Transcript
This transcript was auto-generated using AI and may contain misspellings. I would like to begin our seminary with the name of Allah, the most merciful, the most gracious. All praise is due to Allah, Lord of the worlds. And the title is only for the wrongdoers. And the end is for the righteous. O Allah, bless and bless your servant and messenger Muhammad, peace be upon him and his family and companions. And send peace upon him. InshaAllah, tonight we continue in the story of Salman al-Farisi, Salman ibn al-Islam, may Allah be pleased with him. The incredible companion and his journey. And this part of the journey is the part that usually gets left out in the story of Salman. Meaning what? Typically, if you read the story of Salman al-Farisi, may Allah be pleased with him and his family, it sort of stops when he meets the Prophet, salallahu alayhi wa sallam, and then that's it. That's the end of the story. But then you're left to wonder, well, what happened after he became Muslim? What happened after khandaq? What happened with his life with the companions? What was his personality like? What was his interaction like with the companions of the Prophet, salallahu alayhi wa sallam? What happens later on in history? Does he take part in the battles? And this part of his life is beautiful and deep, and I'd say underrated in the books. Even in the classical books, by the way. When you read the story of Salman, may Allah be pleased with him and his family, you don't get enough of this part of his story. But I wanted to start with something that really is one of the most moving chapters of the book of al-Fawa'id by Ibn al-Qayyim. Now, of course, a few years ago, Sheikh Yasin and I, when we did the last ten night reflections, we reflected on the fawa'id, the useful sayings of Ibn al-Qayyim, may Allah be pleased with him and his family. And then this year we did Ibn al-Jawzi, may Allah be pleased with him and his family, Sayyid al-Khatir. But al-Fawa'id are the reflections of Ibn al-Qayyim, may Allah be pleased with him and his family. And he has a chapter, it's about page 60. The chapter is actually called Salman al-Farisi. It's a meditation on Salman al-Farisi, may Allah be pleased with him and his family. And I absolutely love this.
And it is so rich in Arabic, but I don't want to read the whole thing. But I kind of do want to read the whole thing. So I'm just going to read a couple of portions, insha'Allah, the beginning and the end of this chapter, insha'Allah, in Arabic. And then I'll translate it. Translation He said, rahimahullah ta'ala, falamma rakidat al-rih, which basically means when, I mean, if you want to translate what he's actually saying, once the dust settled. When the call of the Prophet ﷺ came and the dust settled, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala brought this call from the Messenger ﷺ. Iza Abu Talib ghareequn fee lujjat al-halak, suddenly we find that Abu Talib, the uncle of the Prophet ﷺ, drowns in the sea of destruction. Why? Because he turned away from the call of the Prophet ﷺ, despite his assisting the Prophet ﷺ in protecting him. He does not embrace the message of the Prophet ﷺ. Was Salman ala sahil al-salama, and there you find Salman, radhiAllahu anhu, safe on the coast. So Abu Talib, the uncle of the Prophet ﷺ, drowns. Salman, radhiAllahu ta'ala anhu, is safe on the coast. Walwaleed ibn al-Mughira yaqdumu qawmahu fitteeh, and al-Waleed ibn al-Mughira, who was the famous Arab in Quraysh, someone who was known for his intelligence, someone who was known for his wealth, he precedes his people in destruction, in leading them astray.
He was always looked at the person who was the progress of Mecca. He was the one that would spend his money, that would advance Mecca forward, and here he advances Mecca towards destruction. Wa suhaybun qad qadima bi qafilat al-rum, and there comes Suhayb from the caravan of the Romans. So Salman, radhiAllahu anhu, is somehow from Persia, safe on the coast, while the uncle of the Prophet ﷺ drowns. Al-Waleed ibn al-Mughira, he used to take the Meccans forward, and represented progress in Mecca, and wealth, and prominence. Suddenly he is leading the people towards destruction, and Suhayb, radhiAllahu anhu, coming from the heart of the Roman Empire, in their caravan, ready to embrace the Prophet ﷺ. He says all the way, wal-najashi fee ardi al-habasha yaqool, labbayka Allahumma labbayka, and he said the entire time, there you have najashi in Abyssinia, crying out, here I come, O Allah, here I come. Wa bilal yunadi, and bilal the Abyssinian calling out, as-salatu khayrun minan-nawm, as-salatu khayrun minan-nawm, prayer is better than sleep, prayer is better than sleep. Wa Abu Jahl fee raqdatil mukhalatha, and Abu Jahl, who was of course known as the father of wisdom, becomes the father of ignorance, and is asleep amongst the disbelieving group. So it's a powerful contrast that he's giving, basically to say, what excuse do you have, what excuse do you have, to say that you should not be amongst the forerunners, amongst those who rush towards guidance, when you hear this journey of Salman al-Farisi radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu, and look at the way that these journeys match, because the assumption when it comes to religious values and religious guidance is what? I just do what my parents taught me to do, right? And everyone kind of just goes with that. But look what Ibn al-Qayyim rahimahullah is saying, and then towards the end of the chapter,
he says, Ya Muhammad anta turidu aba talib, wa nahnu nureedu Salman. O Muhammad salallahu alayhi wa sallam, you wanted Abu Talib, but we wanted Salman. Meaning Allah subhana wa ta'ala guides whom he wills. You wanted Abu Talib, but we wanted Salman. Abu Talib idha su'ila an ismihi, qala abdu manaf, wa idha ntasaba iftakhara bil-aba. When Abu Talib would be asked what his name was, he would say, I'm from abdu manaf. And when he took pride, he took pride in his forefathers. Wa idha dhukiratil amwalu, adda al-ibn. And if you asked about money, then he would do what all the Meccans would do. They would count their camels. They would tell you how much they own. Wa Salman idha su'ila an ismihi, qala abdullah. If you asked Salman, what's your name? He would say, abdullah, the servant of Allah. Wa an nasabihi, qala ibnul-islam. And if you asked him, what's your lineage? He would say, I'm the son of Islam. Wa an malihi, qala al-fakr. And if you asked Salman, what is your wealth? He would say, my wealth is actually my poverty. Wa an hanoutihi, qala al-masjid. And if you asked him about his coffin, his hanout, if you asked him about his coffin, he would say, it's my masjid. And if you asked Salman radiallahu anhu, wa an kasbihi, if you asked him about what he has earned, he would say, al-sabr, I've earned patience. Wa an libasihi, qala al-taqwa wa al-tawadu. And if you asked him about his garments, he would say, it is piety and humility. Wa an wisadihi, qala al-sahar. And if you asked him about his bed at night, he would say, that my rest at night is in being awake with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Wa an fakhrihi, qala salmanu minna. And if you asked him, what gives you something to boast about, or what is it that you boast about, he would say, when the Prophet salallahu alaihi wa sallam said, Salman is one of us, salmanu minna.
