He said to me: 'O Rozaba, go in to this woman and say to her: Muhammad ibn Abd Allah ibn Abd al-Muttalib, the Messenger of God, says to you: Will you sell us this boy?' I entered and said to her: 'O my mistress, Muhammad ibn Abd Allah says to you: Will you sell us this boy?' She said: 'Tell him I will not sell you except for four hundred palm trees, half of them yellow and half of them red.'

I came to the Messenger of God—exalted be his glory—and informed him. He said: 'How easy is what she asked.' Then he said: 'Rise, O Ali, and gather all these pits; take them and plant them.' He took them and planted them. Then he said: 'Water them.' Amir Almuminin—exalted be his glory—watered them. When he reached the last one, the palms emerged and joined one another. He said: 'Go in to her and say: Muhammad ibn Abd Allah says to you: take what is yours and give us what is ours.' I went in and told her that. She came out, looked at the palms, and said: 'By God, I will not sell you except for four hundred palm trees, all of them yellow.'

Gabriel descended and wiped his wing over the red ones, and they turned yellow. The Messenger of God—exalted be his glory—said: 'Tell her that Muhammad says to you: take what is yours and give us what is ours.' She said: 'By God, a single tree of these palms is dearer to me than Muhammad and than you.' I said to her: 'By God, a single day with Muhammad is dearer to me than you and everything you possess.' Then the Messenger of God—exalted be his glory—manumitted me and named me Salman."

(395) In the sense of this report is what our sheikh Abu Abd Allah al-Khasibi—may God ennoble his station—related in his book known as al-Hidaya: Muhammad ibn Yahya al-Farsi narrated to me from Muhammad ibn Khalid al-Tammar from Ja'far ibn Zayd al-Kharraz from Muhammad ibn al-Nu'man (Mu'min al-Taq) from Abu Hamza al-Thumali from Sa'id ibn al-Musayyib from Zadan, the freedman of Salman—peace be upon them—from Salman the Persian—peace be upon him—who said: