Safiyya bint Huyayy

Safiyya was born in Medina to Huyayy ibn Akhtab, the chief of the Jewish tribe Banu Nadir. Her mother, Barra bint Samawal, was from the Banu Qurayza tribe. She was the granddaughter of Samaw'al ibn Adiya from the Banu Harith tribe. According to a source, she was married off to Sallam ibn Mishkam, who later divorced her.[3]

When the Banu Nadir were expelled from Medina in 625, her family settled in Khaybar, an oasis near Medina.[3] Her father and brother went from Khaybar to join the Meccan and Bedouin forces besieging Muhammad in Medina during the Battle of the Trench. When the Meccans withdrew Muhammad besieged the Banu Qurayza. After the defeat of the Banu Qurayza in 627 Safiyya's father, a long-time opponent of Muhammad, was captured by the Muslims.[4]

It is related that she bore the mark of a bruise upon her eye; when the prophet asked her tenderly the cause, she told him that, being yet Kenāna's bride, she saw in a dream as if the moon had fallen from the heavens into her lap; and that when she told it to Kenāna, he struck her violently, saying: 'What is this thy dream but that thou covetest the new king of the Ḥijāz, the Prophet, for thy husband!' The mark of the blow was the same which Moḥammad saw.

In summer 625, Muhammad went to the Nadir quarter to ask them to contribute towards the army, secondary to Umayya's killing of two men from Banu Kilab. Huyayy agreed to give it to him, but as Muhammad was waiting by the wall of one of their houses their plan to assassinate Muhammad became apparent, the prophet hurried away along with his companions and returned to Medina. When his followers asked him why he had left in such a hurry, He replied that the Angel Gabriel had warned him that Huyayy ibn Akhtab was urging the Jews to kill him and that 'Amr ibn Jahsh had volunteered to drop a rock onto his head.

Huyayy came to Ka'b ibn As'ad, the chief of the Banu Quraiza in Medina, but failed to incite him to war against Muhammad.[5]

Because of this action, Muhammad ended alliance with the Nadir tribe and that act of treachery from the Jews meant that they were at war with one another. He then sent one of his companions (Muhammad bin Muslimah) to issue an ultimatum to the Jews. They were to leave Medina within a specified amount of time. When the Jews refused to leave at the behest of fake Muslims (The Hypocrites) Muhammad decided to take military action and besieged the Jews in their fortresses. After six nights of this, the Jews agreed to lay down arms and they were given safe passage out of Medina; they were also allowed to take all of their belongings with them except their military arms. From there the Jews settled in Khaybar and some in Syria.[6]

In May 629, the Muslims defeated several Jewish tribes (including the Banu Nadir) at the Battle of Khaybar. The Jews had surrendered, and were allowed to remain in Khaybar on the provision that they give half of their annual produce to the Muslims. The land itself became the property of the Muslim state.[7] This agreement, Stillman says, did not extend to the Banu Nadir tribe, who were given no quarter.[8] Safiyya's husband, Kenana ibn al-Rabi, was killed later.[9]

Muhammad suggested that Safiyya convert to Islam, she agreed and thus became Muhammad's wife.[10] Safiyya did not bear any children to Muhammad.[11]

According to Muhammad al-Bukhari, Muhammad stayed for three days between Khaybar and Medina, where he consummated his marriage to Safiyya. His companions wondered if she was to be considered a slave (ma malakat aymanukum) or a wife. The former speculated that they would consider Safiyya as Muhammad's wife, and thus "Mothers of the Believers", if Muhammad ordered her to veil herself, else she would be his servant-girl.[12]

Despite her conversion, Muhammad's other wives teased Safiyya about her Jewish origin. Doubts about Safiyya's loyalty to Islam and the suspicion that she would avenge her slain kin are themes in the Sirah Rasul Allah (biographies of Muhammad).[13] In these stories, Muhammad or Umar express great displeasure at such doubts and reaffirm her loyalty.[2][3]

Regarding Safiyya's Jewish descent, Muhammad once said to his wife that if other women insulted her for her "Jewish heritage" and were jealous because of her beauty, she was to respond, "Aaron is my father, Moses my uncle, and Muhammad my husband."[14]

In Jewish sources:

Ten Kings Midrash:

“At the beginning of his (Muhammad's) dominion, when he goes forth, he will seek to do harm to Israel, but great men of Israel will join with him and give him a wife (Safiyya) from among them, and there will be peace between him and Israel. He will conquer all the kingdom and come to Jerusalem and bow down there and make war with the Edomites (Byzantines) and they will flee before him and he will seize the kingship by force and then he (Muhammad) will die.”[15]

In 656, Safiyya sided with caliph Uthman ibn Affan, and defended him at his last meeting with Ali, Aisha, and Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr. During the period when the caliph was besieged at his residence, Safiyya made an unsuccessful attempt to reach him, and supplied him with food and water via a plank placed between her dwelling and his.[3]

Safiyya died in 670 or 672, during the reign of Muawiyah, and was buried in the Jannat al-Baqi graveyard.[16] She left an estate of 100,000 dirhams in land and goods. Her dwelling in Medina was bought by Muawiyya for 180,000 dirhams.[3]

Her dream was interpreted as a miracle, and her suffering and reputation for crying won her a place in Sufi works. She is mentioned in all major books of hadith for relating a few traditions and a number of events in her life serve as legal precedents.[3]

• Saffiyah (name)
• Rayhana
• Judaism's views on Muhammad
• List of non-Arab Sahaba

• Awde, Nicholas Women in Islam: An Anthology from the Qur'an and Hadits, Routledge (UK) 2000, ISBN 0-7007-1012-4
• John Esposito and Yvonne Yazbeck Haddad, Islam, Gender, and Social Change, Oxford University Press, 1997, ISBN 0-19-511357-8
• Leila Ahmed, Women and Gender in Islam: Historical roots of a modern debate, Yale University Press, 1992
• Valentine Moghadam (ed), Gender and National Identity.
• Karen Armstrong, "The Battle for God: Fundamentalism in Judaism, Christianity and Islam", London, HarperCollins/Routledge, 2001