Did Prophet Muhammad ﷺ Marry Khadija for Her Money? A Complete Refutation

(I ask God’s forgiveness for saying this.)

The Messenger of Islam was greedy. He was 25 years old and married a much older woman for her money. Greed is not satisfied with what he achieves. After eating his wife’s money, he claimed prophethood to gain power. Do not be fooled by the fact that he rejected the Quraysh’s offer to appoint him over them because he wanted kingship over all the Arabs. The Quraysh were not able to grant him that. And they actually did.

Let us address what the claimant said, point by point.

Our Prophet, may God bless him and grant him peace, was the most ascetic of people in this world, and the least desirous of it.

He was content with what he had to offer, content with a life of hardship, and obeying the words of his Lord, the Almighty:

[Taha: 131]

If he had willed, He would have made mountains flow with gold and silver for him.

If you wish, we will give you the treasures of the earth and its keys, which We have not given to any prophet before you, nor will We give to anyone after you, and that will not diminish what you have with God.

He said:

Collect them for me in the Hereafter.

{Blessed is He who, if He wills, can grant you better than that — gardens beneath which rivers flow — and He will grant you palaces.}

[Al-Furqan: 10]

Indeed, he, peace and blessings be upon him, was given the choice between being a prophet king or a messenger slave, so he chose to be a messenger slave.

Did Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, steal from him?

Or did he hear things that were offensive to his morals from those who lived with him?

Or were Paul’s nightmares affecting his mind and nerves?

“So the Messenger of God ﷺ grew up, and God protected him and shielded him from the filth of ignorance and its faults, because of what He wanted from him of honor and his message until he became the best man of his people in chivalry and the best of them in character.”

The reins almost slipped, had it not been for Abu Umayyah ibn al-Mughira — who was the oldest of them — who suggested that the first one to enter upon them from the door of Bani Shaiba should judge between them.

So they responded to his advice and waited for the savior to appear, and the Chosen One ﷺ appeared to them.

When they saw him, they said:

This is the trustworthy one, we are satisfied with him. This is Muhammad.

Then this lying claimant comes and says that he is greedy.

No, and a thousand times no.

Let us see what his book says about the origins of fraud, theft, and deception.

To a stranger you may lend on interest, but to your brother you shall not lend on interest, that the Lord your God may bless you in all that you set your hand to in the land which you are entering to possess.

Every creditor shall release from what he has lent to his neighbor.

He shall not demand it back to his neighbor or his brother, for a release has been proclaimed to the Lord.

A stranger you shall demand it back.

O you who pretend to doubt, your Lord commands you to steal, defraud, and cheat.

When you depart from the land of Pharaoh, you shall not depart empty-handed.

But every woman shall ask of her neighbor jewels, silver and gold and clothing, and you shall put them on your sons and your daughters, and you shall plunder the Egyptians.

“Ask of the Egyptians jewels of silver and jewels of gold and clothing. And the Lord gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they lent to them, and they plundered the Egyptians.”

By this, the children of Israel were able to steal the money of the Egyptians.

He married Khadija because he wanted her money?

You say that Muhammad was running after Khadija’s money.

Who sent to Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, and offered him work in money and trade?

Khadija bint Khuwaylid was a wealthy and honorable merchant woman who would hire men with her money and trade it with them for something she would give them.

The Quraysh were a people of merchants.

When she heard what she heard about the Messenger of God, may God bless him and grant him peace, about the truthfulness of his speech, the greatness of his trustworthiness, and the nobility of his character, she sent to him and offered him to go with her money to Syria as a merchant.

She would give him the best of what she used to give to other merchants, along with a slave of hers called Maysarah.

The Messenger of God, may God bless him and grant him peace, accepted it from her, and went with her money and her slave Maysarah went with him until he arrived in Syria.

Who went to marry the other?

Who sought out the other?

Who proposed marriage to the other?

The Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, went out to trade for Khadija, may Allah be pleased with her, to the market of Busra, and he made a profit twice what others made.

Nafisa, the sister of Ya`la ibn Umayya, said:

Khadija sent me to him as a deceiver to propose marriage to her, so he accepted and married her when he was twenty-five years old.

The one who married her to him was her uncle Amr because her father had died in the pre-Islamic era.

When the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, married her, she was a widow of forty years old.

Thus, a great emotion arose within Lady Khadija.

Despite the fact that there was no one in Quraysh who could compete with her in honor and lineage, she hesitated whether the Messenger of God, may God bless him and grant him peace, would accept her, as she was an old woman with children.

Would Muhammad respond to her?

And he turned away from the virgins of Mecca and the fresh flowers of Banu Hashim.

So she confided her secret to her friend Nafisa bint Umayya.

