Prophet Muhammad’s first wife, Khadijah bint Khuwaylid was among the wealthiest merchants in Mecca, managing to figure in that position even though she was a woman, something practically impossible in the pre-Islamic society1.

Khadijah, born in 555 AD, was the daughter of Khuwaylid ibn Asad, of the Asad clan, who in turn was also a merchant. There are accounts that Khadijah’s father may have died in the “Sacrilegious Wars” that occurred around 585. However, according to other sources, he would have been alive when Khadijah would marry the Prophet ten years later.

Her mother was Fatima bint Zaidah, who died in 575, being a member of the Amir ibn Luayy clan within the Quraysh tribe, being a third cousin of Muhammad’s mother. Furthermore, Khadijah was a cousin of Waraqah, the hanif, and of his sister Qutaylah.

Khadijah was older than Muhammad, having already married Arab nobles twice: Abu Halah ibn Zurarah ibn al-Nabbash al-Tamimi, with whom she had two children, Hind and Halah; and Atiq ibn Aid ibn Umar ibn Makhzum, with whom she had Hind bint Atiq.

The historian Ibn Sad (784-845) said the following about Khadijah’s children from before her marriage to Muhammad:

Khadijah (may God be pleased with her) bore for Abu Halah a son called Hind and another named Halah. Then, after Abu Halah, Atiq ibn Abid ibn Abdullah ibn Umar ibn Makhzum married her. For him she bore a daughter also called Hind, who later married Sayfiyy ibn Umayyah ibn Abid ibn Abdullah ibn Umar ibn Makhzum, her cousin, for whom she bore a son called Muhammad. The descendents of this Muhammad are called Banu al-Fahirah (Clan of the Pure Woman) due to the status of Khadijah (may God be pleased with her). They had remnants in Madinah, but subsequently died out. Khadijah (may God be pleased with her) was known as Umm Hind.

Since the death of her second husband, it was her custom to hire men to negotiate on her behalf. During this period, the Prophet came to be known in Mecca as al-Arnin, which means “the Trustworthy” or “the Honest”, and this was initially due to the accounts of those who had entrusted his goods to him on several occasions. Khadijah had also heard very well of him from family sources; and one day she sent a message to Muhammad, asking him to take some of her goods to Syria. His payment would be double the highest she has ever paid to a quraysh man; in addition, Khadijah offered him the services of a boy named Maysarah for the trip. He accepted what she proposed and accompanied Maysarah with her goods to the north (LINGS, 2006).

During this trip, Muhammad would come across a monk named Nestor, who seeing the meccan merchant sitting under a tree would immediately recognize him as a prophet, something that got marked in Maysarah’s mind. However, despite the unusual sayings by the monk, this was still not surprising for Maysarah who knew he was in the presence of a diferente man, and this report by Nestor would later be confirmed by something he would see on the way home: Maysarah had observed that the heat was strangely unopressive by the desert standards, until one day when almost noon he was able to see briefly the image of two angels shadowing Muhammad from the sun’s rays.

Upon arriving back in Mecca, Muhammad would report the success of his trip to Khadijah, who paid more attention to the narrator than to what he had to narrate. At that time Muhammad was 25 years old, while Khadijah was already 402. However, precisely because of his age, Khadijah wondered whether a marriage to Muhammad could or could not occur.

As soon as he left, Khadijah consulted a friend of hers named Nufaysah, who offered to approach the Prophet on her behalf and, if possible, arrange the wedding between them. Maysarah went to his lady and told her about the two angels and what the monk Nestor had said, so she went to her cousin Waraqah, the hanif and repeated these things to him. Then Khadijah said: “If this is true, then Muhammad is the prophet of our people. I have known for a long time that a prophet is expected, and his time has come.”

Meanwhile, Nufaysah was speaking to Muhammad, asking the Prophet why he had not been married yet, who replied that he did not have the means it (LINGS, 2006). So Nufaysah asked if he had the opportunity to get married, if he would get married, which resulted in a positive response from the Prophet when he came to know that Nufaysah was referring to Khadijah.

After that, Nufaysah returned with the news to her lady, Khadijah, who would call Muhammad to come and talk to her, saying to the Prophet:

Son on of mine uncle, I love thee for thy kinship with me, and for that thou art ever in the centre, not being a partisan amongst the people for this or for that; and I love thee for thy trustworthiness and for the beauty of thy character and the truth of thy speech

After that, Khadijah offered her hand to Muhammad, and they both agreed to speak to each other’s family to consummate the marriage. Thus, Muhammad would pay 20 camels as a dowry for Khadijah, consummating their marriage.

