To ask what you think when you see a white woman and a Muslim man?

[Weallknowfrogsgo]

White non markedly Muslim or other wise woman and a Muslim man together, clearly in a relationship? What do you think?

as this is an anonymous forum, please do be honest.

after that thread about the woman marrying and arab, it strikes me that a lot of people have some quite strong opinions on this, and the convert to Islam threads on here also have been quite telling

disclaimer this is me, despite living in a very multicultural place, we do get looks here and there and boundless questions on our relationship that tbh aren’t very appropriate to ask a stranger whenever we meet new people. And if we go someplace less diverse the looks are more apparent.

It is true, honestly, for the marriage to happen by an imam he has to be Muslim.

Ok. But they have still married a non Muslim.

No one was talking about specific ceremonies. They were talking about Muslim women marrying non Muslim men.

Out in the real world, plenty of women from muslim backgrounds have non-muslim husbands and boyfriends

Someone writes ‘out in the real world’ when they really mean ‘in the West’ because it is literally illegal in much of MENA (I think Tunisia recently abolished this restriction, it may be the only one outside of Turkey that allows interfaith marriage for Muslim women)

I don't honestly think I would notice. Not all Muslims are non-white anyway, unless the man was wearing typically Muslim dress, how would you know? It's nobody else's business anyway. Plenty of Muslims are moderate or even nominal.

I wouldn't think anything at all.

Is it also haram for a Muslim man to marry a non-muslim woman?
Did you convert?

This happens more than people know.
My friend had to "convert" to Catholicism in order to get married in her fiancé/husbands family Catholic Church.
In reality she is not religious. She goes through the motions. He is more so it was important to him.

I would be surprised if there was a markedly Muslim man (traditional dress, cap, beard) with a women without hijab in western clothes because that shows a discrepancy in his beliefs...but good on him.

It's quite common to see white women who have converted here and dress in hijab etc (but also not every Muslim who appears "white" is british or western European- potentially Eastern Europe, Northern Turkey/Kurdistan)

Personally I am not sure I could/would....but I am atheist and also it seems like a faff. Not sure I could love a man that wanted to dictate how I dressed etc....or be part of a religion that did.

I honestly wouldn't think anything of it. I'm white and married to an Asian man (not a Muslim) and I have a Muslim brother in law so seeing a white woman and an obviously Muslim guy is just a very "normal" thing to me. I also come from London and I went to a university here which has a high proportion of Muslim students, and interracial/inter-religious marriages are quite common in my circle.

I guess the only thing that might pop into my mind is curiousity about whether the white woman in the couple had converted(reverted?) to Islam, because I'm genuinely just really interested in religion and she might have an interesting story! But it obviously it is none of my business

I would see a couple

Regarding the thread you are referencing:

The issue in my opinion is a supposedly non-religious Muslim man going through with a religious ceremony to keep his parents happy.

I judge anyone who can’t make decisions for themselves and someone looking to appease their parents like this isn’t someone I’d advise anyone being in a relationship with.

I wouldn't think anything but I know quite a few mixed race relationships.

Good grief !
he acknowledged he was Muslim when I asked him!
at 6.15 pm ish I took the adult decision to offer them a beer -
he wasn’t driving his mate was, also pleased to be offered a beer
which wasn’t chilled and had a beer cap requiring leverage
You deliberately defied the point of my post in order to project your
judgemental opinion on what an adult should and shouldn’t be doing?!

I wouldn’t give it a second thought.

My Arab uncle married a white Englishwoman. He’s Muslim, she’s not, and nobody in the family cares. My nanna commented (when their engagement was announced) that their babies would be beautiful.

My white, Christian mum married my Muslim dad. Again, no conversion, & mum raised us in her faith, with dad’s blessing. And if I may say so, their kids aren’t bad-looking either!
;-)

So long as his family is liberal enough to accept the woman as she is, with no pressure to change, it will be fine. The most important question is whether he is a good, loving, steadfast man.

