The Search of Salman al-Farisi

Shaykh Yasir Qadhi explains:

The story of Salmān al-Fārisī, narrated by himself in the Musnad of Imām Aḥmad and authentic, is the greatest witness that a remnant of true believers survived, and that whoever is sincere will be guided, however long the road.

❧The fire-keeper's son

Salmān was born near Iṣfahān in Persia, the cherished son of a Zoroastrian who kept the sacred fire, the ever-burning flame a temple may never let die (even a new temple must import fire from an old one). His father loved him so dearly that he confined him to the house and set him to tend the fire.

One day, sent on an errand, Salmān passed a Christian chapel on the road and was captivated by the worshippers at their prayers and hymns. "This," he thought, "is better than what we have." He sat with them until sunset, neglecting his father's fire, and learned that the source of their religion lay in Syria; and slowly he came to see that his own people worshipped fire while these worshipped Allah, and he secretly converted. When his father discovered it, he bound him in chains, imprisoned and tortured him, for how could the priest's own son leave the faith? But Salmān sent word to the Christians to tell him of any caravan bound for Syria, and he slipped away with one, leaving Persia and his father's fire behind. The monk who had taught him was executed for converting the priest's son, but he had already told Salmān where to go, not to the great cities but to a particular monastery of men upon his own understanding, which shows that this was not the Christianity of the empire.

❧From teacher to teacher

In Syria Salmān attached himself to the bishop of a church, serving him and learning; and as each teacher died, he sent Salmān on to the next, and so it went four times, until Salmān was himself an old man. The last of them, as death approached, told him: "My companions who sent you on are all gone; I know none left upon our understanding of the religion. But you have reached a time when the awaited Prophet is about to appear, the one Jesus foretold, upon the religion of Ibrāhīm." He gave Salmān three signs by which to know him: he would emigrate to a land of date-palms; he would accept a gift but never eat of charity (ṣadaqah); and between his shoulders would be the seal of prophethood, خَاتَمُ ٱلنُّبُوَّةِ, a small raised mark the size of a pigeon's egg, with fine, many-coloured hair.

❧Sold into slavery

Salmān asked which land was most known for dates, and was told: Khaybar. So he joined a caravan of Arab traders bound there, but in that lawless country they betrayed him and took him as a slave, for he had no clan, no people, no empire to protect him. He was sold to a man of the Jews of Yathrib, and there, in the very land of date-palms, he toiled for years as an old man, a slave.

❧The three signs met

Then rumours spread that a man claiming prophethood had emigrated to Yathrib, and the Jews feared "the King of the Arabs" had come. Salmān was atop a palm gathering dates when he heard it; he climbed down and ran to ask, and his master struck him across the head: "Get back to your work! What is this to you? You are a slave." When his chores were done he brought the Prophet ﷺ some dates, saying, "I hear you are a stranger; here is charity for you." The Prophet ﷺ told his companions, "Eat", but did not eat himself: one sign. The next day Salmān brought dates and said, "This is a gift", and the Prophet ﷺ ate with them: a second sign. Then Salmān went behind him to peer at his back, and the Prophet ﷺ, understanding, let his cloak fall to show the seal between his shoulders. Salmān wept and wailed, and kissed the hands and feet of the Prophet ﷺ, and told him his whole story.

❧Ransomed by the Prophet's ﷺ hands

He was still a slave, and the Prophet ﷺ said his freedom must be secured. When they learned the Prophet ﷺ wanted him, his masters set a ridiculous price: a great number of date-palms, and a weight of gold. "Where," said Salmān, "can I get so many palms?" So when the planting season came, the Prophet ﷺ planted the trees with his own hands, and by Allah's blessing every one took root within the year, and Salmān was ransomed and set free. After a lifetime of seeking, from the fire of Persia through the monasteries of Syria to slavery in Yathrib, Salmān al-Fārisī came at last, by his sincerity, right to the feet of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, free and a Muslim.