Thus that monk came to me and asked: Are you Ruzbah?

Thus that monk came to me and asked: Are you Ruzbah? “Yes,” said I. He said: Go up. I went up and continued to serve him for two complete years. When it was the time of his death he said: I am going to die. I asked him: On whom are you leaving me? He said: I don’t know anyone in the world who follows my beliefs and indeed the birth of Muhammad bin Abdullah bin Abdul Muttalib is near. So if you meet him, convey my salutations to him and give this tablet to him.

When he died I gave him the funeral bath, shrouded and buried him and set out taking the tablet with me. I met a group of people and I offered to serve them if they gave me food and water and they agreed. When their mealtime arrived, they tied up a sheep and beat it to death. After that they prepared Kebab with some of the meat and some they roasted red on the fire. When I declined to partake it, they said: Eat it!

I told them: I am a monk and a young man that spent his life in a monastery and monks do not eat meat. They began to beat me and were about to take my life when some of them said: Wait till the wine arrives. And know that he would not take wine also. When they brought the wine I said: I am a monk and young man who lived in a monastery and the people of monastery do not imbibe wine. They tied me up and decided to eliminate me.

I said: O people, do not beat me or put me to death as I have confessed to be a slave of yours. And I agreed that I was a bondman of one of them. That person saved me from those people and sold me to a Jew for three hundred dirhams. Salman says that the Jew asked me about my story and I told him about it and said that I had no fault except that I loved Muhammad and his legatee. The Jew said: Then know that I hate you and Muhammad.

He took me outside his house where there was a huge quantity of sand. He said: O Ruzbah, if you are not able to shift all the sand till the morning next I will surely kill you. Salman says: I spent the whole night shifting that sand from one place to another. When I was absolutely exhausted, I raised my hands to the sky and prayed: O my Lord, You have filled up my heart with the love for Muhammad and his legatee.

So I ask you in their names, please hasten my deliverance and save me from this terrible situation. So Allah, the Mighty and Sublime sent a windstorm that transferred all the sand to the spot that Jew had specified. In the morning the Jew was surprised that I had shifted all the sand.