 The mysteries of Islam fascinate us time and time again. This is no different from the life story of the Prophet. Who was Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa alihi wasallam? An illiterate dozen merchant who one day stumbled upon amazing Arabic rhetoric. Or was he the creation of Allah's greatest light, sent down to earth to pull man out of ignorance and bring them to the purest of truths? I, Ali Burji, am on a journey to discover the real story behind the Prophet, the real story behind our religion, the roots, the beginning, the cradle of civilization. So regarding Syeda Khadija, how old was she when she got married to the Holy Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam? In the previous episode we were talking about the qualities of Syeda Khadija, and the last thing I remember that we said was that the Prophet was talking about Syeda Khadija and he mentioned that I have not seen an employer treating their employees better than Syeda Khadija treated, and fairly better than Syeda Khadija treating her employees. I'm sure she did. So she was very fair and very kind to her employees, people who worked for her. I asked her a question that how old was she when she married the Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, and of course there is another question that whether she had married before the Prophet and whether she had gender. And of course they say that the various reports about her age, we have reports that when she married the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam she was 25, some say 28, some say 30, some say 40, and some reports say that she had married twice before, and she had three daughters from her previous marriage. Of course some of these narrations and so on are if you go on research you realize that they've been fabricated by those who wanted to undermine Khadija, the Prophet Imam Ali, Fatimah al-Zahran, and so on and so forth. Now I'd like to, using this book which I refer to, show it to you by Sheikh Ali Akbar Mahdi Pur. It's a very good book, a brief about the life of the Prophet, of Sayyid Khadija alaihi wa sallam. And the author narrates that there are various scholars and works that deal with these issues, the issue of her age, whether or not she married before, she had married before the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam and whether or not she had children. And a brief that she was 25, up to at most a 28, that she was 25 or 28, up to 28 when she married the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam and of course the Shi'a scholars say she was 25. She was the same age as the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, they were both 25 when they married. And she had never married before, and I'll give you the references. And therefore the three daughters, three girls, their names are mentioned and being associated with the, we'll say the Khadija, that is Zaynab Rukaya and Um Kulthum, they are the daughters of her sister Hala, not her own daughters. As for the fact that she had never married, there are various works which confirm this and the references, there are a number of them. One of them is the book called Al Shafi fil imamah by Sayyid Murtaza Al-Alam Al-Huda. And Sayyid Murtaza Al-Alam Al-Huda was born in the 10th century, I think it was something like 950, 955, 955. Sayyid Murtaza Al-Alam Al-Huda in this book Al Shafi fil imamah confirms that she had never married before, before she married the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, Sayyid Khadija. Sayyid Murtaza, as you may know, Sayyid Murtaza Al-Alam Al-Huda is the brother of Sayyid Razi. And Sayyid Razi is the compiler of Najul Balagh Ali, the book, the speeches of Imam Ali Ali, the speeches and sermons and letters. So Sayyid Razi and Sayyid Murtaza, they are some of the amongst the highly learned scholars of the Shia. And in his book Al Shafi fil imamah, he confirms that Sayyid Khadija was not married before, she married the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam. Another one, Shaykh Tusi, he also confirms that she was not married before, she married the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam. Shaykh Tusi is another great scholar of the Shia. And this is in the book Tal Khees Al-Shafi, which is by his teacher, Sayyid Murtaza. Also Al Baladari, which is a Sunni scholar, in his book Ansab al-Ashraf, he states that she never married before, she married the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam. Another one is Abul Qasmi al-Kufi, in his book Al-Istaghatha fi bida'a al-Thiratha. We also have Ibn Shahrashub in his work Manaqab al-Abi Talib, which is well known. In here they're given the page numbers and the volumes. I'm not mentioning this so that it doesn't become confusing. For example, Manaqab al-Abi Talib, volume one, page 160. Also Al-Lama Majlisi in Bihar, volume 22, page 191. They all mentioned that, confirmed that she had not married before that. And the fact that the daughters Zaynab Rukia and Umkultum are the daughters of Hala. He's the sister of Sayyid al-Khadijani. Again, for example, narrators Ibn Sa'ad, that's one of the Tabaqat al-Kubra, in his book Tabaqat al-Kubra. He says that she was one of the Sunni scholars. They stated that she was 28 when she married the Prophet Sallallahu alaihi wa alaih, a Zahabi in his book Seer al-Alam al-Nubala. And I could read, there are great many references given in here in this book. And finally, one of the references that began on this page, page 23 of this book, is that Sayyid al-Khadijani had never married, is a book by Sayyid Muhammad al-Shirazi, the late Grand Eid Allah, Atul Allah, Sayyid Muhammad al-Shirazi, in his book Ummahat al-Mu'mineen, page 90, said that she had never married Sayyid al-Khadijani before the Prophet Sallallahu alaihi wa alaihi wa alaihi. And again, addressing the issue of the three daughters, Rukia, Zaynab and Umm Kulthum, for example, he cites the scholar Sayyid Muhsin al-Ameen in the book A'iyan al-Shia, that he confirms that these were not the daughters of the Prophet Sallallahu alaihi wa alaih, Zaynab, Rukia and Umm Kulthum. They were the daughters of the sister of Sayyid