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18 February 2010 By Yasin T. al-Jibouri
Introduction:
If you wish to research the life of this great lady,
and if you do not have al-Majlisi's voluminous [110
Vol.] encyclopedia titled Bihar al-Anwar, the best
references are: al-Sayyuti's Tarikh al Khulafa,
Abul-Faraj al-Isfahani's Aghani, Ibn Hisham's Seera,
Muhammad ibn Ishaq's Seerat Rasool-Allah, and Tarikh
al-rusul wal muluk by Abu Ja`far Muhammad ibn Jarir
al-Tabari (839-923 A.D.). Of all these books, only al-Tabari's
Tarikh is being translated (by more than one
translator and in several volumes) into English. One
publisher of Tabari's Tarikh is the press of the State
University of New York (SUNY). This article has
utilized a number of Arabic and English references,
and it is written especially for those who appreciate
history, our great teacher, be they Muslims or
non-Muslims, and who aspire to learn from it.
"Islam did not rise except through Ali's sword and
Khadija's wealth," a saying goes. Khadija al-Kubra
daughter of Khuwaylid ibn (son of) Asad ibn Abdul-`Uzza
ibn Qusayy belonged to the clan of Banu Hashim of the
tribe of Banu Asad. She was a distant cousin of her
husband the Messenger of Allah Muhammad ibn Abdullah
ibn Abdul-Muttalib ibn Hashim ibn Abd Manaf ibn Qusayy,
Allah's peace and blessings be upon him and his
progeny. Qusayy, then, is the ancestor of all clans
belonging to Quraysh. According to some historians,
Quraysh's real name was Fahr, and he was son of Malik
son of Madar son of Kananah son of Khuzaimah son of
Mudrikah son of Ilyas son of Mazar son of Nazar son of
Ma`ad son of Adnan son of Isma`eel (Ishmael) son of
Ibrahim (Abraham) son of Sam son of Noah, peace and
blessings of Allah be upon the prophets from among his
ancestors. According to a number of sources, Khadija
was born in 565 A.D. and died one year before the
Hijra (migration of the Holy Prophet and his followers
from Mecca to Medina) in 623 A.D. at the age of 58,
but some historians say that she lived to be 65.
Khadija's mother, who died around 575 A.D., was Fatima
daughter of Za'ida ibn al-Asam of Banu `Amir ibn Luayy
ibn Ghalib, also a distant relative of Prophet
Muhammad (pbuh). Khadija's father, who died around 585
A.D., belonged to the Abd al-`Uzza clan of the tribe
of Quraysh and, like many other Qurayshis, was a
merchant, a successful businessman whose vast wealth
and business talents were inherited by Khadija and
whom the latter succeeded in faring with the family's
vast wealth. 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, Khadija's caravan equalled
the caravans of all other traders of Quraysh put
together.
Although the society in which Khadija was born was a
terribly male chauvinistic one, Khadija earned two
titles: Ameerat-Quraysh, Princess of Quraysh, and al-Tahira,
the Pure One, due to her impeccable personality and
virtuous character, not to mention her honorable
descent. She used to feed and clothe the poor, assist
her relatives financially, and even provide for the
marriage of those of her kin who could not otherwise
have had means to marry.
By 585 A.D., Khadija was left an orphan. Despite that,
and after having married twice- and twice lost her
husband to the ravaging wars with which Arabia was
afflicted- she had no mind to marry a third time
though she was sought for marriage by many honorable
and highly respected men of the Arabian peninsula
throughout which she was quite famous due to her
business dealings. She simply hated the thought
ofbeing widowed for a third time. Her first husband
was Abu (father of) Halah Hind ibn Zarah who belonged
to Banu `Adiyy, and the second was Ateeq ibn `Aaith.
Both men belonged to Banu Makhzoom. By her first
husband, she gave birth to a son who was named after
his father Hind and who came to be one of the greatest
sahabah (companions of the Holy Prophet). He
participated in both battles of Badr and Uhud, and he
is also famous for describing the Prophet's hysique;
he was martyred during the Battle of the Camel in
which he fought on the side of Imam Ali ibn Abu Talib
(as), although some historians say that he died in
Basrah. All biography accounts describe Hind as an
outspoken orator, a man of righteousness and
generosity, and one who took extreme caution while
quoting the Messenger of Allah (pbuh). Besides him,
Khadija gave birth by Abu Halah to two other sons: al-Tahir,
and, of course, Halah, who is not very well known to
historians despite the fact that his father is
nicknamed after him.
