The Story of Salman Al Farisi #ThroughTheFire

(as tweeted by AlMaghrib Dallas)

• There are some unbelievable claims in Salman Al Farsi’s story, until you research early Christianity and discover the historical backstory.
• — — — — — Historical Facts about Persia & Christian Theology — — — — — — —
• Once upon a time, the Roman-Persian conflict was the longest in history. They battled for 720 years.
• And in the end, the conflict only ended by BOTH sides losing to the Muslims.
• The Romans & Persians supported rebellions in each other’s lands as a means of destabilizing each other.
• By 615, the Persians had taken Jerusalem, stole the True Cross, and massacred 90k people in the process
• So it seemed, at the time, that Christianity and the Roman empire was about to face its end soon.
• This is relevant because the Muslims sympathized with the Romans: cousins in faith as People of the Book.
• At that time, Allah revealed Surah Rum- The Romans, foreseeing that they’d be victorious over the Persians.
• More so, Allah said they would defeat the Persians in roughly 3–9 years. People were like whaaaat? (See Quran 30:1–4)
• In 615, the Romans sent a treaty to the Persians offering surrender and tribute BUT it was rejected.
• So the war continued and guess what? The Romans counterattacked and conquered into Persian strongholds.
• So in a nutshell- the Persians are on the defense and the Romans are picking up speed again.
• Now we’re going back 300 years and talking Christian theology. They needed to standardize the aqeedah
• The “deviant” Christian groups bowed, recited scripture in Syriac, and rejected the Trinity.
• So the standard Christianity became the trinity, and the deviations were then outlawed.
• The major figure to object to the new trinity was a man named Nestorius.
• Nestorian Christianity was at odds with the main church, and by the 600’s, it had all but disappeared.
• So at Salman’s time, the religion of Persia was Zoroastrianism. The religion is still practiced today.
• They do not worship fire per-se, but fire symbolizes the force of good in the universe and is revered
• — — — — — — — — — — About Salman himself — — — — — — — — — — -
• You think you know Salman Al Farsi? His name was actually Ruzbeh Ibnu-Marzban, and his dad loved him so much that he never left his house.
• Granted, it was a really, really big house. Ok, so maybe it wasn’t really a house. Maybe Ruzbeh was born into the biggest temple — of the most important Zoroastrian priest in Persia but the point is, his dad really, really loved him and he was never allowed to leave.
• Ruzbeh grew up the heir to his father’s temple and religion. His job was to lead religious ceremonies and tend to the divine fire.
• Everything was going great until one day, Ruzbeh’s dad needed him to run some errands. He needed Ruzbeh to go water the garden.
• (He passed by a church) What fascinated Ruzbeh/Salman about church was bowing and recitation- no longer mainstream Christianity.
• When Salman didn’t come home, his dad sent people searching for him. It was already dark by then
• Salman’s dad was like, Where have you been?! and Salman was like I was in Church dad.
• *pause for dramatic emphasis*
• His dad blew up. He yelled at Salman and sent the servants for chains.
• His dad had him imprisoned in the house. Salman was his golden boy, but now he was his father’s prisoner.
• Salman managed to sneak a letter out of his house/temple/prison to the people in the church
• The church-goers tell Salman a caravan will be leaving for Syria, so he sneaks out and travels with them
• And this boy who had never left his house, was suddenly on his way to Damascus to look for Christianity.
• Salman asked who the most learned man was, and went straight for him. He wanted religion from its source
• Salman is directed to the High Priest of the church and guess what? He was THE WORST.
• The Priest stole charity and did the opposite of what he told others to do. He was corrupt to the core.
• Salman was stuck- he was a foreigner versus the most powerful, most corrupt priest and he could’t out him
• When the High Priest died, Salman stood up at the funeral & said This Guy Was Corrupt.
• The people turned on him- they told Salman to prove it or he was dead.
• Salman risked his life to expose the man, he took the worshippers to the seven chests of gold hidden.
• This was seven chests of gold the High Priest was squirreling away in the church for himself vs. charity.
• When the people saw they were SO MAD they took the priest’s body and beat it. Crucified it. And let it rot
• And so the corruption was exposed, but what about Salman? What would happen now?
• There’s an important lesson from this: the High Priest being corrupt has nothing to do with his religion. Same with all religions- people do not represent creed. ESPECIALLY when they’re acting contrary to it.
• Who replaced the corrupt high priest? A new priest who Salman said was Best Person Ever outside of Islam.
• Salman served the new priest for years, and grew to love and respect him.
• When Priest’s death came, Salman asked — what do I do now? Priest said: I know a man in Mosul. Go to him.
