Khadijah bint Khuwaylid

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Khadījah bint Khuwaylid (Arabic: خديجة بنت خويلد‎) or Khadījah al-Kubra (Khadija the great) ^[1] (circa 555–619 CE) was the first wife of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. She was the daughter of Khuwaylid ibn Asad and Fatimah bint Za'idah and belonged to the clan of Banu Hashim. She is important in Islam as Muhammad's first wife, and one of the "mothers of the believers" (Muhammad's wives).

Biography

Khadijah's father, Khuwaylid ibn Asad, who died around 585, was a merchant, a successful businessman whose vast wealth and business talents were inherited by Khadijah, who successfully managed her father's business interests and preserved the family's fortune. It is said that when Quraysh's trade caravans gathered to embark upon their lengthy and arduous journey either to Syria during the summer or to Yemen during the winter, Khadijah's caravan equalled the caravans of all other traders of Quraish put together. Fatimah bint Za'idah – Khadijah's mother – died around 575, a member of the Banu `Amir ibn Luayy ibn Ghalib tribe and a distant relative of Muhammad.^[2]

Khadijah earned three titles: Ameerat-Quraish (Princess of Quraish) and al-Tahira (the Pure One), and Khadija Al-Kubra (Khadija the Great) and was said to have had an impeccable character. She used to feed and clothe the poor, assist her relatives financially, and provide for the marriage of those of her kin who could not otherwise have had the means to marry. Khadijah was said to have neither believed in nor worshipped idols, which was atypical for pre-Islam Arabian culture.

Her renown for business dealings caused many highly respected Arabian men to seek her hand in marriage. However, by 585, Khadijah remained unmarried.^[3]

Khadijah did not travel with her trade caravans; she relied on others to trade on her behalf, whom she compensated with commissions. In 595, Khadijah needed an agent for a transaction in Syria. Several agents whom she trusted (notably including Abu Talib ibn ‘Abd al-Muttalib)and some relatives of hers recommended her distant cousin Muhammad ibn Abdullah, who had earned the honorifics Al-Sadiq (the truthful) and Al-Amin (the trustworthy).

Muhammad did not have any official business experience but twice had accompanied Abu Talib on trade trips and had keenly observed how Talib traded, bartered, bought, sold, and conducted business. Since hiring traders who lacked experience was not uncommon, Khadijah hired Muhammad, who was then 25 years old. Khadijah sent Muhammad word through Khazimah ibn Hakim, one of her relatives, offering him double the commission she usually paid. She sent one of her servants, Maysarah, to assist him. Maysarah gave accounts of Muhammad's performance and she was impressed.

The profit Muhammad returned to Khadijah was the double of what Khadijah anticipated. Muhammad fascinated Maysarah more than anything else related to the trip because of many strange events which took place during that journey. The trip's measure of success encouraged Khadijah to employ Muhammad again on a winter trip to Yemen. At this time, Yemen had just been annexed by the Persian Empire, and a regent of the Sassanid King, Khosrau I, Anoshervan was ruling it. This time Khadijah offered Muhammad triple the usual commission. Muhammad's second trip was equally profitable, but little else is known.

Age of Khadija

The age of Khadijah is not well-documented. This is because Arab people were more concerned with the month than with the year. Therefore, her age has been narrated as anywhere from 25 to 40 years.^[4] Correlation of her age with that of her daughter Fatimah does not support the view that she was as much as fifteen years older than Muhammad.^[5]

Marriage to Muhammad

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Khadijah bint Khuwaylid Sawda bint Zama Aisha bint Abi Bakr Hafsa bint Umar Zaynab bint Khuzayma Hind bint Abi Umayya Zaynab bint Jahsh Juwayriya bint al-Harith Ramlah bint Abi Sufyan Rayhana bint Zayd Safiyya bint Huyayy Maymuna bint al-Harith Maria al-Qibtiyya

With the passage of time, her admiration for Muhammad developed into a deeper affection. Khadijah was by then convinced that she had finally found a man who was worthy of her, so much so that she initiated the marriage proposal herself. Muhammad detailed all the business transactions in which he would be involved on her behalf, but Khadijah was considering leaving the financial matters to her distant cousin Waraqah ibn Nawfal.

By the time Muhammad was gone, Khadijah sought the advice of a friend named Nufaysa bint Umayyah. The latter offered to approach him on her behalf and, if possible, arrange a marriage between them.

