By Cecep Asmadiredja
The Prophet told him all the events he had experienced. Waraqah said, “This (Gabriel) is Namus who Allah sent to Moses. O god, may I be alive when you are driven out by your people.” The Prophet asked, “Will they drive me out?” Waraqah replied, “Yes, right. No one is given a revelation like you unless it is certainly hostile to people. If I still find that day, I will help you as much as I can.” It wasn’t long before Waraqah passed away.” (HR Bukhari).
The giving of revelation through Jibril is a sign of the appointment of Muhammad SAW as a prophet / prophet (messenger of Allah) the last. Khadijah (RA) was the first person to believe in Allah SWT, recognizing the prophethood of Muhammad AND the first woman to embrace Islam.
After converting to Islam, Khadijah (RA) sacrificed her life to support her husband. The originally calm and comfortable life, turned into a life of challenging, full of distractions, a life of da’wah, jihad, even siege.
This situation in no way reduces her love for her husband and for the Religion of Islam that her husband teaches. Khadijah RA always accompanies and supports her husband’s struggle with his wealth and soul to achieve the goals ordered by Allah SWT.
When the quraysh pagans boycotted and exiled the Prophet Muhammad and his descendants of Bani Hashim for 3 years to a mountain range on the outskirts of Mecca, Khadijah RA who was not part of the Bani Hashim, did not hesitate to accompany her husband. The unbelievers did not allow anyone to marry them, and could not buy, sell or deliver food or anything to them during those three years.
The children of Hashim suffered so much, lacking food, that they ate leaves because there was no food. It was as if they would be left to starve to death so that the Prophet stopped spreading Islam. As a result of this long blockade, Khadijah RA fell ill which continued to weaken.
One day when the Prophet came home preaching, he entered the house. Khadijah was breastfeeding fatimah who was still a baby. Their entire wealth has been exhausted. Often even food does not have. So that when Fatimah breastfeeds, it is not milk that comes out but blood.
Then the Prophet took Fatima from his wife’s sling and placed it on the bed. The Prophet (SAW) who was tired after preaching and facing all the insults and slander of man and then lay on Khadijah’s lap.
The Prophet fell asleep. That’s when Khadijah stroked the prophet’s head with tenderness and affection. I didn’t feel Khadijah’s tears dripping down the prophet’s cheeks. He was also awake. “O Khadijah, why are you crying? Do you regret marrying me, Muhammad?” the Prophet asked softly.
You used to be a noble woman, you were noble, you were a treasurer. However, today you have been insulted by people. Everyone has stayed away from you. Your entire fortune is gone. Do you regret that Khadijah married me, Muhammad?” continued the Prophet unable to see his wife crying.
“O my husband. O Prophet of God. That’s not what I’m afraid of,” Khadijah replied. Khadijah continued: “I used to have glory. I have given that glory to Allah and His Messenger. I used to be a nobleman. The nobility I also gave to Allah and His Messenger. I used to have wealth. All that wealth has been given to God and His Messenger. O Messenger of Allah“.
Now I have nothing left. But you still continue to fight for this religion. O Messenger of Allah. If I die later while your struggle is not finished, if you want to cross an ocean, if you want to cross the river, but you do not get a raft or a bridge.
“So dig the hole of my grave, take my bones. Make it a bridge for you to cross the river so that you can meet man and continue your preaching. Remind them of the greatness of God. Remind them of the right. Take them to Islam O Messenger of Allah.” Said Khadijah RA.
Hearing Khadijah’s words, the Prophet was even more amazed at the glory of his wife. Therefore he once mentioned the privileges and sacrifices of Khadijah RA in one of his words to friends:
“Allah has never given me a woman more noble than Khadijah. When man does not believe, he himself believes. When everyone denied me, he accepted me. When man runs from me, he supports me, both when there is and is not. And God gave me sons and daughters not from others, but from them.”
The word of the Prophet is a proof of how much love and sacrifice Khadijah RA in accompanying the struggle of the Prophet Muhammad SAW. Khadijah RA has lived with the Prophet Muhammad SAW for 25 years, a period of longest togetherness compared to other wives accompanying the Prophet SAW.
Prophet Muhammad did not marry another woman while with Khadijah RA. It was as a tribute to the love, sacrifice and glory that Khadijah RA had.
