Mothers Advice to her bride daughter

This advice was given to Umm Ayas Bint Awf Bin Muslim ash-Shaybani by her mother Umamah Bint al-Harith shortly before her wedding. “O my daughter! If the advice were to be left off the virtuous and we…

Visual versus Emotional

Allah has created men and women differently. One of the most pronounced differences between genders when it comes to issues of intimacy is arousal. Each gender has been keyed to respond to different s…

The Ten most common Myths about Marriage

What do myths and marriage have in common? 1. Must resolve conflict before going to bed = False This is how it goes: a couple should never leave a conflict unresolved at night. Consider the facts: bot…

Wives Dealing With Tough Husbands

Question: In Islam, a man has options to choose from when his wife misbehaves or does something displeasing. For example, negotiating, then leaving her bedroom, and finally hitting lightly (with miswa…

A Wedding Speech

Given on the occasion of the marriage of two young friends by Ruqaiyyah Waris Maqsood. I have been asked to speak a few words for this joyful occasion of the wedding of Abdullah and Zaynab (fictional …

Lowering your Gaze: Reducing Temptation

One of the most difficult thing to overcome is how to reduce our temptation towards each other sexually. After all it’s in our very biological nature to be sexually tempted, when our eyes fall upon an…

Why Women Really Compete With Each Other

The New York Times article “Why Women Compete With Each Other” attempts to delve into the psychological reasons as to why women are infamously noted for rivaling and undercutting each other. The artic…

Is Piety the only Beauty?

One day a sister dropped by to pick up something and saw me dressed up with make-up and jewelry, so she assumed I was going somewhere. When I told her I wasn’t, the reason I dressed up surprised…

Force or Choice? American Muslim Marriages

Last week Amina Ajmal took the witness stand against her father, Mohamed Ajmal Choudhary, in a New York courtroom. Choudhary is charged with arranging the killings of a young man’s relatives because t…