Interview: Author Revisits Role of Khadijah in Early Islam
In Queens and Prophets: How Arabian Noblewomen and Holy Men Shaped Paganism, Christianity and Islam, Emran Iqbal El-Badawi challenges traditional narratives by casting Khadijah bint Khuwaylid as a central figure in the religious and cultural shifts of 6th and 7th century Arabia.
In a chapter titled “Khadijah, Muhammad, and Christian–Pagan Confrontation,” El-Badawi presents Khadijah not just as the Prophet’s wife, but as a powerful Meccan noblewoman whose economic influence and bold defiance of patriarchal norms helped shape the early Islamic message.
The chapter explores how Khadijah’s support enabled the Prophet to challenge the dominant pagan order of Mecca and contribute to the promotion of Islam in the region.
What follows is the text of IQNA’s interview with El-Badawi:
IQNA: Your chapter frames Khadijah not only as a supportive wife but as a transformative historical figure. How does your portrayal of her challenge or expand on traditional Islamic narratives about her role?
El-Badawi: There are two main goals in presenting Khadijah as I have.
First, she belongs to an ancient line of noble women who shaped the history, culture and religion of Arabia and the Near East. These women were queens, priestesses, warriors, chieftains, and other impressive personas. Some of these women were associated with patterns of divinity, later appropriated by the Abrahamic religions.
Second, the Arabic sources, including the Sirah narratives, do not do justice to Khadijah. She was the dominant partner in her professional and later personal relationship with Muhammad (PBUH), both before and in the beginning of his prophethood. Furthermore, the sources are imbalanced, because they underestimate the Christian and Hanif background of Khadijah's family; while rehabilitating and praising Muhammad's family, who were pagan. I argue that Muhammad's [PBUH] wife, Khadijah, and not his uncle, Abu Talib, played a more significant role in supporting and protecting him.
IQNA: How do you differentiate between historical fact and interpretive layering when discussing figures like Khadijah, especially given the blend of biography, hagiography, and oral tradition in early Islamic sources?
El-Badawi: There are several measures I take to both center Khadijah, and present a more historically accurate narrative. My book makes clear that the medieval Sirah or Hadith reports are fundamentally concerned with identity formation, not historical facts. There are an abundance of literary instruments and inconsistencies in the reports about Khadijah. These include use of apologetics, polemics, topoi (common themes), hyperbole, anachronism, symbolism, insertions, others. Given our lack of documentary evidence about Khadijah specifically, my presentation of her is grounded in and extrapolates from patterns of earlier Arabian female nobility, for which we have some evidence.
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IQNA: You emphasize Khadijah’s economic and social power. How do you believe her status enabled Prophet Muhammad’s (PBUH) early preaching efforts in a patriarchal society like Mecca?
El-Badawi: Of course. According to the sources, Muhammad's (PBUH) uncle, Abu Talib, could no longer support him and pushed him to seek employment elsewhere. Khadijah saved him from potential homelessness and continued instability as a young man emerging from a life of orphanage. She was also his best friend and quite potentially a mother figure.
The sources also indicate that Khadijah was aggressive and fared well against the men of Quraysh. One example of this fighting, and winning, against Muhammad's (PBUH) uncles who objected to their marriage.
IQNA: The figure of Waraqa ibn Nawfal appears prominently in this narrative. In your view, does his role suggest a theological continuity between Christianity and early Islam—or is this more symbolic in nature?
El-Badawi: There is much scholarship on the relationship between late antique Christianity and the emergence of Islam and the Quran. In Arabia, there is a growing body of epigraphic and archeological evidence that Christianity was widespread before the rise of Islam. Even within the Arabic sources there are ample clues and references to Christian actors, sites and symbols within Muhammad's (PBUH) community.
It is difficult to say with any certainty how much influence Waraqah had upon Muhammad (PBUH), and there is some scholarship on this matter. However, the Sirah is communicating clearly that Christian holy men were part of Muhammad's (PBUH) circle. But this is again connected to Khadijah who is Waraqah's cousin.
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IQNA: You write within a broader narrative of religious transformation in Late Antiquity. How does Khadijah’s story reflect wider regional shifts in power, belief, and gender roles during that period?
El-Badawi: As I demonstrate in the book "Arabia" was home to a long, and unbroken tradition of "female nobility," i.e. noblewomen who exercised full agency and influence over society. This included their capacity to rule independently, undertake warfare, and conduct trade.
I argue that Roman conquest (ca. 106 CE) and the widespread conversion to Christianity and Judaism (3rd/4th Centuries CE) exacerbated patriarchal social behaviors in Arabia, including warfare. The power of Arabian noblewomen began to decline throughout this period of "late antiquity." Furthermore, their power was increasingly delegated to men they trusted, typically holy/religious men. The three main examples I use to demonstrate this historical process are Zenobia, Empress of Palmyra (d. 274), Mavia, Queen of Tanukh (d. ca. 425), and Khadijah, Lady of Quraysh (d. 619).
IQNA: Given the rising interest in re-evaluating women’s roles in religious history, what do you hope readers—especially Muslim readers—take away from your reexamination of Khadijah?
El-Badawi: There are many 'findings and lessons' about the seismic role played by Arabian noblewomen in shaping history, presented at the end of my book.
With respect to Khadijah specifically, a few important lessons bear reminder.
- The longest intimate relationship, best friendship, or business partnership the founder of Islam ever had was with a woman--Khadijah.
- People forget, Muhammad was closer to Khadijah than Abu Talib, Abu Bakr or 'Umar; and he lived with her longer than with 'Aishah or his other wives.
- Finally, and most importantly, Islamic gender relations today were not inevitable. Where is the Khadijan marriage tradition in Islam today? The woman (1) proposes to the man, (2) pays the dowry, (3) and needs no guardian or marriage official. Shii marriage custom resembles the ancient tradition closer than the Sunni model.
The views and opinions expressed in this interview are solely those of the interviewee and do not necessarily reflect the views of International Quran News Agency.
Interview by Mohammad Ali Haqshenas
