 Today, insha'Allah, I'm going to be covering Sittinah Khadija. Khadija bint Khawailad, the wife of the Prophet Muhammad, sallallahu alayhi wasallam, and in her story, which many of you know, I mean, everything I'm going to say here is probably review, by and large, but the reason we review and re-review is because SubhanAllah, every time we uncover something beautiful, a gem that we haven't really thought of before or maybe we haven't paid attention to in some long period of time. And then you draw connections to your own life or the life of other sisters around you and it suddenly all clicks together, SubhanAllah. Khadija, radiallahu anha, her name literally means the one who was born early. She was born premature. She was born earlier than her parents expected her to be. And hence her name. But at the very end of our talk, we're going to sum it up by saying she wasn't just born into this dunya early, she was also early ahead of her time and ahead of her generation and ahead of most women of society, including today, right? And her beliefs and what she accomplished was well ahead of many, SubhanAllah. And so as we look at Satana Khadija radiallahu anha, we have to start actually with her parents. This is a theme today. Every single one of the stories we've said so far, we started with the generation before them, right? Because you don't just sort of come into the world. You come into a family that's already in existence, SubhanAllah, and then you start to shape who you are after that. Well, her parents, Mashallah, were noble people of Quraish. And her father had a dream while his wife, Khadija's mother, was pregnant. And he woke up very excited because he saw in this dream that he was gathering, that he was a young boy and he had his, you know how you kind of take your shirt to gather fruit, you know, in it. And they were dates, really ripe dates. And they were being put into his shirt. And as much as they were putting these dates, it wouldn't fill. And then he was able to taste this date, you know, and then suddenly he woke up, realizing it's a dream. So he got very excited and he went to his wife and he said, I think we're going to have a boy. Another theme, Mashallah, of today, right? And his wife kind of just, you know, isn't as excited as he is. And he asks her, why are you not, you know, so excited. And she says, because in the dream, her interpretation of what she had learned is that dates mean girls. And this would be their firstborn. And in Quraysh, in that society, this is pre-Islamic, right? In that tribal pre-Islamic society, having your firstborn be a girl, meant possibly that it would have, that they would be buried alive, female infanticide, because it was shameful. The first had to be a boy. And he comes from a very honorable family and there was expectations. This is Khueled, his father is Assad. And there's expectations that the firstborn of the great nobleman, Assad, his father, would be a boy, a grandson. And so, as you can imagine, now comes the birth. And he, as we now know, right, is of course a girl and born early. And her father, Khueled, is very worried because he's worried that as soon as they see that it's a girl, they're gonna advise him to bury her alive. So the sister is at this point, this is what I want you to do. Those of you who are taking notes, I want you to take a table, put three columns, three categories, okay? We're gonna try to fill this out together. Put a column, inshallah, the first one and call it things that are unique about Satsina Khadijah. Unique in her time, but honestly, even unique in our times. The second column, please put, things that don't seem as they really are. Things in the story that you pick up as we're talking that don't seem exactly as they actually are. And the third column is every time you mention something and there's a characteristic, a character trait, because you wanna come out from this lecture with something, inshallah, that's very tangible for you to take, right? So things that are first column, things that are unique about her. Second column, things that are not quite what they seem. And the third column, any characteristics that you hear, start making this long, probably it's gonna be a very long list of characteristics of Satsina Khadijah. And so, here comes the birth of still Khadijah and her father's trembling, kinda really worried. His father, as it has come and all the rest of his tribe has come and they're waiting to see. And the news comes out that this is a girl and he's worried. But then he sees that his father, right? Khadijah's grandfather is looking at her almost like with a change of heart. She seems something very special. Like they talk about how like she's very light as in noor, like light emanating from her. They see kind of a light, a noor. And at that point in time, the head of the tribe is none other than I wonder who can tell me. Do you guys know who would be the head of Quraish at this period of time? Abd al-Muttalib, who is whom? The grandfather of the Prophet Muhammad, Sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, right? So like distant, distant, there is a connection between them but it's not like direct, right? But he's the head of the tribe, so he comes too. And so here is her grandfather Asad and here is the head of Quraish Abd al-Muttalib. And they're standing there and they're kinda wondering about this girl who is a girl, not a boy, but is very like has all this noor light kind of emanating from her. And at that period in time, it's like Allah put something in their heart to change it. And at that point, Abd al-Muttalib, who would have given kind of a small gift if it was a girl, this is all jahili, like pre-Islamic, you know, time of ignorance, right? A small gift if it was a girl and a large gift if it was a boy. And suddenly not only did he give the gift that he was coming to give, but he emptied out all of his pockets and everything he had. He just felt in his heart, this is going to be a special person. So in your column of things that are not quite