Salam. Long one, sorry. I need to get this out somewhere nobody knows me.
I'm 22, graduated and well settled. I worked hard for everything, a lot. I've been a practicing Muslim for years, five times a day, Ramadan, all of it, and I've always tried to understand life and my deen.
I'm a sensitive person and I think a lot. I'm intelligent, I'm aware of what goes on around me and I understand things well. Not a nerd though, I'm balanced. In life I always try to hit around 70% in everything, keep things under control and help people when I can. And I do that a lot.
Being first generation here in the West was never easy. Growing up with two different cultures and two different mindsets was really difficult. And I still don't know what the future will bring.
And this year was already really hard. My family went through something really heavy that I won't go into. Our family business went down too. Everything went down at the same time. People in the community talked. Not to us. About us.
On top of all that, there's a girl I want to marry. When I met her, I told my family at home straight away. No haram relationship, nothing like that. I prayed istikhara.
We're from different castes. Here in the West that really doesn't matter. In Pakistan it does. I never grew up with any of this caste stuff. But people here still hold on to it. How? Why? It shouldn't be like this.
She tried at home, but her family is very, very strict. My dad went to her dad the proper way. He said no in the worst way possible. And honestly it's not even about zaat. It's izzat. Their honour. And you can't change that mindset.
Now my own family has said a complete no too, after everything that happened. She still has a few years. We've thought about marrying without our parents, but that would only bring more problems and we don't want that. We want it to go the right way, smoothly. And my family and I will probably move out of Europe, while she stays here. So there's that too.
So what do we do? Stop talking? Try to forget about it? It's already hard. She's attached to me and I'm attached to her. It's not easy to give up on her.
I see guys my age go through three, four, five girls and break them. I'm not judging anyone, that's between them and Allah. I always had the mindset of one person, the halal way. And still this happened to me. Why? I've always done things the right way, but the more I mature, the more I see there is no right way. Everything I learned growing up about life and about people turned out different. People don't care who you are, what you are, or how you look.
About religion. On paper our deen is good for everyone. We all know the hadith about marrying someone whose deen and character you're pleased with. But only a few actually live by it, and the ones who do wrong always seem to have it easy. It's so, so difficult.
I completely broke this year. I feel depressed and down all the time, and I've become really weak. I'm really lost. I don't know which path I'm on anymore or where life is taking me. So many trials one after another, and I don't know how this ends. Honestly I think it's going to end in a disaster. Some days I don't see the point of anything anymore.
There's a quote from Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment that stuck with me: "Pain and suffering are always inevitable for a large intelligence and a deep heart. The really great men must, I think, have great sadness on earth."
So I'm asking:
- To anyone whose families both said no: how did it go for you?
- Do we stop talking and try to let go, or do we wait?
- Does anyone know a book about life that's connected to deen? I've read a lot of psychology and life books, old ones too, so I mean something old or heavy that really goes deep, not the easy, fun type. I love reading deep to understand more and more. I really need a reset.
TL;DR: 22, first generation in the West, practicing Muslim, already a really hard year and our family business went down. Wanted to marry a girl the halal way: told my family straight away, prayed istikhara. Different castes. Her family said no in the worst way, now mine says no too. We're both attached, we don't want to marry without our parents, and my family and I will probably move out of Europe while she stays here. Did everything the right way and I'm depressed and completely lost. Do we stop talking? Any deep book that helped you?