Hazrat Khadija's
Demise

KHADIJEH MOTHER OF THE
ORPHANS

Though she was even wealthier than other rich people, unlike them,
she always thought about helping the poor and sharing their sorrow and
difficulties, and solving their problems.

For this reason, Khadijeh (S.A.) ordered her servants to never close the
doors of her house to any poor person and to always have ready at hand the
things the poor needed. She commanded her servants to inform her whenever a
poor person wanted to talk to her or wanted something from her during the day
or night. She could not bear the thought that a poor leaves her house in
sorrow, not having received something from her.

So the deprived and poor knew
the way to Khadijeh's house and called that house,
"The house of hope and security." More than any other, the orphans
sought refuge in her house, because Khadijeh (S.A.)
sympathized with them a lot and she would care for them in a motherly way. So
they called her "Ummul Yatama",
meaning, "The Mother of the Orphans".

Having talked about Khadijeh's (S.A.) house, the following lines will help
you gain a conception of her house.

The house where lived Khadijeh (S.A.) and from where she performed all the
benevolent tasks for the poor, was one of the nicest in Mecca. It had two floors, each one of which
was decorated by a small balcony. The northern section of the house so faced
the Ka'aba (House of Allah) that the latter could be
seen from its small windows. In addition to this, the visitors to Allah's house
could be seen too. The windows of the other three sides faced three of Mecca's roads and every passenger entering Mecca could be seen from those windows.
There was a green dome at the top of the building, which made it look a hundred
times more beautiful. The interior of the house was divided into two sections,
one of which Khadijeh (S.A.) kept for private usage
and where no one was allowed without her permission.

She chose the northern section
of the house, which faced the Ka'aba as her living
quarters, and from there she stood in front of the house of Allah and prayed to
Him everyday.

The other section of Khadijeh's (S.A.) house was for the guests. Special
servants entertained the guests, looking after their needs. Everybody was
satisfied when they left Khadijeh's house. This is
why all the people living in the region would call Khadijeh's
house, "the house of generosity and kindness". In hard times, people
would go and come back, hands full and happy. We can say that the section of Khadijeh's house open to the public was home to many homeless,
the poor, refugees, orphans and the oppressed. If anyone was looking for
shelter, people would send him to Khadijeh's house.

A famous writer described Khadijeh's house as follows:

"Every orphan who didn't
have anyone to depend on,

Every father who couldn't get
food for his children,

Every woman who was homeless,

Everybody who suffered and
became shelter less,

All of them knew the way to Khadijeh's (S.A.) house and went there.

They took refuge in her
kindness and wealth.

The sore hearts of those people
were treated with her favour and grace."

This was why Khadijeh's house was always full of people. Whole day and
night, there were coming and going activities there. Khadijeh
(S.A.) would come to that section accessible to the public a few hours everyday.
She would sit with her poor and homeless guests, talk
and listen to their distress and difficulties. She would caress the children
and wipe the tears of the mothers. Then she would call her private servant and
he would bring some bags of money. Khadijeh (S.A.)
would then distribute the money amongst the people.

Kind Khadijeh
(S.A.) would always sit with the orphans at dinner and eat with them. She would
herself feed the delicious food to them. She would place her hands around their
faces, caress and kiss them, saying: "My dear children! Don't feel like
orphans. (I am your mother). I will support and love you like my own
child."

Khadijeh's (S.A.) support and protection was not only
for the orphans who didn't have any parents, but also for those who had parents.
During those days, known as Al-Jahiliyya (The age of
Ignorance), some fathers who were narrow-minded and foolish would bury their
own daughters alive, for different foolish reasons. They were proud of this
ugly and indecent act. On every opportunity, they would boast about what they
had done. However, they never thought about the day of Judgement
and that Allah will judge them:

"When the female
(infant) who was buried alive will be asked for what sin was she killed." (Al-Qur'an,
81:8-9)

During those days, this ugly
and indecent act was common amongst some Arab tribes. They would kill their
innocent daughters because of poverty and believed that having a daughter is
something to be ashamed of. They would cowardly bury their daughters alive.

