841. ʿAbd Allah narrated to us; my father narrated to us; Ismaʿil ibn Ibrahim and Muhammad ibn ʿAbd al-Rahman al-Tufawi narrated to us. They said: Ayub informed us, from Abu Qilabah—this is Ismaʿil’s exact wording—that:

A man entered upon Salman while he was kneading dough. The visitor asked, “What is this?” Salman replied, “We have sent the servant off on an errand—or, as he put it, on a piece of work—and we did not wish to burden him with two tasks,” or he said, “with two kinds of work.”

The man then said, “So-and-so conveys his salam to you.” Salman asked, “When did you arrive?” He answered, “Such-and-such a time ago.” Salman remarked, “Had you not conveyed it, it would have remained a trust (amanah) you failed to discharge.”