Bismillah Ir Rahman Ir Raheem Salman of Persia Adapted for children from an Authentic Hadith and the Seerah by (Anne Stephens) Khadeijah A. Darwish Copyright © 1984-2013 Allah.com Muhammad.com Mosque.com. All rights reserved. Free give away not for sale or resale Many years before the advent of Islam, Salman had been raised by his father to serve in the temples of Persia. Secretly, deep down in his heart he didn't think it was right to worship the idols of Persia, and so he started to search for the truth. Now at that time there were two groups of good living people in Persia who did not worship the Persian idols and Salman was attracted to them in his search for the truth. However, there was something that puzzled Salman because both groups claimed to follow the teachings of Jesus, but what one group taught was very different from the teachings of the other! Salman listened to what both parties had to say about Jesus and chose not to follow the one that preached what they called "the trinity" which is worshiping three Gods and calling the One and that Jesus was one of the three. The more thought about it occurred to him that the trinity was very similar to the pagan religions of Persia because they worshipped many gods instead of just One. So the group Salman chose to follow were the Nazarenes who taught the Creator was One and that Jesus was His prophet, and that he was not a god or even His son. However, Salman knew it would cause a problem at home if he told his father about his conversion so he hit it. Salman had many experiences in his search for the truth, and served several priests. The first priest was however, corrupt. He took from the poor and used the proceeds to satisfy his lusts, so Salman abandoned him in search of one more pious. Salman found an elderly, pious Nazarene priest to teach him and in return he served him for many years until his death. When he died Salman sought to serve another Nazarene priest and was blessed to find one who was more knowledgeable and pious than the first. The priest spoke to him many times about a special prophecy Jesus had made He taught Salman that it was written in the Holy Scriptures that Prophet Jesus had prophesied the coming of a new prophet who would be sent after him, and that he would appear in Arabia and went on to described the location of he would appear. As death approached the priest, Salman asked if he knew of another priest to guide him, but the Nazarene priest said he knew of none. However, he advised him to go in search of the city he described in Arabia. It was shortly after the death of the priest that Salman's father learned of his son's conversion and in a burst of rage had his son bound with rope so that he could not leave the house. Salman was a strong young man and one day as he sat tied up with rope in his room, news arrived that an Arab caravan was about to return to Arabia. It was the opportunity he had been waiting for, so he summoned all his strength, broke loose from the ropes that bound him and went to them. When Salman met the leader of the caravan he offered him a herd of camels and all his wealth if he would take him with them. The deal was struck and so shortly thereafter he left with them. Just before the caravan reached Yathrib, as Medina was then called, the Arabs took not only Salman's camels and wealth but sold him into slavery to a Jew from the tribe of Krayzah. Salman was very disheartened by the turn of events until the Prophet's arrival in Medina some years later. It was then that he was able to recognize that his circumstances had not been a misfortune as he had previously thought, but a very great blessing of Allah to him, for he had unknowingly, and certainly not through his own planning, arrived at the place the priest described and as soon as Salman heard about Islam, he was so happy that he became a Muslim. Salman did his best to follow the ways of Islam but it was difficult and he was sad that he was unable to take part in the encounters of Badr and Uhud, but as he was a slave he had no choice but to remain behind. Salman seldom had a chance to meet his fellow Muslims as his owner made him work long hours in the fields and date groves. He longed to be free and join the other Muslims so one day he decided to go to his owner and ask how much he would need to buy himself out of his slavery. His owner demanded a very high price for his release -- no less than forty ounces of gold as well as three hundred planted date palms, and of course Salman was very sad it was more than he had. One day, Salman was blessed to meet the Prophet (salla Allahu alihi wa salaam) and told him about how he came to Medina but had been sold into slavery. The Prophet (salla Allahu alihi wa salaam), who was deeply touched by Salman’s story, told Salman to write his owner an agreement, saying that he would pay the amount required in full. When the Prophet (salla Allahu alihi wa salaam) told his Companions about Salman he asked them to donate as many sapling date palms as they could, the Companions responded generously. Some gave as many as thirty young palm trees, others twenty and so on until there were one hundred young trees to be planted. Now that the palm tree had been gathered, the Prophet (salla Allahu alihi wa salaam) told Salman to go and prepare the land in readiness to plant the saplings and that once he had finished, he would plant the trees himself. The Companions joined Salman in the preparation of the ground and together they dug the holes. As soon as the work was finished they told the Prophet (salla Allahu alihi wa salaam) so he returned with them to the grove and planted all the saplings, and they all started to grow and produced dates. Prophet Muhammad (salla Allahu alihi wa salaam) had been given a nugget of gold -- about the size of a hen's egg -- and without a second thought gave it to Salman telling him to buy his freedom with it. Salman was concerned that the weight of the nugget would be insufficient and asked how much more gold would