Then glowed
the light of Islam forbidding such a practice. Allah says in Al-Qur'an:

"And do not kill your
children for fear of poverty; We give them sustenance
and yourselves (too); surely to kill them is a great sin." (Al-Qur'an, 17:31)

As a result, when some mothers
gave birth to a girl, their husbands would get angry at them. They either had
to give their daughter to their cruel husband, who was free to do whatever he
wanted to do to the innocent baby, or send the baby to Khadijeh's
(S.A.) house from where it could be
supported and saved from being buried alive. Now we are going to tell you one
of those stories.

One night, when darkness
covered the region of the Hejaz (Arabian Peninsula), the wealthy, who
had no conscience, were sleeping in their comfortable beds, putting their
arrogant heads on their comfortable pillows. They were sleeping comfortably and
never bothered about anyone or anything else as they had everything in the
world. Also money was always at their disposal and they could do whatever they
wished, even irrational. They thought that as long as the earth exists, they
would have power.

On the same night, the poor
and helpless people were sleeping in their dirty houses or beside the walls of
some rich person's house in the city or in Khadijeh's
(S.A.) house and they would try to forget
all about their sorrow and misery, at least for that night.

During this dark night, the
stars and moon were hiding behind the dark clouds. Not willing to see the
prejudice and inequality amongst the human beings, they had stopped shining.

On that night, everybody was
asleep except Khadijeh (S.A.) and her special servant
and............

Khadijeh (S.A.) was thinking in her private
room. She was swimming in the sea of dreams and had surrounded herself with the
turbulent waves of her thoughts.

Then suddenly someone knocked
at her door. Khadijeh (S.A.), still dreaming, lifted
her head and asked: "Who is it?" Someone answered: "It is me, my
lady, Maysareh." Khadijeh
(S.A.) replied: "Come in! I am awake. I can't sleep tonight." The door
opened and Khadijeh's special servant, Maysareh, rushed into the room, all confused.

Maysareh said: "As Salaamu
Alaikum, my lady, I am sorry if I am bothering
you."

Khadijeh (S.A.) replied: "Wa Alaikum Salaam. What is wrong,
Maysareh? I see that you are worried. Has something
happened or...?" Maysareh answered: "No,
no! Don't worry. You yourself said that we should tell you whenever an
indigent, helpless or an oppressed person wanted to see you."

Khadijeh (S.A.) said: "Yes, yes. I myself
said that. Now what has happened and who wants to see me and why?" Maysareh answered: "My lady, a young woman carrying a
heavy sack has come to the house. She was shaking and crying and her hair was
untidy. She begged me to bring her to you. It seems that she came here because
she is afraid and depressed."

Khadijeh (S.A.) answered; "Very well.
There is no problem. Tell her to come in. I myself told you to call me anytime,
day or night if any helpless or homeless person wanted to see me. Don't let
that person leave this house in sadness or with empty hands".

Maysareh went to call the young woman to take
her to Khadijeh's room.

Khadijeh (S.A.) started thinking about that
young woman and she told herself: "Oh Allah! What has happened to this
poor woman in the middle of the night? What kind of problem has she faced that
has caused her to leave her house alone at this time and to come to my house?
Who is this helpless woman? Where does she come from? And why did she come
here? Maybe she is a mother who came here with her sick child so that we can
provide food and medicine for it.

"Maybe she is a slave who
has come here because of her unjust master. Or maybe she is a chaste woman
whose house the street ruffians entered by force to kill her husband or take
her innocent child. Maybe none of these, but maybe her cruel husband wanted to
take her innocent daughter away from her and bury the girl alive under the cold
dust of the desert. Maybe for this reason, she took the baby and brought her
here seeking refuge in my house."

Many thoughts occupied the
chaste mind of Khadijeh (S.A.) when suddenly the door
opened. A young woman, whose head and face were covered with a veil, entered,
crying. Tears had completely wet her red and dusty cheeks. Her arms and legs
were shaking out of sorrow and she could only say: "As Salaamu
Alaikum." She then sat down on the floor and
tried to kiss Khadijeh's feet, but the latter stopped
her and hugged her and kissed her face like a kind mother. Khadijeh
(S.A.) asked her: 'my daughter! What has happened? Why are you so upset? Be
sure that whatever I can do I will do for you. Tell me, my daughter. Tell me
what has happened."

