Khadijah bint Khuwaylid: Difference between revisions

Khadijah’s two sons lived with Muhammad for several years,<ref>{{Tabari|9|p. 127}}. Note that Tabari assumes that Hind was a girl (''Hind'' and ''Hala'' were both unisex names, though more common for females), which only adds to the general confusion.</ref> and it is known that he liked to play with children.<ref>{{Bukhari|8|73|151}}. See also {{Bukhari|8|73|150}}.</ref> Of Hala it is recalled that “the Prophet arose and saw Hala in his room. He pressed him to his breast and uttered joyously: ‘Hala, Hala, Hala!’”<ref>Ibn Hajar, ''Al-Isaba'' 6:516:8919, cited in [https://docs.google.com/viewer?url=http://www.kister.huji.ac.il/sites/default/files/khadija.pdf&embedded=true/ Kister (1993)].</ref> If this was all anyone could remember, then nobody remembered very much. Hala was later killed in a street-brawl after he challenged a man who had insulted Muhammad.<ref>Baladhuri, ''Ansab al-Ashraf''; Ibn Hajar, ''AI-Isaba'' 1:604:1501; both cited in [https://docs.google.com/viewer?url=http://www.kister.huji.ac.il/sites/default/files/khadija.pdf&embedded=true/ Kister (1993)].</ref> This was probably before Islam,<ref>{{Tabari|39|pp. 79-80}}.</ref> as the Muslims never complained that their Prophet’s own stepson had been martyred for the cause.

The younger stepson, Hind, reminisced to his nephew, Hussayn ibn Ali, that Muhammad's "blessed face shone like the full moon… His modest habit was to look at something without staring... He greeted whomever he met ... He was not short-tempered, nor did he embarrass anyone…", and so on.<ref>"''[Muhammad’s] blessed face shone like the full moon… His modest habit was to look at something without staring... He greeted whomever he met ... He was not short-tempered, nor did he embarrass anyone… When he became angry with someone, he turned his face away from that person and either ignored him or forgave him. When he was happy due to humility it seemed as if he had closed his eyes. His laugh was mostly a smile, when his blessed front teeth glittered like white shining hailstones.''" - [http://www.hadithcollection.com/shama-iltirmidhi/269-shama-il-tirmidhi-chapter-01-the-noble-features-of-rasoolullah/191-shama-il-tirmidhi-chapter-001-hadith-number-007-007.html/ Tirmidhi, ''Shama’il'' 1:7]; [http://www.hadithcollection.com/shama-iltirmidhi/301-shama-il-tirmidhi-chapter-33-the-speech-of-rasoolullah/431-shama-il-tirmidhi-chapter-033-hadith-number-003-215.html/ Tirmidhi, ''Shama’il'' 33:3.]</ref> Perhaps Hind’s affection for his stepfather was real; there is no evidence of any conflict between them. However, he gave this memoir – and much more in similar vein – long after the Islamic empire was established, when only good things could be spoken of Muhammad; and he did not include any specific events from his childhood. It is clear that Hind was never in Muhammad’s inner circle. His name does not appear in Ibn Hisham’s recension of Ibn Ishaq’s ''Sirat'', which lists all the early converts and describes, name by name, the doings of the emigrants in Medina. Nor does he appear in the ''ahadith'' covering that period. This suggests that he did not become a Muslim until the conquest of Mecca in 630, when Muhammad appointed him a governor in Yemen.<ref>{{Tabari|3|pp. 228-230, 318-321, 328}}; Ibn Hajar, ''Al-Isaba'' 3:515:3258; both cited in [https://docs.google.com/viewer?url=http://www.kister.huji.ac.il/sites/default/files/khadija.pdf&embedded=true/ Kister (1993)].</ref> The distant location of this post would have continued to keep him away from Muhammad’s intimate affairs. Hind died after 656 at Basra in Syria. “The market was cancelled that day, and there was no loading or unloading of ships.”<ref>{{Tabari|39|p. 80}}.</ref> He had at least one son, also named Hind; but it is again reported that no descendants survived to the time of writing.<ref>Ibn al-Kalbi, ''Jamharat al-Nasabi'', cited in [https://docs.google.com/viewer?url=http://www.kister.huji.ac.il/sites/default/files/khadija.pdf&embedded=true/ Kister (1993)].</ref>