Children with the Prophet

Muhammad and Khadijah had 6 or 8 children, depending on the narrative3, namely:

  • Qasim, who died shortly after turning three;
  • Zaynab;
  • Ruqayyah;
  • Umm Kulthum;
  • Fatima;
  • Abd-Allah, also known as at-Tayyib (“the Good”) and at-Tahir (“the Pure”), since he was born after Muhammad was called a prophet by the angel Gabriel (Jibreel).

In addition to the couple’s own children, two other children lived in Khadijah’s house: Ali ibn Abi Talib, son of Muhammad’s uncle, and Zayd ibn Harithah, a boy from the Udhra tribe, kidnapped and sold as a slave who was rescued by the Prophet.

Zayd was a slave to Khadijah’s home for several years, until his father came to Mecca to take him home. Muhammad insisted that Zayd could choose where to live, and ended up deciding to stay where he was with the Prophet and Khadijah, after which Muhammad legally adopted Zayd as his own son.

The First Muslim

When Muhammad received his first revelation, the first person he told was his wife Khadijah, who from the first minute believed in the Prophet’s account and was with him during his moments of crisis, doubts and uncertainties, showing herself faithful to the prophet of Allah until her last breath in this life.

After his experience in Hira’s cave, Muhammad returned to his home in a state of terror, begging Khadijah to cover him with a blanket. After calming down, he described the meeting to his wife, who comforted him with the words that Allah would surely protect him from any danger and would never allow anyone to harm him, as he was a man of peace and reconciliation and always stretched out his hand of friendship to all, just as she stated when married Muhammad.

According to some sources, it was Khadijah’s cousin, Waraqah ibn Nawfal, the hanif, who confirmed Muhammad’s prophetic mission shortly after being informed of the Angel’s Revelation.

Khadijah’s support was fundamental to the Prophet’s mission, since she was the one who comforted him in the most difficult moments, defending him from the vilificatoins and injuries that he suffered so much from the Quraysh. Not only, but in fact she believed in Muhammad’s prophethood, encouraging him in his mission and in the spread of Islam.

Going further, Khadijah used her wealth to help her husband, especially when the Quraysh tried to boycott his Mission in every way, thus paying the ransom of Muslims imprisoned by the leaders of the tribe and also freeing Muslim slaves who were oppressed by their masters simply because they embraced Islam.

In 616, the Quraysh declared a commercial boycott against the Hashim clan. Pagans attacked, arrested and beat up Muslims, who sometimes went for days without eating or drinking. However, despite all the difficulties and threats, Khadijah continued to help maintain the community until the boycott was lifted in late 619 (or early 620).

Even though, the year of 619 would be a dark one for Muhammad, who would lose his faithful wife and also his uncle Abu Talib. This year became known as “The Year of Sadness”.

Khadijah was faithful from beginning to the end with the Prophet, being the first to trust his message, a true example of wife, friend, companion and Muslim from the first day of Islam to the present. Without her, the message of Islam could have never spread throughout the world, since it would have stopped right there in the city of Mecca, hitherto dominated by the Quraysh who had so offended and attacked Muhammad and the Islamic religion. After that, the Prophet had to face difficult moments in his life, but always with Khadijah in his memory, suffering for her death, but always remembering the woman she was and that never let him give up on his Mission.

It is said that Khadijah was about 65 at the time of her death. She was buried in the Jannat al-Mualla cemetery in Mecca, in present-day Saudi Arabia.

NOTES

[1] The pre-Islamic period was called Jahiliyyah, or “ignorance”. After the advent of Islam, women came to have many rights that until then they did not have before the Islamic religion emerged.

[2] There are theories that Khadijah was actually 28 years old when she married the prophet Muhammad. Some narratives attribute 30 or 35 years old at the time, however the discussion is centered on 28 or 40 years.

[3] Example of disagreements between the number of children can be found in two popular works, mainly among scholars in the West: Al-Tabari and Ibn Ishaq. The first spoke of 8 children. Ibn Ishaq, author of one of the first biographies of the Prophet, spoke in 7, while most sources speak in 6.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

YAMANI, Ahmed Zaki. The Mother of the Faithful Khadijah bint Khuwaylid. Al-Furqan. 2014.

LINGS, Martin. Muhammad. His life based on the earliest sources. Inner Traditions International. 2006.

AL-JIBOURI, Yasin T. Khadijah, Daughter of Khuwaylid, Wife of Prophet Muhammad. Ahlul Bayt Digital Islamic Library Project. 2017.

WATT, Montgomery W. (2012). “Khadija”. In P. Bearman; et al. (eds.). Encyclopaedia of Islam.

EL-KADI, Ahmed. The Prophet’s (pbuh) marriage to Khadijah. Jannah.