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[[File:Khadijah bint Khuwaylid.jpg|right|thumb|La  “medaglia” di Khadijah in ''Promptuarii iconum insigniorum'' (1553). Lyon: Rouillé. Questa illustrazione non ha nessuna pretesa d'essere un ritratto accusato ma è divenuta una rappresentazione simbolica largamente accettata di Khadijah.|200px]]
{{QualityScore|Lead=4|Structure=4|Content=4|Language=4|References=4}}{{Infobox Person|name=Khadījah bint Khuwaylid|image=Khadijah bint Khuwaylid.jpg|caption=Khadijah’s “medal” in ''Promptuarii iconum insigniorum ''(1553). Lyon: Rouillé. This illustration made no pretense of being an accurate portrait but it has become a widely accepted symbolic representation of Khadijah.|date_of_birth=555|place_of_birth=[[Mecca]], Hijaz, Arabia (present-day Saudi Arabia)|death_date=c. 619 (aged 63-64)|other_names=Khadījah al-Kubra<br>Khadījah al-Tahira|occupation=Merchant|title=''Umm al-Mu'mineen'' ("Mother of the Believers")|spouse=[[Muhammad ibn Abdullah]]|children=Qasim<br>Abdullah<br>Zainab<br>Fatimah<br>Ruqayyah<br>Umm Kulthum|relations=Khuwaylid ibn Asad<br>Fatimah bint Za'idah}}


'''Khadijah''' o '''Khadīja bint Khuwaylid''' (خديجة بنت خويلد‎) fu la prima moglie del profeta [[Maometto]], l'unica sua moglie finché morì. <ref>Ibn Hisham note 127, note 918. {{Muslim|31|5975}}.</ref> È conosciuta dai musulmani come "al-Kubra" ("la Grande")<ref>E.g., [http://www.al-islam.org/khadija/ Razwy, S. A. A. (1990). ''Khadija tul Kubra: A Short Story of Her Life''. New York: Tahrike Tarsile Qur'an.]</ref> e ''al-Tahira'' (“la Pura”).<ref>E.g., [http://l.b5z.net/i/u/6103974/f/wives_of_the_prophet.pdf/ Mus’ad, M. F. (2001). ''Wives of the Prophet Muhammad: their Strives and Their Lives'', p. 7. Cairo: Islamic Inc.]</ref> Dodici mogli di Maometto hanno ricevuto il titolo di ''Umm al-Muminun'' (“Madre del fedele”),<ref>{{Quran|33|6}}.</ref> ma Khadijah occupa una posizione unica come madre dell'[[islam]] stesso.
'''Khadijah''' or '''Khadīja bint Khuwaylid''' ([[Arabic]]: خديجة بنت خويلد‎) (555 - c.619) was Prophet [[Muhammad]]’s first wife and she was his only wife as long as she lived.<ref>Ibn Hisham note 127, note 918. {{Citation|title=Sirat Rasul Allah|author=Ibn Ishaq|publisher=Oxford University Press|trans_title=The Life of Muhammad|url=https://archive.org/details/TheLifeOfMohammedGuillaume|editor=A. Guillaume|year=1955|location=Oxford|isbn=9780196360331}}; see also {{Muslim|31|5975}}.</ref> She is known to Muslims as ''al-Kubra'' (“the Great”)<ref>E.g., [http://www.al-islam.org/khadija/ Razwy, S. A. A. (1990). ''Khadija tul Kubra: A Short Story of Her Life''. New York: Tahrike Tarsile Qur'an.]</ref> and ''al-Tahira'' (“the Pure”).<ref>E.g., [http://l.b5z.net/i/u/6103974/f/wives_of_the_prophet.pdf/ Mus’ad, M. F. (2001). ''Wives of the Prophet Muhammad: their Strives and Their Lives'', p. 7. Cairo: Islamic Inc.]</ref> Twelve of [[Muhammad's Marriages|Muhammad’s wives]] are credited with the title ''Umm al-Muminun'' (“Mother of the Faithful”),<ref>{{Quran|33|6}}.</ref> but Khadijah occupies a unique position as ''the'' Mother of [[Islam]] herself. Khadijah was the mother to all of Muhammad's children, including Fatimah, save one.


==Antefatto==
Khadijah is said to have come from a trading family and, before [[Marriage|marrying]] Muhammad, had been a successful business woman and was said to be the richest woman in all of [[Mecca]], and, on some accounts. it was as a result being her employee that Muhammad came to know Khadijah and ultimately marry her. It is also believed that she had two husbands, with whom she had multiple children, prior to Muhammad. Little else is known about her life prior to this final marriage.


Khadijah nacque a Mecca, all'interno della tribù dominante dei Quraysh. Suo nonno Asad, il capo del suo gruppo, era il nipote di Qusayy ibn Kilab, il custode della [[Kaaba|Ka’aba]] e legislatore di Mecca.<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 24, 82.</ref> This Qusayy had also been a great-great-great-grandfather of Muhammad.<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 3.</ref> Sua madre, Fatima bint Za’ida, veniva da un altro gruppo di Quraysh, il Amir ibn Luayy.<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 82.</ref> Il nome ''Khadijah'' significa “prematura”,<ref>“Khadija” in [http://www.almaany.com/home.php?language=english&lang_name=Arabic&word=Khadija/ Almaany Arabic-English Dictionary]. [http://www.behindthename.com/name/Khadija/ Behind the Name].</ref> probabilmente relativo alle circostanze della sua nascita.
==Background==


Le narrazioni riguardo i primi anni di vita di Khadijah sono scarse e spesso contraddittorie. È generalmente accettato che nacque "quindici anni prima dell'Elefante" e che aveva 65 anni ([[lunari]]) quando morì,<ref>E.g., {{Tabari|6|p. 47}}.</ref> quindi nacque tra giugno 556 e luglio 557. C'è però da dire che la fonte di questa narrazione è il nipote di Khadijah, Hakim ibn Hizam, <ref>Bewley/Saad 8:9, 11-12. {{Tabari|39|pp. 41, 106}}.</ref> uno dei molti primi musulmani che dichiarò di avere 120 anni.<ref>{{Muslim|10|3662}}. Vedi anche {{Tabari|39|pp. 40, 43}}, dove Huwaytib ibn Abduluzza sostiene di avere 120 anni, e allo stesso tempo dichiara che non sa contare.</ref> Al contrario, Abdullah ibn Abbas, il cugino che visse al fianco di Maometto durante gli ultimi anni di [[Medina]],<ref>{{Tabari|39|p. 95}}.</ref> affermò che "il giorno che Khadijah sposò il messaggero di Allah, lei aveva 28 anni."<ref>[http://qurango.com/images/b/5/293.jpg/ Ibn Kathir, ''Al-Bidaya wa’l-Nihaya'' vol. 5 p. 293]. Majlisi, ''Bihar al-Anwar'' vol. 16 p. 12. Ibn Ishaq, cited in Al-Hakim al-Nishaburi, ''Mustadrak'' vol. 3 p. 182.</ref> Se ciò è corretto, lei nacque fra marzo 658 e marzo 569. Altre narrazioni riferiscono altri anni.<ref>Guarda [https://docs.google.com/viewer?url=http://www.kister.huji.ac.il/sites/default/files/khadija.pdf&embedded=true/ Kister, M. J. (1993). The Sons of Khadija. ''Jerusalem Studies in Arabic and Islam, 16'', 59-95.]</ref> Qualunque sia stato il suo anno di nascita, era ancora incinta nel 605.
Khadijah was born in Mecca, a member of the dominant Quraysh tribe. Her grandfather Asad, chief of her clan, was a grandson of Qusayy ibn Kilab, Keeper of the [[Kaaba|Ka’aba]] and ruler of Mecca.<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 24, 82.</ref> This Qusayy had also been a great-great-great-grandfather of Muhammad.<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 3.</ref> Her mother, Fatima bint Za’ida, was from another Quraysh clan, the Amir ibn Luayy.<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 82.</ref> The name ''Khadijah'' means “premature”,<ref>“Khadija” in [http://www.almaany.com/home.php?language=english&lang_name=Arabic&word=Khadija/ Almaany Arabic-English Dictionary]. [http://www.behindthename.com/name/Khadija/ Behind the Name].</ref> suggesting the [[Ages of Muhammads Wives at Marriage#Khadijah.27s Age|circumstances of her birth]].


La personalità di Khadijah è descritta come "determinata e intelligente". <ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 82.</ref> Sebbene non sia specificato che suo padre fosse un mercante, "i Quraysh erano un popolo dato al commercio,"<ref>Guilaume/Ishaq, p. 82.</ref> quindi Khadijah probabilmente spese la sua infanzia seduta al bazar imparando a negoziare affari. I suoi fratelli conosciuti erano due fratelli, Hizam<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 160.</ref> e Al-Awwam,<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 115.</ref> due sorelle, Ruqayqa<ref>Bewley/Saad 8:180.</ref> e Hala,<ref>{{Bukhari|5|58|168}}</ref> e un fratellastro paterno, Nawfal.<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 177.</ref> Ad un certo punto si parlò del [[matrimonio]] di Khadijah con suo [[matrimonio tra cugini nell'islam|cugino]], Waraqa ibn Nawfal, ma il matrimonio non avvenne.<ref>Bewley/Saad 8:9.</ref>
The traditions about Khadijah’s early life are scarce and often contradictory. It is generally accepted that she was born “fifteen years before the Elephant” and that she was 65 ([[lunar]]) years old when she died,<ref>E.g., {{Tabari|6|p. 47}}.</ref> indicating a birth date between July 556 and July 557. However, the source of this tradition is Khadijah’s nephew, Hakim ibn Hizam,<ref>{{Citation|title=Kitab al-Tabaqat al-Kabir|author=Ibn Saad|publisher=Ta Ha Publishers|location=London|editor=Aisha Bewley|publication-date=1997|volume=8|pages=9, 11-12}}; {{Tabari|39|pp. 41, 106}}.</ref> who was one of the many early Muslims who claimed his own age to be 120.<ref>{{Muslim|10|3662}}. See also {{Tabari|39|pp. 40, 43}}, where Huwaytib ibn Abduluzza claims to be 120 years old, yet in the same breath betrays that he cannot count.</ref> By contrast, Abdullah ibn Abbas, the cousin who lived at Muhammad’s side through the final years in [[Medina]],<ref>{{Tabari|39|p. 95}}.</ref> stated that “on the day Khadijah married Allah’s Messenger, she was 28 years old.<ref>[http://qurango.com/images/b/5/293.jpg/ Ibn Kathir, ''Al-Bidaya wa’l-Nihaya'' vol. 5 p. 293]. Majlisi, ''Bihar al-Anwar'' vol. 16 p. 12. Ibn Ishaq, cited in Al-Hakim al-Nishaburi, ''Mustadrak'' vol. 3 p. 182.</ref> If this is correct, she was born between March 568 and March 569. Variant traditions claim other years.<ref>See [https://docs.google.com/viewer?url=http://www.kister.huji.ac.il/sites/default/files/khadija.pdf&embedded=true/ Kister, M. J. (1993). The Sons of Khadija. ''Jerusalem Studies in Arabic and Islam, 16'', 59-95.]</ref> Whatever her precise date of birth, she was still of childbearing age as late as 605.


==Mariti==
Khadijah’s personality is described as “determined and intelligent”.<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 82.</ref> Although it is not explicitly stated that her father was a merchant, “the Quraysh were a people given to commerce,”<ref>Guilaume/Ishaq, p. 82.</ref> so it is possible that Khadijah spent her childhood sitting in the bazaars learning to negotiate trade deals. Her known siblings were two brothers, Hizam<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 160.</ref> and Al-Awwam,<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 115.</ref> two sisters, Ruqayqa<ref>Bewley/Saad 8:180.</ref> and Hala,<ref>{{Bukhari|5|58|168}}</ref> and a paternal half-brother, Nawfal.<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 177.</ref> At one stage, there was talk of [[Marriage|marrying]] Khadijah off to her [[Cousin Marriage in Islamic Law|cousin]], Waraqa ibn Nawfal, but this never happened.<ref>Bewley/Saad 8:9.</ref>


Il primo marito di Khadijah fu Atiq ibn A'idh (anche detto Abid), un giovane membro del gruppo Makhzum.<ref>Ibn Hisham note 918. Bewley/Saad 8:151.</ref> I Makhzumiani si arricchirono col commercio e la loro generosità gli valse la lealtà dei loro vicini. Erano adesso dei veri e propri contendenti per la guida della città.<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 142-143. See also Bewley/Saad 8:61; {{Tabari|39|p. 196}}.</ref> Questo matrimonio fu perciò un salto nella scala sociale per Khadijah, ma forse un piccolo salto se la sua famiglia era già ricca. Atiq e Khadijah ebbero due figli, probabilmente – dato che Khadijah generò i suoi figli con un intervallo di due anni<ref>Bewley/Saad 8:10. [http://www.soebratie.nl/religie/hadith/IbnSad.html#Book 36.2/ Ibn Saad, ''Tabaqat'' 1:36:2].</ref> – che il matrimonio durò tra i due e i quattro anni. Da sua figlia, Hind, Khadijah derivò il suo "kunya Umm Hind".<ref>Bewley/Saad 8:9. {{Tabari|39|p. 161}}.</ref> Their son, Abdullah,<ref>Ibn Hisham note 918.</ref> Il loro figlio Abdullah,<ref>Ibn Hisham note 918.</ref> morì infante.<ref>[http://www.oocities.org/tirmidhihadith/page1.html/ Tirmidhi 117].</ref> La maggior parte delle fonti affermano che Atiq morì,<ref>{{Tabari|9|p. 127}}.</ref> anche se c'è una narrazione differente che dice che il matrimonio terminò con un divorzio.<ref>[https://docs.google.com/viewer?url=http://www.kister.huji.ac.il/sites/default/files/khadija.pdf&embedded=true/ Kister (1993)] summarises these sources, citing Ibn Ishaq, as transmitted by Yunus ibn Bukayr, ''Al-Siyar wa-l-Maghazi'' p. 82, and Majlisi, ''Bihar al-Anwar'' vol. 16 p. 10, for Atiq’s death, and Baladhuri, ''Ansab al-Ashraf'' vol. 1 pp. 406-407, for divorce.</ref> 
==Husbands==


Dopo Khadijah sposò un nobile beduino, Malik ibn An-Nabbash, della tribù dei Tamim. Da nomadi che aspiravano allo stile di vita urbano, Malik e i suoi due fratelli erano immigrati a Mecca e avevano formato un'alleanza con il gruppo dei Abduldar dei Quraysh.<ref>Bewley/Saad 8:9, 151. {{Tabari|9|p. 127}}. {{Tabari|39|p. 79}}.</ref> Dato il loro rango, i fratelli Tamim avrebbero trattato i loro nuovi alleati come pari e non come vassalli. Per completare la loro cittadinanza meccana cercarono delle mogli Quraysh, alle quali potevano offrire il rango, connessioni e probabilmente anche denaro. È interessante notare come Malik scelse Khadijah, dato che il gruppo Asad era il rivale tradizionale di Abduldar.<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 57.</ref> Il loro matrimonio diede vita a tre bambini, il che indica che durò fra i quattro ed i sei anni. Dal loro primo figlio, Hala, Malik prese il suo "kunya" Abu Hala.<ref>Bewley/Saad 8:9. [https://docs.google.com/viewer?url=http://www.kister.huji.ac.il/sites/default/files/khadija.pdf&embedded=true/ Kister (1993)] documents sources in which Malik was also known as Hind and his son Hala was also known as Al-Harith. It was not uncommon for Arabs to be known by alternative and apparently unrelated names.</ref> Il loro secondo figlio fu chiamato anch'egli Hind.<ref>Ibn Hisham note 918. Bewley/Saad 8:9.</ref> La loro figlia, Zaynab,<ref>Ibn Hisham note 918.</ref> probabilmente morì giovane, dato che non se ne sa più nulla, e la stessa Khadijah disse poi che da entrambi i suoi primi due mariti ebbe un figlio morto infante.<ref>[http://www.oocities.org/tirmidhihadith/page1.html/ Tirmidhi 117].</ref>
Khadijah’s first husband was Atiq ibn A’idh (or Abid), a junior member of the Makhzum clan.<ref>Ibn Hisham note 918. Bewley/Saad 8:151.</ref> The Makhzumites had grown wealthy on trade, and their generosity had won them the loyalty of their neighbours. They were now serious contenders for the leadership of the city.<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 142-143. See also Bewley/Saad 8:61; {{Tabari|39|p. 196}}.</ref> This match was therefore a step up the social scale for Khadijah, though perhaps a small step if her family also had money. Atiq and Khadijah had two children, suggesting – since Khadijah produced her children within two-year intervals<ref>Bewley/Saad 8:10. [http://www.soebratie.nl/religie/hadith/IbnSad.html#Book 36.2/ Ibn Saad, ''Tabaqat'' 1:36:2].</ref> – that the marriage lasted between two and four years. From their daughter, Hind, Khadijah derived her ''kunya'' Umm Hind.<ref>Bewley/Saad 8:9. {{Tabari|39|p. 161}}.</ref> Their son, Abdullah,<ref>Ibn Hisham note 918.</ref> died in infancy.<ref>[http://www.oocities.org/tirmidhihadith/page1.html/ Tirmidhi 117].</ref> Most sources state that Atiq died,<ref>{{Tabari|9|p. 127}}.</ref> although there is a variant tradition that the marriage ended in divorce.<ref>[https://docs.google.com/viewer?url=http://www.kister.huji.ac.il/sites/default/files/khadija.pdf&embedded=true/ Kister (1993)] summarises these sources, citing Ibn Ishaq, as transmitted by Yunus ibn Bukayr, ''Al-Siyar wa-l-Maghazi'' p. 82, and Majlisi, ''Bihar al-Anwar'' vol. 16 p. 10, for Atiq’s death, and Baladhuri, ''Ansab al-Ashraf'' vol. 1 pp. 406-407, for divorce.</ref>


In contraddizione con tutto ciò, qualche fonte dice che Khadijah sposò prima Abu Hala e Atiq dopo.<ref>E.g., Bewley/Saad 8:9.</ref> Ad ogni modo, un "kunya" era generalmente preso da un primogenito, e questo indica che Umm Hind e Abu Hala non condividevano il primogenito.  
Khadijah then married a Bedouin nobleman, Malik ibn An-Nabbash, who was from the Tamim tribe. In the way of nomads who aspired to an urban lifestyle, Malik and his two brothers had immigrated to Mecca and formed an alliance with the Abduldar clan of the Quraysh.<ref>Bewley/Saad 8:9, 151. {{Tabari|9|p. 127}}. {{Tabari|39|p. 79}}.</ref> Given their highborn origins, the Tamim brothers would have interacted with their new allies as equals rather than as vassals. To complete their Meccan citizenship, they sought Quraysh wives, to whom they could offer rank, connections and probably also money. It is interesting that Malik chose Khadijah, for the Asad clan was the traditional rival of Abduldar.<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 57.</ref> Their marriage produced three children, suggesting that it lasted between four and six years. From their first son, Hala, Malik took his ''kunya'' Abu Hala.<ref>Bewley/Saad 8:9. [https://docs.google.com/viewer?url=http://www.kister.huji.ac.il/sites/default/files/khadija.pdf&embedded=true/ Kister (1993)] documents sources in which Malik was also known as Hind and his son Hala was also known as Al-Harith. It was not uncommon for Arabs to be known by alternative and apparently unrelated names.</ref> Their second son was also named Hind.<ref>Ibn Hisham note 918. Bewley/Saad 8:9.</ref> Their daughter, Zaynab,<ref>Ibn Hisham note 918.</ref> probably died young, as nothing else is said about her, and Khadijah later mentioned that she had borne each of her first two husbands a child who had died in infancy.<ref>[http://www.oocities.org/tirmidhihadith/page1.html/ Tirmidhi 117].</ref>


Non si sa dove o come Abu Hala morì, ma la Guerra Sacrilega contro la tribù Qays-Aylan dominò gli anni 591-594.<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 82. [http://www.soebratie.nl/religie/hadith/IbnSad.html#Book 32.1/ Ibn Saad, ''Tabaqat'' 1:32:1]. Strangely, Ibn Hisham note 124 claims an outbreak date as early as 585. Although note 124 was designed to be read immediately after the statement of Ibn Ishaq that it contradicts, there is not a word of explanation for the inconsistency. However, the preliminary hostilities commenced several years before the first full-fledged battle ([http://www.answering-islam.org/Books/Muir/Life2/chap2.htm/ Muir (1861) vol. 2 pp. 2-5]). One possible explanation is that Ibn Hisham deliberately confused the first informal skirmish (when Muhammad was 14) with the first battle proper (when Muhammad was 20) so that his youth might excuse his lack of prowess in the fighting [http://www.answering-islam.org/Books/Muir/Life2/chap2.htm/ (Muir, 1861, pp. 6-7f)].</ref> Il fratello di Khadijah Hizam fu ucciso nel secondo turno del conflitto,<ref>{{Tabari|39|p. 41}}</ref> e loro padre Khuwaylid, che doveva avere circa 60 anni, era un generale sul campo.<ref>Waqidi, ''Kitab al-Maghazi'', cited in [http://www.answering-islam.org/Books/Muir/Life2/chap2.htm/ Muir (1861) vol. 2 pp. 7f9, 22, 24f28].</ref> Dopo la morte di Abu Hala, molti cittadini importanti si proposero come mariti per la vedova Khadijah, alcuni di loro investendo grosse somme di denaro nella loro corte, ma suo padre pose il veto per ogni corteggiatore.<ref>{{Tabari|6|pp. 48-49}}. [http://www.soebratie.nl/religie/hadith/IbnSad.html#Book 35.1/ Ibn Saad, ''Tabaqat'' 1:35:1].</ref> 
Contrary to this narrative, some sources state that Khadijah married Abu Hala first and Atiq second.<ref>E.g., Bewley/Saad 8:9.</ref> However, a ''kunya'' was usually taken from a firstborn child, indicating that Umm Hind and Abu Hala did not share the same firstborn.