The young woman moved away
from Khadijeh's embrace and opened the heavy sack and
placed it in front of Khadijeh (S.A.). She removed a
beautiful baby from it, which was like the blossom of spring and hugged it.

After the young woman gave the
baby many long and warm kisses while still in tears, she placed the baby in
front of Khadijeh (S.A.) and said:

"Oh
Lady of Quraish! Oh kind Khadijeh (S.A.) I beg
you, please have mercy upon my baby and me. Look how beautiful it is and what
beautiful black eyebrows it has. For the sake of Allah look
how it looks at me with its sweet eyes. See what a beautiful smile it has. It
seems that the baby understands what I say because it looks at me this way. The
baby knows that I want to take it away from myself and give it to somebody
else."

Then the young woman looked at
the sky and said: "Oh Almighty Allah! Save us from this insecure and
ignorant situation and from dirty deeds. Send us a savior who can stop this
savage situation and the cruel killings. What did this innocent baby do that
makes its father want to bury it alive with no fear? What did I do wrong that I
must give up my baby?

The woman prayed to Allah and
then started crying even more. The baby, afraid of her mother's cries started
crying also.

Khadijeh (S.A.), who was quiet until this time,
took the woman's lovely baby and hugged it and sympathetically said to the
young woman: "My daughter! Don't worry. "I will keep and protect your
baby like my own daughter, I know how you feel now and
why you are so upset. I am a mother and I know the heartache of mothers. I will
raise her and whenever you want, you can come here and see your baby."

The young woman said:
"What if my husband comes and wants to take her from you? He is an
obstinate person. When I was pregnant, he told me: 'If it is a boy, he is mine.
If it is a girl, it belongs to the grave.' He repeated this sentence everyday
to bother me.

"Today when I felt the
pains of delivery, I took refuge in the desert so I could deliver the baby.
There, this beautiful girl was born. I didn't return to the house because I
knew if I took it to the house, it would have meant the grave for it; as a
result, I came to your house because I knew that my daughter would be protected
here.

"Oh
kind Khadijeh (S.A.)! We, the women of this region, know you
very well. We know that you protect the orphans better than their parents, but
I am still afraid that my angry husband may come here and get the baby from
you.

"He may even hurt me and
kill me for having given the baby to you. But it doesn't matter. Let him kill
me but my daughter will be alive."

The young woman uttered these
words and fell down at Khadijeh's (S.A.) feet and started crying very hard. Khadijeh (S.A.) picked her up and placed her hand on the
dusty hair of the young woman and very kindly said: "My daughter! I told
you not to worry about your baby. I will raise her like my own baby and I will
never give her to your husband. He can't do anything here. If he comes here, I
will hide her. Be sure that your baby is in a secure place. Now get up and rest
a little bit. You don't feel well. You have come a long way. Leave everything
to Allah because Allah is closer and kinder to a person than anyone else."

After the young woman heard
the kind words of Khadijeh (S.A.), she went to a
corner of the room and fell into a deep sleep. The great Khadijeh
(S.A.), whose pure spirit was shaken by the recent incidents
thought very hard about the things that the young woman had told her. Then she
asked herself: What is this misfortune that is over coming the Arab fathers,
that causes them to become so cruel and conscienceless
as to bury their innocent babies alive with their own hands under tons of black
soil? Do they fear poverty or feel ashamed?

The Lady of Quraish kept thinking about this unfortunate situation and
deliberated as to how long this practice would continue. Having pondered
deeply, she started to pray and commune with Allah. She said:

"Oh
Allah! I swear by
your Prophets and the people who are close to You. I
beg You to send the Saviour
that Jesus and the other Messengers have promised for these unfortunate and
ignorant people so that this ugly, and unfortunate situation comes to an end.
Only then would innocent mothers be able to hold their unprotected and innocent
babies in their arms."

After prayer, she went to
sleep. She dreamt that the sun was rising from the sky and turned several times
around the house of Allah. It then moved towards her house, where its huge
brightness dazzled her eyes.

She woke up and realized that
the day of Islam was near.