Kamil Ahmad – The Lives of the Sahabiyyat #01 Khadijah bint Khuwaylid RA
AI: Summary ©
The Prophet has a history of great accomplishments, including his success in the Bible and his leadership in the world. However, the death of the Prophet has caused his legacy to be legacy of disaster, and his death has led to the loss of his uncle and financial and political support for him. The interviewer emphasizes the importance of being a stronganning woman, being supportive, prioritizing family, and showing positivity and positivity in difficult situations. The interviewer also mentions the importance of learning from the story of Khadique's death and the need for everyone to prioritize family over personal ambitions.
AI: Summary ©
Bismillah ar-Rahman ar-Raheem I
hope everyone can hear me, if anyone wants
to come closer, they can come closer.
So, last week we started with an introduction
on the theme of our class, which is
going to be on the sahabiyat, the lives
of the female companions of the Prophet ﷺ.
So, we spoke about the virtues of the
sahabiyat in general, and why they were special,
and why it's important for us as Muslims
to study their lives.
And so, since this class is exclusively for
the sisters, we decided that we would go
through the female companions of the Prophet ﷺ
specifically, because one of the things that we
mentioned last week was that the reason why
it's important for us to study the lives
of these companions is to take them as
role models, to take them as role models.
And certain qualities that women have, other women
can follow those qualities.
Because sometimes we may think, okay, men are
different than us, so how can I be
like men?
But if we study the lives of the
female companions now, one cannot make that excuse,
right?
These are women just like you.
And Allah ﷻ chose them from among all
of the people to have that privilege of
being companions of the Prophet ﷺ.
Now we also mentioned last week that we're
going to start with the ummahatul mu'mineen, the
wives of the Prophet ﷺ, those whom Allah
ﷻ referred to as the mothers of the
believers.
As Allah ﷻ says in Surah al-Ahzab,
النبي أولى بالمؤمنين من أنفوسهم وأزواجه أمهاتهم His
wives are their mothers.
His wives are their mothers, meaning they're not
our mothers in the literal sense, but they're
our mothers in the sense of the respect
that they deserve from us.
So how you treat your mothers and the
honor and the respect that you have for
your mothers is the kind of respect we're
supposed to have for these women.
And also, another aspect of that is that
no one after the death of the Prophet
ﷺ was allowed to marry these women.
So in that sense, they are also our
mothers.
But in the sense of being a mahram,
then no.
So none of these women were allowed to
uncover themselves in front of the other men,
even though they are considered their mothers.
So we said we're going to start with
the wives of the Prophet ﷺ, and it
goes without saying that we should start with
the best of them, and the first of
them, and the most beloved of them to
the Prophet ﷺ.
And that is none other than Khadijah bint
Khuwaylid.
And so her full name is
Khadijah bint Khuwaylid ibn Asad ibn
Abdul Uzza ibn Qusay.
Khadijah bint Khuwaylid, the daughter of Khuwaylid, ibn
Asad, the son of Asad, ibn Abdul Uzza
ibn Qusay.
So this Qusay would be her great
-great-grandfather.
Great-great-grandfather.
Why is this person important?
Because her lineage here meets with the lineage
of the Prophet ﷺ.
So our Prophet ﷺ is, who knows his
lineage?
Muhammad ibn Abdullah ibn Abdul Muttalib ibn
Hashim ibn Abd Manaf ibn Qusay.
And so for the Prophet ﷺ, Qusay is
his great-great-great-grandfather.
So this makes Khadijah to be the closest
to the Prophet ﷺ from among all of
his wives.
This makes her to be the closest to
him in terms of blood relations among all
of his wives.
And so she comes from a family of
nobility, from Quraysh, a family of authority, and
also a wealthy family.
She was born in Mecca and she was
brought up in a famous and respected household.
And she got married twice before the Prophet
ﷺ.
And even these two men who she married
were noble men of the Arabs.
One, his name was Abu Hala, with whom
she had two children.
And the other was Atiq ibn A'id,
with whom she had a daughter.
Now Khadijah was a well-known and respected
woman in Mecca.
She had a nickname she was known by
as At-Tahira, the one who is pure.