what they seem, right? And things, right? In this case, also things that are unique to her, right? She would have died, but Allah has saved her for something very, very important and special that's to come, insha'Allah ta'ala. And so we continue on and it's something very unique about her of course is this born kind of with this light, SubhanAllah. Now, her father and her mother decide that also very unique in her time is to educate her. Her cousin who's much, much older, several decades older, maybe about 50 or so years older than her is her cousin, Waraqah. You know this name, Waraqah ibn Naufal. And so they take her as a little girl to Waraqah to be taught by him. He's a learned man. He's studied the gospel, he studied the Torah, he studied so many different things. And he becomes her personal teacher. And so she studies with him for years, right? And she becomes, she's able to read, she's able to write and she's very bright. And the news gets out about her that this not only she's very beautiful, but she's also very intelligent. And so she's got marriage proposals coming in left and right. And her and her family reject them, reject them, reject them, reject them, right? Until she reaches 15 years. At that point, her family says she's got to get married. And let me just pause here for a moment. When we talk about young ages, don't think about yourself in 2021 in this era trying to understand young aged marriage. You have to put yourself back in that society back in that time. Where if your life expectancy is about 30, then 15 is half your life. It makes sense to get married then. In fact, many of the girls of her era would have already been married. Do you see what I'm saying? So before people start making a fuss, think about that. You know this, you know this because how old were the Prophet's parents? Both, both, when they passed away. So the Prophet's of the lives of his parents. They married young. His father didn't even see the Prophet's of the lives of him. So what does that put him, age-wise? He hadn't reached 20. Sutana Amina, his mother, had also passed away. Just years into the Prophet's toddlerhood. People died young in that age. Do you see what I'm saying? So here she is at the age of 15, back to Sadaqadija. And she passed, so it's time for her to get married. And she doesn't necessarily want to, but she knows that this is something that her society and her parents want of her. And when the proposal comes, right, and this is now, his name is Abu Hala, who comes to propose, they can't really say no. He's honest. He's hardworking. He's honorable. He has honorable lineage. And he's also wealthy, which becomes an important point that we'll talk about in a moment. He has everything in a Meccan society that would be important for someone of her nobility and stature. So she asks her parents. They say this is a good fit. She asks her uncle and teacher, her cousin rather, and teacher, Waraqa. He says this is a good fit. And so she agrees. She gets married at the age of 15. And here we start to see some really important things start to happen. You talk about difficulties and trials. We heard about Sutana Mediam. We heard about Sutana Asya, both of which had very difficult trials. So what is it about Sutana Khadijah? Well, here starts the story of many things to come. She's widowed only two years after getting married. And not only that, but she's had two children. She's had Hala and Hind, who are boys. If you're wondering for anybody who's kind of familiar with the names as being girl names, why are the boys girl names, is because there was a jahidi, pre-Islamic society, a thing of protecting any Nazar or Ain, or evil eye from the boys by naming them girls. And that's how low in society girls were considered, right? They won't be given the evil eye if they're girls. So she has Hala and she has Hind, the two boys, and her husband, Abu Hala, passes away, right, before even the second one is born. So here she is at 17, a widow and a single mother. More themes, right? You seeing the similarity here? Yep. And so at that point in time, she decides, she's very, basha'Allah, very a bright person. So she decides to actually, because she's inherited, this is an important part, because Abu Hala was very wealthy, she inherits a large sum of money. You know in the column where you're writing, things don't always seem as they are? So you think that somebody who has lost their husband is widowed at 17 and a single mother of two children, it would be disastrous and very difficult. Well, things are not always what they seem. Because what if it was that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala put Abu Hala in her path to allow her to have somebody, not only to have these children subhanAllah, but also she inherited a good sum of money. And with this money, she could have just used it easily and kind of sat in her, you know, high level of society of elite of Mecca, right? And just, you know, took care of her kids. But she decided to put that brilliance into business. And so she does something else in the column of the unique for her time, she becomes a businesswoman. And not only does she become a businesswoman because you could outsource this and have it to other men to run your business, though she runs it herself. And she, it's noticed about her that every time her caravan goes out, it comes back with more profit compared to the other men. She's doing really well, very intelligent masha'Allah. And it's almost like I don't need to do exactly the stereotype of every other woman of society. This is what Allah has written for me and I'm going to make the best of it. So she dedicates herself to business and to raising her children. Now, she's very young still. And in that society, it's expected that she would be married again. And so proposals keep coming in and now add to everything else we said already in the list of characteristics, she's wealthy. Even more reason. Every person wants to propose to her and she turns them down, turns them down, turns them down until we get