Salman Al-Farisi - The Truth Seeker
Throughout the period I spent writing my book (The Awaited Letters) and until now, the story of the noble companion Salman Al-Farsi has not left my mind. His story has been a source of inspiration for me and a true example of patience and effort in the pursuit of truth. Salman, may Allah be pleased with him, lived among Zoroastrianism, Christianity and Judaism before the advent of Islam, and he continued searching for the true religion until Allah guided him to it. He did not submit his mind and heart to the inherited traditions and beliefs of his homeland, which, had he adhered to until his death, he would not have been among the companions of the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him. He would not have been guided to the religion of Islam and would have died in his polytheism.
Despite growing up in Persia in the midst of fire worship, Salman the Persian was searching for the true religion and went out in search of God. He was a believer in the Magian religion, and he was not convinced of this religion, but he found that his parents were devoted to it, so he embraced it with them. When his doubt about his religion and the religion of his family intensified, Salman left his country and migrated to the Levant in search of the absolute religious truth, and met monks and priests in the Levant, and after a long journey, Salman arrived as a slave in Medina, and when he heard about the Prophet (peace be upon him), he met him and became Muslim after being convinced of his message.
Salman grew up in the descendants of an aristocratic family, living in paradise in Persia, and his father loved him so much and feared him so much that he locked him up in his house, and Salman had graduated in Magianism until he became the inhabitant of the fire that burns and does not let it extinguish for an hour.
One day, his father asked him to go to his estate to take care of it because of his busy schedule and asked him not to be late so that he would not worry. On Salman's way to the estate, he passed a church where people were praying, so he entered and admired them and said: "This - by God - is better than the religion that we are in." He did not leave them until the sun set, so he did not leave them until the sun went down.
Salman went back to his father and told him what had happened and that he was impressed by this religion, so he put him in chains.
Salman narrates: "I sent to the Christians and said, 'If a group of merchants from the Levant come to you, tell me about them. They told him and he fled from his father's house to the Levant.
When his death came, he was recommended to go to a bishop in Mosul who was in the same state of righteousness and waiting for the Prophet's mission, so he went to him and stayed with him for a while. When his death came, he was recommended to go to a bishop in Nusaybin, and the matter was repeated until he came to a bishop from the people of Amauria in Rome, who told him about the time of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace and blessings. The bishop said to him: "My son, by God, I do not know that there is anyone left in the same way as we used to be, so I command you to come to him, but the time has come for a prophet to be sent from the sanctuary, whose emigration will be between two liberties to a desert land with palm trees, and there will be signs in him that are not hidden, and between his shoulders is the seal of prophethood, and he will eat a gift and not eat charity, so if you can get to that country, do so.
He went with them in search of the end-time prophet, but on the way they sold him to a Jew and brought him to Madinah, where he recognised from its palm trees that it was the city of the Prophet (peace be upon him) as the bishop had described it to him.
Salman tells the story of the Prophet's arrival in Madinah: "Allah sent His Prophet (peace be upon him) to Makkah without mentioning any of his affairs to me, in spite of my slavery, until the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) came to Qibaa, while I was working for my friend in a palm tree, when I heard the news of the Prophet's arrival, I came down saying: "What is this news?" My master raised his hand and punched me hard, and said, "What is it to you, go back to your work?"
Salman wanted to test the qualities of the Prophet (peace be upon him) that the bishop told him about, namely that he does not eat charity and accepts gifts and that the ring of prophethood is between his shoulders and other signs, so he went to the Prophet (peace be upon him) in the evening and took food with him and told him that this food was charity, but the Prophet ordered his companions to eat and he did not eat, so Salman knew it was one of the signs.
Then he returned to the Prophet (peace be upon him) again, gathered food and told him that it was a gift, and the Prophet (peace be upon him) and his companions ate, so he knew it was the second sign.
Salman searched for the Ring of Prophethood and said: "Then I came to the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, while he was following a funeral and while he was in his companions, I turned to look at his back to see if I could see the ring that was described to me. When he saw me turn around, he knew that I was inquiring about something that had been described to me, so he threw his robe off his back, and I looked at the ring and recognised it, so I knelt down to kiss it and wept." The Prophet (peace be upon him) asked the companions of the Prophet (peace be upon him) to help him, and indeed Salman was freed and remained a companion of the Prophet (peace be upon him), so much so that the Prophet (peace be upon him) said, "Salman is one of us from the family of the house."
Salman's journey to the truth was a long and difficult one. He migrated from Magiism in Persia, to Christianity in the Levant, to slavery in the Arabian Peninsula, until God Almighty guided him to the Prophet (PBUH) and Islam.
O God, unite me with him and the companions, may God be pleased with them, in the highest paradise.