Nafisa went to the Messenger of God, may God bless him and grant him peace, and was kindly directed to Lady Khadija, may God be pleased with her.

He had a desire for her, but he did not have what he could marry with.

So when she directed him, he proposed to her and the Messenger of God married her.

The reason for his marriage, peace and blessings be upon him, to Lady Khadija was not greed for her money.

This report is not reliable.

“Muhammad bin Abdullah is proposing to me, so marry me to him.”

So he married her to him, so she took him off and dressed him in a robe, and that is what they used to do with fathers.

When his drunkenness subsided, he looked and saw that he was completely rotten and wearing a robe, so he said:

“What is this?”

She said:

“You married me to Muhammad bin Abdullah.”

He said:

“I am marrying the orphan of Abu Talib? No, by my life.”

Then Khadija said:

“Are you not ashamed? Do you want to make yourself foolish before Quraysh by telling people that you were drunk?”

But she did not stop until he was satisfied.

He told us, Affan told us, Hammad told us, he said, Ammar bin Abi Ammar told us, on the authority of Ibn Abbas, as he thinks, that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, mentioned Khadija bint Khuwaylid, so he mentioned its meaning.

This is a weak chain of narration.

It includesHammad ibn Salamah.

There are oddities and strange things in his hadith.

It includesAmmar ibn Abi Ammar.

He is not to be followed.

He used to make mistakes.

Shu’bah spoke about him.

In addition to Hammad ibn Salamah’s doubt about attributing the narration to Ibn Abbas at all.

Its chain contains problematic narrators, including Hammad ibn Salamah and Ammar ibn Abi Ammar.

There is also doubt in the attribution of the narration to Ibn Abbas in the first place.

Therefore, the report is weak and cannot be relied upon.

And did our noble Messenger not find anyone to marry so that he would deceive Khadija into marrying her?

Every nobleman of Quraish wished to marry her, but she preferred to marry the Messenger of God, may God bless him and grant him peace.

Thus she attained the best of this world and the hereafter.

Why did Lady Khadija refuse to marry a nobleman of Quraish and agree to marry the Prophet, may God bless him and grant him peace?

He was famous among the Arabs for his honesty, trustworthiness, and good morals.

He was called the Truthful and Trustworthy because of his constant advice to merchants, urging them to be honest, and warning them against cheating and betrayal.

This is what Maysarah witnessed during the blessed trade journey and told what he told his mistress Khadija, may God be pleased with her.

Did he need honor and lineage?

Our noble Prophet is the highest and greatest in lineage, as he is from Banu Hashim, the highest tribe of Quraish in lineage.

As for Lady Khadija, she was from the middle of their lineage.

“And after that, Muhammad is one of those who cannot be compared to any young man from Quraysh except that he outweighs him in honor, nobility, virtue, and intelligence.

If he has little money, then it is a fleeting shadow and a loan that will be returned.

He has a desire for Khadija bint Khuwaylid and she has the same desire for him.”

So Amr said:

“He is the stallion whose nose will not be cut off, so marry her to him.”

“You lied, Abu Talib, he is neither honorable nor noble nor intelligent”?

The response to the fact that he was not satisfied with what he achieved, and after eating his wife’s money, he claimed prophethood in order to gain power.

Was Lady Khadija so naive as to let a young man who was years younger than her eat her money that she worked hard for and made through her trade?

Lady Khadija, may God be pleased with her, earned many times more money at the hands of our beloved Messenger than she earned at the hands of others.

“The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, went out to trade for Khadija, may God be pleased with her, to the market of Busra, and earned twice what others earned.”

Did he eat her money and return to her from his trade without money?

Did Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, build houses and palaces with it?

Did he build gardens and orchards with her money?

Let us take a quick look at the material level of our noble Prophet and the life of this great man whose nation ruled the East and the West.

The bed of the Messenger of God, may God bless him and grant him peace, was made of leather and stuffed with palm fibers.

Rather, they lived on the two black ones: dates and water.

He might spend a whole day twisting from severe hunger and not finding enough dates — which are bad dates — to fill his stomach.

The Messenger of God, may God bless him and grant him peace, never ate his fill of wheat bread for three consecutive days until he died, and most of his bread was barley.

It is not reported that he ever ate thin bread.

He, may God bless him and grant him peace, never ate from a tray — which is the place on which food is placed — until he died.

In fact, his servant Anas, may God be pleased with him, mentioned that the Prophet, may God bless him and grant him peace, never had lunch or dinner of bread and meat together except when guests came to him.

His companions, may God be pleased with them, testified to his asceticism and lack of affectation in his clothing, although he was able to wear the most expensive clothes.