to a man named Atiq. And similar to her first husband, Abu Hala, he's also from a noble lineage. He himself is wealthy, so he's not looking to her wealth, he's independently wealthy. And he's industrious, a hard worker. And so her family and her advisor and teacher, Laqa, and everybody else agrees that this would be a good fit for her and a good match. And so she goes ahead and marries for the second time at the age of 17. And she has a girl from this marriage named Hindah. Now, very similar to the first marriage, after Hindah is born, her father is going out to the caravan with the caravan and never returns. He passes away. She's widowed twice over and three children. Twice widowed and three children. In this period of time, this and even to today, put yourself in even today shoes, this is difficult, this is heavy, this is what do you do with this exactly? What does she do, Satsana Khadijah? She takes all of this and she turns it into, again, Allah wrote this for me, therefore I'm going to surrender to what he's written to me, for me. And she's doing well business-wise. So she dedicates all her energy into business and her family. And she forgets about marriage. So I've tried this, clearly it wasn't written for me, right? Every time she gets married within two years, the husband dies, SubhanAllah, right? So now she's a business woman and for years, years, maybe 15 years, this is what she's doing, dedicated to her business, doing very well, washa'Allah, successful and something very unique about her, unlike the woman of her time. She's very tuned into the poor, the needy, the orphans and she uses her wealth to help these folks. Not only that, but also unlike the woman of her time, especially the elite kind of wealthy woman of Mecca, she takes care of her children by herself. She doesn't have, she leads a simple life, not a luxurious life that she could have led because she's wealthy, but she decides to do things for herself by herself, which allows her to have empathy and understand those who don't have a lot. So now, as we fast forward into the story, 15 years of this story, SubhanAllah, but something important happens when she's 34 years old, her father passes away and her father, of course, is a very important person to her and within a very short period of time, her mother passes away as well. So suddenly she's alone, no parents, no husbands, right? And Waraqah, her mentor, is in his 80s, but she keeps on getting advice from him and she does visit with him very regularly and kind of seeks him out for any advice and help. And in this period of time, she has this discussion with Waraqah because she hears from him constantly because he keeps on saying this message over and over, there is a prophet to come and he's eminent, it's happening, it's in the Torah, it's in the gospel, it is happening, it is coming. So she's hearing this very regularly and one night she has a dream. She doesn't know what the dream means but she's just like her father's dream, she's just so happy when she wakes up and doesn't know what to make of it. And so she goes to Waraqah to ask, what does this dream mean? And here's how the dream goes. She sees that there's a star in the sky and it separates from the rest of the stars and falls into her lap, literally and it enters into her chest and comes out into her arms and then after that it ascends and the entire sky is drenched in light. It's this beautiful dream and she wakes up happy and just excited about it, doesn't know what this means. And so she goes to Waraqah and explains to him the dream and he says, the prophet has come. The prophet has come, this is about the prophet and your home will be drenched in light. It'll have light enter into it. And she said, well, it's wonderful but what does this have to do with me? Shaba, right? And so he foretells, some narrations say that he actually tells her, you will marry the prophet. And in other narrations we just know that, he says to her that light is going to enter your home. Subhanallah. And so in this same period of time she carries on with her business and all of you know the story now while you're gonna connect the dots of where, what happens next? She has a caravan going to Damascus. She's in Mecca, there's a caravan going to Damascus and it's a far distance, three months of a journey and she needs a very trustworthy person. Now the people of Quraish here, that Khadija, the wealthy woman needs a very trustworthy person so many people wanna be this position. She's gonna pay them well. Now, in the same period of time, you know the rest of this part, right? Abu Talib, who is, who exactly is Abu Talib? The uncle of the prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, who's taken in the prophet, peace be upon him, right? After, Abdul Mutlif has passed away so now he's being raised in his uncle's home. He's a young man, he's a young man. And he's, and Abu Talib is actually not wealthy and there are many mouths to feed. And so Abu Talib here is about Khadija's caravan and so he says to Muhammad, Sayyidina Muhammad, peace be upon him, why don't you go and take that job? She'll pay well and you are trustworthy and she's looking for a trustworthy person and the prophet's nickname was what? As-sal al-ameen, sadaq al-ameen, very good, insha'Allah. And so he says, okay, but Yani, what would she really, I mean, is Yani gonna be the right fit? And so he says, absolutely. And look at how beautiful this is. They send an intermediary, the prophet's uncle, aunt, rather, to ask Satana Khadija would this be the right fit? Now Satana Khadija's surprised because she's been hearing about Muhammad, sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, as a very honorable and kind of trustworthy person, but she doesn't think he'd be very interested in this caravan, right? Because he's like very noble, like an orphan, not well to do, but very honorable, right? And so when they come to have the business discussion about whether or not it should be the prophet, he can't even, he's so modest, he doesn't even look