Abu Ubayda ibn al-Jarrah
أبو عبيدة بن الجراح
c. 583 CE – 639 CE · 18 AH† †
† Hijri date derived by computation from the Gregorian/Julian date; it may differ from the transmitted date by a day or two.
An early Qurayshi convert the Prophet called the trustworthy man of this community; he commanded the armies in Syria at the height of the conquest and died in the plague of Amwas.
At a glance
- Roles
- Companion · General
- Counted among
- Sunni
- Era
- The Prophetic Era · The Rashidun Caliphate
- Region
- Arabia · Levant & Iraq
- Review
- Draft Completeness 2/5 · Help complete it
In time
In space
Map: Natural Earth, public domain · places and route from the graph
Wars and campaignsHealth, body and death
Place in the story
- Convert to Islam · c. 611 CETradition
- Companion · c. 611 CETradition
- CommandertowardRashidun Caliphate · 634 CE · 13 AH† – 639 CE · 18 AH†Historical
Sunni (transmitted)
How others named them
- “Amin al-Umma (the trustworthy man of this community)” — a saying attributed to the Prophet in the tradition
Roles are dated and sourced; the museum describes the act and attributes the judgement.
Brief
Abu Ubayda ibn al-Jarrah was an early Meccan convert the Prophet called "the trustworthy man of this community" — and the commander who held the Syrian conquest together until plague took him.
Life
A Qurayshi of modest clan standing, Abu Ubayda embraced Islam through Abu Bakr among the earliest converts 1. He fought at Badr, and at Uhud tradition remembers him pulling the chain-mail rings out of the Prophet's wounded face with his teeth 1.
After the Prophet's death he was sent to Syria with the armies; under Umar he held the high command, taking Damascus and then directing the victories of the Yarmuk and the surrender of Jerusalem 2. In 639 CE the plague of Amwas struck his army in Palestine — the sources describe his decision to stay with his men rather than flee — and he died of it, still in his fifties 1.
Legacy
Among the ten Companions tradition promises paradise, his reputation is the quiet kind: not brilliance, but trust — the commander caliphs could send anywhere.
For young visitors
The Prophet called Abu Ubayda "the trustworthy one." When plague hit his army, he stayed with his soldiers instead of saving himself.
Connections
- Born in
- Mecca
- Died in
- Amwas (Emmaus)
- Member of
- QurayshThe early Muslim community
- Converted under
- Abu Bakr al-Siddiq
- Participated in
- The HijraThe Battle of BadrThe Battle of Uhudbattle-of-yarmukThe three years of the secret callThe Conquest of Mecca (Fath Makka)The delegation of NajranThe Expedition of Dhat al-Salasil
People and things also explored
Umar ibn al-KhattabMeccaSa'd ibn Abi WaqqasMuhammadThe early Muslim communityKhalid ibn al-WalidThe Prophetic EraBilal ibn Rabah
Sources
- Ibn Sa'd, Kitab al-Tabaqat al-Kabir (Bewley translation, Ta-Ha)
- al-Tabari, History vol. X: The Conquest of Arabia (Donner translation, SUNY)
Cite this page
islam.museum contributors. “Abu Ubayda ibn al-Jarrah”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/person/abu-ubayda-ibn-al-jarrah/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Accessed 2026-10-12.