O Muhammad ﷺ, why don't you get married?
Who would marry me? I am an orphan and I am poor.
What if Khadija wanted to marry you?
Why would she want me?
Rather than saying no, this response signaled quiet interest.
~Month of Safar, c. 595 CE, three months after the return from Bosra · 27 BH
Details differ across the sources
Several details are disputed. Her age at marriage: Ibn Sa'd reports 40 from al-Waqidi, a weak narrator, with her death at 65; al-Hakim reports 28 from Ibn Ishaq (without a chain) and calls the age of 65 at death anomalous; al-Bayhaqi cites Mus'ab al-Zubayri that she lived to 65, "or it is said 50, which is more correct"; Ibn Kathir cites 35 or 25. Who gave her in marriage: her father Khuwaylid (Ibn Ishaq), or her uncle Amr ibn Asad (other reports). The dowry: twenty young she-camels (Ibn Hisham), or 12 uqiyyah and a nash (Ibn Faris). The timing, three months after the journey, in Safar, was not found in Ibn Ishaq.
After the success of the trading journey to Bosra, Khadija RA was the one who instigated the marriage proposal. In one version, she confided in her elderly servant Nafisa, who approached Muhammad ﷺ directly asking why he did not marry; when told Khadija RA might want him, he did not say no, only wondering why she would want him, signaling his interest. The reports differ on who gave her in marriage. Ibn Ishaq says the Prophet ﷺ's uncle Hamzah RA went with him to her father Khuwaylid ibn Asad, who married her to him; other reports name her uncle Amr ibn Asad as her guardian. In the account given by Ibn Faris, Abu Talib came with Muhammad ﷺ and delivered the khutbah, praising Allah and the lineage of Quraysh as caretakers of the Ka'bah, before proposing on his nephew's behalf with a mahr of 12 uqiyyah and a nash, and Amr ibn Asad accepted on the spot; Ibn Hisham instead gives the dowry as twenty young she-camels. One narration with a weak chain claims Khadija RA's father opposed the match and was made drunk so the marriage could proceed without his awareness. Khadija RA had been married twice before, first to Atiq ibn Abid al-Makhzumi and then to Abu Hala al-Tamimi, and had children by both (Ibn Hisham names Hind and Zaynab as her children by Abu Hala); some reports also name a son, Hala ibn Abi Hala.
This marriage gave the Prophet ﷺ the loving support and comfort he would need for his future mission, and it produced all of his children except Ibrahim. Khadija RA would become the first to believe in him, comfort him at the start of revelation, and stand by him when the rest of the community turned away. Though he could have chosen a young, unmarried woman, he instead chose someone of nobility and character who had been married twice before and had children, and he married no other woman until she passed away.
The Life of the Prophet ﷺ·Chapter 2 of 12Early life
See the whole storyO Muhammad ﷺ, why don't you get married?
Who would marry me? I am an orphan and I am poor.
What if Khadija wanted to marry you?
Why would she want me?
Rather than saying no, this response signaled quiet interest.
My nephew is the one who is no comparison with any other young man in all of Makkah, in his manners, nobility, and lineage. And he has proposed to your noble lady with a mahr of 12 uqiyyah and a nash of silver.
Opened by praising Allah and extolling the lineage and blessings of the Quraysh as caretakers of the Ka'bah, before addressing Khadija RA's uncle:
This is a young man who cannot be refused; we accept the proposal.