The story of how Salmaan al-Faarisi (may Allaah be pleased with him) came to Islam
Question

                How sound is the hadeeth about a Christian who, when he embraced Islam, told the Messenger (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) about the story of how he came to Islam – he told him that he met a number of monks, each of whom advised him to go to another, and the last of them was a righteous man who came out once a year to heal the people, and when he met him he advised him to go to Makkah, and he gave him a description of the Messenger (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him), and the Messenger (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “You have spoken the truth, he was the Messiah ‘Eesa”?.
Praise be to Allah.
    The hadeeth which the questioner is referring to is a lengthy 
    hadeeth about the story of how the great Sahaabi Salmaan al-Faarisi (may 
    Allaah be pleased with him) came to Islam.  He was a Magian (Zoroastrian), 
    then he became a Christian, then he became a Muslim. That was after he had 
    met a number of Christian monks, the last of whom was a righteous man who 
    had knowledge of the last Prophet. The monk advised Salmaan to go to Arabia, 
    where the last Prophet would appear, and he described the place to him, and 
    it was the City of the Prophet  (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon 
    him) i.e., Madeenah. But there is nothing in this hadeeth to suggest that 
    the Prophet  (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said that this 
    monk was the Messiah ‘Eesa ibn Maryam (peace be upon him), rather ‘Eesa 
    (peace be upon him) is in heaven; Allaah took him up and he will remain 
    there until the appointed time, then Allaah will send him back down and he 
    will support Islam at the end of time. 

    The story of how Salmaan came to Islam is a great story, full 
    of lessons and exhortations. We will let the questioner read the hadeeth in 
    full, so that he might benefit from it: 

    It was narrated that ‘Abd-Allaah ibn ‘Abbaas said: Salmaan 
    al-Faarisi told me his story from his own lips. He said: 

