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Mumsnet has not checked the qualifications of anyone posting here. If you need help urgently or expert advice, please see our domestic violence webguide and/or relationships webguide. Many Mumsnetters experiencing domestic abuse have found this thread helpful: Listen up, everybody

Has anyone else here been in a relationship with someone from a very different religious background?

76 replies

Trying2Heal · 03/12/2020 18:58

I’m supposedly Christian but basically agnostic. I’m most definitely not the preachy bible basher type.
My ex is a Muslim who pretended to be agnostic and to have never have practised Islam.
To give context, he was a vile abusive guy anyway so there’s more to this than religious differences BUT….a year into the relationship he literally suddenly had a total personality change. He revealed he’d been lying about not being a practising Muslim and admitted that he views “non believers” as “unclean” and he would sit there preaching about how much he loves Allah and how “disgusting” and “loose” British women are. He even told me that I am disgusting and “used goods” because I had had consensual sex with him without him being married to me or even proposing marriage. He said that no man respects a woman who would agree to this.

He also said a woman’s place is in the home having babies, breastfeeding, keeping the home up, cooking etc and that he’d never “allow” a woman to have a career once she’d given him children.

Obvs I should have left him immediately but I was actually shell-shocked and sort of frozen.

He said all sorts of increasingly spiteful hateful things to me, including that no man will ever want me because I’m used goods. He also said he’d only been involved with me because the alternative would be to have to go to prostitutes. And he said I should have realised all this because “what man would want to make a commitment to a woman who’s nearly 40 and has already had sex and has her own flat?”

This culminated in him sexually assaulting me and then sort of vanishing. Less than a month later he was married to a teenage Muslim girl he had gone overseas to marry. I learned this via Facebook.

I know that he was arrested and questioned about the sexual assault/rape but in the end I told police I didn’t want to continue with my complaint as the process was traumatising.

I never heard from him again. I forced myself to stop looking at his social media searching for clues as to what the heck happened, as it was becoming healthy. But the last time I saw his social media he’d posted a lot of anti-Semitic and he’d also praised Saddam Hussain and then countless posts about how Muslims should not associate with “non believers.”

To this day I do not fully understand what happened.

Why was it necessary to go through the elaborate pretence of posing as an agnostic and pretending to be progressive and pro women’s rights? What was the point???

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wimhoffbreather · 04/12/2020 08:21

Your ex was an abuser - he just involved the language of religion. If he wasn’t religious he would have called you all sorts of nasty things in a different way, that’s who he is.

I have a friend who is with a much younger Muslim guy who is horrible to her. She says it’s a cultural thing but then can’t explain why her other male friends (she lives in a Muslim country) don’t act like this with their foreign gfs and she just doesn’t want to face that her guy is just an arsehole.

An abuser is an abuser, doesn’t matter what colour or creed. Do you have access to counselling or anything like that? It could be really helpful after the trauma you have been through

feelingmehmeh · 04/12/2020 08:21

Best to stay single and childless I think. My ex was an atheist like me when we met. We had a child together then he started going mental with his new found religion. Left him but still dealing with his crap because we have a kid together. I love my child so much, just wish their dad hadnt become a piece of shit after his mental breakdown.

myhumps123 · 04/12/2020 09:17

@Insertfunnyname I'm not white washing. Islam is islam. It's a very simple religion, one key point being to treat a woman like a precious diamond. The OP's abusive relationship with that piece of shit can't change what the meaning of Islam is, which is peace.
The middle East situation comes down to men in power that hate women and want women to be oppressed. Nothing to do with Islam.
Looks what's happening in the UK. Females are slowly being eradicated. Chest feeding, people who menstrate, chick with a dick. There are problems all around the world with female hating men being in charge.

lunalulu · 04/12/2020 09:33

Send him an invoice. And get bailiffs round if he doesn't pay.

What a monster. Sadly (yet another) messed up male who has his outrageous abusiveness and bullying validated by (hijacking the genuine intent and truth of) a religion. He feels he has the backing of a religion and millions of people. But in reality he's just a ... [insert some bad words].