And she was a businesswoman and she was
quite prosperous and wealthy.
But although she was wealthy, she was also
very generous.
And so she had very noble akhlaq and
possessed these noble qualities of being generous, being
kind.
And the women who were close to her,
they would come and visit her in her
house specifically to benefit from her generosity.
And for her business, what she would do
is she would hire men to travel for
her.
Because the people of Mecca, they relied on
trade.
The economy of Mecca, it relied on business.
It was a business hub.
And these were businessmen.
They used to trade.
And to trade, they would travel.
They would take caravans.
As Allah mentions in Surah Quraysh, Quraysh
would travel in the summer and in the
winter.
The two journeys of the summer and the
winter.
In the summer, they would head south to
Yemen.
Or rather they would head north to Syria
and in the winter they would head south
to Yemen.
And since she was alone, she wouldn't travel
for her business, but she would hire men
to do that for her.
But she would run into a lot of
trouble with the men that she would hire.
As many of them were not trustworthy.
We're talking about the days of Jahiliyyah.
We're talking about when the world was in
darkness.
And especially the Arabs.
And this is why Allah subhanahu wa ta
'ala sent them, the Prophet, to bring them
out of that darkness and into the light
of Islam.
And here we're talking about darkness and backwardness
on all different kinds of levels.
In terms of their honesty, in terms of
their treatment of others, in terms of shirk
and so on and so forth.
So many of these men were not trustworthy.
But now she starts hearing about a man
from Quraysh who had a reputation of being
trustworthy and honest.
And so the people of Mecca, they would
entrust him with their valuables.
They would entrust him with their valuables.
And he started to gain this reputation of
being extremely trustworthy.
And that would earn him the title of
As-Sadiq Al-Ameen.
The one who is honest and trustworthy.
So when Khadijah heard about him, and here
who are we talking about?
Muhammad ﷺ.
When she heard about him and his honesty,
she sent for him.
She offered him money to go to Syria
and do her business for him.
And she promised to give him a higher
rate than the others.
And she also sent with him her servant
whose name was Maysarah.
And so the Prophet ﷺ agreed and went
with her servant to Syria for trade.
Here we're talking about the Prophet ﷺ being
in his early twenties.
So he is in his early twenties.
Prior to this, what was the Prophet ﷺ
doing in Mecca?
What was his profession?
He was a shepherd.
So he would just be grazing sheep.
He'd leave Mecca.
And in the outskirts of Mecca, he would
be grazing sheep.
So this was a great opportunity for him.
And he agreed and he left for Syria
with the servant of Khadijah ﷺ.
Now when they returned from the journey, Maysarah
reported to his master Khadijah ﷺ and told
her that he has never seen a man
like him.
His honesty and his trustworthiness was like no
other man.
On top of that, when Khadijah ﷺ saw
what he brought, the earnings, she noticed that
there was way more profit and barakah and
blessings in this money than ever before.
Now Khadijah ﷺ, as we mentioned, she had
been married but at this time she was
divorced.
And she's been divorced for some time.
But being who she was, she was always
sought after by the men of Mecca.
She had all of these qualities that every
man would want.
In terms of her status, she belongs to
a noble family of Quraysh.
And on top of that, she's known for
her intelligence and wealth.
She's a wealthy, successful businesswoman.
So many of the prominent men of Quraysh
had tried to marry her, but she would
always turn them down.
So here Khadijah ﷺ saw what she was
always looking for.
A man with noble and high characters.
So she disclosed to one of her friends,
by the name of Nafisa, that she would
like to marry the Prophet ﷺ.
So this friend of hers immediately went to
Muhammad ﷺ and broke the news to him.
The Prophet ﷺ had no objection and he
agreed.
So he asked his uncle Hamza ibn Abdul
Muttalib to go to Khadijah's uncle and talk
about the issue.
And subsequently they were married.
The Prophet ﷺ gave her 20 camels as
the mahr, as a dowry.
And at the time Khadijah was 40 years
old, while the Prophet ﷺ was 25.
And this is the first time ever that
the Prophet ﷺ was getting married.
So she is his first wife.
