Salmān al-Fār(i)sī

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Salmān al-Fār(i)sī (‘the Persian’). Close companion of the Prophet Muḥammad and a central figure of many Muslim legends. ʿUmar appointed him as governor of al-Madāʾin and he is said to have died there during ʿUthmān's reign. Salmān's tomb at al-Madāʾin is a place of pilgrimage for Shiʿites returning from Karbalāʾ. According to many Sūfī orders, Salmān is a leading mystic and teacher in their silsilah (chain of transmission). The Nuṣairī raise him to their trinity of ʿAlī, Muḥammad, and Salmān, in which he is considered to be the figure who, under the name of Gabriel, taught the Qurʾān to Muḥammad.

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