Abu Talib was not a rich person. He often found it difficult to support his family and Muhammad (saws) had to herd sheep as a boy to earn his keep. Later on he started to work for merchants who were aware of his honesty and often wished to hire him to take their caravans for trade. One such trader was a widow named Khadijah^R.A , who also hired him to take her caravans to Syria for trade. So, with the consent of his uncle, he set out

Khadijah^R.A was married twice but had lost both her husbands. She was a trader and was also known as "Tahira" (pure) because of her rectitude and virtuosity. When Muhammad (saws) embarked upon his journey, she assigned two of her close helpers to accompany him. One was her nephew Khadeema and the other her servant Maysara.

Thus began a relationship between him and his employer which was destined to become more than just a business relationship when she decided to marry him.

The proposal posed three obstacles. Firstly, she was a widow of forty and had a daughter and a son, whereas he was unmarried and only twenty-five. Secondly, she was a rich lady and he was not a particularly well off person. Thirdly, as was the old custom, both their tribes had to give their consent, which was unlikely to come from Khadijah’s^R.A tribe.

A match made in heaven, there was no question of it not coming true despite the few hurdles that lay in its way. Abu Talib, delighted by the prospects of his nephew marrying a lady who was not only affluent in worldly matters but also of great moral standing, successfully negotiated the alliance with members of her clan who were initially averse to the idea of her marrying her employee but soon agreed and gave their blessings.

It was customary in Arabia that the husband paid a dowry to the wife and in his case the agreed figure was five hundred Dirhams, which was not enough to buy even two camels! On the day of the wedding, when his wet-nurse Halimah came to Makkah to bless the couple, Khadijah^R.A gave her a gift of four camels as a token of her gratitude. Later on, when she came again, she was given a camel and forty sheep by the prophet (saws) who never forgot her favour and was always ready and willing to help her out

Their marriage was a great success and he often referred to the years spent with her as the most blithesome and memorable years of his life, especially because it was during her lifetime that the first revelation of the Qur’aan was brought to him by the Archangel Gabriel. She was his ideal wife and he was her perfect husband! She bore him six children, - two sons and four daughters. He chose the name "Qasim" for his first son and wished himself to be addressed as "Abu-Qasim" (father of Qasim). But such was the will of Allah that Both his sons died in early childhood. He named his daughters Ruqayyah^{R A}, Zaynab^R.A, Umm-e-Kalthoom^R.A and Fatima^R.A respectively. Once again, it was the will of Allah that the first three daughters remained childless, and only Fatima^R.A destined to become a mother.