23truthful, the trustworthy," when he was ani)' about twenty. One of the
wealtluest traders in Mecca was a w'Oman called Khadijah blm Khuwaytid.
Twice married, then finally a widow, she was a cousin of the Christian
Waraqah ibn Nawfal. Fo r so me years already she had been hearing o f a
young man who was "honest, f2ir, and efficient," and she eventually
decided to test him, asking him to take some goods of hers to Syria and
sell them there; she would let him take along a young se rvant of hers
called t\laysarah, and promised to double his commission if he was suc-
cessful. He accepted and set out with 1\ laysarah. In Syria, tIIluhammad
managed a commercial ope ration that mo re than d o ubled Khadijah's
expectations.
They came back to report to Khadijah, who silently listened to ~fuham
mad's cxplanauons, carefully o bse rving the appearance and behavior of
the young man, who was now about twenty-five. A light seemed to
emanate from his facc. Later Maysarah told her that all along the journey
he had noticed a series of sib>ns-in i\I uhammad's attitude and behavior-
attesting that he was like no o ther man.^6 Khadijah then askcd o ne of her
friends, Nufa),sah, to approach !llu hammad and ask whether he would be
interested in marriage. ivluhammad told Nufaysah th at he could not
afford marriage, and when she mentioned the name of Khadijah, With
whom he would find "beauty, uneage, nobility, and wealth," hc responded
that he was interested but that because o f his status, he could not contem-
plate such a u nion. Nufaysah did not sa}' that she was already acting at
KhadJjah's request and suggested he leave things to her, that she could
arrange the match. Shc informed her fricnd Khadijah of Muhammad's
favorable frame of mind. Khadijah inVIted him to her home and made
him a p roposal of marriage, which he accepted. There remained the task
of speaking to rdaU\'es in both clans in order [0 finalize the a rrangements,
but no obstacle-whcther their respective staruSI::S or the interests o f the
tribes-was able to prevcnt their marriage.
Tradition reports that Khadijah was forty years old when they married,
but other opinions ha\'c it that she was )'ounger: for instance, Abdullah
Ibn Masud mentions th e agc of twenty-eight, which does seem more like-
ly consideting that Khadijah gave birth to six children in the foUowing
rears.^7 The firstborn, a be}' named Qasirn,lived only tWO years; then came
Zaynab, Ruqayyah, Um Kuithum, Fatimah, and at last Abdullah, who also
died before he reached the age of two.^8 Dunng those years, the Prophet