Islam did not rise
except through Ali's sword and Khadija's wealth,
Khadija Daughter of Khuwaylid
by: Yasin.T.al Jibouri
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 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 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 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 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 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 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)
Notes:
[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...
|