Ja'far ibn Abi Talib

Ja'far ibn Abi Talib was the Prophet ﷺ's cousin and Ali's brother, and one of the earliest Muslims. He emigrated with the Muslims to Abyssinia to escape harm and stood answering for their faith before its king, the Negus. He returned with his family in the year Khaybar fell and was martyred carrying the flag at Mu'ta in 629 CE.

Ja'far ibn Abi Talib ibn Abd al-Muttalib, the Prophet ﷺ's cousin and Ali's brother, was said to resemble the Prophet in body and character, and was among the earliest Muslims. He led the second emigration to Abyssinia and stood before the Negus answering for their new faith, reciting from the sura of Mary before the court — where the Negus came to Islam in the account — when Amr ibn al-As (may God be pleased with him) arrived to demand their return. He stayed about ten years and came back in 7 AH on the day Khaybar fell; the Prophet said he did not know which gladdened him more. At Mu'ta in 8 AH he was the second of the three commanders, carried the flag until both hands were cut and held it with his stumps — so Muslims call him Ja'far the Flyer, the One of Two Wings.

Ja'far ibn Abi Talib ibn Abd al-Muttalib ibn Hashim, the Prophet ﷺ's cousin and Ali's brother, was the one most like the Prophet in form and character as the sira describes, and among the earliest Muslims. When harm intensified in Mecca he emigrated to Abyssinia at the head of the second emigration around 615 CE, becoming the community's leader and spokesman before the Negus: when Amr ibn al-As (may God be pleased with him) and al-Walid ibn al-Mughira came as Quraysh's envoys demanding the emigrants' return, the Negus asked Ja'far about the new religion, and he explained monotheism, truthfulness and family ties, then recited from the sura of Mary until the Negus and his bishops wept, so he protected them in his land as Ibn Hisham tells it — with Ibn Ishaq's further account of what Ja'far said about Jesus. He stayed in Abyssinia until returning in 7 AH, arriving on the very day Khaybar fell: 'I do not know which gladdens me more,' the Prophet said, 'the conquest of Khaybar or the arrival of Ja'far'. Made second commander after Zayd at Mu'ta, he bore the flag fighting until his hands were cut — fixing his name among Muslims as Ja'far al-Tayyar, Dhu al-Janahayn — and al-Bukhari records the Prophet saying God gave him two wings to fly with in Paradise.