I AM A revert who has been living her life as a Muslim woman for 8 years now, al-hamdulillah. Like many reverts, I have a past. In my “past life,” I made a vow never to marry or have children. I grew up in a loving, two parent, Southern, middle class, Christian home.

I saw loving examples of marriages all around me; in my parents, who have been married for 37 years, and grandparents; married over 60 years before my grandfather’s death. Yet I denounced all of this for myself. I had better things to do with my life. You see, I had plans to join the Peace Corps after college and work in Central America or Africa. Yes, that was going to be a better contribution to mankind than the selfish, social convention of taking care of a husband and kids. I had big plans…

Today, I am married, seven years, with three children. Not at all what I had planned ten years ago. But then accepting Islam was not a part of that plan either. When I first began studying Islam’s history and women’s rights, so many of the fictitious misconceptions that I held on to started to melt away into enlightenment. I began to understand the “whys” of so many of the things I had questioned and arrogantly turned my back on as inferior, or outdated. Marriage as a necessity was a big one for me to accept and understand. I wasn’t going to let my decision about that one go quietly without a fight!

During my earlier years of studying and coming to know Islam and Allah’s desires for that which is best for us, I began to relent. Reluctantly at first, as I still secretly feared that Islam expected me to submit to an unbalanced role. It was around this time that I came across an ayah that started the chain of events that completely changed my ideas about marriage and becoming a wife:

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And among Allah’s signs is this: that He created for you spouses from among yourselves, so that you might find rest in them; and He has set between you love and compassion. Truly there are signs in this for people who reflect. [Surat Ta Ha, 20:21]

Marriage is one of the most important aspects of life. It is so important that Prophet, Muhammad, spoke of marriage as being:

Whoever has married has completed half of his religion; therefore, let him fear Allah in the other half. (Bukhari)

Building a strong, lasting marriage requires dutiful work from both partners. Statistics show the divorce rate at over 50% for first marriages within the first 7 years. Two-thirds of these divorces are initiated by women; psychologists often refer to this phenomenon as the “Walk Away Wife Syndrome.” Wives living in less than satisfying marriages give up on the idea that their unions can be transformed into a happier, more caring partnership. They wait in quiet resignation for months or years until a particular event occurs that allows them an escape: It could be the children graduating from high school, or the wife earning a degree that will give her an opportunity to support herself and the children alone.

A loving marriage is the foundation of a happy family. A happy family characterizes a stable society. Husbands and wives often come to marriage unprepared for the rigorous work it takes to keep things in balance. The idea that marriage is “half the religion” is by no means an idle statement. Happy marriages do not just happen. They must be constantly cultivated and cared for by both partners committed to its success. Marriage can at times be a demanding test of our faith, but the rewards that come from treating your partner with love, compassion, and kindness can place us on the path to Paradise. Maybe your marriage has begun lovingly, but romance is fading. Why?

It is imperative at this stage that one be able to remove the focus from their partner and take a good, hard, and honest look at themselves. Both the Quran and Sunnah show believers that we hold the keys to our marital happiness. It is important that both partners be aware that “Whatever they have that gives them pleasure, they have to work for it—they really have to earn the right to be its steward.”[i]

For this article, I want to speak directly to the sisters and to recommend some ways of easing the common stresses of marriage with their husbands. Perhaps later, insha’Allah, there will be an article with suggestions for the brothers in this regard. Creating a strong marital bond can begin with just one of the pair recognizing the need for change and improvement, and taking the initiative.

Patience

Patient understanding is a necessity toward establishing a happy marriage. The Quran and Sunnah frequently exalt the virtue of patience in a believer. During a couple’s early years of marriage, patience may manifest itself in various situations. A couple may need to exercise patience as they each finish school and establish themselves in their chosen careers before being able to purchase certain material items such as a car, a larger apartment, furniture and so forth. Before marrying her husband, a wife may have been accustomed to living a more comfortable lifestyle in her parent’s home. In marriage, patience can help a wife to cheerfully adapt to a more modest way of living. She is better prepared for the fact that it often takes years of a couple working diligently together as a team to build resources and assets.