Who were Khadija's children by her second husband?
This is another controversy that revolves round the
other daughters or step-daughters of the Prophet (pbuh)
besides Fatima (as). These daughters, chronologically
arranged, are: Zainab, Ruqayya, and Ummu Kulthoom.
Some historians say that these were Khadija's
daughters by her second husband, whereas others insist
they were her daughters by Muhammad (pbuh). The first
view is held by Sayyid Safdar Husayn in his book The
Early History of Islam wherein he bases his conclusion
on the contents of al-Sayyuti's famous work Tarikh al-khulafa
wal muluk (history of the caliphs and kings). We hope
some of our Muslim sisters who read this text will be
tempted to research this subject. Here is a brief
account of Khadija's daughters:
Zainab, their oldest, was born before the prophetic
mission and was married to Abul-`As ibn al-Rabee`. She
had accepted Islam before her husband, and she
participated in the migration from Mecca to Medina.
She died early in 8 A.H. and was buried in Jannatul
Baqee` where her grave can still be seen defying the
passage of time. Ruqayya and Ummu Kulthoom married two
of Abu Lahab's sons. Abu Lahab, one of the Prophet's
uncles, stubbornly and openly rejected his nephew's
preaching; therefore, he was condemned in the Mecci
Chapter 111 of the Holy Qur'an, a chapter named after
him. Having come to know about such a condemnation, he
became furious and said to his sons, "There shall be
no kinship between you and me unless you part with
these daughters of Muhammad," whereupon they divorced
them instantly. Ruqayya married the third caliph `Uthman
ibn `Affan and migrated with him to Ethiopia in 615
A.D., five years after the inception of the prophetic
mission, accompanied by no more than nine others. That
was the first of two such migrations. After coming
back home, she died in Medina in 2 A.H. and was buried
at Jannatul Baqee`. `Uthman then married her sister
Ummu Kulthoom in Rabi` al-Awwal of the next (third)
Hijri year. Ummu Kulthoom lived with her husband for
about six years before dying in 9 A.H., leaving no
children.
One particular quality in Khadija was quite
interesting, probably more so than any of her other
qualities mentioned above: she, unlike her people,
never believed in nor worshipped idols. There was a
very small number of Christians and Jews in Mecca, and
a fairly large number of Jews in Medina. Waraqah ibn
Nawfal, one of Khadija's cousins, had embraced
Christianity and was a pious monk who believed in the
Unity of the Almighty, just as all early Christians
did, that is, before the concept of the Trinity crept
into the Christian faith, widening the theological
differences among the believers in Christ (as). He
reportedly had translated the Bible from Hebrew into
Arabic. His likes could be counted on the fingers of
one hand during those days in the entire populous
metropolis of Mecca, or Becca, or Ummul-Qura (the
mother town), a major commercial center at the
crossroads of trade caravans linking Arabia with
India, Persia, China, and Byzantium, a city that had
its own Red Sea port at Shu`ayba. Most importantly,
Mecca housed the Ka`ba, the cubic "House of God" which
has always been sought for pilgrimage and which used
to be circled by naked polytheist "pilgrims" who kept
their idols, numbering 360 small and big, male and
female, inside it and on its roof-top. Among those
idols was one for Abraham and another for Ishmael,
each carrying divine arrows in his hands. Hubal, a
huge idol in the shape of a man, was given as a gift
by the Moabites of Syria to the tribesmen of Khuza`ah,
and it was Mecca's chief idol. Two other idols of
significance were those of the Lat, a grey granite
image which was the deity of Thaqif in nearby Taif,
and the Uzza, also a block of granite about twenty
feet long. These were regarded as the wives of the
Almighty... Each tribe had its own idol, and the
wealthy bought and kept a number of idols at home. The
institute of pilgrimage was already there; it simply
was not being observed properly, and so was the belief
in Allah Whom the Arabs regarded as their Supreme
deity. Besides Paganism, other "religions" in Arabia
included star worship and fetishism.
