
I am 35 years old and still unmarried because, in our family, marrying outside the family is considered a disgraceful act.When the elders gather, they proudly declare that for seven generations, we have never married outside the family.
Cost of tradition
Now that I’ve reached 35, there hasn’t been a single proposal from within the family, although I’ve received several from outside. Yet my parents and brothers never even considered any of them.
Request to Parents
My emotions often overwhelm me to the point where I want to scream at the heavens at night and beg my parents to marry me off, even if it’s to someone unattractive or of questionable character. But out of shame and modesty, I stay silent.
A living corpse
I’ve become a living corpse dying inside day by day.
When I see my peers laughing and smiling with their husbands at weddings and other functions, my heart aches deeply.
Pray to Creator
Oh God, please guide our parents who, in their pursuit of family traditions, ruin their children’s lives.
When Traditions Bind
Sometimes I think about running away from home and defying my family-just to stand before my parents and say,
“Now, uphold your seven generations of traditions!”
At other times, I consider fleeing and asking someone to take me as a wife. But then, I fear what would become of me if I fell into the hands of a wicked man !!!
A cry unheard
Even the mosque’s Imam doesn’t address my pain in his Friday sermons.
Oh Imam, listen! ….When my father and mother sleep together in one room, and my brothers rest with their wives in their own rooms, only I know the torment I endure.”
Oh leader of our time, Listen to me too!!!!!!
During the time of Caliph Umar, when a woman recited verses expressing her deep sorrow, he issued a decree stating that no husband should be away from his wife for more than four months.
Oh leader of our time,
oh my father,
oh grand scholar of my country,
oh Imam of the mosque in my neighborhood,
oh spiritual leader of my city,
“from whose hands should I seek my blood ?
Who will understand my pain?
Denied by family, blamed on fate
My 35 years have passed, yet my father insists that he will never marry his daughter outside the family.
Oh God, bear witness that you sent many good proposals for me, but my family rejected them.
In a few years, my father will sit with a rosary in hand and claim that it was just my fate.
Oh people, tell me, if someone refuses to eat prepared food and says it was destined, is he wise or foolish???
Does GOD put food in your mouth???
…
Reflect on this example and realize that GOD sent good proposals for me and many others like me, but our parents or we ourselves rejected them, and now they claim it was fate !!!
Conclusion:-
You will often find such painful stories in our society. It is now duty of parents to marry their daughters at the proper age. Yes, a boy from within the family is preferred, but if no one is available, then consider outsiders.
…
The writer is available for your help at [email protected]
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This post was previously published on medium.com.
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