Huyayy ibn Akhtab (Arabic: حيي بن أخطب; Hebrew: חי בן אחיטוב) was a chief of the Banu al-Nadir, a Jewish tribe of pre-Islamic Arabia.
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Huyayy ibn Akhtab had a daughter with Barra bint Samawal: Safiyya bint Huyayy. Barra bint Samawal was from distinguished Arabian Jewish family. Her father was the poet al Samaw'al ibn Adiya
Huyayy is said to have been a "courageous warrior" and a "learned man".[1]
At one occasion, he had a discussion with Muhammad upon the mystical letters beginning some of the suras in the Quran.[1]
At first, when his tribe, the Banu Nadir were located at Medina, Huyayy's hostility to Muhammad was not pronounced. When Abu Sufyan, the Quraysh leader and an enemy of Muhammad, presented himself before Huyayy's house, he, fearing to compromise himself, refused to admit him.[1]
But he was to become the most inveterate enemy of Muhammad who had besieged the Banu Nadir and confiscated their property, so that ibn Hisham, Muhammad's biographer, calls him "the enemy of Allah." [1]
But when the Jews, driven by the Muslims from Medina, settled at Khaibar, Huyayy incited them, with the Arab tribes of Quraish and Ghatafan, into active revolt against Muhammad,[1] resulting in the Battle of the Trench in 627
Huyayy came to Ka'b ibn As'ad, the chief of the Banu Quraiza, but failed to incite him to war against Muhammad.[1]
Later, Muhammad took Qamus, the fortress of the Qurayza, carried to Medina from seven to eight hundred Jews, among them being Huyayy, and killed them in the market-place. When Huyayy was brought before Muhammad, he said to him:
Huyayy had a daughter together with Barra bint Samawal: Safiyya bint Huyayy. Safiyyah was also captured by Muhammad, who reportedly threw his cloak over, and she became one of his wives [1]
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Jewish Encyclopedia. 1901–1906.