The Jews of Medina had migrated from Palestine and
settled there waiting for the coming of a new Prophet
from the seed of Abraham (as) in whom they said they
intended to believe and to be the foremost in
following, something which unfortunately did not
materialize; on the contrary, they joined ranks with
the Pagans to fight the spread of Islam. Only a
handful of them embraced Islam, including one man who
was a neighbor of Muhammad (pbuh); he lived in the
same alley in Mecca where Khadija's house stood; his
wife, also Jewish, used to collect dry thorny bushes
from the desert just to throw them in the Prophet's
way.
Since Khadija did not travel with her trade caravans,
she had always had to rely on someone else to act as
her agent to trade on her behalf and to receive an
agreed upon commission in return. In 595 A.D., Khadija
needed an agent to trade in her merchandise going to
Syria, and it was then that a number of agents whom
she knew before and trusted, as well as some of her
own relatives, particularly Abu Talib, suggested to
her to employ her distant cousin Muhammad ibn Abdullah
(pbuh) who, by then, had earned the honoring titles of
al-Sadiq, the truthful, and al-Amin, the trustworthy.
Muhammad (pbuh) did not have any practical business
experience, but he had twice accompanied his uncle Abu
Talib on his trade trips and keenly observed how he
traded, bartered, bought and sold and conducted
business; after all, the people of Quraysh were famous
for their involvement in trade more than in any other
profession. It was not uncommon to hire an agent who
did not have a prior experience; so, Khadija decided
to give Muhammad (pbuh) a chance. He was only 25 years
old. Khadija sent Muhammad (pbuh) word through
Khazimah ibn Hakim, one of her relatives, offering
him twice as much commission as she usually offered
her agents to trade on her behalf. She also gave him
one of her servants, Maysarah, who was young,
brilliant, and talented, to assist him and be his
bookkeeper. She also trusted Maysarah's account
regarding her new employee's conduct, an account which
was most glaring, indeed one which encouraged her to
abandon her insistence never to marry again.
Before embarking upon his first trip as a businessman
representing Khadija, Muhammad (pbuh) met with his
uncles for last minute briefings and consultations,
then he set out on the desert road passing through
Wadi al-Qura, Midian, and Diyar Thamud, places with
which he was familiar because of having been there at
the age of twelve in the company of his uncle Abu
Talib. He continued the lengthy journey till he
reached Busra (or Bostra) on the highway to the
ancient city of Damascus after about a month. It was
then the capital of Hawran, one of the southeastern
portions of the province of Damascus situated north of
the Balqa'. To scholars of classic literature, Hawran
is known by its Greek name Auranitis, and it is
described in detail by Yaqut al-Hamawi, Abul-Faraj al-Isfahani,
and others. Arab trade caravans used to go there quite
often and even beyond it to Damascus and Gaza, and few
made it all the way to Mediterranean shores to unload
their precious cargoes of Chinese paper and silk
textiles bound for Europe.
What items did Muhammad (pbuh) carry with him to Busra,
and what items did he buy from there? Meccans were not
known to be skilled craftsmen, nor did they excel in
any profession besides trade, but young Muhammad (pbuh)
might have carried with him a cargo of hides, raisins,
perfumes, dried dates, light weight woven items,
probably silver bars, and most likely some herbs. He
bought what he was instructed by his employer to buy:
these items may have included manufactured goods,
clothes, a few luxury items to sell to wealthy Meccans,
and maybe some household goods. Gold and silver
currency accepted in Mecca included Roman, Persian,
and Indian coins, for Arabs during those times,
including those who were much more sophisticated than
the ones among whom Muhammad (pbuh) grew up such as
the Arabs of the southern part of Arabia (Yemen,
Hadramout, etc.), did not have a currency of their
own; so, barter was more common than cash. The first
Arab Islamic currency, by the way, was struck in
Damascus by the Umayyad ruler Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan
(697-698 A.D.) in 78 A.H., 36 years after the
establishment of the Umayyad dynasty (661-750).
