The Messenger’s Marriage to Khadijah

Ibn Hisham said: When the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, reached the age of twenty-five, he married Khadijah bint Khuwaylid ibn Asad ibn Abd al-‘Uzza ibn Qusayy ibn Kilab ibn Murrah ibn Ka‘b ibn Lu’ayy ibn Ghalib, according to what more than one learned person narrated to me from Abu ‘Amr al-Madani.

Ibn Ishaq said: Khadijah bint Khuwaylid was a woman of standing and wealth who traded. The account continues on printed page 188.

[1] Other reports say the Messenger was twenty-one, thirty, or thirty-seven years old when he married Khadijah, and there are further reports. See Sharh al-Mawahib and al-Isti‘ab. [2] Khadijah was then forty years old; another report says forty-five. In the pre-Islamic period she was called al-Tahirah, “the Pure,” because of her chastity and reserve. She had been married to Abu Halah ibn Zurarah al-Tamimi, who died before Islam. Khadijah bore him Hind, a Companion who narrated a description of the Prophet and witnessed Badr, or, according to another report, Uhud. Al-Hasan ibn ‘Ali narrated from him and called him his maternal uncle, since Hind was the brother of Fatimah through their mother. Hind was eloquent and skilled in description. He used to say, “I am the noblest of people in father, mother, brother, and sister: my father is the Messenger of Allah, my brother is al-Qasim, my sister is Fatimah, and my mother is Khadijah.” Hind was killed with ‘Ali on the Day of the Camel; another report says he died in Basra during the plague, while another says it was his son, also named Hind, who died in the plague. Khadijah also bore Abu Halah a son, Halah ibn Abi Halah, who was a Companion. After Abu Halah died, Khadijah married ‘Atiq ibn ‘A’idh al-Makhzumi and bore him a daughter named Hind, who accepted Islam and became a Companion. See Sharh al-Mawahib and al-Isti‘ab.

Khadijah hired men to trade with her wealth, giving them an agreed share of the profit. Quraysh were traders. When she heard of the Messenger of Allah’s truthful speech, great trustworthiness, and noble character, she sent for him and offered him a journey to Syria to trade with her property. She promised him better terms than she gave other merchants and sent a young servant of hers named Maysarah with him. The Messenger accepted her offer, traveled with her goods, and Maysarah went with him until they reached Syria. The Messenger stopped in the shade of a tree near a monk’s hermitage. The monk looked out toward Maysarah and asked, “Who is this man beneath that tree?” Maysarah replied, “He is a man of Quraysh, from the people of the Sanctuary.” The monk said, “No one has ever stopped beneath that tree except a prophet.”

The Messenger of Allah sold the goods he had brought, bought what he wished to buy, and then returned toward Makkah with Maysarah. Maysarah reportedly saw two angels shading him from the sun during the midday heat while he rode his camel. When he arrived in Makkah with her property, Khadijah sold what he had brought, and it doubled or nearly doubled in value.

[1] Tudharibuhum means that she entered into a profit-sharing partnership with them; mudarabah is such a partnership. [2] The monk’s name was Nastura; he is not the same as Bahira mentioned earlier. [3] The editor explains that “no one has ever stopped beneath it except a prophet” means no prophet had stopped there in that particular moment, not that no one had ever sat beneath the tree in all time. Trees do not ordinarily live so long that a person could know that only Jesus or another prophet had once sat beneath it. A report from someone other than Ibn Ishaq says that no one had sat there since Jesus son of Mary; on that reading, the tree was singled out by this sign. See al-Rawd al-Unuf. [4] Al-Zurqani cites al-Waqidi and Ibn al-Sakan on Khadijah’s choice of the Messenger. Abu Talib reportedly told his nephew that he had no wealth, that difficult years had come upon them, and that their people’s caravan was preparing to leave for Syria. Khadijah hired men of Quraysh to trade with her money and profit from it. He suggested that the Messenger approach her, since she would prefer him for his purity, although he disliked sending him to Syria and feared the Jews; yet they had little choice. The transmitted quotation breaks off in the source after “He replied, may Allah bless him…”. Its missing continuation is not supplied.

Maysarah told her what the monk had said and what he had seen of the two angels shading the Messenger. Khadijah was discerning, noble, and intelligent, in addition to the honor Allah intended for her. When Maysarah told her what he had seen, she sent for the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and said to him—as people relate—“Cousin, I am interested in you because of our kinship, your standing among your people, your trustworthiness, your good character, and your truthful speech.” She then offered herself to him. At that time Khadijah was of the most central lineage among Quraysh’s women, the highest in honor, and the wealthiest; all her people wished they could marry her.

Khadijah was the daughter of Khuwaylid ibn Asad ibn Abd al-‘Uzza ibn Qusayy ibn Kilab ibn Murrah ibn Ka‘b ibn Lu’ayy ibn Ghalib ibn Fihr. Her mother was Fatimah bint Za’idah ibn al-Asamm ibn Rawahah ibn Hajar ibn ‘Abd ibn Ma‘is ibn ‘Amir ibn Lu’ayy ibn Ghalib ibn Fihr. Fatimah’s mother was Halah bint Abd Manaf ibn al-Harith ibn ‘Amr ibn Munfidh ibn ‘Amr ibn Ma‘is ibn ‘Amir ibn Lu’ayy ibn Ghalib ibn Fihr. Halah’s mother was Qilabah bint Sa‘id ibn Sa‘d ibn Sahm ibn ‘Amr ibn Husays ibn Ka‘b ibn Lu’ayy ibn Ghalib ibn Fihr.