There are times in every relationship when each partner may experience difficult days that manifest into irritability or being ‘short’ with others. When a man reacts unfavorably in such cases, a wife should make every effort not to bear a grudge against him. She should not make a habit of reminding him of these moments over and over at a later time as punishment. Patience and forgiveness will endear a wife to her husband, whereas resentment, fault finding and constantly being bombarded with past mistakes will only alienate him.

Let them forgive and overlook; do you not wish that Allah should forgive you? [Surat Al-Nur, 24:22]

Acceptance

When a wife truly accepts her husband, she accepts him completely as the man he is in this moment—without change. This is not an easy thing to do, which is why we must be careful and look to Allah’s guidance when choosing a spouse in the beginning. Through acceptance, a wife understands that her husband is a human being, part virtue and part fault, just as she is. She knows that there are things about him that could improve, and perhaps should improve, but she understands that this kind of change in his character must be done on his own initiative, of his own free will.

Wives may attempt to change their husbands for several reasons. Whatever the reason, it is futile. It creates a multitude of problems such as discord in the home, rebellion, or it may cool his feelings toward her. If a wife is to accept her husband as he is, she must understand that he may never change. She must be able to accept this. Oddly enough, sometimes when a wife does accept her husband at face value, he becomes more likely to change on his own. All a man may need from the woman is that he is free to love her acceptance of him as he is and for her to look to his better side. This is a much better incentive than her constant nagging.

Acceptance should not be confused with tolerance, which suggests “putting up with” a person’s negative ways. It is not a state of resignation. It is simply a realization that a wife’s responsibility is not in changing her husband, but appreciating him for the man he is, and allowing him the freedom to be himself. The key to acceptance is humility. We must realize our own human frailties and limitations, and therefore, begin to look first to ourselves for change.

Admiration and Respect for Your Husband

As deep as a wife’s need to be deeply loved and cherished by her husband is, so is the husband’s need to have his wife’s complete admiration and respect. Men enjoy receiving admiration from any source, but especially from their wives. Men want to be admired for their masculine qualities. A wife can look to her husband’s character, skills, abilities, achievements and dreams. Surely she will find much about him to admire and respect.

It is priceless when the wife can look past her husband’s human faults and explore the special qualities about him which are truly worthy of attention and admiration that others may fail to notice. She stands to receive his most tender love and devotion.

Staying True to Your Feminine Role

And the male is not like the female. [Surat Al-Imran, 3:36].

A wife’s feminine nature is the direct opposite of her husband’s masculinity. Although Allah the Almighty created us to be completely different, He ensured that each gender be complementary to the other—physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually.

A woman who embraces her feminine nature and lives it completely has great appeal to her husband. Men and women are regarded as equal in Islam. Their roles are different but complementary; each is important and needed. We each have equal responsibility regarding our duties to Allah. Men have been given more responsibility over women due to the kind of physical strength they possess. It is a man’s nature to want to provide for and protect those that he loves. Our differences enhance our attraction for one another. Wives should appreciate this difference and do everything in their ability to preserve it.

A wife’s natural femininity awakens a chivalry and protectiveness within her husband. As he devotes himself to her care and protection, his love and tenderness grows. The saying, “We love whom we serve.” is very true. Wives care for their husbands in a similar manner. Perhaps she prepares nourishing meals, and a peaceful, comfortable home environment; or she ensures that he does not neglect his health. In this way, a husband and wife share devotion for one another that can greatly increase their love and compassion.

