Salman al-Farsi

The Long Search for Truth

Salman was a Persian of a village near Isfahan, son of its chief and keeper of the sacred fire. Drawn away from fire-worship, he left his home and family to seek the true religion, serving a succession of devout Christian scholars across Syria and Iraq. The last of them told him of a Prophet about to arise who would emigrate to a land of date palms, who would not eat of charity but accept gifts, and who bore the seal of prophethood between his shoulders. 1 Seerat-e-Mustafa · Vol 1 · pp. 185–187 — Idris Kandhlawi — Salman leaves Persia, serves Christian scholars, and learns the signs of the coming Prophet.

Slavery, the Signs, and Freedom

Betrayed and sold into slavery, Salman came at last to Madinah. There he tested the three signs — the Prophet ﷺ refused charity, accepted a gift, and bore the seal — and believed. To free him, the Prophet ﷺ set a contract of forty uqiyah of gold and three hundred date palms, and planted the saplings with his own blessed hands; all took root, and a lump of gold the size of an egg weighed out the full ransom. 2 Seerat-e-Mustafa · Vol 1 · pp. 187–189 — Idris Kandhlawi — Salman recognises the three signs; the Prophet plants 300 palms with his own hands and frees him.

The Trench

At the Battle of Khandaq (5 AH), when a great confederate army marched on Madinah, it was Salman who proposed digging a trench around the exposed flank of the city — a Persian stratagem unknown to the Arabs, which the Prophet ﷺ and the Companions gladly adopted and which saved Madinah. 3 Seerat-e-Mustafa · Vol 2 · pp. 89 — Idris Kandhlawi — Salman proposes the trench at Khandaq; the suggestion is adopted. As the Prophet ﷺ struck the great boulder in the trench, sparks flew, and he gave glad tidings of the coming conquest of Persia, Byzantium, and Yemen. 4 Hayatus Sahaba · Vol 3 · pp. 55 — Kandhlawi — the sparks from the boulder at the Trench and the Prophet's glad tidings of conquest. Salman lived long, governing Mada’in in deep simplicity, and died there.