The Road to Marriage.Part2

Before long, Nafisa left that place and started to ask for directions as to where Muhammad the Trustworthy, peace and blessings be upon him, was. She quickly found him. She first saluted him and then said: “O Muhammad!”

Our noble Prophet turned his whole body towards her and was listening to her. She continued: “What stops you from marrying? Why are you not getting married?”

This was a question that the Pride of Humankind had not been expecting and he replied: “I don’t have the means to get married.”

It was true that the Messenger of Allah did not have the financial means to get married. In order for him to take the responsibilities of others upon himself, he first needed to have the means to see to their needs. But Nafisa told him that this need not constitute a problem; for money and possessions were things that could easily be lost, whereas nobility, honor, trust and character were values that were hard to find. Since she had come so far in the conversation, she decided to pursue it further and asked:

“If this was no longer an obstacle for you, and if someone came to you with beauty, wealth, honor, someone of your own caliber, would you not accept them as a spouse?”

Her questions made it clear that there was such a candidate, and understanding her intention, the Sultan of Both Worlds asked: “So who is this person?”

“It is Khadija,” answered Nafisa.

Of course he knew Khadija, the daughter of Khuwaylid; he had taken her caravan to Damascus only a few of days ago and had returned it to her with trade profits. But marriage was not as easy as trade and so he asked: “But how can this be?”

But for Nafisa the question was not a matter of “how,” she was just waiting to hear his consent.

She was relieved to hear his response, for his words could be taken as consent. His response seemed to denote “This is not a problem on my side, but how can such a marriage be?”

The rest of the conversation came easier to Nafisa, so she said: “You can leave the “how” of this business to me.”

Conventionally, silence meant a favorable response, and Nafisa left his side quickly and ran to our mother Khadija. She herself wanted to give her the good news. She ran and told her all that had been spoken. The news made Khadija breathe a sigh of relief. When she learnt that he looked upon the matter favorably, she sent word to the Awaited Messenger about her interest in him and the reasons why she wanted to marry him. This is how she started her statement:

“O my uncle’s son! Verily I am interested in marrying you because of our close family ties. Your remarkable status within your tribe, your beautiful morals and your steadfastness in protecting what is entrusted to you and in speaking the truth. Tell your uncles that they may start the marriage procedures!”

It was clear that she was trying to express her admiration for the Messenger of Allah in the sincerest and finest way possible. The Pride of Humankind did not want to take such an important step without discussing the issue with his elders. After receiving the offer, he went straight to his uncle Abu Talib and spoke about what had taken place between himself and Nafisa.

His nephew, Muhammad the Trustworthy, peace and blessings be upon him, was very precious for Abu Talib and he did not know any other person as worthy as him. However, Khadija was no woman to be written away either. She clearly lived a life of honor and dignity. She was one of the leading people by way of nobility and honor. He understood that his nephew looked at it favorably as well and he decided he had nothing to say against the match, and so he blessed the union.