In fact, the Prophet ﷺ did not marry
any other woman while she was alive.
He didn't get married to any other woman
until she had passed away.
On top of that, Khadijah ﷺ bore all
of his children, except for one.
Except for one.
Who is that one?
Which one of his children came from another
woman?
It was Ibrahim.
Ibrahim, and that was much later in the
life of the Prophet ﷺ, towards the end
of his life when he was in Medina.
And it was Marya al-Qibtiya who bore
her Ibrahim and he passed away.
So besides that, all of the other children
of the Prophet ﷺ came from Khadijah.
And they were six.
Two sons and four daughters.
Al-Qasim, and he is the eldest, or
the first.
And Abdullah.
And then the daughters were Zaynab, Ruqayya, Umm
Kulthum, and Fatima.
All of his sons passed away in their
childhood.
While all of the daughters remained alive.
However, all of his daughters passed away while
the Prophet ﷺ was still alive.
Except for one.
Who is she?
Fatima.
And even she only survived another six months
after the death of the Prophet ﷺ.
She passed away six months after the death
of the Prophet ﷺ.
And the Prophet ﷺ actually foretold this.
This is one of the miracles of the
Prophet ﷺ.
He said that she would be the first
one to join him after his death, meaning
from his family.
And that is exactly what ended up happening.
And all of his daughters, they witnessed Islam.
They embraced Islam.
And they made hijrah to Medina.
They migrated to Medina.
But it was only Fatima that the Prophet's
lineage continued through her.
And so she had Al-Hasan and Al
-Husayn.
And from there, if you were to find
anyone today who claims that his lineage goes
to the Prophet ﷺ, it always goes through
Ali and the wife of Ali was Fatima.
So anyways, coming back to Khadija.
They got married at this time while she's
40 and he is 25.
Until now, Muhammad ﷺ is not a Prophet
and he is not a messenger.
He is just like everyone else.
And this would continue for another 15 years.
Now the Prophet ﷺ reaches the age of
40.
And he starts to go into seclusion in
the cave of Hira, in the outskirts of
Mecca.
Worshipping Allah, meditating over Allah's creation.
And he did this for days and nights
on end.
He would do this for days and nights
on end.
And what's interesting to note here is that
the Prophet ﷺ would do this, leaving behind
his family, his wife, his children.
And yet his wife Khadija not once did
she complain.
That, you know, why are you leaving us?
I want you to stay here at home
with us.
Not once did she complain.
And this shows us that this is one
of the qualities of a righteous wife.
That when her husband is busy and he
has some very important work to attend to,
she should take that into consideration and not
complain.
Even though here she could have easily said
that, what are you doing?
You're not doing anything important.
You're just going out there in the wilderness
and you're leaving us behind.
But, you know, not once did she complain.
And so it was in these days that
Jibreel came to the Prophet ﷺ with the
wahi, the revelation from Allah for the first
time.
And why do we mention this when it
comes to Khadija radiallahu anha?
Because the greatest stance that
Khadija radiallahu anha ever took in her life
was concerning this incident.
So let us go through the story.
And what's so interesting here is that the
one narrating the story is none other than
Aisha radiallahu anha.
The one narrating the story is Aisha radiallahu
anha who says that there is no woman
who she used to be jealous of more
than Khadija radiallahu anha even though she never
saw her.
We're going to come back to this statement
later on.
But anyways, what's interesting to note here is
that the one narrating this story to us
is Aisha radiallahu anha and she narrates it
with full accuracy, not hiding anything just because
it was Khadija.
She narrated the story to us with full
amanah and trust.
This hadith is in Sahih al-Bukhari.
And because of how important it is, Imam
al-Bukhari makes it hadith number three in
his book.
In Sahih al-Bukhari, it is hadith number
three.
She says, Aisha radiallahu anha says, that in
the beginning, the Prophet ﷺ, he would go
into seclusion in the cave of Hira and
he would meditate for nights before coming back
to his family.
And he would take with him some food,
some provision for that retreat.
And then he would come back to his
wife Khadija.
And then again, he would prepare food and
then go back.
He would continuously do this for some time.
And then she says that is when the
angel came to him in the cave of
Hira and Jibreel said, Iqra, read.
