Kisah Salman al-Farisi Mencari

Kebenaran
Salman al-Farisi pada awal hidupnya adalah seorang bangsawan dari Persia
yang menganut agama Majusi. Namun dia tidak merasa nyaman dengan
agamanya. Pergolakan batin itulah yang mendorongnya untuk mencari agama
yang dapat menentramkan hatinya.

Kisah Salman diceritakan langsung kepada seorang sahabat dan keluarga dekat Nabi
Muhammad bernama Abdullah bin Abbas:

Salman dilahirkan dengan nama Persia, Rouzbeh, di kota Kazerun, Fars, Iran. Ayahnya adalah
seorang Dihqan (kepala) desa. Dia adalah orang terkaya di sana dan memiliki rumah terbesar.

Ayahnya menyayangi dia, melebihi siapa pun. Seiring waktu berlalu, cintanya kepada Salman
semakin kuat dan membuatnya semakin takut kehilangan Salman. Ayahnya pun menjaga dia di
rumah, seperti penjara.

Ayah Salman memiliki sebuah kebun yang luas, yang menghasilkan pasokan hasil panen
berlimpah. Suatu ketika ayahnya meminta dia mengerjakan sejumlah tugas di tanahnya. Tugas
dari ayahnya itulah yang menjadi awal pencarian kebenaran.

"Ayahku memiliki areal tanah subur yang luas. Suatu hari, ketika dia sibuk dengan
pekerjaannya, dia menyuruhku untuk pergi ke tanah itu dan memenuhi beberapa tugas yang dia
inginkan. Dalam perjalanan ke tanah tersebut, saya melewati gereja Nasrani. Saya
mendengarkan suara orang-orang shalat di dalamnya. Saya tidak mengetahui bagaimana orang-
orang di luar hidup, karena ayahku membatasiku di dalam rumahnya! Maka ketika saya
melewati orang-orang itu (di gereja) dan mendengarkan suara mereka, saya masuk ke dalam
untuk melihat apa yang mereka lakukan."

"Ketika saya melihat mereka, saya menyukai salat mereka dan menjadi tertarik terhadapnya
(yakni agama). Saya berkata (kepada diriku), 'Sungguh, agama ini lebih baik daripada agama
kami'".

Salman memiliki pemikiran yang terbuka, bebas dari taklid buta. "Saya tidak meninggalkan
mereka sampai matahari terbenam. Saya tidak pergi ke tanah ayahku."

Dan ketika pulang, ayahnya bertanya. Salman pun menceritakan bertemu dengan orang-orang
Nasrani dan mengaku tertarik. Ayahnya terkejut dan berkata: "Anakku, tidak ada kebaikan
dalam agama itu. Agamamu dan agama nenek moyangmu lebih baik."

"Tidak, agama itu lebih baik dari milik kita," tegas Salman.

Ayah Salman pun bersedih dan takut Salman akan meninggalkan agamanya. Jadi dia mengunci
Salman di rumah dan merantai kakinya.

Salman tak kehabisan akan dan mengirimkan sebuah pesan kepada penganut Nasrani, meminta
mereka mengabarkan jika ada kafilah pedagang yang pergi ke Suriah. Setelah informasi
didapat, Salman pun membuka rantai dan kabur untuk bergabung dengan rombongan kafilah.

Ketika tiba di Suriah, dia meminta dikenalkan dengan seorang pendeta di gereja. Dia berkata:
"Saya ingin menjadi seorang Nasrani dan memberikan diri saya untuk melayani, belajar dari
anda, dan salat dengan anda."

Sang pendeta menyetujui dan Salman pun masuk ke dalam gereja. Namun tak lama kemudian,
Salman menemukan kenyataan bahwa sang pendeta adalah seorang yang korup. Dia
memerintahkan para jemaah untuk bersedekah, namun ternyata hasil sedekah itu ditimbunnya
untuk memperkaya diri sendiri.

Ketika pendeta itu meninggal dunia dan umat Nasrani berkumpul untuk menguburkannya,
Salman mengatakan bahwa pendeta itu korup dan menunjukkan bukti-bukti timbunan emas
dan perak pada tujuh guci yang dikumpulkan dari sedekah para jemaah.

Setelah pendeta itu wafat, Salman pun pergi untuk mencari orang saleh lainnya, di Mosul,
Nisibis, dan tempat lainnya.

Pendeta yang terakhir berkata kepadanya bahwa telah datang seorang nabi di tanah Arab, yang
memiliki kejujuran, yang tidak memakan sedekah untuk dirinya sendiri.

Salman pun pergi ke Arab mengikuti para pedagang dari Bani Kalb, dengan memberikan uang
yang dimilikinya. Para pedagang itu setuju untuk membawa Salman. Namun ketika mereka tiba
di Wadi al-Qura (tempat antara Suriah dan Madinah), para pedagang itu mengingkari janji dan
menjadikan Salman seorang seorang budak, lalu menjual dia kepada seorang Yahudi.

