As the name suggests Moulana Salman al-FarisiRA hailed from Faris (Persia) and was born into a Zoroastrian family.
His parents were landowners and once, whilst passing through his father’s lands Moulana SalmanRA chanced upon a monastery and was enthralled by the lofty virtues of the Christian monks. He thought to himself that their faith is superior to mine and started spending more time with them .His father was displeased with his leaning towards Christianity and a series of events followed.
He left his home to live in the service of the last few true disciples of Eesa NabiSA. On his deathbed the last of these sages said that there are none left on the true path of Easa nabi that i could direct you towards, but the time has now come for the last of the messengers of Allah. He was told that this messenger would be from the Arab lands, that he would accept gifts but not charity and that he would have the seal of prophethood upon his shoulder.
From hereon began Moulana Salman’sRA quest to find RasulullahSA. A hadith of RasulullahSA alludes to him when he says, “If this faith was as far-flung as Suraiyya (name of a constellation) a man from Faris would have grasped it.”
Moulana SalmanRA joined a caravan belonging to the Kalb tribe to take him to the Arab lands but they treacherously sold him as a slave to a Jewish trader who, subsequently, sold him to his cousin. That cousin then took Moulana SalmanRA along with him to his place of residence in Madinah.
In Madinah Moulana SalmanRA heard the Jews talking amongst themselves about the advent of “the new prophet in Makkah.” Upon hearing this he set off to ascertain the truth of this rumour.
He approached RasulullahSA with some dates that he had set aside for charity saying that he knew RasulullahSA and his companions were in need. RasulullahSAW immediately declined his offer.
The next day he presented some dates to RasulullahSA as a gift. RasulullahSA accepted them and invited his companions to partake of them with him. Finally, believing he had witnessed beyond doubt that RasulullahSA was indeed Allah’s last messenger, Moulana Salman’sRA joy knew no bounds,his quest was over and he knelt down and performed sajda shedding tears of joy.
RasulullahSA later asked him to negotiate a mukatabat with his master; that is that after a given number of chores or payments achieved through work, the master agrees to set the slave free. The conditions of mukatabat laid down by the Jewish master were arduous including the planting of of 300 date palms and for them to bear fruit. RasulullahSA and his companions helped plant the 300 palms and by the barakat of Rasulullah`sSA hand, they all bore fruit in a very short time. Moulana Salmanul-FarisiRA was a free man once again.
RasulullahSA would often say that, “Salmano minna ahle-l-bait” “Salman is one of us, the ahle-l-bait (people of the house)”.
HuzuralaTUS mentions in a waaz that once RasulullahSA sent SalmanRA on some errand to Molatena Fatema’sSA house. When he knocked on the door there was no answer. Salman noticed that the grinding stone is rotating on its own. In a corner Imam Hasan and Imam Husain were asleep in their cradle being rocked but no hand could be seen rocking it. Molatena FatemaSA was resting as well. In amazement Salman rushed back to RasulullahSA and narrated what he had seen. RasulullahSA replied, “As my daughter FatemaSA had nobody to assist her in her household chores Allah sent angels from heaven to help her.”
Moulana Salman-ul-FarisiRA was foremost amongst the Shias of Moulana Ali-ibn-AbitalibSA.He was the Ameer of Madain, a town close to Baghdad in Iraq when his end drew near. His companions asked him about his wishes regarding his last rites and Salman replied, “my ghusl, kafn, dafn and salaat will be performed by the same person who undertook these duties for Rasulullah, namely Moulana AliSA.”
People wandered how it would be possible since Moulana AliSA was in Madinah a month’s journey away from Mada’in.
They marvelled at his unshakeable faith and said respectfully that, you are in Mada’in and Moulana AliSA is in Madinah! How will it be possible? There was a month’s journey between these two cities. SalmanRA replied that his soul would not forsake his body till Amirul Mumineen was by his side and so it happened. It is a matter of great honour for Moulana Salman that Amirul MumineenSA conducted his last rites. His qabr mubarak is in Mada’in near Baghdad.
May Allah`s rehmat and peace be upon him.