In this video: I talk to Imaad of @thelondonnikah about Interfaith Marriages. Imaad shares with us his own story, going from leading prayers in a traditional mosque for 12 years before completely changing course to where he is now, leading interfaith marriage ceremonies around the world. He has performed 200 marriage ceremonies to date, and therefore has a ton of great insights and advice to share.
Talking with Imaad and hearing his views on religion and spirituality was incredibly refreshing and inspiring. He also shares some practical tips and advice for interfaith couples who are looking to get married.
A little background: mainstream Muslims believe that Muslim women must only marry Muslim men. There has been some dissent on this, including an Imam who declared it is permissible, and a Muslim country that passed a law allowing women to marry outside of her faith. But despite all of this, the collective majority still puts these restrictions on women and most women tend to comply to this rule (however reluctantly).
Full disclosure: In my marriage, Tom converted. It was primarily for the purposes of convincing my family and community, but also as a way for me to ensure our kids would be raised Muslim. At the time I had also believed the mainstream idea that my husband had to be Muslim, which is something I no longer believe. I’ll talk more about my beliefs and how they have changed since I got married in my next video, stay tuned.
I sincerely believe this is one of the reasons why so many of my beautiful, successful, thriving Muslim sisters in the west are unable to find someone suitable to marry. For years I’ve been getting messages from Muslim women who are looking to marry outside of their faith. I’ve happily given my advice, telling them to follow their hearts and their gut instincts while also respecting their families. It is my hope that watching this video will give people some insight into interfaith marriage and the challenges they may face, and also some courage and hope for their future.
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