Rahmah ibn Jabir al-Jalhami
Saudi Arabian commander
Rahmah ibn Jabir ibn Adhbi al-Jalhami (Arabic: رحمة بن جابر بن عذبي الجلهمي; c. 1760–1826) was an Arab ruler in the Persian Gulf region and was described by his contemporary, the English traveler and author, James Silk Buckingham, as "the most successful and the most generally tolerated pirate, perhaps, that ever infested any sea."
As a pirate, he had a reputation for being ruthless and fearless. He wore an eyepatch after losing an eye in battle, which makes him the earliest documented pirate to have worn an eyepatch. He was described by the British statesman Charles Belgrave as "one of the most vivid characters the Persian Gulf has produced, a daring freebooter without fear or mercy".
He began life as a horse dealer, and used the money he had saved to buy his first ship and with ten companions began a career of piracy. He was so successful that he soon acquired a new craft, a 300-ton vessel, manned by 350 men. He would later have as many as 2,000 followers, many of them black slaves. At one point his flagship was the "Al-Manowar" (derived from English).
Name
His name, Rahmah ibn Jabir ibn Adhbi Al Jalhami, means Rahmah son of Jabir son of Adhbi of the Jalahimah. His name should be written "Al Jalhami" if transliterated from Arabic, as "Al Jalahimah" is the plural name for his tribe.
The public source identifies “Rahmah ibn Jabir al-Jalhami” as saudi Arabian commander. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Rahmah, Jabir and al-Jalhami.
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Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 9, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q2784925. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1760 and 1826.
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This entry incorporates text from “Rahmah ibn Jabir al-Jalhami” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.