Was the Prophet ﷺ employed by Sayyidah Khadija RA?
There is a common misconception that the Prophet ﷺ was an employee of Sayyidah Khadija (RA). This is not true.
Even the framing of it is problematic because the way we understand employment today never really existed before Charted Monopolies came around.
The idea of the "employee" is based on our idea of modern day corporate work where you are, by and large, a time based employee. You clock your hours (or your salaried) but you're tied to certain man hours on projects.
Douglas Rushkoff explains it best here. (17:30 timestamp)
The reason even clock towers and clocks became a prominent thing was because of Chartered Monopolies where you were indentured to time.
Even "time" was tied to general estimates of how far you were from a relative period like Maghrib.
Sayyidah Khadija (RA) and the Prophet ﷺ did not have an employment contract because they didn't exist. What they had was what is called now a Mudarabah contract. It's a partnership agreement where one party brings the capital and the other party the skills.
This is like if I want to buy and flip houses and so I partner with my friend Irfan who knows all about general contracting. I provide the capital, him and his crew prepare the houses, we flip the house and we both share profit. In this situation, Irfan is not working for me.
Irfan doesn't ask me whether he can work today, whether he can take a nap, whether he can bring in others to help him. Irfan doesn't "report" to me. If he fails, I fail. If I fail, he fails. It's a mutually understood partnership.
It is indeed disrespectful to continually claim that the greatest of Creation ﷺ was an employee indentured to time. I've seen this misunderstanding so much over the years, people should really study the Seerah.
In addition to the above, we need to understand who the Prophet ﷺ was before his work as a merchant. He wasn't a no body. He was the grandson of Abdul Mutallib, the Prince of Mecca. EVERYONE knew who he ﷺ was. It was an honor to have him ﷺ lead your caravan.
It should also be noted that Abu Talib when brokering the deal asked for double the amount for the Prophet's ﷺ share in the agreement.
The Prophet ﷺ was also one of the key members of the Alliance of the Righteous (Hilf al Fudul), made up of prominent members of society.
Most are also unaware of a person named Awwam ibn Khuwaylid who was the father of Zubayr ibn Awwam, and also the husband of the Prophet's aunt Safiyyah (RA). Who was he?
The brother of Sayyidah Khadjia (RA)
The Prophet's ﷺ aunt was married to Sayyidah Khadija's brother.
Zubayr (RA) practically lived in the home of the Prophet ﷺ. His direct blood aunt was Khadijah (RA).
So this idea that Sayyidah Khadijah (RA) only met him ﷺ through some act of employment is absurd and extremely disrespectful to both the greatest of creation and his wife one of the greatest women of creation.
Peace and blessings be upon them both.
And Allah and his Messenger ﷺ know best
~muin