Medieval ignorance made the Khadijah marriage loom disproportionately large

Evidence

Khadijah’s wealth and the importance of the marriage to Muhammad’s career were generally brought out, and the general ignorance of most detail of Muhammad’s Meccan career made the marriage seem almost the only important event, apart from the actual call to prophethood. Some writers thought that Muhammad was indebted for his early career to a patron, whose relict, Khadijah, it was, whom he finally married. This suggests a confused reflection of the personality of abi Talib, and Lull actually did think Khadijah his widow. — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 520