The printed heading begins the account of the Messenger’s marriage to Khadijah. The following digital line is corrupted in both the KetabOnline transcription and the same-edition Shamela copy, including an empty note marker. Its wording is not reconstructed. The legible continuation says that Abu Talib feared she might marry someone else; Khadijah learned of the conversation between the Messenger and his uncle, then sent for him again, already knowing his truthfulness and trustworthiness.

[1] Ibn Ishaq’s account says that Khadijah offered herself directly. Other scholars say she did so through Nafisah bint Munyah. The accounts can be reconciled: Nafisah may first have approached him to learn whether he would accept, after which Khadijah spoke to him herself. See Sharh al-Mawahib. [2] Recension A, Sharh al-Mawahib, Sharh al-Sirah, al-Rawd al-Unuf, and al-Tabari read wasatah, meaning “your standing” or “honor.” Other copies have a reading the editor regards as corrupt. [3] Recension A and al-Tabari read “daughter of Za’idah”; other copies have another form.

Her paternal uncle Hamzah ibn Abd al-Muttalib—may Allah have mercy on him—went with him until they entered upon Khuwaylid ibn Asad and asked for her in marriage; the Messenger married her. Ibn Hisham said: The Messenger of Allah gave her a dowry of twenty young she-camels. She was the first woman he married, and he married no other woman while she lived, may Allah be pleased with her.

Ibn Ishaq said: Khadijah bore all of the Messenger of Allah’s children except Ibrahim: al-Qasim, by whom he was given the kunyah Abu al-Qasim; al-Tahir; al-Tayyib; Zaynab; Ruqayyah; Umm Kulthum; and Fatimah, peace be upon them. Ibn Hisham said: The eldest of his sons was al-Qasim, then al-Tayyib, then al-Tahir. The eldest of his daughters was Ruqayyah, then Zaynab, then Umm Kulthum, then Fatimah. Ibn Ishaq said: Al-Qasim, al-Tayyib, and al-Tahir died in the pre-Islamic period… The account continues on printed page 191.

[1] Another report says the person who went with the Messenger was Abu Talib, who delivered the marriage address. It may be that Abu Talib and Hamzah both went with him, and Abu Talib delivered the address because he was older than Hamzah. See Sharh al-Mawahib and al-Rawd al-Unuf. [2] Al-Zuhri says that Khuwaylid finalized the marriage while drunk, then denied it when he sobered up before consenting and confirming it. A man of Makkah composed: “Do not reject Muhammad, O Khadijah; he is a star shining like the two bright stars.” Other accounts say Khuwaylid had already died, and that Khadijah’s uncle ‘Amr ibn Asad gave her in marriage; another says her brother ‘Amr ibn Khuwaylid did so. See Sharh al-Mawahib and al-Rawd al-Unuf. [3] The wording may suggest that al-Tahir and al-Tayyib were two separate sons, but the well-known view is that they were titles of Abdullah. See Zad al-Ma‘ad, al-Rawd al-Unuf, and al-Ma‘arif. [4] Reports differ about al-Qasim’s death in the pre-Islamic period. Al-Suhayli cites al-Zubayr saying that al-Qasim died as an infant. The Messenger later entered upon Khadijah while she wept and said, “The little milk of al-Qasim has flowed.” When she wished he had lived long enough to be fully weaned, he told her, “If you wish, I will let you hear his voice in Paradise.” She replied that she believed Allah and His Messenger. This report indicates that al-Qasim may not have died before Islam.

As for the Messenger’s daughters, they all lived to see Islam, accepted Islam, and migrated with him, may Allah bless him and grant him peace. Ibn Hisham said: Ibrahim’s mother was Mariyah al-Qibtiyyah. Abdullah ibn Wahb narrated to us from Ibn Lahi‘ah that Ibrahim’s mother was Mariyah, the Messenger’s concubine, whom al-Muqawqis had given to him from Hafn in the district of Ansina.

Ibn Ishaq said: Khadijah bint Khuwaylid told her cousin Waraqah ibn Nawfal ibn Asad ibn Abd al-‘Uzza—who was a Christian, had studied scriptures, and had acquired knowledge from people—what her servant Maysarah had reported about the monk and what he had seen when two angels shaded the Messenger. Waraqah said, “If this is true, Khadijah, Muhammad is the prophet of this community. I have known that a prophet awaited for this community would come; this is his time,” or words to that effect. Waraqah began to long for the matter to unfold and said: I have persisted, relentless in remembrance, under a grief that has long stirred sobbing; one description from Khadijah follows another— my waiting has grown long, O Khadijah. In the midst of the two Makkahs, I keep hoping for your account that I may see his emergence.

[1] See the notes numbered 2 and 3 on page 7 of this volume. [2] Waraqah’s mother was Hind bint Abi Kabir ibn ‘Abd ibn Qusayy. Waraqah left no descendants and was among those who believed in the Prophet before the mission. See al-Rawd al-Unuf. [3] This is an addition from recension A. [4] Nashij is sobbing accompanied by sound. [5] Makkah is expressed in the dual, although it is one town, because it has low-lying and elevated districts, or to indicate its two sides. Arabs use similar dual forms; the editor cites examples in poetry. [6] The pronoun in “of it” refers to the report, and the preposition is governed by “emergence.”