[1] Harb is credited in the Islamic tradition as the first among the Quraysh to write in Arabic and the first to stop consuming wine.
[2] Harb was one of the top leaders of the Quraysh of Mecca, belonging to one of its clans, the Banu Abd Shams.
The Islamic tradition presents him as the successor of his companion, Abd al-Muttalib of the Banu Hashim, as the war leader of the Quraysh.
He led the Abd Shams or the Quraysh in general during the Fijar War against the nomadic tribes of the Hawazin.
[3] According to the editors of the Encyclopedia of Islam, stories of Harb's rivalry and contest of merits with Abd al-Muttalib are "no doubt a projection backwards of the later conflict between the houses of Umayya [branch of the Abd Shams] and Hashim" in the 7th–8th centuries.