Khadijah bint Khuwaylid

Considered by the prophet Mohammed to be one of four perfect women, Khadijah bint Khuwaylid (daughter of Khuwaylid) was Mohammed’s first wife. Widely known to be a very virtuous woman, she earned the title “Al-Tahira” (The Pure One) because of her kindness and generosity. Throughout her life she never believed in, nor worshipped, idols. She was also known to use her vast material resources to help family members who were in need, as well as those who were less fortunate than her. Her resources were indeed vast; in fact they earned her another title “Ameerat-Quraysh” (Princess of the Quraysh tribe). According to some Islamic traditions when all the Quraysh caravans gathered to begin their long journeys to Syria in the winter or Yemen in the summer, the caravan of Khadijah was equal in size to all of the other caravans combined.

1st Impressions of Khadijah bint Khuwaylid

It was actually through these trade caravans that Khadijah first met Mohammed. Having been married twice before, she was quite determined never to marry again. She did not believe that she would find another man who was worthy of her. When she was looking for an agent to send along with her caravans, a family member recommended a distant cousin named Mohammed. He was a young man of 25 years with no experience in this type of business, but Khadijah chose to give him the opportunity. He took her caravan and earned more profits than she had expected. Khadijah was appropriately impressed by his success and decided to initiate a marriage proposal.

Year of Sorrow

While Mohammed was married to Khadijah bint Khuwaylid, he took no other wives out of his love for her. She was equally devoted to him. When he received his first revelations, she played an important role in convincing him that he was becoming a prophet. She even used her wealth to help promote Islam, to the point of being persecuted for her support of her husband. The year of her death so marked Mohammed that it is called the Year of Sorrow.

Khadijah was the mother of Fatima (born in AD 605), who was the mother of Hussein and Hassan through Ali. The dates of Khadijah’s birth and death are not clear but it is probable that she was born in AD 555 and she probably died in AD 619. It is believed by some that her death partly motivated Mohammed to move to Medina.

Prayer Ideass

Around the world literally hundreds of thousands, even possibly well over a million Muslim women are named Khadijah. Many of them know very little about the wife of Mohammed or her positive example in many aspects of life.

• Pray for the living Khadijahs that they will discover the Messiah through friends, radio, literature, television and other media.
• Pray for those among your acquaintances, or who live in your area, that they may discover and apply the traits of a virtuous wife described in Proverbs 31 and come to know the purity which is from the Messiah.