I think, the posts making a big deal out of saying they wouldn't know if a man is a Muslim or not are being disingenuous. Obviously, you can never ACCURATELY guess anyone's religion by just looking at them but this thread isn't about calculated deductions. It's about assumptions and prejudice. If you see an Arab most People would assume that they are Muslim or at least have Muslim ancestry and make their assumptions based on that. If you see a south Asian you would probably assume they are either Muslim or Hindu. If you see someone white you'd assume they are Christian, etc

I'm ethnically indian but an atheist. People still assume I'm a Hindu. So what? I don't mind. Humans have evolved to make assumptions based on split second impressions and base their decisions on this.

The problem arises if after the first split second assumption you don't check your prejudices.

Having said thst when I see a white woman / Muslim man or actually any mixed couple with any combination it makes me happy and it makes me instantly like them more. I assume (!!) they are very open minded and Liberal. I know this is an assumption as well but that's my initial reaction.

Irrespective of what they are actually like though I think just seeing mixed couples normalises that being and looking different is not a big deal if people actually don't mind dating or even sharing their life, having a family with someone that might appear a bit alien to us. So yes, more mixed couples for world peace!!!!

If I knew he were Muslim and she were not I might wonder if she is being repressed or having to live with Sharia Law or made to wear a covering.

I would hope the woman is free to choose her own destiny and that their partnership is based on mutual respect.
I would hope that their extended families are being supportive and embracing of their family.
I would hope that they each are able to practise their own religious and cultural rituals and be happy for each other's inner peace and traditions.

No, he didn’t.

It’s quite obvious that neither he nor Kattan are practising muslims.

In any case, it is very common for women from muslim backgrounds to date/marry non-muslim western men.

I can pull out more ‘celebrity’ examples, but really, I thought this was common knowledge. 🤷‍♀️

Idgaf what most of you are doing with your lives. I take note of children and tend to check they appear happy and safe with a guardian, the rest of you could walk round bare ass naked and I wouldn't notice.

I'd be a terrible police witness.

But in practice, many don’t.

A non-religious woman from a muslim background isn’t going to give a damn if her boyfriend doesn’t convert to a religion she doesn’t even practise.

shalwar kameez translates to ‘womens trousers’

I'm white, I reverted to islam way before marriage. My husband is middle Eastern. Literally no one cares. Why would they?

At DS’s London primary school at least a third of the families are Muslim. I’ve never seen any of the dads wearing clothes that mark out their faith. Lots of hijab wearing mums, but also plenty of Muslim mums who don’t. Thinking about DS’s friends there are three boys who each have one white European parent and one parent of South Asian heritage. None of those are Muslim, but I’d be pretty confident your marriage wouldn’t raise any eyebrows round here.
I do know what you mean about that other thread, though! I didn’t read many of the posts but it made me feel uncomfortable.

I looked this up - they were wed in an Episcopalian Church ceremony in Florence

I wouldn't think anything at all. Also, how am I actually meant to know the man is Muslim?

Well, that’s the point - they are not practising so why would they make their boyfriend convert to a religion they don’t even practise?

I have come across several muslim-background woman / white British man couples, it is not at all uncommon.

As an white English woman married to a non practicing olive skinned Muslim man from abroad for 30 years, the white, obviously English women wearing a hijab and black full length garb in my town make me quite angry tbh. There was only 1 of them who was quite noticeable but over the last few years, I have noticed at least 6-8 probably due to the exodus from London after Covid.

I often wonder what happened to them and how on earth they can agree with the way women are viewed and treated in Islamic countries while they have the luxury of the protection of the UK. I know enough of how women are treated in DH’s moderate Muslim country. These poor women are born into Islam and have little choice in it.

The ones with young daughters wearing hijab make me quite disgusted. I would like to say to them, do you realise you are agreeing that your child’s hair is sexually attractive to men and that they must cover it as men can’t be expected to control their sexual urges? Absolutely vile.

I am an atheist who thinks religion is a collective mental illness.

A religion in the 21st century which advocates violence, murder, the subjugation of women and places more importance on a fantasy afterlife than actually living life has no place in the UK IMO.

I find this post Islamaphobic and very offensive.