Marriage to Khadeejah

Khadeejah was twice-widowed, having been married to Ateeq bin Ayed and then to Abu Hala. While married to Abu Hala, she bore a son. Following her second husband’s death, she received several proposals from various chiefs of the Quraysh, all of which she refused. Now, however, impressed by Maysarah’s description of Muhammad’s character, she broached the topic of marriage to Muhammad through her friend, Nafeesah.

Being open to the idea, he consulted his uncles, who sent the proposal to Amr bin Asad, Khadeejah’s uncle. Amr accepted on his niece’s behalf, and Muhammad gave twenty camels as

dowry (some sources mention that he gave her six camels). They were married in the presence of the Banu Hashim and the chiefs of the Quraysh. Praising and glorifying Allah, Abu Talib recited the wedding sermon and formalised the union. Thus within two months and some days within Muhammad’s return from Syria, he and Khadeejah were married. He was twenty-five and she was either twenty-eight or forty.

Khadeejah was Muhammad’s first wife. He married none other during her lifetime. She bore all his children except for Ibraheem, who was born to Maria Qibtiya (Mary the Copt). They were named (in order of birth) Qasim, Zaynab, Ruqayyah, Umm Kulthoom, Fatimah, Abdullah and Ibraheem (scholars however disagree about the exact number and order of births). All the sons of their father passed away during childhood, but all the daughters lived to see their father become a prophet. Each daughter embraced Islam and migrated to Madinah, and all but Fatimah died during the lifetime of the Prophet . Fatimah died six months after her father’s death.