She answered, “Go to my brother—meaning the Prophet ﷺ—and say to him: ‘If you wish, I will set him free; if you prefer, he is yours.’”

Salman said, “After that I would visit the Messenger of Allah ﷺ every morning and evening, while Khulaysa maintained me. One day the Prophet ﷺ said to me, ‘Come with us; let us repay Khulaysa.’

“I stayed with him for fifteen days in her orchard. He taught me and I helped him until we had planted three hundred date-palm saplings for her.

“Whenever the midday heat bore down on him, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ would place on his head a small woollen awning that belonged to me, and he perspired in it repeatedly. Out of reverence for him and to preserve its fragrance, I never again put it on my own head. I kept it hidden away as bits of it unravelled until only four finger-breadths remained. Then, on one expedition, I lost it.”

The compiler comments: “This report is virtually fabricated. Abu Muʿādh is unknown, as is Mūsā.”

Ismāʿīl b. ʿĪsā al-ʿAṭṭār said: Ishāq b. Bishr narrated to us; Abu ʿUbayd Allah al-Taymī narrated to me, from Ibn Luhayʿa, from Abū Qabīl, who said:

It was said to Salmān, “Tell us how you embraced Islam.” He replied:

“I was a Magian. I dreamed that the Resurrection had begun, people were gathered in their own shapes, and the Magians were gathered in the shapes of dogs, so I was terrified. The next night I saw the people gathered again, while the Magians were in the shapes of swine. I abandoned my religion, fled, and reached Syria.

“There I found Jews, entered their faith, read their scriptures, was content with their religion, and became a debater for them. Then I dreamed of the gathering again: the Jews were brought forth, flayed, hurled into the Fire and roasted; they were then brought out, their skins renewed, and returned to the Fire. I awoke, fled Judaism, and came to a group of Christians. I entered their religion, worshipped with them in their polytheism, and became a debater for them.

“Then I dreamed that an angel seized me, set me upon the bridge over the Fire, and said, ‘Cross it.’ The guardian of the bridge said, ‘Examine him; if his religion is Christianity, cast him into the Fire.’ I awoke in fright.

“Afterwards I sought counsel from a monk who …”