Salman El-Farsi (Salman the Persian)- Friend of the Prophet

Salman el-Farsi was born in Persia (Iran) before the rise of Islam, and was brought up as a Zoroastrian. He had an insatiable thirst for the knowledge of Truth. But Zoroastrianism could not slake that thirst. He then spent more than three decades of his life “experimenting” with Judaism and Christianity in an effort to extract Truth from their ethos and philosophy. But these efforts also didn’t yield any fruit.

But Salman was a restless seeker of Truth, and his quest for it was irrepressible. This quest eventually led him to Medina. the capital and hub of Islam. In Medina, he met Muhammad Mustafa, the last Messenger of God to mankind, and the Bringer of Islam, the last Message of God to mankind. Muhammad expounded the meaning of Islam to Salman. Salman immediately sensed that Islam was the framework of the Ultimate Truth which, until that moment, had eluded his grasp. His quest of a lifetime was rewarded when Muhammad Mustafa, the blessed Messenger of God, presented Islam to him, and he accepted it.

But Muhammad Mustafa (may God bless him and his Ahlul-Bayt), besides being a Prophet, was also a spell-binder. Salman felt that the former had made his heart a “prisoner” at first sight. Their first meeting burgeoned into a friendship that spanned a decade from 622 to 632. It was the most blessed decade in entire history. and it was the most “crowded” decade of Salman’s long life. For him it was crowded with blessings unlimited. And it was crowded with glory, not material glory which is evanescent, but with heavenly glory which is everlasting. A touch of Muhammad’s hand had changed Salman’s destiny. Muhammad had lifted him from the lowly estate of a mortal, and had vaulted him to high rank as an “immortal” in the hierarchy of the faithful and loving slaves of God.

This book is an attempt at capturing the aura of Salman’s love for Islam, and his friendship with his master, Muhammad Mustafa. May God bless them both.