Jabr (slave)

Jabr was a young Christian slave who belonged to the Banu i-Hadrami tribe of Mecca. Jabr was later called a companion of the Islamic prophet Muhammad.^[1]

Accusations of informants contributing to Muhammad's recitations were made by his opponents. Jabr is identified by name in one account mentioned by Ibn Ishaq:

The apostle used to sit at al-Marwa at the booth of a young Christian called Jabr, slave of Banu I-Hadrami, and they used to say; 'The one who teaches Muhammad most of what he brings is Jabr the Christian, slave of the Banu I-Hadrami.^[2]

He is also identified by his kunya by Muqatil ibn Sulayman but called a Jew. This is an except glossed by Claude Gillot:^[1]

There was a servant of ‘Amir b. al-Hadrami al-Qurashi. He was a Jew, not an Arab [or spoke bad Arabic, a‘jami]; he spoke Greek [more likely: Aramaic], and his name was Abu Fukayha Yasar. As the Qurayshis saw the Prophet speaking with him, they said: 'Indeed, he is being taught by Abu Fukayha Yasar.'