Keeping to the Will of Allah

Perhaps the most important key to a happy and lasting married life is for each partner to remember to seek Allah’s pleasure first. When we are dutiful in keeping that as our primary focus in every task we perform, all else falls into place according to His will. His will is best for us, over and above all of the things of this world that we so often become consumed by. The trial of marriage is two people making the choice to make things work in the best possible way, no matter what. Husbands and wives must truly devote themselves to marriage; each must submit to, and respect the other and the seriousness of married life. Each must understand the consequences of their actions within the marriage for this life and the next.

A woman came to ask the Prophet about some matter, and when he had dealt with it, he asked her, ‘Do you have a husband?’ she said, ’Yes.” He asked her, “How are you with him?’ She said, “I never fall short in my duties, except for that which is beyond me.’ He said, ‘Pay attention to how you treat him, for he is your Paradise and your Hell.’ (Al-Hakim)

As a Muslim wife, I do not consider the challenging job of loving and caring for my husband, children, and home to be a burden. I enjoy that and I am fully aware of how much joy, stability and peace that brings to our lives together. I am thankful to my Lord for that.

———————–

[i]    The Muslim Marriage Guide, Ruqayyah Waris Maqsood, 2000

32 Comments

  • Rabia Hafez

    Rabia Hafez

    April 26, 2017 - 8:36 am

    Fauzia

  • Mehreen Mansoor Khawaja

    Mehreen Mansoor Khawaja

    April 26, 2017 - 8:59 am

    What are you reverting back to?
    You are converting. Thats what you are doing.
    Good for u.

    • Maya Aslam

      Maya Aslam

      April 26, 2017 - 10:24 am

      Reverting back to islam, as we were all born muslims! So instead of converts, they are classed as reverts :) x

    • Mehreen Mansoor Khawaja

      Mehreen Mansoor Khawaja

      April 26, 2017 - 10:25 am

      Was she a muslim before and then became non muslim? Who then reverted?
      Thats the only scenario where your definition fits.

    • Mehreen Mansoor Khawaja

      Mehreen Mansoor Khawaja

      April 26, 2017 - 10:27 am

      And we are all born muslims?? Seriously. Who told you that?
      Technically we are all born atheists. Religion is taught. There is no DNA or chromosomes attributed to religion.

    • Sumaira Siddiqui

      Sumaira Siddiqui

      April 26, 2017 - 1:24 pm

      Muslims believe they are born in a state of fitrah….ie. a natural inclination towards the deen of Allah swt, as per hadith of nabi a.s which can be cited in bukhari

    • Mehreen Mansoor Khawaja

      Mehreen Mansoor Khawaja

      April 26, 2017 - 1:50 pm

      Yes muslims are born. That i can understand.
      Does not apply for non muslims. So what exactly are they going beck to?

    • Craig Robertson

      Craig Robertson

      April 26, 2017 - 2:04 pm

      The fitrah.

    • Nayeda Basit

      Nayeda Basit

      April 26, 2017 - 2:10 pm

      Not true Mehreen Mansoor Khawaja. Who told u that humans are all born atheists?? Both from an Islamic perspective AND from scientific evidence, there is reasonable logic to say that all humans are born in the “fitrah”..ie..in belief of one God. Remote tribes in isolated places have always believed in a powerful, supernatural force. Dr Olivera Petrovich, a well known psychologist from Oxford university, after yrs of researching this topic, has claimed that “babies are hard wired to believe in God and atheism is learnt”..She claims that atheism is definitely aquired (ie. Not natural). Another professor, Tim Spectre from Kings College also claims that “faith is influenced by genes..” . Being born Muslim simply means that we are aware of the existence of a divine creator.

    • Nayeda Basit

      Nayeda Basit

      April 26, 2017 - 2:13 pm

      All humans are born in the fitrah..ie..as Muslims..I think ure understanding of the word “Muslim ” is perhaps weak .. Many of my friends came to Islam from other faiths..mostly from Christianity …And they all describe themselves as being “reverts”…changing back to the natural state that they were born in.