Don't waste any more of your time or energy even thinking about him. Be very happy you never have to see him ever again. Unfortunately sometimes we run into bastards and are taken advantage of. Try to pretend it never happened and just move on. X

SlightDrizzle · 04/12/2020 09:40

[quote Trying2Heal]@SlightDrizzle

I think a major part of the issue they're not upfront with the women they're date. They choose to lie and pretend they're not religious and that they're open to marrying outside their faith precisely because they know the truth ("I just want to use you for fun and then dump you") would make almost every woman run a mile [/quote]
I’ve certainly also known men who weren’t (to my knowledge) being consciously deceptive, married the non-Muslim or non-practising Muslim woman they dated when they were in their ‘secular’ phase, and subsequently turned deeply conservative. A certain type of man seems to associate ‘settling down’ with turning into his dad.

Trying2Heal · 04/12/2020 10:59

@lunalulu

Send him an invoice. And get bailiffs round if he doesn't pay.

What a monster. Sadly (yet another) messed up male who has his outrageous abusiveness and bullying validated by (hijacking the genuine intent and truth of) a religion. He feels he has the backing of a religion and millions of people. But in reality he's just a ... [insert some bad words].

Don't waste any more of your time or energy even thinking about him. Be very happy you never have to see him ever again. Unfortunately sometimes we run into bastards and are taken advantage of. Try to pretend it never happened and just move on. X

to be honest pretending a traumatic event never happened is the perfect way NOT to heal.....

But yes I agree with you that he is an abusive arsehole using religion as a way to back up his abuse.

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Trying2Heal · 04/12/2020 11:00

@feelingmehmeh

Best to stay single and childless I think. My ex was an atheist like me when we met. We had a child together then he started going mental with his new found religion. Left him but still dealing with his crap because we have a kid together. I love my child so much, just wish their dad hadnt become a piece of shit after his mental breakdown.
@feelingmehmeh. Did anything prompt his sudden religiosity???? That sounds awful.
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Trying2Heal · 04/12/2020 11:02

@surreymum89

Yes I have a relationship with a Muslim , we have children ,met when we were late teens now early 30's, his family are very religious and lovely , adore our children !

Some cultural differences obviously, there are less boundaries with immediate family , his mum often asks him to sort things for her , like make phone calls or go with her to a doctors appointment and he has had family members telling him that he should send money back to extended family abroad that he has never met.

So that answers your original question but your experience sounds horrible , sorry you had to go through that.

@surreymum89

So, his parents are very religious Muslims yet are absolutely fine with him being with a non-Muslim woman and from what you've said you're not necessarily even married? This is.......erm.....unusual to say the least......

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Trying2Heal · 04/12/2020 11:05

@Insertfunnyname

@ myhumps123 errrr perhaps you’ve missed what’s going on in the Middle East with regards to women’s rights etc...

You’re whitewashing reality here.

@Insertfunnyname

I agree.

Not to say that all Muslim men are problematic or that other religions are not problem, but Islam really isn't a religion that promotes female equality. Heck, men in the religion are still permitted to have 4 wives of any faith while the women are not even permitted to marry ONE man unless he's a muslim.

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TreacleHart · 04/12/2020 11:12

I'm sorry you had to go through that , it sounds truly shocking.
I work in a prison , and often hear the prisoners talk in a degrading manner about women not of their culture.
In fact , whenever you read on here the word ' babymother ' I inwardly cringe because in the prison you often hear it mentioned, but not in a good way. It means a woman you would have sex with / shack up with but would never call her your partner / girlfriend . Mainly because they are not from your culture / marrying material.
Sadly he saw you as that . You deserved so much more than that.

CayrolBaaaskin · 04/12/2020 11:14

@Trying2Heal it’s not that unusual. I know religious men in marriages with people of other religions. Your ex is one person- try not to generalise.

Trying2Heal · 04/12/2020 11:20

[quote CayrolBaaaskin]@Trying2Heal it’s not that unusual. I know religious men in marriages with people of other religions. Your ex is one person- try not to generalise.[/quote]
@CayrolBaaaskin

It's actually not that common for Muslim people with very religious parents to be able to settle down with someone totally outside of their faith without having any problems at all. It's just not how things work.
My parents are from a majority-Muslim country and I've seen this both in their native country and amongst Muslim communities here in Britain.

