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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 to the man’s nephew who
belonged to the tribe of Banu Qurayzhah. 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.
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