    • Mehreen Mansoor Khawaja

      Mehreen Mansoor Khawaja

      April 26, 2017 - 2:13 pm

      A child is born free or any ideologies or faith. It is all taught.
      Which is why a kid brought up in a Christian family will become w Christian. A child being brought up in A muslim home will be brought up as a muslim and so on… Thats why people change their religions aa well. It is not inherent.

    • Mehreen Mansoor Khawaja

      Mehreen Mansoor Khawaja

      April 26, 2017 - 2:15 pm

      To think each human is a muslim is a really supremacist thinking and no truth in that. Muslims change their religion to…

    • Nayeda Basit

      Nayeda Basit

      April 26, 2017 - 2:19 pm

      It’s surprising that a person with a Muslim name can say things like “there is no DNA attributed to religion..”..May be not religion itself…But the complex nature of DNA and much of the human body is evidence of an intelligent designer. If ure a Muslim , do u really think that Allah would leave us to figure things out for ourselves without guidance and without innate awareness and consciousness of the Divine??

      • Sam

        May 3, 2017 - 6:23 am

        Uhm.. there is no such thing as a Muslim name though

    • Nayeda Basit

      Nayeda Basit

      April 26, 2017 - 2:20 pm

      No one is “free”..That’s your misconception.

    • Nayeda Basit

      Nayeda Basit

      April 26, 2017 - 2:22 pm

      And people born in non Muslim homes aren’t guaranteed to remain non Muslim..As I’ve already mentioned, many of my friends are reverts…And have made the choice to become Muslim..

    • Nayeda Basit

      Nayeda Basit

      April 26, 2017 - 2:23 pm

      Again Mehreen Mansoor Khawaja…You’ve not understood the meaning of being born Muslim

    • Nayeda Basit

      Nayeda Basit

      April 26, 2017 - 2:27 pm

      The Islamic perspective is that every human being is born in the state of fitrah..ie..being aware of the existence of a creator. That’s why in communist countries such as Stalin’s Russia and North Korea, where the state tries to oppress all religious beliefs and deny the existence of God, the people will revert to worshipping other deities…In these communist regimes, they literally worshipped their leaders..Please go and research what I’m saying. Instead of debating in something u clearly don’t understand.

    • Mehreen Mansoor Khawaja

      Mehreen Mansoor Khawaja

      April 26, 2017 - 2:30 pm

      Yes thats the muslim belief. We cant impose it on other religions and their followers. Christians are born Christians.
      Hindus are born hindus. And thats that.

    • Kaighla My-Iddah

      Kaighla My-Iddah

      April 26, 2017 - 4:14 pm

      wow wow wow you totally misunderstood here. She, Zainab Bint Younus, is not saying she reverted….IT’S A QUOTE FROM THE ARTICLE, AKHI.

    • Cynthia Davis

      Cynthia Davis

      April 26, 2017 - 4:24 pm

      When a not born Muslim converts, you say they are reverting when they become Muslim because the religion says we are all Muslim at birth

    • Cynthia Davis

      Cynthia Davis

      April 26, 2017 - 4:37 pm

      A person is not born a particular religion. He/she is born understanding the oneness of a creator. Submission to the will of god is what Islam means. As such, even the plants do this. No one is born Christian or Hindu per se because a baby doesn’t have the ability to know

    • Ren Alhmd

      Ren Alhmd

      April 26, 2017 - 4:51 pm

      The Prophet Muhammad said, “No babe is born but upon Fitra (as a Muslim). It is his parents who make him a Jew or a Christian or a Polytheist.” (Sahih Muslim, Book 033, Number 6426)

      Which is why we are called reverts, not converts.

  • Cynthia Davis

    Cynthia Davis

    April 26, 2017 - 12:23 pm

    Some of us had similar backgrounds and did all we could. I’m blessed with wonderful children from that road less traveled by. I pray my daughters and daughter in laws are blessed with husbands who do their share to make a good Muslim home. I’ll spend my future with grandchildren or doing the kind of work I would have done in the peace corps or I will remarry and hope for the best but when a Muslim marriage ends, it has been my experience that the man is the one who failed not the woman.

