We resume the battle of Khaybar, and we already mentioned the muhajir from Ayssi

nia arrived into Madinah and met the prophet PBUH the very day he conquered Khay
bar. And the prophet PBUH said to Ja'far that "What makes me more happy I don't
know seeing you or the conquest of Khaybar". Now with this groups came one of th
e wives of the prophet PBUH, Ramlah bint Abi Suffyan known as Umme Habiba. Her h
usband Ubayd'Allah ibn Jahsh was one of the very few people who was a sahabi but
then became a murtad. Perhaps he's the only one is the entire seerah - but he i
s the most famous. So he was the husband of Ramlah and the father of Habiba. And
he was a christian before converting, and in fact he was one of the four people
that became hunafa. So he is pretty old in age. When the prophet PBUH began pre
aching he converted to Islam, then he emmigrated to Abyssinia, but when he saw t
he land of christianity he went back to being a chrisian. So when he became murt
ad Umme Habiba left him. And she is all alone with no one to take care of her, s
o the prophet PBUH sent a proposal to her new wali, Najashi the emporer himself.
The leader becomes the wali for the one who dosen't have a wali. So Najashi too
k on becoming her wali and he was overjoyed and excited that the prophet PBUH se
nt a proposal. And he was the who gifted the maher, and he held a large feast an
d walima. And he gave Umme Habiba alot of lavish gifts on behalf of the prophet
PBUH.
And it's obvious why the prophet PBUH proposed to her. It is enough that she is
the daughter of Abu Suffyan, the leader of the Quraysh. There is no better thing
to be done than the prophet PBUH marries Ramlah bint Abi Suffyan. We discussed
Zainab and now we will talk about Umme Habiba. Therefore let us quickly run thro
ugh the wives of the prophet PBUH again:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.

Khadija
Sauda
Aisha
Hafsah
Zainab bint Kuzayma
Umme Salama
Juwariya
Zainab bint Jahsh
Umme Habiba - Ramlah bint Abu Suffyan

Today we'll discuss number 10. And note two of the wives (Khadija and Zainab bin
t Kuzayma) have passed away.
There is a small incident post Khaybar. And this is with regards to one of the j
ews, Sa'ya, and he was the uncle (or in one report the brother) of Huyay ibn Akt
ar, the leader of the jews of Banu Nadheer. Recall they were exiled, they went t
o Khaybar, instigated Ahzab and did alot of damage so Huyay is one of the leader
s of Banu Nadheer. And he was killed right at the beginning of the battle of Kha
ybar. So the prophet PBUH asked Sa'ya that "where is the gold of Huyay?" He left
Madinah with a lot of gold. Recall the Banu Nadheer were allowed to leave with
whatever they could carry, and in their greed they even took their doors. So he
said "where is the gold?" Of the conditions of Khaybar was that the tribes would
hand over all the golds, silver, weapons and armour to the muslims in return fo
r letting them remain in their lands. And they had to also give 50% of the produ
ce to the muslims. So the prophet PBUH asks Sa'ya "where is this gold of Huyay?"
He was the leader so he had treasure chests of gold. And Sa'ya said "it's all b
een finished". And the prophet PBUH said "it's only been a recent time since he
left Madinah, and the money is too much to have been spent in such a short perio
d of time". But Sa'ya insisted and insisted.
The books of seerah mention when Sa'ya insisted "I have no idea" the prophet PBU
H handed him over to Zubair and said "extract the information from him". So Zuba
ir did whatever means necessary to get the information i.e. beating and roughing
him up. Obviously this is as used against Islam. This is the controversial inci

