Hadith 1
Anas ibn Mālik (may Allah be pleased with him) reported that the Prophet ﷺ emancipated Ṣafiyyah and made her emancipation her bridal dower.

Overall meaning
Ṣafiyyah bint Ḥuyayy—the daughter of one of the leaders of Banū al-Naḍīr—had been the wife of Kinānah ibn Abī al-Ḥuqayq, who was killed at Khaybar. When the Prophet ﷺ conquered Khaybar by force, the women and children became the lawful captives of the Muslims.

Ṣafiyyah fell to the lot of Dihyah ibn Khalīfah al-Kalbī, but the Prophet ﷺ compensated him with another captive and selected her for himself out of respect for her feelings and mercy for her lost honour. In his generosity he was not content to keep her as a humiliated bond-servant; instead, he raised her status by freeing her from the abasement of slavery and making her one of the Mothers of the Believers. Thus he emancipated her, married her, and made her emancipation her dowry.

Lessons drawn from the hadith

1. A man may free his female slave, make that act of emancipation her dower, and thereby marry her.
2. For such a marriage, neither her consent nor witnesses nor a guardian is required, nor is it necessary to use the specific formulae of “marrying” or “giving in marriage.”
3. The hadith shows that the dower may consist of any benefit—religious or worldly.
4. This episode in the Prophet’s marriage demonstrates the perfection of his compassion and mercy and his consistent practice of his own saying: “Show mercy to a noble person who has been humbled.”

Here we have a widow who lost her father among the executed captives of Banū Qurayẓah and her husband in the Battle of Khaybar—both were leaders of their people. She then suffered captivity and disgrace. Had she remained as the wife or bond-maid of one of the Prophet’s followers, her humiliation and broken pride would have deepened; only by transferring her allegiance to someone else could her dignity be restored, and the Prophet ﷺ was the most deserving person to do so.

From this it becomes clear that the Prophet’s plurality of wives was never to satisfy a sexual urge, as the enemies and detractors of Islam claim. Otherwise, he would have sought out youthful virgins rather than widows bereft of their husbands. A case-by-case study of each of his marriages reveals only these compassionate and noble purposes. He is far above—utterly removed from—the slanders of the unjust aggressors. Several modern authors, such as ʿAbbās Maḥmūd al-ʿAqqād and Bint al-Shāṭiʾ, have written on this topic.