What Nobody Tells You About Muslim Marriage
Our first year nearly ended because of whose family to visit for Eid. What saved us was an imam who understood setting boundaries.
It sounds absurd. It was absurd. But the whose family to visit for Eid was never really about food.
Zainab's father-in-law had a expectation about morning routines. When we married, the expectation was that I would prioritise their family. When I did things differently, the passive aggression began.
What saved us was an imam who understood marriage counselling. He made us list every unspoken expectation. Zainab's list was 12 items long. Mine was 23. We'd married each other but expected to live in our parents' marriages.
The Quran says spouses are garments for one another — they cover, protect, and complement. We weren't garments. We were two strangers sharing a wardrobe.
It took a year of honest, painful conversations. Of learning that compromise doesn't mean surrender. Of understanding that my Arab traditions and Pakistani traditions could coexist in the same kitchen.
We've been married 11 years now. We found our own rhythm. We still disagree about the thermostat. But we do the dishes together.
Nobody tells you that marriage isn't about finding the right person. It's about becoming the right person. Every single day. Over and over. With patience, with prayer, and occasionally with raised voices that eventually soften into laughter.