dent post Khaybar. Now, the fact of the matter is Sa'ya was lying, they knew he
was lying and guess what? Within a while he gave up the information. He said "I
think I saw him go to such a valley, he might have gone there". He didn't want t
o admit he lied. So they went to that valley and found all the gold. So the prop
het PBUH realised he was lying and got this information from him. Firsly note th
is was the complete norm of the time. That was what people did and all civilisat
ions did it. You can't look at the seerah in line with geneva conventions etc the fact it, it was completely the norm and it was understood. In the end Sa'ya
was living and he lived his life. Nothing happened to him - and no doubt he was
lying and he knew the consqeuences.
The next issue that happened post Khaybar is the marriage of the prophet PBUH wi
th Saffiyah bint Huyay ibn Aktar. She tells us his own story in many hadith. She
tells us "when the prophet PBUH first came to Madinah, I was a young girl, I wa
s favoured by my father and my uncle Yasir would play with me and walk with me.
One day they came back and they were very depressed." This was the day the proph
et PBUH had arrived and they went to see him. And she says she went up to them r
unning but they completey ignored her, and their shoulders were dragging and the
y were completely depressed. And her uncle asked "is he the one?" And her father
said "by Allah he is the one". They saw all of the signs in teh prophet PBUH. S
o her uncle said "what will you do?" And he said "to be his enemy as long as I l
ive" - that is, he simply could not accept anyone as a prophet that wasn't a jew
. So when the Banu Nadheer are exiled Saiffyah is also exiled and she marries so
meone in Khaybar. In the battle of Khaybar, the Banu Nadheer were at the forefro
nt of the attack, so more of them died than those at Khaybar originally. Therefo
re, Huyay was killed, her brother was killed and her husband was killed aswell.
All were killed in these 20 days. So she is left an orphan and a widow. On top o
f this, when Khaybar ended, the Banu Nadheer were taken as captives and ganeema.
And therefore Saffiyah was distributed and she fell with Dihyah a sahabi. But a
number of sahaba said to the prophet PBUH he should take her and not leave her
for Dihya. So the prophet PBUH paid the right price which was a large amount, an
d then took Saffiyah. When he took care people did not know: "is he taking her a
s a slave or wife?" By purchasing her from Dihya she effectively becomes a slave
. So when it became time to leave Khaybar, he lowered the camel, knelt down on o
ne foot, bent his knee and made his thigh a stepping ladder for Saiffyah. So the
thigh is a stepping stone for Saffiyah to get onto the camel. Notice Saffiyahs
intellegance: she did not want to put her shoe or foot onto the prophet PBUHs th
igh. So she put her knee on the prophet PBUHs thigh and then jumped on the camel
. He then put her on the camel and covered her with the cloak. When the sahaba s
aw this they realised she is a wife because this type of hijaab is only for the
wives of the prophet PBUH.
Now she dosen't realise what this signifies - and the first stop that happened,
the prophet PBUH wanted to spend the night with her but she refuses. They keep o
n travelling until they are one night before Madinah and she agrees. So the prop
het PBUH told the mother of Anas ibn Malik to get her ready. And the women had w
hatever they could get to get her ready. And they didn't have anything: perfume,
jewellary etc so the women were agitated they didn't have much to beautify her.
But when they were finished she said "we smealt a perfume more beautiful than a
ny other". Saffiyah herself narrates some events, that when the prophet PBUH ent
ered he said to her "your father Huyay was the most open of the jews in their an
imosity against me until Allah caused his death". Indeed its a harsh thing to sa
y but the wisdom is to see her reaction: her imaan or kufr, her loyalty or dislo
yalty. Here the prophet PBUH is thinking "shall I take her as a wife?" and he ca
nnot do so if she has hatred. And subhanAllah she replied "dosen't Allah say in
the Quran 'no soul shall take the burden...'". When the prophet PBUH saw this, h
e said to her "you have a choice. If you accept Islam, I shall keep you for me,
if you remain in your faith, then perhaps I will free you and you can return to
your people". The choice seems to be bitter: you remain a slave with me if you r
emain muslim. Again its clearly a test. The sahaba understand she is already a w

