now God has slain him,' she replied, 'God does not upbraid any one for the sins of others.' Then he left her free to choose between going back to her people and turning Mussulman, to become one of his pure wives. She being a gentle and intelligent lady, answered, 'O Apostle of God, verily, I have a desire to become a Mussulman. I believe in thee, and in this state am I come to thee. I have no longer any connection with Judaism; I have no longer either father or brother amongst the Jews. By Allah! God and His Apostle are preferable to me to being set at liberty and rejoining my people.' These words pleased the Prophet so much, that he at once put her aside for himself and gave her her liberty for a dowry. When they quitted Khaibar, she was brought to ride on the same camel with the Prophet. He offered her his thigh, to assist her in mounting; but she had such regard to good manners, that, instead of stepping on his thigh, she mounted by only putting her knee against him. He covered her with his own cloth, and sat in front of her, so that all the people knew she was to be one of his pure wives. At the first halting-place, six miles from Khaibar, he wished to consummate the marriage with her; but as she was unwilling, and refused, he became very angry with her. At the next station he told Om Selim his wish, requesting her to make the necessary preparation. Accordingly she brought Safia into the tent, combed her hair, perfumed her, and gave her instruction what to do when the Prophet came near her. Safia acting as she was instructed, the marriage was consummated that night.

It is recorded that Abu Eyub, one of the Ansars, watched that whole night with a drawn sword before the tent; and when the Prophet, on seeing him in the morning, asked him for the reason, he replied, 'O Apostle of God, Safia is still a young lady; her father and husband have been slain: I therefore thought within myself, that it was best to remain near, so as to be ready for any eventuality.' The Prophet smiled, and blessed him for his care.

On being asked by Om Selim, how she had found the Prophet, Safia said, 'I found him pleasant. He was gay with me, and kept talking with me all night, till this morning. When he asked me, why I refused him in the previous station, and I answered, I was afraid some harm might happen to him, as the place was so near the Jews, he was pleased with the answer, and loved me all the more for it.' The same morning Mohammed also asked all his friends to bring forward all the eatables they could spare, and thus he had a wedding-feast prepared in honour of Safia.

It is recorded that, on arriving at Medina, Mohammed lodged

Safia in a room of Haritha Ibn Noaman's house. The renown of her great beauty spreading about, the wives of the Ansars went to see her. Aisha the faithful, likewise, disguising herself by putting a sheet around her and covering her face with a veil, went amongst other women to get a look at her. The Prophet, seeing her, recognised her at once; so, taking hold of her sheet, he said to her, 'O Anemone, how didst thou find Safia?' Aisha replied, 'I found a Jewish girl, sitting among Jewish women.'

It is recorded on the authority of Om Selim, that four of the Prophet's pure wives went disguised amongst the wives of the Ansars to see Safia, viz., Aisha, Zeinab, Hafza, and Jowairia. She heard Zeinab say to Jowairia, 'What I have seen is this, that before long this one will have superseded us all.' But Jowairia replied, ' It will not be so; for she belongs to a people whose women are not more fortunate than its men.'

Aisha the faithful narrated: 'Once that prince took us with him on a journey; and when Safia's camel was taken ill, so as to be unable to proceed further, he said to Zeinab, "How would it be, if thou wert to lend thy spare camel to Safia, till the next station?" But she replied, "I shall give nothing to that Jewess." This so offended his Excellency that for two or three months he forsook Zeinab, and never went near her.'

It is recorded that during that prince's last illness, when the mothers of the believers were gathered around him, Safia said, 'O Apostle of God, I wish I could have this illness in thy stead.' When the other wives heard this word, they winked to each other with their eyes; and on the Prophet observing it, he was very much displeased, and said, 'By Allah! Safia has been sincere in what she said.'

On one occasion, when the Apostle of God went to the apartment of Safia, he found her weeping. Asking her why she wept, she said, 'Because Aisha and Hafza trouble me, saying, We are better than Safia, being both his relatives and his married wives.' That prince said, 'O Safia, didst thou not say to them, In what way are you better than I, who have Aaron for a father, Moses for an uncle, and Mohammed Mustafa for a husband?'

On another occasion Aisha the faithful said reproachingly to Mohammed, 'Is it not enough for thee to acknowledge the defects of Safia, seeing she is such and such, that is, very short?' His
Excellency replied, 'O Aisha, verily thou hast spoken a word which, if it had a colour and were thrown into the sea, would colour the entire ocean.'

Safia died, A.H. 36 or 50 or 52, or, according to another account,