Wa an qasbihi, qala yuriduna wajhah. And if you asked him about what your objective is in life, what do you want from life, he would say, I want Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala's face, I want Allah's pleasure. Wa an sayrihi, qala ilal jannah. And if you asked him where he was going, he would say, I'm going to jannah. Wa an dalilihi fattariqa li imamul khalqi wa hadil imma. And if you asked him about who guides you on this path, he would say, the imam of all of Allah's creation, and the guide of all leaders, Muhammad salallahu alaihi wa sallam. As you can see, translation does not work here, I tried my best. But it's a chapter in al-Fawa'id, it's one of the first chapters in fact, page 60, where Ibn al-Qayyim rahimahullah just reflects on the amazing story of Salman al-Farisi radiallahu anhu. So before we go any further, what's the point here? What excuse do you have? What excuse do you have to not overcome your cultural restriction, to not overcome your social circle, to not overcome the norms that have been placed around you, to not overcome the standards that have been set for you? What excuse do you have if Salman radiallahu anhu found himself with the Prophet salallahu alaihi wa sallam in the trenches in Medina, being told, Salmanu minna ahl al-bayt, Salman is one of us, and he is from my family, and he came from Persia, where he was in the house of kufr, the house of disbelief, literally the house of kufr, in the center of the Persian empire. Where we left off in part one was this incident of Salman and the khandaq, Salman radiallahu anhu and the trench, where it is his suggestion that the Prophet salallahu alaihi wa sallam accepts, and the Messenger salallahu alaihi wa sallam and the companions start to build away this trench. And Salman radiallahu anhu narrates in an authentic hadith his experience with the Prophet salallahu alaihi wa sallam in the trench. Salman did not witness Badr or Uhud.
Salman is now in his first battle and he is right next to the Prophet salallahu alaihi wa sallam, and the Prophet salallahu alaihi wa sallam dug the equivalent of ten men by himself. Rasulullah salallahu alaihi wa sallam did not say, good idea Salman, now all of you do your thing. The Prophet salallahu alaihi wa sallam dug more than anyone else dug, and he starved more than anyone else starved. Similar to how when the Messenger salallahu alaihi wa sallam said, A'inu akhaakum, help your brother, when Salman radiallahu anhu needed the palm trees, he himself dug all 300, or he himself planted all 300 trees. Here the description of the Prophet salallahu alaihi wa sallam is he is covered in mud, he has stones tied to his stomach, he eats less than everyone else, he does more than everyone else salallahu alaihi wa sallam. And Salman radiallahu anhu said, I'm digging and I'm next to the Messenger salallahu alaihi wa sallam, and I started to struggle with this huge stone that I couldn't get past with my axe. So the Prophet salallahu alaihi wa sallam says to Salman, ya Salman, give me the axe. So Salman radiallahu anhu says, I hand it to the Prophet salallahu alaihi wa sallam. And Rasulullah salallahu alaihi wa sallam strikes that stone, and he recites, Tammat kalimatu rabbika sidqan wa adlan, laa mubaddila li kalimatihi, wahuwa assamiyoo al-'aleem. The word of your Lord has been fulfilled in truth and in justice, none can change his words, and he is the all-hearing and the all-knowing. And he said the Messenger salallahu alaihi wa sallam struck again, and he recited the same ayah, Tammat kalimatu rabbika sidqan wa adlan, laa mubaddila li kalimatihi, wahuwa assamiyoo al-'aleem. And he said another light came out of it, and the Prophet salallahu alaihi wa sallam struck it a third time, and it completely came apart, and it was all light coming out of it.
And he recited the ayah salallahu alaihi wa sallam. So he said, I said to the Prophet salallahu alaihi wa sallam, bi-abi anta wa ummi ya Rasulullah, may my father and mother be sacrificed for you, O Messenger of Allah, maa hadha allathee ra'aytu, what is it that I am seeing, this light that is coming from the stone as you strike it. The Prophet salallahu alaihi wa sallam is surprised that Salman sees it. He says, awa qad ra'ayta dhalika ya Salman, you are seeing it, you mean you see it too, O Salman? Why? Because the Prophet salallahu alaihi wa sallam at times saw things that the companions did not see. And so when Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala decided to unlock some of what the Prophet salallahu alaihi wa sallam was seeing to the companions around, that was a representation of the status of that companion. If you watched Angels season 2, sometimes the Prophet salallahu alaihi wa sallam could be sitting with two companions, only one of them sees Jibreel alayhi wa sallam and not the other. That's a sign of the status of that Sahabi alongside the Messenger salallahu alaihi wa sallam. So the Prophet salallahu alaihi wa sallam says, yes Salman, you see it as well? Salman radiyaAllahu anhu says, ayyuhalladhi ba'athaka bilhaqq. Yes, I swear by the one who sent you in truth. So the Prophet salallahu alaihi wa sallam said, at the first strike, keep in mind here, they're in a trench, trying to ward off a genocide. This is an attempted wiping out of the Muslims once and for all. And this is what Allah shows the Prophet salallahu alaihi wa sallam. He says, the first time I saw it, oh Salman, rufi'at li madainu kisra wa ma hawlaha. The palaces of Kisra, the emperor of Persia, were raised up in front of me. And everything around it, meaning I saw the light of Islam reaching Persia. So the Prophet salallahu alaihi wa sallam is with the companions,
and they're afraid that they're not going to exist in a few days, right? I mean, from a physical perspective, that this is the end of Islam. That's what the intentions are of the Meccans. And the Prophet salallahu alaihi wa sallam is saying, with the first strike, Allah showed me the palaces of Kisra, madainu kisra, and everything that is around it. wa madainu ukhra ra'ituha bi'ayniya. And the Prophet salallahu alaihi wa sallam said, and there were many other things that I saw with my eyes. And the second time, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala showed me the palaces of Kisra, Raqqa, and everything that is around it, the emperor of Rome, and what is around him. And the third time, Allah showed me the palaces of Habesha and Yemen, Abyssinia and Yemen, Islam reaching Yemen as well. And in one narration, the Prophet salallahu alaihi wa sallam said, Yemen and Ash-Sham. So, the point is that the Prophet salallahu alaihi wa sallam, basically, from that ditch that they're constructing, is seeing the light of Islam reaching the entire known world at the time. Right? So, not only are we not going to be wiped out, Allah is sending the Prophet salallahu alaihi wa sallam a message, and the companions a message, that you will come out of this dark trench, and the light of Islam will spread to the entire world. The Sahaba that heard the Prophet salallahu alaihi wa sallam say that, they said to the Prophet salallahu alaihi wa sallam, Ya Rasulullah, make dua that Allah make us amongst those that spread Islam to these places. And the Prophet salallahu alaihi wa sallam made dua for that group of companions. So, Salman radiyaAllahu anhu is with the Prophet salallahu alaihi wa sallam. Where did Salman come from? Persia. Right? The palace of Persia, or a palace in Persia. And he's now in a trench with the Prophet salallahu alaihi wa sallam, at the suggestion of Salman, the trench that they constructed. And the Prophet salallahu alaihi wa sallam sees the most prized city of that empire,
with his eyes. And Salman sees that light. And the Prophet salallahu alaihi wa sallam makes dua that Salman radiyaAllahu anhu would be amongst those, upon whose hands that light would spread. SubhanAllah, that is how you start this particular incident. This is the first mashhad, the first time Salman radiyaAllahu anhu witnesses one of these incidents alongside the Messenger salallahu alaihi wa sallam. Salman radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhum, of course, goes on after this incident, because it's now that he's really integrated into society. He's integrated into the sahaba. And Salman radiyaAllahu anhu gains an identity. And his identity is beautiful. He's Salman ibn al-Islam. He's Salman, the son of Islam. Salman ibn al-Islam. I'm not from the muhajireen, technically. I'm not from the ansar. I'm not from Mecca. I'm not from Medina. And when he's asked who his father is, he says, al-Islam. He has no tribal claim, but he is elevated amongst the companions because of his struggle and because of his knowledge. And he had this line of poetry that he used to say. He said, abil-Islam la'aba li siwahu idhaftakharu bi qaysin aw tamimi. He said, my father is Islam. I have no other father but Islam. Once they start to boast about qaysin tamim, when they start to boast about their tribal superiority, I simply say, I am from Islam. And I'm happy with that. Salman from Islam, where are you from? Jannah. That's what I want. That's the easiest way for him to respond. And that's something that he sincerely means, and that's what ibn al-Qayyim was praising about Salman al-Farisi radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu. That Salman basically gives you no excuse in your own journey to truth.