ife but she has no idea - she thinks she is a slave. The prophet PBUH said "if y
ou accept Islam you shall remain with me" but she thought this meant as a slave,
not a wife. This is another test - if she is not a real muslim, she won't to re
main with the prophet PBUH. And she replied "ya RasulAllah I was already incline
d to Islam. And I have already believed in you, and I have no desire to remain i
n my faith. Also I have no family". Notice in her wisdom she dosen't mention 'hu
sband' because it's akward. "And you have asked me to choose between kufr and Is
lam. Yet Allah and His messenger are more beloved to me than going back".
So she passes the test, and think how amazing this imaan is. And walahi never in
history has a conquerer come, conquered a group, and a womens father, brother,
uncle and husband have all been killed by the conquerer - and she willingly choo
ses to stay with him as a slave rather than a free lady with her own people. Wha
t does this show? Saffiyah had a pure heart and Islam is a true religion and tha
t is why when she saw the truth, through being a prisoner, and talking to the pr
ophet PBUH, riding on the camel etc. For sure there is good talk going on, the p
rophet PBUH has shown her good gestures etc. So she converts so much she complet
ely ignores and forgets her brothers and fathers deaths. And she becomes a loyal
muslimah - so because of this the prophet PBUH freed her then and there and mar
ried her. And when the prophet PBUH saw her for the first time, he saw a big bru
ise on her face. And she said "my husband kinana gave this to me. I saw a dream
the moon had risen up from Yathrib, gone high up and fell into my lap. So I told
my husband about this and he smacked me right across the face and said 'do you
expect the king of the arabs will marry you?'" Note he correctly interpretated t
he prophet PBUH will marry her. So she clearly had a premonition from Allah and
this also made it easier for her to accept Islam. And its narrated the prophet P
BUH asked her why she refused the first night to spend with him. And she said "w
hen we were close by I was scared of the jews retalliating. I wanted to get fart
her away" and this increased the love the prophet PBUH had for her. And the prop
het PBUH freed her and made her maher her freedom.
And its narrated Abu Ayyub al Ansari waited outside the prophet PBUHs tent all n
ight with his sword out of fear she would do something bad to the prophet PBUH.
But he laughed and made dua for him. And he said "whoever has food let him bring
it" for this will be the walima. So they mixed up dates, butter, barley etc and
that was the walima of the prophet PBUH with Saffiyah. Another small incident o
ccured and that is, when the prophet PBUH came back with Saffiyah and she is on
a camel. When the sahaba saw the walls of Madinah, it was the custom to speed up
. So they began beating their camels extra and the prophet PBUH joined them in t
his. Somehow, the camel of the prophet PBUH fell over and tripped. So both he an
d Saffiyah were flung from his camel. Now this is very dangerous. How many death
s have occured by people falling from their camels - even in the seerah we find
this. So both the prophet PBUH and Saffiyah are hurled forward and when the saha
ba saw this, all of them completely turned away. All of them - none of them is d
aring to look and say anything. And its said Abu Talha is the only who cried out
"are you alright?!" - the rest are just too shy. Like "what on earth do we do?!
" And the prophet PBUH replied "I am ok, I am not hurt". And he stood up immedia
tely, took off his cloth and covered up Saffiyah. This incident is so significan
t simply because if Allah had willed the camel would not had tripped. But it is
the will of Allah to show us the prophet PBUH is human. Yes he is RasulAllah but
he eats, drinks, his camel trips like everyone, and so there is nothing divine
about him.
A few things about Saffiyah. The prophet PBUH had an immense love for her, and t
he other wives were somewhat jealous of her and she didn't have much support. Ot
herwise the wives of the prophet PBUH were divided into two camps: Zainab and Ai
sha. But Saffiyah was in neither camp, because she didn't have any family so the
prophet PBUH really felt this more and love her a special love. It's said when
she came to Madinah, all of the wives rushed to go see her and Zainab remarked t

o Juwariya "I think this one will cause trouble". SubhanAllah. They are feeling
jealousy. This shows us Saiffyiah had clear beauty and Juwariya tried to minimis
e this and said "don't worry she is from a group that dosen't get along with the
ir husbands". So she is consoling Zainab, but in fact that didn't happen. Rather
the prophet PBUH had a special love and care for them. And no doubt they were j
ealous with one another, but each wife is thinking "I am special" and each one h
ave their stories that indicate their special relationship with the prophet PBUH
. So once the prophet PBUH visited Saffiyah and she was crying. So he said "what
is the matter?" And she said "Hafsah said that I am bint-al yahudi" i.e. it was
an insult. So the prophet PBUH said "why didn't you defend yourself?" She said
"how?" She said you should have said "your father was a prophet (Harun), your un
cle was a prophet (Musa) and you are married to a prophet! What do they have ove
r you?" SubhanAllah. And again to show the love the prophet PBUH had for Saiffiy
ah, on the last hajj her camel felt ill. And Zainab bint Jahsh was wealthier and
she had extra camels. So the prophet PBUH said to Zainab "lend her one of your
camels" and Zainab scorned at this because of jealousy.
And again it shows it happened to the best of the best - even Abu Bukr and Umar
got into small arguments. So Zainab said "what me?! My camel to the yahudia?" Ag
ain it was a smear, and the prophet PBUH got so irritated and angry with Zainab
as a punishment he boycotted her for a period of time. When the prophet PBUH was
on his deathbed in the house of Aisha RA, all the wives come to him and they do
n't know he is about to die. And he is suffering a severe pain and Saffiyah begi
ns to cry: "Ya RasulAllah how I wish I could take your illness on". And she was
the first wife to say this, so all the other wives feel jealous and threatened s
o they begin saying "yeah right". We don't know exactly what was said but it was
a sarcastic mock, so the prophet PBUH in his fever he said to the other wives "
go to wudu and madmada. Because you have mocked Saffiyah, and walahi she has spo
ken the truth and you've lied against her". Again look at the love Saffiyah has
for the prophet PBUH, the one whos army has basically killed her father, brother
and ex-husband. Now at the time of the death of the prophet PBUH she is crying
for him. Where does this love come from? This is imaan and RasulAllah. Its unbel
ievable. You expect her to want to kill the prophet PBUH yet its a complete 180
degree turn. And she lived a long life until 52H in the time of Muawiyya.
Post Khaybar another important event was the arrival of Abu Hurrairah. No one co
mes close to him in terms of the number of hadith narrated. He is the number one
narrator hands down. Even though he joined the prophet PBUH in 7H. He only acco
mpanied the prophet PBUH for 3 years and a month, and yet his number of hadith o
utshines every single sahabi. This is when he arrived. He had come from Yemen, h
is name is Abdur Rehman ibn Sakar from the tribe of Ad-Daws. And he made hijrah
to Madinah, and he hears the prophet PBUH is in Khaybar, so he diverts and goes
there. Therefore both the Abyssinian muslims and the Dawsi muslims (there was a
small group) both arrived in Khaybar after it was conqeuered. As for the abyssin
ians muslims, the prophet PBUH gave them a share of the booty. As for the people
of the Daws, he asked permission from the sahaba and they agreed. So Abu Hurrar
iah got the honour of getting a fortune from Khaybar without fighting.
Another interesting narration which took place some time in between not realted
to the battle, is that some women from the Ansar participated in the battle. Bef
ore they left, they offered to help the wounded, treat the sick etc. So the prop
het PBUH allowed them to come and so a number of them came. And very interesting
ly the youngest girl amongst them was around 7/8. So the prophet PBUH on the way
to Khaybar told the young girl to sit with him. So she sits on the luggage behi
nd the prophet PBUH. This young girl we don't know her name, she just narrates t
his story. And she says "when the camel stopped and the prophet PBUH told me to
get off, I saw that I had blood. And this was my first cycle. And I became terri
fied and I stayed on the camel and didn't move". She didn't know what to do. She
is embarrased and ashamed, and what a place and what a location for it to happe
n. Imagine her situation! Where, at what time and behind whom. So she is terrifi