One of the companions described his clothing saying:

I came to the Messenger of God, may God bless him and grant him peace, to talk to him about something, and he was sitting, wearing a thick cotton loincloth.

Abu Burdah, may God be pleased with him, entered to Aisha, the Mother of the Believers, and she brought out a felted cloak and a thick loincloth, then she said:

The Messenger of God, may God bless him and grant him peace, was taken in these two garments.

Anas bin Malik, may God be pleased with him, said:

I was walking with the Messenger of God, may God bless him and grant him peace, and he was wearing a Najrani cloak with a thick border.

Where is Khadija’s money that Muhammad ate, O claimant?

When he died, may God bless him and grant him peace, he did not leave behind a single dirham or dinar, a male or female slave, or anything else except his white mule, his weapons, and land that he had made into charity.

“The Messenger of God, may God bless him and grant him peace, died and there was nothing on my shelf that a person with a liver could eat except half a barley in my shelf. I ate from it until it became too much for me.”

He, may God bless him and grant him peace, died and his armor was mortgaged to a Jew in exchange for some barley.

Why didn’t her children or grandchildren inherit it?

Why didn’t it appear to Muhammad?

To the extent that during the siege of the Quraysh and their boycott of Banu Hashim, she did not find anything to eat that day.

They were besieged for three lean years.

They reached the point of eating tree leaves.

Despite that, they did not give up their principles and did not let down their Prophet, peace be upon him.

Rather, they stood firm with him until relief came to them from Allah Almighty.

Why did he and his wife not eat from it in this ordeal and eat tree leaves?

Why did he tie two stones to his stomach and not one stone from the severity of hunger and did not eat from the money of Lady Khadija that he ate as you claim?

He spent his money and his wife’s money on the Muslims, trying to relieve their suffering.

The Messenger of God, may God bless him and his family and grant them peace, spent his money, and Abu Talib spent his money, and Khadija bint Khuwaylid spent her money.

They reached the point of distress and poverty, and their hardship became so severe that they were forced to eat herbs and tree leaves.

Despite this, Abu Talib, his son Ali, peace be upon him, and his brother Hamza did not put anything in their account other than the Prophet Muhammad, may God bless him and his family and grant him peace, and his care, so that no one from Mecca would sneak in at night to assassinate him.

This thought did not leave Abu Talib night and day.

Why did Muhammad not live in happiness and comfort and endure hardship and suffering with the Muslims?

The Prophet, may God bless him and grant him peace, claimed prophethood in order to gain power.

But does this humble person covet power through the following actions?

The Prophet, may God bless him and grant him peace, lived a humble life, with humble wings, as a shepherd of sheep — not camels.

“Take it easy; I am not a king, I am only the son of a woman from Quraysh who used to eat dried meat.”

Peace be upon the Chosen One.

Idols were the goddess of masters and slaves, and they were even a major reason for the revival of trade among the Arabs, as idols were sold and sacrifices were bought to be presented.

It was an important source of livelihood and a significant benefit for them.

Do you not understand?

Would anyone claim prophethood among these infidels who might all kill him in pursuit of power?

Doesn’t the claimant know who Abdullah ibn Abdul Muttalib is?

Doesn’t he know who Abdul Muttalib is?

Who is Abu Talib?

Who is Hamza?

Who are the Banu Hashim?

All this lineage and honor in the Banu Hashim and the noble prophet is looking for a sultan?

So look, O claimant, at the lineage of your god and tell us about his lineage honored by adultery and debauchery.

What was the fate of every one who claims prophethood?

Let us compare Musaylimah’s positions and sayings with what the Master of Creation brought to us to know how the claimant of prophethood who covets power thinks and how his intentions ooze from between his lips.

“Musaylimah the Liar came during the time of the Messenger of God, may God bless him and grant him peace, and he began to say:

If Muhammad gives me the authority after him, I will follow him.”

“From Musaylimah, the Messenger of God, to Muhammad, the Messenger of God.

As for what follows, I have been made a partner in the authority with you, and we have half the earth and the Quraysh have half the earth, but the Quraysh transgress.”

Since Musaylimah was greedy for power, he exploited the spirit of fanaticism among his people and fanned it so that he would increase his followers.

“I want you to tell me how the Quraysh became more deserving of prophethood and imamate than you?

By God, they are not more numerous or more powerful than you.

Your country is more spacious than theirs, and your wealth is more than their wealth.”

“By God, you know that I know that you lie.”

“I testify that you are a liar and that Muhammad is truthful, but the liar of Rabi’ah is more beloved to us than the truthful one of Mudar.”

So where is this in comparison to the Messenger of God, may God bless him and grant him peace, whose contemporaries testified to his prophethood and message?

This is something that is not hidden from any fair-minded, rational person.

