Khadija hired Muhammad, then proposed to him, then became Islam's first believer
Khadija bint Khuwaylid ran a trading business so large that her caravan was said to match those of every other Quraysh merchant combined. She hired a young Muhammad to take goods to Syria, was impressed enough to propose marriage, and after his first revelation became, by tradition, the first person to accept Islam.
Born around 554 into an aristocratic Quraysh clan, Khadija was the daughter of Khuwaylid ibn Asad, a merchant and leader, and Fatima bint Za'idah, a distant cousin of Muhammad's mother. She did not ride with her caravans but paid agents a commission. Honorifics such as Princess of Quraysh and Khadija the Great reflected both her wealth and her reputation for feeding the poor and providing dowries for needy relatives.
Needing someone for a deal in Syria, she offered Muhammad, then in his early twenties, twice her usual commission, and sent her servant Maysarah along. Maysarah reported that he had traded honourably and returned double the expected profit. Through her friend Nafisa, Khadija asked whether he would consider marrying a woman able to support herself; he had hesitated for lack of money. After their uncles agreed, he moved into her house. Her age at the wedding is disputed: some sources say 40, others about 28. Sunni accounts say she had been widowed twice before and had children by those marriages, while some Shia writers argue she was previously unmarried.
Sources disagree on how many children the couple had, from six to eight. Their son Qasim died after his third birthday and another son, Abd Allah, also died young; four daughters, Zaynab, Ruqayya, Umm Kulthum and Fatima, grew up. The household also took in Ali ibn Abi Talib and Zayd ibn Harithah, a boy who had been kidnapped and sold into slavery.
When Muhammad reported his first revelation, Khadija believed him and encouraged him to pursue his mission. From 616 the Quraysh boycotted his clan, and she spent her fortune keeping the community fed. She died in November 619, the same year as Muhammad's uncle and protector Abu Talib, a double loss he named the Year of Sorrow. Muslims honour her as a Mother of the Believers and one of four foremost women of Paradise, alongside Fatima, Asiya and Mary, and her grave in Mecca still draws pilgrims.
Source: Khadija bint Khuwaylid