ed and the prophet PBUH says "comes down" but she didn't. When she didn't, the p
rophet PBUH looked and could see the traces of blood. So he said "perhaps you ar
e having your cycle?" She nodded and he said "ok don't worry clean yourself up,
wash any blood with water and salt and get back where you were sitting". SubhanA
llah the prophet PBUH calmed her down in such a gentle way. No anger or irritati
on or nothing. And she said the prophet PBUH gifted the women some gifts, and in
paticular she got a neclace from the prophet PBUH directly. "So I will never pa
rt with this as long as I live and when I die it will be buried with me". And th
is is what happened. This shows us that subhanAllah this girl is 8 years old, bu
t it's not a problem for her to sit behind the prophet PBUH. What we really see
how the prophet PBUH handled a very akward situation.
Khaybar also saw a number of fiqh points:
1. Bhukari narrates the prohibition of eating donkey meat.
2. Prohibition that when you have a concubine, you are not allowed to be with he
r until shes go through her cycle.
3. For the first time zuwaaj mut'ah was made haraam. This is zuwaaj where a time
clause is put.
4. 'The interest of commodity' was also forbidden during the battle. There are t
wo types of interest; the first is where you purchase time for money i.e. "I'll
give you $1000 for a month if you give me back $1100". This is 'ribah al fadl'.
The shariah also forbids 'ribah al nase'; in a nutshell, specific commodities, o
f them is wheat, grain and dates, are not allowed to be bartored except in the s
ame amounts. A person brought the a big back of the most lucious dates. And the
prophet PBUH said "are all of the dates like this?" He said "no this dates are t
he highest quaility; we exchanged 1kg of these for 3x the amount normal dates".
So the prophet PBUH said "do not do this, rather sell the larger quality dates a
nd get the money and use that to buy the higher quality dates". So for example y
ou cannot exchange $10 as $20 as a transaction. It must be the same amount. You
can't exchange more for less. We are discussing exchanging money for money or da
tes for dates. If you exchange it has to be the same quantity.
The treaty of khaybar allowed one final transaction: al muzaarah (partnership).
It means as the prophet PBUH did with Khaybar he said "you take charge of all th
e lands and labour, and you give us 50%". This is a business partnership where t
he partners don't do the same things. The people in Madinah would all plough the
land together. But this concept of for example you have 10 acres of land but yo
u don't have the time to farm yourself - so you go to a farmer and say "these ar
e 10 acres. If you farm them and plant the seeds and take charge of the manual l
abour, we will split it 50/50". This is called 'muzaarah' and this is allowed in
Islam. It's a business partnership - Islam forbids interest and bank loans etc.
Rather Islam encourages business with someone who is willing to share the profi
t/loss. Indeed the owner won't profit unless the farmer profits. There is risk i
nvolved. In Islam you cannot have a guaranteed profit because of interest. In Is
lam the rich benefit merely because they have money in the bank lying idle. This
is not allowed - the risk of profit and loss has to be shared. It's said the ri
chest 400 people earn more than 65% of the population. Islam would simply not al
low for this.