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The Firsts (Sahaba Stories) | The Forerunners of Islam
Abdullah ibn Ja’far (ra): The Story of My Mother’s Ancestor | The Firsts
Born a refugee, embraced by the Prophet ﷺ, and connected to nearly every major trial in early Islamic history, Abdullah ibn Ja’far (ra) lived a life marked by displacement, loss, and legacy. From the shores of Abyssinia to the tragedy of Karbala and his final days during Hajj, this is a story of resilience and divine favor.
The Firsts is a weekly video series that chronicles the lives of the Sahaba (the companions of the Prophet ﷺ) during and after the time of the Prophet ﷺ.
This transcript was auto-generated using AI and may contain misspellings.
As-salaamu ʿalaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh. Bismillah wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh. As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh. Bismillah wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh.
So, today I wanted to actually talk about someone who is deeply precious, it's personal. And insha'Allah ta'ala I'll pull this out in a bit, insha'Allah ta'ala I'll have it scrolled to kind of show you all a very personal connection to this man.
But he's been brought up in the last few episodes. His name is Abdullah ibn Ja'far. May Allah be pleased with them both. Abdullah, the son of Ja'far ibn Abi Talib.
Now, if you have followed the story of Abdullah ibn Ja'far, he's very interesting in that he is the husband of Zaynab bint Ali.
So, the famous Zaynab, the sister of al-Husayn in Karbala, everything that comes with Zaynab al-Kubra. And then after Zaynab, he is also the husband of Umm Kulthum bint Ali. May Allah be pleased with them all.
And so he's married to two of the daughters of Ali. And as we said, Ali (رضي الله عنه) used to like that his daughters would marry the sons of Ja'far. May Allah be pleased with them all.
Abdullah, what makes him so special, subhanAllah, as I'm looking into his history in particular, is that his life actually intersects with so many of the significant events in Islamic history.
And they are either deeply tragic and mostly deeply tragic, or they give us another layer to an event in Islamic history that we celebrate. First and foremost, just where he was born.
So, Abdullah was actually born in Africa. He was born in Habesha. He was born in Abyssinia. And if you look at the companions of the Prophet (ﷺ) who migrated to Abyssinia to escape the persecution in Mecca,
you'll find that there are some Habesha babies, right, Abyssinian babies that then came back to Medina and they joined the community there afterwards.
But they were born in Abyssinia. And that just helps to remind us that these companions settled in Abyssinia for a very long time. Some of them stayed behind for a very long time. There are years that take place in Abyssinia.
And Ja'far (رضي الله عنه) obviously was the famous ambassador of the Prophet (ﷺ) to al-Najashi (رضي الله عنه) in Abyssinia. He is the one who represents the Muslims so beautifully, so profoundly.
The Prophet (ﷺ) loves him and adores him. And he is the one who's standing in front of al-Najashi and securing, through his eloquence, through his wisdom, a place for the Muslims in Abyssinia.
So, Abdullah was born to Ja'far and his mother is Asma bint Umais (رضي الله عنها). So, Ja'far (رضي الله عنه) and Asma bint Umais (رضي الله عنها).
So, you can imagine, you know, growing up in Abyssinia. And why am I in Abyssinia? Well, you're the child of persecuted refugees from Mecca. Your asl, your default, is Makkawi.
You are a Meccan child, but you're born in Abyssinia because of the persecution that your parents felt. And so, he takes to the climate of Abyssinia. That's all that he knows.
And then, at some point, he's on a boat now, not going back to Mecca. He never has seen Mecca, but going to al-Madinah al-Munawarah, the place that the companions have migrated to.
And so, he boards this boat as a child with his parents, Ja'far and Asma, may Allah be pleased with them. And he's on this boat going to Madinah, crossing the very difficult waters to get to al-Madinah.
And when they arrive in Madinah, meet the Prophet (ﷺ). You're seeing the Prophet (ﷺ) run to your father. And the Prophet (ﷺ) embracing your father. And the Prophet (ﷺ) saying, I don't know what I'm more happy about.
