What way did Muhammads marriage to Kadijah contruibute to his success as a reliogious leader?

Answer 1

Khaijda was the first person to accept Islam: she believed Muhammad to be a prophet before he believed it himself. It was at her urging that he accepted his divine call. If Khadija had said, "Never mind, you've had a bad dream, but it doesn't mean anything, just forget it," then Muhammad might never have claimed to be a prophet at all.

Khadija took Muhammad to her cousin Waraqa, who was an Ebionite. He had a superficial knowledge of The Bible and a belief that more prophets would come in the future. Waraqa's theological explanations of how Muhammad fitted into the big picture there fore laid the foundation for Islamic theology. Without Khadija, Muhammad might never have spoken to Waraqa.

After the elders of Mecca declared that nobody was to buy from or sell to Muhammad's clan, they might have starved. Khadija used her wealth to buy food supplies from contacts outside Mecca (and a few renegade Meccans). She eventually spent everything she had, but she saved the lives of the early Muslims.

Interestingly enough, there are very few hadiths about Khadija. She was at Muhammad's side for his first nine years as a prophet (the same length of time he was married to Ayesha), yet there are almost no stories about her. So in a way, it is surprising that such a strong-willed woman contributed so little to the final shape of Islam.