the palm tree and began asking his cousin, “What are you saying? What are you saying?”

My master became angry and struck me a hard blow. Then he said, “What has this to do with you? Get back to your work.”

I said, “Nothing; I merely wanted to verify what he had said.” I had something that I had saved up, so when evening came, I took it and went with it to the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, while he was in Quba. I entered upon him and said, “I have heard that you are a righteous man and that you have companions who are strangers and in need. I had this set aside for charity, and I considered you more deserving of it than anyone else.”

I placed it before him, and the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said to his companions, “Eat,” while he held back his hand and did not eat. I said to myself, “That is one sign.” Then I left him.

Later I gathered something else, and the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, moved to Medina. I then brought it to him and said, “I saw that you do not eat charity, so this is a gift with which I honor you.” The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, ate from it and instructed his companions to eat with him. I said to myself, “Those are two signs.”

Then I came to the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, while he was in Baqi al-Gharqad. He had followed the funeral of one of his companions and was sitting among his companions, wearing two cloaks. I greeted him, then moved around behind him to look at his back, to see whether I could find the seal that my companion had described to me. When the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, saw me circling behind him, he understood that I was seeking to verify something that had been described to me. So he drew his cloak off his back. I looked at the seal and recognized it. Then I bent over it, kissing it and weeping.

The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said to me, “Move around.” So I moved around, and I told him my story—as I have told it to you, Ibn Abbas. The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, was pleased for his companions to hear it.

Then Salman was kept occupied by slavery, so that he missed Badr and Uhud with the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace. Then the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said to me, “Enter into a contract of manumission, Salman.” So I made a contract with my master to raise three hundred date palms for him by planting them in pits, and to pay forty uqiyyahs. The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, “Help your brother.” So they helped me with palm shoots: one man gave thirty shoots, and another gave twenty.