I am a Bengali female and I met a Pakistani man at work 5 years ago and although it was not planned we fell in love. We both want to get married to each other. From the beginning he has always been open about getting married to me and has even bought me home to meet his mum, dad, sisters and nieces and nephews. His family already treat me like their own and have been very welcoming of me and accept our relationship from the start. They want us to get married as soon as possible.

My family on the other hand, do not want me to marry anyone outside of my culture. My parents have made it very clear that they will disown me if I marry anyone who is not Bengali, they are worried about what the whole Bengali community will say and their families will think and think if I marry a non-Bengali then my two younger siblings will have difficulty getting married. My parents are not against love marriages but will only accept a Bengali man.

The man I want to marry is Muslim and is very strong on the deen and over the years he has also helped me to come closer to Allah.

I love my family but I also love this man and I know I will end up choosing him over my family but I don’t want to lose my family. I have been suffering severe anxiety because of this as I don’t know how to approach it with my parents. 

I will be grateful for any advice on how to convince my parents.

Thank you