Muḥammad ibn ʿUbayd said: al-Aʿmash narrated to us, from Abū Sufyān, from Jābir, who said, “On the Day of Badr I was drawing water (1) for my companions.”
Ibn ʿUyaynah said: ʿAṭāʾ and ʿAmr met Jābir ibn ʿAbd Allah the year he took up residence in Mecca.
It is also said that he lived for ninety-four years; on that reckoning he would have been eighteen years old on the Day of Badr.
Al-Wāqidī related: Ibrāhīm ibn Jaʿfar informed us, from his father, that Jābir said, “I campaigned with the Messenger of Allah ﷺ in sixteen engagements. I was unable to join any expedition until my father was killed at Uhud; he used to leave me behind to care for my sisters, and they were nine. The first battle I participated in with him was Ḥamrāʾ al-Asad (2).”
Ibn ʿAjlān transmitted, from ʿUbayd Allah ibn Miqsam, who said: “Toward the end of his life Jābir ibn ʿAbd Allah traveled to Mecca for some hadiths he had heard there, and then he returned to Medina.”
It is further reported that Jābir journeyed to Egypt (3) for the hadith of al-Qiṣāṣ, in order to hear it from—
Jami al-Usul 1/509, 517, ed. Abd al-Qadir al-Arnaut; also in Ibn Asakir 3/317a.
(1) The manuscript reads “maqih ashabi,” which is incorrect. The author himself cites the report in his Tarikh 3/143 from the Musnad of al-Hasan ibn Sufyan, through Abu Bakr ibn Abi Shayba — Abu Awana — al-Aʿmash — Abu Sufyan — Jabir, who said: “I used to draw water for my companions on the day of Badr.” Al-Bukhari also records it in his Tarikh, and Ibn Hajar judged its chain sound in al-Isaba 1/213; it is likewise in al-Mustadrak 3/565. Al-Waqidi rejected Abu Sufyan’s narration from Jabir, saying, “This is an error from the people of Iraq.” The author agrees in his Tarikh, adding: “That is correct, for Zakariya ibn Ishaq transmitted from Abu al-Zubayr, from Jabir: ‘I did not witness Badr or Uhud; my father kept me back. After he was killed, I never missed any expedition.’ ” Muslim records this version (1813).
(2) Al-Tabarani (no. 1742) relates, through Muhammad ibn Abd Allah al-Hadrami — Umar ibn al-Hasan — his father — Ibrahim ibn Tahman — Yasin al-Zayyat — Abu al-Zubayr — Jabir: “I took part in thirteen campaigns with the Messenger of Allah.”
(3) The correct reading is “to al-Sham” (Greater Syria). This is the version found in Ahmad 3/495, al-Bukhari’s al-Adab al-Mufrad (no. 970), and al-Khatib al-Baghdadi’s al-Rihla (no. 31) through the chain of Abd Allah ibn Muhammad ibn Aqil.