Safiyyah: A Relative Of Several Prophets
When it was clear that the Prophet (peace be upon him) decided to marry Safiyyah (radi Allahu anha), the news was received with considerable expectation. On their arrival in Madinah, the Prophet (peace be upon him) accommodated her first in the house of his Ansari companion, Harithah ibn Al-Numan. Many women, particularly from the Ansar, went there to see the Prophet’s new wife. This was only to be expected since the Ansar were used to having the Jews living in their city until they had recently been evacuated. Safiyyah’s own people, the Al-Nadir tribe, were evacuated only three years earlier. The Prophet (peace be upon him) even noticed his wife, Ayesha (radi Allahu anha), going there, having covered her face. He (peace be upon him) observed her movement until he saw her going into that house. When she came back home, he (peace be upon him) asked her: ‘How did you find her?’ Her answer expressed her jealous feelings: ‘I only saw a Jewish woman.’ The Prophet (peace be upon him) said: ‘Do not say that. She has become a Muslim, and she is a good Muslim.’
A report by Umm Sinan (radi Allahu anha), a companion of the Prophet (peace be upon him), states that she saw four of the Prophet’s wives coming to that house to look at Safiyyah (radi Allahu anha). They had heard of her beauty. Umm Sinan (radi Allahu anha) says, ‘I heard Zaynab (radi Allahu anha) speaking to Juwayriyyah (radi Allahu anha): ‘I fear that this young woman will be the Prophet’s favorite.’ Juwayriyyah (radi Allahu anha) answered: ‘I do not think so. She belongs to a type of woman who is rarely favored by her husband.’ Whatever Juwauriyyah (radi Allahu anha) saw to make her give this judgment is not mentioned. The Prophet (peace be upon him), however, did not treat Safiyyah (radi Allahu anha) any differently from his other wives. She established her position in his home, and she loved him dearly. When he suffered illness, shortly before his death, she said she would willingly bear the pain if he would only recover. He (peace be upon him) said that she was expressing her genuine feelings.
After their marriage, the Prophet (peace be upon him) did all he could to help Safiyyah (radi Allahu anha) forget the events of the past, which were naturally a source of grief to her. She is reported to have said later: “God’s Messenger (peace be upon him) was very hateful to me because he killed my husband and my father. However, he kept apologizing to me, saying that my father had raised the Arabs against him, and did this and did that, until all my hard feelings disappeared.”
One day, the Prophet (peace be upon him) went into Safiyyah’s room to find her crying. When he asked her why, she said that Ayesha (radi Allahu anha) and Hafsah (radi Allahu anha), who were both his wives, kept talking about her, belittling her position. They said that either of them was far superior to her because they were distant cousins of the Prophet and that he married them for their personalities, not for any other reason. He said to her: “Why did you not reply to them and say: ‘How can you be superior to me when Aaron (peace be upon him) is my father [meaning her lineage ended with him], and Moses (peace be upon him) is my uncle, and my husband is Muhammad (peace be upon him)’.”
It is reported that when Safiyyah was still a young girl, she saw in her dream that the moon fell into her lap. She mentioned her dream to her father, and he hit her hard in the face. He said to her: “You surely wish to be wed to the King of the Arabs.” The slap left a visible mark on her face, which the Prophet (peace be upon him) noticed when he married her. He asked her about that mark, and she told him its cause.
Safiyyah died in the year 50, when she was around 70 years of age. She reported several Hadiths that are transmitted in anthologies of authentic Hadiths.
– By Adil Salahi