History of Islam – Pre-revelation: Divine Protection of Prophet Muhammad
In this video, I will talk about the marriage of P.M, pbuh, with Khadija.
As I mentioned in the previous video, Khadija had a conversation with her cousin Waraqa, who also was a Christian scholar, and he had told her that Muhammad might be the awaited prophet.. After this conversation, Khadija’s love and admiration towards P.M grew.
Khadija was a 40-year old widow woman at that time. She had been married twice. In fact, she did not think of marrying again; but Now she was thinking about marrying again, to be closer to that special person.
Khadija had strong character. She was maybe the most noble and the richest female in her tribe in Mecca.
She had a female friend called Nafisa. And Nafisa had noticed that her friend Khadija seemed so thoughtful recently. She asked the reason.
Khadija shared her feelings and thoughts with her friend, and said that she saw high qualities in Muhammad’s character that she see in no other men. She told her how straightforward and trustworthy he is, and that he was coming from a very good family.
She was sure that he was the awaited messenger! And she was hoping to join her life with him.
Nafisa understood her friend’s situation and said that she was qoing to inquire on this issue. And she would try to help her in this case. Nafisa went to P.M’s home and asked: “O Muhammad! What prevents you from marrying? Why don’t you marry someone?”
He answered:
“I do not have the money to get married.”
And Nafisa asked:
“If money was not an issue for you, and if the money was provided, also if someone came to you being a perfect match for you, would you not accept her as a spouse?”
After hearing this question, P.M understood that there was such a candidate.
He asked:
“So who is this person?”
Nafisa told him that:
“It is Khadija!”.
He already knew Khadija, but he also knew that marriage was a big commitment; so he asked:
“But how can this marriage be?”
Nafisa said: “This is my business, you can leave it to me.”
- P.M said okay. And Nafisa ran to her friend Khadija, to give the good news. She reported the whole conversation between him and herself. And Khadija understood that he would agree on marrying her, too! Then, Khadija told P.M about her interest in him. And she said:
“If you agree on this marriage too, go to my uncle and ask him for my hand!”
Khadija’s father had passed away as well; so she said that if her uncle agrees to this marriage, he could begin the wedding processes.
P.M first discussed the issue with his uncle. Abu Talib knew about Khadija’s honor and dignity; He also understood that his nephew considered this marriage positively; as result, he had nothing to say against this union!
Then, he asked Khadija’s hand for P.M, pbuh.
- Everybody in both sides approved this union.
Then Abu Talib and Prophet Muhammad gave a banquet to the people in Mecca to celebrate the marriage. And Khadija invited P.M’s wet nurse Halima to the wedding, too! And she actually attended the wedding of P.M, which was certainly a great joy for her.
After the wedding, they began to live in their own house that they had purchased. P.M was 25 years old, and Khadija was 40 years old when they married to each other. And their marriage lasted for 25 years, until the passing of Khadija.
- When Khadija and P. M got married, they were not alone in their home. There were others living with them, too. For instance, Zayd ibn Haritha was one of them. Zayd came to the house of P.M as a slave child. However, PM liked him very much, and he freed him as soon as he got him.
Although Zayd got his freedom, he preferred to stay at the Prophet’s home. And he lived with them for a long time.
The 2nd person who lived with P.M was Ali, the prophet’s cousin, who is the son of Abu Talib. Ali joined the prophet’s home 11 years after the wedding of P.M with Khadija.
- So how did Ali begin to live with the Prophet’s family?
The prophet’s uncle Abu Talib had a large family to take care of. So he wanted to share the financial burden of Abu Talib. So he took Ali to look after in his own house. Ali was 4-5 years old at that time.
Other two people living in P.M’s home, were Hind, who was Khadija’s son from her former husband; and Umm Ayman, who was the slave girl of Amina and Abdullah, which are the Prophet’s parents. When Amina passed away, Umm Ayman had looked after P.M until he grew up. When he grew up, P.M freed her. But she still remained in his house and served him and Khadija, for a long time.
P.M was a perfect family man. We know from his sayings that he would help his wife with the housework.
- On the other side, Khadija had servants at home, however, she preferred to do the work by herself;
Also, she took good care of her husband, so that nothing disturbed him.
In terms of their children, Khadija and P. M. had four daughters and two sons from their marriage. Their first- born baby was named Qasim; so, P.M, pbuh, began to be called Abul Qasim, which means the father of Qasim. But unfortunately, when Qasim was two years old, he died.
Two years after Qasim’s death, their first daughter Zainab was born. and, the Prophet was 30 years old when she was born.
- Then, their second daughter Rukiyya was born when the Prophet was 33 years old.
- Then, The next year, a third daughter, Umm Kulthum was born.
However, All of their children died before P.M, pbuh, except their daughter Fatima. Fatima was their fourth and the last daughter, and she was born when P.M was 35 years old.
- And Fatima did not live long too. She passed away about 6 months after his father passed away.
The last child that Khadija gave birth to the Prophet was Abdullah. He was born only two years after his father received the first revelation in the Cave of Hira. He was also the second son of P.M from Khadija. However, Abdullah only lived for three months. So he died too.
- After Abdullah’s death, As ibn Wail, who was among the polytheists of Mecca, told people that Muhammad is abtar, meaning he does not have descendants, or his lineage is cut off, or, broken, because he didn’t have any living male children. In fact, his intention was to humiliate the Prophet.
- However, following this incident, Allah revealed the Surah Kawthar, which is Chapter 108 in the Qur’an, to comfort His messenger. Allah says in this chapter: “Surely it is the one who offends you, who is cut off (from posterity).”
- By this verse, Allah actually defended His messenger by saying that it is not Muhammad who is cut off, but the other person is.
We are ending the topic here. In our next video, I will talk about the re-construction of the Ka’ba at the time of P.M, pbuh.
See you next time.
