“Gabriel said to me, ‘Take Hafsah back, for she fasts often, stands in prayer by night, and she will be your wife in Paradise.’” (1)
A similar report containing Gabriel’s words was narrated by al-Hasan ibn Abī Jaʿfar, from Thābit, from Anas, as a hadith traced back to the Prophet. (2)
26 – Safiyyah bint Huyayy ibn Akhtab ibn Saʿyah, Mother of the Believers (ʿ)
She hailed from the line of Levi, son of the Prophet of Allah Israel (Jacob), son of Isaac, son of Abraham—upon them be peace—and thus from the progeny of Allah’s messenger Aaron—peace be upon him.
Before embracing Islam she had been married to Sallām ibn Abī al-Huqayq, after whose death Kinānah ibn Abī al-Huqayq married her. Both were poets among the Jews. Kinānah was killed on the day of Khaybar; Safiyyah was taken captive and allotted to Dihyah al-Kalbī as his share of the spoils.
People then spoke to the Prophet ﷺ about her, saying that she was not suited to
(1) Reported by Ibn Saʿd, 8/84; al-Hakim, 4/15; and by al-Tabarani as cited in Majmaʿ al-zawaʾid, 9/245. Qays ibn Zayd, a junior successor (tabiʿi), is unknown, while the remaining transmitters are reliable. Al-Haythami’s comment in Majmaʿ al-zawaʾid that “its transmitters are those of the two Sahihs” applies only to part of the chain; in the printed edition the name Zayd has been mistakenly rendered Yazid. The text itself contains a historical slip: Uthman ibn Mazun died before the Prophet married Hafsa, for he passed away before the battle of Uhud without dispute, whereas Hafsa’s first husband was killed at Uhud and the Prophet married her only after that battle.
(2) Also recorded in al-Mustadrak, 4/15. The chain there is weak because of Hasan ibn Abi Jaʿfar al-Jufri, yet the hadith is sound when corroborating narrations are taken into account, as noted above.
(*) Principal sources: Musnad Ahmad, 6/336; Ibn Saʿd, Tabaqat, 8/120-129; Khalifa, Tarikh, 82, 83, 86; Ibn Qutayba, al-Maʿarif, 138, 215; al-Hakim, al-Mustadrak, 4/28-29; Ibn ʿAbd al-Barr, al-Istīʿab, 4/1871; Ibn al-Athir, Jamiʿ al-usul, 9/143; Id., Usd al-ghaba, 7/169; al-Mizzi, Tahdhib al-kamal, 1686; al-Dhahabi, Tarikh al-Islam, 2/228; Id., al-ʿIbar, 1/8, 56; al-Haythami, Majmaʿ al-zawaʾid, 9/250; Ibn Hajar, Tahdhib al-tahdhib, 12/429; Id., al-Isaba, 13/14; Khulasat tadhhib al-kamal, 492; al-Muttaqi, Kanz al-ʿummal, 13/637, 704; Ibn al-ʿImad, Shadharāt al-dhahab, 1/12, 56.