And the Prophet ﷺ responded by saying, I
cannot read.
And then the Prophet ﷺ tells Aisha radiallahu
anha, the angel grabbed me and pressed me
so hard that I could not bear it
anymore.
And then he released me and he asked
me to read.
And I said the same thing, I cannot
read.
Then it happened again.
And again, he said, read.
And I said, I cannot read.
And then finally, the third time he said,
Iqra bismi rabbika allathee khalaq.
And he mentioned those ayat to him.
These were the first verses of the Qur
'an that were revealed.
Then the Prophet ﷺ returned with his heart
beating heavily.
He was shaken.
This was his first ever encounter with Jibreel.
And so he was naturally terrified.
Not knowing who this was.
Not knowing what this was.
Any human being, if this happens to them,
they're going to be completely shaken.
And so what did he do?
Aisha radiallahu anha says, he immediately went back
home to his wife Khadija.
And he said, zammilooni, zammilooni, cover me, cover
me.
And so the Prophet ﷺ was shivering.
He was feeling cold.
And this is because he was afraid.
He was scared.
And fear causes you to shiver.
So he was asking his wife to wrap
him up.
So she covered him up until his fear
resided.
And after that, he told her everything that
had happened.
Now there's something interesting to note here about
Khadija radiallahu anha.
Most women, if their husbands came home terrified
like that, they would freak out and they
would start asking what happened.
They'd start responding back.
But notice how Khadija radiallahu anha until this
very moment, she does not say a single
word.
Instead, she quickly went to get him blankets
and covered him up as he had requested.
Now the Prophet ﷺ was naturally terrified by
what had happened.
But in addition to that, he also had
a natural dislike for anything that had to
do with the jinn or evil spirits or
witchcraft, things like that.
And so he was afraid that what had
happened to him was something similar that happens
with people who are possessed by jinn or
a magic spell has been done on him,
etc.
So the Prophet ﷺ explained this to his
wife.
And once he calmed down, he said to
Khadija radiallahu anha, I fear for myself.
I'm afraid for myself.
So Khadija radiallahu anha immediately she understood what
he was saying.
She understood what he meant.
That this is what I'm afraid of.
Right?
So this is when she now starts to
speak.
Right?
And I want us to really contemplate and
reflect over these words of Khadija radiallahu anha.
She said to the Prophet ﷺ when he
said I'm afraid for myself, meaning I'm afraid
that I have been possessed by a demon
or whatever.
So Khadija radiallahu anha she says, كَلَّا وَاللَّهُ
لَا يُخْزِيكَ اللَّهُ أَبَدًا She says never.
By Allah.
Allah will never disgrace you.
Look at the confidence.
Look at how she responded.
She didn't just sit there and start crying
like other women would do.
Or start to respond negatively.
No.
She responded with full confidence.
And so she said no.
By Allah, Allah will never disgrace you.
She took an oath.
She said I say by Allah.
By Allah's name.
Allah will never disgrace you.
And then she gave the reasons for that.
Why?
She said you keep good relations with your
relatives.
You help the poor and the destitute.
You serve your guests generously.
And you assist those who deserve to be
assisted.
Those who are stricken by calamities, etc.
So she mentioned these qualities as evidence that
a person like this who has such noble
qualities, why would Allah allow something like that
to happen to him?
So she was basically reassuring him that whatever
has happened, it was definitely not something evil
or not from shaytan or the jinn, etc.
But then she did not suffice with that.
Right?
It's one thing for your loved ones to
give you reassurance.
Right?
Maybe they're just doing that to make you
feel good.
But they don't mean it.
Right?
So she didn't suffice with that.
She then got up and said let's go.
I have a cousin who is well versed
in religion.
So here she was talking about Waraqa ibn
Nawfal who in the days of Jahiliyyah he
had become a Christian and he used to
write the scriptures with Hebrew letters.
And he used to write the Injeel that
was given to Isa Alayhi Salaam.
He would write it.
He was a scribe.
And at this time he was a very
old man.
He had lost his eyesight.
So they went to Waraqa ibn Nawfal.
