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He
grew up near the town of Isfahan, Persia, in the village of
Jayyan. His father was the dihqan or chief of the village.
He was the richest person there and had the biggest house.
From
Salman’s childhood, his father loved him more than he loved any
other. As time went by, his love for Salman became so strong and
overpowering that he feared to lose him or have anything happen to
him. So he kept him at home, a veritable prisoner, in the same way
that young girls were kept.
He
became so devoted to the Magian religion that he attained the
position of custodian of the fire that they worshiped.
Then
he encountered some Christians and learned from them about their
religion and embraced it.
He
was told that Christian religion had originated in Ash-Sham
(Greater Syria). He did not go to his father’s estate that day
and returned home at night. He told his father about his meeting
with the Christians and how impressed he was by their religion.
His father became upset and afraid that he would leave their
religion. So he kept him locked up in the house and put a chain on
his feet. Salman managed to unfetter himself and, in disguise,
accompanied a caravan to Syria. He was directed to the bishop of
the church and told him that he wanted to become a Christian and
would like to attach himself to his service, learn from him, and
pray with him.
The
bishop agreed, but later Salman found out that the man was
corrupt. He would order his followers to give money in charity
while holding out the promise of blessings to them and keeping the
money for himself.
After
the bishop’s death, Salman continued in the service of the
person who replaced him. The new bishop was an ascetic who longed
for the Hereafter and engaged in worship day and night. Salman was
greatly devoted to him and spent a long time in his company. After
his death, Salman attached himself to various Christian religious
figures, in Mosul, Nisibis and elsewhere. The last one told him
about the appearance of a Prophet in the land of the Arabs who
would have a reputation for strict honesty, who would accept a
gift but would never consume charity (sadaqah) for himself.
A
group of Arab leaders from the Kalb tribe passed through
Ammuriyah, and Salman asked them to take him with them to the land
of the Arabs in return for whatever money he had. They agreed and
he paid them. When they reached Wadi Al-Qura (a place between
Madinah and Syria), they broke their agreement and sold him to a
Jew. Salman worked as a slave for him but eventually he was sold
the man’s nephew who belonged to the tribe of Banu Qurayzah.
This nephew took him with him to Yathrib (later known as Madinah),
the city of palm groves, which is how the Christian at Ammuriyah
had described it.
At
that time the Prophet was inviting his people in Makkah to Islam,
but Salman did not hear anything about him then because of the
harsh duties that slavery imposed on him.
When
the Prophet reached Yathrib after his hijrah from Makkah,
Salman was doing some work at the top of a palm tree belonging to
his master, while his master sat below. A nephew of his came up
and said, “May Allah declare war on the Aws and the Khazraj (the
two main Arab tribes of Yathrib). By Allah, they are now gathering
at Quba to meet a man who has today come from Makkah and who
claims he is a prophet.” Salman felt hot flushes as soon as he
heard these words and he began to shiver so violently that he was
afraid that he might fall on his master. He quickly got down from
the tree and said to his master’s nephew, “What did you say?
Repeat the news for me.”
His
master was very angry and gave him a terrible blow. “What does
this matter to you? Go back to what you were doing!” he shouted.
That evening, Salman took some dates that he had gathered and went
to the place where the Prophet was staying. He went up to him and
said, “I have heard that you are a righteous man and that you
have companions with you who are strangers and are in need. Here
is something from me as sadaqah. I see that you are more
deserving of it than others.” The Prophet ordered his companions
to eat but he himself did not eat of it. Salman gathered some more
dates, and when the Prophet left Quba for Madinah, he went to him
and said, “I noticed that you did not eat of the sadaqah I
gave. This, however, is a gift for you.” Of this gift of dates,
both he and his companions ate.
The
strict honesty of the Prophet was one of the characteristics that
led Salman to believe in him and accept Islam.
Salman
was released from slavery by the Prophet, who paid his Jewish
slave owner a stipulated price and who himself planted an agreed
number of date palms to secure Salman’s manumission. After
accepting Islam, Salman would say when asked whose son he was,
“I am Salman, the son of Islam from the children of Adam.”
Salman
played an important role in the struggles of the growing Muslim
state. At the Battle of Khandaq (Trench), he proved to be an
innovator in military strategy. He suggested digging a trench (khandaq)
around Madinah to keep the Quraysh army at bay. When Abu
Sufyan, the leader of the Makkans, saw the trench, he said,
“This stratagem has not been employed by the Arabs before.”
As
a scholar, Salman was noted for his vast knowledge and wisdom.
`Ali said of him that he was like Luqman the Wise. And Ka`b
Al-Ahbar said, “Salman is stuffed with knowledge and wisdom like
an ocean that does not dry up.” Salman had a knowledge of both
the Christian scriptures and the Qur’an, in addition to his
earlier knowledge of the Zoroastrian religion. Salman, in fact,
translated parts of the Qur’an into Persian during the life-time
of the Prophet. He was thus the first person to translate the
Qur’an into a foreign language.
Salman,
because of the influential household in which he grew up, might
easily have been a major figure in the sprawling Persian Empire of
his time. His search for truth, however, led him, even before the
Prophet had appeared, to renounce a comfortable and affluent life
and even to suffer the indignities of slavery. According to the
most reliable account, he died in the year 35 AH, during the
caliphate of `Uthman, at Ctesiphon.
Source:
http://www.youngmuslims.ca
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