Safiyya bint Huyayy
صفية بنت حيي
c. 610 CE – c. 670 CE · c. 50 AH
A woman of the Jewish tribe Banu Nadir who was taken captive at Khaybar, then freed and married to the Prophet, becoming one of the Mothers of the Believers.
At a glance
- Roles
- Companion
- Tradition
- Sunni
- Era
- The Prophetic Era · The Rashidun Caliphate
- Region
- Arabia
- Review
- Draft Completeness 2/5 · Help complete it
In time
In space
Map: Natural Earth, public domain · places and route from the graph
WomenIslam and JudaismConverts and those who leave
Place in the story
- Victim · c. June 628 CE · c. Safar 7 AH† – c. June 628 CE · c. Safar 7 AH†Historical
- Convert to Islam · c. 628 CE · c. 7 AH†Tradition
- Family of the Prophet · c. 628 CE · c. 7 AH† – 632 CE · 11 AH†Tradition
- Companion · c. 628 CE · c. 7 AH†Tradition
Jewish (documented) · Sunni (transmitted)
Roles are dated and sourced; the museum describes the act and attributes the judgement.
Brief
Safiyya bint Huyayy was a daughter of the Jewish chief Huyayy ibn Akhtab of Banu Nadir. Taken captive when Khaybar fell in 628, she was freed and married to the Prophet — one of the most striking crossings in the early community.
Life
Born about 610 CE, Safiyya grew up among Banu Nadir, the Jewish tribe expelled from Medina to the oasis of Khaybar 1. When Khaybar fell in The Conquest of Khaybar, her father having already been killed, and her husband executed after the capitulation, she was brought as a captive before Muhammad 2.
The sources report that the Prophet freed her and married her — her freedom standing as her dowry — and that she embraced Islam. In Medina she became one of the Mothers of the Believers; she died about 670 CE 3.
Legacy
Safiyya's life sits at the seam of two communities: Jewish by birth, a captive of the wars, a wife of the Prophet. The tradition itself records her hurt when other wives reminded her of her origins — and the Prophet's answer, naming her father a prophet's descendant and her husband a prophet.
For young visitors
Safiyya lost everything in a war — and then began a completely new life. People still tell the story of how she crossed from one world to another.
Connections
- Born in
- Medina
- Died in
- Medina
- Child of
- Huyayy ibn Akhtab
- Spouse of
- Muhammad
- Member of
- Banu NadirAhl al-BaytMothers of the Believers
- Participated in
- The Conquest of Khaybar
People and things also explored
Aisha bint Abi BakrHafsa bint UmarUmm Salama (Hind bint Abi Umayya)MuhammadUmm Habiba Ramlah bint Abi SufyanAbu HurayraFatima bint MuhammadJuwayriya bint al-Harith
Sources
- Watt, Muhammad at Medina (1956)
- Ibn Ishaq / Guillaume, The Life of Muhammad (1955)
- Ibn Sa'd, Kitab al-Tabaqat al-Kabir (Bewley translation, Ta-Ha)
- al-Raheeq al-Makhtum — Safi al-Rahman al-Mubarakpuri
Cite this page
islam.museum contributors. “Safiyya bint Huyayy”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/person/safiyya-bint-huyayy/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Accessed 2026-10-12.