This occultation lasted for two hundred and fifty years.

This occultation lasted for two hundred and fifty years.” 2 - Narrated to us Muhammad bin Hasan bin Ahmad bin Walid (r.a.) that: Narrated to us Muhammad bin Hasan as-Saffar; and Saad bin Abdullah, all of them from Ayyub bin Nuh from Abdullah bin al-Mughairah from Saad bin Abi Khalaf from Muawiyah bin Ammar that he said: Abu Abdullah (a.s.) said: “People remained without an apparent divine proof for two hundred and fifty years after Isa Ibne Maryam (a.s.).” 3 - Narrated to us my father (r.a.): Narrated to us Muhammad bin Yahya al-Attar from Yaqoob bin Yazid from Muhammad bin Abi Umair from Saad bin Abi Khalaf from Yaqoob bin Shuaib from Abi Abdullah (a.s.) that he said: “Between Isa (a.s.) and Muhammad (S) there was a gap of five hundred years out of which for two hundred and fifty years there was neither a prophet nor any learned one from Allah who was apparent.

I (the narrator) asked: What did the people follow? The Imam replied: They followed the religion of Isa (a.s.). I asked: What was their actual condition? He replied: They were believers. Then he said: The earth never remains devoid of a learned one.” Among those who roamed in the lands in search of divine proof was Salman Farsi (r.a.). He continued to move from one learned to another and moved from one jurisprudent to another and remained in the pursuit of divine secrets.

He gained guidance through narrations. He awaited for the Qaim, the Qaim and the chief of the formers and the latters, Muhammad (S) for four hundred years till he received the glad tidings of his birth. When he became certain of deliverance he set out for Tahama and he was taken a captive there. Previous…