Because he did everything that he possibly could, and he faced every difficulty that you possibly could face in attaining that truth and being with the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam. The Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam, Abu Huraira radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu, says that the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam was sitting with the sahaba when surat al-Jumu'ah was revealed to him. And when Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says, wa aakharuna minhum lamma yalhaqoo bihim. Others amongst them who have not yet joined them. Others amongst them who have not yet joined them. Meaning the Muslims who have not yet joined them. The descendants who are to come. That one of the sahaba asked the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam, Ya Rasulullah, who is this about? And the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam was silent. And he said again, Ya Rasulullah, who is this about? And the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam was silent. And then he asked a third time, and he said the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam put his hands on the shoulder of Salman al-Farisi radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu. And he said, it is Salman and his descendants. And he said, even if Iman was in the stars, a man from amongst these people, from amongst these descendants, would reach up to attain it. Would reach up to attain it. Meaning what? That Salman radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu and his descendants, who are far away, they don't share anything in common with us. In terms of deen or culture or language even. But they will find faith, and they will be the ones who will become the sustainers and become the stewards of this faith. In one narration, وَإِن تَتَوَلَّوْا يَسْتَبْدِي الْقَوْمَنْ غَيْرَكُمْ When Allah says, if you turn away, Allah will replace you with someone else. The Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam pointed to Salman radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu and said, this is Salman and his descendants. Meaning, this is not a religion that depends upon the Arabs. This is not a religion that depends upon any particular culture. This is not a religion that depends on an empire. This is not a religion that belongs to a power class.
And if that power class politically crumbles, the religion dies as well. This is a religion that Allah subAllahu ta'ala will spread through the hearts of those who seek guidance and will stop at nothing to get it. And Al-Hafidh ibn Hajar rahimAllahu ta'ala, he comments on this narration with Salman radiyaAllahu ta'ala. And he says subAllahu ta'ala that the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam did not just credit Salman radiyaAllahu anhu with his own Islam and with the Islam of the Persians. What the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam was talking about were non-Arabs, non-Arabs who would go on to become the bulk of the scholars of this religion. Whether you talk about the imam al-arba' or you talk about the collectors of hadith or many of the famous scholars, right? They were not Arabs and that's part of the beauty of Islam is that it immediately became universal. In the very next generation of the tabi'een, many of the scholars that took it forward and became the chief muftis of their land were not Arabs anymore. And he referred to imam al-Hanifah rahimAllahu, of course imam al-Hanifah was a Persian as well, the imam who reached the stars. Why? Because the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam said the descendants of these people, of Salman radiyaAllahu anhu, would not stop even if they had to go up to the skies and reach into the stars to find this deen, they would do so. So this was not about the Persians, this is not about a particular group of people, this was about sincere people who would strive for this religion and who would find it no matter what and who would do everything that they possibly could in order to attain it. So what happens, Hassan al-Basri rahimAllahu, Mujahid rahimAllahu, Sa'eed ibn Jubair, Abu Hanifa, imam Bukhari, imam al-Tirmidhi, all of these people who were not Arabs but who became the greatest scholars and the descendants of this religion. And all of that is the sadaqa jariya of Salman radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu. All of that is the continuous charity of Salman radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu.
So what's Salman's sort of place amongst the companions? Number one, when the Prophet salAllahu alaihi wa sallam said, Salmanu minna ahlul bayt, Salman's one of us, he's from my household, it wasn't just like a nice thing to say at the moment. The Prophet salAllahu alaihi wa sallam kept Salman close to him, close to him, to where Salman radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu would be with him in his home frequently. Not all of the companions had access to the home of the Prophet salAllahu alaihi wa sallam on a regular basis. Salman radiyaAllahu anhu was one of those. In al-Athir mentions, there's a narration from Aisha radiyaAllahu anha, always entering into the house of the Prophet salAllahu alaihi wa sallam and sitting with the Prophet salAllahu alaihi wa sallam in his alone time. So he's in the inner circle of the Prophet salAllahu alaihi wa sallam. And one of the gems of that of course is that he went from keeping the fire of the Majus in his father's home to now being in the household of the Prophet salAllahu alaihi wa sallam while Quran was being revealed to the Prophet salAllahu alaihi wa sallam. Salman was there when surahs were revealed to the Prophet salAllahu alaihi wa sallam. As we said, Abu Huraira radiyaAllahu anhu referred to him as Abu al-Kitabain, the father of the Bible and the father of the Quran in the sense that he possessed a rare scholarship of the three major religions, well the four major religions, but the three major scriptures at the time. He possessed a rare scholarship in that he was a scholar of Zoroastrianism, he was a scholar of Judaism, a scholar of Christianity and now a scholar of Islam by the testimony of multiple companions. He immediately became a scholar amongst the Muslims as well.
He knew how to speak all of the languages of the books and he knew all of the signs of the coming of the Prophet salAllahu alaihi wa sallam. He translated for the Prophet salAllahu alaihi wa sallam the Quran into Persian and he's the first person as Imam Nawawi rahimAllah says to do so. Now what is his personality like? And this is actually really important to sort of get an idea of him. I mean this man that's coming to live amongst the Sahaba in this regard. Salman, who knows all of this stuff, would barely open his mouth. Can you imagine that? Like you possess all this knowledge and Salman radiAllahu anhu's reputation is what? Silence. He was a very quiet man. Ali radiAllahu ta'ala anhu referred to him as the Luqman of this Ummah. He's the Luqman al-Hakeem of this Ummah. Why? Because Luqman al-Hakeem barely spoke. But when he spoke it was wisdom and half of wisdom is practicing silence. So when you say something it means something. If you talk all the time then people know that you're just going to keep running your mouth. Your words possess very little meaning. Right? Says the guy who's talking a lot right now. But wisdom is in practicing silence and then being very intentional about what you say, very thoughtful about what you say, not always running your mouth. Salman radiAllahu anhu barely would open his mouth. And every time he spoke everybody turned to him. You know, think about an extremely wise person. As soon as they start to speak everyone's like, whoa, he's talking. She's talking now. Let's pay attention. That was Salman radiAllahu ta'ala anhu. Extremely long periods of silence.
Extremely wise and thoughtful words when he eventually would open his mouth. And there's actually a narration that someone came to him and said to him, Oh Sunni, give me advice. So he told him, don't talk. So he said, Oh Sunni, give me advice. He said, don't talk. And he said, Oh Sunni, he said, didn't I tell you stop talking? Like this is the advice. You talk too much. Learn to practice silence because when you're silent, you have more time to receive and to ponder and to be perceptive. Less sins to corrupt the internal perception as well. When you talk all the time, you're blurting out and you're blurting out sins and you're thinking less and you're corrupting your tazkiyya. Because you're likely sinning when you talk too much. So Salman radiAllahu ta'ala anhu's advice was quiet. But subhanAllah, the description of Salman in this regard is that he was quiet, but you knew he was thinking about something. Okay, and this was one of the descriptions of the Prophet ﷺ, da'im al-fiqrah. You know, when you look at someone who's quiet and they look like they're just kind of aloof and staring around, Salman radiAllahu ta'ala anhu was that person who you could look at when he was quiet and you knew that there was some deep stuff going on in his head right now. Do any of you know what I'm talking about? Like if you see someone who you know is in deep thought versus someone who's completely aloof, right? Like you looked at Salman radiAllahu ta'ala anhu and you're like, I wonder what's in that library right now. Because he was so perceptive radiAllahu ta'ala anhu. And some of the scholars mentioned, and not to psychoanalyze Salman radiAllahu ta'ala anhu, but he's been alone his whole life. He was alone in front of the fire, right? I mean, he was literally caretaking for the fire for his entire childhood. And then he was alone as a monk. He's in the church.