==Affari==
It is not known when or how Abu Hala died, but the Sacrilegious War against the Qays-Aylan tribe dominated the years 591–594.<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 82. [http://www.soebratie.nl/religie/hadith/IbnSad.html#Book 32.1/ Ibn Saad, ''Tabaqat'' 1:32:1]. Strangely, Ibn Hisham note 124 claims an outbreak date as early as 585. Although note 124 was designed to be read immediately after the statement of Ibn Ishaq that it contradicts, there is not a word of explanation for the inconsistency. However, the preliminary hostilities commenced several years before the first full-fledged battle ([http://www.answering-islam.org/Books/Muir/Life2/chap2.htm/ Muir (1861) vol. 2 pp. 2-5]). One possible explanation is that Ibn Hisham deliberately confused the first informal skirmish (when Muhammad was 14) with the first battle proper (when Muhammad was 20) so that his youth might excuse his lack of prowess in the fighting [http://www.answering-islam.org/Books/Muir/Life2/chap2.htm/ (Muir, 1861, pp. 6-7f)].</ref> Khadijah’s brother Hizam was killed in the second round of the conflict,<ref>{{Tabari|39|p. 41}}</ref> and their father Khuwaylid, who must have been some sixty years old, was a commander on the field.<ref>Waqidi, ''Kitab al-Maghazi'', cited in [http://www.answering-islam.org/Books/Muir/Life2/chap2.htm/ Muir (1861) vol. 2 pp. 7f9, 22, 24f28].</ref> After Abu Hala’s death, several prominent citizens proposed marriage to the widowed Khadijah, some of them investing great sums of money into their courtship, but her father vetoed every match.<ref>{{Tabari|6|pp. 48-49}}. [http://www.soebratie.nl/religie/hadith/IbnSad.html#Book 35.1/ Ibn Saad, ''Tabaqat'' 1:35:1].</ref>


Khadijah era la donna più ricca a Mecca. Questo spiega il perché attraeva molti corteggiatori. Quando Abu Hala morì, lei era diventata "una donna mercante di dignità e ricchezza. Era solita assumere uomini per continuare i traffici fuori del paese."<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 82.</ref> Sebbene le affermazioni che "metà dei traffici a Mecca appartenevano a Khadijah<ref>Bewley/Saad 8:10.</ref> sono senza dubbio esagerati, è possibile che sia stata la commerciante più facoltosa. Le narrazioni non dicono in che settore operò, ma tra le esportazioni di Mecca si menzionano pellame, lana, profumi, argento, formaggio e farine secche.<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 424, 547, 716. See also Crone, P. (2007). Quraysh and the Roman army: Making sense of the Meccan leather trade. ''Bulletin of SOAS, 70'', 63–88.</ref> Non si sa nemmeno come ottenne il suo giro d'affari. Forse suo padre la aiutò a sistemarsi, ma questo porta a chiedersi come mai Khadijah divenne la più prospera tra tutti i suoi fratelli. Se ha avuto un finanziatore in più non disponibile ai suoi fratelli, è stato probabilmente uno o entrambi i suoi mariti. O forse gli affari prosperarono a causa degli sforzi di Khadijah.
==Business==


Gli apologetici musulmani a volte usano l'indipendenza di Khadijah per indicare le grandi opportunità che l'islam garantisce alle donne. Affermazioni solite la citano come un esempio del "vibrante, spirito liberatore del primo islam"<ref>"''Khadija, the first wife of the Prophet ... an outstanding female liberating figure in history ... can help us reclaim the vibrant, liberating spirit of early Islam. That alone could go a long way in removing the current image of Muslims among non Muslims.''" - Bandukwala, J. S. “Hazrat Khadija was an outstanding female liberating figure in history,letter to the editor in ''New Age Islam'', 22 May 2010.</ref> o dicono che le giustificazioni moderne per "rifiutare alle ragazze le stesse possibilità di successo si trovano in un'interpretazione arcaica della religione".<ref>"''For Muslim girls everywhere, Khadijah is one of the first female role models introduced by parents and teachers of religion. A self-made businesswoman … She had already created her own success … The justification for denying girls an equal chance at success lies in archaic interpretations of religion… There is nothing contradictory about being a powerful Muslim female.''" - Saraswati, R. E. (2012). “[http://www.aquila-style.com/focus-points/khadijah-bint-khuwaylid-one-of-the-four-perfect-women/ Khadijah Bint Khuwaylid: Perfect Woman]” in ''Aquila Style''.</ref> Queste affermazioni sono illogiche, dato che la carriera di Khadijah si sviluppò prima che l'islam esistesse. Ciò che ella dimostra sono le opportunità che gli arabi pre-islamici (a volte) garantivano alle donne, le quali non sono si mescolavano liberamente con uomini nel commercio ma erano anche rispettate per questo. La maggior parte dei mercanti erano uomini, ma tra le donne c'erano le pagane Hind bint Utba<ref>Bewley/Saad 8:165.</ref> e la venditrice di profumi Asma bint Mukharriba<ref>Bewley/Saad 8:209.</ref><ref>[http://www.encislam.brill.nl/public/makka/ “Makka” in Bearman, P., Bianquis, T., Bosworth, C. E., van Donzel, E., & Heinrichs, W. P. (Eds.). (2006). '''Encyclopaedia of Islam, 2nd Ed.'' Brill Online.]</ref> Dopo la morte di Khadijah, alle donne musulmane fu ordinato di restare a casa e indossare il velo,<ref>{{Quran|33|54}}</ref> e divenne impossibile per una musulmana condurre ogni tipo di impresa. Khadijah non poteva sapere che a una decade dalla sua morte, il suo stile di vita sarebbe stato proibito alle donne dell'Arabia.
Khadijah was the richest woman in Mecca. This explains why she attracted so many suitors. By the time Abu Hala died, she had become “a merchant woman of dignity and wealth. She used to hire men to carry merchandise outside the country.”<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 82.</ref> While the claims that “half the trade in Mecca” belonged to Khadijah<ref>Bewley/Saad 8:10.</ref> are almost certainly exaggerated, she may well have been the wealthiest single trader. The traditions do not state in what commodity she dealt, but among the exports of Mecca are mentioned leather, wool, perfume, silver, cheese and dried raisins.<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 424, 547, 716. See also Crone, P. (2007). Quraysh and the Roman army: Making sense of the Meccan leather trade. ''Bulletin of SOAS, 70'', 63–88.</ref> Nor is it known how she originally acquired her business. Perhaps her father helped to set her up, but this has opened the question of why Khadijah became more prosperous than any of her siblings. If she had a backer not available to them, it was probably one or both of her husbands. Or perhaps the business flourished because of Khadijah’s personal talents and efforts.


Nella primavera del 595, Khadijah richiese un nuovo agente per accompagnare i suoi cammelli in Siria. Il fratello di sua cognata, Abu Talib ibn Abdulmuttalib,<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 162, 585. Bewley/Saad 8:29.</ref> raccomandò i servizi del suo protetto, un nipote che lui [Abu Talib] non poteva più tenere. Khadijah accettò di assumerlo per una commissione superiore a quella che di solito pagava.<ref>[http://www.soebratie.nl/religie/hadith/IbnSad.html#Book 34.1/ Ibn Saad, ''Tabaqat'' 1:34:2.] Bewley/Saad 8:10.</ref> Il suo nome era Maometto.<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 82.</ref>  
Khadijah’s independence and success prior to her marriage to Muhammad is often cited as an example of the great opportunities that Islam grants to women. She is described as representing in this capacity the "vibrant, liberating spirit of early Islam"<ref>"''Khadija, the first wife of the Prophet ... an outstanding female liberating figure in history ... can help us reclaim the vibrant, liberating spirit of early Islam. That alone could go a long way in removing the current image of Muslims among non Muslims.''" - Bandukwala, J. S. “Hazrat Khadija was an outstanding female liberating figure in history,” letter to the editor in ''New Age Islam'', 22 May 2010.</ref> and evidence that modern-day justifications for "denying girls an equal chance at success lies in archaic interpretations of religion".<ref>"''For Muslim girls everywhere, Khadijah is one of the first female role models introduced by parents and teachers of religion. A self-made businesswoman … She had already created her own success … The justification for denying girls an equal chance at success lies in archaic interpretations of religion… There is nothing contradictory about being a powerful Muslim female.''" - Saraswati, R. E. (2012). “[http://www.aquila-style.com/focus-points/khadijah-bint-khuwaylid-one-of-the-four-perfect-women/ Khadijah Bint Khuwaylid: Perfect Woman]” in ''Aquila Style''.</ref> It is worth noting, however, Khadijah’s career was established before Islam existed. With this in mind, it is more appropriate to say her pre-marital success is representative of the opportunities that pre-Islamic Arabs (sometimes) granted to women, who not only mingled freely with men in the market-place but were also respected for doing so. Most merchants were men, but among the non-Muslim women of the time were Hind bint Utba<ref>Bewley/Saad 8:165.</ref> and the perfumer Asma bint Mukharriba.<ref>Bewley/Saad 8:209.</ref><ref>[http://www.encislam.brill.nl/public/makka/ “Makka” in Bearman, P., Bianquis, T., Bosworth, C. E., van Donzel, E., & Heinrichs, W. P. (Eds.). (2006). '''Encyclopaedia of Islam, 2nd Ed.'' Brill Online.]</ref> After Khadijah died, Muslim women and particularly Muhammad's wives were ordered to stay at home and wear veils,<ref>{{Quran|33|54}}</ref> and it became difficult if not impossible for an adherent Muslim woman (let alone a wife of the prophet) to conduct any such enterprise.


Due mesi dopo Maometto tornò a Mecca con della merce con un valore quasi doppio rispetto a quanto atteso da Khadijah.<ref>{{Tabari|6|p. 48}}. Bewley/Saad 8:10.</ref> I beni generalmente importanti dalla Siria includevano grano, olio, vino, armi, cotone e lino.<ref>Crone, P. (2007). [http://www.encislam.brill.nl/public/makka/ “Makka” in Bearman, P., et al. (Eds.) (2006).]</ref> Khadijah, che divideva le sue entrate,<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 82.</ref> raddoppiò la commissione di Maometto.<ref>Bewley/Saad 8:10.</ref> Si dice che Khadijah dopo lo inviò per un secondo viaggio, questa volta verso Tihama<ref>{{Tabari|6|p. 49}}</ref> nello Yemen per importante incenso, mirra e tessuti.<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 128, 158, 271.</ref> Non è chiaro se Khadijah inviò i suoi agenti verso sud nel caldo dell'estate<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 58. [http://www.encislam.brill.nl/public/makka/ “Makka” in Bearman, P., et al. (Eds.) (2006).] See also {{Quran|106|2}}.</ref> in modo da eliminare la concorrenza; oppure se questo secondo viaggio avvenne durante un inverno dopo che Khadijah e Maometto erano già sposati, e che il dettaglio che lei lo "assunse" sia un errore; oppure se l'intera cronologia è sbagliata, e questi eventi avvennero in un lasso temporale
In the spring of 595, Khadijah required a new agent to accompany her camels to Syria. Her brother’s wife’s brother, Abu Talib ibn Abdulmuttalib,<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 162, 585. Bewley/Saad 8:29.</ref> recommended the services of his ward, a nephew whom he could no longer afford to keep. Khadijah agreed to hire him for a higher commission than she usually paid.<ref>[http://www.soebratie.nl/religie/hadith/IbnSad.html#Book 34.1/ Ibn Saad, ''Tabaqat'' 1:34:2.] Bewley/Saad 8:10.</ref> His name was Muhammad.<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 82.</ref>


più lungo di quel che si crede. Ciò che è certo che che per l'estate del 595, Khadijah decise di sposare il suo agente.<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 82; Bewley/Saad 8:10.</ref>
Two months later Muhammad returned to Mecca with merchandise worth nearly double what Khadijah had expected.<ref>{{Tabari|6|p. 48}}. Bewley/Saad 8:10.</ref> Goods commonly imported from Syria included grain, oil, wine, weapons, cotton and linen.<ref>Crone, P. (2007). [http://www.encislam.brill.nl/public/makka/ “Makka” in Bearman, P., et al. (Eds.) (2006).]</ref> As Khadijah worked on a profit-share basis,<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 82.</ref> she doubled Muhammad’s commission.<ref>Bewley/Saad 8:10.</ref> It is said that Khadijah later dispatched him on a second trip, this time to Tihama<ref>{{Tabari|6|p. 49}}</ref> in Yemen to import frankincense, myrrh and fine textiles.<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 128, 158, 271.</ref> It is not clear whether Khadijah took the unusual step of sending her agent southwards in the heat of summer<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 58. [http://www.encislam.brill.nl/public/makka/ “Makka” in Bearman, P., et al. (Eds.) (2006).] See also {{Quran|106|2}}.</ref> in order to import a near-monopoly; or whether this second venture occurred during a subsequent winter, after Muhammad and Khadijah were already married, in which case the detail that she “employed” him would be an error; or whether the whole timeline has been confused, and these events occurred over a longer timespan than is usually assumed. What is certain according to the sources is that by the summer of 595, Khadijah had decided to marry her agent.<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 82; Bewley/Saad 8:10.</ref>


==Perché Maometto la sposò==
==Marriage to Muhammad==


Khadijah inviò come sua intermediary Nafisa bint Umayya, una donna liberata dalla tribù di Abu Hala.<ref>Bewley/Saad 8:10, 172. She is sometimes known matrilinearly as Nafisa bint Munya, suggesting that she was illegitimate.</ref> Nafisa approcciò Maometto al bazar e vli chiese perché non si era mai sposato. Lui rispose che non poteva sostenere una famiglia. "Ma se i soldi non fossero un ostacolo," Nafisa insistette, "sposeresti una donna ricca, di rango e bella?" Maometto chiese quale donna con quelle caratteristiche lo sposerebbe, e Nafisa disse Khadijah. Maometto insistentemente si disse favorevole.<ref>[http://www.soebratie.nl/religie/hadith/IbnSad.html#Book 35.1/ Ibn Saad, ''Tabaqat'' 1:35:1].</ref> Quando Khadijah chiese di Maometto la volta dopo, era per fare una proposta ufficiale. Disse che la sua nobile famiglia, buona reputazione e onestà personale lo rendessero eleggibile, e si offrì come sua moglie.<ref>{{Tabari|6|p. 48}}.</ref>
Khadijah sent as her intermediary Nafisa bint Umayya, a freedwoman from Abu Hala’s tribe.<ref>Bewley/Saad 8:10, 172. She is sometimes known matrilinearly as Nafisa bint Munya, suggesting that she was illegitimate.</ref> Nafisa approached Muhammad at the bazaar and asked why he had never married. He replied that he could not afford to support a family. “But if money were no obstacle,Nafisa persisted, “would you be willing to marry a lady of wealth, rank and beauty?” Muhammad asked which lady of that description would be willing to take him, and Nafisa named Khadijah. Muhammad instantly expressed his willingness.<ref>[http://www.soebratie.nl/religie/hadith/IbnSad.html#Book 35.1/ Ibn Saad, ''Tabaqat'' 1:35:1].</ref> When Khadijah next sent for Muhammad, it was to make a formal proposal. She spoke of how his noble ancestry, good reputation and personal honesty rendered him eligible, and offered herself as his wife.<ref>{{Tabari|6|p. 48}}.</ref>


Quando Maometto disse a Nafisa che aveva sempre desiderato sposarsi ma non poteva permetterselo, parlava per esperienza personale. Aveva sperato di sposare sua cugina Fahkita, ma Abu Talib lo aveva proibito dandola ad un uomo ricco e dicendo a Maometto che la famiglia aveva bisogno di sposare i soldi.<ref>{{Tabari|39|p. 196}}. Bewley/Saad, ''Tabaqat'' 8:109.</ref> Quindi Maometto stava cercando una moglie ed era disposto a considerare ogni offerta ragionevole. L'offerta di Khadijah, ovviamente, era molto più che ragionevole. Era l'equivalente arabo di un multimilionario, e il suo appoggio fu la più grande fortuna di Maometto.
When Muhammad told Nafisa that he had always wanted to marry but could not afford it, he was speaking from personal experience. He had hoped to marry his cousin Fakhita, but Abu Talib had prevented it by giving her to a wealthy man and telling Muhammad that the family needed to marry money.<ref>{{Tabari|39|p. 196}}. Bewley/Saad, ''Tabaqat'' 8:109.</ref> So Muhammad was looking for a wife and was in a frame of mind to consider any reasonable offer. Khadijah’s offer, of course, was enticing. Given her riches and status, Khadijah's patronage was the most extraordinary luck for Muhammad.


I commentator musulmani sogliono sottolineare il fat to che Khadijah era una donna "molt più vecchia" e quindi Maometto doveva esser stato nobile e magnanimous per sposarla per il duo carattere piuttosto che per il duo fisico.<ref>"''The Beloved Holy prophet preferred to have his first marriage with a fifteen years older widow shows [''sic''] how the Beloved Holy Prophet had a value of nobility and character more than anything else.''" - Saleem, H. M. (2012). [http://www.bzu.edu.pk/PJIR/eng%201%20Hafiz%20M.pdf/ Justification of the marriages of the Beloved Holy prophet.] ''Pakistan Journal of Islamic Research, 9'', 1-20.</ref> Sarebbe però difficile prover che Maometto fosse attratto solo dal carattere di Khadijah e non dai suoi soldi. Anche se lei si dimostrò leale ed empatia,<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 111</ref> non si sa se Maometto avesse avuto la possibilità di conoscere queste qualità caratteriali prima. È certo che conosceva la sua ricchezza.
Muslim commentators have stressed how Khadijah was a “much older” woman and therefore Muhammad must have been noble and high-minded to marry her for her character rather than her physical charms.<ref>"''The Beloved Holy prophet preferred to have his first marriage with a fifteen years older widow shows [''sic''] how the Beloved Holy Prophet had a value of nobility and character more than anything else.''" - Saleem, H. M. (2012). [http://www.bzu.edu.pk/PJIR/eng%201%20Hafiz%20M.pdf/ Justification of the marriages of the Beloved Holy prophet.] ''Pakistan Journal of Islamic Research, 9'', 1-20.</ref> In the absence of explicit evidence for the manner of Muhammad's attraction to Khadjiah, it is difficult to prove high-minded intentions, particularly when one considers Khadijah's great wealth and status. While she was to prove both loyal and sympathetic,<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 111</ref> it is not clear that Muhammad had had the opportunity to assess these character-qualities in advance, having known her only very briefly and often through proxies. What is certain, on the other hand, is that he had had the opportunity to assess her wealth.


Non c'è nemmeno alcuna ragione per assumere che Khadijah fosse brutta fisicamente. Se il rapporto di Abdullah ibn Abbas è corretto, era più vecchia di Maometto di soli tre anni. Sebbene un moderno agiografo la descrive come "bella, alta e dalla pelle chiara"<ref>[http://www.maaref-foundation.com/english/library/pro_ahl/fatima/fatima_the_gracious/03.htm/ Ordoni, Abu M. (1987). ''Fatima the Gracious'', p. 27. Qum: Ansariyan Publications.]</ref> senza però citare fonti, anche la serva Nafisa disse che era "bella".<ref>[http://www.soebratie.nl/religie/hadith/IbnSad.html#Book 35.1/ Ibn Saad, ''Tabaqat'' 1:35:1].</ref> Anche se Nafisa stava esagerando (la parola "bella" in questo contesto generalmente significa "aspetto-normale", nel senso di non-malformata o deforme), non aveva motivo di mentire ad un uomo [Maometto] che già sapeva qual era l'aspetto di Khadijah.
There is also no reason to assume that Khadijah was physically unattractive. If the report of Abdullah ibn Abbas is correct, she was a mere three years older than Muhammad, which does away with any presumed an age-difference. While a modern hagiography that describes her as “beautiful, tall and light-skinned”<ref>[http://www.maaref-foundation.com/english/library/pro_ahl/fatima/fatima_the_gracious/03.htm/ Ordoni, Abu M. (1987). ''Fatima the Gracious'', p. 27. Qum: Ansariyan Publications.]</ref> does not cite early sources, early sources do say that the servant Nafisa described Khadjiah as “beautiful”.<ref>[http://www.soebratie.nl/religie/hadith/IbnSad.html#Book 35.1/ Ibn Saad, ''Tabaqat'' 1:35:1].</ref> Even if Nafisa was exaggerating (the word used for “beautiful” in this context usually means “normal-looking” as opposed to deformed or ugly), it is doubtful that this could have had deceptive intent, given that Muhammad had already seen Khadijah for himself.


==Matrimonio controverso==
==Controversial wedding==


Khadijah cheese una controdote di 20 camellia.<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 82; Ibn Hisham note 918.</ref> Venti camellia valevano circa 9,700 €,<ref>Numerous ''ahadith'' such as {{Bukhari|2|24|528}} and {{Muslim|10|3893}} indicate that a camel cost about 80 ''dirhams'', although this varied with the age and health of the camel. Hence 20 camels would be worth 1,600 ''dirhams''. {{Bukhari|5|59|357}} indicates that an annual income of 5,000 ''dirhams'' was a comfortable living, so Khadijah’s dower was equivalent to four months’ (middle-class) income. However, it seems that a frugal person could survive on a ''dirham'' a day ([http://www.answering-islam.org/Books/Muir/Life4/chap25.htm/ Muir (1861) vol. 4 p. 156]), so the same sum came to over four years’ wages for a labourer. While it is almost impossible to calculate equivalent prices for such a different culture, the ''dirham'', a silver coin, was the price of a wooden bowl or a ground-sheet ({{Abudawud|9|1637}}) or a cheap necklace ({{Abudawud|14|2704}}), so we might, very roughly, think of a ''dirham'' as £5. A ''dinar'', a gold coin worth 10 ''dirhams'', was the price of a sheep.</ref> ovvero quattro volte la dote che Maometto diede successivamente alle sue altre mogli.<ref>{{Tabari|39|p. 189}}. See also Ibn Hisham note 918. The same 400 ''dirhams'' (£2,000) was also the ransom for a war-captive ({{Abudawud|14|2685}}) or the starting price for a slave ({{Tabari|39|p. 6}}).</ref> Questo suggerisce che Khadijah "valeva quattro donne" per lui, nel senso che era parte del loro contratto di matrimonio che lui non avrebbe preso altre mogli durante la vita di lei. Un uomo povero come Maometto avrebbe avuto parecchi problemi ad ammassare un così grosso regalo, anche se averse ritornato tutte le bestie che Khadijah gli aveva personalmente donato (vli aveva pagato le commissioni in camellia).<ref>[http://www.soebratie.nl/religie/hadith/IbnSad.html#Book 34.1/ Ibn Saad, ''Tabaqat'' 1:34:2.]</ref> La sua buona fortuna nell'accaparrarsi la donna più ricca di Mecca deve aver attratto Abu Talib, che cercava investimenti, e possiamo assumere che la famiglia accomunò le risorse per mettere insieme la controdote.
Khadijah asked for a dower of 20 camels.<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 82; Ibn Hisham note 918.</ref> Twenty camels would have been worth about £8,000,<ref>Numerous ''ahadith'' such as {{Bukhari|2|24|528}} and {{Muslim|10|3893}} indicate that a camel cost about 80 ''dirhams'', although this varied with the age and health of the camel. Hence 20 camels would be worth 1,600 ''dirhams''. {{Bukhari|5|59|357}} indicates that an annual income of 5,000 ''dirhams'' was a comfortable living, so Khadijah’s dower was equivalent to four months’ (middle-class) income. However, it seems that a frugal person could survive on a ''dirham'' a day ([http://www.answering-islam.org/Books/Muir/Life4/chap25.htm/ Muir (1861) vol. 4 p. 156]), so the same sum came to over four years’ wages for a labourer. While it is almost impossible to calculate equivalent prices for such a different culture, the ''dirham'', a silver coin, was the price of a wooden bowl or a ground-sheet ({{Abudawud|9|1637}}) or a cheap necklace ({{Abudawud|14|2704}}), so we might, very roughly, think of a ''dirham'' as £5. A ''dinar'', a gold coin worth 10 ''dirhams'', was the price of a sheep.</ref> which was four times the dower that Muhammad gave to any of his subsequent wives.<ref>{{Tabari|39|p. 189}}. See also Ibn Hisham note 918. The same 400 ''dirhams'' (£2,000) was also the ransom for a war-captive ({{Abudawud|14|2685}}) or the starting price for a slave ({{Tabari|39|p. 6}}).</ref> This is said to suggest that Khadijah was “worth four women” to him, i.e. that it was part of their marriage contract that he would not take another wife in her lifetime. An un-wealthy man like Muhammad would have had some trouble amassing such a hefty gift, even if he returned all the beasts that Khadijah had given him (she had paid his commissions in camels).<ref>[http://www.soebratie.nl/religie/hadith/IbnSad.html#Book 34.1/ Ibn Saad, ''Tabaqat'' 1:34:2.]</ref> His good fortune in attracting the wealthiest woman in Mecca likely delighted the investment-seeking Abu Talib, and it can plausibly be assumed that the family combined resources to raise the dower.


