Biography of Salman Al-Farsi (RA)

Biography of Salman Al-Farsi (RA)

This is a story of Salman the Persian or Salman Al-Farsi, who became a companion of the Prophet Mohammad (SAW) and the primary Persian who converted to Islam. He turned into the only one who counseled that Muslims need to dig a trench around Madinah whilst it changed into attacked via the disbelievers of Makkah inside the Battle of the Trench.

He turned into a seeker of Truth, the tale of Salman the Persian, gleaned, to start with, from his phrases:

I grew up in the metropolis of Isfahan in Persia inside the village of Jayyan. My father turned into the Dihqan or chief of the village. He became the richest individual there and had the largest house.

Since I was a child, my father cherished me, greater than he loved another. As time went by his love for me became so strong and overpowering that he feared to lose me or have anything take place to me. So he kept me at home, a veritable prisoner, inside the equal way that younger ladies had been stored.

I became committed to the Magian religion a lot so that I attained the position of custodian of the hearth which we worshipped. My responsibility turned into to see that the flames of the hearth remained burning and that it did not exist for a single hour, day or night time.

My father had a great estate that yielded a plentiful delivery of plants. He has taken care of the estate and the harvest. One day he was very busy together with his obligations as ‘dihqan’ inside the village and he stated to me:

"My son, as you spot, I am too busy to go out to the property now. Go and look after topics there for me nowadays." On my way to the property, I exceeded a Christian church and the voices at prayer attracted my attention. I did not recognize anything approximately Christianity or approximately the followers of some other religion in the course of the time my father kept me inside the residence far away from humans. When I heard the voices of the Christians I entered the church to see what they had been doing.

 I become inspired by their way of praying and felt attracted to their religion. "By God," I said, "this is higher than ours. I shall not leave them till the solar units."

 I requested and changed into told that the Christian faith originated in Ash-Sham (Greater Syria). I did not go to my father's property that day and at night, I was again home. My father met me and asked what I had achieved. I instructed him approximately my meeting with the Christians and the way I turned into inspired by using their religion. He became dismayed and said:

"My son, there's not anything exact in that faith. Your faith and the faith of your forefathers is better."

 "No, their religion is better than ours," I claimed.

My father has become disappointed and afraid that I would leave our religion. So he stored me locked up inside the house and put a chain on my feet. I controlled however to send a message to the Christians asking them to inform me of any caravan going to Syria. Before long they were given in contact with me and informed me that a caravan was headed for Syria. I managed to unfetter myself and in conceal observed the caravan to Syria. There, I asked who turned into the leading character in the Christian faith and turned into directed to the bishop of the church. I went as much as him and stated:

"I want to end up a Christian and would like to connect myself for your service, research from you, and pray with you."

The bishop agreed and I entered the church in his service. I soon located out, however, that the man turned corrupt. He would order his followers to give cash in chanty whilst maintaining out the promise of benefits to them. When they gave something to spend within the way of God, however, he would hoard it for himself and now not provide anything to the poor or needy. In this manner, he gathered a full-size amount of gold. When the bishop died and the Christians amassed to bury him, I instructed them of his corrupt practices and, at their request, showed them where he stored their donations. When they saw the huge jars filled with gold and silver they stated.

"By God, we will not bury him." They nailed him on a cross and threw stones at him.

 I persevered inside the carrier of the person who changed him. The new bishop become an ascetic who longed for the Hereafter and engaged in worship day and night time. I became substantially devoted to him and spent a long term in his business enterprise.

(After his death, Salman attached himself to diverse Christian non-secular figures, in Mosul, Nisibis, and someplace else. The last one had instructed him approximately the appearance of a Prophet in the land of the Arabs who would have a reputation for strict honesty, a person who might be given a present however would by no means eat charity (sadaqah) for himself. Salman continues his story.

A group of Arab leaders from the Kalb tribe surpassed via Ammuriyah and I requested them to take me with them to the land of the Arabs in return for anything money I had. They agreed and I paid them. When we reached Wadi Al-Qura (an area among Madinah and Syria), they broke their settlement and bought me to a Jew. I labored as a servant for him however finally he bought me to a nephew of his belonging to the tribe of Banu Qurayzah. This nephew took me with him to Yathrib, the metropolis of palm groves, which is how the Christians at Ammuriyah had defined it.

At that time, the Prophet turned into inviting his human beings in Makkah to Islam however I did no longer pay attention to something about him then due to the tough duties that slavery imposed upon me.

When the Prophet reached Yathrib (Madihan) after his hijrah (migration) from Makkah, I turned into in reality on the pinnacle of a palm tree belonging to my master doing some paintings. My master becomes sitting below the tree. A nephew of his got here up and said: "May God claim war on the Aws and the Khazraj (the two most important Arab tribes of Yathrib). By God, they're now amassing at Quba to meet a man who has nowadays come from Makkah and who claims he's a Prophet."