up at her, he had her face, right? He kind of is looking down while they're having this discussion. And she's very happy because she feels like if it'll be Muhammad taking my caravan over, then I won't be swindled, I won't be cheated, right? Like she's at the mercy of whoever's gonna go take the caravan over. And so she decides and says to him, if you take the caravan, I'll give you not just the two camels that are, you know, guaranteed her, you know, that's how much she owes for this, I'll give you more. But it's not about that for the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, right? It's because his uncle had asked him and said, you know, we need some help here, why don't you take this job? Anyhow, she's very excited because she notices things immediately about the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam. For example, she notices that honesty kind of right away. And she starts to wonder, you know, because she's been hearing from her, from Waraqa, you know, that there is a prophet eminent, but she doesn't know exactly who this is. But she asks Waraqa, tell me some descriptions about this person because you speak about them from everything you read in the gospel in the Torah as though you know what they look like and who they are. And so he says, sure, I'll tell you some characteristics. So this is what he tells her. He says, this person will never reciprocate evil with evil. He will not raise his voice. He is forgiving and he's very merciful. He rides donkeys and camels and he shepherds, you know, he's a shepherd and he milks sheep. He wears patches on his clothing. And he has a sign between his shoulder blades that's called the mark of the prophet, but all the other prophets had as well. And his name will be Ahmed. And so she has all of these different characteristics that she knows about him. And she realizes, wow, this is going to be, you know, it'd be amazing if she could possibly get to know who this person is. Well, in that same period of time, there's a rabbi. Now remember, the Jews and the Christians of that era were also being foretold that this prophet is coming and they're also waiting, but they're hoping it's gonna be from their bloodlines. Right? See, everybody's looking, everybody's looking. But there was a rabbi who came to a group of women where he was standing and he actually says to them, he says, a woman of Quraish, the signs are telling us that the prophet is here and he will be from Quraish. So if any of you can marry him, then do so. Now all the other women who are sitting with us in a Khadijah start laughing at this man. They're like, what kind of joke stirs this? What prophet and telling us to marry him? Not only are they laughing at him, they start kind of throwing stones at him to go away. But not her. She hears this and she feels like something enters into her heart like, oh, I hope that could be me. Do you know when some, you know, for everybody here who's ever thought about when they were younger, thought about getting married, there's always this kind of like, I wonder who that person will be. The list of characteristics follows. Sometimes it's a little more shallow and sometimes it's a little deeper depending, you know. In this society, people will say, what is it, tall, dark, and handsome? I don't know if you know what that means. But anyway, whatever characteristics people have, right? Anyway, let's show it. She had in her heart, imagine, put yourself in her shoes for a minute. She had this in her heart, this little thing enter your heart like, if that would be me, what would it be like to be the wife of a prophet? Right? SubhanAllah. So back now to the story about Sayed Muhammad, where it's time for him to take her caravan. So she calls her servant, what's her servant's name? Maserah. And she tells Maserah, this is going to be the leader of the caravan. Do not let him out of your sight. Everything he does, everything he says, I want a full report afterwards. She has a sense about him, but she's not really sure and she wants a full report. So Maserah says, of course. And so off they go on this caravan and so many things start to happen in this journey, that she notices and that he notices Maserah as well. And you know the stories here. We're not going to repeat all of them because you know them SubhanAllah, of the cloud that's shading the prophets allahu alayhi wa sallam, wherever he goes. That every time that him or Maserah are thirsty, he just kind of hits the ground and water springs up from wherever, and they're in the middle of the desert. Right? That when they pass by the monk, the Haida, right? Who never comes out and doesn't want to ever want to interact with people, he sees from a distance and he rushes over and he sees that the prophet sitting under the tree and he rushes to Maserah and says, who's this man? And he says his name's Muhammad, he's the caravan leader. And he says, no, this is a prophet and there could be people out to get him. So go quickly, go back to your home. Right? And so Maserah's worried about this. And so he, so Maserah experiences all these strange happenings that are going on, right, about this man. And one of the most important things that he reports back to Satana Khadija is that in the trade, when the prophet's doing business, it's a customary that you swear upon the idols that the prophet Muhammad SAW never does that. And so when Maserah hears actually, what did you say that he doesn't swear on the idols? So even from his Subhanallah, think about how Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala puts people and he already has things planned. Satana Khadija is also a monotheist. Not that Muslim, this is before Islam, but because she was raised and taught by Waraqa, who was also a monotheist. He did not believe in the polytheism of that time in the idols. He believed in the one God and he raised her that way. So she's already a monotheist. And the prophet SAW, since he was a young boy, had rejected polytheism. And he would think Subhanallah, how Allah has things