Chosroes wrote to the Messenger of Allah, so the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, replied:
“God has promised me that Chosroes will be killed on such-and-such a day of such-and-such a month.”
When Bādhān received the letter, he paused to await the outcome and said, “If he is truly a prophet, what he has foretold will certainly come to pass.” God indeed caused Chosroes to be killed on the very day the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, had specified. Ibn Hishām remarks that this was done by his son Shīrawayh.
I say: Others report that it was his sons collectively who conspired to kill him. This Chosroes was Abrawayz son of Hormizd son of Anūshirwān son of Qubādh—the same ruler who defeated the Byzantines in the Almighty’s words, “Alif Lām Mīm. The Byzantines have been defeated in the nearest land…,” as will be explained later.
Al-Suhaylī states that he was slain on the night of Tuesday, ten days having passed of Jumādā al-Ūlā, in the ninth year after the Hijrah.
Apparently—God knows best—the incident occurred after the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, had written inviting him to Islam. Enraged, Chosroes tore the letter apart and wrote to his deputy in Yemen, instructing him as described. According to some reports, the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said to Bādhān’s envoy, “Last night my Lord killed your lord.” Events unfolded exactly as he said: Chosroes was killed that very night, put to death by his sons because of the oppression that followed a period of justice. They deposed him and installed his son Shīrawayh, who survived his father for no more than six months, or even less.
On this Khālid ibn Ḥigg al-Shaybānī composed these verses (in the wāfir metre):
When Chosroes was carved up by his own sons
With swords—as butchered meat is cleft and shared—
Fate had long been pregnant with the day he faced;
For every bearer must come to full term.
Az-Zuhrī relates: When the news reached Bādhān, he sent word of his own acceptance of Islam, along with that of the Persians who were with him, to the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him. The envoys asked, “O Messenger of Allah, to whom do we now belong?” He replied, “You are of us and return to us—members of the Household.” Az-Zuhrī adds that it was for this reason the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, declared, “Salman is one of us— a member of the Household.”