And the Quraysh were not able to achieve that for him.

And that is what he actually achieved.

Is there anyone greater and better than the tribe of Quraysh among the Arabs?

Several factors contributed to this, the most important of which is the existence of the Sacred House of Allah, and the Quraysh’s care for it and hospitality to its people.

The incident of the elephant had a double effect in increasing the sanctity of the Sacred House among the Arabs throughout the peninsula, and increasing the status of its people and its masters from Quraysh.

This helped them to travel the land in safety, wherever they settled.

They found dignity and care, and this encouraged them to establish two great trade routes — via caravans — to Yemen in the south, and to the Levant in the north, and to organize two huge trade trips:

one to Yemen in the winter, and the second to the Levant in the summer.

What status is greater than the sovereignty of Quraysh, which is the master of the Arabs?

In addition to the tribes and groups that came to him as Muslims without meeting him, just because they heard about the great method that he brought.

Let us not forget that our Prophet ﷺ was given the choice between being a king and a messenger or a slave and a messenger, so he chose to be a slave and messenger.

Why didn’t he make himself king of the country with the money he ate from Khadija, you pretender?

Because he wants a king over all the Arabs.

This sovereignty that God wanted for His law is for the whole world, not just for the Arabs.

Isn’t that enough to show the status of the teachings that were sent down to him that subjugated the hearts of the inhabitants of the earth?

They believe in a prophet without seeing him, and this is what is happening today.

But no way, you dead ones, Islam is still high and sublime in spite of the pretender.

“O cursed one”

And do not talk about the most honorable son of Adam.

“Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.”

In the Book of Jeremiah, Chapter 10:19, the Lord rebukes Himself.

Yet I said:

“Surely this is a disaster, and I must bear it.”

Woe is me, for I have become like summer reapers, like the gleanings of vintage, with no clusters to eat, no firstfruits of figs that my soul desires.

If Christians call every benefit from the money of others “greed” and condemn it, then they should condemn Christ all the more.

Because according to them, women served Christ from their money, as their Gospels stated.

We say “all the more” for several reasons:

Our Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, only benefited from the money of one woman, while Christ in their Gospels benefited from the money of many.

As for Christ, he benefited from the money of women who were not his relatives.

Christ never benefited those non-mahram women personally.

As for the money that Christ benefited from, it contained what was known as forbidden, because all or most of those women were prostitutes before their repentance, so the money that they obtained in exchange for prostitution is what they used to serve Christ.

This never happened.

Rather, she, may Allah be pleased with her, served him with her money in calling to Allah, in freeing slaves, and the like.

Her example in this is Abu Bakr al-Siddiq, may Allah be pleased with him.

He benefited our Prophet with his money, but the benefit intended here is that he freed slaves and the like.

It did not benefit our Prophet in his food and clothing.

“Abu Bakr’s spending was not for the Prophet, blessings and peace of Allah be upon him, in his food and clothing, for Allah has made His Messenger independent of the wealth of all creation.

Rather, it was to help him establish faith.

So his spending was for what Allah and His Messenger love, not for the Prophet himself.

So he bought the tortured ones like Bilal, ‘Aamir ibn Fuhayrah, Zunayrah and a group.”

[Minhaaj as-Sunnah 8/401]

The Gospels do not mention that he freed a male or female slave, nor do they mention his helping any believer with money.

So all that remains is his benefit from the money in his person, such as food, for example.

As for Christ, it is apparent from the Gospels that since the beginning of his call, he had abandoned the carpentry trade.

If benefiting from someone else’s money is an accusation in general, then it is more proven and confirmed in the right of someone who has no profession, who eats from the work of his hand.

As for her life, may God be pleased with her, he took care of her in the best way.

As for after her death, he was never mentioned, may God be pleased with her, except that he thanked her for her actions, and he continued to praise her until his wives became jealous.

Rather, he was kind to her after her death in her relatives, cheering them up, making them happy, and giving them.

As for Christ, the Gospels did not mention a single word of thanks that he said to one of those women who served him from their money.

Rather, it is known that the “greedy” person is malicious in soul and does not remember the favor during the life of its owner at all, let alone remember it after his death.

The claim that the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ married Khadija for money collapses from every angle:

• Khadija herself sought him because of his honesty and trustworthiness.
• He brought profit to her trade.
• She preferred him over the noblemen of Quraysh.
• The report about her father being made drunk is weak and unreliable.
• The Prophet ﷺ lived and died in poverty and asceticism.
• Khadija’s money was spent in support of Islam and the oppressed Muslims.
• He rejected kingship and chose servitude to Allah.

Therefore, the suspicion is nothing but a malicious accusation built on ignorance, selective reading, and hatred of the Messenger of God ﷺ.