planned, right? Because of course, whoever is meant to be with the prophet SAW as his wife, is that going to, in her past, have been a polytheist? Subhanallah, right? So here's just, so here's this from my side, and here's all these other amazing things. And she feels like, you know, like when that enters into your heart, you're like, I wonder if this is him, right? Subhanallah. So anyhow, she contemplates this and from two years back and forth in her head, back and forth, you know, how do I make this move? Because again, in the list of things unique to her, by this point in time, she's 40. And how old is the prophet SAW? He's 25. She's 15 years, his senior. So even in that period of time, very similar to today, that's unique. That's not typical. And not only is it not typical, but you know what else isn't typical? Still to today? Although it has nothing to do with Islam, this is all cultural things, is for her to initiate the proposal to him, some of the law, who I may send out. See, we're drawing out all of these column, this column of things that are unique, but also very important that things that are not what they exactly seen. And Allah has an amazing, better plan. So you know the story. We won't finish all the parts of this story, but you know the story here where she asks and very beautifully, how does she go about, and Sadah Hussai was earlier telling us about what happens when you have a good friend, somebody who visits with you and has a pulse on you. And when you're a little off, they can tell. And they're like, what's actually wrong? What's actually going on? Are you okay? Right, SubhanAllah. And so anyway, she, this is her friend, Nafisa. And Nafisa, right, senses there's something going on here, but she does, she wants to ask and kind of pull it out of Sittinah Khadija, like friends sometimes pull information out of you, SubhanAllah. And so she asks, and Nafisa and Sittinah Khadija finally says to her, well, I've been thinking about proposing to Muhammad, but I don't know how. I don't know. I mean, not only is it so un-customary of her time, but how do you do this, right? So being the good friend that Nafisa says, she says, I'll take care of it. Nafisa laughs, inshallah. And she says, really, you'll do that for me? Yes, I'll do that for you. And so she does this in a beautiful, etiquette way, because you don't know, right? What if he's already thinking of someone else? Like, how do you, you know, how do you, you don't want to put her in an embarrassing situation either? So Nafisa goes over to Sayyidina Muhammad, and she, it's a very beautiful haul. She asks this. She says to him, you know, her exact words are, what is preventing you from getting married? Now, are you married? Are you interested? No, no, no, no. What's preventing you from getting married? And so the Prophet Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam tells Nafisa, and he says to her, I'm not in a financial position to do so. I can't take care of a wife and a family. I don't have the means. So Nafisa very smartly says to him, what if the means were not an issue? What if that wasn't a problem? What if the woman was wealthy, and beautiful, and honorable? And so the Prophet Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam says, well, who's that? And she says to him, Khadija. And so he's, you know, he's kind of, he didn't say no, he was kind of quiet, and he's interested. And so she's very excited, right? And if he says about to rush over to Sittinah Khadija and tell her, you know, that there is a potential here, Sittinah Khadija. Anyhow, she consults. So he, the Prophet Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, consults his uncle Abu Talib, who thinks that this is a good match. And Sittinah Khadija consults her uncle, right? And they think it's a good match. And Subhanallah, right, for sake of time, we'll just kind of wrap this piece together and say, both families agree, and Alhamdulillah, both are represented by their uncles and their wed. Subhanallah. She's 40, here's 25. She's previously married twice and has three children. He's never been married. What's to come after this is an amazing marriage, something you can take all week talking about the marriage of Sittinah Khadija and Sayyidina Muhammad, Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam. Truly when the book say a marriage of bliss and one of hardship and sacrifice, it really is that way, Subhanallah. But it really was blissful for so many things that we're gonna quickly kind of outline here and explain. Unique to Sittinah Khadija is after, and she's 40 when she marries, right? Which means that because after that point when Sayyidina Muhammad, Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, she gives birth to six children, 40 onwards. Subhanallah, right? And two of them are boys who pass away. Qasim and Abdullah. And four of them are girls who live into their adulthood. Zaynab, Ruqya, Umqaltun and Fatima, who Dr. Ahmed will speak about Fatima right after this inshallah. And when you think about who she is as a wife to the Prophet Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, remember she has her business and she's independently wealthy and she's educated. And she knows and has been told that this is gonna be a hard path, but she's signed up for it. She's already surrendered her life to whatever Allah Subhanahu wa sallam has given her. And something about being a beautiful wife, like a really honorable wife, is that you push, this is something I can't wait for Haitha Sosan to come. There's so many stories and messages in here that I personally learned from Ansa Sosan who's going to be here in just a couple talks after that I can't wait for you to meet her in person. It's kind of amazing that she's here, Subhanallah. But one of the things that I remember learning from Ansa Sosan is that a wife who does well as a wife is someone that when she marries, she understands that this man that she's married isn't hers, he isn't her property. He has a family and he has parents and he has siblings and