Daughter of Banu al-Nadir

Safiyyah was born into the Jewish tribe of Banu al-Nadir, one of the tribes of Yathrib. Her father, Huyayy ibn Akhtab, was its chief, and her lineage went back to Harun (Aaron), the brother of Musa (Moses). Ibn Ishaq relates that she later remembered being her father's favourite child. When the Prophet ﷺ arrived at Quba', her father and uncle went out at dawn to see him and came back exhausted at nightfall. She overheard her uncle ask, "Is it him?" Her father said yes, by Allah, he recognised him. "And what do you feel towards him?" "Enmity, as long as I live."

That enmity shaped her youth. In 4 AH Banu al-Nadir broke their covenant with the Muslims and were exiled from Madinah, and many of them, Huyayy among them, settled in the fortresses of Khaybar. From there Huyayy went from tribe to tribe rallying the Confederates who besieged Madinah in the Battle of the Trench. When that siege failed, he was among those executed after the judgement on Banu Qurayzah, who had also broken their covenant.

Safiyyah, still young, lost her father, and was married to Kinanah ibn Abi al-Huqayq, a leader at Khaybar. These were the circumstances she carried with her when, a year later, the Muslims marched on Khaybar.