And he's going from church to church, serving priests and priests, right? Learning the religion of Ibrahim radiAllahu ta'ala anhu in the purest manifestation that exists at the time. And then he's alone in slavery, passed from owner to owner to owner to owner. He doesn't have a social circle, right? He travels the world alone. So Salman radiAllahu ta'ala anhu spent his entire life. I mean, realize again, when he got to Medina, by the time he got to Medina, he's already in his 50s. He's not a young man, right? He's not a youth. He's already had his whole life where he's been alone. Salman does not have best friends. Salman does not even have family. He doesn't have anyone around him. So he had to learn. I mean, he's living a life of being estranged. Much of it solitary confinement. Much of it is being around people who are not like him. Right? So when he joins the Sahaba, Salman radiAllahu ta'ala anhu sort of maintains that same type of stature and posture, which is one of silence, perception, worship, deep ibadah. And he used to stand and he would pray at night. And subhanAllah, we have the narration, which is a very powerful narration, because we already talked about some narrations that have to do with him. But he is with the Prophet ﷺ and he heard the Prophet ﷺ recite, وَإِنَّ جَهَنَّمَ لَمَوْعِدُهُمْ أَجْمَعِينَ That verily, hellfire is promised for them all. Surat al-Hijr, verse 43. Salman radiAllahu anhu went quiet and he, I mean, he actually was not seen for some days and he was very scared. He was in panic. So the Prophet ﷺ asked about Salman radiAllahu anhu. Where did he go? He started to cry, which was not unusual for Salman radiAllahu ta'ala anhu.
And the Prophet ﷺ asked for him. So they found Salman radiAllahu anhu days later and they brought him to the Prophet ﷺ. And the Prophet ﷺ asked him, Salman what happened? He said, يَا رَسُلُ اللهُ أُنزِلَتْ هَذِهِ الْآيَةَ وَإِنَّ جَهَنَّمَ لَمَوْعِدُهُمْ أَجْمَعِينَ That verily, hellfire, this verse was revealed that verily, hellfire is promised for them or hellfire is where they will go. And he said, فَوَالَّذِي بَعْثَكَ بِالْحَقِّ لَقَطَّعَتْ قَلْبِي Like, I swear by the one who sent you the truth, this tore my heart. Like, what do I do then? فَأَنْزَلَ اللَّهُ تَعَالَ إِنَّ الْمُتَّقِينَ فِي ضِلَالٍ وَعْيُونٍ So Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala revealed that verily the pious will be sitting with vast shade and springs. Comforting the heart of Salman radiAllahu anhu and those who are like Salman radiAllahu ta'ala anhu. That hellfire is promised for the wicked. It is not promised for the righteous. Like Salman al-Farisi radiAllahu ta'ala anhu. Now, an incident that happens with him as well, and this is probably the most famous incident with Salman radiAllahu ta'ala anhu, is who the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam puts him with in the mu'akha, in the pairing off of the Ansar and the Muhajireen. Salman radiAllahu anhu, when he's freed from slavery, he's going to need a place to stay and he's going to get on his feet. And Salman, between the two groups of Muhajireen and Ansar, of the migrants and the Ansar, those that are receiving them, he falls into the group of the Muhajireen. Right? He made hijrah, he migrated not from Mecca, but he migrated from Persia. And the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam pairs him off with Abu al-Darda'a radiAllahu ta'ala anhu. Abu al-Darda'a is who we're going to talk about next week. Abu al-Darda'a al-Ansari radiAllahu ta'ala anhu.
And Abu al-Darda'a is a scholar amongst the Ansar. And this is from the wisdom of the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam that he put a scholar in the house of a scholar. He put a abid, a worshipper, in the house of a worshipper. So Salman radiAllahu anhu is a worshipper, Abu al-Darda'a is a worshipper, Abu al-Darda'a is quickly gaining prominence as a mufti amongst the companions. One of the closest to the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam, and someone who immediately stands out in terms of his knowledge. And Salman radiAllahu anhu is going to go live with Abu al-Darda'a radiAllahu ta'ala anhu. Now, this is subhanAllah one of the most profound narrations, because Salman radiAllahu ta'ala anhu has seen righteous people, and he has seen extremism, and he has seen corruption. Extremism here not in the sense of violence, extremism, or people that go too far with the religion. He has seen that practice in different manifestations, and he has seen corruption and fasad as well. So he has seen these different types of religious practice, right? So this is really going to be his exposure, his first exposure, to a companion of the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam who is noted for his religiosity. Salman radiAllahu anhu moves in. That's pretty intimidating, right? Like you got a host Salman in your house. Salman radiAllahu ta'ala anhu moves in, and Abu al-Darda'a radiAllahu ta'ala anhu was fasting all the time, praying all the time, reading all the time, to a point that he is neglectful of his household. So Salman radiAllahu anhu one day he asks, this is in the very beginning, he sees Umm al-Darda'a, and this is before the ayat of hijab were revealed. So he sees Umm al-Darda'a in clothing, her home clothing, of course modesty,
but not with the full hijab, and he sees the patches, and he sees her in a bad situation, and he says to Umm al-Darda'a, what is this? So she says, she doesn't attack Abu al-Darda'a, she says your brother Abu al-Darda'a has no need for this world. He just doesn't care about dunya, like this guy is focused on the akhira. So she says it in a praising fashion, but at the same time Salman radiAllahu anhu recognizes the neglect of the household, and he doesn't like it. So Abu al-Darda'a radiAllahu anhu, what would he do? He was still a really good host in that he would prepare the lunch, have the lunch served to Salman, and he wasn't eating because he was fasting. So Abu al-Darda'a radiAllahu anhu was fasting, and he brings the food to Salman, Salman radiAllahu anhu says, eat with me. Abu al-Darda'a says, inni sa'im, I'm fasting. Salman radiAllahu anhu says, aqsamtu alayka an ta'kul, I swear by Allah that I'm taking an oath upon you, you will eat with me. The right of the guest on the host, you break your fast, it's a voluntary fast, sit down and eat with me. So he forces Abu al-Darda'a to break his fast. And then at night time, Abu al-Darda'a radiAllahu anhu would immediately start with qiyam. Like he wouldn't go be with his spouse and then come out at some point and start praying. He immediately stands up to pray at night. So Salman radiAllahu anhu goes to Abu al-Darda'a as he's about to start praying and he says, go to sleep. You know, some guest you are, right? Like you come into my house and tell me when to eat and when to sleep and go to sleep. And Abu al-Darda'a says, usalli, he said, no, no, go to sleep. And Abu al-Darda'a said, I want to pray. He said, go to sleep and we can pray later. Go to sleep. So he insists upon Abu al-Darda'a and so Abu al-Darda'a just goes to sleep.
