Khadijah bint Khuwaylid

Khadijah رضي الله عنها was the first wife of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم, the first person to embrace Islam, and the mother of all his children except Ibrāhīm. She was a successful businesswoman of Makkah, a pure Qurashi of noble Asad lineage, who had been widowed twice and had inherited considerable wealth from her second husband. She ran trading caravans to Syria (Ash-Shām) and Yemen on the muḍāraba system, giving her agents a share of profits. But the agents she hired repeatedly gave false accounts and cheated her.

She heard of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم first through her own older sister, who had hired him as a shepherd and praised him extravagantly: 'I have never seen any man more shy, more noble, more honorable, and more chaste.' Something entered Khadijah's heart. She hired him, despite his having no business experience, to take her caravan to Bosrā, giving him half the profits. He returned with ʿadʿaf, many times the usual profit, and her servant Maysara confirmed his complete honesty. She confided in her friend Nafīsa, who approached the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم: 'Who would marry me? I am the orphan and poor man of Quraysh,' he said. Then: 'Why would she want me?', an answer that was not a refusal.

The marriage took place in the month of Ṣafar, three months after his return from Bosrā. Her uncle ʿAmr ibn Asad served as her walī since her father had already died. The Prophet's صلى الله عليه وسلم uncle Abu Ṭālib gave the khuṭbah and offered a mahr of twelve ʿuqiyyah wa niṣṣan. ʿAmr ibn Asad replied: 'This is a young man who cannot be refused. We accept.'

She was older than the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم, had been married twice, and had a son named Ḥalah from her first marriage. He was faithful to her alone for twenty-five years and never married another while she lived. They had at least six children together: al-Qāsim (who died young before the revelation), Zaynab, Ruqayyah, Umm Kulthūm, Fāṭimah, and ʿAbdullāh (born after the revelation, who died in infancy).

When the revelation came and the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم came trembling to her, she was the one who comforted him, assured him Allah would never disgrace him, and took him to Waraqah ibn Nawfal. She was the first to believe in him. Jibrīl would enter no other wife's household; only Khadijah's. When Jibrīl brought her Allah's salām and the glad tidings of a house in Paradise, she replied: 'Innallāha Huwaʿs-Salām', 'Allah Himself is Peace', understanding instinctively that you cannot return salām to Allah, as He is the Source of Peace Himself. Then she sent salām to Jibrīl and to the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم.

After her death, the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم continued to send gifts of meat to her friends in Madinah. When her older sister came to Madinah years later, he recognized her by her footstep and was visibly moved by the flood of memories. ʿAisha رضي الله عنها said: 'I was never more jealous of any woman than Khadijah, even though I never saw her. Because I saw how much the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم loved her.' When ʿAisha once described her as 'an old toothless woman,' the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم responded: 'No by Allah. Allah did not give me better than her. She believed in me when everyone rejected me. She gave me of her wealth when everyone had abandoned me. She supported me when the community gave me the cold shoulder. And Allah blessed me with children only through her.'