Safiyyah accepting Islam and her merits
Ulama Institute #1
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Safiyyah bint Huyayy Ibn Akhtab was the favorite daughter of Huyayy Ibn Akhtab the chief of the tribe of Banoo Nadheer, a Jewish tribe. Her first marriage was to Sallam ibn Mishkam, a prominent poet of her tribe, but they separated due to irreconcilable differences. After the Treaty of Al-Hudaybiyah was signed, everyone thought that the Muslims were weak and open to attack. The Jews saw it as an opportune time to strike and invited all Jews in surrounding areas to join them in their attack on Madinah. The Prophet ﷺ heard of their plans and he and the Muslim armies went to Khaybar to confront the enemy rather than wait to be attacked. This was known as the Battle of Khaybar.
Through the mercy of Allah the Muslims triumphed and all the forts of Khaybar were taken. Safiyyah’s father was killed in battle and her second husband Kanaana ibn Rabee’ah ibn Haqeeq was killed for treachery at this battle, while Safiyyah became a prisoner of war.
The Prophet ﷺ freed Safiyyah, invited her to Islam, and proposed marriage to her. She consequently agreed. The wedding feast consisted of dates, fat and barley, and was held on the Prophet’s way back to Madinah at a spot called Sadd As-Sahba. In this way Safiyyah Bint Huyayy Ibn Akhtab the daughter of a former leader of a Jewish tribe, accepted Islam.
Safiyyah had many good qualities that shone whenever she interacted with others. She was noble by birth and by nature. She was God-fearing, intelligent, beautiful, patient, tolerant and dignified. Once the Prophet ﷺ saw the mark of an injury just above her eye and asked her about it. She explained that before she married the Prophet ﷺ she dreamt that the moon fell into her lap. When she told her husband about her dream, he hit her hard and told her that it meant she was in love with the king of Yathrib. They traveled from Khaybar to Madinah and all the Mothers of the Believers were waiting impatiently in their rooms, longing to meet the Prophet and congratulate him on this great victory. When the word spread that the Prophet ﷺ had married the daughter of a Jewish leader. The ladies of Madinah came to meet Safiyyah and all of them were full of praise for her.
‘Aa’ishah and Hafsah were very close friends and the latter was the only person in whom the former could confide safely. It was obvious that the intense love that ‘Aa’ishah had for the Prophet ﷺ made her express her feelings towards Safiyyah in a negative way. Once Safiyyah moved into her own home she displayed her noble upbringing by adopting a pleasant and friendly attitude with the other Mothers of the Believers. She brought expensive gold and jewellery with her from Khaybar and gave them to the other wives. She also loved the Prophet’s daughter Faatimah and gave her gold earrings as a gift. She tried her best to win the affections of ‘Aa’ishah and Hafsah because she knew that the Prophet loved them dearly. When Safiyyah heard that Hafsah had called her a Jew’s daughter she wept. Allah’s Messenger ﷺ came in while she was weeping and asked her what was making her weep. When she told him Hafsah had called her a Jew’s daughter the Prophet ﷺ said,
“إنك لابنة نبي و عمك لنبي وإنك لتحت نبي فقيم تفخر عليك ( الترمذي)
“You are a prophet’s daughter, your paternal uncle was a prophet, and you are married to a prophet, so what has she to boast of over you?” [Al-Tirmidhi]
It was Safiyyah’s nature that inspired her to get on well with people and take painful words to heart with the intention of changing the feelings of those who spoke against her. She was sensitive, yet brave enough to make an effort to rectify a relationship that affected her in a proper manner.
Safiyyah spent a lot of her time reading the Qur’aan and whenever she read, she was intensely affected by the power of the Book of Allah ﷻ and sobbed out of fear for Allah ﷻ The Qur’aan states that the true believer is one whose heart quivers when the Name of Allah is mentioned. The Qur’aan goes further to say that when the Muslim listens to the aayaat of the Qur’aan being read and he finds great pleasure in it, his faith grows and it is a sign of his belief.
