The story of the name
Mother of the Believers, the first to believe, and the beloved of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ
Before any man, woman, or child, Khadijah bint Khuwaylid (RA) became the first believer. She was already one of the most respected women in Makkah — a successful merchant of Banu Asad, known for her integrity. She had hired the young Muhammad ﷺ to trade on her behalf and watched his honesty distinguish him from every other man she employed. It was on the strength of that character that she proposed marriage. When the Prophet ﷺ came down from the Cave of Hira trembling with the first revelation, it was Khadijah(RA) who wrapped him and comforted him with words that have become among the most celebrated in Islamic history. "Never! By Allah, Allah will never disgrace you. You maintain family ties, bear the burdens of the weak, help the poor, honor your guests, and assist those afflicted by calamity." She then took him to her cousin Waraqah ibn Nawfal, who confirmed that the revelation was from the same angel who came to Musa (AS).
Twenty-five years of unwavering support
For twenty-five years — she remained his devoted wife. The Prophet ﷺ did not marry another woman during Khadijah(RA)'s lifetime. She spent her wealth, her standing, and her strength on the faith's most vulnerable years, through boycott and hunger and grief. He ﷺ never stopped saying it afterward: "she believed in me when people disbelieved me, she affirmed me when people denied me, she supported me with her wealth when people withheld theirs, and Allah granted me children through her and not through any of my other wives" (Bukhari 3818). Aisha (RA), who never met her, said she was never as jealous of any wife as she was of Khadijah (RA) — because the Prophet ﷺ spoke of her so often, so warmly, decades after her passing. "I was granted her love" (Muslim 2435), he said simply — and meant it for the rest of his life.
Family with the Prophet ﷺ
Khadijah (RA) bore the Prophet ﷺ six children. Only Ibrahim, later was born to Maria al-Qibtiyya (RA). Khadijah (RA) had two sons, al-Qasim and Abdullah. Both died in infancy. She had four daughters — Zaynab, Ruqayyah, Umm Kulthum, and Fatimah. Through Fatimah (RA) alone, her line continues to this day in the Prophet's ﷺ grandsons Hasan and Husayn — a mother whose grief at losing two sons was answered, generations later, with a lineage that has never stopped growing.
Greetings from her Lord
Then the honor without parallel in human history. Jibril (AS) came to the Prophet ﷺ and said: Khadijah is coming with food — when she comes, give her greetings of peace from her Lord and from me, and give her glad tidings of a house in Paradise in which there is no clamor and no fatigue (Bukhari 3820). Salam, from Allah, by name. The Prophet ﷺ counted her among the finest women who ever lived, alongside Maryam bint Imran, Fatimah bint Muhammad ﷺ, and Asiyah, wife of Pharaoh (Bukhari 3432). This is a unique honor. Among the Mothers of the Believers, Khadijah (RA) is distinguished by Allah Himself conveying salam to her through Jibril (AS).
To carry this name
To carry this name is to be someone's certainty — the person who believes first, steadies fastest, and spends what they have on what matters most — and to trust that comfort given in hard years is remembered by Allah Himself, and never forgotten by the one you gave it to.