And then he wakes up Abu al-Darda'a in the last third of the night. And he says, let's pray. So they pray together. Salman radiAllahu anhu says to Abu al-Darda'a radiAllahu anhu, Ya Abu al-Darda'a, inna linafsika alayka haqqa, wa li ahlika alayka haqqa, wa li rabbika alayka haqqa. Listen, your self has a right upon you. Your family has a right upon you. Your Lord has a right upon you. Fa a'ti kullathee haqqin haqqa. Give every one of those things their due right. You can't do this. This isn't balanced. This isn't proportionate. You have to give yourself a right. You have to give your family a right. And of course, give your Lord his right. And by the way, when you serve yourself for the sake of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, meaning you discipline the self, you treat the amanah that Allah has given you of yourself well, that's ibadah. And when you serve your family, that's ibadah too, right? But you've got to balance this all out. So Salman radhi allahu ta'ala anhum, he goes to the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam. I'm sorry, Abu Darda radhi allahu anhum goes to the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam. Abu Darda is like this guest problem, right? So he says to Rasulullah salallahu alayhi wasalam, Ya Rasulullah, you put Salman in my house, and Salman's making me break my fast, and he's making me sleep at night, and he said to me that your Lord has a right upon you, your family has a right upon you, yourself has a right upon you. Abu Darda thinks the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam is going to call Salman and say, you know, maybe in your old religion, but these are my companions, this is how they act. The Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam looks Abu Darda radhi allahu anhum dead in the eye and says, Sadaqa Salman, Sadaqa Salman, Sadaqa Salman, Salman afqahu mink. Salman has told the truth, Salman has told the truth, Salman has told the truth, and by the way, Salman has better religious understanding than you do. Subhanallah.
We'll talk about Abu Darda radhi allahu anhu next week, we'll redeem him next week inshallah. But like this was so profound, and some of the scholars reflecting on this, they said Salman hated, hated religious extremism. Again, extremism in the sense of al-ghulub, people going overboard. He hated that disproportionality because he saw it. He's seen it practiced, and he didn't want to see that in Islam. He knew that the spirit of the message of the Messenger salallahu alayhi wasalam was more wholesome than that. So even though Abu Darda had been with the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam for a longer time, Salman understood, understood the thrust of the shara, the thrust of the legislation, even though he had less time technically studying it alongside the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam. So this is one of the most famous incidents of Salman radhi allahu anhu with the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam and with the companions. Other than that, there isn't much narrated about Salman radhi allahu anhu except his extreme silence and the way that he would worship Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. One of the famous narrations is in Fath Makkah, the conquest of Makkah. And in the conquest of Makkah, this is in Bukhari, Abu Sufyan walks past Salman, Suhaib and Bilal. What a sight, right? Salman, Suhaib and Bilal walking together. That shows you the beauty of the Ummah right away. Now, there were some hurt feelings, right? Like they fought Abu Sufyan. They fought Khalid ibn al-Walid, right? There's a bitter history here, right? And they don't have the old tribal connections that some of the Muslims have because they're cousins and uncles and friends, right?
So Salman, Suhaib and Bilal are walking past Abu Sufyan and they say to Abu Sufyan, وَاللَّهِ مَا أَخَذَتْ سُيُوفُ اللَّهِ مِنْ عُنُقِ عَدُوِّ اللَّهِ مَأْخَذَهَا Like you're lucky the swords of Allah did not reach the neck of the enemy of Allah. So they said something to him. They said these words to Abu Sufyan, right? Abu Sufyan, when he heard that, he was upset with it. Abu Bakr radiallahu ta'ala anhu, this is Abu Bakr al-Siddiq radiallahu ta'ala anhu, he's thinking about the da'wah part of this. He says, أَتَقُولُونَ هَذَا لِشَيْخِ قُرَيْشِ Are you saying this to the elder of Quraysh? Come on, like he's saying to Bilal and Suhaib and Salman that not now, like we've got to work this out. This shows you again the human side of things. The Prophet Sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, of course, when he came into Mecca, what did the Prophet Sallallahu alayhi wa sallam do? He honored Abu Sufyan as a means of winning his heart over and look what happened as a result of that. Abu Sufyan was in his ranks after that and was with the Prophet Sallallahu alayhi wa sallam in the battlefield and doesn't leave his side after that. So the Prophet Sallallahu alayhi wa sallam knew the psychology of these people and winning them over and really showing them that you're not going to be belittled by them. You're going to be belittled and degraded now that you are in Islam. So Abu Bakr radiya Allahu anhu has a point. He's saying look, there's no need for you to say that to him. I know that there's a history but you shouldn't have said that to him. Abu Bakr felt like he maybe offended Bilal, Suhaib and Salman. So he came to the Prophet Sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. He told the Prophet Sallallahu alayhi wa sallam what happened. The Prophet Sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said, Ya Abu Bakr, la'allaka aghdabtahum la'in kunta aghdabta rabbak. Oh Abu Bakr, you might have upset them, those three. You might have made them
angry. And if you did that, then you would have upset your Lord. So Abu Bakr radiya Allahu anhu is a Siddiq. This is never about himself. So he goes to Suhaib, Salman and Bilal and he says, Ya Ikhwatah, oh my brothers, are you upset with me? Aghdabtum? Are you upset with me? And they said, La, yakhfirallahu lak. They said, no, oh our brother, may Allah forgive you. Like Suhaib, Salman and Bilal are like, no of course Abu Bakr, we're not mad at you. He said, alhamdulillah. But the point is that the Prophet Sallallahu alayhi wa sallam was showing the status of these people that yes, even if maybe that wasn't the best thing to say when the Prophet Sallallahu alayhi wa sallam is saying whoever enters into the house of Abu Sufyan is safe and the Prophet Sallallahu alayhi wa sallam is trying to assure the skeptical Meccans that this isn't going to be a revenge fest. But even then the Prophet Sallallahu alayhi wa sallam is upholding the sanctity of these people. When Rasulullah Sallallahu alayhi wa sallam passes away, Abu Bakr al-Siddiq radiya Allah ta'ala anhu makes him a general in the army, Salman radiya Allah ta'ala anhu a general in the army and Salman radiya Allah ta'ala anhu generally speaking at this point still assumes a place of obscurity amongst the people, a place of contemplation. And one of the instances that's narrated is that a man came into Medina at the time and he saw Salman radiya Allah ta'ala anhu. Fashtara alafan, he brought some fodder with dirham and then he looked around to see who's going to carry his stuff for him. So he saw Salman radiya Allah ta'ala anhu and because of the nature of the way Salman would carry himself in the suq, you would have thought that he was a poor man. So he said to Salman, hey, come carry my stuff for me and here's a dirham. Salman radiya Allah ta'ala anhu, what does he do? He carries
the man's stuff. So Salman is walking with this man carrying his stuff and people are all rushing towards him and they're saying, nahminu anki ya abu abdullah, we'll carry your stuff for you, we'll carry your stuff for you, we'll carry your stuff for you. And Salman radiya Allah ta'ala anhu is saying, no, leave me alone, leave me alone, I've got it, I've got it, I've got it. So the man who asked Salman to carry his stuff, he's like, who is this guy? Right? I thought he was some Persian slave hanging out, you know, who is this guy? Fa qalu hatha Salman sahibu rasulillah. This is Salman, the great companion of the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam. And so he gets scared. He says, oh Salman, I didn't know who you were. I didn't know who you were. And Salman radiya Allah ta'ala anhu refuses to let go of his stuff until he takes the man to his place and gives the man his stuff and he assumes his humility. So if you saw Salman radiya Allah ta'ala anhu walking around Medina, you really would not assume much of him because he kept himself very humble and very pious. Salman radiya Allah ta'ala anhu narrates when Abu Bakr as-Siddiq radiya Allah ta'ala anhu was then dying. And there is a common theme here with the type of advice that he's going to get from the companions. He says that I came to Abu Bakr as-Siddiq radiya Allah ta'ala anhu when he was dying. Fa baka ainda raasihi radiya Allah ta'ala anhu. So Salman radiya Allah ta'ala anhu came and he sat next to his head and Salman radiya Allah ta'ala anhu started to cry. And he said, ya khalifat rasool Allah, awsani. Salman says to Abu Bakr as-Siddiq radiya Allah ta'ala anhu, O khalifa of the messenger of Allah, give me advice. So Abu Bakr radiya Allah ta'ala anhu says to him, inna Allah ta'ala tabaraka fatihun alaykum al dunya. Allah is going to open the treasures of this world to you. I mean the treasures of this world are going to be given to you. Fala ta'khudhunna
