and made her freedom her dowry. It is also said that he purchased her in exchange for several slaves, or that he selected her for himself. Anas related: “When the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, gathered the captives of Khaybar, Dihyah came to him and said, ‘Give me a slave woman from among the captives.’ He replied, ‘Go and take one.’ He went and took Safiyyah bint Huyayy. The Messenger was then told, ‘O Messenger, she is the leading lady of Qurayzah and al-Nadīr; she is suited to none but you.’ The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, then told him, ‘Take another slave woman from among the captives instead of her.’” She died—may Allah have mercy on her—during Mu‘āwiyah’s reign, in Ramadān, 50 AH. She was a woman of noble lineage, beautiful, intelligent, and virtuous.
It is related: “The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, came in to find her weeping. He asked, ‘What makes you weep?’ She replied, ‘I have heard that Hafsah and Ā’ishah disparage me, saying, “We are better than Safiyyah: we are daughters of the Messenger of Allah’s paternal cousin, as well as his wives.”’ He said to her, ‘Why did you not say to them, “How can you be better than me when my father is Aaron, my uncle is Moses, and my husband is Muhammad, may Allah bless him and grant him peace?”’”
Then came Maymūnah bint al-Hārith ibn Harn al-Hilāliyyah, the maternal aunt of Abd Allāh ibn Abbās. The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, married her in 7 AH, during the compensatory umrah. She entrusted her marriage arrangements to her sister Umm al-Fadl, who was married to al-Abbās. Umm al-Fadl delegated the matter to her husband, al-Abbās, who married her to him. It is said that this took place before he entered the state of consecration for his umrah; others say it was while he was in that state, and others after he had left it.
When the three days had elapsed, Quraysh sent word to him to leave Mecca and would not allow him time to consummate the marriage there. The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, therefore departed and consummated the marriage at Sarif. She died—may Allah have mercy on her—at Sarif, in the very place where he had consummated their marriage, in 51 AH; other accounts give 63 AH or 66 AH.
These are his wives concerning whom there is no disagreement, knowledge of their marriages to him having been established through mass transmission. They numbered eleven: six from Quraysh—Khadījah, Sawdah, Ā’ishah, Hafsah, Umm Salamah, and Umm Habībah; four from the other Arabs—Zaynab bint Khuzaymah, Zaynab bint Jahsh, Juwayriyah, and Maymūnah; and one from the Children of Israel, namely Safiyyah. Two died during his lifetime: Khadījah, his first wife, and Zaynab bint Khuzaymah. When he died, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, the remaining nine were still alive, as mentioned above.