The Life of the Prophet Muhammad by Ibn Kathir - Volume 3 of 4

IMAM ABO AL-EIDA' ISMA'IL IBN KATH~R 347
when he was 8 years old, as is well known, and remained in Mecca for 13 years
thereafter. When he emigrated he was 21. The battle of Mu'a took place in 8 AH.
But God knows best.
Jacfar was referred to after his death as al-,tayy~r, "the flyer", for the reason
given above. He was a man who was noble, generous and much praised. For his
charity he was known as abn al-masakikin, "father of the poor", because of his
generosity to them.
Imxm Ahmad stated that CAffxn b. Wahib related to hi, quoting Khdid,
from 'Ikrima, from Aba Hurayra, who said, L'No one wore shoes or sandals, rode
his mount or wore his clothes, apart from the Messenger of God (SAAS), more
impressively than did Jacfar b. Aha Tdib."
This hadith has a fine chain of transmission back to Aha Hurayra. It seems
that he finds him superior only in his noble qualities. Regarding superiority
in his religious qualities, it is well known that Aha Bakr, Wmar and Wthmm
were better than hi. As for his brother 'Ali and himself, may God be pleased
with both, it is clear that they were equal or that 'Ali was superior to him. Abii
Hurayra only wished to establish his superiority in noble qualities. This is
proven by what al-Bukh~ri related, as follows, "Ahmad b. Aba Bakr related to
us, quoting Muhammad b. Ibmhim b. Din* Aha 'Abd Allxh al-Juhani, from
Ibn Abn Dhi'b, from Sacid al-Maqburi, from Abii Hurayra (who said) that,
'The people used to say, "Aba Hurayra does too much."" I used to keep close to
the Messenger of God (SAAS), content to fill my stomach with (unleavened)
bread. I never ate leavened bread, never wore silk and never had men or women
serve me. I would press my belly against the pebbles in my hunger. I would teach
people about a verse of the Qur'an I already knew to get him to take me home to
feed me. The person who was best to the poor was Jacfar, son of Aha T&b. He
would take us home and feed us whatever he had there. He would even bring
out to us an empty leather butter vessel we would split open and lick out its
contents."'
Al-Bukh~i is alone in giving this.
Hassxn b. Th%bit spoke the following verses eulogizing Ja'far,
''I wept, for the death of ja'far, the dear friend of
the Prophet, was hard on all mankind.
I was very upset, and when your death was told me, I
called out, 'Who is for fighting in the shade of the
eagle (banner)?'
With swords which, when drawn from their sheaths
striking and spears continually piercing,
After Fz~a's
blessed son, Ja'far, the best of men,
the worst
To lose; the most noble of all in lineage, the most
active when wronged and most submissive
87. In his zeal to collect traditions, that is.