The Prophet Muhammad, Lady Khadijah, and the Beginning of the Quranic Revelation
Chapter 1
It begins in Makkah with his loving first wife, Lady Khadijah, and concludes 23 years later in Madinah at the home of his dearest wife, Lady Aishah. Prophet Muhammad: An Unrivaled Husband Prophet Muhammad: An Unrivaled Husband When our Prophet (peace be upon him) first saw Angel Gabriel in a cave in Makkah in the year 610 CE, it was Lady Khadijah who provided him comfort, confidence, and entire faith. And it was in the embrace of his beloved wife, Lady Aishah, that our Prophet (peace be upon him) died at the age of 63 in Madinah.
Commerce and Trade
Lady Khadijah was a noblewoman who was well-liked in Makkah.
She had already married twice, and by the time her second husband died, she was a rich woman who invested her fortune in trade and business.
When Lady Khadijah learned of a young man called Muhammad's honesty and business acumen, she offered him the position as representative for her commerce.
She later dispatched him on a commercial journey to Syria, and Muhammad returned to Makkah with greater revenues for his employer than normal. But what she found odd was that he wasn't really interested in money.
Many men had proposed marriage to the affluent widow, but she had turned them all down since she suspected that all they wanted was access to her fortune.
Muhammad was not like the rest of them. He possessed sophisticated, aristocratic manners, as well as unrivalled honesty and dependability.
Lady Khadijah decided she wanted to marry him one day, so she contacted her friend Nufaysah to examine his readiness to accept her marriage proposal covertly.
When she got a good reaction from her buddy, she invited him and stated to him:
She then made her proposal that they should get married. Muhammad was very pleased and went to inform his uncles, who were also very pleased at the prospect of this marriage.
A Wise Husband's Happy Marriage
Prophet Muhammad's (peace be upon him) marriage to Lady Khadijah was a joyful 25-year marriage. He was 25 years old and she was 40 when they married, however some sources claim she was younger – possibly 35 years old.
Muhammad and Khadijah adored each other, and their marriage brought them both happiness and calm.
Zainab, Ruqayyah, Umm Kalthoum, and Fatimah were their four children. They also had two sons, Al-Qasim and Abdullah, who died as babies.
Muhammad's prominence and renown expanded year after year throughout the first 15 years of their marriage, and by the age of 40, he was recognised in Makkah as “the Prophet.”
At the age of 35, he made a good decision that stopped a battle between the Makkan tribes. At the time, these tribes had worked together to restore the Ka'bah, but when it came time to replace the black stone, they disagreed and were set to battle for this honour.
Before the combat started, they agreed on an arbitrator who would be chosen by the first person to enter the Ka'bah region. And this individual happened to be none other than Muhammad.
And he gave them a brilliant answer, as Ibn Kathir explains:
Searching for God and the Start of the Revelation
Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) had been searching for God for many years. He would sometimes go into seclusion in the Cave of Hira' in Makkah, which oversees the Ka'bah. He would take enough food and supplies to spend several days worshiping, reflecting and contemplating.
When he was 40 years old, he started seeing visions which would come true as daylight. He continued seeing these visions for six months and spent more time in seclusion until the Truth descended upon him suddenly one night while he was in the cave of Hira'.
An angel came to him and asked him to read. The Prophet replied:
The angel pressed him very strongly three times, repeating the command (Read), then revealed the first five verses of the Quran, which start with:
The full details of this first encounter with Angel Gabriel is given in this Hadith in Sahih Al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim.
After the angel had disappeared, Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) returned home to his wife Khadijah trembling with fear. He said:
She covered him until his fear was gone, after which he told her everything that had happened and said:
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