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Birth Dates, Dates of Martydom, Causes of Martydom and the place of their graves. Not merely factual, but also discussions on their exemplary lives.
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By abuali
#13046
(salam)

I have come across several people who support the view that Bibi Khadija was married and widowed (some say two or more times).

I have also heard and read that she had children before her marriage to the Holy Prophet (pbuh)

Opposed to the above I have come across recitors and people who strongly believe that she was a spinster and her first marriage was to the Holy Prophet (pbuh)

And that the girls that the Holy Prophet (pbuh) adopted were under the care of Bibi Khadija (as) (since she was known for her giving services to the poor and needy), possibly daughters of her relatives who had become orphans.

The third mystery is her age at the time of her marriage with the Holy Prophet (pbuh)

Does anyone have any references to ahadith narrated from the ahl bayt about any of these issues? Please post them here to clarify these issues.
User avatar
By abuali
#13143
(jazakallah) sphynx for the link.

Below I quote the relevant parts from the link for our benefit (much detail is available in the link should anyone wish to read more)
from http://www.al-islam.org/khadija/23.htm

1. The Age of Khadija


Most of the Muslim historians have stated that Khadija was 40-years old when she married Muhammed Mustafa. So many historians have repeated this figure that now it is believed as a gospel truth. Yet this figure is open to question on the following grounds:

No historian knows the year in which Khadija was born. The figure "40" is only an estimate, and it is an over-estimate. Whereas it is true that Khadija was older than Muhammed Mustafa, she was not 15 years older as claimed by most of the historians, but only a few years older than him.

Arabia is a very hot country, and Arab girls reach maturity much more rapidly than girls do in cold or temperate climates. Hadhrat Ayesha is said to have been married when she was only eleven years old. Other Arab girls were also married quite early.

In a country like Arabia, a woman could not spend forty years of her life waiting to be married. At forty, the best years of a woman's life are already behind her - in Arabia or in any other country. But even if she marries at forty, she cannot entertain any hope of having children. Even in cold and temperate zones, a woman, in most cases, is past her child-bearing age at 40. In Arabia, this happens, probably, much earlier.

Khadija spent many years of her life in the single state. As noted before, she received many offers of marriage from the lords and princes of Arabia but she turned them down. They could not impress her with their wealth. If they were rich, she was immeasurably richer than the richest of them. And in such personal qualities as the qualities of head, hand and heart, all of them were like the dust of her feet. Anyone trying to impress her with his wealth or power would be naive, if not foolish, indeed. Therefore, she marked time until the man who really impressed her - Muhammed Mustafa - came along, and she married him.
2. Alleged Marriages of Khadija

Khadija was never married before she married Muhammed Mustafa. Her marriage with Muhammed was her first and last marriage. The same historians who have claimed that Khadija was married twice before she married Muhammed, have reported that all the lords of Quraysh and the princes of the Arabs, sought her hand in marriage but she didn't condescend to consider any of them for a matrimonial alliance. If she had been married twice before, she ought to have had no hesitation in marrying a third time.
3. Khadija's Children

It is alleged by the court historians of the Umayyads that Khadija and Muhammed had six children, and they give their names as follows:

1. Qasim 2. Abdullah 3. Zaynab 4. Rukayya 5. Umm Kulthum 6. Fatima Zahra

Muhammed Mustafa and Khadija were the parents of three and not six children. They were:

1. Qasim 2. Abdullah 3. Fatima Zahra

Out of these three children, the first two - Qasim and Abdullah - were boys, and both of them died in their infancy, as noted before. The third and their last child was their daughter - Fatima Zahra.

Who were the other three girls, viz., Zaynab, Rukayya and Umm Kulthum? This question is answered later in this chapter.

https://youtu.be/-3CI0FBr5ss?si=UNYS9HXtS24Gbr-P

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