Event Details

Speakers: Luqman Ali

The City Circle invites you to a lively reflection and disucssion, "It Takes Two to Tawhid: Finding the Right Partner", which will consider all the trials and tribulations around finding the right marriage partner, to coincide with National Marriage Week. 

Its all too common to hear about a mismatch between expectation and reality. How many brothers and sisters are still looking for a partner in their late twenties or thirties? How many times do we hear brothers say "I'd like a wife who's traditional, but not too traditional?" Or sisters who say that all the good men are already married. Or how many marriages end early due to mismatched expectations? What light can our religion shed on "expectation"? What is reasonable or unreasonable to expect in a prospective partner? 

As the Holy Qur'an says "And from His signs is this that He created for you spouses from amongst yourselves so that you may find solace in them and He placed between you love and mercy; verily in that is a sign for a people that reflect." (31:21) 

Luqman Ali hopes to explore these themes at City Circle. He contends that "the dynamic and process of marriage is essential to the realisation of faith and the fulfilment of the mission of life. The Prophet (S) described it as half of the Deen for this very reason. However, marriage will only serve this higher purpose provided one is conscious of it and allows it to supersede lower considerations as well as moderate expectations in one's pursuit of a spouse. The lives we lead today and the various types of conditioning and influences that hold sway over us make it difficult for us to remain true to this prophetic prescription and so we increasingly find ourselves at a loss as to who we should marry and why. Moreover, the shifting sands of role definitions and gender identities where men and women are concerned have resulted in a significant amount of bewilderment as to how we negotiate marriage in this new uncharted terrain." 

By drawing on the Qur'an, Ahadith, his own personal experience as well as his experience of marriage counselling, Luqman Ali will attempt to share some path finding reflections on the state of the married and the unmarried in our community with the aim of helping us all to attain and enjoy marital bliss. 

Luqman Ali has trained for 10 years in the sciences of Islam and the languages (Arabic, Persian and Urdu) and cultures of the Middle East and the Indian Sub-continent before spending a decade working as a linguist, writer and translator for various publishing houses in both the USA and the UK. He has also worked as a humanitarian worker. Sidi Luqman co-founded Khayaal, the first professional theatre company of its kind offering audiences a fascinating experience of Muslim world culture through contemporary art forms. Since then he has been the company's chief artistic director. 

All welcome. No entrance fee.