The Life of the Prophet Muhammad by Ibn Kathir - Volume 1 of 4

220 THE LIFE OF THE PROPHET MUHAMMAD
Qatzda. That link is also said to have been al-Hasan b. Wmara. The tradition is
also missing a link, indeed untraceable, between Wmar b. 'Abd al-'Aziz and
Salman, may God be pleased with him.
As for his words, "If you have told me the truth, 0 Salman, you have met
Jesus son of Mary," these are very strange, if not unacceptable. For the period
involved must, by all accounts, be one of 400 years, perhaps even 600 years by
the solar calendar. The longest anyone suggests that Salmzn lived is some 350
years. Al-CAbbas b. Yazid al-B&r&i related that the consensus of his elders was
that he lived for 250 years; they differed as to whether it could have been as
much as 350 years. But God knows best. And it seems that he was saying, "You
met a (good) follower of Jesus, son of Mary." And that could well be true.
Al-Suhayli stated, "The man of questionable reliability (in the above chain of
authorities) is al-Hasan b. Wmara, a weak authority. But if he was correct, then
there is nothing unacceptable about it. Because Ibn Jarir related that Jesus came
down again to earth after he had been resurrected and that he found his mother
and another woman weeping at the cross of the crucified man. Jesus told them
that he had not been killed, and after that he sent his disciples."
He went on: "And if it is possible that he came down once, then it is possible
he did so many times. Moreover there is his evident return when he broke the
cross and killed the pig and thereafter married a woman of Bana Jidhiim and
finally was buried in a chamber of the grave (usually referred to as the garden) of
the Messenger of God (SAAS)."
Al-Bayhaqi related in his book Dalz'd al-Nubumma (Scgns of the Prophethood)
this story of Salmm by way of Ynnus h. Bukayr, from Muhammad b. Ishaq as
previously given. And he also related it from al-Hakim, from al-Asamm b.
Y*ya b. Aba Tdib.
'Ali b. 'A~im related to us, as did Hztim b. Aba Sufra, from Simiik b. Harb,
from Yazid b. Siihm, that he heard Sahnan relating how his accepting Islam first
occurred. S h made a lengthy account of how he had originated in Rmhurmuz
and that he had a wealthy brother.who was older than himself. He himself was
poor and under his brother's care, and the son of the headman of Rmhurmuz
was his friend, with whom he would visit a teacher. And his fiend also used to
call upon some Christian worshippers who lived in a cave. Sahnzn asked his
friend to take him to visit them, but the reply was, "You're just a young man, and
I'm afraid that you will betray them and that my father will hill them." And so
he made hi promise that he would not do anything his friend would not like.
So he accompanied his friend and they (the Christians) were six or seven in
number. And they looked as if, from all their praying, their souls had left them;
they fasted by day and stayed up (praying) at night, and ate trees or whatever
they found.