minha illa balagha. Don't take from it except what you need. Wa'lam anna man salla salat al-subh fahuwa fee dhimmatillah. And know that the one who prays fajr is under the protection of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. So do not, fala takhfiranna Allah azza wa jalla fee dhimmatihi faya kubbaka Allahu ala wajhika finnaar. Do not abandon the protection of Allah upon you and then you end up falling into the hellfire on your face. So hold on to your salah. Hold on to your fajr and presumably fajr with all of its rites. Right? Hold on to your salah properly and you will be in the protection of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala every day. Do not relinquish that protection from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and then you end up face first in the fire. So Salman's advice from Abu Bakr as-Siddiq is that Islam is going to spread and Allah is going to come to you. Don't be deceived by this dunya. Umar bin al-Khattab radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu had a great liking towards Salman radiyaAllahu anhu. And so he appoints him at some point a general, at some point an advisor, at some point an advisor to the Persians as well. But Salman occupies a much more prominent place and of course the khilafah of Umar was much longer than the khilafah of Abu Bakr as-Siddiq radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu. So Salman is one of the closest people to Umar bin al-Khattab radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu and he's also his neighbor by the way. Even if you look at the old homes of the sahaba in Medina, Salman radiyaAllahu anhu is basically the neighbor of Umar bin al-Khattab radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu. So they're very, very close. And an incident happens in the khilafah of Umar radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu that's narrated in the books of law because there is something profound about it. So Ibn al-Qayyim of course dedicates a section of I'lam al-Muwaqqa'in to this where Salman essentially is going to challenge Umar bin al-Khattab radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu. And Umar radiyaAllahu anhu comes out and he
says to the people, listen and obey, hear and obey. Basically addressing the people that I'm about to give you something and I need you to listen and accept the following orders which was commonplace of the khalifa to address the people. Salman radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu stands up and he says, wallahi la nasma' wa la nutir. I swear by Allah we will not listen to you nor will we obey you. Now Umar radiyaAllahu anhu, if he was a tyrant, he would have said what? Take him out. Umar radiyaAllahu anhu is also a much bigger man than him. He could have done something. He could have made an example out of him. He could have said something to him. Umar radiyaAllahu anhu's answer was what? Why? Why are you saying that to me? Why are you saying we won't hear you nor obey you? Think about subhanAllah how profound that is. The khalifa having this conversation with this strange man, right, in terms of lineage and prominence. Why? And he says to Umar bin al-Khattab radiyaAllahu anhu, when you received cloth, that there was some cloth that came to you and you gave a share to the entire ummah, you gave a piece of that cloth to everyone, you took two for yourself and you gave one to everyone else. Can you imagine if that was the complaint we had about our leaders today in the Muslim world? Like, hey, I want you to listen to me. When this money came in, you took double and then you gave everybody else this one share. Ittaqillah, fear Allah. Right, like subhanAllah that shows you the world and the culture that they lived in in this regard. Umar bin al-Khattab radiyaAllahu anhu does not say to him, like big deal, I'm the khalifa, I took two pieces and you have one, I kind of deserve that and I live my life in a pretty simple way. Umar radiyaAllahu anhu says to
him, or rather he says to his son Abdullah bin Umar, he says Abdullah stand up and explain to him the situation. So Abdullah stands up and says that my father is a really tall man. So because one cloth would not cover him, I gave him my share and then he had the two cloths stitched together and that's what he has on right now. So he actually didn't take two shares, he just took my share, his son, and stitched them together because the piece of cloth wouldn't have fit him as it was. Salman radiyaAllahu anhu says, now we'll listen to you and obey you. And he sits back down and Umar radiyaAllahu anhu continues with the address. What a world, subhanAllah, what a culture, what type of companions and what type of people these were. And if you think about this, think about when Salman radiyaAllahu anhu was in Syria and he stood up in Syria challenging the people. Salman radiyaAllahu anhu was not one to be quiet when he saw what he perceived as dhulm, which is also profound. When he saw injustice, what he perceived to be an injustice, he spoke, which is the perfection of that man's wisdom. He wasn't always running his mouth about things, but when he spoke, it was for a reason. And in that situation, because he perceived an injustice, and even if it was from Amir al-Mu'minin Umar radiyaAllahu anhu, you need to explain this injustice. What is it that we are seeing? Now what happens with Salman radiyaAllahu anhu after that? And I'll try not to go too much longer, because I know we have Salat al-Isha that will push back just a little bit. The Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam, when he was sending letters to the leaders of the world, you have the famous incident after Hudaybiyyah, when the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam could now send ambassadors to world leaders, where he sent Abu Sufyan to Haraqal, to the leader of the Romans. A very famous narration between
Abu Sufyan and Haraqal. And Haraqal basically knew it was the truth, but he concealed it because he didn't want to lose his kingdom. So some leaders responded to the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam aggressively, some leaders responded to the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam, and the majority would just, you know, no response at all. And of course, some like in Najashi, the very few, and the leader of Bahrain at the time, some of them responded with something favourable to the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam. When it came to Kisra, the leader of the Persians at the time, when they say Baytu, Kisra, Kisra of course is a title, Khosrow II, who was the current leader at that time, Khosrow II, was the exact same age as the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam and Salman al-Farisi radiAllahu ta'ala anhu. And this was, this man was considered the most successful leader of the Persians, a very strong man, someone who was deemed to be fit to basically put the Romans to end once and for, to put them to rest once and for all, that he was going to end the Roman Empire. Remember this war between the Romans and the Persians was over 700 years. Kisra, this man was a military genius, or so he was perceived to be that way, and was a very arrogant man. They talk about in the history books his palaces being the most lavish palaces in the world at the time, you know, and all sorts of other wealth and, you know, thousands of servants and slaves that he had around him. The man was a pompous ruler, but a military genius and a very arrogant man. And again, he basically had his foot on the neck of the Romans. That's why you have Surat Rum. He took the cross, the cross from Jerusalem and desecrated it. Massacres 90,000 people in Jerusalem. The man had no mercy with his adversaries. So he's an arrogant person. The Prophet ﷺ wrote a letter to him inviting him to Islam after Hudaybiyyah. And some of the scholars, though we don't have a sanad, a chain to actually
