Safiyyah bint Huyayy (rha)

A wife of the Prophet ﷺ (a Mother of the Believers), daughter of the Banu Nadir chief Huyayy ibn Akhtab — a captive of Khaybar whose choice of faith over her people, after all of them had fallen, is one of the seerah’s clearest proofs of sincere Iman.

Identity & lineage

Of noble Jewish descent — she would later be told to answer a slur with “my father was a prophet (Harun), my uncle a prophet (Musa), and my husband a prophet.” As a girl she saw her father Huyayy and uncle Abu Yasir return from meeting the Prophet ﷺ in Madinah, crushed, admitting “he is the one” yet resolving on lifelong enmity (see Huyayy ibn Akhtab).

Capture and marriage (EP 070)

Exiled with Banu Nadir, she married a Khaybar man, Kinana, who was killed in the battle; she was taken captive, fell to Dihyah al-Kalbi, then was taken by the Prophet ﷺ (who paid her price). Told she was free to keep her faith and return to her people, or accept Islam and be his wife, she chose Islam — “Allah and His Messenger are more beloved to me than my own people” — though the Prophet ﷺ had opened by naming her father’s enmity, to test her heart (“no soul bears the burden of another,” Q 35:18, she replied). He freed her and made her freedom her mahr. A dream she had had — the moon falling into her lap — was fulfilled (her husband had struck her for “expecting to marry the king of the Arabs”).

Character & later life

The Prophet ﷺ loved her deeply and defended her when the other wives taunted her as bint al-Yahudi (the daughter of a Jew) — even boycotting Zaynab for a while over such a slight. Having no family, she was in neither wives’ “camp,” and he was tender toward her; on his deathbed he affirmed her sincerity when she wished she could bear his fever for him. Abu Ayyub al-Ansari stood guard at her wedding tent (fearing she might avenge her kin) — a caution the Prophet ﷺ smiled at, since her love was true. She lived until 52 AH.

Cross-references

Huyayy ibn Akhtab · The Battle of Khaybar · Khaybar · Abu Ayyub al-Ansari (ra) · Zaynab bint Jahsh (rha) · The Expulsion of Banu Nadir · Muhammad ﷺ · Seerah Timeline

Sources

• S009 — Yasir Qadhi Seerah EP 070. Her testimony, the choice, the dream, and the “daughter of a Jew” incidents in Sahih Bukhari & Muslim and Ibn Sa’d’s Tabaqat (Umm Sulaym’s account of her preparation).