The time Muhammad (pbuh) stayed in Busra was no more
than a couple of months during which he met many
Christians and Jews and noticed the theological
differences among the major Christian sects that led
to the disassociation of the Copts, the Syrian (Chaldean)
Nestorian, and the Armenian Christians from the main
churches of Antioch (Antakiya), Rome, and Egyptian
Alexandria. Such dissensions and differences of
theological viewpoints provided Muhammad (pbuh) with
plenty of food for thought; he contemplated upon them
a great deal. He was seen once by Nestor the monk
sitting in the shade of a tree as caravans entered the
outskirts of Busra, not far from the monk's small
monastery. "Who is the man beneath that tree?"
inquired Nestor of Maysarah. "A man of Quraysh,"
Maysarah answered, adding, "of the people [the
Hashemites] who have guardianship of the anctuary."
"None other than a Prophet is sitting beneath that
tree," said Nestor who had observed some of the signs
indicative of Prophethood: two angels (or, according
to other reports, two small clouds) were shading
Muhammad (pbuh) from the oppressive heat of the sun.
"Is there a glow, a slight redness, around his eyes
that never parts with him?" Nestor asked Maysarah.
When the latter answered in the affirmative, Nestor
said, "He most surely is the very last Prophet;
congratulations to whoever believes in him."
One of Muhammad's observations when he was in that
Syrian city was the historical fact that a feud was
brewing between the Persian and Roman empires, each
vying for hegemony over Arabia's fertile crescent.
Indeed, such an observation was quite accurate, for
after only a few years, a war broke out between the
then mightiest nations on earth that ended with the
Romans losing it, as the Holy Qur'an tells us in
Chapter 30 (The Romans), which was revealed in 7
A.H./615-16 A.D., only a few months after the fall of
Jerusalem to the Persians, just to win in a successive
one. Only four years prior to that date, the Persians
had scored a sweeping victory over the Christians,
spreading their control over Aleppo, Antioch, and even
Damascus. Muhammad (pbuh) was concerned about either
of these two empires extending its control over the
land inhabited by Muhammad's Pagan fiercely
independent Pagan people. The loss of Jerusalem,
birthplace of Christ Jesus son of Mary (as), was a
heavy blow to the prestige of Christianity. Most
Persians were then following Zoroastrianism, a creed
introduced in the 6th century before Christ by
Zoroaster (628-551 B.C.), also known as Zarathustra,
whose adherents are described as worshippers of the
"pyre," the holy fire. "Persia," hence, meant "the
land of the worshippers of the pyre, the sacred fire."
Modern day Iran used to be known as "Aryana," land of
the Aryan nations and tribes. Not only Iranians, but
also Kurds, and even Germans, prided in being Aryans,
(Caucasian) Nordics or speakers of an Indo-European
dialect. Some Persians had converted to Christianity
as we know from Salman al-Farisi who was one such
adherent till he fell in captivity, sold in Mecca and
freed to be one of the most renown and cherished
sahabis and narrators of hadith in Islamic history, so
much so that the Prophet of Islam (pbuh) said, "Salman
is one of us, we Ahl al-Bayt (People of the Household
of Prophethood)."
The war referred to above was between the then
Byzantine (Eastern Roman) emperor Heraclius (575 - 641
A.D.) and the Persian king Khusrau (Khosrow) Parwiz (Parviz)
or Chosroes II (d. 628 A.D.). It was one of many wars
in which those mighty nations were embroiled and which
continued for many centuries. Yet the hands of Divine
Providence were already busy paving the path for
Islam: the collision between both empires paved the
way for the ultimate destruction of the ancient
Persian empire and in Islam setting root in that
important part of the world. Moreover, Muhammad's
(and, naturally, Khadija's) offspring came to marry
ladies who were born and raised at Persian as well as
Roman palaces. Imam Husain ibn Ali ibn Abu Talib (as),
Muhammad's grandson and our Third Holy Imam, married
the daughter of the last Persian emperor Jazdagird (Yazdegerd)
III son of Shahryar and grandson of this same Khusrau
II. Jazdagerd ruled Persia from 632-651 A.D. and lost
the Battle of Qadisiyyah to the Muslim forces in 636,
thus ending the rule of the Sassanians. Having been
defeated, he fled for Media in northwestern Iran,
homeland of Persian Mede tribesmen, and from there to
Merv, an ancient Central Asian city near modern day
Mary in Turkmenistan (until very recently one of the
republics of the Soviet Union), where he was killed by
a miller. The slain emperor left two daughters who,
during their attempt to escape, following the murder
of their father, were caught and sold as slaves. One
of them, Shah-Zenan, ended up marrying our Third Holy
Imam Husain ibn Ali ibn Abu Talib (as), whereas her
sister married the renown scholar and acclaimed
muhaddith (traditionist) Muhammad son of the first
Muslim caliph Abu Bakr. Shah-Zenan was awarded a royal
treatment and was given a new name in her own Persian
mother tongue: Shahr Banu, which means "mistress of
the ladies of the city." The marriage between her and
Imam Husain (as) produced our Fourth Holy Imam (Zainul-Abidin,
or al- Sajjad) Ali ibn al-Husain ibn Ali ibn Abu Talib
(as).