It was he who gave sons and daughters: Qasim, Abdullah, Zainab, Ruqayyah, Um Kultsum and Fatimah as the fruit of his second marriage. However, Khadijah was not only a mother to her sons and daughters, but also a mother to Zaid and Ali who came together in her household. Everyone lives in harmony and happiness, loving.
When Khadijah (r) was sick near her death, she said to Rasululllah SAW, “I apologize to you O Prophet, if I as your wife have not been filial to you”. The Prophet replied, “Far from it, Khadijah. You have fully supported the preaching of Islam.”
Khadijah RA had sacrificed all her possessions: her wealth, nobility and glory in supporting the preaching of the Prophet Muhammad SAW.
The moments when Khadijah (RA) felt her death approaching, the noble woman called Fathimah Azzahra and whispered, “Fatima my daughter, I believe my death is coming soon, all I fear is the torment of the grave. Please ask your father, I am ashamed and afraid to ask for it myself, that he give me his usual turban to receive revelation to make my shroud.”
Hearing that the Prophet said, “O Khadijah, Allah (SWT) offers greetings to you and has prepared your place in heaven”. Ummul Mukminin, Khadijah RA, also breathed her last in the lap of her beloved husband, The Prophet SAW. Khadijah RA was held by the Prophet Muhammad SAW with a very sad and sad feeling.
Seeing the tears of the Prophet (SAW) come down, everyone who was there cried. At that time, the Angel Gabriel descended from the sky with a greeting and brought five shrouds from heaven. The Prophet answered Jibril’s greetings and asked: “For whom is the shroud, O Gabriel? “
“This shroud is for Khadijah, for you O Prophet, for Fatima, Ali and Hasan”, Jibril replied. Then Jibril stopped saying and cried. The Prophet asked, “Why Gabriel?” “Your one grandson Husain (Sayyidina Ali’s son) has no shroud, he will be slaughtered and lying without a shroud and not bathed,” Jibril said.
Then the Prophet said near khadijah’s body. “O Khadijah, my dear wife, by Allah, I will never get a wife like you. Your devotion to Islam and myself has been incredible. God knows all your practices.”
All your treasures you give to Islam. Muslims also enjoy it. All these Muslim clothes and my clothes are also from you. However, why is your last request to me just a piece of turban?
The Prophet (SAW) was even more sad to remember his wife during his life. Khadijah RA’s sacrifice is second to none. That is what makes it difficult for the Prophet to forget his first wife. In fact, because of the love of the Prophet (SAW) to Khadijah RA, Aisha RA once felt very jealous, because the Prophet always mentioned the name Khadijah.
So the Prophet replied: “Allah (SWT) did not replace him with a woman who was better than him. She is the woman who has believed in me when the unbelievers are still hostile to me, She is the woman who allows me when people deny me, She is the woman who helps me with the treasures she has when people don’t want to help me with the property she has. And Allah (SWT) has granted from him children whom Allah swt did not give me the children of other women.” (HR. Ahmad).
Khadijah (RA) lived with the Prophet Muhammad for 25 years and died at the age of 65 years (10 years after the prophetic appointment or three years before the Prophet Muhammad moved to Medina). The Prophet was 50 years old at the time.
He died on Hujun mountain, due to sickly pains that continued to weaken due to the blockade of the Quraysh infidels for 3 years and was buried in a cemetery near Mecca. The Prophet himself who went down to the grave buried the body of his beloved wife.
The death of Ummul Mukminin Khadijah RA was very close to the death of Abu Talib, his uncle. The Prophet (SAW) was really saddened by the death of two people he loved who became the main supporters of his preaching. Because of the sadness of the Prophet SAW, the year of his death was known as “‘Amul Huzni” (Year of Sorrow) in the course of the prophet’s life.
Thus Khadijah RA, the noble woman most loved by the Prophet (SAW) and one of the four female leaders of the angel of heaven as the Prophet said: “The female leaders of heaven are four: Maryam bint Imran, Fatimah bint Rasulillah shallallahu ‘alaihi wa sallam, Khadijah bint Khuwailid and Asiyah”. (Hr Muslim).
May shalawat and greetings always pour out to the Prophet (SAW) and his family. Aamiin Allahumma Aaamiin.
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