The story of Salman al-Farisi’s visit to Abu al-Darda (may Allah be pleased with them both).

The Shaykh : I hope that the last word mentioned is the saying of Salman and Abu al-Darda, who are mentioned in this hadith. In our previous lesson, we mentioned the report narrated by Imam al-Bukhari in his book *Al-Adab al-Mufrad* regarding Salman al-Farisi’s visit from Iraq in his clothes, which caught the attention of some people, and they seemed to disapprove of it. He said, “Life is only the life of the Hereafter,” or to that effect. He visited his brother Abu al-Darda, who was in Medina. I intended at that time to mention the following: When the emigrants from Mecca migrated due to the pressure of the polytheists, their harm to them, and their attempts to mislead them and drive them out of their religion, these weak Muslims were permitted to migrate from Mecca to Medina, where the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) had preceded them in migration. When the emigrants from Mecca settled in Medina, the wisdom of legislation required unifying the Helpers and the Emigrants through new Islamic brotherhood. So the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) established brotherhood between the Emigrants and the Helpers. He paired one Emigrant with one Helper, and one Emigrant with one Helper. Among those between whom the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) established this Islamic brotherhood were Salman al-Farisi and Abu al-Darda. We all know that Salman was a Persian, not from those lands, but in any case, he was an Emigrant, and Abu al-Darda was from Medina. So the Messenger (peace be upon him) established between them that Islamic brotherhood, which in the early days of Islam entailed that if one of them died, the other would inherit from him. But this was a temporary ruling for a temporary benefit. When the Muslims came to know what each of them owed to his Muslim brother, this ruling was lifted and restricted to those with blood ties, as the Exalted said: During this period of brotherhood between Salman and Abu al-Darda, each used to visit the other. It is reported in *Sahih al-Bukhari* that Salman (may Allah be pleased with him) visited his brother Abu al-Darda at his home, but he did not find him there; instead, he found his wife and saw on her the signs of poverty or neglect of herself in her clothing. So Salman said to his brother Abu al-Darda’s wife, “What is this, O Umm al-Darda?” meaning, what is this shabbiness? She said, “This is your brother Abu al-Darda; he has no need for the world.” It appears that she also told him that his constant and perpetual state among the close ones was that they would tell their close one what was in their hearts, hoping he would address it. So she told him that he stood in prayer at night and fasted during the day. Soon, Abu al-Darda came to his home, so she told him that he stood in prayer at night and fasted during the day. When Abu al-Darda returned to his home, he was surprised to meet his brother Salman, and he rejoiced greatly and hastened to prepare food. He had learned from his wife that he was fasting, so he said to him, “Eat.” He said, “I will not eat.” He said, “Eat.” He said, “I will not eat until you eat with me.” He said, “I am fasting.” He said, “By Allah, I will not eat until you eat.” So he broke his fast, and they ate together. After that, when the time for sleep came, meaning after the Isha prayer, Abu al-Darda stood up to pray, while Salman lay down beside him to sleep. So Salman said to Abu al-Darda, “Sleep.” He said, “I want to pray.” He said, “Prayer is ahead of you.” He wanted to hasten him out of his excess in worship, which he had heard from his wife. So Abu al-Darda was compelled to respond to his brother and sleep with him. And so that Abu al-Darda (may Allah be pleased with him) would not understand that he was being dismissive of standing in night prayer, he said, “Sleep.” He was the first to wake him for night prayer in the last third of the night. Salman stood up to pray in the last third of the night and said to Abu al-Darda, “Get up now and pray.” So each of them prayed what was easy for him of night prayer. Then Salman began to admonish his brother Abu al-Darda, saying, “O Abu al-Darda, your body has a right over you, your soul has a right over you, and your guest has a right over you, so give every right-holder his right.” When the morning dawned and they went to the Messenger’s (peace be upon him) mosque for the Fajr prayer, Abu al-Darda related the story of Salman with him, how he had broken his fast and made him sleep, and so on. Abu al-Darda, the Helper, later received a letter from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) stating that Abu al-Darda had written to Salman, who was in Iraq. He wrote to him while he was in Sham, saying, “Come to the Holy Land.” Abu al-Darda had migrated due to the circumstances of some rulers who were harsh with the people, so he saw it best to withdraw to Sham. He settled there and resided there, so he wrote to Salman asking him to come to that land. He said to him, “Come to the Holy Land.” So Salman (may Allah be pleased with him) wrote to him, “As for what follows, the Holy Land does not sanctify anyone; rather, a person’s work sanctifies him.” This is as if it is quoted from the saying of the Messenger (peace be upon him) in a long hadith: Just as a person’s noble and pure lineage does not benefit him if he is not noble and pure himself, so too the Holy Land in which Allah has blessed, if a Muslim resides in it and his work is not righteous, this Holy Land does not sanctify him, nor does it honor him, nor does it bring him closer to Allah. Rather, a person’s work sanctifies him. This is also something that occurred and took place between these two noble Companions who were mentioned in the previous lesson in the story of Salman’s visit to Sham.