Khadija bint Khuwaylid
Wife of Muhammed
Just as Christian ideas were transforming the great Byzantine Empire, another religious revolution was brewing on its southern borders. It began in
a city called Mecca and, with the help of two women, it would sweep through the East and shape the world we live in today. The word of God, according
to all Muslims, was revealed in a desert cave high above the city of Mecca.
Here, one man had a vision of the Archangel Gabriel. "In the name of your Lord and cherisher who created everything. He created man of the mere clot
of congealed blood. Proclaim! And your Lord is the most bountiful who taught the use of the pen, who taught man that which he knew not."
Khadija
And the first person to hear news of this revelation of the Word of God was a woman. Islamic sources tell us that Khadija bint Khuwaylid was the
daughter of a merchant who built the family business into a commercial empire. Her caravans travelled thousands of miles to the great cities in the
Middle East.
From all accounts, Khadijah was a powerful and independent-minded woman. Once she was widowed, she vowed she would never marry again. She was
clearly accustomed to making her own way in the world. In fact, it was her business acumen that would set her on a path that would eventually
change the history of the world. To find out more about Khadijah, I'm meeting Prof Leila Ahmed from Harvard University, a world authority on the
history of women in Islam.
Professor Ahmed "She was a powerful woman, a merchant, with a lot of money and she hired Muhammad because he had a reputation for honesty and she
admired him. She was very impressed and actually proposed marriage to him. He was a 25-year-old. She was 40."
That does seem to be key though the fact that she is choosing this young man. You know, she spots him and thinks he's got potential and then she decides
to make him hers.
Professor Ahmed "That's right!"
What in Khadijah's back-story gave her the confidence to propose to Muhammad like this? Was she typical of her society?
Leila Ahmed
Professor Ahmed "We know it was a tribal society and I think probably different tribes had somewhat different customs. For instance, when women
married they might stay with their own tribe and the husband would come and visit. We know that in some situations women had the right to divorce
and we also know that there were prophetesses and priestesses."
Khadija Wealth
So Khadija, it seems, had reason to be confident in Muhammad's company. From all accounts, their early years were a partnership, both emotionally
and in business. But gradually Muhammad withdrew, growing more interested in spirituality, leaving his home to seek solitude in the hills above
Mecca. It was the beginning of his transformation from man to prophet.
Professor Ahmed "We know that when he first began to experience Quranic revelations he even doubted himself but it was Khadija who affirmed the
reality of this prophethood. So we know that she was critical to Muhammad. She became his first convert. She was the first Muslim."
Fascinating it was a woman who was the first convert to Islam.
Professor Ahmed "That's right. The fact that she was a major figure in society meant the tribe respected him, even if they didn't like his
message. Respect was extraordinarily important to him."
For the next 10 years, Khadija used her family connections and all her wealth to support her husband and fund the fledgeling faith, a religion
built on the controversial principle of one god in a society that believed in many.
Now Muhammad decided it was time for action. In defiance of the tribal elders, he was going to publicly preach his new faith. "There is one God,
Allah," he said. "To worship all others is blasphemy."
The tribal elders in Mecca responded by issuing an ultimatum. Muhammad's followers must abandon him or be ostracised. Throughout this period of
persecution, Khadija did everything possible to help her husband and Islam but, in 619, she fell ill with fever and died.
Aisha and Muhammed
Muhammad was heartbroken. For 25 years, Khadija had been his best friend and his closest ally. Muslims still remember the year of her death as the
Year of Sorrow. Muhammad campaigned to forge Arabia into a single nation, united by one god, one religion and one ward, Islam.
As was the tradition, he took other wives, but we're told his favourite was called Aisha. Controversies surround Aisha, not least rumours of her
tender age when she married. I'm meeting academic Myriam François-Cerrah to find out why this young woman became so central to Islam.
Myriam
Myriam "She understood the religion. She understood the context. She's scholarly, she's smart. She's eloquent. She wants to be part of the public
sphere and she very much is. This was not a shy and cowering woman. She really took to the front and if she had something to say, she said it."
After many years in exile, Muhammad eventually defeated his enemies and took control of Mecca. But then a few months later, he was dead. And the
person instrumental in maintaining his legacy was his wife, Aisha.
In its early years, Islam depended on the word of mouth to record its core beliefs. Called "Hadith", which literally means "sayings", these
accounts of the words and deeds of Muhammad were eventually written down to help believers to understand the Quran. We're told Aisha's intimate
knowledge of the Prophet made her central to this development.
Myriam "She was known for having memorised thousands of Hadith, or the sayings of the Prophet, peace be upon him, throughout her lifetime.
Scores of men learnt from her. There is a saying that you can get half of your religion just from Aisha."