Singkat cerita, akhirnya Salman dapat sampai ke Yatsrib (Madinah) dan bertemu dengan
rombongan yang baru hijrah dari Makkah. Salman dibebaskan dengan uang tebusan yang
dikumpulkan oleh Rasulullah SAW dan selanjutnya mendapat bimbingan langsung dari beliau.

Betapa gembira hatinya, kenyataan yang diterimanya jauh melebihi apa yang dicita-citakannya,
dari sekadar ingin bertemu dan berguru menjadi anugerah pengakuan sebagai muslimin di
tengah-tengah kaum Muhajirin dan kaum Anshar yang disatukan sebagai saudara.

Kisah kepahlawanan Salman yang terkenal adalah karena idenya membuat parit dalam upaya
melindungi kota Madinah dalam Perang Khandaq. Ketika itu Madinah akan diserang pasukan
Quraisy yang mendapat dukungan dari suku-suku Arab lainnya yang berjumlah 10.000
personel. Pemimpin pasukan itu adalah Abu Sufyan. Ancaman juga datang dari dalam
Madinah, di mana penganut Yahudi dari Bani Quradhzah akan mengacau dari dalam kota.

Rasulullah SAW pun meminta masukan dari sahabat-sahabatnya bagaimana strategi

menghadapi mereka. Setelah bermusyawarah akhirnya saran Salman Al Farisi atau yang biasa
dipanggil Abu Abdillah diterima. Strategi Salman memang belum pernah dikenal oleh bangsa
Arab pada waktu itu. Namun atas ketajaman pertimbangan Rasulullah SAW, saran tersebut
diterima.

Atas saran Salman itulah perang dengan jumlah pasukan yang tak seimbang dimenangkan
kaum Muslimin.

Setelah meninggalnya Nabi Muhammad, Salman dikirim untuk menjadi gubernur di daerah
kelahirannya, hingga dia wafat.

Diolah dari: Wikipedia, The Search for The Truth -by a Man Known as Salman the Persian
karangan Dr Saleh as-Saleh, dan sumber-sumber lainnya. (jri)

