Imam Muhammad Al-Baqir (as) says that some companions visited the grave of the Prophet (S) one day and were busy conversing with each other. Amir’ul-Mu’mineen ‘Ali (as) asked Salman Farsi, “O Salman! How did you accept the Faith of Islam?” Salman replied, “O Amir’ul-Mu’mineen! Since it is obligatory on me to reply to your queries, I am narrating to you the circumstances under which I accepted the Faith. I am a native of the city of Shiraz and my profession was farming. My parents used to love me very much.
One day when I visited a hermitage along with them I heard a sound as if someone was saying there is no God but Allah, ‘Isa (as) is the Spirit of Allah and Muhammad (S) is the Messenger of Allah (la ilaha il Allah ‘Isa Rooh ul Allah Muhammad Rasool Allah). These words had such profound effect on me that the love of the Prophet (S) got embedded in my entire existence. I instantly abandoned my ancestral belief of worshipping the sun. Hearing this my father got very angry on me and he incarcerated me in a deep well. I was held there for a very long time during which I used to pray to Allah for my deliverance.
One day an old person dressed in a white robe arrived and releasing me from the well took me to a hermit. I expressed to the hermit about my faith. He was very kind to me but one day he told me that he would expire on the following morning I asked him, ‘Then what should I do and where should I go to?’ The hermit mentioned to me the name of another hermit and his location. He asked me to give his reference when I met the other hermit. I therefore went there and spent quite a while with the hermit till he too expired.
After the hermit’s death I continued to live with the other inmates of the hermitage. Those people were in the habit of taking wines with the food and insisted on my partaking of it. When I refused to comply they got angry on me and sold me as a slave to a Jew. This Jew also inflicted lot of hardships on me. In the end he sold me to a lady by the name of Salimia. The lady had an orchard and I was assigned to water the trees. The lady was very satisfied and happy with my work.
One day a group of persons entered the garden. They were having a cloud hovering over their heads. In the group there was the Prophet (S), Amir’ul-Mu’mineen ‘Ali (as), Hamza, Zaid bin Haritha, Aqeel, Abu Dharr and Miqdad. I thought that the cloud following a person is the sign of the Prophet (S). But all of them couldn’t possibly be prophets. Definitely one of them must be the Prophet (S). I was wondering about this when the Prophet (S) called me up and pushing aside his robe showed to me the Seal of prophet-hood on his back. I instantly fell on his feet but he raised me up with great affection.
Now the Prophet (S) told to Salimia that he wished to buy me from her. She asked for four hundred date palms in exchange for me and said that out of these two hundred should have yellow dates and the other two hundred red dates. The Prophet accepted this deal and asked Amir’ul-Mu’mineen ‘Ali (as) to gather four hundred seeds of dates.
When Amir’ul-Mu’mineen ‘Ali (as) completed the task, the Prophet (S) started sowing and Amir’ul-Mu’mineen ‘Ali (as) went after him watering the planted seeds. As the Prophet (S) sowed the next seed, a full-grown plant emerged from the first laden with fruits. Now, the four hundred date palms were ready, two hundred bearing yellow and the other two hundred bearing the red fruits.
When Salimia saw that her wish had been fulfilled she came up with another condition that she wanted all the palms to bear yellow fruits. Therefore, with Allah’s wish Gabriel came and with the touch of his wings, he turned all the palms to bear yellow dates. Now Salimia had perforce to part with Salman. Then the Prophet (S) released Salman and said, “O Rozba! From this day we give you the name of Salman.”