Il matrimonio richiedeva il consenso del guardiano della sposa, e il padre di Khalijah aveva rifiutato i precedenti pretendenti. Lei perciò si assicurò il suo permesso con l'inganno. Offrì insistentemente a suo padre del vino finché fu ubriaco. Dopo macellò una vacca, coprì le sue spalle con una veste a strisce e sparse profumo su di lui, quando Maometto e i suoi zii entrarono nella casa. Khadijah tirò fuori da suo padre le parole necessarie quand'era troppo ebbro per capire cosa stava dicendo. Quando il matrimonio era in corso, Khawaylid tornò sobrio abbastanza da domandare, "Cos'è questa carne, questa veste e questo profumo?" Khadijah rispose, "Mi hai dato in matrimonio a Maometto ibn Abdullah." Khuwaylid era furioso come sua figlia si aspettava, protestando che non aveva mai dato il suo consenso ad una cosa del genere e sguainò addirittura la sua spada. Anche i parenti di Maometto brandirono le armi prima che qualcuno si rese conto che non valeva la pena spargere sangue per questa faccenda. Era troppo tardi. Maometto era il marito di Khadijah.<ref>{{Tabari|6|p. 49}}. [http://www.soebratie.nl/religie/hadith/IbnSad.html#Book 35.4/ Ibn Saad, ''Tabaqat'' 1:35:4, 5.] See also Guillaume/Ishaq 83 and Ibn Hisham note 918.</ref>
Marriage required the consent of the bride’s guardian, and Khadijah’s father Khuwaylid had refused her previous suitors. Given his poverty relative to Khadijah's previous suitors, it was clear that Muhammad would not be acceptable to her father. It is recorded that she therefore plotted to secure his permission through trickery. She plied her father with wine until he was drunk. Then she slaughtered a cow, covered his shoulders with a new striped robe and sprinkled him with perfume, whereupon Muhammad and his uncles entered the house. Khadijah extracted the legally binding words from her father while he was too inebriated to know what he was saying. As the day wore on and the wedding party was in full swing, Khuwaylid recovered his sobriety enough to ask, “What is this meat, this robe and this perfume?Khadijah replied, “You have given me in marriage to Muhammad ibn Abdullah.Khuwaylid was as furious as his daughter had expected, protesting that he had never consented to any such thing and even unsheathing his sword. Muhammad’s kin also brandished weapons, and bloodshed was avoided. Muhammad was now Khadijah’s husband.<ref>{{Tabari|6|p. 49}}. [http://www.soebratie.nl/religie/hadith/IbnSad.html#Book 35.4/ Ibn Saad, ''Tabaqat'' 1:35:4, 5.] See also Guillaume/Ishaq 83 and Ibn Hisham note 918.</ref>


Although the Muslim historian Waqidi rejected this story (even while reporting it), the British historian Muir points out that nobody had any reason to fabricate it. The tradition is from two independent sources, both of whom were biased in Muhammad’s favor and neither of whom had any reason to disparage Khadijah’s father or his clan. Two further independent sources, without mentioning the drunken party, state that it was Khuwaylid who married Khadijah to Muhammad. Although Waqidi claims that it was Khadijah’s uncle who gave her away because her father had died before the Sacrilegious War (591-594), his pupil Ibn Saad names Khuwaylid as a commander in that war. Muir therefore concludes that the tradition of Khuwaylid’s death “has been invented, to throw discredit on the story of his drunkenness.”<ref>[http://www.answering-islam.org/Books/Muir/Life2/chap2.htm/ Muir (1861) vol. 2 p. 24f]. See also {{Tabari|6|pp. 48-50}}; Ibn Hisham note 918.</ref>


Sebbene lo storico musulmano Waqidi negò questa storia imbarazzante (anche mentre la riportava), lo storico britannico Muir argomenta che nessuno aveva nessuna ragione per fabbricarla. La narrazione viene da due fonti indipendenti, entrambi a favore di Maometto e nessuna delle quali aveva nessuna ragione per denigrare il padre di Khadijah o il suo gruppo. Altre due fonti indipendenti, senza menzionare la festa ubriaca, dicono che fu Khuwaylid che diede in sposa Khadijah a Maometto. Sebbene Waqidi sostenga che fu lo zio di Khadijah a darla in sposa perché suo padre era morto prima della Guerra Sacrilega (591-594), il suo pupillo Ibn Saad nomina Khuwaylid come un comandante in quella guerar. Muir quindi conclude che la narrazione della morte di Khuwaylid "è stata inventata, per gettare discredito sulla storia della sua ubriacatezza."<ref>[http://www.answering-islam.org/Books/Muir/Life2/chap2.htm/ Muir (1861) vol. 2 p. 24f]. See also {{Tabari|6|pp. 48-50}}; Ibn Hisham note 918.</ref>  
This story highlights the Arab practice of marriage as a contract between bridegroom and father-in-law in which they transferred the guardianship of a woman. It was somewhat similar to buying a camel: the purchase required the consent of the vendor. Muhammad largely preserved this practice of marriage. To the end of his life, he was particular about meeting the legal requirement to contract with a guardian;<ref>E.g., see Bewley/Saad 8:63, 65; {{Tabari|39|pp. 178-179}}; Bewley/Saad 8:105.</ref> and explicitly endorsed the transactional nature of the [[Mahr (Marital Price)|mahr]] as being a sort of payment for unlimited sexual access to a woman, [[Rape in Islamic Law|even against her will]], so long as she consented once in the form of agreeing to marry.


Questa storia evidenzia la natura contrattuale dei matrimoni in Arabia, in cui il guadiano della sposa (suo padre), trasferiva la guardia della donna al nuovo marito. Era in qualche modo simile a comprare un cammello: l'acquisto richiedeva il consenso del venditore. Maometto non criticò mai questa concezione del matrimonio. Sarebbe stato molto conveniente per lui percepire i suoi matrimoni, incluso quello con Khadijah, puramente come un contratto tra marito e moglie. Eppure non c'è nessuna evidenza che lui volle mai cambiare queste cose, anche dopo che si dichiarò come l'ultimo profeta che era saggio per tutti i tempi ed aveva autorità di cambiare tutte le regole. Alla fine della sua vita, fu specifico per quanto riguardava avere i requisiti legali per contrattare con un guardiano;<ref>E.g., see Bewley/Saad 8:63, 65; {{Tabari|39|pp. 178-179}}; Bewley/Saad 8:105.</ref> lui non si oppose mai al fatto che la donna appartenesse all'uomo.
The story also foreshadows some types of consent Muhammad would go on to consider as legally binding. At various points in his life, he was to extract consent at sword-point,<ref>E.g., Guillaume/Ishaq 547.</ref> under duress,<ref>E.g., Guillaume/Ishaq 314-315. Bewley/Saad 8:87-88.</ref> from an immature or unsound mind,<ref>E.g., Bewley/Saad 8:43.</ref> by withholding essential information,<ref>E.g., Guillaume/Ishaq 463-464. {{Tabari|39|p. 165}}.</ref> by offering a choice between two bad alternatives,<ref>Bewley/Saad 8:40. Guillaume/Ishaq 493.</ref> by exploiting spiritual beliefs,<ref>[http://altafsir.com/Tafasir.asp?tMadhNo=0&tTafsirNo=74&tSoraNo=33&tAyahNo=36&tDisplay=yes&UserProfile=0/ Jalalayn, ''Tafsir'' Q33:36]. See also {{Quran|33|36}}. {{Bukhari|3|43|648}}, {{Muslim|4|3511}}.</ref> through bribery<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 438; 594-597.</ref> or by making promises that he intended to break.<ref>E.g., Guillaume/Ishaq 504, 509. Bewley/Saad 8:181-182.</ref> In light of this component to Muhammad's legacy, it is perhaps somewhat unclear why Waqidi felt the need to scrub the story of Khadijah's trickery from the record.  


Questa storia rivela anche che Khadijah e Maometto capivano il consenso. Non c'era bisogno che fosse "libero" o "informato"; ogni tipo di consenso era legalmente vincolante. Questo tema ricorrerà altre volte nella vita di Maometto. Avrebbe successivamente estratto il consenso con la spada,<ref>E.g., Guillaume/Ishaq 547.</ref> in difficoltà,<ref>E.g., Guillaume/Ishaq 314-315. Bewley/Saad 8:87-88.</ref>  da una mente immatura,<ref>E.g., Bewley/Saad 8:43.</ref> non rilevando informazioni essenziali,<ref>E.g., Guillaume/Ishaq 463-464. {{Tabari|39|p. 165}}.</ref> offrendo una falsa dicotomia tra due cattive alternative,<ref>Bewley/Saad 8:40. Guillaume/Ishaq 493.</ref> sfruttando credi spirituali,<ref>[http://altafsir.com/Tafasir.asp?tMadhNo=0&tTafsirNo=74&tSoraNo=33&tAyahNo=36&tDisplay=yes&UserProfile=0/ Jalalayn, ''Tafsir'' Q33:36]. See also {{Quran|33|36}}. {{Bukhari|3|43|648}}, {{Muslim|4|3511}}.</ref> attraverso la corruzione<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 438; 594-597.</ref> o facendo promesse che sapeva che avrebbe spezzato.<ref>E.g., Guillaume/Ishaq 504, 509. Bewley/Saad 8:181-182.</ref> Eppure non disse mai che ci fosse un problema etico nell'estrarre il consenso in qualsiasi modo potesse funzionare; era chi acconsentiva con Maometto, che era obbligato, in ogni modo, a rispettare la sua parola.   
==Marriage to Muhammad==
==Il matrimonio con Maometto==


Maometto e Khadijah furono sposati per 25 anni. Le biografie moderne di Khadijah a volte sostengono che i suoi compiti durante i primi 15 anni di matrimonio fossero "puramente quelli di una casalinga e di una madre,"<ref>"''During the first fifteen years of her marriage, Khadija’s duties were purely those of a housewife and a mother.''" - Razwy, S. A. A. (1990). ''Khadija-Tul-Kubra: The Wife of the Prophet Muhammed'', p. 146. New York: Tahrike Tarsile Qur’an.</ref> oppure che lei "decise di ritirarsi e godersi una vita comoda con suo marito, il quale, preferì una vita ascetica a quella del commerciante."<ref>"''Khadija ... felt no need to keep trading and increasing her wealth; instead, she decided to retire and enjoy a comfortable life with her husband who, on his part, preferred an ascetic life to that of money making.''" - [http://www.al-islam.org/biographies/khadija.htm/ Al-Jibouri, Y. T. (1994). ''Khadija Daughter of Khuwaylid, Wife of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh).'']</ref>
Muhammad and Khadijah were married for 25 years. Modern biographies of Khadijah sometimes state that her duties during the first fifteen years of her marriage were "purely those of a housewife and a mother,"<ref>"''During the first fifteen years of her marriage, Khadija’s duties were purely those of a housewife and a mother.''" - Razwy, S. A. A. (1990). ''Khadija-Tul-Kubra: The Wife of the Prophet Muhammed'', p. 146. New York: Tahrike Tarsile Qur’an.</ref> or that she "decided to retire and enjoy a comfortable life with her husband who, on his part, preferred an ascetic life to that of money making."<ref>"''Khadija ... felt no need to keep trading and increasing her wealth; instead, she decided to retire and enjoy a comfortable life with her husband who, on his part, preferred an ascetic life to that of money making.''" - [http://www.al-islam.org/biographies/khadija.htm/ Al-Jibouri, Y. T. (1994). ''Khadija Daughter of Khuwaylid, Wife of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh).'']</ref>  


Queste interpretazioni creative non concordano con le prime fonti che mostrano che Maometto si associò con un Makhzumite, Qays ibn Saayib, e vendette mercanzia nel suo negozio.<ref>Ibn Hanbal, ''Musnad'' vol. 4 p. 352.</ref> Dato che Maometto non produceva niente di suo, poteva solo vendere oggetti a Mecca se li importava da qualche altra parte; e se poteva pagare le importazioni, doveva aver esportato con profitto. In altre parole gli affari di Khadijah continuarono dopo il suo matrimonio esattamente come prima.  
These interpretations, however, do not accord with the early records that Muhammad went into partnership with a Makhzumite, Qays ibn Saayib, and sold merchandise in his shop.<ref>Ibn Hanbal, ''Musnad'' vol. 4 p. 352.</ref> Since Muhammad was not producing anything by means of a craft, he could only have sold items in Mecca if he had imported them from elsewhere; and if he could pay for imports, he must have been exporting at a profit. In other words, Khadijah’s business continued after their marriage exactly as it had beforehand.


Questa circostanza spiega molto bene il senso della relazione di Maometto con Khadijah. La sua affermazione che "Khadijah ha speso la sua ricchezza per me"<ref>Ibn Hanbal, ''Musnad'' vol. 6 pp. 117-118.</ref> indica la sua ansia per il fatto che i soldi erano di lei e non suoi. Nonostante la sua importante posizione dirigenziale e quanto generosamente Khadijah condivise la sua ricchezza, rimase in controllo dei suoi soldi. Maometto era di fatto il dipendente di sua moglie. Non era in grado di dispiacere sua moglie, perché avrebbe perso tutto se avesse osato allontanarsi. Perciò non solo fu fedele a Khadijah ma le lasciò prendere tutte le decisioni più importanti.<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 313.</ref> Non fu né fedele né cortese con nessuna delle sue mogli successive. In altre parole, Maometto fece il buon marito solo con quella moglie che era in grado di dettare i termini della loro relazione.
This circumstance explains a great deal about Muhammad’s relationship with Khadijah. His assertion that Khadijah “spent her wealth for me”<ref>Ibn Hanbal, ''Musnad'' vol. 6 pp. 117-118.</ref> indicates his keen awareness that the money was hers and not his. However important his managerial position in the family firm, and however generously Khadijah shared her wealth, she remained in control of her own money. Muhammad was effectively his wife’s employee. That he allowed Khadijah to make all their major decisions, in this light, is less surprising.<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 313.</ref>


Non bisogna assumere che la fedeltà di Maometto verso Khadijah gli sia venuta difficile. Lei gli fu fedele a sua volta; e a giudicare dal loro generare figli, la sua velocità nell' "avvicinarsi a lei" per conforto,<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 106</ref> e il suo piano deliberato di usare il sesso per distrarlo dai suoi guai,<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 107; {{Tabari|6|p. 73}}.</ref> lei si rese molto disponibile sessualmente. La compiacenza di Maometto verso questo accordo conveniente perciò rivela più il suo buon senso che la sua virtù.
Her regular childbearing and fidelity to Muhammad and numerous other accounts of his quickness to “draw close to her” for comfort,<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 106</ref> are described in the traditions. There even seems to have been a manner in which Khadija employed sex to distract him from his troubles.<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 107; {{Tabari|6|p. 73}}.</ref> All this would appear to suggest that their marriage was a functional one, and there is little reason to believe that Muhammad would have had to have some sort of exceptional virtue to have been successful within it.
 
==Figli==
 
Khadijah aveva già tre figli prima di questo matrimonio. È incredibile quanto poco si sappia di loro. Gli storici più tardi collezionarono avidamente ogni possibile informazione riguardante Maometto, addirittura come si lavava i denti<ref>{{Bukhari|1|4|245}}</ref> e come si comportava con dei sandali rotti.<ref>{{Muslim|24|5235}}</ref> La gente che visse sotto il suo tetto era altamente ricercata dagli storici come testimoni oculari. Nonostante ciò, quando le narrazioni furono scritte, quasi tutto ciò che riguardava i suoi figliastri era stato dimenticato. Questo indica che le loro vite non si incrociarono molto con la comunità musulmana.
 
[[File:KhadijaHouse.jpg|left|thumb|Le rovine della casa di Khadijah a Mecca.|250px]]


==Children==


Khadijah brought three stepchildren into the marriage. It is striking how little is known about them. Later historians eagerly collected every possible scrap of information about Muhammad, down to how he cleaned his teeth<ref>{{Bukhari|1|4|245}}</ref> and his attitude to a broken sandal.<ref>{{Muslim|24|5235}}</ref> People who had lived under his roof should have been in high demand as eyewitnesses. Yet by the time the traditions were committed to writing, almost everything about his stepchildren had been forgotten. This implies that their lives did not intersect very much with those of the Muslim community.


[[File:KhadijaHouse.jpg|left|thumb|The ruins of Khadijah’s house in Mecca.|250px]]
Given that girls were often married off at puberty, it is possible that Muhammad never lived with his stepdaughter, Hind bint Atiq. She married a Makhzumite cousin, Sayfi ibn Umayya, to whom she bore at least one son, Muhammad ibn Sayfi. Though this Muhammad in his turn had descendants, it was said that none of the family survived; yet there is not a word about how they died.<ref>Bewley/Saad 8:9.</ref>


Dato che le ragazze erano spesso date in sposa durante la pubertà, è possibile che Maometto non visse mai con la sua figliastra Hind bint Atiq. Lei sposò un cugino Makhzumite, Sayfi ibn Umayya, al quale diede almeno un figlio, Maometto ibn Sayfi. Sebbene questo Maometto ebbe una discendenza, è stato detto che nessuno della famiglia sopravvisse; pur non essendoci nemmeno una parola su come morirono.<ref>Bewley/Saad 8:9.</ref>
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> Little more than this account is available in the traditional sources. 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 [[Sahabah|Muhammad's companions]] never suggested that their Prophet’s own stepson had been martyred for the cause.


I due figli di Khadijah vissero con Maometto per molti anni,<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> e si sa che gli piaceva giocare coi bambini.<ref>{{Bukhari|8|73|151}}. See also {{Bukhari|8|73|150}}.</ref> Di Hala si ricorda che "il profeta si svegliò e vide Hala nella sua stanza. Lo strinse al suo petto e gioioso: "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> Se questo è tutto ciò che si ricordavano, allora nessuno ricordava molto. Hala fu dopo ucciso in una rissa da strada quando sfidò un uomo che aveva insultato Maometto.<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> Questo avvene probabilmente prima dell'islam,<ref>{{Tabari|39|pp. 79-80}}.</ref> dato che i musulmani non si lamentarono mai che il figliastro del loro profeta fu ucciso come un martire per la causa.
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> Hind’s affection for his stepfather was likely real; there is no evidence of any conflict between them. However, it is important to note that knowledge of Muhammad's life comes from sources compiled decades after Muhammad's death, and indeed decades after the Islamic empire had been established, when it was only acceptable and indeed mandatory to speak effusively of Muhammad as a the perfect man and prophet; these account also do not include any specific events from Hind's childhood. Consequently, it is advisable to view such accounts through a critical lense.


Il figliastro più giovane, Hind, ricordò a suo nipote, Hussayn ibn Ali, che "la faccia benedetta di Maometto splendeva come una Luna piena... la sua abitudine modesta era di guardare senza fissare... salutava chiunque incontrava... né imbarazzava nessuno...", e così via.<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> Forse l'affetto di Hind per il suo patrigno fu reale; non c'è nessuna prova di qualche conflitto tra di loro. Ad ogni modo, egli diede questa memoria – e molto ancora dello stesso tipo – molto dopo che l'impero islamico fu fondato, quando si potevano dire solo cose positive su Maometto; e non incluse nessun evento specifico della sua infanzia. È chiaro che Hind non fece mai parte della cerchia ristretta di Maometto. Il suo nome non appare nella recensione che Ibn Hisham fece della ''Sira'' [biografia di Maometto] di Ibn Ishaq, la quale elenca tutti i primi convertiti e descrive, nome per nome, le azioni dei migranti per Medina. Non compare nemmeno nelle ''hadith'' che trattano di quel periodo. Questo suggerisce che non divenne un musulmano fino alla conquista di Mecca nel 630, quando Maometto lo fece governatore nello 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> La distanza di questo incarico lo tenne ancora lontano dagli affari intimi di Maometto. Hind morì dopo il 656 a Basra, in Siria. "Il mercato fu cancellato quel giorno, e non si caricarono né scaricarono navi."<ref>{{Tabari|39|p. 80}}.</ref> Ebbe almeno un figlio, chiamato anch'egli Hind; ma di nuovo è riportato che nessun discendente sopravvisse fino al tempo in cui si scrissero le narrazioni.<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>
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  perhaps 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>


Nei 10 anni successivi, Khadijah diede altri 6 figli a Maometto, tutti accuditi da un'ostetrica chiamata Salma.<ref>Bewley/Saad 8:10, 160.</ref> Dal loro primo figlio, Qasim, Maometto prese il ''kunya'' Abu Qasim. Dopo venne Zaynab, Abdullah, Ruqayya, Umm Kulthum e Fatima.<ref>Bewley/Saad 8:10. [http://www.soebratie.nl/religie/hadith/IbnSad.html#Book 36.2/ Ibn Saad, ''Tabaqat'' 1:36:2].</ref> Qualche storico parla di altri due figli, ''Al-Tahir'' ("il Puro") oppure ''Al-Tayyib'' ("il buono"), ma questa è una lettura sbagliata di Waqidi, che dice chiaramente che questi erano entrambi soprannomi dati ad 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 e Abdullah morirono entrambi nell'infanzia; le femmine invece sopravvissero.<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 82; Ibn Hisham note 918; Bewley/Saad 8:10.</ref> Fatima, che aveva l'aspetto di Maometto<ref>{{Bukhari|4|56|819}}. {{Abudawud|41|5198}}.</ref> ed era la sua favorita,<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> è conosciuta ai musulmani come ''az-Zahra'' ("la abbagliante") ed è considerata una grande santa.<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>
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>


Oltre ai suoi figli biologici, Maometto e Khadijah liberarono ed adottarono il loro schiavo, Zayd ibn Haritha. Zayd veniva dalla tribù degli Udhra. Fu rapito ad una giovane età da un commerciante di schiavi e venduto nel mercato degli schiavi per 400 ''dirhams'' (circa 2400 €). Fu comprato dal nipote di Khadijah, che lo regalò alla zia. Quando fu chiaro che Maometto e Khadijah non avrebbero avuto un figlio maschio da soli, Maometto prese Zayd vicino a sé<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 115; 314-315. {{Tabari|7|p. 8}}. {{Bukhari|4|53|324}}. {{Abudawud|12|2271}}. {{Muslim|8|3441}}.</ref> e gli fece molti piccoli favori,<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 186; 308; 364; 660; 662; 664. {{Tabari|7|16}}. Bewley/Saad 8:72. {{Bukhari|5|59|562}}.</ref> quando i due alla fine ebbero un conflitto di interessi, Maometto ignorò i diritti di Zayd e badò solo a sé stesso.<ref>See {{Tabari|8|pp. 1-4}}.</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''. 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> 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 favors on him,<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 186; 308; 364; 660; 662; 664. {{Tabari|7|16}}. Bewley/Saad 8:72. {{Bukhari|5|59|562}}.</ref> although when the two eventually had a conflict of interest, it appears that Muhammad ignored Zayd’s rights in favor of himself.<ref>See {{Tabari|8|pp. 1-4}}.</ref>


