2 of 4 · 7 AH · 628 CE · Khaybar and the road to Madinah
Safiyyah bint Huyayy رضي الله عنها
Freed at Khaybar
Khaybar fell to the Muslims in 7 AH. Safiyyah's husband Kinanah was killed, and she was among the captives. She was first given to the Companion Dihyah al-Kalbi; then it was pointed out to the Prophet ﷺ that she was the noblewoman of both Banu Qurayzah and Banu al-Nadir, and that her rank called for something other than ordinary captivity (Sahih al-Bukhari 371).
The Prophet ﷺ freed her and married her, and made her freedom her dowry (Sahih al-Bukhari 4200). The biographers report that he gave her the choice of returning to her people as a free woman, or staying with him, and that she chose to stay and accept Islam. On the road back, he held a simple wedding feast of dates, butter and dried curd on a leather mat. He screened her behind him on his camel, and the Companions understood from this that she was his wife, a Mother of the Believers, not a captive; and he would kneel by the camel and let her step on his knee to mount.
It would be dishonest to pretend that these events cost her nothing: in a few years she had lost her father, her husband and her home. The sources do not hide this. What they show is a man who restored her freedom, honoured her rank, gave her a choice, and treated her with visible gentleness from the first day.
Safiyyah's dignity was restored in the very first act of her new life: freedom, a choice, and a husband who honoured her.
When someone has lost a great deal, how can you restore their dignity rather than add to their loss?
- Sahih al-Bukhari 371 Sahih · in the two Sahihs
- Sahih al-Bukhari 4200 Sahih · in the two Sahihs
- Sahih al-Bukhari, Kitab al-Maghazi (Ghazwat Khaybar)Sahih · in the two Sahihs
- Sahih Muslim 1365 Sahih · in the two Sahihs
- Ibn Sa'd, al-Tabaqat al-KubraHistorical report
- Ibn Hisham, al-Sirah al-NabawiyyahHistorical report
What the hadith grades mean
- Sahih (authentic): an unbroken chain of trustworthy, precise narrators, free of hidden flaws or contradiction. It is acted upon.
- Hasan (good): like sahih, but a narrator's precision is slightly lighter. It is also accepted and acted upon. "Hasan sahih" means it reaches sahih by its routes.
- Da'if (weak): a break in the chain or a narrator who is not reliable enough. It is not used to establish beliefs or rulings.
- Very weak (munkar, matruk): a seriously flawed chain or a narrator accused of lying. It is not relied on at all.
- Mawdu' (fabricated): falsely attributed to the Prophet ﷺ. It may not be narrated as his words except to warn against it.
- The two Sahihs: every hadith with a full chain in Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim is accepted as sahih by the scholars of hadith.
- Historical report: biographies and histories (Ibn Ishaq, Ibn Sa'd, al-Tabari) record events with chains that are often incomplete. They are used for the story, not for rulings.
- Hadith scholars grade a narration; the four madhhabs do not. Where a hadith carries a ruling, the page shows which schools act on it.
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