The profits Khadija reaped from that trip were twice
as much as she had anticipated. Maysarah was more
fascinated by Muhammad (pbuh) than by anything related
to the trip. Muhammad (pbuh), on the other hand,
brought back his impressions about what he had seen
and heard, impressions which he related to his
mistress. You see, those trade caravans were the only
links contemporary Arabs had with their outside world:
they brought them the news of what was going on beyond
their drought-ridden and famine-stricken desert and
sand dunes.
Waraqah ibn Nawfal, like Bahirah, the monk who had
seen and spoken to Muhammad (pbuh) when Muhammad (pbuh)
was a lad, adhered to the Nestorian Christian sect. He
heard the accounts about the personality and conduct
of young Muhammad (pbuh) from both his cousin Khadija
and her servant Maysarah, an account which caused him
to meditate for a good while and think about what he
had heard. Raising his head, he said to Khadija, "Such
manners are fit only for the messengers of God. Who
knows? Maybe this young man is destined to be one of
them." This statement was confirmed a few years later,
and Waraqah was the very first man who identified
Muhammad (pbuh) as the Messenger of Allah immediately
after Muhammad (pbuh) received the first revelation at
Hira cave.
The trip's measure of success encouraged Khadija to
employ Muhammad (pbuh) again on the winter trip to
southern Arabia, i.e. Yemen, the land that introduced
the coffee beans to the rest of the world, the land
where the renown Ma'rib irrigation dam was engineered,
the land of Saba' and the renown Balqees, the Arabian
Queen of Sheba (Saba') of Himyar, who married King
Solomon (Sulayman the wise, peace be upon him), in 975
B.C. (after the completion of the construction of the
famous Solomon's Temple [1]), the land of natives
skilled in gold, silver and other metal handicrafts,
not to mention their ingenuity in the textile industry
and domestic furniture..., and it may even be the land
that gave Arabic its first written script which, as
some believe, was modelled after written Amheric, then
the official language in Ethiopia and its colonies.
Yemen, at that time, was being ruled by an Ethiopian
regent. This time Khadija offered Muhammad (pbuh)
three times the usual commission. Unfortunately,
historians do not tell us much about this second trip
except that it was equally profitable to both employer
and employee. Some historians do not mention this trip
at all.
Khadija 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 (pbuh)
sat to detail all the business transactions in which
he became involved on her behalf, but the wealthy and
beautiful lady of Quraysh was thinking more about her
distant cousin than about those transactions. She
simply fell in love with Muhammad (pbuh) just as the
daughter of the Arabian prophet Shu`ayb had fallen in
love with then fugitive prophet Moses (as). Muhammad (pbuh)
was of medium stature, inclined to slimness, with a
large head, broad shoulders and the rest of his body
perfectly proportioned. His hair and beard were thick
and black, not altogether straight but slightly
curled. His hair reached midway between the lobes of
his ears and shoulders, and his beard was of a length
to match. He had a noble breadth of forehead and the
ovals of his large eyes were wide, with exceptionally
long lashes and extensive brows, slightly arched but
not joined. His eyes were said to have been black, but
other accounts say they were brown, or light brown.
