He saw the Prophet and `Ali standing beside him in prayer.

He saw the Prophet and `Ali standing beside him in prayer. Abu Talib said to Ja'far, "Stand by the side of your cousin." As he stood at the other side of the Prophet, the Messenger of Allah stepped forward and stood in front of the two men (as prayer leader).

Seeing them, Abu Talib recited the following verses: In truth, Ali and Ja`far are my trust,In times of hardship and sorrow.By Allah, I shall never abandon the Prophet,Nor would any of my sons of high birth abandon him -Do not abandon, but rather support your cousin,The son of my brother from my mother as well as my father. Al-Qummi related further that the Prophet used to trade for Khadijah before he married her.

When he was working for her, she sent him with a caravan belonging to the people of Quraysh to Syria. He was accompanied by a servant of hers called Maysarah. They encamped one day beneath a hermitage belonging to one of the monks living in the area. The monk came down from his cell and looked intently at the Messenger of Allah.

He then asked: "Who is this man?" The people answered: "He is the son of `Abdu'l-Muttalib." The monk retorted: "His father could not be alive." Then looking at his eyes and between his shoulders, he exclaimed: "This is the Prophet of the people! This is the Prophet sent with the sword!" When Maysarah returned, he told Khadijah what happened and what had convinced her to offer herself to the Prophet in marriage. Khadijah gained a thousand dinars from that caravan.

One day the Prophet went into a market of the Arabs where he saw Zayd [ibn al-Harithah]. Zayd was a smart youth; the Prophet thus bought him for Khadijah. When, however, the Prophet married her, she gave him Zayd as a gift. When the Messenger of Allah received the call to Prophethood, and 'Ali accepted Islam, Zayd also became a Muslim after him. Thus `Ali, Ja'far, Zayd and Khadijah used to pray behind the Messenger of Allah.

Ash-Shaykh Abu Bakr Ahmad ibn al-Hasan al-Bayhaqi reported in his book Dala'ilu'n-Nubuwwah on the authority of `Ali, who said: "We were with the Messenger of Allah in Mecca when he went out into its suburbs.