al-Khadijani. Also, another book by Sayyid Ja'far Murtaza al-Aameen, Banat al-Nabi Amrab'a Abih, page 75, he addresses this issue and he confirms that they were not the daughters of the Prophet and Sayyid al-Khadijani. This is all because there's been this false information, if you like, that she had married twice before the Prophet. She had kids from those marriages before she married the Prophet Sallallahu alaihi wa alaihi. All of these confirmed that she... And also, another thing is that she was 40 when she married the Prophet Sallallahu alaihi wa alaihi. These all confirmed that she was about 25, had never married before and therefore she didn't have any daughters from any marriages. Thank you for clarifying, Dokhtul. Another thing which I'd like to talk about before we come to the issue of the beginning of the Prophet, of the Prophet Sallallahu alaihi wa alaihi, as we mentioned that when the marriage ceremony ended, finished, she gave away all her wealth to the Prophet Sallallahu alaihi wa alaihi. And Waraqa bin Naufil made the announcement on her instruction. She instructed him, she wants him to go and make that announcement. So they announced that there and then, and he went by the Ka'bah and had the request of Sayyid al-Khadijani to make that announcement that she'd given away all her wealth to the Prophet Sallallahu alaihi wa alaihi. Which again, we said that this really reflects on her understanding. And nothing which I wanted to mention was that it is said that, which is reported here, that when she went home, after a while the Prophet Sallallahu alaihi wa alaihi went home, she was standing by, when he wanted to enter, she opened the door and she said, you're going to be the Prophet one day, I have one request from you. And that is, I want you to pray for me. That was her request. So that Allah is pleased with me. This goes to show the level of her understanding, the appreciation, the cognition she had and the awareness she had about this whole mission of the Prophet Sallallahu alaihi wa alaihi. Even that's 15 years before it started. That's why I say that she was no ordinary woman, no ordinary pious woman. She was, I suppose the best thing that can describe her is she was a Sadiqa, as we mentioned in the last episode, which has been explained by Imam Sallallahu alaihi wa alaihi wa sallam, has the meaning of Ma'soom. So this is quite significant, I think, and it's worth pondering upon when we read these passages. So 15 years fast forward, when the Prophet Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, by the way, in all the time she used to, when the Prophet used to go to Ghar-Hara for worship. Ghar-Hara? What is this story? This is just outside Mecca, a cave of Ghar-Hara outside Mecca, where the Prophet spent a lot of time on regular basis going there for worship. And even before the revelation started, of course the revelation first started there. Oh that's the cave. Yeah, where he was there. Sayyid al-Khadeed, she used to accompany him to that cave, or she used to, for instance, come join him later on, bring some food for him, food and drink and so on. So that when he is tired, when he needs food and drink, he can take it. So she was very close to him, she was very supportive, she was very loyal, and of course you will see that when the mission of the Prophet Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam begins. And when the mission begins, she completely and wholeheartedly believes in him. And obviously she is the first woman who brought faith to his religion. And on the very first day, when he comes back, when the revelations are made, is made by Aqa and Jujibreel to the Prophet Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, and he comes home, she can see on his face. First of all, she sees him, she sees his face radiant, and she asks, what is this radiance in your face? She said, the Prophet Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam says, this is the light of prophethood. And I had revelation made to me today by Aqa and Jujibreel. And she immediately says, A'mantu wa sadaqtu wa raghitu wa sallam. She was looking forward to this day. And it means I have faith and believe in your message, and I testify to that. And I am pleased and content with this religion, and I submit and surrender to the teachings of Allah, A'mantu wa sadaqtu wa raghitu wa sallam. As I said, she was looking forward to this. She knew this was going to happen, and this is what happened. And so, on the very first day, on the very first day, she brings faith to the religion of the Prophet, to the mission of the Prophet, the religion of the Prophet Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, and she supports him in his endeavor, as we see. And of course, it was for, it's well known that the first woman who believed in the Prophet Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam and the first man who believed in the Prophet Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam was Imam Ali alaihi sallam. And for years, five times a day, they used to pray by the Ka'bah, three people, the Prophet Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, Imam Ali and Sallam alaihi wa sallam. They were praying behind him. And later on, an instruction from Abu Talib, when he said to his son, Jafar, you join your brother and join him and pray with him. So he started praying with him, so we come four. And it was for years that these four people were praying. As you know, that when the Prophethood of the Prophet Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam began, when that is Archangel Gabriel appeared and revealed, appeared to the Prophet and revealed the first verses of the Quran. Of course, in the first instance, the entire Quran, its entirety was revealed to him. It was not public. It was something like three years later when Allah SWT instructed the Prophet Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam to go public. Indeed, Sayyid Khadija is well-known that addresses the Prophet Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam before marriage. She says, I desire to marry you for your honor, for your truthfulness, for your honesty and for your good manners.