be necessary to complete the agreement. The Prophet (salla Allahu alihi wa salaam) supplicated to Allah, then took the nugget, put it in his mouth, rolled his tongue around it, then gave it back to Salman saying, "Take it, and pay the full price with it." When the nugget was weighed, it weighed exactly forty ounces and Salman was released from slavery. When the Muslims migrated to Medina they hoped they might find peace and the freedom to worship Allah. They had hoped that their migration would bring about a stop to the hostile threats and activities of the Koraysh, however, many of the Koraysh still wanted to rid themselves of Islam and the Muslims but not everyone in Mecca supported Abu Sufyan who was very influential and their chieftain. Abbas, the young uncle of the Prophet, praise and peace be upon him, did not support Abu Sufyan and when he heard that the Koraysh were intending to attack Medina, he feared for the Prophet's safety, so under the cloak of secrecy he dispatched several horsemen to Medina with the news of the intended attack. The urgent state of affairs compelled the messengers to ride with such haste that they reached Medina in just four days instead of the usual eleven days. Upon reaching Medina, the horsemen wasted no time and went directly to the Prophet (salla Allahu alihi wa salaam) to inform him of the army advancing on Medina on either side giving details of their numbers and weaponry. With this news, the Muslims had a week in which to prepare to protect themselves for the hostilities. Immediately, the Prophet (salla Allahu alihi wa salaam) shrewdly sent word to his followers in the outlying areas of Medina to return to the City, and called for a meeting to discuss the strategy that would best serve them. Once more he reminded the Companions that if they obeyed Allah and were patient, victory would be theirs. His words made an indelible impression upon the Companions as they remembered the disobedience of some among them with its consequences at Uhud a little while before. Ideas abounded from every quarter, however Salman proposed a plan that had been both used and proven effective in Persia. Salman advised the Prophet (salla Allahu alihi wa salaam) that when the Persians feared a cavalry attack, they would dig a large, circular trench around them as it was extremely difficult for the horses of the enemy to cross the wide divide and consequently they were better able to defend themselves. Salman's proposal met with great enthusiasm and so it was agreed that this was what they would do. It was unnecessary to dig a complete trench around the entire City as there was an unbroken line of fortified houses, strong enough to resist the advance of the enemy in one part. Then again, outside the City lay the fortresses of their allies from the Jewish tribe of Krayzah that also afforded them additional protection. There was yet another blessing, outside the City towards the north-west lay impenetrable hillocks of rock. One of these hillocks was called the hill of Sal, and it was there that they decided to make their camp after connecting the existing fortifications together by the trench. The site had other advantages; the ground on the near side of Sal's slope was considerably higher than in other places, not only did it afford additional protection but from it they would be able to monitor the movements of the unbelievers. There was no time to waste, so Salman instructed the Companions on the depth and width of the trench, and the digging began. Because Salman had until recently been the slave of the tribe of Krayzah he knew his former masters owned many tools. Because of this it was agreed that they should be asked to loan them in accordance with the pact they had signed with the Prophet (salla Allahu alihi wa salaam) a few years ago that also stated they would not ally themselves with the enemy of the Prophet (salla Allahu alihi wa salaam). The Krayzah were quick to realize that they stood to lose their possessions and date groves if they did not help defend Medina and so every tool they possessed was made available and work began. Each section of the Muslim community was assigned a specific area to excavate and soon the continuous sound of axes hacking away at the ground and shovels removing the loosened ground filled the air, coming only to a halt at the time of prayer and when sleep finally overtook them. Prophet Muhammad (salla Allahu alihi wa salaam) worked tirelessly alongside his Companions, who encouraged one another to work harder. As for Salman, he was an extremely strong, fit person. During his years of slavery he had labored tirelessly in the fields digging and carrying, and his companions were amazed to see just how strong he actually was; all were of the opinion that he was worth ten of them put together. As the digging progressed, rocks were excavated and put to one side for use during the anticipated encounter. There were not enough baskets to go around to transport the earth so the Companions took to using their upper garments as bags. Young lads came out to lend a hand, but the work was much too arduous, so much to their sorrow, they were thanked but told to return home. Jabir and his companions were working hard on their section when they struck a huge boulder. Try as best they might, no one, not even the strongest among them could shatter it, let alone move it. When the news of the boulder reached the Prophet (salla Allahu alihi wa salaam) he left his section of digging and made his way to it. Then, taking hold of an ax struck the boulder three times whereupon it disintegrated into piles of sand and the digging of the trench continued. Salman's advice proved to be very effective and the city of Medina, by the blessing of Allah, was once again protected from the Koraysh and their allies. (If you would like to know more about the Battle of the Trench, please read our story called "The Battle of the Trench. You will read its story and learn of the miracles that occurred during that time).