His nose was aquiline and his mouth was finely shaped.
Although he let his beard grow, he never allowed the
hair of his moustache to protrude over his upper lip.
His skin was white but tanned by the sun. And there
was a light on his face, a glow, the same light that
had shone from his father, but it was more, much more
powerful, and it was especially apparent on his broad
forehead and in his eyes which were remarkably
luminous.
By the time he was gone, Khadija sought the advice of
a friend of hers named Nufaysa daughter of Umayyah.
The latter offered to approach him on her behalf and,
if possible, arrange a marriage between them. Nufaysa
came to Muhammad (pbuh) and asked him why he had not
married yet. "I have no means to marry," he answered.
"But if you were given the means," she said, "and if
you were bidden to an alliance where there is beauty
and wealth and nobility and abundance, would you not
then consent?" "Who is she?!" he excitedly inquired. "Khadija,"
said Nufaysa. "And how could such a marriage be
mine?!" he asked. "Leave that to me!" was her answer.
"For my part," he said, "I am willing." Nufaysa
returned with these glad tidings to Khadija who then
sent word to Muhammad (pbuh) asking him to come to
her. When he came, she said to him: O son of my uncle!
I love you for your kinship with me, and for that you
are ever in the center, not being a partisan among the
people for this or for that. And I love you for your
trustworthiness, and for the beauty of your character
and the truth of your speech. Then she offered herself
in marriage to him, and they agreed that he should
speak to his uncles and she would speak to her uncle `Amr
son of Asad, since her father had died. It was Hamzah,
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 Safiyya had just married
Khadija's brother `Awwam.
It was Abu Talib, Muhammad's uncle, who delivered the
marriage sermon saying, All praise is due to Allah Who
has made us the progeny of Ibrahim (Abraham), the seed
of Isma`eel (Ishmael), the descendants of Ma`ad, the
substance of Mudar, 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 (pbuh) 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 (pbuh) is a man whose lineage
you all know, and he has sought Khadija daughter of
Khuwaylid for marriage, offering her such-and-such of
the dower of my own wealth.
Nawfal then stood and said, All praise is due to Allah
Who has made us just as you have mentioned and
preferred us over those whom you have indicated, for
we, indeed, are the masters of Arabs and their
leaders, and you all are worthy of this (bond of
marriage). The tribe (Quraysh) does not deny any of
your merits, nor does anyone else dispute your lofty
status and prestige. And we, furthermore, wish to be
joined to your rope; so, bear witness to my words, O
people of Quraysh! I have given Khadija daughter of
Khuwaylid in marriage to Muhammad ibn Abdullah for the
dower of four hundred dinars. Then Nawfal paused,
whereupon Abu Talib said to him, "I wished her uncle
had joined you (in making this statement)." Hearing
that, Khadija's uncle stood and said, "Bear witness, O
men of Quraysh, that I have given Khadija daughter of
Khuwaylid in marriage to Muhammad ibn Abdullah."
These details and more are recorded in Ibn Hisham's
Seera. After his marriage, Muhammad (pbuh) moved from
his uncle's house to live with his wife in her house
which stood at the smiths' market, an alley branching
out of metropolitan Mecca's long main bazaar, behind
the mas`a, the place where the pilgrims perform the
seven circles during the hajj or `umra. In that house
Fatima (as) was born and the revelation descended upon
the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) many times. This house,
as well as the one in which the Prophet of Islam (pbuh)
was born (which stood approximately 50 meters
northwards), were both demolished by the ignorant and
fanatical Wahhabi rulers of Saudi Arabia last year
(1413 A.H./1993 A.D.) and turned into public
bathrooms. The grave sites of many family members and
companions of the Holy Prophet (pbuh) were all
demolished by the same Wahhabis in 1343 A.H./1924 A.D.
against the wish and despite the denunciation of the
adherents of all other Muslim sects and schools of
thought world-wide.
The marriage was a very happy one, and it produced a
lady who was one of the four perfect women in all the
history of mankind: Fatima daughter of Muhammad (pbuh).
Before her, Qasim and Abdullah were born, but they
both died at infancy.
