Life story of Hazrat Khadije

Hazrat Khadije Kobra (peace be upon him) was the best wife of the messenger of God (peace of Allah be upon him and his descendants) and one of four heaven superior women. She is the first person that believed in the messenger of God and he donated all of his properties in the path of the Islam development.
Alame Majlesi (may God be well pleased with him) has written about this matter
عَنْ زُرَارَةَ وَحُمْرَانَ وَمُحَمَّدِ بْنِ مُسْلِمٍ عَنْ أَبِي جَعْفَرٍ (عليه السلام) قَالَ حَدَّثَ أَبُو سَعِيدٍ الْخُدْرِيُّ أَنَّ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ (صلى الله عليه وآله) قَالَ إِنَّ جَبْرَئِيلَ (عليه السلام) قَالَ لِي لَيْلَةَ أُسْرِيَ بِي حِينَ رَجَعْتُ وَقُلْتُ يَا جَبْرَئِيلُ هَلْ لَكَ مِنْ حَاجَةٍ قَالَ حَاجَتِي أَنْ تَقْرَأَ عَلَى خَدِيجَةَ مِنَ اللَّهِ وَمِنِّي السَّلَامَ
وَحَدَّثَنَا عِنْدَ ذَلِكَ أَنَّهَا قَالَتْ حِينَ لَقَّاهَا نَبِيُّ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَ آلِهِ فَقَالَ لَهَا الَّذِي قَالَ جَبْرَئِيلُ فَقَالَتْ إِنَّ اللَّهَ هُوَ السَّلَامُ وَ مِنْهُ السَّلَامُ وَ إِلَيْهِ السَّلَامُ وَعَلَى جَبْرَئِيلَ السَّلَامُ.
Imam Bagher (peace be upon him) has narrated from Abu Saeid Khodri that the messenger of God bade '' when I came back, I said to Gabriel '' do you have any requests from me?'' he said '' my request is that you say the hello of God and me to Khadije. When the messenger of God annunciated the message of Gabriel to Khadije, he answered '' great God is representative of health and all of health is from him and all of health originates from him. Peace upon Gabriel.
Muhammad Ben Ismaeil Bokhari has written
3609 حدثنا قُتَيْبَةُ بن سَعِيدٍ حدثنا محمد بن فُضَيْلٍ عن عُمَارَةَ عن أبي زُرْعَةَ عن أبي هُرَيْرَةَ رضي الله عنه قال أتى جِبْرِيلُ النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم فقال يا رَسُولَ اللَّهِ هذه خَدِيجَةُ قد أَتَتْ مَعَهَا إِنَاءٌ فيه إِدَامٌ أو طَعَامٌ أو شَرَابٌ فإذا هِيَ أَتَتْكَ فَاقْرَأْ عليها السَّلَامَ من رَبِّهَا وَمِنِّي وَبَشِّرْهَا بِبَيْتٍ في الْجَنَّةِ من قَصَبٍ لَا صَخَبَ فيه ولا نَصَبَ.
Gabriel came to the messenger of God and bade '' Khadije has come and she has dish in her hand that contains meat, food and drink (doubt is from narrator). When Hazrat Khadije came to you, say hello to her from God and from me and annunciate her to a house in the heaven made of pearl, gold and ruby and it is safe from fuss and pain.
Khadije, one of the heaven best women
Muhammad Ben Ismaeil Bokhari has narrates in another narration that Hazrat Khadije (peace be upon her) and Hazrat Maryam (peace be upon her) are the best heaven women
Abdullah Ben Jafar narrates from Imam Ali (peace be upon him) that bade '' I heard from the messenger of God that bade '' the best heaven women are Maryam, the daughter of Umran and Khadije.
The position of Hazrat KHadije had none of the wives of the messenger of God because the messenger of God (peace of Allah be upon him and his descendants) remembered Khadije and he remembered him well. This provoked the jealousy of some of wives of the messenger of God and they objected the messenger of God why he remembered her a lot.
The confession of Aeshe to the superiority of Hazrat Khadije:
Narrating from Aeshe, Bokhari has written
Aeshe says '' I was jealous of no woman as much as Khadije. I did not understand her and she passed away before my marriage with the messenger of God. I was jealous of her because the messenger of God (peace of Allah be upon him and his descendants) remembered her more and God had annunciated her to a house made of gold, pearl and rubbyand whenever the prophet killed sheep, he donated it to the friends of Khadije.
He has narrated in another narration
Aeshe says '' Hale, the daughter of Khadije, wanted to be allowed to visit the messenger of God. The messenger of God remembered Khadije, provoked and bade '' O' God! Hale has come. I became sad and said '' you remember an old woman from the old women of the Ghoreish Tribe whose teeth had fallen a lot. She has died and God has granted you a wife better than her.
Narrating from Aeshe, Ahmad Ben Hanbel has written
Whenever the messenger of God remembered Khadije, he praised her a lot. One day, I became sad and said '' why are you remembering a woman without teeth? God has given you a better wife. He bade '' God has not given me a wife better than her. When all of people turned their face away from me, he believed in me; when others denied me, he confirmed me and left her wealth to me and when others deprived me, God gave me a child from him when I deprived from other women.
After narrating this narration, Heithami has said
رواه أحمد وإسناده حسن
Hence, there is no doubt about the rank of Hazrat Khadije (peace be upon him). However, since Sunni scientists like to introduce Aeshe as the best wife of the messenger of God, they try to make virtues for him and only thing that they have found is that they claim that Aeshe was only virgin wife of the messenger of God and other wives of the messenger of God married before they married him such as Hazrat Khadije whereas this matter is in contrast with the realities of the history because Aeshe had another husband before the messenger of God based on a narration.
