"The best of men towards us indigent folk was Ja'far ibn Abi Talib. He would pass by us on his way home and give us whatever food he had. Even if his own food had run out, he would send us a pot in which he had placed some butterfat and nothing more. We would open it and lick it clean ... "

Explaining his generosity

When Ja’far concluded his speech, the Negus said to Ja’far, “Do you have with you anything from what your Messenger brought from Allah to read to me?”

Ja’far said, “Yes,” and recited Surah Maryam from the beginning until where Allah سبحانه وتعالى says:

فَأَشَارَتْ إِلَيْهِ قَالُوا كَيْفَ نُكَلِّمُ مَن كَانَ فِي الْمَهْدِ صَبِيًّا 
قَالَ إِنِّي عَبْدُ اللَّهِ آتَانِيَ الْكِتَابَ وَجَعَلَنِي نَبِيًّا 
وَجَعَلَنِي مُبَارَكًا أَيْنَ مَا كُنتُ وَأَوْصَانِي بِالصَّلَاةِ وَالزَّكَاةِ مَا دُمْتُ حَيًّا 
وَبَرًّا بِوَالِدَتِي وَلَمْ يَجْعَلْنِي جَبَّارًا شَقِيًّا 
وَالسَّلَامُ عَلَيَّ يَوْمَ وُلِدتُّ وَيَوْمَ أَمُوتُ وَيَوْمَ أُبْعَثُ حَيًّا

“She pointed at him. They said, ‘How can we converse with an infant?’ [But] he said: ‘I am a servant of Allah. He has granted me the Scripture; made me a prophet; made me blessed wherever I may be. He commanded me to pray, to give alms as long as I live, to cherish my mother. He did not make me domineering or graceless. Peace was on me the day I was born, and will be on me the day I die and the day I am raised to life again.” [Surah Maryam 19:29-33]

When the patriarchs heard this they said, “This and what our Lord ‘Isa (Jesus) the Messiah brought are from the same source.”

King Negus listened to the recitation of the Qur’an and cried so much that his beard was wet.