Khadija said to Waraqa, My cousin, listen to
the story of your nephew.
So Waraqa asked him, what have you seen?
So the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam told him
of what he had seen and what he
experienced.
So Waraqa immediately recognized who this was in
the cave with the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam.
Based on what?
Based on his knowledge.
He was a man of knowledge.
He had read the scriptures.
He knows the qualities of Jibreel and how
he comes to the Prophets, etc.
So Waraqa, right away he said, this is
the same one who keeps the secrets, An
-Namus, meaning Jibreel, who Allah had sent to
Musa.
And then look at what he says.
He says, I wish I was young and
could live up to the time when your
people will drive you out.
Imagine, Waraqa here, he's telling the Prophet Sallallahu
Alaihi Wasallam something that will happen to him
that is the Sunnah with Allah's messengers.
This happens to all of Allah's Prophets and
messengers.
But notice how he didn't say, I wish
I was there when you start preaching.
No, I wish I was there when you
need help, when your people are going to
drive you out.
So his main concern was, how can I
help him?
And that's why he ended up passing away.
And the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam said that
he is in Jannah.
So even though he did not accept Islam
formally, obviously he would have if he was
alive.
So the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam was actually
baffled by what he said.
And he asked, will they really drive me
out?
Imagine, he's just experiencing this weird experience with
the angel.
And now he's being told that, I'm going
to be kicked out of my own hometown
by my own people.
So Waraqa he said, yes, anyone who came
with something similar to what you have brought,
was treated with hostility.
And if I will remain alive until the
day when you are driven out, then I
will be there to support you strongly.
However, Waraqa ended up passing away just a
few days after this.
Like literally a few days after this.
So this was a story that Aisha radiallahu
anha narrated concerning how the revelation started and
how Muhammad Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam at the age
of 40 became a prophet of Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala.
Now what we learned from this story is
not only that Khadija radiallahu anha supported the
Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam at this difficult moment
in his life, but we learned something else.
And this is what makes Khadija radiallahu anha
special.
Among all of the other women, this is
what makes her special.
Who can tell me what it is?
Not just that she stood there supporting him
at a very difficult time, doing everything she
could to be that support for him etc.
But something else.
Louder.
Yes, exactly.
She was the first one to believe.
She was the very first Muslim on the
face of the earth after the Prophet Sallallahu
Alaihi Wasallam.
And so this is something that makes her
special.
It's not just that she was his wife,
and his first wife for that matter, but
more importantly, she was the first believer.
And that's why when the scholars they mention
the first companions, what do they say?
They say the first among the men was
Abu Bakr, the first among the women was
Khadija, the first among the young was Ali,
the first among the slaves was Zayd ibn
Haritha.
But if you think about it, the first
out of all of these was none other
than Khadija radiallahu anha.
And not only that but she was also
the first to learn the early teachings of
Islam.
Like, you know, reciting the Qur'an, making
wudhu, how to pray, because the Prophet Sallallahu
Alaihi Wasallam would receive these teachings from Jibreel.
And, you know, the first one to learn
them would be Khadija radiallahu anha.
And so after that, Khadija radiallahu anha continued
supporting the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam through the
difficult days and years ahead.
As he confronted his people and his own
family members and faced the rejection and the
opposition that he did.
Along with verbal, mental and physical abuse.
She lived all of that.
She saw all of that.
And, you know, she stood by the Prophet
Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam offering whatever assistance that she
could.
Then in the 10th year of the Prophethood,
so now 10 years later.
So at the age of 40, when the
Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam was 40, that would
make Aisha radiallahu anha how old?
That would make her 55, right?
When the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam was 40,
she was 55.
So now 10 years later, when the Prophet
Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam is 50, and she is
65.
This 10th year of the Prophethood was an
extremely difficult year for the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi
Wasallam.
And that's why it's known as عام الحزن
the year of grief.
And so it was at this time that
the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam loses his uncle,
Abu Talib, who had been a huge support
for him in his mission, even though he
ended up dying as a kafir, without believing.
So now while the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam
is dealing with this tragic event in his
life, the death of his uncle who supported
him with his status, Abu Talib, he had
a status among Quraysh, he had a reputation.