Safiyyah was also an extremely tolerant, patient, loving and kind-hearted woman. She had a slave girl who told the kaleefah ‘Umar that Safiyyah still observed the Saturday Sabbath of the Jews. After being questioned about this, Safiyyah informed him that it was not true. She later discovered that it was her slave girl who had passed this story to ‘Umar When she questioned the girl about her motives, the girl replied, that Satan had incited her to do it. Safiyyah immediately set the girl free.
Allah ﷻ says:
ٱلَّذِينَ يُنفِقُونَ فِى ٱلسَّرَّآءِ وَٱلضَّرَّآءِ وَٱلْكَـٰظِمِينَ ٱلْغَيْظَ وَٱلْعَافِينَ عَنِ ٱلنَّاسِ ۗ وَٱللَّهُ يُحِبُّ ٱلْمُحْسِنِينَ ( سوره آل عمران:١٣٤)
“Who spend [in the cause of Allah] during ease and hardship and who restrain anger, and who pardon people – and Allah loves the doers of good.” [Soorat Ali-imraan :134]
Safiyyah had a kind heart and she became one of the best examples of the way in which a Muslim woman should conduct herself and interact with people.
Safiyyah Bint Huyayy Ibn Akhtab
Marriage to the Prophet ﷺ
Safiyyah Bint Huyayy Ibn Akhtab was taken as a prisoner of war at the Battle of Khaybar. Prisoners of war were regarded as part of the booty (spoils of war) and many of the women were taken as slaves. This was a widespread norm at that time. One of the Companions of the Prophet ﷺ heard of Safiyyah’s captivity and approached the Prophet with a suggestion that since she was a lady of Banoo An-Nadheer, the Prophet should marry her. The Prophet ﷺ agreed to this suggestion and granted her freedom and proposed marriage.
When Safiyyah was captured, the Prophet ﷺ told her that he was prepared to set her free, and he offered her the choice of remaining a Jew and returning to her people, or entering Islam and becoming his wife. She chose Allah and his Messenger. The Prophet ﷺ took off his cloak and placed it over her. It was a gesture of pity after the death of her husband. From that moment, she was to be honored and given great respect in the Muslim community. This significant act of the Prophet ﷺ marrying Safiyyah was a great honor for her, as it both preserved her dignity, and saved her from enslavement.
This was done partly in order to alleviate their tragedy and partly to preserve their dignity. The Prophet’s marriage to Safiyyah was significant because it proved to the Jews, with whom the Muslims were engaged in battle, that they too could turn to Islam. After the battle of Khaybar the Prophet was involved in successive wars with the Jews and prior to that he always invited the Jews to embrace Islam. On the return journey to Madinah, the Prophet ﷺ camped with his army twelve miles away from the city and after one of the Sahaabiyaat dressed Safiyyah in her bridal finery, they were married. Safiyyah traveled in the company of the Prophet ﷺ from Khaybar to Madinah. She said that she never came across a person who was more refined and well-mannered than him. He was always pleasant and Safiyyah had a pleasant and friendly disposition that endeared others to her. She carried out the duties of a Muslim diligently and with the fervor of a true believer.
Safiyyah was extremely knowledgeable and spent most of her time reciting the Noble Qur’aan. Her love for the Qur’aan enabled her to recite many soorahs by heart. She always reminded people to recite the Qur’aan, and that they should weep out of fear of Allah In fact if the fear of Allah is strongly rooted in one’s heart, tears will start flowing, and it is the tears of penitence which clean and purify the heart. Safiyyah recognized the importance of this emotive declaration of the power of Allah and it proved her steadfastness and total acceptance of Islam. Some years later, when the Prophet was in his final illness, Safiyyah wtfelt for him deeply and sincerely. She spoke to the Prophet ﷺ and told him that she would gladly change places with him. This shows the level of commitment she had to Islam and the lengths that she would go to please Allah Safiyyah was with the Prophet ﷺ for nearly four years. She lived as a widow for the thirty-nine years and died in 50 AH at the age of sixty. She was buried in grave yard al-Baqee’ and left a hundred thousand dirhams that were distributed as per her will.
