Ya'fūr

Ya`fūr (also variously rendered as Ya'foor, Ya'four, `Ufayr, `Ofayr and so on, meaning "Deer" in Arabic) was a donkey used as a mount by the Islamic prophet Muhammad, who was said to have often ridden it bareback. There are many tales of this donkey but the most common would be that the donkey is recorded to have been a gift from the Byzantine governor of Egypt some time between 628 and 632 AD (8–11 AH). According to an Islamic tradition, it had the power of speech and told Muhammad that it was the last of a line of donkeys ridden by prophets and was a descendant of the donkey ridden by Jesus in his triumphal entry into Jerusalem, which was also called Ya`fūr. The tradition holds that Ya`fūr committed suicide in despair after Muhammad died by throwing itself into a well, though these accounts are held to be unreliable in hadith studies. In the centuries after Muhammad's death, the donkey's name and symbolism was repeatedly adopted by Islamic religious figures and rulers.

Ya`fūr was one of several animals that Muhammad rode; the others included a roan horse called Murtajaz ("Spontaneous"), a black horse called Sakb ("Swift"), a mule called Duldul ("Vacillating") and a camel called Kaswa ("Split-Ears"), who accidentally killed herself when she hit her head on the stone wall of a mosque some time after his death.

According to the Book of Gifts and Rarities (Kitab al-Hadaya wa'l-Tuhaf), an anonymous 11th century work, Ya`fūr was presented to Muhammad by al-Muqawqis, the Byzantine governor of Egypt (possibly Cyrus of Alexandria, the Patriarch of Alexandria at the time). Muhammad had sent Muqawqis a letter inviting him to convert to Islam. In return, Muqawqis sent the donkey, the mule Duldul, four slave girls, a eunuch, a horse, 1000 mithqals of gold and quantities of Egyptian goods and articles. One of the slave girls, Maria al-Qibtiyya, a Coptic Christian, was kept by Muhammad for himself and bore him a short-lived son, Ibrahim. The donkey was no mean gift either, as Egyptian donkeys were known for their beauty and were used by wealthy merchants as a means of transportation.

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