No one could harm the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi
Wasallam because of Abu Talib.
And also financially, he used to help him.
Only two months after the death of Abu
Talib, the beloved wife of the Prophet Sallallahu
Alaihi Wasallam, and the person who was dearest
to him, Khadija radiAllahu anha, she ends up
passing away.
So we can see now why this year
is called the year of grief.
And so it was the most tragic time
for the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam because the
two most influential people in his life who
had supported him and helped him with his
mission, Abu Talib who offered the Prophet Sallallahu
Alaihi Wasallam with the physical support that he
did, and Khadija radiAllahu anha who supported him
with psychological support in addition to financial support
due to her business.
Suddenly these two pillars that the Prophet Sallallahu
Alaihi Wasallam was standing on collapsed.
And so the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam who
had the freedom of going around preaching the
message was now being blocked because his uncle
passed away.
And when the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, who
would usually go home to find comfort with
his wife Khadija, he would go home to
find no one.
So it was a very difficult time for
him.
And the scholars say that there is a
wisdom in this happening at this particular time.
And that is so that the Muslims end
up having more trust in Allah rather than
the message being protected by Abu Talib and
supported by Khadija.
Now there would be more reliance upon Allah.
Because there was no one else after these
two individuals who would support the Prophet Sallallahu
Alaihi Wasallam in the same way.
So this would increase the trust that the
Muslims have on Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
Now let us conclude with the legacy that
Khadija radiAllahu anha left behind and the impact
it left on the life of the Prophet
Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam.
The Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam really loved Khadija
a lot and he was loyal to her.
And so even after her death, he would
always mention her in good.
And he would send food for her friends.
Why?
What is this loyalty?
What is it based on?
It's because Khadija radiAllahu anha was there with
the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam through all the
thin and the thick.
She stood with him when everyone else abandoned
him.
And this would sometimes cause jealousy among his
other wives.
And so after her, the most beloved of
his wives to him was Aisha radiAllahu anha.
And she would talk about that jealousy that
she had for Khadija.
She says, as we mentioned, that she was
never jealous of any of her co-wives
except for Khadija even though she had never
seen her.
And on one occasion, Aisha radiAllahu anha says
that she was angered by the Prophet Sallallahu
Alaihi Wasallam constantly mentioning Khadija, remembering her.
He would always remember and mention the great
times that he had with Khadija.
So he noticed that Aisha was bothered and
uncomfortable by that.
So he said to Aisha that her love
is something that Allah placed in his heart.
And on another occasion, the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi
Wasallam praised Khadija.
So Aisha radiAllahu anha said, wasn't she an
old woman who Allah has replaced you with
something that is better?
So the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam got angry
and said no.
By Allah, he did not replace her with
anyone better.
She had faith in me when everyone rejected
me.
She believed in me when the people disbelieved
in me.
She was comfortable with what she had when
the people had denied me.
And Allah has blessed me with children from
her.
And so Khadija radiAllahu anha, as we can
see, was someone very special.
But not only was she someone special to
the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, but she was
also someone special in the eyes of Allah,
in the sight of Allah.
One day, and this was when she was
alive, Jibreel came to the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi
Wasallam and said, Khadija is coming to you
right now.
Basically, Jibreel was telling the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi
Wasallam, Khadija she's coming, she's coming to you
right now, and she's carrying some food for
you.
When she comes to you, tell her that
Allah is giving her salam, and tell her
that I am also giving her salam.
And so that's how special she was.
Imagine, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala sends Jibreel
all the way to the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi
Wasallam to convey Allah's salam to Khadija radiAllahu
anha, and then Jibreel, he understood how special
that is, he said, also convey my salam
to her.
And then Jibreel added, and give her the
glad tidings of a palace in Jannah that
is built of qasab, which is pearls or
jewels.
Within there will be no noise nor fatigue.
And so this hadith shows us how special
Khadija radiAllahu anha was.
Also, she was one of the four greatest
of women that ever lived.
The Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam says in a
hadith, the greatest women that ever set foot
on the earth are four.
They are four.
Who are they?
Who knows?
Okay, you got three right and one wrong.
In place of who?
Yeah, but in place of who?