Khadijah and Muhammad agreed that he should speak to his uncles and she would speak to her uncle, `Amr ibn Asad, since her father had died. It was Hamza ibn ‘Abd al-Muttalib, despite being relatively young, whom the Hashemites delegated to represent them on this marriage occasion, since he was most closely related to them through the clan of Asad; his sister Safiyyah bint ‘Abd al-Muttalib had just married Khadijah's brother Awwam ibn Khuwaylid.

It was Abu Talib, Muhammad's uncle, who delivered the marriage sermon saying,^[6]

All praise is due to Allah Who has made us the progeny of Ibrahim and Who made us the custodians of His House and the servants of its sacred precincts, making for us a House sought for pilgrimage and a shrine of security, and He also gave us authority over the people. This nephew of mine Muhammad cannot be compared with any other man: if you compare his wealth with that of others, you will not find him a man of wealth, for wealth is a vanishing shadow and a fickle thing. Muhammad is a man whose lineage you all know, and he has sought Khadijah bint Khuwaylid for marriage, offering her such-and-such of the dower of my own wealth.^[7]

The relationship was monogamous.^[8]

Becoming the first Muslim

When her husband received his first revelation from the Archangel Gabriel, she was the first person (besides Muhammad) — among both male and females — to convert to Islam. According to some sources, it was Khadijah's parental cousin, Waraqah ibn Nawfal, who informed Muhammad of his prophethood soon after his vision of the angel.^[9]

Khadijah did not hesitate to embrace Islam at all, trusting to her husband's teachings.

R. V. C. Bodley in his book The Messenger, the Life of Mohammed, 1946^[10]:

"God is my protection, Oh Abul Kasim!" said Khadija, "Rejoice and be of good cheer. He in Whose hands stands the life of Khadija, is my Witness that thou wilt be the Messenger of His people!" Then she added, "Hast thou not been loving to thy kinsfolk, kind to thy neighbors, charitable to the poor, hospitable to the stranger, faithful to thy word, and ever a defender of the truth?"

Washington Irving in his book Life of Mohammed^[11]:

After the first encounter with Gabriel, Mohammed came trembling and agitated to Khadija. She saw everything with the eye of faith. "Joyful tidings dost thou bring," exclaimed she, by Him, in Whose hand is the soul of Khadija, I will henceforth regard thee as the Prophet of our nation. Rejoice," added she, "Allah will not suffer thee to fall to shame. Hast thou not been loving to thy kinsfolk, kind to thy neighbours, charitable to the poor, hospitable to the stranger, faithful to thy word, and ever a defender of the truth?"

Yahya ibn `Afeef is quoted saying that he once came, during the period of Jahiliyyah (before the advent of Islam), to Mecca to be hosted by ‘Abbas ibn ‘Abd al-Muttalib, one of Muhammad's uncles mentioned above. "When the sun started rising," he said, "I saw a man who came out of a place not far from us, faced the Kaaba and started performing his prayers. He hardly started before being joined by a young boy who stood on his right side, then by a woman who stood behind them. When he bowed down, the young boy and the woman bowed, and when he stood up straight, they, too, did likewise. When he prostrated, they, too, prostrated." He expressed his amazement at that, saying to Abbas: "This is quite strange, O Abbas!". "Is it, really?" retorted al-Abbas. "Do you know who he is?", Abbas asked his guest who answered in the negative. "He is Muhammad ibn Abdullah, my nephew. Do you know who the young boy is?" asked he again. "No, indeed," answered the guest. "He is Ali son of Abu Talib. Do you know who the woman is?" The answer came again in the negative, to which Abbas said, "She is Khadijah bint Khuwaylid, my nephew's wife." This incident is included in the books of both Ahmad ibn Hanbal and Al-Tirmidhi, each detailing it in his own Sahih.

She bore patiently in the face of persecution to which her revered husband and his small band of believers were exposed at the hands of the polytheists and aristocrats of the Quraish, sacrificing her vast wealth to promote Islam, seeking God's rewards.^[12][13]

She remained at his side and supported him throughout his mission to spread Islam.

Death — 619 or 623

Khadijah from "Promptuarii Iconum Insigniorum "

Edward Gibbon in his book The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire^[14]:

During the 24-years of their marriage, Khadija's youthful husband abstained from the right of polygamy, and the pride or tenderness of the venerable matron was never insulted by the society of a rival. After her death, the Prophet placed her in the rank of four perfect women, with the sister of Moses, the mother of Jesus, and Fatima.

