Recordings › The Story of Safiyya: the Prophet's Jewish wife -Mufti Abu Layth al-Maliki · 21 Feb 2018 › Segment 10 of 11
How should Muslims judge hadith that say the Prophet took Safiyya on the night of Khaybar?
hadeeth ahadith ahaadeeth hadis hadees ahaadith malik ibn anas malik bin anas imam maalik imam malik ibn anas imaam imams prayer leader muftis koran quraan al-quran madinah madina al-madinah madeenah yathrib 'alim aalim nikah nikkah nikaah nikah nama nikahnama iddat idda waiting period deen al-din ad-deen ad-dinThe greater picture: weigh the reports against the Quran and the Prophet's character, and stop relaying the Khaybar-night story
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This segment35:13 to 40:25 · 5 min 12 sGeneral teaching
What this part covers
machinesummary, machine-writtenWeigh them against the Quran and the Prophet's character: the story contradicts the widow's waiting period, the verse on no compulsion and everything known of his conduct, and all its versions come from one conflicting source. Mufti Abu Layth says relaying it is a lie against the Prophet and the picture it draws is rape.
In more detail
Mufti Abu Layth says Muslims must look at the greater picture: hadith on historical events conflict because they were documented two generations later, so important matters must be weighed against the Quran first. It is impossible that the Prophet taught widows the iddah and then took Safiyya regardless, impossible that he preached no compulsion in religion and forced her to become Muslim, and impossible that she lived happily with him after her husband was killed and she was made a sex slave that night. All these mutually contradictory narrations come through one person, so there is a problem, and it is impossible that this is the Prophet's character. He says relaying him this way is a lie against the Prophet, and recounts a scholar telling him that very day that the Prophet gave her the choice of slavery or marriage, which shocked him: why think so lowly of the Prophet and accept it so quickly without analysing the conflicting texts? To then demand that the word rape be shown is stupid, since the picture drawn is rape and actions speak louder than words; nobody would tolerate it from anyone else. He urges Muslims not to transmit stories of the Prophet snatching Safiyya and having her that night, which throw his honour off a cliff.
Position stated
Mufti Abu Layth holds that conflicting historical hadith must be weighed against the Quran and the Prophet's character, that the story of Safiyya taken on the night of Khaybar fails both tests and amounts to a lie against the Prophet, and that Muslims who relay it are degrading his honour.
“hadith sometimes they conflict especially on historical accounts because these things didn't get documented two generations later so when it's something very important like this you have to weigh it up against the teachings of the Quran”
Category: method
Kind: general teachingTranscript
machine35:13 to 40:25 · click a time to seek · dotted terms open the glossary
of these stories about Haber as well these incidents now what's interesting is when the Muslims get back and they're celebrating and if God will be spoils of war Abu Hurairah has arrived and what does Abu Hurairah say he transmits and this is in the north of Mali and in Buhari as well he says from the Battle of Haber they didn't bring anything he says Matheny mullah Munim they was not taken and as suppose of whoa except ll random one Bakr raffia except clothing cows and sheep he says
no wealth and he mentions no women there was none of these captives and slaves and stuff like this this apparatus and these in the motto of Imam Malik in the soil Buhari once again so you need to look as Muslims we need to look at the greater picture yes hadith come to us there's many hadith sometimes they conflict especially on historical accounts because these things didn't get documented two generations later so when it's something very
important like this you have to weigh it up against the teachings of the Quran to start off with what does the Quran say how it is impossible that the Prophet is preaching to people about it the women widows have this idea but then himself is like hey take Sofia it doesn't matter that is impossible it is impossible that she accepts the Prophet is saying there is no compulsion in Islam but then forces her to become Muslim it is impossible that she lives with the