• So Salman makes his way to Mosul all by himself. The guy who got lost going to garden, lol
• Salman got to Mosul and found the worshipper that his teacher told him to find.
• For a time, Salman learned, served, and worshipped with the man. But then, his time of death came too.
• If you wonder why his teachers keep dying on him, the Christians he learned from were part of a dying sect
• Remember, Nestorian Christianity became a deviation over 300 years ago. Its followers were dying.
• Salman had to go and search for the few remaining worshippers on this path. And they were old
• So of course, the time for this man’s death came as well. Salman asked: What do I do now?
• Teacher №2 told him: Go to Amorium, in Turkey. Salman stayed & learned with him until he passed away too.
• Salman was getting frustrated: I’m traveling to find faith and my teachers keep dying- what do I do now?
• On his death bed, his teacher told him to return to Damascus, where his first corrupt teacher was.
• He found a teacher there and he stayed until death came to him as well.
• At this point, Salman has studied under multiple scholars and he’s getting tired of them dying
• He asks his teacher: what do I do now? Where do I go?
• His teacher says, there’s no one else like us
• But- his teacher says — the time has come for a prophet. He will come from the land of Arabs.
• He will migrate to a place between two lava fields that is planted with palm trees.
• He will have three signs:
• 1. He will not eat from charity.
• 2. He will eat from a gift.
• 3. He will have a mark on his back: seal of prophethood.
• Salman decided to go to the land of the Arabs.
• And so Salman worked for a while and saved up some money to finance his travels. He was just gonna wing it.
• He found some Arab merchants and used his savings to finance his travel back home. He went with them
• But as soon as they got out of the city they jumped him. They beat him, robbed him & sold him into slavery.
• He was sold into slavery, and for years went from master to master to master. Over 13 times.
• He could have lost hope so easily- he leaves seeking the truth and finds years of slavery and loneliness.
• SubhanAllah- Salman is bought and sold and bought and sold and from master to master, makes it to Madinah.
• Salman was sold to a Jewish man and when he made it to Madinah, realized he was in the right place.
• However, he was a slave. He had no time to learn or even hear of what was happening in Makkah.
• He heard nothing of the Prophet ﷺ until one day he was up working in a palm tree when he heard a man said to his master: May God destroy these Arabs! They are welcome someone they’re calling a Prophet.
• Salman relates: I felt chills. I came straight down from the tree and said WHAT DID YOU SAY?
• magine: He’s been searching for years, out of nowhere hears someone mentioning a prophet and what happens?
• His master PUNCHES HIM IN THE FACE and says what’s it to you, slave?
• Salman has so much wisdom, so much patience- It’s nothing, he says. And he gets back to work.
• He then asks his master’s wife for a day off, and he works on his own and earns some money.
• He takes that money and buys a bit of food. He finds the Prophet ﷺ and says here is some food for charity
• The Prophet ﷺ thanks him and feeds his companions, but does not eat of it himself.
• Salman walks away anxiously, trying to control himself. He says to himself, That’s one.
• The next day he comes back & says to the Prophetﷺ I noticed you not eat yesterday, this is a gift for you.
• The Prophet ﷺ eats the food and shares it with his companions. Salman says to himself: that’s two.
• There was a funeral procession in Madinah, and Salman followed the Prophet ﷺ, trying to peek at his back.
• At the graveyard, Prophet ﷺ notices Salman trying to see his back & puts down the shawl on his shoulders.
• Salman sees the seal of prophecy and falls onto the Prophet ﷺ in tears, clutching his back and weeping.
• After a time Salman composed himself and the Prophet ﷺ asked, may I turn around?
• The Ansaar & the Muhajiroon fought to claim Salman- he’s one of us! each side said.
• The Prophet ﷺ said Nope, he’s one of mine. And Salman was treated as a member of the Prophet’s family from that day on. SubhanAllah.
• And he was the Scholar of Two Books- of the Bible and the Qur’an. And he used to be a Zoroastrian priest!
• SubhanAllah, Salman became known as Salman Ibn-Islam. He was the son of Islam
• Salman was an introvert. He did not speak much, but when he did- it was deep and wise.
• Salman al Farisi is the unsung hero of the introverts…because they don’t sing.
• Salman escaped Persia a prisoner, enter Arabia a slave, and returned to Persia as a governor. SubhanAllah
• My honor is my religion, my worth is dirt. I came from the earth, I will return to it. — Salman Al Farsi
• Salman died at age 80, governor of Mada’in. He left behind a blanket, some cooking utensil, and 20 dirhams.