Why Did They Become Muslims

way to Arabia with a view to becoming a Believer of the latest
time’s Prophet, as he had been advised by a great scholar, his last
spiritual guide. That great scholar had taught him Rasûlullah’s
‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam’ personality traits and had told him
that the Prophet would accept presents and refuse alms, that there
was a prophetic seal (a beauty-spot) between his two shoulders,
and that he had many miracles. Selmân-i-Fârisî ‘radiy-Allâhu
’anh’ took some dates to Rasûlullah ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa
sallam’, saying that they were alms. The blessed Messenger would
not eat any of them. Then he took him some twenty-five dates in
a plate, and said that they were intended for a present. The
Messenger of Allah ate some of them, and offered the rest to his
Sahâba. So all the As-hâb-i-kirâm ate dates. A thousand stones
remained from the (twenty-five) dates eaten. And Selmân saw
that miracle of Rasûlullah’s, too. The following day there was a
funeral, and Selmân wished to see the prophetic seal. The
Messenger of Allah somehow sensed this, stripped off his shirt,
and the muhr-u-nubuwwa (the prophetic seal) was seen. Selmân
‘radiy-Allâhu ’anh’ became a Believer at once. An agreement was
made (between Selmân and his Jewish owner) that he would be
manumitted in return for three hundred date-palms and sixteen
hundred dirhams of gold in a couple of years. Rasûlullah ‘sall-
Allâhu ta’âlâ ’alaihi wa sallam’ heard about this. He planted two
hundred and ninety-nine date-palms with his own blessed hands.
The same year the palms yielded fruit. One palm, which had been
planted by ’Umar ‘radiy-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’anh’, was fruitless.
Rasûlullah ‘sall-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’alaihi wa sallam’ uprooted that
palm and then replanted it with his blessed hands. Dates appeared
on the palm at once. Then they gave Selmân ‘radiy-Allâhu ta’âlâ
’anh’ a gold as big as an egg, which had been taken as a ghanîma
in a Holy War. Selmân took it to Rasûlullah ‘sall-Allâhu ta’âlâ
’alaihi wa sallam’ and said that the gold was too small to weigh
sixteen hundred dirhams. The Messenger held the gold in his
blessed hands and gave it back to Selmân, telling him to take it to
his owner. Half of the gold sufficed to pay his debt to his owner,
and the remaining half became Selmân’s ‘radiy-Allâhu ’anh’
property.
72– One day the Rasûl ‘alaihis-salâm’ was performing namâz,
when Satan came and attempted to distract him from namâz. He
caught the devil with his blessed hands, and let him go only after
the latter had promised not to attempt to spoil namâz.
73– Abdullah bin Ubayy, the chief of the hypocrites in
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