  • Siddiqui Samana

    Siddiqui Samana

    April 26, 2017 - 3:09 pm

    I have a hard time reading this until a similar article is issued about husbands. I’ve heard all of this advice over and over and over again, always directed at wives. Marriage is a two-way street, and unless more Muslim men grow up and start acting like real men, we will continue to see dysfunction in Muslim marriages and families.

    • Iram Khan

      Iram Khan

      April 26, 2017 - 3:11 pm

      ditto.

    • Blah lab

      April 26, 2017 - 4:32 pm

      Yup.

    • Raven Smith

      April 27, 2017 - 10:04 am

      There’s plenty of articles.

      Let’s say there was an article for muslim men about how to best follow the Sunnah of the Prophet.

      Should I only take the advice if there’s a similar article for women? Should I take this article as something implying that only men should follow the Sunnah and get offended?

      Maybe you should take the virtue in this article at face value and try to apply it as best you can? It’s only shaytaan who can make someone look at an article full of practical advice, verses from the Quran, and words from the prophet and say
      “I have a hard time reading this”.

      Think on it.

  • ex-Muslim Nadia

    April 27, 2017 - 8:07 am

    I agree with Mehreen! I converted to Islam four years ago but have since changed my religious beliefs. I am now agnostic.

  • Fatima Bukhari

    Fatima Bukhari

    April 27, 2017 - 2:22 pm

    Manal Alavi

  • Cyndee

    April 30, 2017 - 12:03 am

    While I think acceptance of yourself and your spouse are key in any relationship the pigeonholing of people into roles, especially when they generally come from a largely “male perspective” is dangerous and frankly the cause of much of the lack of respect and inequality that women experience today (as well as people who are perceived to be less worthy). Roles are fluid, always changing and a beautiful relationship is one where the roles change to provide support and love to each other when needed most. Financial, emotional, physical, child rearing roles should swap when needed and be defined within the relationship rather than from the outside. By slotting people into roles we also create opportunities for ourselves and others to be judgmental of how one is fulfilling their perceived role. I also do not feel everyone should be married. The article states the importance of finding a good match. I feel that in general, because of the largely male influence within Islam and how men have justified unjust cultural practices within Islam, the actual ability for a woman to find a Muslim man who truly respects and feels that woman should be treated equal is rare. Men who are “good” still believe woman are more emotional, less capable, and that women are responsible for controlling the urges and behaviour of men (i.e. we should cover, we should not make contact, we should hide ourselves). I see Muslim men revering their mothers, their wives, daughters yet treating them like servants. To balance things out, I believe this is largely an issue for men in general and not contained within any one religion. I think women should be as free as men to choose their career, choose what to wear (including covering or not covering), choose their role at any given time. I suggest that instead of defining how we should live our lives within a context that happened centuries ago, we should take the words of Allah and study how it fits within today’s context. We should be encouraging people from all cultures and BOTH genders to examine and study the Quran and the Prophet’s (PBUH) way of living and see how it can be applied in today’s world. We should be openly accepting the examination, and even criticism of how own religion has evolved.

  • Rihab

    April 30, 2017 - 2:09 pm

    I agree Cyndee. The Holy Quran very delicately navigates gender roles with broad statements like “men have greater responsibility over women because they spend of their wealth and ‘other reasons’ “. There truly are no gender specific prescriptions and we must honor this as the only and ultimate truth as it is Allah’s word. Having said that, I very much enjoyed reading this sister’s article because it is a an Islamic approach based in this space and time, and in the majority of gender dynamics we see between men and women. Like all advice, it is inherently relevant only as a prescription on a fluid context. Otherwise we can say “there are no rules and each case is special” but that’s not particularly helpful. So we ought to take these words bearing that contradiction in mind and asking Allah swt for his guidance.

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