A blissful marriage

Congratulations to you all on a very auspicious day. You have surely heard the famous hadith: “Marriage is part of my Sunnah and whoever disregards it is not from us.”

This is the statement of the Messenger of Mercy, Prophet Mohammad (Blessings of God upon him and his progeny). Now we have a feature on how the Prophet practiced what he said, since the 10^th of Rabi al-Awwal is the day of his blessed marriage to the noblest lady of his days, the monotheist Hazrat Khadija (Peace be upon her).

As the Most Excellent Exemplar for the human race, Prophet Mohammad (Blessings of God upon him and his progeny), set the precedent himself for a healthy and morally sound marriage in order to build a virtuously stable family. He did this, long before God’s formal commandment to him to publicly proclaim his universal mission of Islam, as the Last and Greatest of all Prophets. It is an undeniable fact that unlike the life of the prophets of the past, each and every aspect single aspect of the life of the Seal of Messengers occurred in the full limelight of history – thanks to the pride of place even in pre-Islamic society of the noble monotheist Bani Hashem Clan into which he was born as a direct descendant of the Prophets Abraham and Ishmael (peace upon them).

The blessed day was the 10^th of Rabi al-Awwal, when the parentless, 25-year old son of Abdullah and Amena (peace upon them) was married in a grand ceremony that caught the attention of all the people of Mecca and beyond, since after three days of Walima meals organized by Abu Taleb, they were fed for three months by the family of the wealthy and virtuous monotheist lady, Khadijat-al-Kubra who had chosen him as her husband by spurning the offers of the rich and powerful Arabs of Jahiliyya. It was a marriage made in heaven. The groom was the noblest man of his time, and the bride was an equally pure and chaste lady, although their social status vastly differed – the husband being a poor person, while the wife the richest lady of the land. Neither he wedded her for her wealth, nor did she marry him because of lack of suitors, or for improving his pecuniary status. What attracted them to each other was virtue, honesty, integrity of character, and above all shared monotheist faith in the One and Only Creator in an Arabia submerged in polytheism and sins.

As the best of creation, and as the most perfect offspring of Adam and Eve – his light had descended, generation after generation, through spotlessly clean wombs and pristinely pure backs – he had to marry the most chaste lady of his times, so as to start the pristinely pure progeny of all times, whose unsullied cleanliness God would eventually vouch in the holy Qur’an in ayah 33 of Surah al-Ahzaab:

“Allah desires to keep away uncleanness from you Ahl al-Bayt and preserve you thoroughly purified.”  

Acclaimed as the Tahera or the Chaste for remaining virtuously single so far, the Nikah or nuptials of the lady destined to be the Omm al-Momineen or the One and Only Mother of all True Believers, was solemnized by that primordial Muslim, the Prophet’s beloved uncle and guardian, Abu Taleb, who along with his wife, Fatema bint Asad, had brought up his orphaned nephew as his own son. The two were the ideal made-for-each-other pair, and were blessed with a son named Qassem, from whom the Prophet’s agnomen (kunya) of Abu’l-Qassem (or Father of Qassem) became universally famous for all time. God Almighty, however, decided to take away the soul of the infant. As a form of trial, God granted the pair another son, who also died in infancy. Both husband and wife were content with God’s Will, because the All-Wise certainly had His Own Plans for ensuring eternity for the progeny of His Most Chosen Servant (that is, al-Mustafa).

It was thus Divine Providence that five years after this blessed marriage, when Abu Taleb was blessed with his youngest child, son Ali (PuH), the future Prophet and his loyal wife decided to take him under their care. Fifteen years after marriage, when God formally entrusted the message of Islam to her husband, the loyal monotheist wife immediately testified to his mission as the Prophet. So firm was the faith of First Lady of Islam that Archangel Gabriel conveyed to the Prophet a special message for her, saying: “O Messenger of Allah! When Khadija comes to you, greet her from Allah and give her the good tiding of a house made of precious stones in Paradise.”‌

Another greatest blessing for the pair, and an everlasting one indeed – both in the life of this transient world and in the Hereafter – was God’s granting to them of the blessed daughter named Fatema (peace upon her) whom the Holy Qur’an has hailed as “Kowthar” or the “Fountain of Perpetual Abundance”.

The Prophet never took another spouse during the 25 years of marital bliss with Hazrat Khadija (peace upon her), who spent all her wealth to feed, clothe, and shelter the persecuted neo Muslim community, to the extent that when she passed away, there was hardly anything left for her only surviving child, daughter Fatemat az-Zahra (peace upon her) – the Noblest Lady of all times. The unrivalled status of the One and Only Omm al-Momineen is crystal clear for all Muslims, who very well know that whenever Islam was in danger, it was the progeny of Khadija that rose to the occasion by giving it the kiss of life through their lifeblood – with Karbala and the martyrdom of her grandson, Imam Husain (PuH), being the supreme example.

It is also needless to say that the Redeemer of mankind, the Awaited Imam Mahdi (PuH), who will fill the world with justice, is the direct offspring of the Immaculate Khadija (peace upon her). Years after her death, when the middle-aged widowed Prophet had taken several wives out of social necessity in order to break the taboos of the days of ignorance, one of his spouses (her name is mentioned in Bukhari and other texts) objected to his constant remembrance of Khadija (peace upon her). The Prophet was upset and replied:

"By God, the Almighty did not grant me a better wife than her. She believed in me when the people used to mock at me and she acknowledged me when the people denied me. She shared her wealth and property with me and she bore me children which I was not destined to have through other women."

These words of the Prophet clearly specify that none of these ladies, whatever their degree of faith or lack of it in some of them, were never considered by the Seal of Prophets to be on a par with the beloved Khadija, whose memory he used to cherish till the end of his life – as part of his undeniable Sunnah and Seerah.

Could there be a better precedent set by the Prophet than his marriage to Khadija (peace upon her); his respect for her during the quarter century of marital bliss; his cherishing of her memory till the end of his life as one of the Four Noblest Ladies of all time; his profound affection for her daughter Fatema, son-in-law Imam Ali and grandsons Imam Hasan and Imam Husain (peace upon them); and his emphasis on her Immaculate Progeny, the Ahl al-Bayt, as the evergreen tree divine guidance for the whole ummah, including his Sahaba or companions?

AS/ME