verify this for sure, but it could be that Salman r.a. himself might have wrote that letter. Why? Because Salman is the Persian. So the letter is going out in the language of that man. And the Prophet ﷺ sends Abdullah ibn Hudhafa r.a. to Kisra to deliver the letter. The letter reads, من محمد رسول الله ﷺ إلى كسر عظيم الفرس. From Muhammad the Messenger of Allah to Kisra, the Great One of Persia. And it says, السلام على من اتبع الهدى. Peace be on to those who accept rightful guidance. اسلم تسلم. Accept Islam and you will be given سلام. You'll be given peace. يؤتيك الله أجرك مرتين. Allah will give you the reward twice. Your own Islam and the reward of your people. And if you turn away, then you'll have your own sin and the sin of your people as well. Kisra, in his pettiness, and some of you heard me speak about this story before, so you might remember what upset him so much. Anyone remember? He said, بدأ قبل اسمه. How dare he start with his name on the letter before my name. من محمد. Next time you write a to and from to somebody, make sure you might be writing to a Kisra-like figure. Make sure you put the to before the from. How dare he put his name on top of my name. So respectful من محمد رسول الله ﷺ from the Prophet ﷺ, Muhammad the Messenger of Allah, to Kisra, the leader of the Persians. So he tears the letter up, throws it at Abdullah ibn Hudhafa, threatens him, and says, I'm coming after the one who sent you with this letter. Let him know I'm after him. That I'm going to come, basically cut his head off. And he actually appoints Baadan, who was the governor of Yemen. Yemen was a client kingdom
of the Persians. He says, send me your nastiest two hitmen to Medina, and let them go make an example out of that person who claims to be a messenger of Allah in the desert over there amongst the Arabs. Now, when Abdullah ibn Hudhafa comes back to the Prophet ﷺ, tells him what happened, that he tore the letter up and threw it at him, the Prophet ﷺ responded, مَزَّقَ اللَّهُ مُلْكَهُ. May Allah tear up his kingdom as he tore up the letter. So what ends up happening? SubhanAllah, at that point, by the time the hitmen came to Medina, the Prophet ﷺ had them taken and brought to the Prophet ﷺ, and the Prophet ﷺ recognized them. Jibreel ﷺ had informed him about the plot of these two men, and the Prophet ﷺ told them that the man who sent you has already been killed. And the Prophet ﷺ said, go back to Ba'dan, the Yemeni governor, and tell him that I am a prophet of Allah, and that one day Islam will reach Yemen. Let him precede Islam reaching Yemen by becoming Muslim first, and he'll have the reward of his people as well. Now, by the time the hitmen get back to Medina, they indeed found out that Kisra had been killed, and Ba'dan said, alright, I'm accepting Islam. So he actually responded to the message of the Prophet ﷺ. Now what happened? Did the Prophet ﷺ send some hitmen to Persia to take Kisra out? No. SubhanAllah, this kingdom that had been stable for decades suddenly starts to go through all sorts of turmoil. His own son kills him. And then his daughter kills his son. And then his daughter's daughter kills her and takes the kingdom. When the Prophet ﷺ said, may Allah tear up his kingdom, that meant rebellion and coup, rebellion and coup, rebellion and coup. Every brother and sister and grandson and granddaughter held
that kingdom at some point. Within a decade all of a sudden. The stable kingdom, the Persian empire falls apart. And now you have the current leader of Persia. Omar ibn al-Khattab and the Persians are at war. Omar in this battle with the Persians, he sends Sa'd ibn Abi Waqas as the number one, Salman al-Farisi as the number two. So now you have Salman, the Persian man, and you have the Persian empire on the other side. And of course these were some of the most epic battles that exist in the history of Islam between the Persian empire which was hostile and nasty. Used elephants and all types of weapons and all types of things, tactics, and inflicted heavy casualties on anyone that they were hostile towards. But now you have Sa'd ibn Salman al-Farisi and they have penetrated deep into the Persian empire and they are literally right in front of the Tigris river. And if you look at a map, the Tigris river is basically a khandaq, it's basically a natural trench because it encircles the main city where the palace of Kisra is, which is in Iraq by the way because Iraq was part of the Persian empire. And Sa'd ibn Abi Waqas and Salman arrive with the Muslim army in front of the Tigris river and Sa'd says, He said, I swear by Allah that Allah will give victory to his loving servants and Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will make victorious his religion and Allah will defeat his enemies.
So long as we don't have sins or transgressions amongst us that would void our good deeds. What's Sa'd saying? He's saying, look, we're going to be okay if our hearts are okay. If we are people of purity, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will give us victory because we deserve victory. If we're not, we're going to suffer defeat. Salman radiyaAllahu ta'ala responds to Sa'd radiyaAllahu ta'ala. And he said, Salman radiyaAllahu ta'ala says, Allah will make the oceans, the water subservient to them the same way that Allah has made the land subservient to them. If they are indeed as you say, oh Sa'd, and he says, we will enter into that river and come out of it as we are, if we are as you said. So what do they do? Sa'd, Salman and the Muslim army go into the river. 30,000 of them enter into the river and come out of the river and the Persian empire is on the other side watching this thinking like, you know, we won, they can't come here, we're good here. And they start to see the Muslims come into the river and then start to rise out and they didn't even lose a pot or a pan or a single shield or weapon. And so they start to scream, devils, devils, and they run away. And they come out and they enter and this is where they arrive now at the city of Al-Mad'an, which is the last bastion of Kisra in Persia, which is where the greatest palace in the world is and the greatest palace in the world existed at the time. It's about 15 miles south of Baghdad and they come to the palace of Kisra. Anas ibn Malik radiAllahu ta'ala anhu describes this moment
where they arrive outside of the palace of Kisra. And he said that the Muslims all turned to Salman and they said, what do we do? I mean, this is your area, this is your territory, you know this place, these are your people, what do we do? Salman radiAllahu anhu says, give me a chance to call them to Islam. Let me go talk to them. So Anas radiAllahu anhu says, Salman radiAllahu ta'ala anhu gets off of the horse and he walks up to them and they look at him so confused. Like, what is it with these Muslims? They show up with Ubadah ibn Samit in Egypt, right? What is a black man doing leading you? And then they show up with Salman radiAllahu anhu, what is a Persian man doing? This is confusing to them. Who are these people? So the Persians are looking at Salman radiAllahu anhu and they're thinking what? Oh, he's probably a sellout, you know? Like he's probably a Amir, like a spy, a Persian spy that penetrated the other army. Salman radiAllahu anhu comes up and he says to them, innama ana rajulun minkum. He said, by the way, I am one of you. Farisiyun, I am a Persian like you. And then Salman points to the Sahaba and he said, tarawuna al-araba yu'ti'unani. You see all these Arabs? They follow me. I'm not some little cheap spy that was picked off. I am their leader. And he says, fa inna aslamtum falakum mithru allathee lana wa alaykum mithru allathee alayna. If you embrace Islam, you'll have the same honor that I have and you will have the same responsibilities that I have. wa inna abaytum illa deenakum. And if you turn back and you accept only your way, taraknakum alayhi. We will leave you to it. You will pay the jizya and you'll live with your rights. And then ana radiAllahu anhu said, he started to talk to them in Persian and he said to them, wa anta maghayru mahmudeen. Don't take that option because it's not the best for you. You won't be praiseworthy people. Like I'm telling you out of love for you, we're not gonna come kill you and massacre you and you're innocent and things of that sort,