Kazi Ejaz and Ibne Abdul Bir in their book Al-Estiab^[15]:

Once the Prophet mentioned Khadija near Aisha,

Aisha responded:

"She was not but a such and such of an old lady, and Allah replaced her with a better one for you."

He replied:

"Indeed Allah did not grant me better than her; she accepted me when people rejected me, she believed in me when people doubted me, she shared her wealth with me when people deprived me, and Allah granted me children only through her."

The year of her death is known as the Year of Sorrow, because of the devastation that it caused him and it was also the same year in which his uncle and guardian Abu Talib died. She was either 64 or 68 years old (having been born in AD 555).^[8] Her grave can be found in Jannatul Mualla cemetery, in Mecca, Saudi Arabia.^[16] Many scholars place the events of the Year of Sorrow in 619, prior to hijra.

Muslim views

Ibn Kathir

Ibn Kathir, the famous Islamic scholar and commentator on the Qur'an writes in his book Wives of the Prophet Muhammad^[17]:

Khadijah had been the first to publicly accept Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) as the Messenger of Allah, and she had never stopped doing all she could to help him. Love and mercy had grown between them, increasing in quality and depth as the years passed by, and not even death could take this love away. The Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) never stopped loving Khadijah, and although he married several more wives in later years and loved them all, it is clear that Khadijah always had a special place in his heart. Indeed whenever 'Aisha, his third wife, heard the Prophet speak of Khadijah, or saw him sending food to Khadijah's old friends and relatives, she could not help feeling jealous of her, because of the love that the Prophet still had for her.

Once Aisha asked him if Khadijah had been the only woman worthy of his love. The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) replied: "She believed in me when no one else did; she accepted Islam when people rejected me; and she helped and comforted me when there was no one else to lend me a helping hand." It had been related by Abu Hurairah (may Allah be pleased with him) that on one occasion, when Khadijah was still alive, Jibril came to the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) and said, "O Messenger of Allah, Khadijah is just coming with a bowl of soup (or food or drink) for you. When she comes to you, give her greetings of peace from her Lord and from me, and give her the good news of a palace of jewels in the Garden, where there will be neither any noise nor any tiredness." After the Prophet's uncle, Abu Talib, and his first wife, Khadijah, had both died in the same year, the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) and his small community of believers endured a time of great hardship and persecution at the hands of the Quraish. Indeed the Prophet, who was now fifty years old, name this year 'the Year of Sorrow.'

Relatives

Sons

• Qasim ibn Muhammad, died in 605 CE, before his second birthday
• Abd-Allah ibn Muhammad, died in childhood in 615 CE

Daughters

The daughters attributed to Muhammad are;

1. Zainab bint Muhammad, married to her maternal cousin Abu al-Aas ibn al-Rabee before al-Hijra
2. Ruqayyah bint Muhammad, was first married to Utbah ibn Abu Lahab & then to Uthman ibn Affan
3. Umm Kulthum bint Muhammad, was first married to Utaybah bin Abu Lahab & then to Uthman ibn Affan after the death of her sister Ruqayyah
4. Fatimah, was married to Ali ('Ali bin Abi Talib)

According to some Shia Muslim sources she only had one daughter, Fatimah. The others either belonged to her sister^[18] or were orphaned girls raised by her^[19]. Possibly, all of them were Khadijah's but only Fatimah was born to Muhammad. Sunni Muslims however do not contest the parentage of her daughters. They affirm what the Qur'an states, "O Prophet! Tell your wives and your daughters and the women of the believers..."^[20].

The famous Sunni scholar Yusuf ibn abd al-Barr says: "His children born of Khadīja are four daughters; there is no difference of opinion about that".^[21]

Marriage rules

Based on certain narrations, also found in Sunnī^[22] sources, Muhammad said that daughters of his household could only marry those who were from Banū Hāshim.^[22].

But, if it is assumed that Zainab, Ruqayyah and Umm Kulthum were daughters of Muhammed and Khadijah, this argument does not seem to be correct since:

• Zainab was married to Abu al-Aas ibn al-Rabee who belonged to Banu Abd Shams clan of the tribe Quraish.
• Ruqayyah and after her death Umm Kulthum were married to Uthman bin Affan who belonged to Banu Umayya clan of the tribe Quraish^[23].

Sister

• Halah bint Khuwailid

Cousins

• Abdullah ibn Umm Maktum
• Waraqah ibn Nawfal

References

External links

• Marriage of Khadija