where she saw the sun descending into her courtyard. Waraqa told Khadijah that Muhammad was special. On hearing this, she seriously thought about proposing marriage to him. However, since Khadijah was a very dignified lady, she could not persuade herself to propose directly to Muhammad. Instead, she approached her friend Nafisa who, in turn, spoke to Muhammad on her behalf. When Nafisa took the proposal to Muhammad he accepted the offer after consulting his uncle Abu Talib. By now Muhammad knew Khadijah well; she was an honest, truthful, generous and faithful lady who conducted her affairs in an impeccable manner. Everyone in Makkah respected her for the dignified way she lived her life. One could not find a better woman in all Arabia at the time. Lack of finance aside, there was no other reason for Muhammad to refuse the offer. At the time of their marriage, Muhammad was twenty-five while Khadijah was forty. Notwithstanding the fifteen year age gap, Muhammad and Khadijah were meant for each other. It proved to be an immensely blissful marriage and they were blessed with six beautiful children, fours girls and two boys. The sons died in their infancy, but the daughters survived and they became very loyal and loving children. Theirs was a peaceful and blessed family.
Although Khadijah was a very wealthy lady, she was not materialistic like most of the people in her society. Whenever Muhammad chose to seclude himself on the Mount of Light (jabal al-nur), situated on the outskirts of Makkah, for meditation and spiritual renewal, she would pack enough food and drink for him to last the whole period. One night, while Muhammad was meditating on the Mount of Light, he was visited by archangel jibrail (Gabriel) and the first verses of the Qur’an were revealed to him. Angel jibrail confirmed that he was God’s last Prophet to mankind and that his mission in life was to propagate Islam, a religion and way of life chosen for all humanity by the Creator of the universe. After this terrifying encounter, the Prophet rushed home to Khadijah, completely shaken by the whole experience. He asked her to wrap him up with blankets. When the Prophet eventually regained his composure and related the whole experience to Khadijah, she did not doubt him at all. Khadijah’s unshakeable faith in her husband reassured the Prophet. She not only became the first person to embrace Islam, she also threw all her weight behind her husband and his new mission. From that day on, Khadijah became Muhammad’s greatest supporter and Islam’s foremost benefactor, at a time when the Prophet had no one to turn to for help; but Khadijah stood by him like a pillar and encouraged him to carry out his Divine mission.
Khadijah was fifty-four when her husband became a Prophet and for the next ten years of her life she freely spent all her wealth, and devoted all her time and energy, for the cause of Islam. After the Prophet was commanded by God to proclaim Islam publicly, he became an open target for the Makkan elites who insulted, ridiculed and abused him but Khadijah encouraged, consoled and helped him at every step of the way. Indeed, the first ten years of the Prophet’s mission were fraught with tremendous hardship, distress and suffering for his family and small band of followers, as his adversaries tried all the tricks in the book to dissuade him from propagating Islam. When this did not work, they offered him wealth and agreed to make him their ruler but he rejected all such offers. When every attempt to seduce the Prophet failed, the Makkan elite relentlessly pursued and persecuted him and his followers, inflicting untold misery and hardship on them. It was a difficult and traumatic period for all the Muslims, especially the Prophet and his family.
At such a challenging time in Islamic history, Khadijah’s unflinching help and support for her husband proved critical. Thanks to her reputation and standing in Makkah, coupled with her considerable wealth and commercial pulling-power, the Makkan oligarchy did not dare to compromise the personal safety and security of the Prophet. However, as more and more people continued to embrace Islam, in utter desperation the Prophet’s opponents imposed a total boycott on banu hashim, the Prophet’s tribe. This took place in the seventh year of his Prophethood. It was a particularly hard time for all Muslims, especially the sixty-one year old Khadijah. Having lived all her life surrounded by much wealth and luxury, now for the first time she was forced to endure hardship and starvation for the sake of her faith. Yet she came out of this ordeal stronger in her faith and the support for her husband never wavered for a moment. The Prophet himself acknowledged the pivotal role played by Khadijah in those early days of Islam when he said, ‘…She [Khadijah] had faith in me when everyone, even members of my own family and tribe did not believe me, and accepted that I was truly a Prophet and a Messenger of God. She converted to Islam, spent all her wealth and worldly goods to help me spread this faith, and this too at a time when the entire world seemed to have turned against me and persecuted me. And it is through her that God blessed me with children.’
