By: Seyyed Ali Shahbaz
      "O Muhammad! Khadijah is coming in your presence; convey salutations of Allah to her and give her glad tidings that Allah has made a house for her in Paradise wherein there is neither grief nor sorrow.”
       These words of Archangel Gabriel to the Almighty’s Last and Greatest Messenger regarding his loyal and virtuous wife, the Mother of all True Believers (Omm al-Momineen), Hazrat Khadijah (SA), with whom he spent 26 long years of marital bliss and as long as she was alive he never took another spouse, are found in all authentic books of hadith including those of our Sunni brethren.
       Prophet Muhammad (SAWA) conveyed to her the Almighty’s greetings and the First Lady of Islam thanked God Almighty, glorified Him as the Source of all peace, serenity, and salutations, and prostrated to Him out of gratitude.
       Every year on the 10th of Ramadhan our grief is renewed for Hazrat Khadijah (SA), whose departure from the mortal world, shortly after easing of the 3-year economic-social boycott imposed by the Arabs on the Prophet of Islam, was a great blow for the loving husband, as well as the orphaned daughter that she was leaving behind, having died in a state of poverty with no money for even a shroud, let alone inheritance for little Fatema az-Zahra (SA), after having spent all her proverbial wealth to feed, clothe and shelter the persecuted Muslim community.
       The aggrieved husband, who was not destined to find a worthy replacement for Khadijah (SA) – despite taking several women as spouses in the last ten years of his life out of social necessity – personally dug the grave, descended into it to smooth the earth and bless it, wrapped his faithful wife in the heavenly shroud brought by Archangel Gabriel, and laid her to eternal rest, while their only surviving child watched with tears rolling down her cheeks, as nearby stood his ward and dear teenaged cousin, Ali ibn Taleb (AS).   
       After performing the last rites, the widower Prophet consoled his orphaned daughter and for a while became speechless to her question: O Father, where has my mother gone, when Gabriel descended, and revealed the following to him:
       "Your Lord commands you to inform Fatema that He sends His blessings upon her and says: Your Mother is in a house of brocade, its corners are made of gold, and its poles are of rubies. It is located between the houses of Asiya bint Muzahem (the tyrant Pharaoh's virtuous wife) and Maryam bint Imran – the Virgin Mother of Prophet Jesus (AS).”
       Little Fatema (SA) was a picture of profound patience and expressing gratitude in the Divine Court, said: "Surely Allah is Salaam (Eternal Peace), and peace is from Him and to Him.”
       The One and Only Mother of all True Believers, needs no introduction. The Daughter of the wealthy monotheist merchant, Khuwailed ibn Assad, she was linked by five generations to the same pedigree as that of the Prophet’s clan of Qoraiysh. Known for her wisdom, knowledge, dignity, excellent temperament and spotless character, she was acclaimed as "Tahera” (Pure and Chaste) even in those pre-Islamic days. Her trade caravans that plied the routes from Mecca to Yemen, Syria and other far off places, earned her the epithet "Maleekat-al-Arab” (Richest Lady of all Arabia).
       On hearing of the reputation of Prophet Muhammad (SAWA) – who had not yet been commanded by God to announce his universal mission of Islam – she entrusted him with management of her trade affairs. Impressed by the 25-year old youth’s honesty in discharging his duties and having confirmed his scrupulous handling during a trade trip abroad, through her servants in the caravan that he was really "as-Sadeq” (Truthful) and "al-Ameen” (Trustworthy), she proposed marriage to him.
       The Prophet consulted his uncle and guardian Hazrat Abu Taleb (AS), and soon the nuptials were solemnized with great rejoicing, to the extent that for over a month the whole of Mecca was entertained to a daily feast.
        The two made an excellent "made-for-each-other pair” and fifteen years later when divine revelation dawned upon the husband the dedicated wife immediately believed in his mission as the Almighty’s Last and Greatest Messenger to mankind. Thereafter, she spent all her wealth in the propagation of Islam.
        The couple had several children including son Qasem, from whom the Prophet derived his agnomen (kunya) Abu’l-Qasem, but all died in infancy except the youngest daughter Fatema az-Zahra (SA), who was conceived after the Prophet’s return from Me’raj (ascension to the heavens in the twinkling of an eye) and his tasting of the fruits of paradise. That is one of the reasons God has referred to Hazrat Fatema (SA) as "Kowthar” (Spring of Perpetual Abundance) in the Holy Qur’an.
       Islam will always remain indebted to Hazrat Khadijah (SA). Her house was the cradle of Islam, and it was she who nursed and reared it for over ten years till she closed her eyes forever on the 10th of Ramadhan.
      As her future son-in-law, the Commander of the Faithful, Imam Ali (AS), who grew up in her house as the Prophet’s ward, said decades later in one of his famous sermons titled "al-Qas’iah” (Sermon 191 of Nahj al-Balagha):  
       "In those days Islam did not exist in any house except that of the Prophet of Allah (SAWA) and Khadijah, while I was the third after these two. I used to see and watch the effulgence of Divine Revelation, and breathed the fragrance of Prophethood.”
       Even after death, although the Godless Wahhabis destroyed her holy tomb in 1925, Khadijah (SA) reigns supreme. In every era and place, it was her offspring, who rose to the defence of Islam, as is evident by the tragic martyrdom of her grandson, Imam Husain (AS) in Karbala.
       In our own times, the Father of the Islamic Revolution, Imam Khomeini (RA), who delivered Iran from domestic despotism and US hegemony and whose passing away anniversary we commemorated a couple days ago for reviving Islam, was a descendant of Hazrat Khadijah (SA).

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Condolences on the Passing Away Anniversary of Hazrat Khadijah (SA)