Pourghorbani

The tomb of Hazrat Khadijah

The tomb of Hazrat Khadijah (PBUH), the resting place of Khadijah, the daughter of Khuwaylid and the wife of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), is located in the cemetery of Abu Talib (Jannat al-Ma'la or Hajun) in Mecca.

Historical sources mention the burial of Khadijah (PBUH) in Hajun, but the exact location of her grave was not known until the first half of the eighth century Hijri. From the mid-8th century Hijri, a location in the Ma'la cemetery in Mecca was identified as the burial place of Hazrat Khadijah, and a tombstone was erected for her. Later, a tall dome was constructed over the shrine in the later centuries. The shrine was demolished in 1218 by the Wahhabis but was later reconstructed. However, it was demolished again in 1343 with the establishment of the Saudi government.

Lady Khadijah (PBUH).

Khadijah (PBUH), the daughter of Khuwaylid ibn Asad, was the first wife of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).(1) Ibn Isḥāq, Muḥammad. ''Sīra Ibn Isḥāq: al-Sīra al-Nabawiyya li Ibn Isḥāq'' .p245,,, Ibn Maghāzīlī, ʿAlī b. Muḥammad. ''Manāqib ʿAlī b. Abī Ṭālib''.vol 1.p149,,, Shahīdī, Sayyid Jaʿfar. ''Tārīkh-i taḥlīlī-yi Islām''.p39-40)

The Noble Prophet (PBUH) married Khadijah at the age of 25.(2) Shahīdī, Sayyid Jaʿfar. ''Tārīkh-i taḥlīlī-yi Islām''.p39-40)

From this marriage, six children were born: two sons named Qasim and Abdullah, and four daughters named Zainab, Ruqayyah, Umm Kulthum, and Fatimah (PBUH).3***

In a narration, Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) identifies Lady Khadijah (PBUH), Fatimah (PBUH), Maryam (Mary), and Asiya as the leaders of the women of the world.(4)( Ibn Kathīr, Ismāʿīl b. ʿUmar. ''Al-Bidāya wa l-nihāya'.vol2.p129)

Khadijah lived for approximately 25 years with Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). She passed away on the 10th of Ramadan in the year 10 of the Islamic calendar, during the time of the Prophet's mission in Medina.(5)( Ibn Saʿd, Muḥammad b. Manīʿ al-Ḥāshimī al-Baṣrī. ''Al-Ṭabaqāt al-kubrā'',vol8,p14,,, Ibn Hishām, ʿAbd al-Malik. ''Al-Sīra al-nabawīyya''.vol 1.p416)

Location of the Grave

 

Sources have reported the burial of Hazrat Khadijah in the cemetery of Hajun. This is the same cemetery that was situated in Bab al-Mu'alla and is also known as the Bab al-Mu'alla Cemetery.(6)( Maqrizī, Aḥmad b. ʿAlī. ''Imtāʿ al-asmāʾ.vol6.p30)

However, the earliest reports about the exact location of her grave date back to the eighth century and have been recorded in historical sources. The precise location of her grave was unknown before that. Ibn Jubayr (d. 614 AH) in the sixth century reported that the graves in the cemetery of Hajun in Bab al-Mu'alla were ruined and forgotten.(7)( • Ibn Jubayr, Muḥammad b. Aḥmad. ''Riḥla Ibn Jubayr''.p78)

Taqī al-Dīn, who visited Mecca in the year 696, mentions that the people of Mecca say the grave of Khadijah (PBUH) is in Shu'bah, located on the side of Ma'la, but no grave is visible there.(8)) • Tajībī, Qāsim b. Yūsuf.Mustafād al-riḥla wa al-ightirāb..p340-341)

Since the eighth century Hijri, the grave of Hazrat Khadijah gained prominence in Jannat al-Ma'la and has been mentioned in various sources. Ibn Battuta, who resided in Mecca in the years 729-730, reported that in the Ma'la cemetery, only a small number of graves, including the grave of Hazrat Khadijah, were recognized.(9)( Ibn Baṭūṭa, Muḥammad b. ʿAbd Allāh. ''Al-Raḥla Ibn Baṭūṭa,vol 1.p381,,, Shahīd al-Awwal, Muḥammad b. Makkī. Al-Durūs al-sharʿīyya fī fiqh al-imāmiyya.vol 1.p468)

. ( Fāsī al-Makkī, Muḥammad b. Aḥmad. ''Shifāʾ al-gharām bi akhbār al-balad al-ḥarām