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Trying2Heal · 04/12/2020 11:23

@TreacleHart

I'm sorry you had to go through that , it sounds truly shocking. I work in a prison , and often hear the prisoners talk in a degrading manner about women not of their culture. In fact , whenever you read on here the word ' babymother ' I inwardly cringe because in the prison you often hear it mentioned, but not in a good way. It means a woman you would have sex with / shack up with but would never call her your partner / girlfriend . Mainly because they are not from your culture / marrying material. Sadly he saw you as that . You deserved so much more than that.
@TreacleHart

Thanks for your honesty. I think it's important to admit that this is a thing and that talking about these issues does not mean you are "bashing" any particular religion or ethnicity. I am a woman of colour myself so I am not in the habit of trying to "other" or "stereotype" minority groups .
Yes, the guy who treated me this way is an abusive misogynist, but his albeit warped interpretation of his "culture" played a part in his behaviour as well.

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ILoveYoga · 04/12/2020 11:57

Yes, it’s possible to have a relationship with someone from another religion. I’m Catholic and my DH is Jewish

However, we are both respectful of each other’s religion and importantly, we are respectful of each other. We’re married 40 years and religion has not been an issue (although we agree not to discuss the politics of Palestine). We have successfully navigated marriage, births, deaths, religious education, religious holidays and diets without arguments

I do believe your ex was the problem, not his religion. He used his religion as an excuse but he was the issue. Please try to just move on. Accept he’s was the problem, not you.

CayrolBaaaskin · 04/12/2020 21:57

When a pp gave their experience of a happy marriage with a Muslim man you claimed “This is.......erm.....unusual to say the least......“. You seem to be trying to throw doubt on their experience.

As I said I know quite a few Muslims from religious families in happy marriages with people from other religions. Of course there can be problems but you need to stop generalising. Being from a minority community doesn’t give you a free pass re bigotry towards others either.

jjnk · 04/12/2020 23:05

I am married to a Muslim who is I would say fairly religious. He prays all 5 daily prayers, reads the Qur'an daily, fasts in ramadhan, doesn't drink alcohol, pork and is very strict on his halal diet. He has a collection of "kitabs" which are Islamic books which he dips in and out of frequently. So pretty religious to me who has come from a family with no religion.

We have been married nearly 14 years with children who are being brought up as Muslims. I'm not Muslim myself but my knowledge of Islam has massively increased just by being with him. It's been a huge eye opener. I'm ashamed to admit that I had a pretty negative view of it which I probably picked up from media/ my community. I've picked up alot and practice the odd thing too as I like some of the prayers. He hasn't tried to convert me or anything. Islam.is a big part of his life but it doesn't come in the way of our relationship.

I met him at work. We never dated as such but became really good friends and developed feelings for each other. We spent alot of time together at work, we'd go for lunch together etc. I wanted us to date but he said it was against his beliefs. Sex was totally out of the question!

So without going into more details we basically never dated or had sex and got married! And we've been together since!

Trying2Heal · 04/12/2020 23:46

@CayrolBaaaskin

When a pp gave their experience of a happy marriage with a Muslim man you claimed “This is.......erm.....unusual to say the least......“. You seem to be trying to throw doubt on their experience.

As I said I know quite a few Muslims from religious families in happy marriages with people from other religions. Of course there can be problems but you need to stop generalising. Being from a minority community doesn’t give you a free pass re bigotry towards others either.

Erm.....actually I wasn't casting doubt on the couple in question being happy. Of course couples from very different backgrounds can be happy. I was questioning the fact that "very religious" Muslim parents would be so very easy going about their son marrying outside of his faith and culture. As for accusing me of bigotry you're really clutching at straws there. It's a bit sad. You seem to be seeking some sort of fight but you are not going to get one.
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Trying2Heal · 04/12/2020 23:47

@jjnk. Thank you for sharing. I am glad things have worked out happily for you both.

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ilhahih · 05/12/2020 00:59

Your ex is an abusive prick. You've had an awful experience with him and I hope that with time you will begin to recover from this.

I have namechanged for this. A close relative of mine married a muslim. Before the wedding he claimed not to be practising and also claimed that he believed in equality for women etc. and that he was proud of my relative and her career.
They'd been married a matter of weeks before he started on at her saying that she had to give up her career and that he expected his wife to stay at home and keep house. She ended up having two children with him and continued in her career but he just became more and more aggressive and started beating her up. She got away from him in the end and they are divorced but she's not the same as she was before. It's tragic really - she has lost all her sparkle - and the children have seen awful things.
And all of this was done in the name of his religion....
I don't think that religious people are all like this at all, or that it is one particular religion which leads to problems. What I do think is that abusive arseholes like your ex and my relative's ex who happen to belong to a religion use and interpret elements of their religion as they see fit in order to exert control over others and to excuse their completely inacceptable behaviour by justifying it in the name of religion.

