by Kai Pflug
Actually, it is extremely unlikely Hazrat Bi Bi Khadija ever got nominated as Businesswoman of the Year. Not because she was not a successful businesswoman (she was), but because she lived about 1400 years ago, a time when such nominations were exceedingly rare.
What was Khadija’s business? She was a very successful merchant in aArabia, putting together long caravans of goods that were then brought to places such as Syria and Yemen. Apparently, at times her caravan was as long as that of all other traders of her tribe together. Successful she was indeed.
Also, what did she do with all her money? It seems she did a lot of good things with it, especially feeding and clothing the poor. She did this to an extent that when she died, nothing was left of her wealth.
So, surely, she would have deserved the nomination.
But why does this matter – why am I writing about Hazrat Bi Bi Khadija? Well, what makes her an important historical figure is not her success as a merchant. Rather, she was the first wife of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, and the first person after Muhammad himself to convert to Islam.
Her being a successful businesswoman brought many benefits to the society she lived in. I have already mentioned that she used her wealth to help the poor. She also offered employment to many people who might otherwise not have a job, for example as travelers in her trade caravans or as laborers. Her wealth created more demand for other products and services, promoting growth of the overall economy. And of course, she used her wealth to support Muhammad and Islam.
Interestingly, nowadays Khadija is used as a role model to improve the economic situation in Muslim areas – for example, in Gombe, Nigeria, where her example is used to motivate Muslim women to work. In a way, I guess that is done in the same spirit as nominating a Businesswoman of the Year. So maybe, the title of this blog post makes some sense after all.
Photo: Unsplash, Photographer: Sergey Pesterev
Originally posted 2024-03-16 14:33:47.