At the time when Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam) entered Madinah Munawwarah on the occasion of the hijrah, he was riding his camel. Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam) left the reins of the camel loose as the camel was being divinely directed by Allah Ta‘ala.

The camel went to the locality of the Banu Najjaar clan and sat down at a certain place. It then stood and came to the home of Hazrat Abu Ayyoob Ansaari (radhiyallahu ‘anhu), indicating that Allah Ta‘ala had selected his home to be blessed with the honour of hosting Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam). Thereafter, the camel again stood and returned to the first place where it had sat down.

(Continuing the Incident of Hazrat Salmaan Faarsi [radhiyallahu ‘anhu])

Hazrat Salmaan Faarsi (radhiyallahu ‘anhu) says:

On one occasion, Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam) said to me, “O Salmaan! Make a deal of kitaabat with your master (i.e. an agreement where the slave will earn his freedom if he pays a certain fixed amount of wealth to his master).”

When I spoke to my master (and proposed the kitaabat), he said, “If you pay me forty ooqiyah of gold, and plant three hundred date palms for me, then when the date palms begin bearing fruit, you will be free.”

(Continuing the Incident of Hazrat Salmaan Faarsi [radhiyallahu ‘anhu] embracing Islam)

Hazrat Salmaan (radhiyallahu ‘anhu) continues:

After climbing down from the date palm, I began to ask the arriving Jew, “Tell me! What were you just talking about? Tell me the news as well!” On seeing this, my master became angry, delivered a hard slap to my face and said, “What business is it of yours? Do your work!”

When the evening arrived and I had completed my work, I gathered whatever wealth I possessed and presented myself before Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam). At that time, he was residing in Quba.

(Continuing the Incident of Hazrat Salmaan Faarsi [radhiyallahu ‘anhu] embracing Islam)

Hazrat Salmaan Faarsi (radhiyallahu ‘anhu) continues:

I continued living with this Jewish master in Madinah Munawwarah, attending to his date palms in Banu Quraizah. In the meantime, Allah bestowed Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam) with nubuwwah in Makkah Mukarramah. However, since I was a slave and remained engaged in the service of my master, I had absolutely no knowledge of this.

When Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam) performed hijrah, coming to Madinah Munawwarah, then on arriving in Quba, he began to stay at the Banu Amr bin Auf clan. At that time, I was at the top of a date palm, engaged in some work, while my master was seated beneath it. It was then that another Jew, who was my master’s cousin (father’s brother’s son) came and began to say to him, “May Allah destroy the Qaylah (the Ansaar)! They are gathering around a man in Quba who has come from Makkah, and they are saying that he is a Nabi and Messenger of Allah.”