Ci fu un periodo di avversità causato da una siccità, Khadijah diede alla madre adottiva di Maometto 40 pecore e un cammello carico di provviste.<ref>[http://www.soebratie.nl/religie/hadith/IbnSad.html#Book 27.20/ Ibn Saad, ''Tabaqat'' 1:27:20.]</ref> Maometto volontariamente aiutò suo zio Abu Talib prendendosi cura di uno dei suoi ultimi figli. Da qui in poi Maometto e Khadijah crebbero il cugino piccolo di Maometto Ali ma non lo adottarono legalmente.<ref>{{Tabari|6|p. 83}}.</ref> Nuovamente, Maometto mostrò esplicitamente grande affetto verso Aliref>E.g., Guillaume/Ishaq 234, 286, 293, 593, 650; {{Bukhari|4|52|219}}; {{Muslim|1|141}}; {{Muslim|31|5917}}.</ref> e gli diede persino sua figlia Fatima in sposa.<ref>{{Tabari|39|p. 167}}.</ref> Ma l'apparente successo dell'accordo di famiglia dev'essere contestualizzato nella realtà in cui Abi crebbe con una notevole mancanza di altri esseri umani.<ref>E.g., Guillaume/Ishaq 496; {{Bukhari|5|59|637}}; {{Bukhari|8|82|803}}; {{Bukhari|8|81|769}}; {{Bukhari|9|84|57}}.</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> This positive upbringing of Ali, however, seems to contrast rather sharply with some of the behavior he exhibited later on in life.<ref>E.g., Guillaume/Ishaq 496; {{Bukhari|5|59|637}}; {{Bukhari|8|82|803}}; {{Bukhari|8|81|769}}; {{Bukhari|9|84|57}}.</ref>


==Politeismo==
==Polytheism==


Moderni agiografi a volte sostengono che la virtuosa Khadijah, "differentemente dalla sua gente, non credette mai né adorò mai gli idoli." <ref>"''One particular quality in Khadija was quite interesting, probably more so than any of her other qualities mentioned above: she, unlike her people, never believed in nor worshipped idols.''" - [http://www.al-islam.org/masoom/bios/khadija.htm/ Al-Jibouri, Y. T. (1994). ''Khadija Daughter of Khuwaylid, Wife of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh).]</ref> Le fonti primarie però dicono diversamente. Khadijah tenne a casa sua un idolo di Al-Uzza, una dea stellare vergine, che era la patrona di Mecca ed era creduta essere potente in guerra.<ref>[http://www.pantheon.org/areas/mythology/other/articles.html/ “Al-Uzza” in ''Encyclopaedia Mythica''].</ref><ref>[http://www.answering-islam.org/Books/Al-Kalbi/uzza.htm/ Al-Kalbi, ''The Book of Idols'', pp. 16-29.]</ref><ref>[http://www.qtafsir.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1691&Itemid=109/ Ibn Kathir, ''Tafsir'' on Quran 53:19–26.]</ref> The family used to worship it just before bedtime.<ref>Ibn Hanbal, ''Musnad'' vol. 4 p. 222.</ref> Maometto a volte sacrificò una pecora bianca alla dea,<ref>[http://answering-islam.org/Books/Al-Kalbi/uzza.htm/ Al-Kalbi, pp. 16-17.]</ref> e Khadijah sacrificò due capretti alla nascita di ogni figlio e un capretto alla nascita di ogni figlia.<ref>[http://www.soebratie.nl/religie/hadith/IbnSad.html#Book 36.2/ Ibn Saad, ''Tabaqat'' 1:36:2].</ref> Quando Maometto si lamentò dell'Occhio Cattivo, Khadijah era solita andare a chiamare una vecchia strega per mandarlo via.<ref>Yunus ibn Bakayr from Ibn Ishaq, cited in [http://books.google.com.au/books?id=tNHnAAAAIAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_vpt_buy#v=onepage&q&f=false/ Guillaume, A. (1960). ''New Light on the Life of Muhammad'', p. 7. Manchester: Manchester University Press.]</ref> Nel 605 una grande alluvione danneggiò la Kaba, ed i cittadini più importanti di Mecca cooperarono per ricostruirla. Maometto giocò un ruolo prominente arbitrando una disputa su chi avrebbe avuto l'onore di reistallare la [[Pietra nera]].<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 84-86.</ref> Non diede nessun segno allora di aver rigettato nessuno dei 360 dei presenti alla Kaba che così ristabilì.
Modern hagiographers sometimes suggest that the virtuous Khadijah, "unlike her people, never believed in nor worshipped idols." <ref>"''One particular quality in Khadija was quite interesting, probably more so than any of her other qualities mentioned above: she, unlike her people, never believed in nor worshipped idols.''" - [http://www.al-islam.org/masoom/bios/khadija.htm/ Al-Jibouri, Y. T. (1994). ''Khadija Daughter of Khuwaylid, Wife of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh).'']</ref>, however early sources seem to tell a different story. They state that Khadijah kept in her house an idol of Al-Uzza, a virgin star-goddess who was the patroness of Mecca and was supposed to be powerful in war.<ref>[http://www.pantheon.org/areas/mythology/other/articles.html/ “Al-Uzza” in ''Encyclopaedia Mythica''].</ref><ref>[http://www.answering-islam.org/Books/Al-Kalbi/uzza.htm/ Al-Kalbi, ''The Book of Idols'', pp. 16-29.]</ref><ref>[http://www.qtafsir.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1691&Itemid=109/ Ibn Kathir, ''Tafsir'' on Quran 53:19–26.]</ref> The family used to worship it just before bedtime.<ref>Ibn Hanbal, ''Musnad'' vol. 4 p. 222.</ref> Muhammad sometimes sacrificed a white sheep to the goddess,<ref>[http://answering-islam.org/Books/Al-Kalbi/uzza.htm/ Al-Kalbi, pp. 16-17.]</ref> and Khadijah sacrificed two kids at the birth of each son and one at the birth of each daughter.<ref>[http://www.soebratie.nl/religie/hadith/IbnSad.html#Book 36.2/ Ibn Saad, ''Tabaqat'' 1:36:2].</ref> When Muhammad complained of the Evil Eye, Khadijah used to send for an elderly sorceress to charm it away.<ref>Yunus ibn Bakayr from Ibn Ishaq, cited in [http://books.google.com.au/books?id=tNHnAAAAIAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_vpt_buy#v=onepage&q&f=false/ Guillaume, A. (1960). ''New Light on the Life of Muhammad'', p. 7. Manchester: Manchester University Press.]</ref> In 605 a severe flood damaged the Ka’aba, and the principal citizens of Mecca cooperated to rebuild it. Muhammad played a prominent part by arbitrating a dispute over who should have the honor of reinstalling the [[Black Stone]]<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 84-86.</ref>, not showing any disapproval in this instance of the 360 idols the Ka'aba housed at the time.


Ad ogni modo, in una data non specificata e senza darne motivo, Maometto e Khadijah si distaccarono dalla loro religione tradizionale. Maometto e suo figlio Zayd vennero sotto l'influenza dello schietto monoteista Zayd ibn Amr al-Adiyi, il quale gli disse che non aveva mai mangiato carne offerta agli idoli. Maometto allora decise che non avrebbe mai più fatto sacrifici per Al-Uzza.<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 99. See also {{Bukhari|7|67|407}}; {{Bukhari|5|58|169}}. Variant forms of this ''hadith'' are cited in [http://www.kister.huji.ac.il/content/bag-meat-study-early-%E1%B8%A5ad%C4%ABth/ Kister, M. J. (1970). “A Bag of Meat.” A Study of an Early Hadith. ''Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, 33'', 267-75.] Ibn Ishaq (Guillaume, pp. 102-103) describes how Zayd ibn Amr was eventually murdered. Although the culprit was never discovered, Ibn Ishaq apparently suspected Zayd’s half-brother, Al-Khattab ibn Nufayl, the father of Caliph Umar.</ref> Finalmente confessò la sua miscredenza a Khadijah. Lei rispose dicendogli "lascia Al-Lat e lascia Al-Uzza."<ref>"''A neighbour of Khadijah bint Khuwaylid heard the Prophet say, “O Khadija! By Allah, I do not worship Al-Lat or Al-Uzza. By Allah, I do not worship [them] at all.” Khadijah replied, “Leave Al-Lat and leave Al-Uzza.” He [the neighbour] said this was their idol, which they all used to worship, after which they would lie down to sleep.''" - Ibn Hanbal, ''Musnad'' vol. 4 p. 222.</ref> (Al-Lat era la dea madre-Terra che veviva venerata a Ta'if.)<ref>[http://www.pantheon.org/articles/a/allat.html/ “Allat” in ''Encyclopaedia Mythica''.]</ref><ref>[http://www.answering-islam.org/Books/Al-Kalbi/allat.htm/ Al-Kalbi, ''The Book of Idols'', pp. 14-15.]</ref> L'accettazione così pacata dell'apostasia di suo marito suggerisce che anche Khadijah aveva già perso fede.
However, at an unspecified date and for an unknown reason, Muhammad and Khadijah became disillusioned with their traditional religion. Muhammad and his son Zayd came under the influence of the outspoken monotheist Zayd ibn Amr al-Adiyi, who told them that he never ate meat offered to idols. Muhammad then decided that he too would never again sacrifice to Al-Uzza.<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 99. See also {{Bukhari|7|67|407}}; {{Bukhari|5|58|169}}. Variant forms of this ''hadith'' are cited in [http://www.kister.huji.ac.il/content/bag-meat-study-early-%E1%B8%A5ad%C4%ABth/ Kister, M. J. (1970). “A Bag of Meat.” A Study of an Early Hadith. ''Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, 33'', 267-75.] Ibn Ishaq (Guillaume, pp. 102-103) describes how Zayd ibn Amr was eventually murdered. Although the culprit was never discovered, Ibn Ishaq apparently suspected Zayd’s half-brother, Al-Khattab ibn Nufayl, the father of Caliph Umar.</ref> Finally he confessed his unbelief to Khadijah. She replied by telling him to “Leave Al-Lat and leave Al-Uzza.<ref>"''A neighbour of Khadijah bint Khuwaylid heard the Prophet say, “O Khadija! By Allah, I do not worship Al-Lat or Al-Uzza. By Allah, I do not worship [them] at all.” Khadijah replied, “Leave Al-Lat and leave Al-Uzza.” He [the neighbour] said this was their idol, which they all used to worship, after which they would lie down to sleep.''" - Ibn Hanbal, ''Musnad'' vol. 4 p. 222.</ref> (Al-Lat was an earth-mother goddess who was revered in Ta’if.)<ref>[http://www.pantheon.org/articles/a/allat.html/ “Allat” in ''Encyclopaedia Mythica''.]</ref><ref>[http://www.answering-islam.org/Books/Al-Kalbi/allat.htm/ Al-Kalbi, ''The Book of Idols'', pp. 14-15.]</ref> To some, her acceptance of her husband’s apostasy from their traditional religion suggests that Khadijah in her turn had already lost faith.


Non è scritto cosa Maometto e Khadijah fecero con i loro idoli; né è scritto se e a quale gruppo religioso si unirono successivamente. I monoteisti che vivevano o viaggiavano a Mecca includevano gli ebrei, i cristiani, gli zoroastriani e i sabei;<ref>{{Quran|2|62}}. {{Quran|5|69}}. {{Quran|22|17}}. Guillaume/Ishaq 90, 106.</ref> ma Zayd ibn Amr non si identificava con nessuno di questi gruppi. Ad ogni modo, non c'è dubbio che Maometto e Khadijah impararono le idee monoteiste paradiso, inferno, libri sacri, profeti dal cugino di Khadijah Waraqa ibn Nawfal e Uthman ibn Al-Huwayrith e dal cugino di Maometto Ubaydallah ibn Jahsh.<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 99.</ref> Khadijah iniziò a parlare come se ci fosse un solo dio.<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 106-107.</ref>
It is not stated what Muhammad and Khadijah did with their idol; nor is it known which religious group, if any, they joined next. Monotheists who lived in or travelled through Mecca included Jews, Christians, Zoroastrians and Sabians;<ref>{{Quran|2|62}}. {{Quran|5|69}}. {{Quran|22|17}}. Guillaume/Ishaq 90, 106.</ref> but Zayd ibn Amr did not identify with any of these groups. However, there is little doubt that Muhammad and Khadijah learned monotheistic ideas Heaven, Hell, holy books, prophets from Khadijah’s cousins Waraqa ibn Nawfal and Uthman ibn Al-Huwayrith and from Muhammad’s cousin Ubaydallah ibn Jahsh.<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 99.</ref> Soon, Khadija would begin to speak as if there was only one God.<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 106-107.</ref>


==Islam==
==Islam==


[[File:Mount Hira Cave.jpg|right|thumb|Questa caverna sul monte Hira è largamente creduta la stessa caverna dove Maometto incontrò per la prima volta l'angelo Gabriele. Oggi è una meta turistica per i pellegrini musulmani.|200px]]
[[File:Mount Hira Cave.jpg|right|thumb|This cave in Mount Hira is widely believed to be the same cave where Muhammad first encountered Jibreel. It is now a popular tourist destination for Muslim pilgrims.|200px]]


Maometto iniziò a meditare nelle caverne, lasciando spesso la sua famiglia per giorni di fila per concentrarsi sulle sue devozioni.<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 105.</ref> Nell'agosto del 610, all'età di 39 anni, queste meditazioni furono interrotte da un'esperienza che lo terrificò.<ref>It could have been an epileptic fit, a psychotic episode or an ordinary nightmare. Since he was alone, there is no way to know.</ref> Barcollò a casa da Khadijah nella convinzione di aver visto l'angelo Gabriele e di essere posseduto da un demone.<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 106.</ref> Khadijah lo coprì con una coperta e lo consolò. Non credeva che Maometto potesse essere posseduto. "Allah non ti tratterebbe così perché conosce il tuo buon carattere. Quindi sii felice e contento! Ho speranza che tu sarai il profeta di questa comunità." Dopo lei indossò il mantello e portò Maometto dal di lei cugino Waraqa per consultarsi.<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 106-107. {{Tabari|6|p. 72}}.</ref>
Muhammad took to meditating in caves, often leaving his family for days at a time to focus on his devotions.<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 105.</ref> In August 610, when he was 39 years old, these meditations were interrupted by an experience that terrified him.<ref>It could have been an epileptic fit, a psychotic episode or an ordinary nightmare. Since he was alone, there is no way to know.</ref> He staggered home to Khadijah under the conviction that he had seen the angel [[Angel Jibreel|Jibreel (Gabriel)]] and that he was demon-possessed.<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 106.</ref> Khadijah wrapped him in a blanket and consoled him. She did not believe that Muhammad could be possessed. “Allah would not treat you thus since he knows your good character. So rejoice and be glad! I have hope that you will be the prophet of this community.” Then she put on her cloak and took Muhammad to consult her cousin Waraqa.<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 106-107. {{Tabari|6|p. 72}}.</ref>


Waraqa era un vecchio cieco che si era convertito al cristianesimo e aveva studiato la traduzione araba dei vangeli.<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 99; {{Muslim|1|301}}.</ref> Secondo Maometto, Waraqa disse: "Sacro, sacro! Queeta è stata la grande ''Namus'' [legge] che venne a Mosè. Sei il profeta di questa gente. Dovrei vivere finché ricevi il messaggio divino, ti supporterò fortemente."<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 107. {{Bukhari|1|1|3}}. {{Bukhari|4|55|605}} [http://www.searchtruth.com/book_display.php?book=55&translator=1&start=55&number=597]. {{Bukhari|9|87|111}} [http://www.searchtruth.com/book_display.php?book=87&translator=1&start=0&number=0]. {{Muslim|1|301}}.</ref> Se Waraqa disse così, allora non mantenne la sua promessa. Sebbene visse per altri 3 anni,<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 144,</ref> la gente dopo la sua morte si chiedeva se fosse mai stato un musulmano,<ref name="Tir4623">"''Aisha narrated. Someone asked Allah’s Messenger about Waraqa. So Khadijah told him, “He believed in you, but died before you appeared as a prophet.” Allah’s Messenger then said, “I was shown him in a dream, wearing white clothes, and if he had been one of the inhabitants of Hell he would have been wearing different clothing.''” - [http://www.oocities.org/tirmidhihadith/page7.html/ Tirmidhi 4623.]</ref>  
Waraqa was an old, blind man who had converted to Christianity and had studied an Arabic translation of the Gospels.<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 99; {{Muslim|1|301}}.</ref> According to Muhammad, Waraqa declared: “Holy, holy! This was the great ''Namus'' [law] that came to Moses. You are the prophet of these people. Should I live till you receive the Divine Message, I will support you strongly.<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 107. {{Bukhari|1|1|3}}. {{Bukhari|4|55|605}} [http://www.searchtruth.com/book_display.php?book=55&translator=1&start=55&number=597]. {{Bukhari|9|87|111}} [http://www.searchtruth.com/book_display.php?book=87&translator=1&start=0&number=0]. {{Muslim|1|301}}.</ref> If Waraqa in fact said this, he did not keep his promise. Although he lived for at least another three years,<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 144,</ref> people afterwards questioned whether he had ever become a Muslim,<ref name="Tir4623">"''Aisha narrated. Someone asked Allah’s Messenger about Waraqa. So Khadijah told him, “He believed in you, but died before you appeared as a prophet.” Allah’s Messenger then said, “I was shown him in a dream, wearing white clothes, and if he had been one of the inhabitants of Hell he would have been wearing different clothing.''” - [http://www.oocities.org/tirmidhihadith/page7.html/ Tirmidhi 4623.]</ref> meaning that Waraqa never made a public profession of Islam. Nobody except Muhammad and Khadijah ever heard him endorse Muhammad as a prophet. Muhammad would later admit to Aisha that he had required prompting from Khadijah before he could answer Waraqah's question.<ref name="Tir4623"></ref>
il che indica che Waraqa non si disse mai musulmano né affermò mai l'islam in pubblico. Nessuno a parte Maometto e Khadijah sentirono mai Waraqa dire che Maometto era un profeta. Maometto ammise addirittura ad Aisha che Waraqa fu suggerito da Khadijah nel dare questa risposta.<ref name="Tir4623"></ref>


Non fu Waraqa a far credere a Maometto di essere un profeta, ma Khadijah.<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 112.</ref> Già poche ore dopo aver dedotto che suo marito era un profeta, si assicurò che il suo vicino di casa si convertisse.<ref>{{Tabari|39|p. 201}}.</ref> Quando dopo annunciò che l'angelo Gabriele era nella stanza, Khadijah volle mettere alla prova l'angelo Gabriele (che lei non poteva vedere) stando in piedi davanti al raggio visivo immaginario dell'angelo Gabriele, si tolse la vestaglia e chiese a Maometto di fare sesso con lei. Maometto dopo riporterà che Gabriele se ne era andato, e Khadijah dichiarò che la modestà di Gabriele era un segno certo che era un angelo e non un demone.<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 107. {{Tabari|6|p. 73}}. The sanitised version of this story, in which Khadijah merely removes her veil, is unlikely to be the correct one, as Khadijah died long before the veil was mandated. The mere removal of a veil would not have shocked anyone at that early date – assuming that a lady sitting indoors was even wearing one.</ref>
It was not Waraqa whose confidence moved Muhammad to discard his terrors and believe in his own mission, but Khadijah herself.<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 112.</ref> Within hours of deducing that her husband was a prophet, she secured the conversion of her next-door neighbor.<ref>{{Tabari|39|p. 201}}.</ref> When he next announced that Jibreel was in the room, Khadijah tested the visitor (whom she could not see) by positioning herself to be in his supposed line of vision, and stripping naked. Muhammad then reported that Jibreel had departed, and Khadijah declared that Jibreel’s modesty was a certain sign that he was an angel and not a demon.<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 107. {{Tabari|6|p. 73}}. The sanitised version of this story, in which Khadijah merely removes her veil, is unlikely to be the correct one, as Khadijah died long before the veil was mandated. The mere removal of a veil would not have shocked anyone at that early date – assuming that a lady sitting indoors was even wearing one.</ref>


Poco dopo, Maometto disse che Gabriele aveva smesso di fargli visita. Dopo l'iniziale terrore per le sue strane esperienze, adesso era distrutto dalla loro assenza.<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 111.</ref> Per molti anni divenne così depresso che considerò di suicidarsi gettandosi da un precipizio. Anche se tornava da ogni tentativo dicendo che Gabriele gli era riapparso in tempo per fermarlo,<ref>{{Tabari|6|p. 76}}. {{Bukhari|9|87|111}}.</ref> l'angelo però non era rimasto abbastanza per dargli altre nuove profezie. Alla fine Khadijah lo derise: "Credo che il tuo Signore deve odiarti!"<ref>{{Tabari|6|p. 70}}.</ref> Questo pungolare, l'unica volta in cui Khadijah non appoggiò suo marito, suggerisce una profonda delusione dalla possibilità che Maometto forse non era un profeta dopotutto. Poco dopo difatti Maometto riportò una nuova profezia: "Il tuo dio non ti ha abbandonato, né ti odia..."<ref>{{Quran|93|3}}.</ref>
Soon after this, Muhammad reported that Jibreel had stopped visiting him. Despite his initial terror of his strange experiences, he was now distraught by their absence.<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 111.</ref> Several times he became so depressed that he considered committing suicide by throwing himself off a cliff. Although he returned home from each attempt saying that Jibreel had reappeared in time to prevent him,<ref>{{Tabari|6|p. 76}}. {{Bukhari|9|87|111}}.</ref> the angel did not remain long enough to give him any new prophecies. Eventually Khadijah taunted him: “I think that your Lord must have come to hate you!<ref>{{Tabari|6|p. 70}}.</ref> This goading, the only recorded incident in which her sympathy for her husband seems to have failed, suggests a profound disappointment with the possibility that Muhammad might not be a prophet after all. It was very soon afterwards, however, that Muhammad would report a new prophecy: “Thy Lord hath not forsaken thee, nor doth He hate thee...<ref>{{Quran|93|3}}.</ref>


Maometto non disse mai più d'essere spaventato dall'angelo. Da allora in poi riportò visite regolari di Gabriele, che portò nuove rivelazioni da Allah.<ref>{{Bukhari|1|1|3}}. {{Bukhari|6|60|478}}. Guillaume/Ishaq 111-112.</ref> Uno dei primi messaggi riguardava il rituale corretto per le cinque preghiere giornaliere. Dopo di ciò Maometto era spesso visto in pubblico, lavandosi la faccia guardando la Kaba per pregare, con Ali al suo fianco e Khadijah un passo dietro di loro.<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 112-114. Bewley/Saad 8:11.</ref> Khadijah accettò fin dall'inizio che il posto di una donna nell'islam era dietro all'uomo. Anche le loro 4 figlie e Zayd furono tra i primi convertiti.<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 114-115, 313-314.</ref> After the conversion of Abu Bakr, of course, there was no turning back.<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 114-117.</ref>
Muhammad never again mentioned being afraid of the angel. Thenceforth he reported regular visits from Jibreel, who brought new revelations from Allah.<ref>{{Bukhari|1|1|3}}. {{Bukhari|6|60|478}}. Guillaume/Ishaq 111-112.</ref> One of the earliest messages concerned the correct ritual for the five daily prayers. After this Muhammad was often to be seen in full public view, first [[Ablution|abluting]] then standing face to the Ka’aba to pray, with Ali at his side and Khadijah a pace behind them.<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 112-114. Bewley/Saad 8:11.</ref> Their four daughters and Zayd were also among the earliest converts.<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 114-115, 313-314.</ref> Shortly thereafter Abu Bakr would convert, beckoning a new era of Muhammad's mission.<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 114-117.</ref>


==The Persecution==
==Persecution==


After three years and some fifty converts,<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 115-117.</ref> it was known throughout Mecca that Muhammad considered himself a prophet. He received little attention<ref>{{Tabari|6|p. 93}}.</ref> until the day when he gathered his relatives together for a dinner-party and invited them to forsake their idols and submit to Allah. But no mass-conversions followed;<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 117-119.</ref> the Meccans doubted, questioned and ignored him. Discouraged, Muhammad confided his troubles to Khadijah,<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 191.</ref> who was quick to console him. The citizens of Mecca accused him of outright lying, and Khadijah continued to reassure him that he was a prophet.<ref>Ibn Hanbal, ''Musnad'' volume 6 p. 117-118.</ref> Debates led to angry arguments and mockery, and Khadijah disparaged their folly. Notwithstanding this concise summary of Khadijah’s attitude, surprisingly few specifics are recorded. The exact words of her counter-mockery do not survive, and nor is it precisely described how she “helped him in his work.”<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 117.</ref> There are very few ''ahadith'' about her everyday life with Muhammad or her involvement in community affairs, although there must have been multiple witnesses to both.  
After three years and some fifty converts,<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 115-117.</ref> it was known throughout Mecca that Muhammad considered himself a prophet. However, he received little attention<ref>{{Tabari|6|p. 93}}.</ref> until the day when he gathered his relatives together for a dinner-party and invited them to forsake their idols and submit to Allah. But no mass-conversions followed;<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 117-119.</ref> the Meccans doubted, questioned and ignored him. Discouraged, Muhammad confided his troubles to Khadijah,<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 191.</ref> who was quick to console him. The citizens of Mecca accused him of outright lying, and Khadijah continued to reassure him that he was a prophet.<ref>Ibn Hanbal, ''Musnad'' volume 6 p. 117-118.</ref> Debates led to angry arguments and mockery, and Khadijah disparaged their folly. Notwithstanding this concise summary of Khadijah’s attitude, surprisingly few specifics are recorded. The exact words of her counter-mockery do not survive, and nor is it precisely described how she “helped him in his work.”<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 117.</ref> There are very few ''ahadith'' about her everyday life with Muhammad or her involvement in community affairs, although there must have been multiple witnesses to both.  