Qudum Ja'far (رضي الله عنه), the coming of Ja'far, being reunited with my cousin Ja'far. Or the victory at Khaibar, because that's the time period that the arrival of the boats from Abyssinia to Madinah took place.
So, you were born to persecuted migrants in Abyssinia from Mecca. You know, I think about the Palestinian story, subhanAllah. Your parents are from there. This is why you were born here.
You don't actually return to Mecca, but you go from Abyssinia to Madinah. There you meet the center of your parents' life and the lives of the companions, the Prophet (ﷺ). And you're immediately brought in.
And the Prophet (ﷺ) immediately pays attention to you because you're family to him. You're not just a follower of the Prophet (ﷺ), you're family to him. Then your father goes to Jordan, right, in the Battle of Mu'tah.
And your father becomes a martyr, one of the most famous shuhada of Mu'tah, where his arms are cut off in the battlefield of Mu'tah.
And here you are in Madinah, not the place that your parents came from, nor the place that you were born. And your father has been martyred thousands of miles away in the Battle of Mu'tah.
And the Prophet (ﷺ) is coming to your house while you're grieving. Your family is grieving. Your mother is crying. And the Prophet (ﷺ) is comforting you and holding you with tears in his eyes,
embracing you to say that he loves you and that he will take care of you and that Allah, azza wa jal, will see you under his divine care and protection. Like think about how the world is changing so quickly.
So my life already intersects with the initial persecution of Mecca, the coming of the Muslims to Abyssinia, the hijrah to Madinah, a very unique hijrah.
And then a devastating battle where my father is martyred in the most gruesome of ways and loses his arms (رضي الله عنه). And suddenly, what are people calling me?
Abdullah ibn Umar (رضي الله عنهما) would say to him, Welcome, greetings to the one who is the son of the man of two wings. Greetings to the son of the man of two wings.
Ja'far (رضي الله عنه) is the man with two wings. Because the Prophet (ﷺ) mentioned that I saw Ja'far (رضي الله عنه) flying in Jannah. Flying in Jannah.
So Allah, azza wa jal, replaced the arms that were taken from him with two wings by which he can fly throughout Jannah. So now your father is dead. And you are in Madinah.
And the Prophet (ﷺ) loves you and cares for you and the companions love you and care for you. And then his mother, Asma bint Umais, marries Abu Bakr as-Siddiq (رضي الله عنه).
And she is the one that gave birth to the half-brother of Abdullah ibn Ja'far, Muhammad ibn Abu Bakr, as they were going to hajj. At the Miqat, on their way to hajj. The farewell hajj with the Prophet (ﷺ).
So now your life intersects with the hajj of the Prophet (ﷺ) as well. And Abu Bakr passes away. Asma (رضي الله عنها) washes the body of Abu Bakr and she marries Ali ibn Abi Talib (رضي الله عنه).
The uncle of Abdullah ibn Ja'far. And soon to be as well, the father-in-law of Abdullah ibn Ja'far. Because Abdullah ibn Ja'far will marry both Zainab al-Kubra as well as Umm Kulthum afterwards. I know that's a lot of names.
So just follow along with me once again. Abdullah was the son of Ja'far and Asma. Ja'far passes away and Asma marries Abu Bakr. Abu Bakr passes away and Asma marries Ali.
Ali is his uncle, but also he will, as he grows up, marry the daughters of Ali (رضي الله عنه) at separate times. Zainab al-Kubra as well as Umm Kulthum. Now, he was about 10 years old when the Prophet (ﷺ) passed away.
So he was very aware. It's not like he was too young to remember all this happening. He was very aware with the hijrah from Abyssinia to Medina. He was very aware with the martyrdom of his father.
He was very aware with the death of the Prophet (ﷺ) then. You can imagine, you know, the Prophet (ﷺ) stepping into their lives after the death of his father, Ja'far (رضي الله عنه), was very difficult. And now, your life intersects with Karbala as well.
Because Zainab was his wife. And he lost his own sons. And subhanAllah, that entire episode of the painful martyrdom of Al-Husayn and the captivity of Zainab, that's his wife.
