that you are a righteous man and that you have with you some companions who are strangers. I had something set aside for charity, and I thought you were the people most entitled to it in this land, so here it is; eat from it.” He did not eat himself but said to his Companions, “Eat.” I said to myself, “That is the first sign.”

I then went back. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ moved on to Madinah, so I gathered something and brought it to him, saying, “This is a gift.” He ate of it, and so did his Companions. I said, “That makes two signs.”

Later I came to him while he was following a funeral, and I was wearing two rough woollen cloaks. He was among his Companions. I walked around behind him, trying to look for the Seal (of Prophethood). When he noticed me walking behind him, he realised that I was seeking to confirm something that had been described to me. He let his cloak fall from his back, and I saw the Seal between his shoulders exactly as my teacher had described it. I bent down, kissed it, and wept. He said, “Turn this way, O Salman.” I turned and sat in front of him. He wanted his Companions to hear my story, so I related it to him, O Ibn ʿAbbās, just as I have related it to you.

When I finished he said, “Conclude a contract of manumission, O Salman.” So I agreed with my master to plant three hundred date-palms for him and to pay forty ounces of silver. The Companions of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ helped me with the palms: one gave thirty saplings, another twenty, another ten, and so on. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said to me, “Dig the holes for them; when you have finished, let me know so that I may be the one to plant them with my own hand.” I dug the pits with the help of my brothers until we finished. He came out with me; we would bring him each sapling, he would plant it with his own hand, and he would press the soil around it. By the One who sent him with the truth, not a single sapling died. Only the silver remained.

Then a man came to the Prophet ﷺ from one of the mines with a piece of gold the size of a hen’s egg. He said, “Where is the Persian?” I was summoned, and he told me, “Take this and pay off what you owe.” I said, “O Messenger of Allah, but what is this compared to what I still owe?” He replied, “Allah will settle it for you.” By Him in whose hand is Salman’s soul, I weighed out from it forty ounces, paid them, and thus Salman was set free.

Slavery had kept me from taking part in Badr and Uḥud, but I was present at the Battle of the Trench, and thereafter I did not miss a single engagement with him.