Safiyyah bint Huyayy
Mother of the Believers
BornSafiyyah bint Huyayy
c. 610–614 CE
Yathrib, Hejaz, Arabia (present-day Medina, Saudi Arabia)
Diedc. 664–672 CE
Medina, Hejaz, Umayyad caliphate (present-day Saudi Arabia)
Burial
Jannat al-Baqi
Spouse
Names
صفية بنت حيي
House
FatherHuyayy ibn Akhtab
MotherBarra bint Samawal
ReligionIslam
Judaism (formerly)

Safiyya bint Huyayy (Arabic: صفية بنت حيي, romanized: Ṣafiyya bint Ḥuyayy) was the tenth wife of Muhammad.[1] She was, along with all other wives of Muhammad, titled Umm-ul-Mu'mineen or the "Mother of Believers".[2]

Early life

Safiyyah was born in Medina to Huyayy ibn Akhtab, the chief of the Jewish tribe Banu Nadir. Her mother, Barrah bint Samawal, was from the Banu Qurayza tribe. Her maternal grandfather was Samaw'al ibn 'Adiya, a celebrated pre-Islamic Arabian Jewish poet 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 153 kilometers from 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 and executed by the Muslims.[4]

In 627 or early in 628, Safiyya was married to Kenana ibn al-Rabi, treasurer of the Banu Nadir; she was about 17 years old at that time.[3] Muslim sources claimed that Safiyya is said to have informed Kenana of a dream she had in which the moon had fallen from the heavens into her lap. Kenana interpreted it as a desire to marry Muhammad and struck her in the face, leaving a mark which was still visible when she first had contact with Muhammad.[2][5]

Battle of Khaybar

In May 628, Muhammad and the Muslims invaded Khaybar, and several Jewish tribes (including the Banu Nadir) were defeated and surrendered. Some of the Jewish tribes were allowed to remain in the city on the condition that they give half of their annual produce to the Muslims. The land itself became the property of the Muslim state.[6] This settlement, according to Stillman, did not extend to the Banu Nadir tribe, who were given no mercy.[7]

Safiyya's then-husband, Kenana ibn al-Rabi, who was the custodian of the Banu Nadir's treasure, was summoned by Muhammad to reveal its location. Despite Kenana's professed ignorance, a Jew disclosed his habitual presence around a particular ruin. Consequently, Muhammad ordered excavations in that area, uncovering a portion of the treasure. When questioned about the remaining wealth, Kenana refused to divulge. Muhammad then ordered Zubayr ibn al-Awwam to torture him with hot steel applied to his chest until he was almost dead. Muhammad subsequently took him to Muhammad ibn Maslama, who beheaded him in revenge for his brother Mahmud, who had been killed in the battle.[8][9][10][11]

Dihya al-Kalbi, one of Muhammad's companions, requested a slave from the captives, and Muhammad granted him the choice. Dihya thus went and took Safiyya. Witnessing this, another companion informed Muhammad, highlighting Safiyya's beauty and her status as the chief mistress of Banu Qurayza and the Nadir. The companion believed she was fit only for Muhammad, leading Muhammad to give the order to call them.[12][13][14]

When Safiyya was delivered, she came along with another woman. Confronted with the sight of the headless corpses of the beheaded Banu Nadir men, the woman cried out wildly, smacked herself in the face, and poured sand on her head.[15][16] Muhammad ordered that what he considered a "she-devil" be taken away.[17] Muhammad then took Safiyya for himself and told Dihya to take any other slave girl from the captives.[13][14] It was reported that Dihya got seven slaves in exchange.[18] Muhammad married Safiyya and took her to his bed later that night. She was 17 years old at the time and renowned for her exceptional beauty.[19][20]

Marriage to Muhammad

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 (Arabic: ma malakat aymanukum) or a wife. The former speculated that they would consider Safiyya as Muhammad's wife, and thus "Mother of the Believers".

Muhammad advised Safiyya to convert to Islam, she accepted and agreed to became Muhammad's wife.[21] Safiyya did not bear any children to Muhammad.[22]

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: "My father (ancestor) Harun (Aaron) was a prophet, my uncle (his brother) Musa (Moses) was a prophet, and my husband (Muhammad) is a prophet."[23]

Legacy

After Muhammad's death, she became involved in the power politics of the early Muslim community, and acquired substantial influence by the time of her death.[3] 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 Mu'awiya I, and was buried in the Jannat al-Baqi graveyard.[24] She left an estate of 100,000 dirhams in land and goods, one-third of which she bequeathed to her sister's son, who followed Judaism. 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]

See also

References and footnotes

  1. ↑ Safiyya bint Huyay, Fatima az-Zahra by Ahmad Thompson
  2. 1 2 Stowasser, Barbara. The Mothers of the Believers in the Hadith. The Muslim World, Volume 82, Issue 1-2: 1-36.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Vacca, V (1995). "Safiyya". In P. J. Bearman; Th. Bianquis; C. E. Bosworth; E. van Donzel; W. P. Heinrichs (eds.). Encyclopaedia of Islam. Vol. 8 (2nd ed.). Brill Academic Publishers. p. 817. ISBN 9004098348. ISSN 1573-3912.
  4. ↑ Guillaume, A. The Life of Muhammad: Translation of Ibn Ishaq's Sirat Rasul Allah.
  5. ↑ "It is related that she bore the mark of a bruise upon her eye; when the Prophet (Peace be upon him) 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." cf. Muir (1912) pp. 378-379
  6. ↑ Veccia Vaglieri, L. "Khaybar". In P.J. Bearman; Th. Bianquis; C.E. Bosworth; E. van Donzel; W.P. Heinrichs (eds.). Encyclopaedia of Islam Online. Brill Academic Publishers. ISSN 1573-3912.
  7. ↑ Stillman (1979) p. 18
  8. ↑ Rodgers 2012, p. 200–1.
  9. ↑ Rodinson 2021, p. 254.
  10. ↑ Bukay 2017, List of Muhammad's Orders to Murder People.
  11. ↑ al-Ṭabarī 1997, p. 117–122, Vol. 8.
  12. ↑ Harvard Human Rights Journal. Vol. 11. Harvard Law School. 1998. p. 47.
  13. 1 2 Garst 2018, Of Women, Donkeys, and Black Dogs.
  14. 1 2 Bukhārī 1997, p. 249, Vol. 1, no. 371.
  15. ↑ al-Ṭabarī 1997, p. 122.
  16. ↑ Zeitlin 2007, p. 136.
  17. ↑ al-Ṭabarī 1997, p. 122, Vol. 8.
  18. ↑ Ibn Mājah 2007, p. 298, Vol. 3, no. 2272.
  19. ↑ Rodinson 1971, p. 254.
  20. ↑ Muslim 2007, p. 58, Vol. 4, no. 1365.
  21. ↑ Ibn Saad, al-Tabaqat, pp.120-123.
  22. ↑ Peters, F. E., Muhammad and the Origins of Islam, State University of New York Press, 1994, pp.179, ISBN 0-7914-1876-6. "At Medina he also married Umar's daughter Hafsa, Hind, Zaynab daughter of Jahsh, 16 Umm Salama, Juwayriyya, Ramla or Umm Habiba, Safiyya, and Maymuna. None of them bore him children, however, though he had a son, Ibrahim, by his Coptic concubine Maria. Ibrahim died an infant."
  23. ↑ W.M. Watt, "Companion to the Qur'an, based on the Arberry translation", p. 237.
  24. ↑ Al-Shati', 1971, p. 181

Bibliography

Further reading

  • 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
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