The Life and works of Imam Jabir bin Zayd

His Background

Abu al-Sha'tha' Jabir b. Zaid al-'Azdi al-Jawfi al-Basri of Banu 'Amr b. al-Yahmad, a branch of al-'Azd tribe. He comes from Farq, a village between Manah and Nazwa in Oman where he was probably born and where he moved with his family to settle in Darb al Jawf in Basrah, a place which took its name from the area in which the tribe of Jabir was living in Oman.

Al-Salimi suggests that Jabir was born in Farq in Oman and traveled to Basrah to acquire learning. Basrah was one of the Iraqi centres of scholarship at the time. Jabir spent his life in Basrah - as did most of his eminent fellow Successors- disseminating knowledge in mosques and religious centres, instilling good morals in people, enjoining strong adherence to the noble religion and the preservation of its principles and methods, and pronouncing fatwas on problems encountered by the people, to such an extent that Iyas b. Mu'awiyah once said: 'I have been all over Basrah and there is nomufti in it besides Jabir b. Zaid.'  

The following dates are given for Jabir's birth; 18 A.H. (639 A.D.) and 21 A.H. (639 A.D.). Some sources aver that Jabir was present in Medina on the day on which the first Caliph Abu Bakr was elected. There is no information about Jabir's childhood or early life; and nothing is known about his parents.