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Khadija Daughter of Khuwaylid
Wife of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh)
INTRODUCTION:
"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 Maad son of Adnan son of
Ismaeel (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 of being 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 physique; 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 Shuayba. Most importantly, Mecca housed
the Kaba, 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 Khuzaah, 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 Sanctuary." "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 Shuayb 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 Ismaeel (Ishmael), the descendants of Maad, 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 masa,
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 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 Kaba 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...
By; Yasin.T.al Jibouri