Prophet happily and does all these things and her husband's just been killed and he's been killed she's been dragged away and all this and that night she's been turned into a sex slave and stuff like this it is impossible impossible these kind of things can it is impossible that all these things happen all these narrations which are all in books like Buhari and they all contradict each other that you know no this person has and no he buys her with this no he buys it with that no they stop here and no they don't stop here no they celebrate here no they don't celebrate here live they get married straight away no they don't get my straight with no they marine Medina no
they marry in this place you know know that they can't oh this is yes there's some fruits and you have to analyze these things you have to understand that look all of them are only coming through an S one person is transmitting everything and it's all conflicting so okay we've got a problem why have we got a problem because it's impossible that that is the character of the Prophet we have to be so weary we teach how we teach and relay them profit the profits character
you cannot relay him like this and it is a lie against against the profit I'm serious that when I watch these things you know even today some Muslim just said to me yes so what the Prophet gave her a choice embrace you know you can stay a slave or I can free you and you can be my wife and this was a scholar saying this to me today when ye shocks me that how can you think solo of the Prophet and you say Yahweh doesn't mind the Prophet did it must be right what do you mean if the prophet saw the Prophet wouldn't do something like that why are
you why are you projecting this nonsense onto the Prophet he didn't do that why I mean why are you so quick to accept that I mean have you even analyzed what's going on have you even looked at the text they conflict with each other why are you so quickly that shows the product you're just saying yes sir wife the Prophet was barbaric in her and just raped us so what but if he did it was okay but he didn't do that why are you accepting this and then and then to say but showing me the word rape is stupid it's stupid because obviously that what the picture you're drawing is
rape there is no other picture it doesn't whether you know it doesn't actions speak louder than words so it is unacceptable to do these kind of things and look you wouldn't tolerate this for anybody else why teach it as the actions of the Prophet because it is what Allah he it is not true this is what I'm saying so I am urging people Muslims especially please you know for the love of God do not transmit stories like that about the Prophet snatching Sophia
taking her having her on that night this is not true you are degrading you throwing the ginger of God off you know his honor off a cliff so have just pause and think for a moment what you are doing just think about it these things will lie they are not acceptable they are not acceptable if any other man was to do them you would be up in arms so why are you ascribing them to the Prophet and he said yeah but it's same Buhari but there's so many
Paragraphs overlapping 35:13 to 40:25. Full text on the recording page.
Cite this segment
Stable id, transcript version and tier are part of the citation. Every change to a transcript is logged.Mufti Abu Layth Archive, segment 2018-02-21b-S10, auto-transcribed, may contain errors. https://muftiabulayth.org/r/dper6y4mgwa/s/10/ (accessed 1 November 2026)
- APA 7
Mufti Abu Layth. (2018, February 21). How should Muslims judge hadith that say the Prophet took Safiyya on the night of Khaybar? [Video, segment 2018-02-21b-S10, auto-transcribed, may contain errors]. Mufti Abu Layth Archive. Retrieved November 1, 2026, from https://muftiabulayth.org/r/dper6y4mgwa/s/10/
- Chicago author-date
Mufti Abu Layth. 2018. "How should Muslims judge hadith that say the Prophet took Safiyya on the night of Khaybar?" Video, segment 2018-02-21b-S10, auto-transcribed, may contain errors. Mufti Abu Layth Archive. Recorded February 21, 2018. Accessed November 1, 2026. https://muftiabulayth.org/r/dper6y4mgwa/s/10/
- BibTeX
@misc{abulayth-2018-02-21b-S10, author = {Mufti Abu Layth}, title = {{How should Muslims judge hadith that say the Prophet took Safiyya on the night of Khaybar?}}, year = {2018}, month = {2}, date = {2018-02-21}, howpublished = {\url{https://muftiabulayth.org/r/dper6y4mgwa/s/10/}}, url = {https://muftiabulayth.org/r/dper6y4mgwa/s/10/}, organization = {Mufti Abu Layth Archive}, urldate = {2026-11-01}, note = {Segment 2018-02-21b-S10, auto-transcribed, may contain errors} }
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