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Khadijah: The Holy
Prophet's (pbuh) wife
Introduction:
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.
Her Birth:
According to a number of sources, Khadija was born in 565 A.D.
and died on 29th Rajab three year before the Hijra (migration of
the Holy Prophet and his followers from Mecca to Medina) at the
age of 58. 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 Holy Prophet Muhammad
(S.A.W.). 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.
Ameerat-Quraysh:
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.
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 (A.S.). 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 gray
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 Richest Person in Arabia:
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 (S.A.W.) who, by
then, had earned the honoring titles of al-Sadiq, the truthful,
and al-Amin, the trustworthy. Muhammad (S.A.W.) 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 (S.A.W.) a chance. He was only 25 years
old. Khadija sent Muhammad (S.A.W.) 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.
Before embarking upon his first trip as a businessman
representing Khadija, Muhammad (S.A.W.) 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 (S.A.W.) 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 (S.A.W.) 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 78 A.H., 36 years after the
establishment of the Umayyad dynasty (661-750) at the advice and
help of Imam Muhammad Baqir(a).
The young Muhammad(S.A.W.) 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 (S.A.W.) 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."
The profits Khadija reaped from that trip were twice as much as
she had anticipated. Maysarah was more fascinated by Muhammad
(S.A.W. than by anything related to the trip. Muhammad (S.A.W.),
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, adhered to the
Nestorian Christian sect. He heard the accounts about the
personality and conduct of young Muhammad (S.A.W.) 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 (S.A.W.) as the Messenger of Allah
immediately after Muhammad (S.A.W.) received the first
revelation at Hira cave.
The trip's measure of success encouraged Khadija to employ
Muhammad (S.A.W.) 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., 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 (S.A.W.)
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 istorians
do not mention this trip at all.
Hadrat Khadija's marriage with the Holy Prophet of Islam(pbuh):
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 (S.A.W.) 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 (S.A.W.)
just as the daughter of the Arabian prophet Shu`ayb had fallen
in love with then prophet Moses (A.S.).
Muhammad (S.A.W.) 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 (S.A.W.) 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 (S.A.W.) 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 (S.A.W.) 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 (S.A.W.) 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. "
Courtesy: Ali Hasan Jarchavi, San Jose, CA / Al-Huda 7/17
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