In Pursuit of the Truth

Muhammad Idris bin Che Mahzan

The time preceding Rasulullah was a time of darkness. However

there were some glimpses of light here and there. But they were too
few and far in between. And humanity was in dire need of
hidayah/guidance. But there was a few individual scattered who
had a sense of right and wrong. And their hearts directed them to
the truth.
And one of them is Salman Al Farisi ra. Its story is a bit long but we
can learn a lot from his journey finding the Truth. Ibn Abbas went to
Salman when he was old and requested Salman to tell his story. So
Salman is now narrating his story to Ibn Abbas ra. He says, I was a
Persian man from Esfahan. Esfahan is in current day Iran. From a
village called Gee. And my father was the headman of the
town/village. And I was striving and taking pain in the religion of
Majusiah. It is translated Maggian. It's a religion, which they believe
upon good and evil, and they worship the Fire. So they believe there
are two forces that are fighting good and evil. It's a form of syirik.
Not part of any Kitab.
So, Salman Al Farisi says, I took pain in being a good Maggian. He
grew into the religion until he became the keeper of the Fire. He
was the one who would light the Fire and would never let it go off.
So they had this fire in every village in a temple, and every Fire
needs to be kept by a certain person in order to keep it always
burning. And that was supposed to be a key/high position, to be the
Keeper of the Fire (entrusted with the Fire). He said my father
owned a large farm, one day he was busy constructing a building of
his and he wanted me to go out and take care of business in the
farm.
But Salman Al Farisi says that my father loves me so much, he
closeted me in his house and would never let me leave. So Salman
says that on that particular day my father was busy and wanted him
to take care of his farm, but then he says, Oh my son, you know
how dear you are to me, if you are late then I would be so
concerned about you and you are more important to me than my
farm or my building. And Salman literally said, I was kept in his
house like a slave girl, he would not allow me out and go anywhere.
Salman he left on that day to go do business for his father and he
passed by a church for Christians.
It was a Christian Church and I heard them pray, so I wanted to go
in and investigated. He didn't know much about people because he
never left home. He said so, this was something new to me, and I
came to realize that there was another religion and they were
praying in a different fashion so he decided to go in and investigate.
He went into the church and was quite impressed. He ended up
staying with them until sunset and he neglected his father’s work.
He said, his father was so worried that he started to send out people
to find me. I came back late and my father told me “ Didn't I tell you
not to be late, what happened?”
Salman Al Farisi said I passed by a Christian church and I went in to
see their prayers and I forgot to do the job you asked me to do. His
father told him, “ Oh my son, their religion is no good and your
religion, and the religion of your forefathers is better.” Salman
responded, “ No, their religion is better than ours”. So now the
father was extremely worried. He ended up chaining and
imprisoning his child at home. He put chains on his legs. He was so
terrified that my son might change his religion that he chained his
child at home. Salman when he was at the church, he asked the
church members, “Where is the centre of your religion? Where does
this religion originate from?” So they said from the holy land, from
Palestine, As Syam.
Now when his father shackled him he manage to send out a
message to the church telling them that if you ever received or
know of a caravan that is in town from As Syam, let me know. So a
caravan did come in, so they send him word and Salman was able to
release himself and run away. And he went with this caravan all the
way to the Holy Land in search of the truth.
He arrived in Syria and he asked about “Who is the most learned
man?” He wanted to go and study under the greatest. He was told,
“Go to this bishop in this particular church.” He went to the bishop
and told him this is my situation and came from a long way and
wanted to study from you. So the bishop said you’re welcome, you
can stay with me. He ended up staying with the bishop in the church
living there.
Salman said “ This man used to asked the people to donate, to give
alms/ charity and then he would end up keeping it up for himself
rather than distributing it the poor he would keep it to himself. “ He
said” He was such an evil man and I hated him so much.
Nevertheless I remained with him and when he died the Christians
of that church they wanted to have a burial for him and Salman
went up to them and told them this was an evil man. The replied “
How you dare say that?” He said I’d show you the proof. And
Salman took them to a place where he used to hide all of his money.
And he pulled out 7 containers filled with gold and silver. This man
was ripping up the people and keeping the money for himself.
Salman said, the people were so angered they ended up crucifying
his dead body and stoning him. And then they appointed someone
in his place.
Salman said “ And then they brought another man to replace his
place, and I never saw a man who did not attend the 5 prayers
better than he, nor more siddiq nor more enthusiastic about the
afterlife, nor more devoted both day and night, I loved him as I had
never loved before.” So, now a truly pious person took his place.
Salman ended learning from this man, studying the religion,
worshipping in the church, but then death was already approaching
this man. He was already at old age. Salman said” I went to him
when he was on his deathbed, and I told him you know my story and
I came all the way to study this religion, but since the decree of
Allah is befalling you, whom would you entrust me to? Who would
you recommend for me to continue my study? He told me my son, I
don't know anyone who have done as I have, people have either
died or changed or abandoned most of their prior practices except
for one man in Mosul practices as I did so join them.”
So now Salman was going to travel al the way from As Syams, which
is Palestine or Syria to Iraq (Mosul) in search of knowledge. The
bishop died and Salman embarked on this journey, he went to this
bishop of Mosul, and he told him his story that you were
recommended to me by the bishop in As Syams. He accepted and
Salman spent time with him. But this person was also an old man.
He was also approaching death. So after a short while he was dying.
And he told him, you were recommended to me by a previous
bishop but now you’re dying and who do you recommend me to go
to continue my studies? He told him, I don't of anyone who is
following this same path as ours except the bishop of Nasibin.
So now, Salman was travelling all the way from Mosul to Nasibis.
And he went to the Christian man in Nasibis. How he ended up with
him. And he spent some time with him. But this man was
approaching death too. You see this is a dying breed. They are
dying one after the other and they are leaving no one behind them
to carry on the torch. He went to the scholar in Nasibin and when he
was dying the bishop said, I don't know of anyone who is following
our way except a man who was in Amuriya. In Byzantiane, Turkey.
So now Salman was travelling all the way to Turkey. Over there in
Amuria Salman in addition to his studies, and participation to the
worship, he started a business. And he accumulated enough to
purchase some sheep and cows. When death was approaching his
teacher in Amuria, Salman asked who do you recommend me to
continue my studies? He responded and said, “My son, I don't know
anyone who is as we were to send you to. But the time is near for a
prophet to be send to Ibrahims religion who will come forth in the
land of the Arabs.
He will move to refuge to somewhere with date palms growing
between two scorched rocky plains. He has signs that are
unmistakable. He eats things given to him as gifts, but not alms.
And between his shoulders is the seal of prophet hood. If you can go
there do so. “
So now the scholar of the Amuria is saying that there is no one
living today who is following the same path. The ones who believe in
the true message of Jesus they all have passed away. Therefore it is
time for a new message to come. Because now the world is void of
guidance. So it time to fill that void.
So a prophet will come, and he is approaching and the time is near,
and he has unmistakable signs.
1. He will take refuge in a place in a place that grows palm trees
and it is between two rocky tracks, volcanic rocks.
2. He doesn't eat sedekah/charity but accepts gifts.
3. There are a seal of prophet hood. A sign between his
shoulders on his back.
Salman said, he was trying to find the land of the Arabs, a far away
land. Until he met some merchants from the tribe of Kalb.