The Story of How Salman al-Farisi رضي الله عنه Accepted Islam

قِصَّةُ إِسْلَامِ سَلْمَانَ الْفَارِسِيِّ رضي الله عنه وما فِيها مِن دلائلِ التَّوحيدِ ووَصفِ غُربةِ الدِّينِ

Arabic edition as PDF (45 pages)Published: 1447 AH Updated: Jumada al-Ula 1448 AH Arabic full text to read online

What It Is About

Salman al-Farisi رضي الله عنه grew up in Persia in the religion of the Magians. He turned to Christianity and, searching for the true religion, went from one teacher to the next – to ash-Sham, Mosul, Nasibin and 'Ammuriyyah – until he met the Messenger of Allah صلى الله عليه وسلم in Madinah. His story is narrated in a long Hadith from Ibnu 'Abbas, recorded by Ibnu Ishaq, Ahmad, al-Bazzar and at-Tabarani, among others.

At the heart of the treatise is the evidence for Tawhid that this story contains: no one who worships anything besides Allah will enter Paradise, however many outwardly good deeds he may have – unless he repents. The story also shows how strange the original religion had become among the Christians of that time, and how it had been changed.

Structure and Approach

The Hadith is explained section by section, and each part is followed by the lessons it teaches. Rare words are explained from the dictionaries and from the works on the unusual words found in Hadith. The explanation is based on the narration in the Musnad of Imam Ahmad; differences in the other narrations are noted only where they add something new or help the reader understand.

The explanations were first written many years ago as part of another work. Here they appear as a treatise of their own, with its own index, so that the story is easy to reach for every reader.

The Chapters

Preface
Salman's upbringing in the religion of the Magians
His first encounter with the religion of the Christians
He tells his father that he prefers the religion of the Christians
His departure for ash-Sham
His arrival in ash-Sham, his search for someone to teach him the religion, and how the truth came out about the bishop he was sent to
The death of the bishop, and how Salman showed the people who he really was
His meeting with the righteous man, who sent him on to another before he died
The remarkable evidence of how strange the religion had become among those Christians and how it had been changed
His journey to Mosul, then to Nasibin and then to 'Ammuriyyah
The advice of the man of 'Ammuriyyah: to look for a prophet who would be sent with the religion of Ibrahim, and the signs of his prophethood
How Salman was wrongfully enslaved and came to Madinah, until he heard that the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم had emigrated
His visit to the Messenger of Allah صلى الله عليه وسلم and how he made sure of the signs of prophethood
How he was freed from slavery
The words of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم “None will enter Paradise except a Muslim soul” and what the narrations say about the Christians Salman had been with
An important lesson for the science of narration
The virtues of Salman al-Farisi
A note on further narrations
Index of sources