he has extended members of his family and he needs to do right by them just like he needs to do right by her and this new family that he's creating. And a good wife pushes her husband towards his family, not away from his family. And this is what we see in Satanah Khadija. She reminds him that his milk mother, what's say the Mohammed's milk mother's name? Halima is out there and how was she doing? So she reminds him, check up on the people that were important in your life and they invite her over. And when Satanah Halima comes over to visit with Satanah Khadija, can you imagine? She tells her that there's hardships and there's famine and so on. And out of her generosity, Satanah Khadija gives her all these sheep and all this milk, you know what I mean, to go back with her, not out of honor of the family of her husband. She honors them. There was a milk mother that the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam had another one. That was the slave of Abu Lahab, right? And she tells the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, why don't we free her, purchase to free? And he says, this is an amazing idea. He didn't have the wealth, but she did, right? So she's honoring his family while honoring him through honoring his family. Do you see what I'm saying? It turns out that Abu Lahab said no because Abu Lahab, as you know from the Surah, Ab-Tabbat Yadah, Ab-Ilahab Bin-Mutab, right? Like he's not going to agree to this, but later on in life, this milk mother does get freed, SubhanAllah. Not in that story because they do actually try and he says no. But the story here is the point is that she honors her husband and honors her husband's family as well. She also surrenders in that whenever the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam now, as kind of imagine, kind of keep going forward, keep going forward in time, and they have had their children and years into this, 15 years into this, because how old was the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam when he first received revelation? 40. So they were married for 15 years and had their six children, right? In that period of time, before revelation even comes, but when it does come, it's heavy, it's difficult, right? And the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam doesn't know what this is that's coming. And this is where Sattana Khadija plays an incredibly important and pivotal role, right? Because what does she say? Because the first thing that ever happens, that the first thing that ever, but the thing, the first thing that the Prophet notices that happens, right? Is he actually sees Sattana Sayyidina Jibrin, the archangel Gabriel? He sees him and he kind of is frozen because he sees him in the sky, and he kind of sees him and he's just frozen, right? Not sure what this is or what to do with this, Subhanallah. And he hears, he hears him say, oh, Muhammad, you are the messenger of God, and I am the archangel Gabriel. And he's frozen. And he stays frozen like that until Jibrin leaves. And at that point, as you can imagine, Sattana runs back to his family, right? Sattana runs back to Sattana Khadija, and he's just very, very unsure of what all of this is, and she calms him down. She doesn't get all excited along with him, she calms him down, right? And so she says, and he says, I'm afraid I saw a devil. What if this is a devil that I saw? And so she says to him, a law would never embarrass you. You treat your relatives well, you help the needy, you protect the poor, and you come to the aid of the aggrieved, you are a wonderful host to your guests. A law will never embarrass you. This is a good sign, don't worry, don't worry. And if she calms him down. But then again, right? When prophecy comes, and he is at this point in time, the prophet said to him, things are happening all around him. He's seeing lights, he starts to admit to her that he's seeing these lights and he's hearing sounds. And a person like this is panel on my field. I hear so many people in counseling say to me things like, I think I'm going crazy. I deal with this a lot, right? And I say, no, no, no, that's not going crazy. That's just, you're dealing with difficult things. It can make you feel like you're going crazy, but that you're not actually going crazy, right? And so there are difficult things that are happening. So what does she do? She says, you're not going crazy. You're not, like all the people are starting to say, something is possessing Muhammad, he has evil magic, he has something, whatever, all these things that people, terrible things that the rumors are spreading about him. She's the one in the background saying, what? No, you're fine. No, these are good signs. Allah is there for you because you are good to him and you are good to the people. So the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, and this is very important here. He starts slowly but surely going more and more and more where? Where does he go off to? Al-Ad-Hirah, the cave of Hirah. And in the cave of Hirah, what is he doing there? This is all before revelation comes, you guys. What is he doing there? Yeah, he's contemplating. He's in solitude with Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la. He knows something is greater but doesn't know exactly what, right? But feels that there's a heaviness and he needs that. You know, Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la, I talk with sisters all the time, people all the time and they're going through really, really heavy things and I say, have you been praying about this? Have you spent some time alone with Allah to sort this out? No? If you are going through something heavy, but what is the sunnah of the Prophet, Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam? He did two things here. He isolated to really contemplate on what this is and give himself the time to really ask Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la, what is this, right? Help me understand the signs. And number two, he sought out help. He went to Khadija and