 I felt warm flushes as quickly as I heard these words and I began to shiver so violently that I become afraid that I might fall on my grasp. I quickly got down from the tree and spoke to my grasp's nephew. "What did you are saying? Repeat the news for me."

 My master was very angry and gave me a horrible blow. "What does this count number to you? Go lower back to what you were doing," he shouted.

That night, I took some dates that I had accrued and went to the location in which the Prophet (SAW) had alighted. I went up to him and said: "I even have heard which you are a righteous man and which you have companions with you who're strangers and are in want. Here is something from me as Sadaqah (charity). I see which you are greater deserving of it than others."

The Prophet (SAW) ordered his companions to devour however he did now not eat of it.

I amassed a few extra dates and while the Prophet (SAW) left Quba for Madinah, I went to him and said: "I noticed which you did not devour of the sadaqah I gave. This however is a present for you."

Of this present of dates, each he and his companions ate.

The strict honesty of the Prophet (SAW) was one of the traits that led Salman to believe in him and be given Islam.

Salman (RA) turned into launched from slavery by using the Prophet (SAW) who paid his Jewish slave-proprietor a stipulated charge and who himself planted an agreed quantity of date palms to secure his manumission. After accepting Islam, Salman (RA) would say while whose son he was asked:”

I am Salman, and I am son of Islam and Adam.

Salman (RA) changed into playing a vital role inside the struggles of the growing Muslim nation. At the struggle of Khandaq (Battle of Trench), he proved to be an innovator in the military method. He counseled digging a ditch or khandaq around Madinah to hold the Quraish navy at bay. When Abu Sufyan (RA), the chief of the Makkan disbelievers, noticed the ditch, he said, "This method has now not been hired by the Arabs earlier than."

Salman (RA) has become referred to as "Salman the Good". He turned into a student who lived a rough and ascetic life. He had one Blanket which he wore and on which he slept. He might no longer be searching for the haven of a roof however stayed underneath a tree or against a wall. A guy as soon as said to him: "Shall I not build you a house wherein to live?" "I haven't any want of a house," he answered.

The guy continued and stated, "I know the sort of house that could fit you." "Describe it to me," stated Salman.

"I shall build you a house which if you get up in it, its roof will hurt your head, and in case you stretch your legs the wall will hurt them."

 Later, as a governor of Al-Madain (Ctesiphon) close to Baghdad, Salman (RA) received a stipend of five thousand dirhams. This he might distribute as ‘Sadaqah’ (charity). He lived from the work of his arms. When a few people got here to Madain and noticed him operating in the palm groves, they said, "You are the ameer here and your sustenance is guaranteed and you try this work!"

 "I want to eat from the work of my very own hands," he spoke back.

 Salman (RA) was now not extreme in his asceticism. It is related that he as soon as visited Abu Ad-Dardaa with whom the Prophet (RA) had joined him in brotherhood. He found Abu Ad-Dardaa's spouse in a depressing kingdom and he asked, "What is the problem with you."

 "Your brother has no need of something on this global," she replied.

When Abu Ad-Dardaa got here, he welcomed Salman (RA) and gave him meals. Salman (RA) advised him to eat but Abu Ad-Dardaa said, "I am fasting."

 "I swear to you that I shall now not eat until you eat additionally." Said Salman (RA) Salman (RA) spent the nighttime there as properly. During the nighttime, Abu Ad-Dardaa got up however Salman (RA) got keep of him and said:

"O Abu Dardaa, your Lord has a proper over you. Your family has a proper over you and your body has a proper over you. Give to each its due."

 In the morning, they prayed collectively and then went out to fulfill the Prophet (SAW). The Prophet (SAW) supported Salman (RA) in what he had said.

 As a pupil, Salman (RA) changed into referred to for his substantial understanding and information. Ali ibn Talib (RA) said of him that he became like Luqman the Wise. And Kaab Al-Ahbar stated: "Salman is stuffed with understanding and expertise - an ocean that does not dry up." Salman (RA) had expertise in both the Christian scriptures and the Quran in addition to his earlier expertise in the Zoroastrian religion. Salman translated parts of the Quran into Persian in the course of the lifetime of the Prophet (SAW). He becomes for that reason the first character to translate the Quran right into a foreign language.

 Salman (RA), due to the influential household in which he grew up, may easily have been a primary figure within the sprawling Persian Empire of his time. His look for reality however led him, even before the Prophet (SAW) had seemed, to renounce a secure and prosperous lifestyle or even to suffer the indignities of slavery. According to the most dependable account, he died inside the 12 months thirty-5 after the hijrah (35 AH), for the duration of the caliphate of Uthman ibn Affan (RA), at Ctesiphon.

May Allah be pleased with Salman Al-Farsi (RA) and reward him with nice rewards. AMEEN