Hazrat Khadeja

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Hazrat Khadeja

She was the first wife of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w). She was a rich lady of Makkah. The trade consignment of Hazrat Khadeja equalled the total volume of trade of the Makkhans. At the time of marriage she was 40 years while the age of Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w) was just 25 years. The proposal of marriage was sent from her through a close friend of hers to Prophet (s.a.w)'s Uncle Abu Talib. By the time of marriage she was a widow and according to Arab traditions a widow couldn't marry again. This marriage finished many wrong traditions like marrying a widow, marrying a woman of more age then of man and that a woman cannot propose a man.

Hazrat Khadeja's father “Khaueeld” was a famous leader of Quresh tribe. Her surname was “Tahira” After death of her father she took over the family business. She used to send her goods through different people and used to give them commission. When she heard about Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w)'s trade skills, she asked him to take her goods with him in return of handsome commission. She also accompanied one of her trusted worker to obtain first hand knowledge of his skills. After his return, the ratio of profit he earned and the remarks her servant gave, she started to respect him so much that she sent her close friend “Nafeesa” to his Uncle with the proposal.

Soon after the marriage Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w) started to stay out for nights in a near by cave “Cave Hirrah”. When the Angel appeared for the first time and told him that Allah sends him, he became so much confused and terrified that he came back home as soon as possible. On returning he asked Hazrat Khadeja to cover him with some cloth, as he cannot under stand what is all going on? At that time Hazrat Khadeja concealed him and told him that he must not worry as he helps everyone and Allah will not let any harm to be brought on him. In the morning she took him to “Warqa bin Naufil”, cousin of Hazrat Khadeja, a scholar of Bible and the one who found Muhammad (s.a.w) when the got lost in Makkah. He after listening to him told him to not worry as that angle was same one, which came to Jesus and Moses, and he will help him in the time when the Makkhans will force him to leave Makkah. After this discussion he got much satisfied while Warqa bin Naufil died few weeks later.

As soon as Allah told Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w) to preach Islam to his close ones, Hazrat Khadeja became the first woman to embrace Islam. As soon as Islam started to spread, mostly slaves embraced it, Hazrat Khadeja donated large sum of her money to free those slaves.

She always stood with Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w) at every hard time. When all the Quresh was forced to leave Makkah and stayed in a valley in the outskirts of Makkah without food for many months, Hazrat Khadeja stayed with her husband. But this couldn't go any further as she passed away in month of Ramadan, 10th. In the same year of her death Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w)'s Uncle Abu Talib also passed away, and due to these two tragic events that year was called “Aam ul Hujan” (year of sadness). On the time of her death, her age was 65 years. She gave birth to the two only sons of Prophet, namely Qasim and Abdullah, who both died in their childhood. The daughters born from her were: Hazrat Zainab, Hazrat Ruqayah, Hazrat Fatima and Hazrat Umeh Kulsoom.

According to Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w), all over the world four women are considered to be superior then all the women of the world, namely, Ayeesha (wife of Pharaoh), Hazrat Maryum (a.s- Mary), Hazrat Khadeja and Hazrat Fatima.