    I was a Persian man, one of the people of Isbahaan, from a 
    village thereof called Jayy. My father was the chieftain of his village, and 
    I was the dearest of Allaah’s creation to him. He loved me so much that he 
    kept me in his house near the fire, as girls are kept in. I strove hard in 
    the Magian religion until I became the keeper of the fire, which I tended 
    and did not let go out for a moment. My father had a huge garden, and he was 
    busy one day with some construction work, so he said: “O my son, I am too 
    busy with this building today, go and check my garden,” and he told me some 
    of the things he wanted done. I went out, heading towards his garden, and I 
    passed by one of the Christian churches, where I could hear their voices as 
    they were praying. I did not know anything about the people because my 
    father had kept me in his house. When I passed by and heard their voices, I 
    entered upon them to see what they were doing. When I saw them, I was 
    impressed with their prayer and I was attracted to their way. I said: By 
    Allaah, this is better than the religion that we follow. By Allaah, I did 
    not leave them until the sun set, and I forgot about my father’s garden and 
    did not go there. I said to them: Where did this religion originate? They 
    said: In Syria. Then I went back to my father, who had sent people out to 
    look for me, and I had distracted him from all his work. When I came to him, 
    he said: O my son, where were you? Did I not ask you to do what I asked? I 
    said: O my father, I passed by some people who were praying in a church of 
    theirs, and I was impressed with what I saw of their religion. By Allaah, I 
    stayed with them until the sun set. He said: O my son, there is nothing good 
    in that religion. Your religion and the religion of your forefathers is 
    better than that. I said: No, by Allaah, it is better than our religion. He 
    was afraid for me, and he put fetters on my legs and kept me in his house. I 
    sent word to the Christians saying: If any Christian merchants come to you 
    from Syria, tell me about them. He said: Some Christian merchants came to 
    them from Syria, and they told me about them. I said to them: When they have 
    completed their business and want to go back to their own country, tell me 
    about that. So when they wanted to go back to their own country, they told 
    me about that, and I threw off the irons from my legs and went out with 
    them, until I came to Syria. When I reached Syria, I said: Who is the best 
    person in this religion? They said: The bishop in the church.  So I went to 
    him and said: I like this religion, and I would like to stay with you and 
    serve you in your church and learn from you and pray with you. He said: Come 
    in. So I went in with him, but he was a bad man. He would command them and 
    exhort them to give charity, but he kept a great deal of it for himself and 
    did not give it to the poor; he had amassed seven chests of gold and silver. 
    I hated him deeply when I saw what he was doing, then he died and the 
    Christians gathered to bury him. I said to them: This was a bad man; he 
    commanded you and exhorted you to give charity, but when you brought it to 
    him he kept it for himself and did not give any of it to the poor. They 
    said: How do you know that? Show us where his treasure is. So I showed them 
    where it was and they brought out seven chests filled with gold and silver. 
    When they saw that they said: By Allaah, we will never bury him; then they 
    crucified him and pelted him with stones.  Then they brought another man and 
    appointed him in his place. Salmaan said: I have never seen a man who does 
    not offer the five daily prayers who was better than him; he shunned this 
    world and sought the Hereafter and no one strive harder than him night and 
    day. I loved him as I had never loved anyone before, and I stayed with him 
    for a while. Then when he was about to die, I said: O So and so, I was with 
    you and I loved you as I had never loved anyone before, and now the decree 
    of Allaah has come to you as you see; to whom do you advise me to go? What 
    do you command me to do? He said: O my son, by Allaah, I do not know of 
    anyone today who follows what I followed. The people are doomed; they have 
    changed and abandoned most of what they used to follow, except for a man in 
    Mosul. He is So and so, and he follows what I used to follow, so go and join 
    him. When he died and was buried, I went to the man in Mosul. I said to him: 
    O So and so, So and so advised me when he died to come to you, and he told 
    me that you follow the same as he followed. He said to me: Stay with me. So 
    I stayed with him, and I found him to be a good man who followed the same as 
    his companion had followed. But soon he died. When he was dying I said to 
    him: O So and so, So and so advised me to come to you and told me to join 
    you, but now there has come to you from Allaah what you see. To whom do you 
    advise me to go? What do you command me to do? He said: O my son, by Allaah 
    I do not know of anyone who follows what we used to follow except a man in 
    Nasayyibeen. He is So and so; go to him. When he died and was buried, I went 
    to the man in Nasayyibeen. I came to him and told him my story and what my 
    companion had told me to do. He said: Stay with me. So I stayed with him and 
    I found him to be a follower of the same way as his two companions, and I 
    stayed with a good man. By Allaah, soon death came upon him, and when he was 
    dying I said to him: O So and so, So and so advised me to go to So and so; 
    then So and so advised me to come to you. To whom do you advise me to go and 
    what do you command me to do? He said: O my son, by Allaah we do not know of 
    anyone left who follows our way and to whom I can tell you to go, except a 
    man in ‘Ammooriyyah. He follows something like what we follow. If you wish, 
    go to him, for he follows our way. When he died and was buried, I went to 
    the man in ‘Ammooriyyah and told him my story. He said: Stay with me. So I 
    stayed with a man who was following the same way as his companions. I earned 
    wealth until I had cows and sheep, then the decree of Allaah came to him. 
    When he was dying I said to him: O So and so, I was with So and so, and So 
    and so told me to go to So and so; then So and so told me to go to So and 
    so; then So and so told me to come to you. To whom do you advise me to go 
    and what do you command me to do? He said: O my son, by Allaah, I do not 
    know of anyone who follows our way to whom I can advise you to go. But there 
    has come the time of a Prophet, who will be sent with the religion of 
    Ibraaheem. He will appear in the land of the Arabs and will migrate to a 
    land between two harrahs (lave fields; land with black rocks), between which 
