Khadijah
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[edit] Khadija/Khadijah
Khadijah bint Khuwailid/Khuwaylid, was the first wife of Muhammad and was his nephew. Khadijah was the daughter of Khuwaylid bin Asad bin. ‘Abd al-‘Uzza bin Qusayy, the Grand son Qusayy. She belonged to the Bani Asad tribe.
[edit] Khadija – Muhammad, love affair.
Khadijah was a wealthy woman who ran her own business; though she was born rich much of wealth was also from her early marriages. She was 40 yrs old at that time and had been already married twice, from which she had borne two sons and a daughter.
Abu Talib, the uncle of Muhammad found his family increasing faster than his ability to provide for them. Hence he thought Muhammad, now aged about 25, and should be able to provide for himself. He made an offer to Muhammad to accompany a mercantile expedition for khadijha. Abu Talib approached Muhammmad and Abu Talib addressed him in these words:- "I am as thou knowest, a man of small substance; and truly the times deal hardly with me. Now here is a caravan of thine own tribe about to start for Syria, and Khadija daughter of Khuweilid needeth men of our tribe to send forth with her merchandise. If thou wert to offer thyself, she would readily accept thy services. Mahomet replied: "Be it so, as thou hast said." Thus Muhammad goes on this Mercantile trip and he doubled the stock, or nearly so.[1]
Muhammad returns from this successful trip and meets Khadijah, she cast a fond eye upon that thoughtful youth of five-and-twenty; and when he departed, could she dismiss him from her thoughts. She decided to know what Muhammad had in his mind and sends her sister, and some say her servant to speak to Muhammad. William Muir records the conversation.
"What is it, 0 Mahomet;' said this female, adroitly referring to the unusual circumstance of his being unmarried at so mature an age,-" what is it which hindereth thee from marriage?" "I have nothing" replied he, "in my hands wherewithal I might marry." "But if haply that difficulty was removed, and thou wert invited to espouse a beautiful and wealthy lady of noble birth, who would place a position of affluence, wouldest thou not desire to have her?" "And who," said Mahomet, startled at the novel thought, "may that be?" "It is Khadija" "But how can I attain unto her?" "Let that be my care," returned the female. The mind of Mahomet was at once made up: he answered, "I am ready." The female departed and told Khadija.[2]
[edit] The Controversial Marriage
As soon as she (Khadijah) got the consent from Muhammad she sent word to Muhammad about the time of marriage. Worryingly though, she found resistance from her father. Here is where the controversy sparks off. Some narrations describe the event of marriage as follows.
Khadijah provided for her father, Khuwailid a feast; and when he had well drunk and was happy, she slaughtered a cow, and casting over her father perfume of saffron or ambergris, dressed him in marriage raiment. While thus under the effects of wine, the old man united his daughter to Muhammad in the presence of his uncle Hamza. But when he recovered his senses, he began to look around him with wonder, and to enquire what these symptoms of a nuptial feast, the slaughtered cow, the perfumes, and the marriage garment, should mean. So soon as lie was made aware of all that had happened, - for they told him "The nuptial dress was put upon thee by Mahomet, thy son-in-law;' -- he fell into a violent passion, and declared that he would never consent to give away to that insignificant youth, a daughter courted by all the great men of the Quraysh. The party of Muhammad replied indignantly that the alliance had not originated in their wish, but was the act of no other than his own daughter. Weapons were drawn on both sides, and blood might have been shed, when the old man became pacified, and reconciliation ensued [3]
[edit] The Children Of Muhammad By Khadijah
Khadijah bore to Muhammad, two sons and four daughters. The first born, boy was named Kasim (Abul Kasim), who died within two years, of his birth. And then came Zeinab the eldest of Muhammad’s daughters. Followed by, the other three daughters Rockeya, Fatima, and Omm Kolthum. Last of all was born his second son, who is variously named Abd Menaf, Abdallah, Tayib, and Tahir.
[edit] References
- ↑ (LIFE OF MAHOMET. Volume II. Chapter 2,WIlliam Muir, [Smith, Elder, & Co., London, 1861] pg. 15-17)
- ↑ (LIFE OF MAHOMET. Volume II. Chapter 2,WIlliam Muir, [Smith, Elder, & Co., London, 1861] pg. 23)
- ↑ (LIFE OF MAHOMET. Volume II. Chapter 2,WIlliam Muir, [Smith, Elder, & Co., London, 1861], pg. 24)
It is instructive to Quote William Muir’s foot note on refrence 3 here; I have done so in full.
It is not without much hesitation that I have followed Sprenger and Weil in adopting this version of the marriage. It has a strongly improbable air; but its very improbability gives ground for believing that it has not been fabricated. it is also highly disparaging to the position of Mahomet at a period of his life when it is the object of his followers to show that he was respected and honoured. Its credibility is therefore sustained by the Canon III. C laid down in chap. i. of the Introduction. There was no object in vilifying Khuweilid or the Bani Asad; and, even if it is possible to suppose the story fabricated by Mahomet's enemies before the conquest of Mecca, it would (if resting on no better foundation) have fallen out of currency afterwards. We seem therefore to have no option but to receive it as a fact, which later traditionists have endeavoured to discredit, under the impression that it was a foul spot on their Prophet's character that Khadija, the pattern of wives, should have brought about her marriage with Mahomet by making her father drunk. See Canon 11. L
Wackidi gives the narrative twice in a differing form, and from different traditions, (the variety of source thus giving it a wider and less doubtful foundation); but he adds that the whole story is a mistake, as Khuweilid, the father of Khadija, had died previously, and even before the sacrilegious war. Katib al Wackidi, p.25. Yet we have seen above that his name is given as one of the Commanders in that war. Tabari quotes the tradition from Wackidi, word for word, together with his refutation, (p.67). Both add that not her father, but her uncle, Amr ibn Asad, betrothed her. Yet other traditions, containing no allusion to his drunkenness, speak of her father as having given her away (Tabari, p 65); and Hishami's account, which is fused from a variety of traditions by Ibn Ishac, while containing no reference to the drunken fray, states clearly that Khuweilid was the party who betrothed her. We are therefore driven to the conclusion that the tradition of Khuweilid's previous death has been invented, to throw discredit on the story of his drunkenness. Wine shops were common in Mecca before Islam; but drunkenness, though occasionally mentioned, does not seem to have been a general or common failing. Hishami adds to his statement that Mahomet gave his wife a marriage present of twenty young she-camels.