Because you already mentioned four.
Yes.
No, no, no, not Fatima.
In place of Aisha, yes.
So the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam said, the
four best women to set foot on the
earth are Maryam bint Imran, Khadija bint Khuwaylid,
Fatima bint Muhammad, and Asiya bint Muzahim.
And who is the greatest of all of
these four?
Maryam, yes.
As Allah says in the Qur'an, وَإِذْ
قَالَتِ الْمَلَائِكَ يَا مَرْيَمُ إِنَّ اللَّهَ اصْطَفَاكِ وَطَهَّرَكِ
وَاصْطَفَاكِ عَلَى نِسَاءِ الْعَالَمِينَ When the angel said,
Oh Maryam, Allah has chosen you and purified
you and chosen you out of all the
women of the worlds.
So Maryam was the best of them all.
Second best would be Khadija.
Second best would be Khadija, then Fatima, and
then Asiya.
And what's interesting to know is that all
of these women had something to do with
a prophet.
All of these women had something to do
with a prophet.
So two of them were the ones who
brought up prophets.
Who are they?
Yes, they gave Tarbiyah.
They brought up two prophets.
So Maryam brought up her son Isa.
And Asiya was the one who took care
of Musa, even though she was not his
mother.
And one was the wife of a prophet.
Who is that?
Khadija, right?
And one is the daughter of a prophet,
and that is Fatima.
All right, we're going to quickly conclude with
some of the lessons that we learned from
the life of Khadija.
The first lesson that we learned is that
Allah ﷻ chose a strong woman like Khadija
for the prophet ﷺ because that is what
he needed.
Soon he was going to face trials and
difficulties and hardships.
And he needed someone strong, a strong woman.
If he had married someone younger, she perhaps
would not be able to support him like
Khadija did.
And not only was she older, but she
was wise.
She was known for her wisdom and her
intelligence, as we have seen, right?
We saw how she reacted.
And only a wise and intelligent woman can
do that.
As they say, behind every great man there
is always a great woman.
The second lesson that we learned is that
the prophet's choice for Khadija ﷺ, who was
not a virgin, and she was older than
him, although he was young, and he could
have easily chosen the young women of Mecca.
What does this prove and what does it
show?
It shows us that the prophet ﷺ was
not the kind who was looking to please
his worldly desires.
In fact, after he became a prophet, when
Quraysh had enough of him, they wanted to
just stop him from preaching, they made him
an offer in exchange for stopping his da
'wah.
They said to him, if it is women
that you want, then choose whichever of the
women of Quraysh you want, and we will
marry ten of them to you.
So the options were before him, but he
did not have an interest for any of
that.
In fact, as we mentioned, he did not
marry any woman until after the death of
the prophet ﷺ.
And imagine, even that is after the age
of 50.
He is now after, he has passed the
age of 50.
So all this shows us that these claims
by the enemies of Islam, that our prophet
ﷺ was a womanizer, he was just after
marrying women, and that's why he has so
many women that he married, all of these
are baseless, baseless claims.
The third lesson that we learn is an
aspect of the personality of the prophet ﷺ,
and that is his loyalty to the people
who were close to him.
And so we're talking about years after her
death, he would respect her in this way.
He would slaughter sheep, and he would say,
send it for the friends of Khadija.
And on one occasion, there was the sister
of Khadija, her name was Hala.
She came, and the prophet ﷺ did not
know if it was her, but he said,
Oh Allah, allow it to be her.
Right?
Only because he wanted to be reminded of
Khadija.
So not only did he remember her, but
he kept on maintaining this relationship with her
friends.
And so there are people out there who
are very opportunist.
They would only befriend you, to use you,
and then once they're done, they'll forget about
you.
Right?
But that is not how our prophet ﷺ
was.
And Khadija is only one example.
There are many other examples of people who
really helped out the prophet ﷺ at a
time of need, and he would remember them,
and he would remain loyal to them.
The fourth lesson that we learn is the
positive effect of a righteous wife.
When the prophet ﷺ went to Khadija and
told her what had happened in the cave,
and then told her that he was afraid
for himself, what was her reaction?
Look at her reaction.