but I'm telling you embrace Islam and you'll have the same honor that I have. And if you don't, we'll leave you to it. So they spent a few days doing so and they did not respond to the call. And then finally, Bayt al-Kisra was conquered and Salman radiAllahu anhu enters in and the Sahaba enter in. And you remember what the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam told Suraqa ibn Malik in the Hijrah when the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam was on the run and he got caught by Suraqa. Suraqa was catching the fugitive, the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam and the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam said, how will it be, oh Suraqa? You're gonna be carrying the heavy gold bracelets of Kisra on your hands one day. That's when the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam is running away with a bounty on his head. And then the light of Islam reaching Madain, the palace of Persia was when the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam was in the trench and Salman was with the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam and the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam made du'a to Salman radiAllahu ta'ala anhu would be there when that happened. And here they are and they enter into Madain, the palace of Kisra, the palace of the Persian empire. Madain was named, renamed some years later after Salman al-Farsi radiAllahu ta'ala anhu. So it became Madinatu Salman, the city of Salman. Omar radiAllahu ta'ala anhu, it's only poetic and it's only right, Omar appointed Salman radiAllahu ta'ala anhu the governor of the seat of the Persian empire. And Omar radiAllahu ta'ala anhu commissioned him to that lofty palace. Salman radiAllahu ta'ala anhu did not want that whole palace. Salman took a room all the way in the front and he completely rejected the luxury that existed at the time. And Omar radiAllahu ta'ala anhu commissioned him to govern and he gave him a salary of 5,000 dirhams a month. Salman would distribute it in charity. And this is how Salman lives the rest of his life out. Salman radiAllahu anhu chooses, instead of going back to the palace of Persia and living as a king, Salman radiAllahu ta'ala anhu chooses to plant date palms around him and tend to the trees
and sell dates in the marketplace like everyone else. And he does da'wah to people. You know why? Because the Muslims did not force the Zoroastrians to convert. Hundreds of years, and Zoroastrianism was still the major religion. They didn't burn down their temples. They didn't force them to convert. So Salman radiAllahu anhu took the most simple job of picking dates from the trees and selling them to the people and doing da'wah to his people. The Persian Muslim ruler doing da'wah to the Persian Zoroastrians who lived under the most pompous empire that the world had seen at that time. I know I have to end, subhanAllah, so I just want to end with two things. One of them, Salman radiAllahu anhu receiving a letter from Abu Darda radiAllahu anhu. Remember his brother in Medina? Where's Abu Darda now? Abu Darda is in Jerusalem. He's in Al-Quds. And we're gonna talk about him next week. Salman radiAllahu anhu is in Persia. And Abu Darda sends him a letter. And he says to him, As-salamu alayka ya akhi, peace be on to you, my beloved brother, halumma ila al-ard al-muqaddasa, come on to the holy land. Let's live out the rest of these years together. SubhanAllah, how beautiful. We're retired now. We're in our 80s. We've done enough. Let's live out the rest of our days in this beautiful place in Jerusalem. And Salman radiAllahu anhu sends back a letter to Abu Darda radiAllahu anhu. Wa alayka as-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu ya akhi, peace be on to you, my brother. Inna al-ard la tuqaddisu ahada, the land does not make anyone holy. Wa innama yuqaddisu al-insana amaluh. But the only thing that makes a man holy is his deeds. That's the last letter that Salman radiAllahu anhu wrote back to his brother, who he would correspond with. Sa'd radiAllahu anhu visited Salman radiAllahu anhu when he was dying in Persia.
And as he was visiting him, he found Salman radiAllahu anhu crying. So he gave salam to him and he said, ma yuqik ya akhi, what is it that's causing you to cry, oh my brother? Ala tathkurul mashahad al-saliha, don't you remember all of the righteous moments? What a history you have. Like imagine if Salman wrote an autobiography. What a history you have with the Prophet Sallallahu alaihi wasallam and with the companions. What good you have done. Salman says, innahu wallahi ya sa'd, he said, I swear to you, oh sa'd, ma yuqini wahidatun minathneen, I'm not crying over two things that people typically cry about when they die. He said, ma abqi dhannan bid dunya wala karahiyatan iliqa'illah, I'm not crying because I'm gonna miss this world or because I hate to meet Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Salman said, fa ma yuqik aba'da thamaneen, so what's causing you to cry? You're in your 80s, you've lived the full life. He said, yuqini anna khalili ya ahida alayya ahdan. He said, what I'm crying about is I'm remembering the times I'm remembering that my beloved one, the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam, took an oath with me. Qala wa ma ahida ilayk, what did he say to you? He said, ahida ilayna liyakun balagukun minad dunya ka zadir raqib. The Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam said, let what you take from this world be like the provision of a traveler. Don't let this world spoil you. Don't let the luxury of this world spoil you. You're gonna have palaces come back to you and the world present itself to you. Don't be spoiled by this dunya. And Salman radiya Allahu anhu says, wa innaa qad khashina annaa qad ta'daynaa. I'm afraid that maybe we didn't live up to that. So I'm remembering a promise that the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam took from me and I'm afraid we didn't do that. Salman radiya Allahu anhu passed away in the heart of the Persian Empire where he left for the sake of Allah. This time as a leader, as a ruler, as a scholar, as one of the most beloved companions. And they said that in the house of Salman, all he had was a blanket, cooking utensils, and 20 dirhams. He died radiya Allahu ta'ala anhu
before the fitna broke out. So he didn't get to see the division amongst the companions. He was spared from that. But subhanAllah, it is beautiful that when you think about qadr, when you think about the divine decree, you hear about the story of Salman radiya Allahu anhu and you feel pain at his struggle. Yesterday, it's like, oh my God, like it's like watching a bad movie, right? Like every time you think things are going right, something goes wrong, right? All the struggle, struggle, struggle, struggle, struggle. If Salman radiya Allahu anhu never left the Persian Empire for the sake of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, what would have happened to him? Well, the Romans defeated the Persians the same year that Badr happened. So Salman radiya Allahu anhu was safe in Medina, just met the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam and embraced Islam. And the empire that was so arrogant and that could never be defeated in this war was defeated by the Roman Empire. And the Romans massacred many people and burned down many of those homes. Allah knows if they burned down the home of his father, the home that he grew up in. What would have happened to him? SubhanAllah, what would have been his fate? He would have been a nobody, an enemy combatant, maybe fought against the Muslims, maybe fought against the Romans. Allah knows best what would have happened to him. Look what Allah did for him. And SubhanAllah, when you talk about the Qadr of Allah, dear brothers and sisters, even when Salman radiya Allahu anhu was in slavery, it's as if Allah was protecting him from the Roman and Persian rivalry because the Roman and Persian rivalry became the most bitter at the time when the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam received his message. That's when some of the heavy penetrations started to happen from territory to territory. And when the Romans took a territory, they massacred all of the Persians. And when the Persians took a territory, they massacred all of the Romans. So even then, it's as if Allah took the man off the map. So he could wait and be protected until the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam
comes to Al-Madinah. And Salman radiya Allahu ta'ala anhu was never bitter about that. And so I end with the dua of Salman radiya Allahu anhu, one of the most beautiful narrations. He said, Rasulullah salallahu alayhi wa sallam taught me. He said to me, Ya Salman, Inna Allaha hayyiun kareemun. O Salman, Allah is shy and generous. Yastahi idha rafa'a rajli ilayhi yadayhi an ya ruddahuma sifran kha'ibatayn. Allah is too shy that when a man raises his hands up to him to let those hands come back, rejected and empty. Allah was answering every one of your duas, O Salman. Every single one of those duas, Allah's timing was perfect. Allah's answer was perfect. You did not make a single journey in your life except for a purpose that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala had shown you later on in your life. And we as an ummah benefited from that rich history of Salman radiya Allahu ta'ala anhu. May Allah be pleased with him. May Allah be pleased with the companions. And may Allah send his peace and blessings upon the messenger salallahu alayhi wa sallam and his family and companions. And may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala allow us to be amongst those that dedicate themselves to the truth that are always upon guidance and protect us from going astray. Allahumma ameen. Wa sallallahu wa sallam wa baakir wa nabiyyina Muhammad wa ala alihi wa sahbihi ajma'in. Wassalamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh.
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