Pinkyandthebrainz · 05/12/2020 07:27

It sounds like any abusive situation where the man lies to get what he wants- easy sex and control. Hopefully your boundaries are now much higher, the moment you suspect something is off, call it a day.

Mandalalorianna · 05/12/2020 07:45

I'm an athiest who married a lapsed Catholic. He had massive hang ups about my previous boyfriends and an abortion I had before I met him. Then we had kids. All the hypocrisy came out then, him wanting to send them to Catholic schools, christening them etc. I never got to the bottom of why he wanted them to grow up catholic, it only seemed to give him a warped life view. That was in the 90's, I rarely see him these days.

jjnk · 05/12/2020 08:21

Trying2Heal thank you, things weren't always good. My family esp my father was really upset me marrying him. They thought they would be losing their daughter. They were worried I'd be forced to wear a hijab and be oppressed as a woman. Shortly after we married my mum fell really ill and dh was so helpful and was amazing. It really melted my mums heart and I think that's when she could finally separate him from the negative Islamic views she had.

His parents weren't happy at first either and I guess they had no choice as DH was pretty adamant that he wasnt going to give up our relationship because of their views. It took them months before they begrudgingly gave him their blessing. I did feel awkward at first like I wasn't wanted but over the years as we've got to know each other that has pretty much gone and his family are a big part of my life. His extended family on the other hand...well, let's just say you can't win everyone over!.

It was a bit shit at the beginning and I did worry about having kids. I didn't want them to feel "different" because their mum wasn't Muslim. If you're not accepted into the wider community which is quite insular it can be pretty crap. Luckily dh keeps himself to himself and this didn't affect us. I suspect his family probably received nasty digs and comments off people because of me.

But I would have to stress the times I've had problems it is because of people's cultural views not because of Islam. The culture i would say is pretty narrow minded with archaic views. Not everyone is like this, it would depend on the family It's this that you think is Islam but it's not. It's the bloody culture. I would be concerned marrying someone who is very much bonded to his culture than to religion. It's the culture that has given me problems and it took me a long time to realise this and separate this because as an outsider it all was religion to me. I've learnt alot over the years and I have realised to my shame I had some pretty bad prejudiced views of Muslims and Asians in general but it's made me more self aware and open and mindful of mt views. My children are exposed to 2 sets of very different cultures and traditions and I think this has been really good for them.

Trying2Heal · 06/12/2020 10:36

@ilhahih
Thank you for this. Your comment has really resonated with me. And I hope your relative will fully heal.
I think we are in a dangerous position where anyone making the kind of comment you just made risks being accused of Islamophobia. Merely described a lived experience or the lived experience of someone you know does not make you a bigot. Also it doesn't mean you are saying ALL Muslims are bad. It's no different to describing a negative experience you had with someone who's Catholic or a Jehovah's Witness. It doesn't mean you are saying the entire Catholic Church or whatever is abusive.

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Trying2Heal · 06/12/2020 10:37

@Pinkyandthebrainz

It sounds like any abusive situation where the man lies to get what he wants- easy sex and control. Hopefully your boundaries are now much higher, the moment you suspect something is off, call it a day.
@Pinkyandthebrainz

Not sure of your intention in describing me as "easy sex" but I find it insulting. I dated this man for 6 months before anything sexual even happened and by this point we'd discussed a future together.

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Trying2Heal · 06/12/2020 10:39

@Mandalalorianna

I'm an athiest who married a lapsed Catholic. He had massive hang ups about my previous boyfriends and an abortion I had before I met him. Then we had kids. All the hypocrisy came out then, him wanting to send them to Catholic schools, christening them etc. I never got to the bottom of why he wanted them to grow up catholic, it only seemed to give him a warped life view. That was in the 90's, I rarely see him these days.
sorry this happened to you. Did you divorce him when he started behaving this way? Was he involved in your kids' upbringing after that?
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