By the time Khadija got married, she was quite a
wealthy lady, so wealthy that she felt no need to keep
trading and increasing her wealth; instead, she
decided to retire and enjoy a comfortable life with
her husband who, on his part, preferred an ascetic
life to that of money making. The Messenger of Allah (pbuh)
had no desire to accumulate wealth; that was not the
purpose for which he, peace and blessings of Allah
upon him and his progeny, was created. He was created
to be savior of mankind from the darkness of
ignorance, idol worship, polytheism, misery, poverty,
injustice, oppression, and immorality. He very much
loved to meditate, though his meditation deepened his
grief at seeing his society sunk so low in immorality,
lawlessness, and the absence of any sort of protection
for those who were weak and oppressed.
Khadija's period of happiness lasted no more than
15 years after which her husband, now the Messenger of
Allah (pbuh), started his mission to invite people to
the Oneness of God, to equality (in worship) between
men and women, and to an end to the evils of the day.
Muhammad (pbuh) was forty years old when the first
verses of the Holy Qur'an were revealed to him. They
were the first verses of Surat al-Alaq (chapter 96),
and they were revealed during the month of Ramadan 13
years before the Hijra, at the cave of Hira in Jabal
al-Noor (the mountain of light), his favorite place
for isolation and meditation, a place which is now
visited by many pilgrims. Muhammad (pbuh) went back
home heavy-hearted, profoundly perplexed, deeply
impressed by the sight of arch-angel Gabriel and by
the depth of meaning implied in those beautiful
words: In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the
Most Merciful Proclaim (or read)! In the Name of your
Lord and Cherisher who created (everything). (He)
created man of a (mere) clot of congealed blood.
Proclaim! And your Lord is the Most Bountiful Who
taught (the use of) the pen, Who taught man that which
he knew not... (Qur'an, 96:1-5) He felt feverish, so
he asked to be wrapped and, once he felt better, he
narrated what he had seen and heard to his faithful
and supportive wife. "By Allah," Khadija said, "Allah
shall never subject you to any indignity..., for you
always maintain your ties with those of your kin, and
you are always generous in giving; you are diligent,
and you seek what others regard as unattainable; you
cool the eyes of your guest, and you lend your support
to those who seek justice and redress. Stay firm, O
cousin, for by Allah I know that He will not deal with
you except most beautifully, and I testify that you
are the awaited Prophet in this nation, and your time,
if Allah wills, has come." After a short while,
Khadija told her husband about the prediction of the
Syrian monk Buhayra regarding Muhammad's Prophethood,
and about her dialogue with both her servant Maysarah,
who had informed her of what Bahirah (or Buhayrah) had
said, and with her cousin Waraqah ibn Nawfal. She then
accompanied her husband to Waraqah's house to narrate
the whole incident. "Let me hear it in your own
words," Nawfal said to Muhammad (pbuh), adding, "O
noble master!" Having heard the Prophet's words,
Nawfal took his time to select his words very
carefully; he said, "By Allah, this is the prediction
which had been conveyed to Moses (as) and with which
the Children of Israel are familiar! [Moses] had said:
`O how I wish I could be present when Muhammad (pbuh)
is delegated with Prophethood to support his mission
and to assist him!'"
It was only natural for Khadija to receive her share
of the harassment meted to him by none other than
those who, not long ago, used to call him al-Sadiq,
al-Amin. Khadija did not hesitate to embrace Islam at
all, knowing that her husband could not have put forth
any false claim. Yahya ibn `Afeef is quoted saying
that he once came, during the period of jahiliyya
(before the advent of Islam), to Mecca to be hosted by
al-Abbas ibn Abdul-Muttalib, one of the Prophet's
uncles mentioned above. "When the sun started rising,"
says he, "I saw a man who came out of a place not far
from us, faced the Ka`ba 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." Then he expressed his
amazement at that, saying to al-Abbas: "This is quite
strange, O Abbas!" "Is it, really?" retorted al-Abbas.
"Do you know who he is?" al-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 al-Abbas
said, "She is Khadija daughter of Khuwaylid, my
nephew's wife." This incident is included in the books
of both Imam Ahmad and al-Tirmithi, each detailing it
in his own Sahih. And 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 Quraysh, sacrificing
her vast wealth to promote Islam, seeking Allah's
Pleasure.