Muhammad kept preaching, and the public arguments led to fights in the streets. It was a Muslim who struck the first blow,<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 118.</ref> but when Muhammad continued his “shameless” attacks,<ref>Francis Edwards Peters, ''Muhammad and the Origins of Islam'', p. 169, SUNY Press.</ref> mocking the idols in the Ka’aba, the pagans began a systematic campaign of punishing Muslim slaves and teenagers.<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 143-145.</ref> One of the worst offenders was Khadijah’s brother Nawfal, whom the Muslims called “a satan of the Quraysh.” He once tied Abu Bakr to his kinsman Talha ibn Ubaydullah and left them helplessly roped together.<ref>Guillaume/Ibn Ishaq 127-128.</ref> His attitude raises interesting questions about Khadijah’s relationship with her brother – especially as Nawfal’s own son was an early convert to Islam.<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 147.</ref> However, while his spiteful prank no doubt caused Abu Bakr and Talha some inconvenience, if this was deemed the action of a “satan”, then the general harassment of freeborn adults was far from life-threatening. The majority of these converts fled to Abyssinia, where the Christian King extended his unqualified protection. Muhammad and Khadijah, being under the protection of Muhammad’s uncle Abu Talib, remained in Mecca.<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 146ff.</ref>
Muhammad kept preaching, and the public arguments led to fights in the streets. It was a Muslim who struck the first blow,<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 118.</ref> but when Muhammad continued his “shameless” attacks,<ref>Francis Edwards Peters, ''Muhammad and the Origins of Islam'', p. 169, SUNY Press.</ref> mocking the idols in the Ka’aba, the pagans began a systematic campaign of punishing Muslim slaves and teenagers.<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 143-145.</ref> One of the worst offenders was Khadijah’s brother Nawfal, whom the Muslims called “a satan of the Quraysh.” He once tied Abu Bakr to his kinsman Talha ibn Ubaydullah and left them helplessly roped together.<ref>Guillaume/Ibn Ishaq 127-128.</ref> His attitude raises interesting questions about Khadijah’s relationship with her brother – especially as Nawfal’s own son was an early convert to Islam.<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 147.</ref> However, while his spiteful prank no doubt caused Abu Bakr and Talha some inconvenience, the general harassment of freeborn adults was far from life-threatening. The majority of these converts fled to Abyssinia, where the Christian King extended his unqualified protection. Muhammad and Khadijah, being under the protection of Muhammad’s uncle Abu Talib, remained in Mecca.<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 146ff.</ref>


More questions about Khadijah’s family arise over Abu Bakr’s purchase and manumission of seven mistreated slaves,<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 144.</ref> among them Al-Nahdiya bint Habib and her (unnamed) daughter. The story is told of how Al-Nahdiya’s mistress swore never to free them, of how quickly she changed her mind when she heard Abu Bakr’s ransom-offer, and how they dutifully postponed accepting their freedom until they had finished grinding their ex-mistress’s flour.<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 144.</ref> But the usual retellings of this story omit one important detail: Al-Nahdiya was Khadijah’s own grand-niece. Khadijah’s sister Ruqayqa had a daughter named Umayma bint Abdullah.<ref>Bewley/Saad 8:1, 180.</ref> There was something irregular about Umayma’s married life: “she went to a foreigner” (whatever this expression means) and married a man from Ta’if. The daughter of this union was the slave Al-Nahdiya bint Habib.<ref>Bewley/Saad 8:180-181. Umayma appears not to have become a Muslim until the conquest of Mecca in 630, hence she was not persecuted.</ref> What is more, Al-Nahdiya’s owner belonged to the rival Abduldar clan.<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 144.</ref> It is not clear whether Umayma herself had been for some reason reduced to slavery or whether it was only her daughter, perhaps deemed in some way illegitimate, who was in bondage. Either way, Khadijah could have easily afforded to ransom her nieces if she had wanted to; since she did not, there must have been some social disgrace or personal grudge associated with Al-Nahdiya’s situation that made Khadijah unwilling to help her. For that matter, no other family member helped either. Since the exact chronology of these events is unknown, it is difficult to discern whether there was any connection between Nawfal’s trick with the rope and Abu Bakr’s ransom of Nawfal’s embarrassing nieces. Indeed, it is difficult to calculate overall how much of the harassment of Muslims was due to Islam and how much might be attributed to old quarrels from pre-Islamic times.
More questions about Khadijah’s family arise over Abu Bakr’s purchase and manumission of seven mistreated slaves,<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 144.</ref> among them Al-Nahdiya bint Habib and her (unnamed) daughter. The story is told of how Al-Nahdiya’s mistress swore never to free them, of how quickly she changed her mind when she heard Abu Bakr’s ransom-offer, and how they dutifully postponed accepting their freedom until they had finished grinding their ex-mistress’s flour.<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 144.</ref> But the usual retellings of this story omit one important detail: Al-Nahdiya was Khadijah’s own grand-niece. Khadijah’s sister Ruqayqa had a daughter named Umayma bint Abdullah.<ref>Bewley/Saad 8:1, 180.</ref> There was something irregular about Umayma’s married life: “she went to a foreigner” (it is not clear what this expression means) and married a man from Ta’if. The daughter of this union was the slave Al-Nahdiya bint Habib.<ref>Bewley/Saad 8:180-181. Umayma appears not to have become a Muslim until the conquest of Mecca in 630, hence she was not persecuted.</ref> What is more, Al-Nahdiya’s owner belonged to the rival Abduldar clan.<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 144.</ref> It is not clear whether Umayma herself had been for some reason reduced to slavery or whether it was only her daughter, perhaps deemed in some way illegitimate, who was in bondage. Either way, Khadijah could have easily afforded to ransom her nieces if she had wanted to; since she did not, there must have been some social disgrace or personal grudge associated with Al-Nahdiya’s situation that made Khadijah unwilling to help her. For that matter, no other family member helped either. Since the exact chronology of these events is unknown, it is difficult to discern whether there was any connection between Nawfal’s trick with the rope and Abu Bakr’s ransom of Nawfal’s embarrassing nieces. Indeed, it is difficult to calculate overall how much of the harassment of Muslims was due to Islam and how much might be attributed to old quarrels from pre-Islamic times. It is is similarly unclear how many of these stories of harassment were later inventions of Muslims seeking to galvanize their past, but so is the case with perhaps the entirety of the hadith collection.


Muhammad warned his opponents of Hellfire, graphically describing how sinners would be “thrown headlong”<ref>{{Quran|26|94}}.</ref> into “a fierce blast of fire and boiling water, shades of black smoke,”<ref>{{Quran-range|56|42|43}}.</ref> to drink “a boiling fluid, and a fluid dark, murky, intensely cold,”<ref>{{Quran-range|38|56|64}}</ref> allowing nothing to survive and nothing to escape, “darkening and changing the colour of man.”<ref>{{Quran-range|74|26|29}}. See also {{Quran|92|14}}. {{Quran-range|89|23|26}}. {{Quran|102|6}}. {{Quran-range|85|4|6}}. {{Quran|85|10}}. {{Quran-range|101|8|11}}. {{Quran-range|90|19|20}}. {{Quran|54|48}}. {{Quran-range|7|36|41}}. {{Quran|7|50}}. {{Quran|7|179}}. {{Quran|72|15}}. {{Quran|36|63}}. {{Quran-range|25|65|69}}. {{Quran-range|35|6|7}}. {{Quran-range|35|36|37}}. {{Quran|19|86}}. {{Quran|20|74}}. {{Quran-range|56|93|94}}. {{Quran-range|28|41|42}}.</ref> Khadijah had to take her share of the warning. When she asked about her children who had died in the days of ignorance, Muhammad replied, “They are in Hellfire. If you saw them, you would hate them.” When she asked about the child that she bore to him, he replied, “He is in Paradise... Verily, the believers and their children will be in Paradise, and the polytheists and their children in the Hellfire.”<ref>"''Khadijah asked Allah’s Apostle about her children who had died in the days of ignorance. Thereupon Allah’s Messenger said: “They are in Hellfire.” When he saw the sign of disgust on her face, he said: “If you were to see their station, you would hate them.” She said: “Allah’s Messenger, what about the child that I bore to you?” He said: “He is in Paradise.” Then Allah’s Messenger said: “Verily, the believers and their children will be in Paradise, and the polytheists and their children in the Hellfire.''” [http://www.oocities.org/tirmidhihadith/page1.html/ Tirmidhi 117.]</ref> Muhammad’s conclusion is interesting in the light of the fact that ''all'' the children in question had died before Islam. He did not explain why Khadijah’s subsequent conversion was retrospectively effective to save some of her children but not all of them.
Muhammad warned his opponents of Hellfire, graphically describing how sinners would be “thrown headlong”<ref>{{Quran|26|94}}.</ref> into “a fierce blast of fire and boiling water, shades of black smoke,”<ref>{{Quran-range|56|42|43}}.</ref> to drink “a boiling fluid, and a fluid dark, murky, intensely cold,”<ref>{{Quran-range|38|56|64}}</ref> allowing nothing to survive and nothing to escape, “darkening and changing the colour of man.”<ref>{{Quran-range|74|26|29}}. See also {{Quran|92|14}}. {{Quran-range|89|23|26}}. {{Quran|102|6}}. {{Quran-range|85|4|6}}. {{Quran|85|10}}. {{Quran-range|101|8|11}}. {{Quran-range|90|19|20}}. {{Quran|54|48}}. {{Quran-range|7|36|41}}. {{Quran|7|50}}. {{Quran|7|179}}. {{Quran|72|15}}. {{Quran|36|63}}. {{Quran-range|25|65|69}}. {{Quran-range|35|6|7}}. {{Quran-range|35|36|37}}. {{Quran|19|86}}. {{Quran|20|74}}. {{Quran-range|56|93|94}}. {{Quran-range|28|41|42}}.</ref> Khadijah had to take her share of the warning. When she asked about her children who had died in the days of ignorance, Muhammad replied, “They are in Hellfire. If you saw them, you would hate them.” When she asked about the child that she bore to him, he replied, “He is in Paradise... Verily, the believers and their children will be in Paradise, and the polytheists and their children in the Hellfire.”<ref>"''Khadijah asked Allah’s Apostle about her children who had died in the days of ignorance. Thereupon Allah’s Messenger said: “They are in Hellfire.” When he saw the sign of disgust on her face, he said: “If you were to see their station, you would hate them.” She said: “Allah’s Messenger, what about the child that I bore to you?” He said: “He is in Paradise.” Then Allah’s Messenger said: “Verily, the believers and their children will be in Paradise, and the polytheists and their children in the Hellfire.''” [http://www.oocities.org/tirmidhihadith/page1.html/ Tirmidhi 117.]</ref> Muhammad’s conclusion is interesting in the light of the fact that ''all'' the children in question had died before Islam. He did not explain why Khadijah’s subsequent conversion was retrospectively effective to save some of her children but not all of them.


After the conversions of two famously violent citizens, Hamza ibn Abdulmuttalib<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 131-132.</ref> and Umar ibn Al-Khattab,<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 155-159.</ref> the ruling clans of Mecca declared a boycott. This boycott was against Muhammad’s entire clan, including its non-Muslims. Thenceforth no Meccan might trade, socialise or intermarry with the Hashimites.<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 159-160.</ref> The clan inferred that they had been condemned to outlaw status and would not be protected against theft or violence. Fearing worse hostility to follow, in September 616 Abu Talib evacuated the Hashimites from Mecca proper. They camped out in a mountain gorge “formed by one of the defiles, or indentations of the mountain, where the projecting rocks of [Mount] Abu Cobeis pressed upon the eastern outskirts of Mecca. It was entered on the city side by a low gateway, through which a camel passed with difficulty. On all other sides it was detached from the town by cliffs and buildings.”<ref>[http://www.answering-islam.org/Books/Muir/Life2/chap5.htm/ Muir (1861) vol. 2 pp. 176-178.]</ref> Such a narrow entrance could be constantly guarded, leaving the Hashimites safe but effectively trapped.
After the conversions of two famously violent citizens, Hamza ibn Abdulmuttalib<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 131-132.</ref> and Umar ibn Al-Khattab,<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 155-159.</ref> the ruling clans of Mecca declared a boycott. This boycott was against Muhammad’s entire clan, including its non-Muslims. Thenceforth no Meccan might trade, socialize or intermarry with the Hashimites.<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 159-160.</ref> The clan inferred that they had been condemned to outlaw status and would not be protected against theft or violence. Fearing worse hostility to follow, in September 616 Abu Talib evacuated the Hashimites from Mecca proper. They camped out in a mountain gorge “formed by one of the defiles, or indentations of the mountain, where the projecting rocks of [Mount] Abu Cobeis pressed upon the eastern outskirts of Mecca. It was entered on the city side by a low gateway, through which a camel passed with difficulty. On all other sides it was detached from the town by cliffs and buildings.”<ref>[http://www.answering-islam.org/Books/Muir/Life2/chap5.htm/ Muir (1861) vol. 2 pp. 176-178.]</ref> Such a narrow entrance could be constantly guarded, leaving the Hashimites safe but effectively trapped.


“The Quraysh blocked food-grain and other necessaries.”<ref>[http://www.soebratie.nl/religie/hadith/IbnSad.html#Book 53.1/ Ibn Saad, ''Tabaqat'' 1:53:1].</ref> For supplies the Hashimites had to depend on smuggler-friends who were willing and able to bypass the Meccans.<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 160.</ref> For example, Hisham ibn Amr “used to bring a camel laden with food by night, and then when he had got it to the mouth of the alley, he took off its halter, gave it a whack on the side, and sent it into the alley to them. He would do the same thing another time, bringing clothes for them.”<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 118.</ref> As the Hashimites had no way of earning money to pay for this food, they had to expend their savings. Over the next three years, Khadijah exhausted all her wealth to support the community.<ref>Ibn Hanbal, ''Musnad'' vol. 6 pp. 117-118.</ref> The severity of the blockade continued to grow more intense and the Hashimites remained in the mountain pass for three years.<ref>[http://www.soebratie.nl/religie/hadith/IbnSad.html#Book 53.1/ Ibn Saad, ''Tabaqat'' 1:53:1].</ref>
“The Quraysh blocked food-grain and other necessaries.”<ref>[http://www.soebratie.nl/religie/hadith/IbnSad.html#Book 53.1/ Ibn Saad, ''Tabaqat'' 1:53:1].</ref> For supplies the Hashimites had to depend on smuggler-friends who were willing and able to bypass the Meccans.<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 160.</ref> For example, Hisham ibn Amr “used to bring a camel laden with food by night, and then when he had got it to the mouth of the alley, he took off its halter, gave it a whack on the side, and sent it into the alley to them. He would do the same thing another time, bringing clothes for them.”<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 118.</ref> As the Hashimites had no way of earning money to pay for this food, they had to expend their savings. Over the next three years, Khadijah exhausted all her wealth to support the community.<ref>Ibn Hanbal, ''Musnad'' vol. 6 pp. 117-118.</ref> The severity of the blockade continued to grow more intense and the Hashimites remained in the mountain pass for three years.<ref>[http://www.soebratie.nl/religie/hadith/IbnSad.html#Book 53.1/ Ibn Saad, ''Tabaqat'' 1:53:1].</ref>


==Co-Wives==
==Co-wives==


Muslims often speak with pride of how Muhammad was faithful to Khadijah. They comment on how it was the "prime time of his youth and constitutes two-thirds of his marriage life,"<ref>"''His first marriage was with Khadija. He lived with her alone for twenty-five years. It was the prime time of his youth and constitutes two-thirds of his marriage [''sic''] life.''" - Al-Jibouri, Y. T. (1994). “[http://www.al-islam.org/muhammad-yasin-jibouri/8.htm/ Marriages of the Prophet]” in ''Muhammad: The Prophet and Messenger of Allah. Qum, Iran: Ansariyan Publications.</ref> and that it "should be noted by those who criticise him for his polygamy in later years."<ref>"''The Prophet did not marry another woman during his first marriage with Khadija, is a fact that should be noted by those who criticise him for his polygamy in later years.''" - [http://www.bzu.edu.pk/PJIR/eng%201%20Hafiz%20M.pdf/ Saleem (2012)]</ref>
Muhammad's fidelity to Khadijah is often referenced as a positive aspect of the Islamic tradition. It is described as the "prime time of his youth and constitutes two-thirds of his marriage life,"<ref>"''His first marriage was with Khadija. He lived with her alone for twenty-five years. It was the prime time of his youth and constitutes two-thirds of his marriage [''sic''] life.''" - Al-Jibouri, Y. T. (1994). “[http://www.al-islam.org/muhammad-yasin-jibouri/8.htm/ Marriages of the Prophet]” in ''Muhammad: The Prophet and Messenger of Allah. Qum, Iran: Ansariyan Publications.''</ref> and it is stated that it "should be noted by those who criticize him for his polygamy in later years."<ref>"''The Prophet did not marry another woman during his first marriage with Khadija, is a fact that should be noted by those who criticise him for his polygamy in later years.''" - [http://www.bzu.edu.pk/PJIR/eng%201%20Hafiz%20M.pdf/ Saleem (2012)]</ref>


In one sense this is true. For example, when the Quraysh chiefs wanted to end the boycott, they offered Muhammad “as many wives as he wanted in marriage,” together with wealth, political power and a competent exorcist, if only he would stop reviling their gods. Muhammad scorned this bribe.<ref>{{Tabari|6|pp. 106-107}}. See also Guillaume/Ishaq 132-133.</ref> In this case, however, his loyalty to Khadijah can scarcely be disentangled from his loyalty to his own prophetic office. He responded to Khadijah’s support with a nepotistic revelation that the Virgin Mary had been the best woman of her generation while Khadijah was the best woman of the present generation.<ref>[http://www.searchtruth.com/book_display.php?book=55&translator=1&start=91&number=633/ Bukhari|4|55|642]. {{Bukhari|5|58|163}}. {{Muslim|31|5965}}.</ref> He claimed that although there were many perfect men, there had only ever been only three perfect women: Asiya “wife of Pharaoh,” who had rescued the infant Moses; Mary the virgin mother of the Prophet Jesus; and Khadijah. He later allowed that their daughter Fatima was also one of the four “best among the women of Paradise.”<ref>[http://www.qtafsir.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1298&Itemid=122/ Ibn Kathir, ''Tafsir''] on {{Quran|66|11}}. See also {{Muslim|31|5966}}. He never called any of his other wives or daughters “perfect”, not even his fourth divine spouse, Kulthum the sister of Moses.</ref> How his three elder daughters reacted to such open favouritism is not recorded. When Khadijah once brought Muhammad a bowl of soup, she was granted a personal message from Jibreel (of which Aisha was later intensely jealous): “Give her Allah’s greeting and the good news that in Paradise she will have a palace built of a hollow pearl, where there will be no noise or fatigue.”<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 111. Ibn Hisham note 148. {{Bukhari|3|27|19}}. {{Bukhari|5|58|167}}. {{Bukhari|5|58|168}}. {{Bukhari|9|93|588}}. {{Muslim|31|5967}}. {{Muslim|31|5968}}. {{Muslim|31|5970}}.</ref>
In one sense this is true. For example, when the Quraysh chiefs wanted to end the boycott, they offered Muhammad “as many wives as he wanted in marriage,” together with wealth, political power and a competent exorcist, if only he would stop reviling their gods. Muhammad scorned this bribe.<ref>{{Tabari|6|pp. 106-107}}. See also Guillaume/Ishaq 132-133.</ref> In this case, however, it is difficult to disentangle his loyalty to Khadijah from his loyalty to his own prophetic office. He responded to Khadijah’s support with a (perhaps nepotistic) revelation that the Virgin Mary had been the best woman of her generation while Khadijah was the best woman of the present generation.<ref>[http://www.searchtruth.com/book_display.php?book=55&translator=1&start=91&number=633/ Bukhari|4|55|642]. {{Bukhari|5|58|163}}. {{Muslim|31|5965}}.</ref> He claimed that although there were many perfect men, there had only ever been only three perfect women: Asiya “wife of Pharaoh,” who had rescued the infant Moses; Mary the virgin mother of the Prophet Jesus; and Khadijah. He later allowed that their daughter Fatima was also one of the four “best among the women of Paradise.”<ref>[http://www.qtafsir.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1298&Itemid=122/ Ibn Kathir, ''Tafsir''] on {{Quran|66|11}}. See also {{Muslim|31|5966}}. He never called any of his other wives or daughters “perfect”, not even his fourth divine spouse, Kulthum the sister of Moses.</ref> How his three elder daughters reacted to such open favoritism is not recorded. When Khadijah once brought Muhammad a bowl of soup, she was granted a personal message from Jibreel (of which Aisha was later intensely jealous): “Give her Allah’s greeting and the good news that in Paradise she will have a palace built of a hollow pearl, where there will be no noise or fatigue.”<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 111. Ibn Hisham note 148. {{Bukhari|3|27|19}}. {{Bukhari|5|58|167}}. {{Bukhari|5|58|168}}. {{Bukhari|9|93|588}}. {{Muslim|31|5967}}. {{Muslim|31|5968}}. {{Muslim|31|5970}}.</ref>


Yet despite this outward loyalty to Khadijah, it was exactly at this period when Muhammad frankly admitted that he was thinking about other women. It was only after 614 that he introduced to his descriptions of Paradise the “modest ''houris''” (virgins) with “lustrous eyes” and “swelling breasts” who reclined “like pearls or rubies” on “green cushions”.<ref>{{Quran|38|52}}. {{Quran-range|56|22|23}}. {{Quran-range|37|48|49}}. {{Quran|44|54}}. {{Quran|52|20}}. {{Quran|78|33}}.</ref> According to Muir, all of the Qur’anic descriptions of ''houris'' date to the last few years of Khadijah’s life; after Muhammad moved to Medina, remarried to a younger woman, there were only two brief and tame references<ref>{{Quran|2|25}}. {{Quran|4|57}}.</ref> to “companions pure”.<ref>[http://www.answering-islam.org/Books/Muir/Life2/chap4.htm/ Muir (1861) 2:141-144]. See also [http://www.muhammadanism.org/Canon_Sell/Quran/p024.htm/ Sell, E. (1923). ''The Historical Development of the Qur'an'', 4th Ed, pp. 25-26. London: People International.]</ref> Muir might have miscalculated, as the most detailed reference to the divine virgins<ref>{{Quran-range|55|56|58}} {{Quran-range|55|70|76}}.</ref> is sometimes dated to the Medina period,<ref>[http://www.wikiislam.net/wiki/Chronological_Order_of_the_Qur'an]</ref> although the German historian Nöldeke assigned even this one to Khadijah’s lifetime.<ref>[http://www.truthnet.org/islam/Watt/Chapter7.html/ Bell, R. (1953). Introduction to the Qur’an. Revised by Montgomery Watt (1970). Chapter 7: “The Chronology of the Qur’an.” Edinburgh University Press.]</ref> Regardless of the exact date when Muhammad eventually shifted his focus, it is certain that the ageing Khadijah knew about the ''houris''.
Yet despite this loyalty to Khadijah, it was exactly in this period of his life when Muhammad pronounced verses that strongly suggested that he was thinking about other women. After 614 he introduced to his descriptions of Paradise the “modest ''houris''” (virgins) with “lustrous eyes” and “swelling breasts” who reclined “like pearls or rubies” on “green cushions”.<ref>{{Quran|38|52}}. {{Quran-range|56|22|23}}. {{Quran-range|37|48|49}}. {{Quran|44|54}}. {{Quran|52|20}}. {{Quran|78|33}}.</ref> According to Muir, all of the Qur’anic descriptions of ''houris'' date to the last few years of Khadijah’s life; after Muhammad moved to Medina, remarried to a younger woman, there were only two brief and tame references<ref>{{Quran|2|25}}. {{Quran|4|57}}.</ref> to “companions pure”.<ref>[http://www.answering-islam.org/Books/Muir/Life2/chap4.htm/ Muir (1861) 2:141-144]. See also [http://www.muhammadanism.org/Canon_Sell/Quran/p024.htm/ Sell, E. (1923). ''The Historical Development of the Qur'an'', 4th Ed, pp. 25-26. London: People International.]</ref> Muir might have miscalculated, as the most detailed reference to the divine virgins<ref>{{Quran-range|55|56|58}} {{Quran-range|55|70|76}}.</ref> is sometimes dated to the Medina period,<ref>[http://www.wikiislam.net/wiki/Chronological_Order_of_the_Qur'an]</ref> although the German historian Nöldeke assigned even this one to Khadijah’s lifetime.<ref>[http://www.truthnet.org/islam/Watt/Chapter7.html/ Bell, R. (1953). Introduction to the Qur’an. Revised by Montgomery Watt (1970). Chapter 7: “The Chronology of the Qur’an.” Edinburgh University Press.]</ref> Regardless of the exact date when Muhammad eventually shifted his focus, it is certain that the ageing Khadijah knew about the ''houris''.