After the Prophet, it is difficult to find another person who had more devotion, dedication, commitment and love for Islam than Khadijah. She was a symbol of hope in the face of adversity; a paragon of virtue and steadfastness, and an inspirational personality who continues to influence Muslims (especially Muslim women) to this day. Khadijah, the ‘mother of the believers’ (ummul mu’minin), passed away during the tenth year of Muhammad’s Prophethood and was buried in Hajun, located on the outskirts of Makkah; she was sixty five at the time of her death. So great was food (or drink). When she reaches you, greet her her estimation in the sight of God that, according on behalf of her Lord (God) and on my behalf, to Abu Hurairah: ‘Jibrail (Gabriel) came to the and give her the glad tidings of having a palace Prophet and said, “O God’s Messenger! This is made of Qasab in paradise, wherein there will be Khadijah coming to you with a dish having some neither any noise, or toil.’ (Sahih al-Bukhari)
ALEXANDER WAS A great military commander; Genghis Khan was an immensely successful warrior, and Napoleon was a gifted strategist. However, only one military general possessed all of these qualities in the history of warfare. That was Khalid ibn al-Walid, ‘the thunder from Arabia’. He was an incomparable military genius who single-handedly humbled two of the greatest empires of his time. A man of few words, Khalid allowed his unsurpassed achievements in the battlefield speak for themselves. As he burst out of Arabia, his name spread like a wildfire and Khalid’s opponents feared no other man more than him. The son of al-Walid was a natural-born talent, a military genius who read his adversaries’ weaknesses like the writing on the wall, and was able to inspire his men to victory even from the jaws of defeat. Khalid’s astounding feats and unprecedented successes on the battlefield have found their way into Muslim folklore. Even today, children throughout the Muslim world grow up listening to his heroic feats.
Khalid ibn al-Walid ibn al-Mughirah was born into the respected Qurayshi tribe of Makkah. He was around twenty-four when Muhammad received his first revelation. Khalid’s father, Walid ibn al-Mughirah, was a highly respected individual who was considered to be one of the wisest and most clever men of his generation. Like the father, the son grew up to be a highly accomplished young man. Imbued with natural talent and physical vitality, Khalid acquired a keen interest in the art of warfare from a young age. He became proficient in war strategies, tactics and planning even when he was in his teens. By the age of twenty, he acquired considerable reputation among his people for his expertise in archery, lancing and horse riding skills. In other words, he was a very quick, physically strong and agile young man. After the Prophet migrated (hijrah) from Makkah to Madinah in 622, his Makkan foes became alarmed when they heard that he and his followers had not only won over the people of Madinah to the new faith (Islam); but that they had also managed to unify the people of Madinah on the basis of equality, fraternity and brotherhood of man as envisaged by Islam. The Prophet’s success frightened the Makkans more than anything else, so they resolved to take direct action against the nascent Muslim community. When a large Makkan army set out to obliterate the Muslims, the Prophet and his followers met the advancing Makkan army at Badr and inflicted a crushing defeat on them. This resounding victory was later dramatically reversed when the Makkans, determined to avenge their previous defeat, launched a fresh attack against the Muslims in 625. Thanks largely to the ingenious Khalid, the Muslims suffered heavy causulties in this battle. The forty-one year old Khalid’s last-minute intervention totally reversed the outcome of the battle in favour of the Makkans. For the first time in his life, Khalid made a crucial intervention in a battle,
