Salman al-Farisi (r.a.).Part2

The Prophet explained it as follows:

“The light that came out of the rock and that you saw when I first hit it enlightened the manors of the city Hira and the city of Madayin of the Chosroes. Jibril told me that my ummah would dominate those cities. The light that came out of the rock when I hit it the second time enlightened the red manors of Byzantine. Jibril gave me the glad tiding that my ummah would dominate them. The light that came out of the rock when I hit it the third time enlightened the manors of Sana (Yemen). Jibril told me that my ummah would dominate them too. Feel joyful. My ummah will be helped and be victorious.

The Prophet repeated the last sentence three times. When the Companions heard this glad tiding, they said, “Praise be to Allah. He keeps His promise. He promises us help after the siege of the polytheists.” They became happy.

After giving this glad tiding, the Prophet described the white manor of the Chosroes (Persian King) in Mada­yin. Hz. Salman knew the properties of the manors since he was from Iran. Upon this description, Salman said, “O Messenger of Allah! You are right. I swear by Allah, who sent you with the true religion and book that the properties of the manor is exactly like your description. I witness that you are the prophet of Allah.”

Finally, the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) stated the following:

“O Salman! Allah will enable you to conquer those countries after my death. Damascus will definitely be conquered. Heraclius, the Byzantine king, will retreat to the furthest place in his land. You will dominate the whole Damascus. Nobody will be able to resist you. Ye­men will definitely be conquered. Then, the Chosroes will be killed.”

While the Prophet was giving the good news about the future to his Companions, the hypocrites (munafiqs) started to gossip. They tried to demoralize the Muslims by saying, “While you cannot fight in the battlefield out of fear and dig ditches, Muhammad promises you the manors of Hira and says he saw the city of Madayin of the Chosroes and that you will conquer those cities. Are you not surprised by his empty promises?”

However, their gossiping did not affect the belief of the Companions in the honesty of the Prophet at all. For, they definitely believed that the Prophet saw the centuries ahead in the future with the light of the prophethood. As a matter of fact, this glad tiding given by the Prophet at such a hard time took place during the caliphates of Hz. Umar and Hz. Uthman. The Muslims conquered the cities and countries mentioned by the Prophet. Several years after this glad tiding, Hz. Salman said, “I saw all of them to be conquered.” He thanked Allah Almighty for this boon.

The activity of digging trenches was completed after six days. Thus, the Muslims secured themselves. They started to wait for the polytheists to come. They arrived soon. They hurried in order to eliminate the Muslims as soon as possible. They were very confident. However, when they saw that Madinah was surrounded by ditches that were impossible to pass, they were astounded. The polytheists had never seen such a strategy. After a long siege, they had to return to Makkah in a terrible state.

Thus, thanks to the offer of Hz. Salman and help of Allah, the Muslims were saved from a big danger. Besides, the danger of the enemy was eliminated thanks to a decision made as a result of consultation; in addition, the glad tiding of the future conquests were given to them.

Hz. Salman was distinguished among the Companions due to his closeness to the Prophet. He served the Prophet all the time and frequently entered his house. He listened to the talk of the Prophet at night and learned from the Prophet.

Once, Hz. Salman went to visit the Prophet. The Messenger of Allah was reclining on a cushion. When Salman arrived, he gave the cushion on which he was reclining to Salman and said,

“O Salman! When a Muslim goes to visit his Muslim brother and he gives him a cushion as a gesture of hospitality, Allah Almighty forgives his sins.”

Salman received the reward of being close to the Prophet in advance. He reached a high rank in knowledge. The Messenger of Allah praised him by saying, “Salman is definitely full of knowledge.” Hz. Ali said, “The knowledge of the previous and future people is in Salman. He is an unending sea. On the other hand, when a great scholar like Hz. Muadh bin Jabal died, he advised his students to receive knowledge from Salman.

As Hz. Salman visited the Prophet frequently, talked to him and served him, the Prophet also visited Salman from time to time to please him.

Once, Hz. Salman became ill. The Prophet visited him and prayed for him as follows: “O Salman! May Allah Almighty grant you cure, forgive your sins and give you health of religion and body as long as you live!”

That a poor and lone person like Hz. Salman was so close to the Prophet and received compliments from him disturbed some people who were interested in Islam but who had not become Muslims yet. They felt them beneath them to be together with poor people with simple clothes. Once they made the Prophet the following offer by implying people like Hz. Salman and Abu Dharr:

“O Muhammad! Whenever we come to you, we see those poor people with you. We are the notables of the tribe of Mudar. Keep them away from you so that we will believe in you. We feel ashamed of being together with them; we cannot make our souls accept it. If we believe, the other tribes will believe too.”

After their offer, which was impossible to apply, the following verse was sent down:

“And keep thy soul content with those who call on their Lord morning and evening, seeking His Face; and let not thine eyes pass beyond them seeking the pomp and glitter of this Life.”

When the revelation was completed, the Messenger of Allah looked for Hz. Salman and Abu Dharr.  He found them at a corner making remembrance of Allah Almighty. He gave them the following glad tiding:

“’Praise be to Allah Who did not take away my soul until He commanded me to restrain myself with men of my community. You should know that it is with you that I live and with you that I die.”

One of the properties of Hz. Salman was his hospitality. He always served his guests. He would offer the guests to eat anything he had in his house, whether it was a little or much. For, the Prophet stated the following in a hadith:

“If a guest despises the food the host brings him, he is destroyed; if a host avoids serving food to a guest despising the food he has, he is destroyed.”