    there are palm trees. He will have characteristics that will not be hidden. 
    He will eat of what is given as a gift but he will not eat of what is given 
    as charity. Between his shoulder blades is the Seal of Prophethood. If you 
    can go to that land then do so. Then he died and was buried, and I stayed in 
    ‘Ammooriyyah as long as Allaah willed I should stay, then some merchants of 
    Kalb passed by me and I said to them: Will you take me to the land of the 
    Arabs and I will give you these cows and sheep of mine? They said: Yes. So I 
    gave them the cows and sheep, and they took me there, but when they brought 
    me to Waadi al-Qura they wronged me and sold me as a slave to a Jewish man. 
    When I was with him I saw the palm trees, and I hoped that this was the land 
    that my companion had described to me, but I was not sure. Whilst I was with 
    him, a cousin of his from Banu Qurayzah came to him from Madeenah, and he 
    sold me to him, and he took me to Madeenah. By Allaah, as soon as I saw it, 
    I recognized it from the description given to me by my companion.  I stayed 
    there, and Allaah sent His Messenger, who stayed in Makkah as long as he 
    stayed, and I did not hear anything about him because I was so busy with the 
    work of a slave. Then he migrated to Madeenah, and by Allaah, I was at the 
    top of a palm tree belonging to my master, doing some work on it, and my 
    master was sitting there. Then a cousin of his came and stood beside him, 
    and said: May Allaah kill Banu Qaylah! By Allaah, right now they are 
    gathering in Quba’ to welcome a man who has come from Makkah today, and they 
    say that he is a Prophet. When I heard that, I began to shiver so much that 
    I thought I would fall on top of my master. I came down from the tree and 
    started saying to that cousin of his: What are you saying, what are you 
    saying? My master got angry and he struck me with his fist and said: What 
    has it got to do with you? Go back to your work! I said: Nothing; I just 
    wanted to make sure of what he was saying. I had something that I had 
    collected, and when evening came, I went to the Messenger of Allaah  
    (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) when he was in Quba’, and I 
    entered upon him and said to him: I have heard that you are a righteous man 
    and that you have companions who are strangers and are in need. This is 
    something that I have to give in charity, and I see that you are more in 
    need of it than anyone else. I brought it near to him and the Messenger of 
    Allaah  (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said to his 
    companions: “Eat,” but he refrained from eating.  I said to myself: This is 
    one. Then I went away and collected some more. The Messenger of Allaah  
    (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) moved to Madeenah, then I came 
    to him and said: I see that you do not eat (food given in) charity; this is 
    a gift with which I wish to honour you. The Messenger of Allaah  (peace 
    and blessings of Allaah be upon him) ate some of it and told his companions 
    to eat too. I said to myself: This is two. Then I came to the Messenger of 
    Allaah  (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) when he was in 
    Baqee’ al-Gharqad, where he had attended the funeral of one of his 
    companions and he was wearing two shawls and was sitting among his 
    companions. I greeted him with salaam then I moved behind him, trying to 
    look at his back to see the Seal that my companion had described to me. When 
    the Messenger of Allaah  (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) saw 
    me going behind him, he realized that I was trying to find confirmation of 
    something that had been described to me, so he let his rida’ drop from his 
    back, and I saw the Seal and recognized it. Then I embraced him, kissing 
    (the Seal) and weeping, and the Messenger of Allaah  (peace and 
    blessings of Allaah be upon him) said to me: “Turn around.” So I turned 
    around and I told him my story as I have told it to you, O Ibn ‘Abbaas. The 
    Messenger of Allaah  (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) wanted 
    his companions to hear that. Then Salmaan was kept busy with the work of a 
    slave, until he had missed attending Badr and Uhud with the Messenger of 
    Allaah  (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him). He said: Then the 
    Messenger of Allaah  (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said to 
    me: “Draw up a contract of manumission, O Salmaan.” So I draw up a contract 
    of manumission with my master in return for three hundred palm trees which I 
    would plant for him, and forty uqiyahs. The Messenger of Allaah  (peace 
    and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said to his companions: “Help your 
    brother.” So they helped me with the palm trees, one man gave thirty small 
    trees and another gave twenty, and another gave fifteen, and another gave 
    ten, i.e., each man gave according to what he had, until they had collected 
    three hundred small trees for me. Then the Messenger of Allaah  (peace 
    and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said to me: “Go, O Salmaan, and dig the 
    holes where they are to be planted. When you have finished, come to me and I 
    will plant them with my own hand.” So I dug the holes for them, and my 
    companions helped me, then when I had finished, I came to him and told him. 
    The Messenger of Allaah  (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) 
    came out with me and we started to bring the trees close and the Messenger 
    of Allaah  (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) planted them with 
    his own hand. By the One in Whose hand is the soul of Salmaan, not one 
    single tree among them died. So I had paid off the trees but there still 
    remained the money. A piece of gold the size of an egg was brought to the 
    Messenger of Allaah  (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) from 
    one of his campaigns. He said: “What happened to the Persian who had a 
    contract of manumission?” I was summoned to him and he said: “Take this and 
    pay off what you owe, O Salmaan.” I said: How could this pay off everything 
    I owe, O Messenger of Allaah? He said: “Take it, and Allaah will help you to 
    pay off what you owe.” So I took it and weighed it for them, and by the One 
    in Whose hand is the soul of Salmaan, it was forty uqiyahs, so I paid them 
    their dues and I was set free. I was present with the Messenger of Allaah 
     (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) at al-Khandaq, and after 
    that I did not miss any major event with him. 

    Narrated by Ahmad in al-Musnad (5/441). The scholars 
    of hadeeth said: Its isnaad is hasan. 

    And Allaah knows best.