She said, Never.
By Allah, Allah will never disgrace you.
So she stood by him, and reassured him
that everything was going to be fine, and
she was trying to calm him down, and
she herself was not freaking out.
Not only that, but she also went the
extra mile and decided to find out from
a scholar of what exactly happened.
And so she took him immediately to her
cousin Waraqa.
And so all of this shows us the
importance of being a strong righteous wife who
will support her husband, especially when he is
on the mission of giving da'wah.
And finally, the last point that we can
mention here.
And this is a practical lesson that I
want us to practically benefit from
the stories of the lives of the sahabiyat.
When we go through these stories, you're going
to come across qualities of these women that
every single Muslimah should strive for.
So from the life of Khadija radiallahu anha,
we learn the following qualities.
Number one, quick to submit.
Right?
Immediately, without any hesitation.
She believed him.
And as we said, she was the first
to believe.
She didn't say, well, let me take my
time, let me think about it.
No, immediately.
And this was the case with not only
her, but other companions like Abu Bakr radiallahu
anha.
But this is what we learned from Khadija
radiallahu anha.
Quick to submit.
And this is something that, a quality that
we should strive for, where when we hear
something from Allah or from the Prophet salallahu
alayhi wasalam, the same thing.
We should not hesitate.
We should submit quickly.
Right?
With no hesitation.
We shouldn't say, oh well, I need time.
I can't do this right now.
Right?
We find from the life of Khadija radiallahu
anha that she was quick to submit.
And again, this is the case with many
of the companions.
Number two, having wisdom and using wisdom and
intelligence over emotions and moods.
Khadija radiallahu anha did not react with her
emotions, which is how most people would react.
Right?
Where her husband is coming terrified like this,
she would react emotionally.
Right?
I mean most women would probably react emotionally.
But Khadija radiallahu anha, she placed wisdom and
her intellect over her emotions and her moods.
Number three, showing strength in difficult times.
Right?
Which is not easy.
It's not easy when you have a very
difficult situation to be strong and steadfast.
Number four, Khadija radiallahu anha was among the
strangers.
What do we mean by strangers?
The Prophet ﷺ told us that Islam began
as something strange.
Meaning in the early days of Islam, the
Muslims were looked at as strangers.
And Khadija radiallahu anha was one of them.
But she didn't care if people look at
her weird and if she stands out because
she's a Muslimah.
Right?
She didn't care because holding on to Islam
was more important and more valuable for her.
Likewise, today in the times in which we're
living in, it's difficult to practice Islam when
everyone around you is not practicing Islam.
Right?
The Prophet ﷺ mentioned that this day will
come in the same hadith.
He said, Islam began as something strange and
it will return to being something strange.
Number five, being a support and showing positivity
and not discouraging nor showing negativity.
Again, we see this in how Khadija radiallahu
anha, she responded and she reacted.
She showed, you know, optimism.
Right?
She was saying that, no, it's impossible that,
you know, something evil has happened.
She used encouraging words, not discouraging words.
She didn't start to blame him.
Right?
She didn't say, oh, why did you go
out to the mountain?
You should not have done that.
You should not have gone all these nights
to the cave.
Now this is as a result of what
you did.
Right?
And finally, the last quality that she shows
is prioritizing family over personal ambitions.
She was a successful businesswoman and obviously being
devoted to a business requires a lot of
time.
But when she had a family and she
had children, she gave priority to that over
her personal ambitions.
And this is a quality that every Muslim
should have where, you know, you should prioritize
your family over your personal endeavors and your
personal ambitions.
That should be secondary to your family because
you are now going to be raising an
entire generation.
And, you know, your children are, you are
the first teacher of your children.
Whatever they learn, whatever they learn, they're going
to first learn it from you.
And so we need to prioritize that.
So these are some of the lessons that
we learned from the story of Khadijah.
Next week we're going to move on to
Aisha, رضي الله عنها بإذن الله.
So we'll conclude here for today, insha'Allah.
سبحانك اللهم و بحمدك أشهد أن لا إله
إلا أنت أستغفرك و أتوب إليك والسلام عليكم
و رحمة الله و بركاته