The boycott against the Hashim clan was lifted “in the tenth year” (between August 619 and August 620), and Muhammad’s clan returned to their houses in Mecca.<ref>[http://www.soebratie.nl/religie/hadith/IbnSad.html#Book 53.3/ Ibn Saad, ''Tabaqat'' 1:53:3].</ref> By this time, Khadijah was dying.<ref>Bewley/Saad 8:12.</ref> Muhammad comforted her in her final illness with the reminder that she was going to her jewelled palace in Paradise – so she must convey his best wishes to her co-wives. When Khadijah expressed surprise at the news that Muhammad already had deceased wives, he explained that Allah had wedded him in Paradise to Queen Asiya, to “Kulthum the sister of Moses” and to the Virgin Mary. The theme of having four wives appears to have been on his mind even in his last moments with Khadijah. She responded with the conventional congratulation to a newlywed: “May the union be blessed.”<ref>[http://www.al-islam.org/hayat-al-qulub-vol2-allamah-muhammad-baqir-al-majlisi/ Majlisi, ''Hayat al-Qulub'' 2:26.] Muhammad’s invention of the character “Kulthum” appears to be the aftermath of his embarrassing discovery that the sister of Moses was not identical with the Virgin Mary. (See {{Quran-range|19|27|28}}; {{Muslim|25|5326}}.) He must have over-corrected his error by deducing that Moses’ sister was not even named Maryam.</ref>
The boycott against the Hashim clan was lifted “in the tenth year” (between August 619 and August 620), and Muhammad’s clan returned to their houses in Mecca.<ref>[http://www.soebratie.nl/religie/hadith/IbnSad.html#Book 53.3/ Ibn Saad, ''Tabaqat'' 1:53:3].</ref> By this time, Khadijah was starting to pass away.<ref>Bewley/Saad 8:12.</ref> Muhammad comforted her in her final illness with the reminder that she was going to her jeweled palace in Paradise – so she must convey his best wishes to her co-wives. When Khadijah expressed surprise at the news that Muhammad already had deceased wives, he explained that Allah had wedded him in Paradise to Queen Asiya, to “Kulthum the sister of Moses” and to the Virgin Mary. The theme of having four wives appears to have been on his mind even in his last moments with Khadijah. She responded with the conventional congratulation to a newlywed: “May the union be blessed.”<ref>[http://www.al-islam.org/hayat-al-qulub-vol2-allamah-muhammad-baqir-al-majlisi/ Majlisi, ''Hayat al-Qulub'' 2:26.] Muhammad’s invention of the character “Kulthum” appears to be the aftermath of his embarrassing discovery that the sister of Moses was not identical with the Virgin Mary. (See {{Quran-range|19|27|28}}; {{Muslim|25|5326}}.) He must have over-corrected his error by deducing that Moses’ sister was not even named Maryam.</ref>


==Death==
==Death==
Line 141: Line 137:
“The Messenger of Allah was so grieved about Khadijah that people feared for him.”<ref>Bewley/Saad 8:44.</ref> For the rest of his life, he spoke warmly and often of her<ref>{{Bukhari|5|58|164}}. {{Bukhari|5|58|165}}. {{Bukhari|5|58|166}}. {{Bukhari|7|62|156}}. {{Bukhari|8|73|33}}. {{Muslim|31|5971}}. {{Muslim|31|5974}}.</ref> and sometimes seemed overwhelmed by sorrow at her absence.<ref>{{Bukhari|5|58|168}}</ref> He used to say: “Khadijah believed in me when they doubted me; she financed me when they tried to starve me out; and she is the mother of my children. Allah himself nurtured love for her in my heart.”<ref>Ibn Hanbal, ''Musnad'' vol. 6 pp. 117-118. {{Muslim|31|5972}}.</ref>
“The Messenger of Allah was so grieved about Khadijah that people feared for him.”<ref>Bewley/Saad 8:44.</ref> For the rest of his life, he spoke warmly and often of her<ref>{{Bukhari|5|58|164}}. {{Bukhari|5|58|165}}. {{Bukhari|5|58|166}}. {{Bukhari|7|62|156}}. {{Bukhari|8|73|33}}. {{Muslim|31|5971}}. {{Muslim|31|5974}}.</ref> and sometimes seemed overwhelmed by sorrow at her absence.<ref>{{Bukhari|5|58|168}}</ref> He used to say: “Khadijah believed in me when they doubted me; she financed me when they tried to starve me out; and she is the mother of my children. Allah himself nurtured love for her in my heart.”<ref>Ibn Hanbal, ''Musnad'' vol. 6 pp. 117-118. {{Muslim|31|5972}}.</ref>


Islam changed direction after Khadijah’s death. Within seven weeks Muhammad had become a bigamist.<ref>{{Tabari|39|pp. 170, 171}}. Bewley/Saad 8:39, 43, 152.</ref> At the same time he began negotiations for military alliances with foreign tribes,<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 192-195, 197-199.</ref> although it was to be another two years before he succeeded in declaring war on Mecca.<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 201-213, 324.</ref> Even the sections of the Qur’an that were composed at the end of Muhammad’s Meccan period, though narrative rather than legislative, read more like the flat prose of Medina than the poetry of Khadijah’s lifetime.<ref>[http://www.muhammadanism.org/Canon_Sell/Quran/p074.htm/ Sell (1923), p. 74.] [http://www.truthnet.org/islam/Watt/Chapter7.html/ “The Chronology of the Qur’an.” In Bell, R. (1970). ''Introduction to the Quran.'' Revised by Montgomery Watt. Edinburgh University Press.]</ref> It is frequently said that “Islam arose by Ali’s sword and Khadijah’s wealth.”<ref>E.g., [http://www.al-islam.org/masoom/bios/khadija.htm/ Al-Jibouri, Y. T. (1994). Khadija Daughter of Khuwaylid Wife of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh)].</ref> It is clear that what Khadijah contributed to the foundations of Islam was far more than money.  
Islam changed direction after Khadijah’s death. Within seven weeks Muhammad became a bigamist.<ref>{{Tabari|39|pp. 170, 171}}. Bewley/Saad 8:39, 43, 152.</ref> At the same time he began negotiations for military alliances with foreign tribes,<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 192-195, 197-199.</ref> although it was to be another two years before he succeeded in declaring war on Mecca.<ref>Guillaume/Ishaq 201-213, 324.</ref> Even the sections of the Qur’an that were composed at the end of Muhammad’s Meccan period, though narrative rather than legislative, read more like the flat prose of Medina than the poetry of Khadijah’s lifetime.<ref>[http://www.muhammadanism.org/Canon_Sell/Quran/p074.htm/ Sell (1923), p. 74.] [http://www.truthnet.org/islam/Watt/Chapter7.html/ “The Chronology of the Qur’an.” In Bell, R. (1970). ''Introduction to the Quran.'' Revised by Montgomery Watt. Edinburgh University Press.]</ref> It is frequently said that “Islam arose by Ali’s sword and Khadijah’s wealth.”<ref>E.g., [http://www.al-islam.org/masoom/bios/khadija.htm/ Al-Jibouri, Y. T. (1994). Khadija Daughter of Khuwaylid Wife of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh)].</ref> It is clear that what Khadijah contributed to the foundations of Islam was far more than money.  


{{Core Women}}
==In scripture==


===In the hadith===
{{Quote|{{Al Tirmidhi||6|46|3877}}|Narrated 'Ali bin Abi Talib: that the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: "'''The best of its women is Khadijah bint Khuwailid''', and the best of its women is Mariam bint 'Imran."<br>Grade: Sahih (Darussalam)}}
==See Also==
==See Also==


*[[Muhammad's Wives]]'' - A hub page that leads to other articles related to Muhammad's wives and concubines''
*[[Muhammad's Marriages|Muhammad's Wives]]''
 
*[[Ages of Muhammads Wives at Marriage|Ages of Muhammad's Wives at Marriage]]
==External Links==


*[{{Reference archive|1=http://www.faithfreedom.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=47335|2=2012-08-22}} How do you explain Khadija?]
{{Translation-links-english|[[Хадиджа_бинт_Хувайлид|Bulgarian]], [[Khadijah_bint_Khuwaylid_-_Italiano|Italian]]}}


==References==
==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}
{{Reflist|30em}}


[[Category:Muhammad]] [[Category:Islam and Women]][[Category:Muslims]]
[[Category:Muhammad]]  
[[Category:Women]]
[[Category:Muhammad's wives and concubines]]
[[Category:Sahabah (companions)]]
[[bg:Хадиджа бинт Хувайлид]]
[[Category:Sirah]]
[[Category:Muhammad's contemporaries]]
[[Category:Ahl al-Bayt (People of the House)]]

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Khadījah bint Khuwaylid
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Khadijah’s “medal” in Promptuarii iconum insigniorum (1553). Lyon: Rouillé. This illustration made no pretense of being an accurate portrait but it has become a widely accepted symbolic representation of Khadijah.
Born 555
Mecca, Hijaz, Arabia (present-day Saudi Arabia)
Died c. 619 (aged 63-64)
Other names Khadījah al-Kubra
Khadījah al-Tahira
Occupation Merchant
Title Umm al-Mu'mineen ("Mother of the Believers")
Spouse Muhammad ibn Abdullah
Children Qasim
Abdullah
Zainab
Fatimah
Ruqayyah
Umm Kulthum
Parents Khuwaylid ibn Asad
Fatimah bint Za'idah

Khadijah or Khadīja bint Khuwaylid (Arabic: خديجة بنت خويلد‎) (555 - c.619) was Prophet Muhammad’s first wife and she was his only wife as long as she lived.[1] She is known to Muslims as al-Kubra (“the Great”)[2] and al-Tahira (“the Pure”).[3] Twelve of Muhammad’s wives are credited with the title Umm al-Muminun (“Mother of the Faithful”),[4] but Khadijah occupies a unique position as the Mother of Islam herself. Khadijah was the mother to all of Muhammad's children, including Fatimah, save one.

Khadijah is said to have come from a trading family and, before marrying Muhammad, had been a successful business woman and was said to be the richest woman in all of Mecca, and, on some accounts. it was as a result being her employee that Muhammad came to know Khadijah and ultimately marry her. It is also believed that she had two husbands, with whom she had multiple children, prior to Muhammad. Little else is known about her life prior to this final marriage.

Background

Khadijah was born in Mecca, a member of the dominant Quraysh tribe. Her grandfather Asad, chief of her clan, was a grandson of Qusayy ibn Kilab, Keeper of the Ka’aba and ruler of Mecca.[5] This Qusayy had also been a great-great-great-grandfather of Muhammad.[6] Her mother, Fatima bint Za’ida, was from another Quraysh clan, the Amir ibn Luayy.[7] The name Khadijah means “premature”,[8] suggesting the circumstances of her birth.

The traditions about Khadijah’s early life are scarce and often contradictory. It is generally accepted that she was born “fifteen years before the Elephant” and that she was 65 (lunar) years old when she died,[9] indicating a birth date between July 556 and July 557. However, the source of this tradition is Khadijah’s nephew, Hakim ibn Hizam,[10] who was one of the many early Muslims who claimed his own age to be 120.[11] By contrast, Abdullah ibn Abbas, the cousin who lived at Muhammad’s side through the final years in Medina,[12] stated that “on the day Khadijah married Allah’s Messenger, she was 28 years old.”[13] If this is correct, she was born between March 568 and March 569. Variant traditions claim other years.[14] Whatever her precise date of birth, she was still of childbearing age as late as 605.

Khadijah’s personality is described as “determined and intelligent”.[15] Although it is not explicitly stated that her father was a merchant, “the Quraysh were a people given to commerce,”[16] so it is possible that Khadijah spent her childhood sitting in the bazaars learning to negotiate trade deals. Her known siblings were two brothers, Hizam[17] and Al-Awwam,[18] two sisters, Ruqayqa[19] and Hala,[20] and a paternal half-brother, Nawfal.[21] At one stage, there was talk of marrying Khadijah off to her cousin, Waraqa ibn Nawfal, but this never happened.[22]

Husbands

Khadijah’s first husband was Atiq ibn A’idh (or Abid), a junior member of the Makhzum clan.[23] The Makhzumites had grown wealthy on trade, and their generosity had won them the loyalty of their neighbours. They were now serious contenders for the leadership of the city.[24] This match was therefore a step up the social scale for Khadijah, though perhaps a small step if her family also had money. Atiq and Khadijah had two children, suggesting – since Khadijah produced her children within two-year intervals[25] – that the marriage lasted between two and four years. From their daughter, Hind, Khadijah derived her kunya Umm Hind.[26] Their son, Abdullah,[27] died in infancy.[28] Most sources state that Atiq died,[29] although there is a variant tradition that the marriage ended in divorce.[30]

Khadijah then married a Bedouin nobleman, Malik ibn An-Nabbash, who was from the Tamim tribe. In the way of nomads who aspired to an urban lifestyle, Malik and his two brothers had immigrated to Mecca and formed an alliance with the Abduldar clan of the Quraysh.[31] Given their highborn origins, the Tamim brothers would have interacted with their new allies as equals rather than as vassals. To complete their Meccan citizenship, they sought Quraysh wives, to whom they could offer rank, connections and probably also money. It is interesting that Malik chose Khadijah, for the Asad clan was the traditional rival of Abduldar.[32] Their marriage produced three children, suggesting that it lasted between four and six years. From their first son, Hala, Malik took his kunya Abu Hala.[33] Their second son was also named Hind.[34] Their daughter, Zaynab,[35] probably died young, as nothing else is said about her, and Khadijah later mentioned that she had borne each of her first two husbands a child who had died in infancy.[36]

Contrary to this narrative, some sources state that Khadijah married Abu Hala first and Atiq second.[37] However, a kunya was usually taken from a firstborn child, indicating that Umm Hind and Abu Hala did not share the same firstborn.

It is not known when or how Abu Hala died, but the Sacrilegious War against the Qays-Aylan tribe dominated the years 591–594.[38] Khadijah’s brother Hizam was killed in the second round of the conflict,[39] and their father Khuwaylid, who must have been some sixty years old, was a commander on the field.[40] After Abu Hala’s death, several prominent citizens proposed marriage to the widowed Khadijah, some of them investing great sums of money into their courtship, but her father vetoed every match.[41]

Business

Khadijah was the richest woman in Mecca. This explains why she attracted so many suitors. By the time Abu Hala died, she had become “a merchant woman of dignity and wealth. She used to hire men to carry merchandise outside the country.”[42] While the claims that “half the trade in Mecca” belonged to Khadijah[43] are almost certainly exaggerated, she may well have been the wealthiest single trader. The traditions do not state in what commodity she dealt, but among the exports of Mecca are mentioned leather, wool, perfume, silver, cheese and dried raisins.[44] Nor is it known how she originally acquired her business. Perhaps her father helped to set her up, but this has opened the question of why Khadijah became more prosperous than any of her siblings. If she had a backer not available to them, it was probably one or both of her husbands. Or perhaps the business flourished because of Khadijah’s personal talents and efforts.

Khadijah’s independence and success prior to her marriage to Muhammad is often cited as an example of the great opportunities that Islam grants to women. She is described as representing in this capacity the "vibrant, liberating spirit of early Islam"[45] and evidence that modern-day justifications for "denying girls an equal chance at success lies in archaic interpretations of religion".[46] It is worth noting, however, Khadijah’s career was established before Islam existed. With this in mind, it is more appropriate to say her pre-marital success is representative of the opportunities that pre-Islamic Arabs (sometimes) granted to women, who not only mingled freely with men in the market-place but were also respected for doing so. Most merchants were men, but among the non-Muslim women of the time were Hind bint Utba[47] and the perfumer Asma bint Mukharriba.[48][49] After Khadijah died, Muslim women and particularly Muhammad's wives were ordered to stay at home and wear veils,[50] and it became difficult if not impossible for an adherent Muslim woman (let alone a wife of the prophet) to conduct any such enterprise.

In the spring of 595, Khadijah required a new agent to accompany her camels to Syria. Her brother’s wife’s brother, Abu Talib ibn Abdulmuttalib,[51] recommended the services of his ward, a nephew whom he could no longer afford to keep. Khadijah agreed to hire him for a higher commission than she usually paid.[52] His name was Muhammad.[53]

Two months later Muhammad returned to Mecca with merchandise worth nearly double what Khadijah had expected.[54] Goods commonly imported from Syria included grain, oil, wine, weapons, cotton and linen.[55] As Khadijah worked on a profit-share basis,[56] she doubled Muhammad’s commission.[57] It is said that Khadijah later dispatched him on a second trip, this time to Tihama[58] in Yemen to import frankincense, myrrh and fine textiles.[59] It is not clear whether Khadijah took the unusual step of sending her agent southwards in the heat of summer[60] in order to import a near-monopoly; or whether this second venture occurred during a subsequent winter, after Muhammad and Khadijah were already married, in which case the detail that she “employed” him would be an error; or whether the whole timeline has been confused, and these events occurred over a longer timespan than is usually assumed. What is certain according to the sources is that by the summer of 595, Khadijah had decided to marry her agent.[61]

Marriage to Muhammad

Khadijah sent as her intermediary Nafisa bint Umayya, a freedwoman from Abu Hala’s tribe.[62] Nafisa approached Muhammad at the bazaar and asked why he had never married. He replied that he could not afford to support a family. “But if money were no obstacle,” Nafisa persisted, “would you be willing to marry a lady of wealth, rank and beauty?” Muhammad asked which lady of that description would be willing to take him, and Nafisa named Khadijah. Muhammad instantly expressed his willingness.[63] When Khadijah next sent for Muhammad, it was to make a formal proposal. She spoke of how his noble ancestry, good reputation and personal honesty rendered him eligible, and offered herself as his wife.[64]

When Muhammad told Nafisa that he had always wanted to marry but could not afford it, he was speaking from personal experience. He had hoped to marry his cousin Fakhita, but Abu Talib had prevented it by giving her to a wealthy man and telling Muhammad that the family needed to marry money.[65] So Muhammad was looking for a wife and was in a frame of mind to consider any reasonable offer. Khadijah’s offer, of course, was enticing. Given her riches and status, Khadijah's patronage was the most extraordinary luck for Muhammad.

Muslim commentators have stressed how Khadijah was a “much older” woman and therefore Muhammad must have been noble and high-minded to marry her for her character rather than her physical charms.[66] In the absence of explicit evidence for the manner of Muhammad's attraction to Khadjiah, it is difficult to prove high-minded intentions, particularly when one considers Khadijah's great wealth and status. While she was to prove both loyal and sympathetic,[67] it is not clear that Muhammad had had the opportunity to assess these character-qualities in advance, having known her only very briefly and often through proxies. What is certain, on the other hand, is that he had had the opportunity to assess her wealth.

There is also no reason to assume that Khadijah was physically unattractive. If the report of Abdullah ibn Abbas is correct, she was a mere three years older than Muhammad, which does away with any presumed an age-difference. While a modern hagiography that describes her as “beautiful, tall and light-skinned”[68] does not cite early sources, early sources do say that the servant Nafisa described Khadjiah as “beautiful”.[69] Even if Nafisa was exaggerating (the word used for “beautiful” in this context usually means “normal-looking” as opposed to deformed or ugly), it is doubtful that this could have had deceptive intent, given that Muhammad had already seen Khadijah for himself.

Controversial wedding

Khadijah asked for a dower of 20 camels.[70] Twenty camels would have been worth about £8,000,[71] which was four times the dower that Muhammad gave to any of his subsequent wives.[72] This is said to suggest that Khadijah was “worth four women” to him, i.e. that it was part of their marriage contract that he would not take another wife in her lifetime. An un-wealthy man like Muhammad would have had some trouble amassing such a hefty gift, even if he returned all the beasts that Khadijah had given him (she had paid his commissions in camels).[73] His good fortune in attracting the wealthiest woman in Mecca likely delighted the investment-seeking Abu Talib, and it can plausibly be assumed that the family combined resources to raise the dower.