Once, Shaqiq bin Salama and one of his friends were guests at Hz. Salman’s house. Salman prepared the table from the foods that he had in his house. They sat at the table. While eating, Shaqiq’s friend said, “It would be nice if there was some pepper.” Hz. Salman had no money to buy pepper but he wanted to please his guest. He pawned his water bottle to buy some pepper and brought it. After eating, the person who asked for pepper said, “Praise be to Allah Who has granted us contentment.” Hz. Salman said, “If you had been content with what you found on the table, my water bottle would not have been pawned.”

Hz. Salman was a heroic mujahid of Islam. He joined the army that was prepared for the conquest of Iran. He did very important activities in the army because he was from Iran. He guided the Islamic army in the land that they did not know. He gave them information about the weapons they used and their war tactics. He taught them how to kill the elephants the Iranian army used in the war. He also worked hard to make the people of Iran accept Islam. He invited them to Islam using their own language. He told them about the beauties of Islam. He told them that they could pay jizyah (tax) if they did not accept Islam. However, they did not accept any of the offers. Eventually big wars took place between them. The Islamic army had great victories.

After the conquest of Iran, Hz. Umar appointed Salman as the governor of Madayin. He fulfilled this duty properly. The people of Madayin loved him.

Hz. Salman had a simple and plain life. He wore and ate the same things both when he was a slave and when he was the governor of Madayin. He avoided all kinds of pomp and show off.

Hz. Salman treated the people under his command well; he did not give them hard work to do. He would help them in their work. He would even help his slave. Once, he was kneading dough. A person who came to visit him was surprised when he saw this. He asked, “What is the matter?” Hz. Salman said, “I sent the servant somewhere to do something; I did not want him to do also this.”

One of the greatest traits of Hz. Salman was his generosity. When he received the salary of governorship, which was five thousand dirhams, he would give it away to the poor. He met his needs by weaving baskets. He sold one basket for three dirhams; he would buy date leaves for one dirham of it, spend one dirham for his needs and give the remaining dirham to the poor. He would not dine without guests. He would call the poor and lone people to his house and entertain them.

Hz. Salman gave great importance to visiting his friends only for the sake of Allah. Once, he went to visit his close friend Abu ad-Darda from Madayin to Damascus on foot.

Hz. Salman visited ill people, consoled them and advised them to show patience. Once, he went to visit a friend of his who was ill. He was suffering a lot. When Hz. Salman saw him, he gave him the following glad tiding:

“If Allah Almighty gives an illness to a believing person and cures him later, it becomes atonement for his previous sins if he shows patience. It will also be a means of atonement for the sins that he will commit in the future. If Allah gives an illness to a sinner and cures him later and if that person has not shown patience and has complained all the time, that person is like a camel that is tied from its foot by its owner and that is released after a while; this camel does not know why it is tied and why it is released.”

Hz. Salman would laugh at three things and cry for three things. He laughed at the following things:

(1) A person who stretches his hopes in this world though death seeks him, (2) a person who is heedless and unaware of his Lord though his Lord is aware of him (3) a person who laughs aloud though he does not know whether he has attained his Lord’s consent or wrath.

The three things that he cried for were as follows:

(1) Being separated from the Prophet, (2) experiencing the throes of death at his deathbed, (3) not knowing whether he will go to Hell or Paradise when he leaves the presence of Allah on the Day of Judgment.

Hz. Salman gave the following advice about worshipping:

“Perform five daily prayers regularly! They are atonement for minor sins as long as you do not commit major sins. If a person commits a sin making use of the darkness of the night and unawareness of people, he is at a loss, not profit. A person who sleeps after performing prayers is neither at a profit nor at loss. Avoid worshipping so much as to prevent you from worshipping; worship normally but regularly.”

Salman al-Farisi served a lot by helping the words of the Prophet reach us. One of the hadiths reported by him is as follows:

I was once sitting under a tree with the Messenger of Allah. He caught hold of a dry branch of the tree and shook it until its leaves fell off. He then said to me, “O Salman! Will you not ask me why I am doing this?” I said, “Why you are doing this?’ Thereupon, he said, “When a Muslim performs wudu properly and then observes his prayers five times a day, his sins fall off just as these leaves have fallen off.”

Hz. Salman, who was a pious and ascetic person, became ill one day. Sa’d bin Abi Waqqas came to visit him. Hz. Salman was crying. Hz. Sa’d said, “Why are you crying? If you die, you will rejoin your friends. You will meet the Messenger of Allah at the Pond of Kawthar. The Prophet was pleased with you.”

Hz. Salman replied as follows:

“I am not crying because I am afraid of death or because I do not want to leave this world. What makes me cry is the following advice of the Messenger of Allah: ‘The wealth you own in this world should be as much as the food that a traveler carries with him.’ However, I look around me and see a lot of wealth.”

However, all of Hz. Salman’s things were worth 15 dirhams only. Then, Hz. Sa’d asked Salman to give him advice. Salman gave him the following exemplary advice:

“Remember Allah when you decide something or when you state your decree about an issue or when you divide goods among people.”

Hz. Salman called his wife when he was at his deathbed and said to her,

“Open those doors. I expect guests today. I do not know which of the doors they will enter. Bring me the musk I had given you to keep. Mix it in water. Sprinkle the scent around my bed. For, my visitors will not eat but they like nice scent. Go downstairs after you have done what I said.”

His wife did exactly what he said. Then, she heard some whispers. When she went upstairs, she saw that Hz. Salman had died.

Yes, Hz. Salman, who received the following glad tiding of the Prophet rejoined the Prophet and the other Companions in Paradise:  “Paradise longs for three people. Ali, Ammar bin Yasir and Salman.”

May Allah be pleased with him!