Safiyya bint Huyayy

Safiyya bint Huyayy (Arabic: صفية بنت حيي Ṣafiyya bint Ḥuyayy) was a Jewish convert to Islam^[1] from the Banu Nadir tribe. After the Battle of Khaybar in 628, she was widowed and taken captive by the early Muslims and subsequently became Muhammad's tenth wife.^[2] Like all other women who were married to Muhammad, Safiyya was known to Muslims as a "Mother of the Believers".^[3] Their marriage produced no children and ended with Muhammad's death in Medina in 632.

Before marrying the Prophet, Safiyyah had been married twice. Her first husband was the Rabbi Sallam ibn Mishkim, and her second was Kenana ibn al-Rabi, a key opponent of the Prophet. The latter was abusive toward Safiyyah; in the hadith, she recounted an incident where he struck her after she described a dream in which she saw the moon rising over Khaybar and falling into her lap. He interpreted it as her desiring the Prophet.^[4]