Among Khadija's merits was her being one of the four
most perfect of all women of mankind, the other three
being: Fatima daughter of Muhammad (pbuh), Maryam bint
`Umran (Mary daughter of Amram), mother of Christ (as)
and niece of prophet Zakariyya and Ishba (Elizabeth),
and `Asiya daughter of Muzahim, wife of Pharaoh.
Prophet Zakariyya, as the reader knows, was the father
of Yahya (John the Baptist), the latter being only a
few months older than prophet Jesus (as). The Prophet
of Islam (pbuh) used to talk about Khadija quite often
after her demise, so much so that his youngest wife, `Ayesha
daughter of Abu Bakr, felt extremely jealous and said
to him, "... But she was only an old woman with red
eyes, and Allah has compensated you with a better and
younger wife (meaning herself)." This caused him (pbuh)
to be very indignant, and he said, "No, indeed; He has
not compensated me with someone better than her. She
believed in me when all others disbelieved; she held
me truthful when others called me a liar; she
sheltered me when others abandoned me; she comforted
me when others shunned me; and Allah granted me
children by her while depriving me of children by
other women." Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal, Abu Hatim, al-Dulabi,
al-Tabari, and many others, all quote `Ayesha saying:
"One day, the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) mentioned
Khadija affectionately, so I was carried away by
jealousy and said about her what I should not have
said. It was then that his face changed color in a way
I never saw it change except when he (pbuh) was
receiving revelation, so I realized what I had done
and felt overwhelmed by regret to the extent that I
could not help uttering these words: `O Lord! If You
remove the anger of Your Messenger right now, I pledge
not to ever speak ill of her as long as I live.'
Having seen that, he forgave me and narrated to me
some of her merits." Both Muslim and Bukhari indicate
in their respective Sahih books that among Khadija's
merits was the fact that the Lord of Dignity ordered
Jibraeel (Gabriel), peace be upon him, to convey His
regards to her. Gabriel said to Muhammad (pbuh): "O
Muhammad! Khadija is bringing you a bowl of food; when
she comes to you, tell her that her Lord greets her,
and convey my greeting, too, to her." When he (pbuh)
did so, she said: "Allah is the Peace, and He is the
source of all peace, and upon Gabriel be peace."
Khadija died of an attack of fever on the tenth or
eleventh day of the month of Ramadan, ten years after
the start of the Prophetic mission (in the year 619
A.D.), 24 years after her marriage with Muhammad (pbuh),
and she was buried at Hajun in the outskirts of Mecca.
The Messenger of Allah (pbuh) dug her grave and buried
her... Funeral prayers (salat al janaza) had not yet
been mandated in Islam. It is reported that by the
time she died, her entire wealth had already been
spent to promote Islam; she left not a single gold
dinar nor a single silver dirham, nor anything more or
less... O soul that are at rest! Return to your Lord,
well-pleased (with Him),well-pleasing (Him), so enter
among My servants, and enter into My garden. (Qur'an,
89:27-30)
[1] This temple was built by Solomon (Prophet Sulayman)
to express his gratitude for what the Almighty had
granted him. Solomon had in advance obtained his
Lord's permission to erect it. A glimpse of its
grandeur is described in the Holy Qur'an in 27:44: "It
was said to her (to Balqees, the Queen of Sheba):
Enter the palace; but when she saw it, she deemed it
to be a great expanse of water," that is, its marble
floors shone like glass, reflecting her image as water
does. This temple was later ordered by Solomon to be
demolished in its entirety, and the claim of the Jews
that the al-Aqsa mosque is built on its very
foundations is false. The Jews plot to demolish the
al-Aqsa mosque in order to rebuild Solomon's Temple.
Jews intend to do so at the right time, when they
realize that the Muslims of the world, because of the
weakness and hypocrisy of their rulers, are too weak
to stand between them and the achievement of their
most vile goals, and when the "Christian" West will be
ready, more than now, to help them achieve their
objectives. The West has been supporting the Jews
against the Muslims, and there will never be any
reversal to this trend... We are Allah's, and to Him
shall we return...
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