4 of 4 · d. 50 AH · 670 CE · Madinah
Safiyyah bint Huyayy رضي الله عنها
Loyal to the End
One night during Ramadan, Safiyyah visited the Prophet ﷺ while he was in seclusion (i'tikaf) in the mosque. When she rose to go home, he walked with her. Two men of the Ansar passed and hurried on, and he called out to them: "Slow down — this is Safiyyah bint Huyayy." They said, "Glory be to Allah, Messenger of Allah!" He explained that Satan runs through a person like blood, and he feared it might cast some suspicion into their hearts (Sahih al-Bukhari 2035; Sahih Muslim 2175).
After his death she remained a part of the community's life. When rebels besieged the caliph 'Uthman in his house, the biographers report that Safiyyah tried to reach him, and when she was turned back she had a plank laid between her house and his so that food and water could be passed across to him.
She died in Madinah around 50 AH and was buried in al-Baqi'. It is reported that she left part of her wealth as a bequest to a relative who had remained Jewish — keeping the tie of kinship to the end.
Safiyyah, once the daughter of the Prophet's ﷺ fiercest opponent, became one of the most loyal members of his household and his community.
How do you stand by people in their hardest hour, even when it costs you?
- Sahih al-Bukhari 2035 Sahih · in the two Sahihs
- Sahih Muslim 2175 Sahih · in the two Sahihs
- Ibn Sa'd, al-Tabaqat al-KubraHistorical report
- al-Dhahabi, Siyar A'lam al-Nubala'Historical 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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