Ibn ‘Abbaas related that Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) said: “The best women of paradise are Khadeejah bint Khuwaylid, Faatimah bint Muhammad, Maryam bint ‘Imraan, and Aasiyah bint Muzaahim, the wife of Pharaoh.” Collected by Ahmad, al-Haakim and at-Tabaraanee in al-Kabeer [S.J.S. 1135]. Mishkat Al-Masabih, vol. 2, no. 1361. KHADEEJAH BINT KHUWAYLID: The first wife of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). She was a rich Makkan noblewoman who hired Muhammad (PBUH) to manage her trading business due to his reputation for being trustworthy. After observing his honesty in handling her financial affairs, she proposed marriage to him. Muhammad (PBUH), who was twenty-five at that time, accepted her proposal in spite of her being a widow fifteen years his senior. When he began to receive revelation fifteen years later, Khadeejah was the first to believe in him and support him. She died at the age of sixty-five in Makkah during the economic and social boycott imposed on the Muslims by the Quraysh. She bore the Prophet (PBUH) two boys, al-Qaasim and at-Tayyib, both of whom died in infancy, and four daughters, Zaynab, Ruqayyah, Umm Kulthoom and Faatimah.