said, help me. What is this? What's going on here? He sought out support and she helped him through this, right? And so here's the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam in Ghar-i-Hirah and we know the story here. We're finally, Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la, here comes the Jibril and squeezes him tight. And what happens next? Do you know? You know, what happens next? What does he say? Iqra'a, Iqra'a bismi rabbika l-ladyi khalaqa, khalaqa l-insana min alaqa, iqra'a wa rabbika l-akhram, alladhi i'allama bilqalam, allama l-insana ma lam ya'alam. Read, read in the name of your Lord, who created man from a clot of congealed blood. Read, your Lord is most merciful, generous, who taught by the pen, who taught man what he did not know. And can you imagine, as soon as he's finally released from this embrace that's Aida Jibril is holding him and what do you think he did when Prophet Sallallahu alayhi wa sallam? He went running down that mountain, right? Running over to Sittinah Khadijah and he's trembling, shaking like a leaf. And what does she do? She calms him down. She holds him. She literally puts his head on her lap and holds him. Right? And she tells him, this is a good sign, but she's not sure either. So she goes to her trusted cousin, her mentor, Waraqa. And she says, let's go to my cousin. So she takes the Prophet Sallallahu alayhi wa sallam to Waraqa and they tell the whole story to him. And what does Waraqa say? He starts to cry. Because at this point in time, Waraqa is probably like 95 years old. Okay? And he says to them, I wish that I was young enough to be here to support you when your people kick you out. Khadijah is saying, what? They're going to kick him out? Right? Like a dawn's on her. Like this is the start of a very difficult chapter. And so at that point, it becomes clear that he's going to be expelled and there's some heavy, heavy work to be done. And so the Prophet Sallallahu alayhi wa sallam continues to go back on more and more frequently. And here I'm going to pause for a minute. Have you guys seen Ghar-Hirat? Have you seen pictures of it? Maybe some of you have been there. Has anyone tried to climb it? It's hard. If you haven't seen it, don't please don't use your phones right now. But eventually after this, Google Ghar-Hirat, what does this look like? It is where the area where the Prophet Sallallahu alayhi wa sallam was saying is very high up. It's a hike. It's literally a hike up the mountain. Now remember, how old is Khadijah at this story? How old is she? 55 years old. I'm not going to ask you obviously as women, how old you all are, insha'Allah. I imagine we have many people here who are 55 and older, right? And if you're not, you're eventually going to get there. Insha'Allah, insha'Allah, I'm going to give you a long life. Put yourself at age 55, hiking up this mountain. Because the Prophet Sallallahu alayhi wa sallam more and more and more is going there for longer and longer periods of time. It's heavier, heavier. Like what is this prophecy that's come to him? Which means he needs food and water. And as a dedicated and devoted wife, there's your column of the different descriptions, right? She's very loyal. And she continues to take him food and water and hikes up the mountain just to give him the food and water and comes back down and hikes up and gives him the food and comes back up, right? Total dedication to a cause that she believes in, that this is righteous and this is the Prophet of God, the final Prophet. Think about that, insha'Allah, right? Now, 40 days later, comes yet another time where the Prophet Sallallahu alayhi wa sallam receives another revelation. Does anyone know what the second revelation is? Huh? Ya ayyuha al-muzammil, qumallayla illa qalila, right? Now, what happens? The Prophet Sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, this is the backstory. He receives this revelation and he's, again, it's terrifying. You don't know what this exactly is. So he runs over to his wife and he says, and he's, you know, when you're like in fear and it's like you're drenched in cold sweat and he says, cover me, cover me. So she covers him and again, she puts him on her lap and he stays there for a very long time but then suddenly he jumps up. Sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, he says, what happened? He's received the revelation in her home and it says, ya ayyuha al-muzammil, oh, you who's wrapped up in the blanket. That's what it says. Pray in the night, subhanallah. So it happens in her home and so when it happens, he does, you know, what is this? And so she says, this is from God. This is from God, this is revelation from God. So what is she doing here? Think about a process, what's happening here? She's believing him, she's his confidant, she's giving him support and strength, she's aiding him. Do you see what's happening here, subhanallah? Yeah? And so, and so, as we wrap up here, she's without hesitating, she's also the first person to accept Islam. I didn't say the first woman, I said the first person and there's no hesitation there. She accepts Islam but when you are first at something and a pioneer at something, I mean she's the first to make wudu after the Prophet's al-Islam. She's the first to pray after the Prophet's al-Islam. She's the first to pray in jamal, in congregations. She's the first at everything, a woman. So when people go on and on about woman, oh, it's different for them and it's down, I'm like, really? Really? Let's talk about our foremothers, masha'Allah. Right, and kind of like put things into perspective. So in wrapping up here, I'm going to say this, there's many other things that happen as it's in a Khadija's life because what happens from this point on, we talked about until she got to 65, at 55 rather, she doesn't actually live that much longer after this but she goes through some really difficult things. Like not only were the people saying terrible things about her family but her daughters ended up being divorced because of it too. Her