成人快手

From Sarah Joseph, Editor of a Muslim lifestyle magazine:

听

Islam holds strongly to the Prophetic maxim that 鈥渕arriage is half of faith鈥�, and the Prophet鈥檚 instruction is: 鈥渕arriage is my way鈥�.听听 A monastic life as a religious calling is forbidden.

And whilst there are of course stories from the history books, of Muslims who weren鈥檛 married... Basically, religiously and culturally - marriage is where it is at.

And believe me, as soon as someone gets to marriageable age - the questions and the matchmaking start. 鈥淲hen will you be getting married?鈥� 鈥淒o you think so and so would be suitable for so and so?鈥�

All of this can make for uncomfortable situations, especially given in the UK more of us, including Muslims, are choosing to remain single or finding ourselves single for all sorts of reasons.

Anecdotally, I have particularly noted this amongst Muslim women, with many of my friends in their late 30s, 40s, and 50s unmarried, and often never married.

Some haven鈥檛 married because they didn鈥檛 find someone suitable.

Some didn鈥檛 marry because they invested time in a person who in the end fell through.

Others stay single because they are caring for parents, or their younger orphaned siblings.

Others are immersed in their careers or long academic studies.

Virtually all of them wanted to be married at some point, but eventually have come to accept their single lives, and indeed embrace them.

My single girlfriends are some of the most connected people I know. They send each other Valentines... and have extravagant afternoon teas, and lavish dinners with each other. They make a point of supporting each other, and have great networks.

They still have their wider families鈥攎any of them playing the role of the exciting aunt. Many of them also have deeply committed spiritual lives.

Often people refer to their spouses as 鈥渕y other half鈥�, and there is often talk of marriage making us whole.听 My single friends show me it is possible to be whole when alone, in the same way that some of my married friends show me that you can be married and still feel very alone.

Single or married鈥擨 guess the point is connectedness, and from an Islamic perspective the ultimate connection is to The One, and that connection is built in all sorts of different ways.