Marriage required the consent of the bride’s guardian, and Khadijah’s father Khuwaylid had refused her previous suitors. Given his poverty relative to Khadijah's previous suitors, it was clear that Muhammad would not be acceptable to her father. It is recorded that she therefore plotted to secure his permission through trickery. She plied her father with wine until he was drunk. Then she slaughtered a cow, covered his shoulders with a new striped robe and sprinkled him with perfume, whereupon Muhammad and his uncles entered the house. Khadijah extracted the legally binding words from her father while he was too inebriated to know what he was saying. As the day wore on and the wedding party was in full swing, Khuwaylid recovered his sobriety enough to ask, “What is this meat, this robe and this perfume?” Khadijah replied, “You have given me in marriage to Muhammad ibn Abdullah.” Khuwaylid was as furious as his daughter had expected, protesting that he had never consented to any such thing and even unsheathing his sword. Muhammad’s kin also brandished weapons, and bloodshed was avoided. Muhammad was now Khadijah’s husband.[74]

Although the Muslim historian Waqidi rejected this story (even while reporting it), the British historian Muir points out that nobody had any reason to fabricate it. The tradition is from two independent sources, both of whom were biased in Muhammad’s favor and neither of whom had any reason to disparage Khadijah’s father or his clan. Two further independent sources, without mentioning the drunken party, state that it was Khuwaylid who married Khadijah to Muhammad. Although Waqidi claims that it was Khadijah’s uncle who gave her away because her father had died before the Sacrilegious War (591-594), his pupil Ibn Saad names Khuwaylid as a commander in that war. Muir therefore concludes that the tradition of Khuwaylid’s death “has been invented, to throw discredit on the story of his drunkenness.”[75]

This story highlights the Arab practice of marriage as a contract between bridegroom and father-in-law in which they transferred the guardianship of a woman. It was somewhat similar to buying a camel: the purchase required the consent of the vendor. Muhammad largely preserved this practice of marriage. To the end of his life, he was particular about meeting the legal requirement to contract with a guardian;[76] and explicitly endorsed the transactional nature of the mahr as being a sort of payment for unlimited sexual access to a woman, even against her will, so long as she consented once in the form of agreeing to marry.

The story also foreshadows some types of consent Muhammad would go on to consider as legally binding. At various points in his life, he was to extract consent at sword-point,[77] under duress,[78] from an immature or unsound mind,[79] by withholding essential information,[80] by offering a choice between two bad alternatives,[81] by exploiting spiritual beliefs,[82] through bribery[83] or by making promises that he intended to break.[84] In light of this component to Muhammad's legacy, it is perhaps somewhat unclear why Waqidi felt the need to scrub the story of Khadijah's trickery from the record.

Marriage to Muhammad

Muhammad and Khadijah were married for 25 years. Modern biographies of Khadijah sometimes state that her duties during the first fifteen years of her marriage were "purely those of a housewife and a mother,"[85] or that she "decided to retire and enjoy a comfortable life with her husband who, on his part, preferred an ascetic life to that of money making."[86]

These interpretations, however, do not accord with the early records that Muhammad went into partnership with a Makhzumite, Qays ibn Saayib, and sold merchandise in his shop.[87] Since Muhammad was not producing anything by means of a craft, he could only have sold items in Mecca if he had imported them from elsewhere; and if he could pay for imports, he must have been exporting at a profit. In other words, Khadijah’s business continued after their marriage exactly as it had beforehand.

This circumstance explains a great deal about Muhammad’s relationship with Khadijah. His assertion that Khadijah “spent her wealth for me”[88] indicates his keen awareness that the money was hers and not his. However important his managerial position in the family firm, and however generously Khadijah shared her wealth, she remained in control of her own money. Muhammad was effectively his wife’s employee. That he allowed Khadijah to make all their major decisions, in this light, is less surprising.[89]

Her regular childbearing and fidelity to Muhammad and numerous other accounts of his quickness to “draw close to her” for comfort,[90] are described in the traditions. There even seems to have been a manner in which Khadija employed sex to distract him from his troubles.[91] All this would appear to suggest that their marriage was a functional one, and there is little reason to believe that Muhammad would have had to have some sort of exceptional virtue to have been successful within it.

Children

Khadijah brought three stepchildren into the marriage. It is striking how little is known about them. Later historians eagerly collected every possible scrap of information about Muhammad, down to how he cleaned his teeth[92] and his attitude to a broken sandal.[93] People who had lived under his roof should have been in high demand as eyewitnesses. Yet by the time the traditions were committed to writing, almost everything about his stepchildren had been forgotten. This implies that their lives did not intersect very much with those of the Muslim community.

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The ruins of Khadijah’s house in Mecca.

Given that girls were often married off at puberty, it is possible that Muhammad never lived with his stepdaughter, Hind bint Atiq. She married a Makhzumite cousin, Sayfi ibn Umayya, to whom she bore at least one son, Muhammad ibn Sayfi. Though this Muhammad in his turn had descendants, it was said that none of the family survived; yet there is not a word about how they died.[94]

Khadijah’s two sons lived with Muhammad for several years,[95] and it is known that he liked to play with children.[96] 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!’”[97] Little more than this account is available in the traditional sources. Hala was later killed in a street-brawl after he challenged a man who had insulted Muhammad.[98] This was probably before Islam,[99] as Muhammad's companions never suggested 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.[100] Hind’s affection for his stepfather was likely real; there is no evidence of any conflict between them. However, it is important to note that knowledge of Muhammad's life comes from sources compiled decades after Muhammad's death, and indeed decades after the Islamic empire had been established, when it was only acceptable and indeed mandatory to speak effusively of Muhammad as a the perfect man and prophet; these account also do not include any specific events from Hind's childhood. Consequently, it is advisable to view such accounts through a critical lense.

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 perhaps the conquest of Mecca in 630, when Muhammad appointed him a governor in Yemen.[101] 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.”[102] He had at least one son, also named Hind; but it is again reported that no descendants survived to the time of writing.[103]

Over the next ten years, Khadijah bore six more children to Muhammad, attended at each birth by a midwife named Salma.[104] From their first son, Qasim, Muhammad took the kunya Abu Qasim. There followed Zaynab, Abdullah, Ruqayya, Umm Kulthum and Fatima.[105] 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.[106] Qasim and Abdullah both died in infancy; the girls all grew up.[107] Fatima, who looked like Muhammad[108] and was his favourite,[109] is known to Muslims as az-Zahra (“the Dazzling”) and is regarded as a great saint.[110]

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. 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.[111] Muhammad kept Zayd close to him[112] and conferred many small favors on him,[113] although when the two eventually had a conflict of interest, it appears that Muhammad ignored Zayd’s rights in favor of himself.[114]

When a drought caused widespread hardship, Khadijah presented Muhammad’s former foster mother with 40 sheep and a camel loaded with supplies.[115] 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.[116] Again, Muhammad always made a great show of affection towards Ali[117] and even gave him Fatima as his wife.[118] This positive upbringing of Ali, however, seems to contrast rather sharply with some of the behavior he exhibited later on in life.[119]

Polytheism

Modern hagiographers sometimes suggest that the virtuous Khadijah, "unlike her people, never believed in nor worshipped idols." [120], however early sources seem to tell a different story. They state that Khadijah kept in her house an idol of Al-Uzza, a virgin star-goddess who was the patroness of Mecca and was supposed to be powerful in war.[121][122][123] The family used to worship it just before bedtime.[124] Muhammad sometimes sacrificed a white sheep to the goddess,[125] and Khadijah sacrificed two kids at the birth of each son and one at the birth of each daughter.[126] When Muhammad complained of the Evil Eye, Khadijah used to send for an elderly sorceress to charm it away.[127] In 605 a severe flood damaged the Ka’aba, and the principal citizens of Mecca cooperated to rebuild it. Muhammad played a prominent part by arbitrating a dispute over who should have the honor of reinstalling the Black Stone[128], not showing any disapproval in this instance of the 360 idols the Ka'aba housed at the time.

However, at an unspecified date and for an unknown reason, Muhammad and Khadijah became disillusioned with their traditional religion. Muhammad and his son Zayd came under the influence of the outspoken monotheist Zayd ibn Amr al-Adiyi, who told them that he never ate meat offered to idols. Muhammad then decided that he too would never again sacrifice to Al-Uzza.[129] Finally he confessed his unbelief to Khadijah. She replied by telling him to “Leave Al-Lat and leave Al-Uzza.”[130] (Al-Lat was an earth-mother goddess who was revered in Ta’if.)[131][132] To some, her acceptance of her husband’s apostasy from their traditional religion suggests that Khadijah in her turn had already lost faith.

It is not stated what Muhammad and Khadijah did with their idol; nor is it known which religious group, if any, they joined next. Monotheists who lived in or travelled through Mecca included Jews, Christians, Zoroastrians and Sabians;[133] but Zayd ibn Amr did not identify with any of these groups. However, there is little doubt that Muhammad and Khadijah learned monotheistic ideas – Heaven, Hell, holy books, prophets – from Khadijah’s cousins Waraqa ibn Nawfal and Uthman ibn Al-Huwayrith and from Muhammad’s cousin Ubaydallah ibn Jahsh.[134] Soon, Khadija would begin to speak as if there was only one God.[135]

Islam

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This cave in Mount Hira is widely believed to be the same cave where Muhammad first encountered Jibreel. It is now a popular tourist destination for Muslim pilgrims.

Muhammad took to meditating in caves, often leaving his family for days at a time to focus on his devotions.[136] In August 610, when he was 39 years old, these meditations were interrupted by an experience that terrified him.[137] He staggered home to Khadijah under the conviction that he had seen the angel Jibreel (Gabriel) and that he was demon-possessed.[138] Khadijah wrapped him in a blanket and consoled him. She did not believe that Muhammad could be possessed. “Allah would not treat you thus since he knows your good character. So rejoice and be glad! I have hope that you will be the prophet of this community.” Then she put on her cloak and took Muhammad to consult her cousin Waraqa.[139]

Waraqa was an old, blind man who had converted to Christianity and had studied an Arabic translation of the Gospels.[140] According to Muhammad, Waraqa declared: “Holy, holy! This was the great Namus [law] that came to Moses. You are the prophet of these people. Should I live till you receive the Divine Message, I will support you strongly.”[141] If Waraqa in fact said this, he did not keep his promise. Although he lived for at least another three years,[142] people afterwards questioned whether he had ever become a Muslim,[143] meaning that Waraqa never made a public profession of Islam. Nobody except Muhammad and Khadijah ever heard him endorse Muhammad as a prophet. Muhammad would later admit to Aisha that he had required prompting from Khadijah before he could answer Waraqah's question.[143]

It was not Waraqa whose confidence moved Muhammad to discard his terrors and believe in his own mission, but Khadijah herself.[144] Within hours of deducing that her husband was a prophet, she secured the conversion of her next-door neighbor.[145] When he next announced that Jibreel was in the room, Khadijah tested the visitor (whom she could not see) by positioning herself to be in his supposed line of vision, and stripping naked. Muhammad then reported that Jibreel had departed, and Khadijah declared that Jibreel’s modesty was a certain sign that he was an angel and not a demon.[146]

Soon after this, Muhammad reported that Jibreel had stopped visiting him. Despite his initial terror of his strange experiences, he was now distraught by their absence.[147] Several times he became so depressed that he considered committing suicide by throwing himself off a cliff. Although he returned home from each attempt saying that Jibreel had reappeared in time to prevent him,[148] the angel did not remain long enough to give him any new prophecies. Eventually Khadijah taunted him: “I think that your Lord must have come to hate you!”[149] This goading, the only recorded incident in which her sympathy for her husband seems to have failed, suggests a profound disappointment with the possibility that Muhammad might not be a prophet after all. It was very soon afterwards, however, that Muhammad would report a new prophecy: “Thy Lord hath not forsaken thee, nor doth He hate thee...”[150]

Muhammad never again mentioned being afraid of the angel. Thenceforth he reported regular visits from Jibreel, who brought new revelations from Allah.[151] One of the earliest messages concerned the correct ritual for the five daily prayers. After this Muhammad was often to be seen in full public view, first abluting then standing face to the Ka’aba to pray, with Ali at his side and Khadijah a pace behind them.[152] Their four daughters and Zayd were also among the earliest converts.[153] Shortly thereafter Abu Bakr would convert, beckoning a new era of Muhammad's mission.[154]

Persecution

After three years and some fifty converts,[155] it was known throughout Mecca that Muhammad considered himself a prophet. However, he received little attention[156] until the day when he gathered his relatives together for a dinner-party and invited them to forsake their idols and submit to Allah. But no mass-conversions followed;[157] the Meccans doubted, questioned and ignored him. Discouraged, Muhammad confided his troubles to Khadijah,[158] who was quick to console him. The citizens of Mecca accused him of outright lying, and Khadijah continued to reassure him that he was a prophet.[159] Debates led to angry arguments and mockery, and Khadijah disparaged their folly. Notwithstanding this concise summary of Khadijah’s attitude, surprisingly few specifics are recorded. The exact words of her counter-mockery do not survive, and nor is it precisely described how she “helped him in his work.”[160] There are very few ahadith about her everyday life with Muhammad or her involvement in community affairs, although there must have been multiple witnesses to both.

Muhammad kept preaching, and the public arguments led to fights in the streets. It was a Muslim who struck the first blow,[161] but when Muhammad continued his “shameless” attacks,[162] mocking the idols in the Ka’aba, the pagans began a systematic campaign of punishing Muslim slaves and teenagers.[163] One of the worst offenders was Khadijah’s brother Nawfal, whom the Muslims called “a satan of the Quraysh.” He once tied Abu Bakr to his kinsman Talha ibn Ubaydullah and left them helplessly roped together.[164] His attitude raises interesting questions about Khadijah’s relationship with her brother – especially as Nawfal’s own son was an early convert to Islam.[165] However, while his spiteful prank no doubt caused Abu Bakr and Talha some inconvenience, the general harassment of freeborn adults was far from life-threatening. The majority of these converts fled to Abyssinia, where the Christian King extended his unqualified protection. Muhammad and Khadijah, being under the protection of Muhammad’s uncle Abu Talib, remained in Mecca.[166]

More questions about Khadijah’s family arise over Abu Bakr’s purchase and manumission of seven mistreated slaves,[167] among them Al-Nahdiya bint Habib and her (unnamed) daughter. The story is told of how Al-Nahdiya’s mistress swore never to free them, of how quickly she changed her mind when she heard Abu Bakr’s ransom-offer, and how they dutifully postponed accepting their freedom until they had finished grinding their ex-mistress’s flour.[168] But the usual retellings of this story omit one important detail: Al-Nahdiya was Khadijah’s own grand-niece. Khadijah’s sister Ruqayqa had a daughter named Umayma bint Abdullah.[169] There was something irregular about Umayma’s married life: “she went to a foreigner” (it is not clear what this expression means) and married a man from Ta’if. The daughter of this union was the slave Al-Nahdiya bint Habib.[170] What is more, Al-Nahdiya’s owner belonged to the rival Abduldar clan.[171] It is not clear whether Umayma herself had been for some reason reduced to slavery or whether it was only her daughter, perhaps deemed in some way illegitimate, who was in bondage. Either way, Khadijah could have easily afforded to ransom her nieces if she had wanted to; since she did not, there must have been some social disgrace or personal grudge associated with Al-Nahdiya’s situation that made Khadijah unwilling to help her. For that matter, no other family member helped either. Since the exact chronology of these events is unknown, it is difficult to discern whether there was any connection between Nawfal’s trick with the rope and Abu Bakr’s ransom of Nawfal’s embarrassing nieces. Indeed, it is difficult to calculate overall how much of the harassment of Muslims was due to Islam and how much might be attributed to old quarrels from pre-Islamic times. It is is similarly unclear how many of these stories of harassment were later inventions of Muslims seeking to galvanize their past, but so is the case with perhaps the entirety of the hadith collection.

Muhammad warned his opponents of Hellfire, graphically describing how sinners would be “thrown headlong”[172] into “a fierce blast of fire and boiling water, shades of black smoke,”[173] to drink “a boiling fluid, and a fluid dark, murky, intensely cold,”[174] allowing nothing to survive and nothing to escape, “darkening and changing the colour of man.”[175] Khadijah had to take her share of the warning. When she asked about her children who had died in the days of ignorance, Muhammad replied, “They are in Hellfire. If you saw them, you would hate them.” When she asked about the child that she bore to him, he replied, “He is in Paradise... Verily, the believers and their children will be in Paradise, and the polytheists and their children in the Hellfire.”[176] Muhammad’s conclusion is interesting in the light of the fact that all the children in question had died before Islam. He did not explain why Khadijah’s subsequent conversion was retrospectively effective to save some of her children but not all of them.

After the conversions of two famously violent citizens, Hamza ibn Abdulmuttalib[177] and Umar ibn Al-Khattab,[178] the ruling clans of Mecca declared a boycott. This boycott was against Muhammad’s entire clan, including its non-Muslims. Thenceforth no Meccan might trade, socialize or intermarry with the Hashimites.[179] The clan inferred that they had been condemned to outlaw status and would not be protected against theft or violence. Fearing worse hostility to follow, in September 616 Abu Talib evacuated the Hashimites from Mecca proper. They camped out in a mountain gorge “formed by one of the defiles, or indentations of the mountain, where the projecting rocks of [Mount] Abu Cobeis pressed upon the eastern outskirts of Mecca. It was entered on the city side by a low gateway, through which a camel passed with difficulty. On all other sides it was detached from the town by cliffs and buildings.”[180] Such a narrow entrance could be constantly guarded, leaving the Hashimites safe but effectively trapped.

“The Quraysh blocked food-grain and other necessaries.”[181] For supplies the Hashimites had to depend on smuggler-friends who were willing and able to bypass the Meccans.[182] For example, Hisham ibn Amr “used to bring a camel laden with food by night, and then when he had got it to the mouth of the alley, he took off its halter, gave it a whack on the side, and sent it into the alley to them. He would do the same thing another time, bringing clothes for them.”[183] As the Hashimites had no way of earning money to pay for this food, they had to expend their savings. Over the next three years, Khadijah exhausted all her wealth to support the community.[184] The severity of the blockade continued to grow more intense and the Hashimites remained in the mountain pass for three years.[185]

Co-wives

Muhammad's fidelity to Khadijah is often referenced as a positive aspect of the Islamic tradition. It is described as the "prime time of his youth and constitutes two-thirds of his marriage life,"[186] and it is stated that it "should be noted by those who criticize him for his polygamy in later years."[187]

In one sense this is true. For example, when the Quraysh chiefs wanted to end the boycott, they offered Muhammad “as many wives as he wanted in marriage,” together with wealth, political power and a competent exorcist, if only he would stop reviling their gods. Muhammad scorned this bribe.[188] In this case, however, it is difficult to disentangle his loyalty to Khadijah from his loyalty to his own prophetic office. He responded to Khadijah’s support with a (perhaps nepotistic) revelation that the Virgin Mary had been the best woman of her generation while Khadijah was the best woman of the present generation.[189] He claimed that although there were many perfect men, there had only ever been only three perfect women: Asiya “wife of Pharaoh,” who had rescued the infant Moses; Mary the virgin mother of the Prophet Jesus; and Khadijah. He later allowed that their daughter Fatima was also one of the four “best among the women of Paradise.”[190] How his three elder daughters reacted to such open favoritism is not recorded. When Khadijah once brought Muhammad a bowl of soup, she was granted a personal message from Jibreel (of which Aisha was later intensely jealous): “Give her Allah’s greeting and the good news that in Paradise she will have a palace built of a hollow pearl, where there will be no noise or fatigue.”[191]

Yet despite this loyalty to Khadijah, it was exactly in this period of his life when Muhammad pronounced verses that strongly suggested that he was thinking about other women. After 614 he introduced to his descriptions of Paradise the “modest houris” (virgins) with “lustrous eyes” and “swelling breasts” who reclined “like pearls or rubies” on “green cushions”.[192] According to Muir, all of the Qur’anic descriptions of houris date to the last few years of Khadijah’s life; after Muhammad moved to Medina, remarried to a younger woman, there were only two brief and tame references[193] to “companions pure”.[194] Muir might have miscalculated, as the most detailed reference to the divine virgins[195] is sometimes dated to the Medina period,[196] although the German historian Nöldeke assigned even this one to Khadijah’s lifetime.[197] Regardless of the exact date when Muhammad eventually shifted his focus, it is certain that the ageing Khadijah knew about the houris.

The boycott against the Hashim clan was lifted “in the tenth year” (between August 619 and August 620), and Muhammad’s clan returned to their houses in Mecca.[198] By this time, Khadijah was starting to pass away.[199] Muhammad comforted her in her final illness with the reminder that she was going to her jeweled palace in Paradise – so she must convey his best wishes to her co-wives. When Khadijah expressed surprise at the news that Muhammad already had deceased wives, he explained that Allah had wedded him in Paradise to Queen Asiya, to “Kulthum the sister of Moses” and to the Virgin Mary. The theme of having four wives appears to have been on his mind even in his last moments with Khadijah. She responded with the conventional congratulation to a newlywed: “May the union be blessed.”[200]

Death

Khadijah died on 10 Ramadan “in the tenth year of prophethood, three years before the Hijra,” i.e., on 22 April 620, and was buried in Mount Hajun Cemetery near Mecca.[201]

“The Messenger of Allah was so grieved about Khadijah that people feared for him.”[202] For the rest of his life, he spoke warmly and often of her[203] and sometimes seemed overwhelmed by sorrow at her absence.[204] He used to say: “Khadijah believed in me when they doubted me; she financed me when they tried to starve me out; and she is the mother of my children. Allah himself nurtured love for her in my heart.”[205]

Islam changed direction after Khadijah’s death. Within seven weeks Muhammad became a bigamist.[206] At the same time he began negotiations for military alliances with foreign tribes,[207] although it was to be another two years before he succeeded in declaring war on Mecca.[208] Even the sections of the Qur’an that were composed at the end of Muhammad’s Meccan period, though narrative rather than legislative, read more like the flat prose of Medina than the poetry of Khadijah’s lifetime.[209] It is frequently said that “Islam arose by Ali’s sword and Khadijah’s wealth.”[210] It is clear that what Khadijah contributed to the foundations of Islam was far more than money.

