Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – This is the story of Khadijah bint Khuwailid, the wife of the Prophet Muhammad who also works as an entrepreneur. In fact, her large business network made her the richest woman in Mecca.
One of the fragments of Khadijah's life is how she, who was originally rich, became poor because she donated her wealth to Allah SWT. What's the story?
The Beginning of Khadijah's Wealth
It should be noted that Khadijah's wealth actually came from her late husband's inheritance. Previously, Khadijah had been married to two men, namely Abu Halah bin Zurarah at-Tamimi and Atiq bin Ayidh.
These marriages occurred at different times and were both separated by death. When her husband left her, Khadijah was blessed with extraordinary wealth and a large business network. At this point, Khadijah was practically in control of business operations. From here, he began to build wealth.
Even though she didn't start from scratch, Khadijah's business journey was not as easy as imagined. Haylamaz receipt in Khadija: The First Muslim and the Wife of the Prophet Muhammad (2007) said that at that time women were not like men: they were often underestimated and considered weak, especially in business matters.
However, Khadijah didn't care about these discordant voices. He still has the courage to step up and do business even though it is not an easy task. During the summer and winter, Khadija often led business movements from Mecca to Damascus and Yemen.
During this process, he never got involved directly and only acted as a kind of supervisor. His job is only to direct the delivery of goods and organize international trade. For field matters, he gave tasks to people he trusted.
One of his trusted people was Muhammad bin Abi Talib, a young man from the Quraish tribe. Muhammad was tasked with selling merchandise to the Syam region. Karen Armstrong in Muhammad the Prophet: A Critical Biography (2011) said that while on duty Muhammad was successful in making Khadijah's merchandise sell well and bringing in profits.
Apart from that, while trading, the young man from Mecca also showed an attitude that amazed Khadijah: honest, polite, humble and trustworthy. From here, Khadijah began to fall in love with Muhammad, and vice versa, until the two of them married.
After marriage, Muhammad helped Khadijah run a business. However, there is no definite record regarding Muhammad's position in his wife's business. One thing that is certain is that Muhammad is no longer a field worker, but has become an operational manager. During the marriage process and Muhammad's prophethood, Khadijah became very rich.
Donate wealth to the poor
Khadijah and Muhammad are indeed a very rich couple. However, this wealth could not provide peace or satisfaction for Khadijah. Because, he wants his wealth to be useful for other people so that it can be a light for life in the afterlife.
“That's why Khadijah wanted her wealth to be limitless, so that she could spend it for the purposes of the Prophet Muhammad,” wrote Resit.
Since then, Khadijah and Muhammad often gave alms to the poor and slaves. Apart from that, Khadijah also often holds dinners for people who are unlucky. On this basis, during the first 10 years of Muhammad's prophetic mission, Khadijah, who was originally rich, became left with nothing, aka poor, because all her wealth had been sacrificed in the way of Allah.
This lack of wealth continued until Khadijah died at the age of 65 or 619 AD. In fact, traditional Islamic sources say that Khadijah was so poor that she did not have a stock of shrouds to wrap her body in the event of her death. On this basis, Khadijah asked for her husband's turban to be wrapped, but that failed to happen because the Angel Gabriel gave him the turban as a shroud.
[Gambas:Video CNBC]
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