Over the next ten years, Khadijah bore six more children to Muhammad, attended at each birth by a midwife named Salma.<ref>Bewley/Saad 8:10, 160.</ref> From their first son, Qasim, Muhammad took the ''kunya'' Abu Qasim. There followed Zaynab, Abdullah, Ruqayya, Umm Kulthum and Fatima.<ref>Bewley/Saad 8:10. [http://www.soebratie.nl/religie/hadith/IbnSad.html#Book 36.2/ Ibn Saad, ''Tabaqat'' 1:36:2].</ref> Some historians name two additional sons, ''Al-Tahir'' (“the Pure”) or ''Al-Tayyib'' (“the Good”), but this is a misreading of Waqidi, who clearly states that these were both bynames given to Abdullah.<ref>Bewley/Saad 8:10. [http://www.soebratie.nl/religie/hadith/IbnSad.html#Book 36.1/ Ibn Saad, ''Tabaqat'' 1:36:1]. Also cited in Muir (1861) 2:27f.</ref> Qasim and Abdullah both died in infancy; the girls all grew up.<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 82; Ibn Hisham note 918; Bewley/Saad 8:10.</ref> Fatima, who looked like Muhammad<ref>{{Bukhari|4|56|819}}. {{Abudawud|41|5198}}.</ref> and was his favourite,<ref>Bewley/Saad 8:16. [http://www.qtafsir.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1298&Itemid=122/ Ibn Kathir, ''Tafsir''] on {{Quran|66|11}}.</ref> is known to Muslims as ''az-Zahra'' (“the Dazzling”) and is regarded as a great saint.<ref>See [http://www.kalamullah.com/Books/women_around_the_messenger.pdf/ “Fatimah az-Zahra” in Qutb, M. A. (1995). ''Women around the Messenger''. Translated by A. A. Imam. Riyadh: International Islamic Publishing House] for a typical hagiography.</ref>

In addition to their biological children, Muhammad and Khadijah freed and adopted their slave-boy, Zayd ibn Haritha. Zayd was from the Udhra tribe. At a young age he was kidnapped by slave-traders and sold on the slave-market for 400 ''dirhams'' (about £2,000). He was purchased by Khadijah’s nephew, who made her a present of him. When it became clear that Muhammad and Khadijah would not have a son of their own, Muhammad took Zayd to the steps of the Ka’aba and declared before the assembled citizens that he took Zayd to be his heir.<ref>{{Tabari|39|pp. 6-9}}.</ref> Although Muhammad kept Zayd close to him<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 115; 314-315. {{Tabari|7|p. 8}}. {{Bukhari|4|53|324}}. {{Abudawud|12|2271}}. {{Muslim|8|3441}}.</ref> and conferred many small favours on him,<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 186; 308; 364; 660; 662; 664. {{Tabari|7|16}}. Bewley/Saad 8:72. {{Bukhari|5|59|562}}.</ref> when the two finally had a conflict of interest, Muhammad ignored Zayd’s rights and served only himself.<ref>See {{Tabari|8|pp. 1-4}}.</ref>

When a drought caused widespread hardship, Khadijah presented Muhammad’s former foster mother with 40 sheep and a camel loaded with supplies.<ref>[http://www.soebratie.nl/religie/hadith/IbnSad.html#Book 27.20/ Ibn Saad, ''Tabaqat'' 1:27:20.]</ref> Muhammad volunteered to relieve his uncle Abu Talib by taking charge of one of the latter’s children. Thereafter Muhammad and Khadijah brought up Muhammad’s young cousin Ali but they did not adopt him legally.<ref>{{Tabari|6|p. 83}}.</ref> Again, Muhammad always made a great show of affection towards Ali<ref>E.g., Guillaume/Ishaq 234, 286, 293, 593, 650; {{Bukhari|4|52|219}}; {{Muslim|1|141}}; {{Muslim|31|5917}}.</ref> and even gave him Fatima as his wife.<ref>{{Tabari|39|p. 167}}.</ref> But the apparent success of this family arrangement has to be set against the reality that Ali grew up with a remarkable lack of empathy for other human beings.<ref>E.g., Guillaume/Ishaq 496; {{Bukhari|5|59|637}}; {{Bukhari|8|82|803}}; {{Bukhari|8|81|769}}; {{Bukhari|9|84|57}}.</ref>