and another fifteen, and another ten—each man according to what he had—until I had amassed three hundred palm shoots. The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, then said to me, “Go, Salman, and dig the holes for them. When you have finished, come to me, and I will plant them with my own hand.”

So I dug the holes, and my companions helped me. When I had finished, I came to him and informed him. The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, went out with me to them. We began bringing the palm shoots close to him, and the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, planted them with his own hand. By Him in whose hand is Salman’s soul, not a single one of them died.

Thus I fulfilled the obligation of the palm trees, but the monetary payment remained owing. Then the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, received, from one of the campaigns, a piece of gold the size of a hen’s egg. He said, “What has become of the Persian who is under a contract of manumission?” They summoned me to him, and he said, “Take this and use it to pay what you owe, Salman!”

I said, “How could this possibly cover what I owe, Messenger of Allah?” He said, “Take it, for Allah, Mighty and Majestic, will settle your debt with it.” So I took it and weighed out for them from it—by Him in whose hand is Salman’s soul—forty uqiyyahs. I paid them their due in full and was set free. I then took part with the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, in the Battle of the Trench, and thereafter I missed no campaign with him.”

Ahmad narrated it (5/441–444), as did Ibn Sa‘d in al-Tabaqat (4/53–57), through Ibn Ishaq, who said: ‘Asim ibn Umar ibn Qatadah al-Ansari related to me from Mahmud ibn Labid, from Abdullah ibn Abbas.

I say: This is a good chain of transmission. Al-Haythami cited it in al-Majma‘ (9/332–336) and said: “Ahmad narrated it in its entirety, and al-Tabarani narrated a similar version in al-Kabir. Its narrators are the narrators of the authentic collections, apart from Muhammad ibn Ishaq, who explicitly stated that he heard it directly.”

I say: Al-Hakim also narrated part of it (2/16) through this route and said, “Authentic according to the criterion of Muslim.” Al-Dhahabi concurred with him. That is what he said! In another narration of Ahmad (5/444), also through Ibn Ishaq, he said: Yazid ibn Abi Habib related to us from a man of Banu Abd al-Qays, from Salman al-Khayr, who said: