu'ta were inscribed on a monument, and a mosque (Jami' al-Mashhad) was built beside it.