Dear Salma, I was born in Pakistan, but grew up in the US. My parents however still live in Africa, and I am staying with my aunt. Some time back, a close friend of mine who happens to be a revert to Islam, had asked for my hand in marriage….
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Dear Salma, I have a question regarding interracial/intercultural marriages. I am an American born revert to Islam, and I have had suitors who are Arab–one whom I unexpectedly fell in love with. Unfortunately, when he asked his father for the family’s blessing, his father advised against our marriage, saying the…
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Although it took many months of persistent coaxing on our and the community elders’ parts, my wife and I prevailed; even after we tied the knot though, I continued to feel burdened by the suspicion that we were only one among hundreds, if not thousands, of American Muslim couples who fought against families and communities opposed to their interracial marriage. Within the Muslim community, I realized the power of the unthinkable: When it came to marriage, some Muslims couldn’t even entertain the thought of marrying individuals from particular “groups.” The idea of a black Muslim man marrying an Arab Muslim girl was inconceivable. Joining an Indonesian and a Pakistani in holy matrimony…forget about it.
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Seven years ago, I married a wonderful woman. My wife-to-be was an Arab-American Muslim and I was a Cuban-American Muslim. Both she and I considered our ethnic identities incidental; after all, although my Cuban family raised me and she was brought up by her Algerian parents, we both shared the “American” after the hyphen, which made us quite compatible. For starters, English was our stronger language. We also had a similar taste in books and films, shared congruous views on the philosophy and practice of our faith, and both knew who “The Simpsons” were. We were a perfect fit, or so we thought.
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