In scripture

In the hadith

Narrated 'Ali bin Abi Talib: that the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: "The best of its women is Khadijah bint Khuwailid, and the best of its women is Mariam bint 'Imran."
Grade: Sahih (Darussalam)

See Also

Translations

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References

  1. Ibn Hisham note 127, note 918. Ibn Ishaq, A. Guillaume, ed, Sirat Rasul Allah [The Life of Muhammad], Oxford: Oxford University Press, ISBN 9780196360331, 1955, https://archive.org/details/TheLifeOfMohammedGuillaume ; see also Sahih Muslim 31:5975.
  2. E.g., Razwy, S. A. A. (1990). Khadija tul Kubra: A Short Story of Her Life. New York: Tahrike Tarsile Qur'an.
  3. E.g., Mus’ad, M. F. (2001). Wives of the Prophet Muhammad: their Strives and Their Lives, p. 7. Cairo: Islamic Inc.
  4. Quran 33:6.
  5. Guillaume/Ishaq 24, 82.
  6. Guillaume/Ishaq 3.
  7. Guillaume/Ishaq 82.
  8. “Khadija” in Almaany Arabic-English Dictionary. Behind the Name.
  9. E.g., Al-Tabari, Vol. 6, p. 47.
  10. Ibn Saad, Aisha Bewley, ed, Kitab al-Tabaqat al-Kabir, 8, London: Ta Ha Publishers, pp. 9, 11-12, 1997 ; Al-Tabari, Vol. 39, pp. 41, 106.
  11. Sahih Muslim 10:3662. See also Al-Tabari, Vol. 39, pp. 40, 43, where Huwaytib ibn Abduluzza claims to be 120 years old, yet in the same breath betrays that he cannot count.
  12. Al-Tabari, Vol. 39, p. 95.
  13. Ibn Kathir, Al-Bidaya wa’l-Nihaya vol. 5 p. 293. Majlisi, Bihar al-Anwar vol. 16 p. 12. Ibn Ishaq, cited in Al-Hakim al-Nishaburi, Mustadrak vol. 3 p. 182.
  14. See Kister, M. J. (1993). The Sons of Khadija. Jerusalem Studies in Arabic and Islam, 16, 59-95.
  15. Guillaume/Ishaq 82.
  16. Guilaume/Ishaq, p. 82.
  17. Guillaume/Ishaq 160.
  18. Guillaume/Ishaq 115.
  19. Bewley/Saad 8:180.
  20. Sahih Bukhari 5:58:168
  21. Guillaume/Ishaq 177.
  22. Bewley/Saad 8:9.
  23. Ibn Hisham note 918. Bewley/Saad 8:151.
  24. Guillaume/Ishaq 142-143. See also Bewley/Saad 8:61; Al-Tabari, Vol. 39, p. 196.
  25. Bewley/Saad 8:10. 36.2/ Ibn Saad, Tabaqat 1:36:2.
  26. Bewley/Saad 8:9. Al-Tabari, Vol. 39, p. 161.
  27. Ibn Hisham note 918.
  28. Tirmidhi 117.
  29. Al-Tabari, Vol. 9, p. 127.
  30. Kister (1993) summarises these sources, citing Ibn Ishaq, as transmitted by Yunus ibn Bukayr, Al-Siyar wa-l-Maghazi p. 82, and Majlisi, Bihar al-Anwar vol. 16 p. 10, for Atiq’s death, and Baladhuri, Ansab al-Ashraf vol. 1 pp. 406-407, for divorce.
  31. Bewley/Saad 8:9, 151. Al-Tabari, Vol. 9, p. 127. Al-Tabari, Vol. 39, p. 79.
  32. Guillaume/Ishaq 57.
  33. Bewley/Saad 8:9. Kister (1993) documents sources in which Malik was also known as Hind and his son Hala was also known as Al-Harith. It was not uncommon for Arabs to be known by alternative and apparently unrelated names.
  34. Ibn Hisham note 918. Bewley/Saad 8:9.
  35. Ibn Hisham note 918.
  36. Tirmidhi 117.
  37. E.g., Bewley/Saad 8:9.
  38. Guillaume/Ishaq 82. 32.1/ Ibn Saad, Tabaqat 1:32:1. Strangely, Ibn Hisham note 124 claims an outbreak date as early as 585. Although note 124 was designed to be read immediately after the statement of Ibn Ishaq that it contradicts, there is not a word of explanation for the inconsistency. However, the preliminary hostilities commenced several years before the first full-fledged battle (Muir (1861) vol. 2 pp. 2-5). One possible explanation is that Ibn Hisham deliberately confused the first informal skirmish (when Muhammad was 14) with the first battle proper (when Muhammad was 20) so that his youth might excuse his lack of prowess in the fighting (Muir, 1861, pp. 6-7f).
  39. Al-Tabari, Vol. 39, p. 41
  40. Waqidi, Kitab al-Maghazi, cited in Muir (1861) vol. 2 pp. 7f9, 22, 24f28.
  41. Al-Tabari, Vol. 6, pp. 48-49. 35.1/ Ibn Saad, Tabaqat 1:35:1.
  42. Guillaume/Ishaq 82.
  43. Bewley/Saad 8:10.
  44. Guillaume/Ishaq 424, 547, 716. See also Crone, P. (2007). Quraysh and the Roman army: Making sense of the Meccan leather trade. Bulletin of SOAS, 70, 63–88.
  45. "Khadija, the first wife of the Prophet ... an outstanding female liberating figure in history ... can help us reclaim the vibrant, liberating spirit of early Islam. That alone could go a long way in removing the current image of Muslims among non Muslims." - Bandukwala, J. S. “Hazrat Khadija was an outstanding female liberating figure in history,” letter to the editor in New Age Islam, 22 May 2010.
  46. "For Muslim girls everywhere, Khadijah is one of the first female role models introduced by parents and teachers of religion. A self-made businesswoman … She had already created her own success … The justification for denying girls an equal chance at success lies in archaic interpretations of religion… There is nothing contradictory about being a powerful Muslim female." - Saraswati, R. E. (2012). “Khadijah Bint Khuwaylid: Perfect Woman” in Aquila Style.
  47. Bewley/Saad 8:165.
  48. Bewley/Saad 8:209.
  49. “Makka” in Bearman, P., Bianquis, T., Bosworth, C. E., van Donzel, E., & Heinrichs, W. P. (Eds.). (2006). 'Encyclopaedia of Islam, 2nd Ed. Brill Online.
  50. Quran 33:54
  51. Guillaume/Ishaq 162, 585. Bewley/Saad 8:29.
  52. 34.1/ Ibn Saad, Tabaqat 1:34:2. Bewley/Saad 8:10.
  53. Guillaume/Ishaq 82.
  54. Al-Tabari, Vol. 6, p. 48. Bewley/Saad 8:10.
  55. Crone, P. (2007). “Makka” in Bearman, P., et al. (Eds.) (2006).
  56. Guillaume/Ishaq 82.
  57. Bewley/Saad 8:10.
  58. Al-Tabari, Vol. 6, p. 49
  59. Guillaume/Ishaq 128, 158, 271.
  60. Guillaume/Ishaq 58. “Makka” in Bearman, P., et al. (Eds.) (2006). See also Quran 106:2.
  61. Guillaume/Ishaq 82; Bewley/Saad 8:10.
  62. Bewley/Saad 8:10, 172. She is sometimes known matrilinearly as Nafisa bint Munya, suggesting that she was illegitimate.
  63. 35.1/ Ibn Saad, Tabaqat 1:35:1.
  64. Al-Tabari, Vol. 6, p. 48.
  65. Al-Tabari, Vol. 39, p. 196. Bewley/Saad, Tabaqat 8:109.
  66. "The Beloved Holy prophet preferred to have his first marriage with a fifteen years older widow shows [sic] how the Beloved Holy Prophet had a value of nobility and character more than anything else." - Saleem, H. M. (2012). Justification of the marriages of the Beloved Holy prophet. Pakistan Journal of Islamic Research, 9, 1-20.
  67. Guillaume/Ishaq 111
  68. Ordoni, Abu M. (1987). Fatima the Gracious, p. 27. Qum: Ansariyan Publications.
  69. 35.1/ Ibn Saad, Tabaqat 1:35:1.
  70. Guillaume/Ishaq 82; Ibn Hisham note 918.
  71. Numerous ahadith such as Sahih Bukhari 2:24:528 and Sahih Muslim 10:3893 indicate that a camel cost about 80 dirhams, although this varied with the age and health of the camel. Hence 20 camels would be worth 1,600 dirhams. Sahih Bukhari 5:59:357 indicates that an annual income of 5,000 dirhams was a comfortable living, so Khadijah’s dower was equivalent to four months’ (middle-class) income. However, it seems that a frugal person could survive on a dirham a day (Muir (1861) vol. 4 p. 156), so the same sum came to over four years’ wages for a labourer. While it is almost impossible to calculate equivalent prices for such a different culture, the dirham, a silver coin, was the price of a wooden bowl or a ground-sheet (Sunan Abu Dawud 9:1637) or a cheap necklace (Sunan Abu Dawud 14:2704), so we might, very roughly, think of a dirham as £5. A dinar, a gold coin worth 10 dirhams, was the price of a sheep.
  72. Al-Tabari, Vol. 39, p. 189. See also Ibn Hisham note 918. The same 400 dirhams (£2,000) was also the ransom for a war-captive (Sunan Abu Dawud 14:2685) or the starting price for a slave (Al-Tabari, Vol. 39, p. 6).
  73. 34.1/ Ibn Saad, Tabaqat 1:34:2.
  74. Al-Tabari, Vol. 6, p. 49. 35.4/ Ibn Saad, Tabaqat 1:35:4, 5. See also Guillaume/Ishaq 83 and Ibn Hisham note 918.
  75. Muir (1861) vol. 2 p. 24f. See also Al-Tabari, Vol. 6, pp. 48-50; Ibn Hisham note 918.
  76. E.g., see Bewley/Saad 8:63, 65; Al-Tabari, Vol. 39, pp. 178-179; Bewley/Saad 8:105.
  77. E.g., Guillaume/Ishaq 547.
  78. E.g., Guillaume/Ishaq 314-315. Bewley/Saad 8:87-88.
  79. E.g., Bewley/Saad 8:43.
  80. E.g., Guillaume/Ishaq 463-464. Al-Tabari, Vol. 39, p. 165.
  81. Bewley/Saad 8:40. Guillaume/Ishaq 493.
  82. Jalalayn, Tafsir Q33:36. See also Quran 33:36. Sahih Bukhari 3:43:648, Sahih Muslim 4:3511.
  83. Guillaume/Ishaq 438; 594-597.
  84. E.g., Guillaume/Ishaq 504, 509. Bewley/Saad 8:181-182.
  85. "During the first fifteen years of her marriage, Khadija’s duties were purely those of a housewife and a mother." - Razwy, S. A. A. (1990). Khadija-Tul-Kubra: The Wife of the Prophet Muhammed, p. 146. New York: Tahrike Tarsile Qur’an.
  86. "Khadija ... felt no need to keep trading and increasing her wealth; instead, she decided to retire and enjoy a comfortable life with her husband who, on his part, preferred an ascetic life to that of money making." - Al-Jibouri, Y. T. (1994). Khadija Daughter of Khuwaylid, Wife of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh).
  87. Ibn Hanbal, Musnad vol. 4 p. 352.
  88. Ibn Hanbal, Musnad vol. 6 pp. 117-118.
  89. Guillaume/Ishaq 313.
  90. Guillaume/Ishaq 106
  91. Guillaume/Ishaq 107; Al-Tabari, Vol. 6, p. 73.
  92. Sahih Bukhari 1:4:245
  93. Sahih Muslim 24:5235
  94. Bewley/Saad 8:9.
  95. Al-Tabari, Vol. 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.
  96. Sahih Bukhari 8:73:151. See also Sahih Bukhari 8:73:150.
  97. Ibn Hajar, Al-Isaba 6:516:8919, cited in Kister (1993).
  98. Baladhuri, Ansab al-Ashraf; Ibn Hajar, AI-Isaba 1:604:1501; both cited in Kister (1993).
  99. Al-Tabari, Vol. 39, pp. 79-80.
  100. "[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." - Tirmidhi, Shama’il 1:7; Tirmidhi, Shama’il 33:3.
  101. Al-Tabari, Vol. 3, pp. 228-230, 318-321, 328; Ibn Hajar, Al-Isaba 3:515:3258; both cited in Kister (1993).
  102. Al-Tabari, Vol. 39, p. 80.
  103. Ibn al-Kalbi, Jamharat al-Nasabi, cited in Kister (1993).
  104. Bewley/Saad 8:10, 160.
  105. Bewley/Saad 8:10. 36.2/ Ibn Saad, Tabaqat 1:36:2.
  106. Bewley/Saad 8:10. 36.1/ Ibn Saad, Tabaqat 1:36:1. Also cited in Muir (1861) 2:27f.
  107. Guillaume/Ishaq 82; Ibn Hisham note 918; Bewley/Saad 8:10.
  108. Sahih Bukhari 4:56:819. Sunan Abu Dawud 41:5198.
  109. Bewley/Saad 8:16. Ibn Kathir, Tafsir on Quran 66:11.
  110. See “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.
  111. Al-Tabari, Vol. 39, pp. 6-9.
  112. Guillaume/Ishaq 115; 314-315. Al-Tabari, Vol. 7, p. 8. Sahih Bukhari 4:53:324. Sunan Abu Dawud 12:2271. Sahih Muslim 8:3441.
  113. Guillaume/Ishaq 186; 308; 364; 660; 662; 664. Al-Tabari, Vol. 7, 16. Bewley/Saad 8:72. Sahih Bukhari 5:59:562.
  114. See Al-Tabari, Vol. 8, pp. 1-4.
  115. 27.20/ Ibn Saad, Tabaqat 1:27:20.
  116. Al-Tabari, Vol. 6, p. 83.
  117. E.g., Guillaume/Ishaq 234, 286, 293, 593, 650; Sahih Bukhari 4:52:219; Sahih Muslim 1:141; Sahih Muslim 31:5917.
  118. Al-Tabari, Vol. 39, p. 167.
  119. E.g., Guillaume/Ishaq 496; Sahih Bukhari 5:59:637; Sahih Bukhari 8:82:803; Sahih Bukhari 8:81:769; Sahih Bukhari 9:84:57.
  120. "One particular quality in Khadija was quite interesting, probably more so than any of her other qualities mentioned above: she, unlike her people, never believed in nor worshipped idols." - Al-Jibouri, Y. T. (1994). Khadija Daughter of Khuwaylid, Wife of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh).
  121. “Al-Uzza” in Encyclopaedia Mythica.
  122. Al-Kalbi, The Book of Idols, pp. 16-29.
  123. Ibn Kathir, Tafsir on Quran 53:19–26.
  124. Ibn Hanbal, Musnad vol. 4 p. 222.
  125. Al-Kalbi, pp. 16-17.
  126. 36.2/ Ibn Saad, Tabaqat 1:36:2.
  127. Yunus ibn Bakayr from Ibn Ishaq, cited in Guillaume, A. (1960). New Light on the Life of Muhammad, p. 7. Manchester: Manchester University Press.
  128. Guillaume/Ishaq 84-86.
  129. Guillaume/Ishaq 99. See also Sahih Bukhari 7:67:407; Sahih Bukhari 5:58:169. Variant forms of this hadith are cited in Kister, M. J. (1970). “A Bag of Meat.” A Study of an Early Hadith. Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, 33, 267-75. Ibn Ishaq (Guillaume, pp. 102-103) describes how Zayd ibn Amr was eventually murdered. Although the culprit was never discovered, Ibn Ishaq apparently suspected Zayd’s half-brother, Al-Khattab ibn Nufayl, the father of Caliph Umar.
  130. "A neighbour of Khadijah bint Khuwaylid heard the Prophet say, “O Khadija! By Allah, I do not worship Al-Lat or Al-Uzza. By Allah, I do not worship [them] at all.” Khadijah replied, “Leave Al-Lat and leave Al-Uzza.” He [the neighbour] said this was their idol, which they all used to worship, after which they would lie down to sleep." - Ibn Hanbal, Musnad vol. 4 p. 222.
  131. “Allat” in Encyclopaedia Mythica.
  132. Al-Kalbi, The Book of Idols, pp. 14-15.
  133. Quran 2:62. Quran 5:69. Quran 22:17. Guillaume/Ishaq 90, 106.
  134. Guillaume/Ishaq 99.
  135. Guillaume/Ishaq 106-107.
  136. Guillaume/Ishaq 105.
  137. It could have been an epileptic fit, a psychotic episode or an ordinary nightmare. Since he was alone, there is no way to know.
  138. Guillaume/Ishaq 106.
  139. Guillaume/Ishaq 106-107. Al-Tabari, Vol. 6, p. 72.
  140. Guillaume/Ishaq 99; Sahih Muslim 1:301.
  141. Guillaume/Ishaq 107. Sahih Bukhari 1:1:3. Sahih Bukhari 4:55:605 [1]. Sahih Bukhari 9:87:111 [2]. Sahih Muslim 1:301.
  142. Guillaume/Ishaq 144,
  143. 143.0 143.1 "Aisha narrated. Someone asked Allah’s Messenger about Waraqa. So Khadijah told him, “He believed in you, but died before you appeared as a prophet.” Allah’s Messenger then said, “I was shown him in a dream, wearing white clothes, and if he had been one of the inhabitants of Hell he would have been wearing different clothing.” - Tirmidhi 4623.
  144. Guillaume/Ishaq 112.
  145. Al-Tabari, Vol. 39, p. 201.
  146. Guillaume/Ishaq 107. Al-Tabari, Vol. 6, p. 73. The sanitised version of this story, in which Khadijah merely removes her veil, is unlikely to be the correct one, as Khadijah died long before the veil was mandated. The mere removal of a veil would not have shocked anyone at that early date – assuming that a lady sitting indoors was even wearing one.
  147. Guillaume/Ishaq 111.
  148. Al-Tabari, Vol. 6, p. 76. Sahih Bukhari 9:87:111.
  149. Al-Tabari, Vol. 6, p. 70.
  150. Quran 93:3.
  151. Sahih Bukhari 1:1:3. Sahih Bukhari 6:60:478. Guillaume/Ishaq 111-112.
  152. Guillaume/Ishaq 112-114. Bewley/Saad 8:11.
  153. Guillaume/Ishaq 114-115, 313-314.
  154. Guillaume/Ishaq 114-117.
  155. Guillaume/Ishaq 115-117.
  156. Al-Tabari, Vol. 6, p. 93.
  157. Guillaume/Ishaq 117-119.
  158. Guillaume/Ishaq 191.
  159. Ibn Hanbal, Musnad volume 6 p. 117-118.
  160. Guillaume/Ishaq 117.
  161. Guillaume/Ishaq 118.
  162. Francis Edwards Peters, Muhammad and the Origins of Islam, p. 169, SUNY Press.
  163. Guillaume/Ishaq 143-145.
  164. Guillaume/Ibn Ishaq 127-128.
  165. Guillaume/Ishaq 147.
  166. Guillaume/Ishaq 146ff.
  167. Guillaume/Ishaq 144.
  168. Guillaume/Ishaq 144.
  169. Bewley/Saad 8:1, 180.
  170. Bewley/Saad 8:180-181. Umayma appears not to have become a Muslim until the conquest of Mecca in 630, hence she was not persecuted.
  171. Guillaume/Ishaq 144.
  172. Quran 26:94.
  173. Quran 56:42-43.
  174. Quran 38:56-64
  175. Quran 74:26-29. See also Quran 92:14. Quran 89:23-26. Quran 102:6. Quran 85:4-6. Quran 85:10. Quran 101:8-11. Quran 90:19-20. Quran 54:48. Quran 7:36-41. Quran 7:50. Quran 7:179. Quran 72:15. Quran 36:63. Quran 25:65-69. Quran 35:6-7. Quran 35:36-37. Quran 19:86. Quran 20:74. Quran 56:93-94. Quran 28:41-42.
  176. "Khadijah asked Allah’s Apostle about her children who had died in the days of ignorance. Thereupon Allah’s Messenger said: “They are in Hellfire.” When he saw the sign of disgust on her face, he said: “If you were to see their station, you would hate them.” She said: “Allah’s Messenger, what about the child that I bore to you?” He said: “He is in Paradise.” Then Allah’s Messenger said: “Verily, the believers and their children will be in Paradise, and the polytheists and their children in the Hellfire.Tirmidhi 117.
  177. Guillaume/Ishaq 131-132.
  178. Guillaume/Ishaq 155-159.
  179. Guillaume/Ishaq 159-160.
  180. Muir (1861) vol. 2 pp. 176-178.
  181. 53.1/ Ibn Saad, Tabaqat 1:53:1.
  182. Guillaume/Ishaq 160.
  183. Guillaume/Ishaq 118.
  184. Ibn Hanbal, Musnad vol. 6 pp. 117-118.
  185. 53.1/ Ibn Saad, Tabaqat 1:53:1.
  186. "His first marriage was with Khadija. He lived with her alone for twenty-five years. It was the prime time of his youth and constitutes two-thirds of his marriage [sic] life." - Al-Jibouri, Y. T. (1994). “Marriages of the Prophet” in Muhammad: The Prophet and Messenger of Allah. Qum, Iran: Ansariyan Publications.
  187. "The Prophet did not marry another woman during his first marriage with Khadija, is a fact that should be noted by those who criticise him for his polygamy in later years." - Saleem (2012)
  188. Al-Tabari, Vol. 6, pp. 106-107. See also Guillaume/Ishaq 132-133.
  189. Bukhari|4|55|642. Sahih Bukhari 5:58:163. Sahih Muslim 31:5965.
  190. Ibn Kathir, Tafsir on Quran 66:11. See also Sahih Muslim 31:5966. He never called any of his other wives or daughters “perfect”, not even his fourth divine spouse, Kulthum the sister of Moses.
  191. Guillaume/Ishaq 111. Ibn Hisham note 148. Sahih Bukhari 3:27:19. Sahih Bukhari 5:58:167. Sahih Bukhari 5:58:168. Sahih Bukhari 9:93:588. Sahih Muslim 31:5967. Sahih Muslim 31:5968. Sahih Muslim 31:5970.
  192. Quran 38:52. Quran 56:22-23. Quran 37:48-49. Quran 44:54. Quran 52:20. Quran 78:33.
  193. Quran 2:25. Quran 4:57.
  194. Muir (1861) 2:141-144. See also Sell, E. (1923). The Historical Development of the Qur'an, 4th Ed, pp. 25-26. London: People International.
  195. Quran 55:56-58 Quran 55:70-76.
  196. [3]
  197. Bell, R. (1953). Introduction to the Qur’an. Revised by Montgomery Watt (1970). Chapter 7: “The Chronology of the Qur’an.” Edinburgh University Press.
  198. 53.3/ Ibn Saad, Tabaqat 1:53:3.
  199. Bewley/Saad 8:12.
  200. Majlisi, Hayat al-Qulub 2:26. Muhammad’s invention of the character “Kulthum” appears to be the aftermath of his embarrassing discovery that the sister of Moses was not identical with the Virgin Mary. (See Quran 19:27-28; Sahih Muslim 25:5326.) He must have over-corrected his error by deducing that Moses’ sister was not even named Maryam.
  201. Guillaume/Ishaq 191. Al-Tabari, Vol. 39, pp. 4, 161. Bewley/Saad 8:152. Yet another disputed fact about Khadijah’s life is the date of her death. Ibn Saad (Bewley 8:12) also cites 20 Ramadan (2 May) of the tenth year. Kister (1993) summarises several traditions that cite variant years: one, two, four, five or six years before the Hijra. Assuming that Ibn Ishaq, Ibn Saad and Tabari are correct to prefer “three years before the Hijra”, this suggests a miscalculation on the part of those modern biographers who state that Khadijah died in 619.
  202. Bewley/Saad 8:44.
  203. Sahih Bukhari 5:58:164. Sahih Bukhari 5:58:165. Sahih Bukhari 5:58:166. Sahih Bukhari 7:62:156. Sahih Bukhari 8:73:33. Sahih Muslim 31:5971. Sahih Muslim 31:5974.
  204. Sahih Bukhari 5:58:168
  205. Ibn Hanbal, Musnad vol. 6 pp. 117-118. Sahih Muslim 31:5972.
  206. Al-Tabari, Vol. 39, pp. 170, 171. Bewley/Saad 8:39, 43, 152.
  207. Guillaume/Ishaq 192-195, 197-199.
  208. Guillaume/Ishaq 201-213, 324.
  209. Sell (1923), p. 74. “The Chronology of the Qur’an.” In Bell, R. (1970). Introduction to the Quran. Revised by Montgomery Watt. Edinburgh University Press.
  210. E.g., Al-Jibouri, Y. T. (1994). Khadija Daughter of Khuwaylid Wife of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh).