الرحلةThe Journey

جابر بن عبد الله

Jabir ibn 'Abd Allah (RA)

Also known as: Jabir, Jabir bin Abdullah, Jabir ibn Abdullah al-Ansari

c. 15 BH – 78 AH · c. 607–697 CE

Companions

Ansari Companion and one of the great narrators of hadith, who taught in the Prophet's mosque until the end of the 1st century AH.

Jabir ibn 'Abd Allah was of the Khazraj of Madinah. As a boy he came with his father to the Second Pledge of 'Aqabah, and he was among the youngest there. His father was killed at Uhud, leaving him to care for his sisters and to pay his father's debts, which the Prophet ﷺ helped him settle. He took part in most of the later expeditions.

Jabir became one of the Companions who narrated the most hadith, more than fifteen hundred, and he held a teaching circle in the Prophet's mosque. His long account of the Prophet's Farewell Pilgrimage, narrated by Muhammad al-Baqir and recorded by Muslim, is the main source for the rites of Hajj. Al-Bukhari reports that he travelled for a month to Syria to hear a single hadith from 'Abd Allah ibn Unays, an early example of journeying for knowledge. He lost his sight in old age and died in Madinah around 697, among the last of the Companions there.

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Life journey

  1. c. 607 CE Madinah المدينة
    Of the Khazraj of Madinah; taught hadith in the Prophet's mosque.
  2. 660 CE Damascus دمشق
    Travelled a month to Syria to hear a single hadith from 'Abd Allah ibn Unays; the year is not recorded.
  3. 661 CE Madinah المدينة
    Died 697 CE · 78 AH
    Died in Madinah, among the last of the Companions there.

Students

  • Muhammad al-Baqir (RH) c. 677–c. 733 CE
    Muhammad al-Baqir narrated from Jabir his long account of the Farewell Pilgrimage, recorded by Muslim.

Places in their life

al-Masjid al-Nabawi, the Prophet's Mosque, Madinah
al-Masjid al-Nabawi, the Prophet's Mosque, Madinah
Photo: TheHadiRahim, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons
The courtyard of the Umayyad Mosque, Damascus
The courtyard of the Umayyad Mosque, Damascus
Photo: Vyacheslav Argenberg, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Sources

  • Sahih Muslim (Book of Hajj, the hadith of Jabir on the Farewell Pilgrimage)
  • Sahih al-Bukhari (Book of Knowledge, on travelling for a hadith)
  • Ibn Hajar al-'Asqalani, al-Isaba fi Tamyiz al-Sahaba
Draft, awaiting scholarly review.
His death is given as 73, 74, 77 or 78 AH. Birth year approximate. The Syria journey is undated, so the map point is placed late in his life.