Salmān al-Fārisī
سلمان الفارسي
Abū ʿAbd Allāh
- Dates
- c. 568–656 CE / c. 54 BH–36 AH
- Relation to the Prophet ﷺ
- Late convert after a long search; the first Persian companion
The architect of the Trench at the Battle of the Ahzāb — a Persian military tactic introduced to the Arabs for the first time.
Life
Salmān's life is among the most remarkable in Islamic history. Born to a Zoroastrian noble family near Isfahan, he fled his father's estate in search of truth. He studied with Christian monks in Syria, was sold into slavery in Arabia, and worked for years as a Jewish man's slave in Madinah — until news reached him of a new prophet in Makkah who matched every description his last monk had given him.
The Prophet ﷺ helped the community buy his freedom. At the Battle of the Ahzāb, Salmān proposed a defensive trench — a Persian technique no Arab army had seen. It worked. The Prophet ﷺ, in affection, declared: "Salmān is of us, of my own family." He governed Ctesiphon after the Persian conquests. He died there around 656, famously refusing to leave anything but a small inheritance.
Passages that mention Salmān
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"He advanced into the lands of Khorasan and the Persian Iraq, where the Muslims rose against him in Balkh and beyond the river."
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"Al-Hafiz ibn Asakir narrated from Sa'id ibn al-Musayyab that Al-Khidr's mother was Roman and his father was Persian."
Also from this generation
- Bilāl ibn Rabāḥ
بلال بن رباح
The first muʾadhdhin in Islam. An African slave whose voice called the community to prayer five times a day in Madinah.
- Abū Dharr al-Ghifārī
أبو ذر الغفاري
The companion who most perfectly lived the austerity the Prophet ﷺ taught. The Prophet ﷺ said: "The earth has not carried anyone, nor the sky shaded anyone, more truthful than Abū Dharr."