On the advice of Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam), Hazrat Salmaan (radhiyallahu ‘anhu) accepted this agreement. Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam) then encouraged the people to assist me in providing the date palm saplings, due to which one person provided thirty saplings, another person provided twenty saplings, while a third person provided fifteen saplings and someone brought ten saplings to assist me.
When we had accumulated all three hundred date palm saplings, Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam) said, “O Salmaan! Dig holes for them (to be planted).” Once the holes were dug, Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam) planted them all with his own blessed hands and he made dua for barakah as well.
Barely a year passed by when all of the date palms began bearing fruit. Not a single sapling became dry (and died), rather each and every one of them was lush and bore fruit. In this manner, I managed fulfilling my obligation as far as the date palms were concerned. Now, only the amount of the gold remained.
One day, a man came to Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam) with a gold nugget equivalent to an egg in size. Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam) asked, “Where is that poor mukaatab slave (referring to Hazrat Salmaan [radhiyallahu ‘anhu])? Go and call him.”
When I presented myself before Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam), he gave me the gold nugget that was the size of an egg saying, “Take this! Allah will pay out your debts!” I responded, “O Rasul of Allah! This gold is very little! How will my debt be paid off through this gold?” Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam) replied, ‘Go! Allah will pay your debts with this very gold!”
When I thereafter weighed the gold nugget, I found it to be equal to precisely forty ooqiyah of gold. In this manner, I managed fulfilling my entire obligation, and at long last, I became a free man. I then joined Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam) in the battle of Khandaq. Thereafter as well, I remained close to Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam) in all the subsequent battles.
(Extracted from Seeratul Mustafa 1/424-425)