Salman al-Farsi is known as “the Imam,” “the Inheritor of Islam,” “the Wise Judge,” “the Knowledgeable Scholar” and “One of the House of the Prophet .” These were all titles the Prophet gave him.


My heart has become capable of all forms:
A pasture for gazelles, a monastery for monks,
A temple for idols, the Kabah of the pilgrims,
The tablets of Torah, the Book of Quran.
I profess the religion of Love.
Whatever direction love’s camels take,
That is my religion and my faith.
—Ibn Arabi, Tarjuman al-ashwaq

  Salman al-Farsi stood fast in the face of extreme difficulties and hardships, to carry the Light of Lights and to spread the secrets of hearts, to lift people from darkness to light. He was a noble Companion of the Prophet   who reported sixty of the Prophet’s Traditions.
  { Secret of Servanthood and in-service to the Rasul (s)} He came from a highly respected Zoroastrian family from a town near Isfahan. One day while passing by a church, he was attracted by the voices of men praying. Drawn by their worship, he ventured in and found it better than the religion of his upbringing. On learning that the religion originated in Syria, he left home, against his father’s wishes, went to Syria and associated himself with a succession of Christian anchorites. He came to know from them the coming of the Last Prophet and the signs accompanying his advent.

He then traveled to the Hijaz where he was seized, sold into slavery, and taken to Madinah, { Complete and True Servant with no will of his own, allowed himself to be a slave to meet Sayedena Muhammad (s) } where he eventually met the Prophet . When he found in the Prophet   the fulfillment of all the signs of which he had been informed by his Christian teachers, he accepted Islam. Servitude prevented Salman from being at the battles of Badr and Uhud. The Messenger  helped him gain his release from slavery by planting, with his own hand, 300 palm trees and giving him a large piece of gold. Once a free man, he took part in every subsequent battle with the Prophet [as].
In Ibn Ishaq’s Sirat Rasul Allah, we find the following in Salman’s [as] account to the Prophet[as] of his journey in search of the true religion:

Asim ibn Umar ibn Qatada said that he was told that Salman the Persian[as] told the Prophet[as]   that his master in Ammuriya told him to go to a certain place in Syria where there was a man who lived between two thickets. Every year as he went from one to the other, the sick stood along his way and everyone he prayed for was healed. He said, “Ask him about this religion which you seek, for he can tell you of it.” So I went on until I came to the place of which I had been told. I found that people had gathered there with their sick until he came out to them that night passing from one thicket to the other. The people came to him with their sick. Everyone he prayed for was healed. They prevented me from getting to him. I could not approach him until he entered the thicket to which he was headed. I took hold of his shoulder. He asked me who I was as he turned to me and I said, “God have mercy on you, tell me about the Hanafiya, the religion of Abraham .” He replied, “You are asking about something men do not inquire of today. The time has come near when a prophet will be sent with this religion from the people of the sacred area. Go to him, for he will bring you to it.” Then he went into the thicket. The Prophet  said to Salman , “If you have told me the truth, you met Jesus  the son of Mary .”
In one of the Prophet’s  battles called al-Ahzab or al-Khandaq, Salman  advised the Prophet  to dig trenches around Madinah in defense of the city, a suggestion that the Prophet  happily accepted. He then went ahead and helped the digging with his own hands. During this excavation, Salman  struck upon a rock that he was unable to break. The Prophet  took an axe and hit it. The first strike brought forth a spark. He then hit it a second time and brought forth a second spark. He then struck for the third time and brought forth a third spark.
 

• He then asked Salman , “O Salman, did you see those sparks?” Salman  replied, “Yes, O Prophet , indeed I did.” The Prophet  said,
• “The first spark gave me a vision in which God has opened Yemen for me.
• With the second spark, God opened Damascus and al-Maghrib (the West).
• And with the third one, God opened for me the East.”

• “Nothing but supplication averts the Decree.
• Nothing but righteousness increases life,” and “Your Lord is Munificent and Generous and is ashamed to turn away empty the hands of a servant when he raises them to him.”
   

• You have three options.
• You may embrace Islam, then you will be our brethren and you will have the same privileges and obligations as we.
• Or you may pay the tax of non-Muslims and we will govern you fairly.
• Or we will declare war on you.” The Persians, having witnessed the miraculous crossing of the Muslim army, accepted the second alternative.
   

Salman al-Farsi  was eventually appointed governor of that region. He was the commander of 30,000 Muslim troops. Yet, he was very humble. He lived from his own manual labor. He did not own a house, but instead rested under the shade of trees. He said that he was surprised to observe so many people spending all their life for the lower world, without a thought for the inevitable death which will take them from the world one day.

  He was a very strict and just man. Among some spoils that were distributed one day was cloth out of which each Companion had one piece of clothing cut. One day Umar  got up to speak and said, “Lower your voices so that you may hear me.” He was wearing two pieces of that cloth. Salman  said “By God, we will not hear you, because you prefer yourself to your people.” “How is that?” asked Umar . He said: “You are wearing two pieces of cloth and everyone else is wearing only one.” Umar  called out. “O Abd Allah!” Abd Allah, his son, answered, “At your service!” Umar  said, “I ask you by God, do you confirm that the second piece is yours?” Abd Allah said, “Yes.” Salman  said, “Now we shall hear you.”

Each night he prayed, and when he got tired he would start reciting dhikr with his tongue. When his tongue would get tired, he would contemplate and meditate on God’s power and greatness in creation. He would then say to himself, “O my ego, you took your rest, now get up and pray.” Then he would recite dhikr again, then meditate, and so forth all night long.
Bukhari relates two Traditions which show the Prophet’s  consideration for Salman al-Farsi .
Abu Hurayra  relates:

While we were sitting with the Holy Prophet , Surat al-Jumuah was revealed to him. When the Prophet  recited the verse, “And He (God) has sent him (Muhammad) also to others (than the Arabs)” (62:3), I said, “Who are they, O God’s Messenger?” the Prophet  did not reply until I repeated my question three times. At that time Salman al-Farsi was with us. God’s Messenger  put his hand on Salman, saying, “If faith were at the Pleiades, even then some men from these people (i.e. Salman’s folk) would attain it.”

Abu Juhayfa  relates:
The Prophet  made a bond of brotherhood between Salman and Abu ad-Darda al-Ansari. Salman paid a visit to Abu ad-Darda and found Umm Darda (his wife) dressed in shabby clothes. He asked her why she was in that state. She said, “Your brother Abu ad-Darda is not interested in the luxuries of this world.” In the meantime Abu ad-Darda came and prepared a meal for Salman. Salman requested Abu ad-Darda to eat with him, but Abu ad-Darda said, “I am fasting.” Salman said, “I am not going to eat unless you eat.” So Abu ad-Darda ate with Salman. When it was night and a part of the night had passed, Abu ad-Darda got up (to offer the supererogatory night prayer), but Salman told him to sleep and Abu ad-Darda slept. After some time Abu ad-Darda again got up but Salman told him to sleep. When it was the last hours of the night, Salman told him to get up then, and both of them offered the prayer. Salman told Abu ad-Darda, “Your Lord has a right over you, your soul has a right over you, and your family has a right over you.” Abu ad-Darda narrated the whole story to the Prophet . The Prophet  said, “Salman has spoken the truth.”

  From His Sayings
Sulaiman al-Teemi  narrated that Salman al-Farsi  said:
 

• Nimrod starved out two lions, and then released them to devour God’s bosom friend, Abraham. But when the lions reached him and by God’s leave, they stood before him in reverence, and they both lovingly licked him all over and prostrated themselves at his feet.
   
• Abi al-Bakhtari narrated that Salman al-Farsi  had a female servant of Persian descent and he once spoke to her in her Persian tongue saying, “Prostrate yourself even once before God.” She replied with disdain, “I do not prostrate to anyone!” Someone asked Salman, “O Abu Abd Allah, what would she benefit from a single prostration?” Salman replied, “Each link is an important part of a chain, and perhaps should this woman accept to offer a single prostration before God Almighty, then this may lead her to regularly engage in offering the five times prayers. In fact, one who has a share in the blessings of Islam is not equal to someone who has naught of it.”
   
• Sulaiman al-Teemi narrated that Salman al-Farsi  said:
  If a man spends his entire night freeing slaves from bondage and another man spends his night reading the Quran and invoking the remembrance of God (dhikr), the second man would be in a higher state.
  His Passing
  Beloved Salman al-Farsi  passed away in 33 AH/654 CE during the reign of Uthman . He passed his secret on to Abu Bakr’s grandson, Imam Abu Abd ar-Rahman Qasim ibn Muhammad ibn Abu Bakr as-Siddiq . 
  Mawlana Qasim ibn Muhammad Ibn Abu Bakr