So now you intersect with that tragedy as well. The martyrdom of Al-Husayn (رضي الله عنه) and some of your kids in Karbala. As well as the captivity of your wife in Karbala. She dies.
And you marry Umm Kulthum. Umm Kulthum has a tragic death as we covered. Umm Kulthum dies. And you have to witness that tragedy. Alright, what is your ending going to be like?
So subhanAllah, this actually introduces to us the last layer that I'll mention of today's episode of Islamic history. In the year 80 after Hijra, there was something called Sayl al-Jahaf. Which means the flood that wiped out. The flood that wiped out everything.
What's interesting about this flood is that it actually was not a widespread flood. But it was a storm that hit a very small area. And it happened 80 years after Hijra. On the days of Hajj.
While the Hujjaj were setting up for Arafah on Yawm al-Tarwiyah. So the 8th of Dhul Hijjah. On the 80th year. In the 80th year after Hijra.
The Hujjaj are preparing themselves for the next day of Arafah. And the storm comes upon the valley. And it was such a vicious storm. That it wiped out the Hujjaj that year.
As well as their belongings. So many of those that went to Hajj that year. Not all of them. But many of them died in that flood. One of them was Abdullah ibn Ja'far. So you think like subhanAllah.
His history. The persecution in Mecca. Being born in Abyssinia. Making Hijra on a boat from Abyssinia to Medina. His father dying in a faraway land in Jordan. The Prophet (ﷺ) dying in Medina witnessing that.
His wife going to Karbala. All of these things happening. And then his next wife dying a very tragic death in Umm Kulthum. And then now you yourself pass away in Hajj.
Preparing yourself for Arafah in the 80th year after Hijra. So he's truly a remarkable man. And subhanAllah the reason why I mention it. It's very personal. You know some of you have heard me talk about my mother. May Allah have mercy on her.
This is very precious. This was the scroll that my mother. May Allah have mercy on her. Used to hang over her bed. And my mother was a descendant of Ja'far (رضي الله عنه).
And they have a very beautiful tradition subhanAllah. As the descendants of Ja'far. Which there's so much tragedy. And istishad and martyrdom in that family subhanAllah. That you can even see it at the top.
But they have a history of passing down the scrolls. Where if you look up at the top. You'll see the possessor of two wings. Being Ja'far (رضي الله عنه). And then right under Ja'far (رضي الله عنه).
You see Abdullah. And then right under Abdullah ibn Ja'far. You see Ali. And you come all the way down to my grandfather. Munib Hashim.
Who was a Mufti in Palestine and Nablus. And his family over there. Which of course extends to my mother's family as well. May Allah subhanAllah have mercy on them all.
So this is very precious. Because I used to grow up. And I used to see this thing over the bed of my mother. And I didn't even ask her questions about it. Until I was a lot older. And could understand what it actually was. And it stayed over her bed.
For years after she had passed away. And it's something that the family of Ja'far (رضي الله عنه). And the descendants of Abdullah. So you can actually see Ibn Dhul Janahain.
You know the son of the possessor of two wings. Like there's a visual to when Abdullah ibn Umar would call him that. May Allah subhanAllah be pleased with them all. And again it's a reminder that sometimes Allah subhanAllah chooses certain families for difficulty.
And that was surely the case with the family of the Prophet (ﷺ). That they were chosen for certain difficulties. But that's because they were promised certain rewards as well. So may Allah be pleased with him.
And may Allah azza wa jal be pleased with the family and the companions of the Prophet (ﷺ). Allahumma ameen. JazakumAllahu khair. Wassalamu alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh.


























































































































































