daughters, two of them were married to two sons of Abu Lahab and they forced the sons to divorce their wives. And another woman would have said, no, no, no, no, no. Up until here, I draw my line, I don't want my daughters divorced, right? But she said, Allah will replace something better and sure enough, that happened, right? Because it's in a Ruqayyah, for example, ends up marrying, who? Aathman, bin Aathman, so much better than the sons of Abu Lahab, right? Things are not always what they seem. This is a message that shows up over and over in Satsina Khadija's life. She also loses her sons and so they say to her about her, about Saita Muhammad, that see, your lineage is cut off. As in to say, the understanding is that it goes through the sons but that's not how prophecy works, right? And so this is difficult, so she's dealing with all these difficult things, SubhanAllah, but the beautiful thing here that stands out and is completely unique about Satsina Khadija, is that when Sayyidina Jibreel would come with the wahi, with the revelation to give to the Prophet, Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, oftentimes it was in her home and in her presence. And there was a time that she played a little experiment to see, she had learned from Ruqa that if it's truly an angel and not a devil, that they don't, that they will turn away if there's any aura or nakedness showing. So she said to the Prophet, Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam when he says, I see Sayyidina Jibreel and so she says, okay, sit here on the side of her lap. Do you still see him? Yeah, I still see him. Okay, now come sit on the side of my lap. Do you still see him? Yeah, I still see him. Then she kind of moves her hijab, literally, like pulls it down just a little bit to show some hair. I said, now do you see him? No, he disappeared. It's amazing, smart, intelligent, right? She understands and is tuned in to these things. And the most beautiful, of course, story that sums it all up is that in one of the times where she, the Prophet, Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam is in Qara'ah and she's going up to give him food and water, the archangel Gabriel Jibreel says to Sayyidina Muhammad and this is the famous hadith that we know. He says, your wife Khadija is coming to give you food and water. Give her salam from Allah and myself and tell her that she has been guaranteed a palace in paradise after which she will not have any noise or fatigue. Allahu Akbar. That hadith right there. And if you just look at the little bit noise and fatigue, if you think about the fact that what is she doing to allow her husband to be the prophet of God or the prophet of the ummah, she's holding up all the house chores. She's holding the fort down at home, literally. She's making it all work and there's all these kids, not only not just her own, but also at this point in time, you know, Ali Ibn Abi Talib is living with them. There's other young people living with them. There's Zaid Ibn Haditha living with them. There's a lot of noise happening in her home, right? And she's managing this home by herself, sacrificing to allow her husband to be the prophet of God. So he says to her, you'll have a house in paradise with no noise and no fatigue. There's more to the story of Subhan Allah while we run out of time, but needless to say, what Sittinah Khadijah does with the rest of her life and the rest of her wealth is given all to Islam because soon after there's that embargo, as you know, where they embargo, right? They put an embargo on the Muslim, they won't allow them to trade and they're starving. And at the very end of Sittinah Khadijah's life, she goes from this wealthy, wealthy, wealthy, noble woman to having given away everything to the Muslims and to early Islam to the point that she's on her deathbed. She is so starved and skinny because she's given away everything, that she herself is starved. And she's disease-ridden and she's on her deathbed and she isn't going to recover. And the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam is tearful. This is very difficult for him to see. And he says to her, if you've had difficulty here, you won't have difficulty there. Subhanallah. And there she is at the very end of her life until the very end in full support and dedication to Islam, to allow us to have this Islam and full dedication as the wife who's able to allow her husband to do this great and noble work and dedication to her children to allow them to become the mothers of the mu'minin that we're going to hear about, at least for Sittinah Fatima today. And when she passes away it's the 27th night of Ramadan. And there she is of her 65 years of life. She spent 25 years of them with the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. And in that period of time, like I said, her name is Khadijah, born ahead of her time, not just physically, but ahead of her time in breaking all kinds of stereotypes and barriers experienced by women. And not for the sake of feminism, but for the sake of doing what's right, for the sake of standing up to her beliefs, for the sake of charting her own path. But that path is a path, even though it's charted, it's surrendered to Allah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. And she's strong, she's independent, she's courageous, she is supportive of her husband, but the dunya never gets to her head. That wealth that she has never enters into her heart. She gives and gives and gives, Subhanallah. And with that, we conclude, Masha'Allah, to Tana Khadijah, not just as the wealthy noble woman that we often refer to her as, but somebody with nobility and intelligence and independence becomes that role model for all of the women here who have a chart to path in life that's different than others and difficult and do so with full surrendering to Allah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam and knowing he's going to carry us through. Baruk Allahu Fikr Wa-Sallallahu Alaa Sayyidina Muhammad Wa-Ala Aalihi Wa-Sahbihi Wa-Sallam