Ḥassān as their guardian. A man from the polytheists then advanced, intending to enter upon them. Ṣafiyyah said to Ḥassān, “Deal with that man.” But he lost heart and refused, so she seized a sword and struck the polytheist with it until she killed him. When the Messenger of Allah was informed, she was allotted a share of the booty.

Al-Farawī adds that Ḥassān later said, “Had that courage been in me, I would have been with the Messenger of Allah.”

She continued, “I cut off his head and said to Ḥassān, ‘Get up and cast it down upon the Jews who are beneath the fortress.’” He replied, “By Allah, that is not in me.” So I took the head and hurled it at them. They said, “By Allah, we now know that he would never have left his family behind unprotected with no one among them,” and they dispersed. (1)

His statement that this occurred “on the Day of Uḥud” is a mistake.

Ibn Isḥāq transmitted a similar report. He said: “Yahyā ibn ʿAbbād related to us from his father,” and in it Ṣafiyyah says to Ḥassān, “Get up and strip him, for I am a woman and he is a man.” He replied, “O daughter of ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib, I have no need of his spoils.” (2)

Yūnus ibn Bukayr likewise narrated it from Hishām, from his father, from Ṣafiyyah, with the same content. (3)

Ibn Isḥāq said: “Ḥassān died in the year 54 AH.”