Hadith of Persian Men

Merit

The merit is considered to be one of the three words of Iman (faith), Din (Religion) and Ilm (knowledge) based on the narrations.

Context

This hadith has been narrated by different hadith books some of which are as follows.

Narrated Abu Huraira:

While we were sitting with the Prophet Surat al-Jumu'a was revealed to him, and when the Verse, "And He (Allah) has sent him (Muhammad) also to other (Muslims).....' (62:3) was recited by the Prophet, I said, "Who are they, O Allah's Apostle?"The Prophet did not reply till I repeated my question thrice. At that time, Salman al-Farsi was with us. So Allah's Apostle put his hand on Salman, saying, "Even if Faith were at (the place of) Ath-Thuraiya (pleiades, the highest star), then some men or man from these people (i.e. Salman's folk) would attain it."

Right after this tradition is the following hadith:

Narrated Abu Huraira:

The Prophet said "Then some men from these people would attain it."

Muslim narrates this hadith in a chapter entitled "The merits of the people of persia" as such:

Abu Huraira reported Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) as saying: If the din were at the Pleiades, even then a person from Persia would have taken hold of it, or one amongst the Persian descent would have surely found it.

Next hadith in this collection is as such

Abu Huraira reported: We were sitting in the company of Allah's Apostle (may peace be upon him) that Sura al-Jumu'a was revealed to him and when he recited (these words) : "Others from amongst them who have not yet joined them," a person amongst them (those who were sitting there) said: Allah's Messenger! But Allah's Apostle (may peace be upon him) made no reply, until he questioned him once, twice or thrice. And there was amongst us Salman the Persian. The Apostle of Allah (may peace be upon him) placed his hand on Salman and then said: Even if faith were near the Pleiades, a man from amongst these would surely find it.

Ath-Thuraiya

This word is the only word used in most of the narrations and is not omitted due to diversity of the narrations. It is thought this word is used as exaggerated expression of the remoteness.

Persia

The meaning of Persia may be easy understandable for the people living in the current era, but to investigate the narration we'd better see what meanings may be derived from the word Persia.

Some of the scholars believe that, the word Persia does not point to a special place but it means the people whose mother tongue is Farsi.

Some of the scholars believe that, due to its historical application by the Arabs, Persia absolutely means the east of the Arabian Peninsula.