Prophet Did Not Force Safiyyah to Wear Hijaab
Fatwa No: 395974

Question

Salam Aleykum!Is it true that the Prophet (PHUB) made Safiyya wear hijab? Or was as she a slave?

Answer

All perfect praise be to Allah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah, and that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger.

Safiyyah was not a slave woman when the Prophet married her. Rather, he emancipated her and then married her, as stated in an authentic Hadeeth.

The Prophet made her wear the Hijaab because she became a free woman.

Anas narrated the story of Safiyyah bint Huyayy when the Prophet chose her (to be his wife), and the Muslims started to say: "If the Prophet makes her observe the Hijaab, then she has become one of the mothers of the believers (i.e. one of his wives), and if he does not make her observe the Hijaab, then she is still a slave woman." [Al-Bukhaari]

The fact that the Prophet made her wear the Hijaab does not mean that he forced her to wear it. Rather, she was a believing woman and she wore the Hijaab out of her own free will. She had converted to Islam before he married her.

For more benefit on the Prophet’s marriage to Safiyyah, please refer to Fataawa 347950, married Safiyyah and Juwayriyah after they embraced Islam">308899 and 85306.

Allah knows best.

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