h had been much sought after by the men of Mecca, both for her
riches and for her beauty, but she had preferred to remain independent,
and continued her orderly life among her maidens, attending to her
household, and finding enough occupation in the supervision of her many
mercantile ventures. She was about forty, fair of countenance, and gifted
with a rich nature, whose leading qualities were affection and sympathy.
She seems to have been pre-eminently one of those receptive women who are
good to consult for the clarification of ideas. Her intelligence was
quick to grasp another's thought, if she did not originate thought within
herself. She was a woman fitted to be the helper and guide of such a man
as Mahomet, eager, impulsive, prone to swiftly alternating extremes of
depression and elation. A subtle mental attraction drew them together,
and Khadijah divined intuitively the power lying within the mind of this
youth and also his need of her, both mentally and materially, to enable
him to realise his whole self. Therefore as she was the first to awaken
to her desire for him, the first advances come from her.

She sent her sister to Mahomet to induce him to change his mind upon the
subject of marriage, and when he found that the rich and gracious
Khadijah offered him her hand, he could not believe his good fortune, and
assured the sister that he was eager to make her his wife. The alliance,
in spite of its personal suitability, was far from being advantageous to
Khadijah from a worldly point of view, and the traditions of how her
father's consent was obtained have all the savour of contemporary
evidence.

The father was bidden to a feast, and there plied right royally with
wine. When his reason returned he asked the meaning of the great spread
of viands, the canopy, and the chapleted heads of the guests. Thereupon
he was told it was the marriage-feast of Mahomet and Khadijah, and his
wrath and amazement were great, for had he not by his presence given
sanction to the nuptials? The incident throws some light upon the
marriage laws current at the time. Khadijah, though forty and a widow,
was still under the guardianship of her father, having passed to him
after the death of her husband, and his consent was needed before she
married again.

The marriage contracted by mutual desire was followed by a time of leisure
and happiness, which Mahomet remembered all his life. Never did any man
feel his marriage gift (in Mahomet's