Had Aeshe married before the messenger of God (peace of Allah be upon him and his descendants)?
Ibn Sad has written in the book '' Al-Tabaghat Al-Kobra''
عن عبد الله بن أبي ملكية قال خطب رسول الله صلي الله عليه وسلم عائشة بنت أبي بكر الصديق فقال إني كنت أعطيتها مطعما لابنه جبير فدعني حتي أسلها منهم فاستسلها منهم فطلقها فتزوجها رسول الله صلي الله عليه وسلم.
Abdullah Ben Abi Malike says '' the messenger of God (peace of Allah be upon him and his descendants) proposed marriage to Aeshe, the daughter of Abu Bakr. Abu Bakr said '' I have had Aeshe marry Jabir Ben Mataamm. Let me make them stop living with my daughter. Abu Bakr made them stop living with her daughter and he had his daughter divorce him. Then the messenger of of God married him.
Hence, Aeshe was the wife of another person with name '' Jabir Ben Mataam before the messenger of God (peace of Allah be upon him and his descendants).
Was Hazrat Khadije non-virgin?
Our main discussion about this matter is whether Hazrat Khadije (peace be upon her) had married before the messenger of God or not?
The answer of this question is found in the books and works of Shiite dignitaries and intellectuals a lot. We will refer to some parts of the answer and the explanation respecting all of dignitaries and considering briefness of remark:
Some scientist have said '' the messenger of God did not have virgin wife except Aeshe'' and they have said about Khadije '' she married two persons with the names '' Atigh Ben Abdullah Makhzumi and Abu Hale Tamimi before she married the messenger of God and she had some children from them.
Abu Al-Ghasem Ismaeil Ben Muhammad Isfahani, one of Sunni scientists, says clearly that Hazrat Khadije (peace be upon her) was virgin.
وكانت خديجة امرأة باكرة ذات شرف ومال كثير وتجارة تبعث بها إلى الشام فتكون عيرها كعامة عير قريش.
Hazrat KHadije was a virgin woman and he had a lot of wealth, she sent the caravan of business toward Sham and her caravan was as large as all caravan of the Ghoreish Tribe.
Abu Al-Ghasem Kufi, one of the Shiite scientists, has had an interesting reason which we get the attention of dear readers to that. He has written in the book '' Al-Estaghase''
The Sunni and Shiite Mohadessin and the historians agree unanimously that all of dignitaries, aristocrats, heads and the gentlemen of the Ghoreish tribe proposed marriage to Hazrat Khadije and they wished to marry her, but Hazrat Khadije rejected all of them. When the messenger of God (peace of Allah be upon him and his descendants) married him, all of women of the Ghoreish tribe stopped their relationship and communication with her and they said '' you rejected the marriage proposal of the Ghoreish heads and you have married a person that is poor and he has no wealth.
Hence, can intellectuals accept that Hazrat Khadije (peace be upon her) married An Arabic person from the tribe of Bani Tamim, but she did not accept the marriage proposal of the Ghoreish heads?
The intellectuals should know that this matter is the clearest denials and the most unpleasant remarks. When this matter is proved for researchers, it will be proved that Hazrat Khadije did not marry a person other than the messenger of God (peace of Allah be upon him and his descendants).
We can ask this question from researchers '' if Hazrt Khadije (peace be upon her) had married an Arabic person from the Tamim Tribe before marriage with the messenger of God, would there been anything else for these criticisms after marriage with the messenger of God? Was the marriage of a widow for all of people of Mecca as important as all of the wives of the Ghoreish Aristocrats stopped their relationship with her?
If Aeshe had been supposed to be censured, why would not she have been censured when she wanted to marry an Arabic person that was poor and he was not from a high social class?
Hence, we are sure that the story of marriage of Hazrat Khadije (peace be upon her) before the messenger of God (peace of Allah be upon him and his descendants) is one of intrigues of persons that did not recognize any boundary about virtues for the enemies of Ahle Beit (peace be upon them) and they did not leave any virtues for Ahle Beit (peace be upon them) and if so, they would have considered them for others.
Answering to some questions
First question: if Hazrat Khadije had not had husband before her marriage with the messenger of God (peace of Allah be upon him and his descendants), whose daughters would Zeinab, Roghaye, and Un Gulthum have been? Were the children of the messenger of God (peace of Allah be upon him and his descendants)?
According to the narration of the historians, Khadije had a sister with the name '' Hale'' that married a man from Makhzun and she had a child with her own name '' Hale''. Then she had a child from Tamim with the name '' Abu Hend'' and she had a child with the name '' Hend''. This man from Tamim married another woman and he had two children with the names '' Roghaye'' and '' Zeinab'' from her. Mother of these two daughters passed away and then the father of two daughters passed away. Hend, the child of Hale, was left to the family of her husband family and Hale came to the house of Khadije with these two daughters that were from another wife of her husband. Khadije undertook their responsibility and after she married the messenger of God (peace of Allah be upon him and his descendants), these two daughters were with Khadije and the messenger of God and they were trained by them and they were called Rabie of the messenger of God. According to the custom of Arab, Rabie was considered the same as the daughter of a person therefore, people considered them the daughters of Khadije and the messenger of God.
The second question: some have considered it impossible that Hazrat Khadije did not marry although she had two features such as beauty and wealth and she was from a great family with high rank and they have said '' is it possible that the father and the guardian of a woman such as Khadije left her without husband and lived alone ?
We answer:
First: the father of Khadije was killed in the Fojar War.
Second: if she had had a guardian other than father, she could not have made her to choose a husband. Hence, the expectation of a woman like her for a good husband and in a social class equal with her was a reasonable and acceptable matter.