Just a reminder > British Muslim girl, 17, forced to marry cousin because she became 'too Western'
A British-born Muslim woman has told of her horror when she was forced by family to marry her cousin as a teenager. Nyla Khan told BBC Scotland’s The Nine that she had a ‘really strict upbringing’ growing up in Scotland and that she knew from a young age she had been ‘promised’ to marry a cousin in Pakistan. But she was left stunned when her family forced her to marry the cousin while on holiday in the country when she was 17 because her parents were ‘paranoid’ that she would become ‘too Western’. She explained in the programme: “They think they are protecting you. To them, out of control is becoming Western. “Having a voice, expressing yourself, dressing differently, wanting more from life, not wanting to marry your cousin.” When she was 17, she went to Pakistan with her parents on what she thought was a family holiday. But one day, she woke up to her whole family in the room and she knew that something was not right. Nyla, now 30, said her parents told her that she had ‘sinned’ and ‘brought shame on the family’, and the only way to fix it ‘is to marry your cousin’. She continued: “I kept saying no, from the morning until tea time. And they were still at it. And I gave in, just wanting them to shut up, just wanting them to be quiet. “From there on, it is like your soul leaves your body because you become so numb. Because you have absolutely no power or control over what is happening.” Nyla married her cousin and stayed for five weeks before returning to Scotland. But she felt the need to get away to find herself and a couple of months later, she ran away from home. She had a tough time where she got abused from her friends and being called a ‘slu*t’. A year later, she returned home and demanded permission for a divorce from her parents and a few years later they agreed. Since then, Nyla moved out of home to study at an university and said she has been ‘an independent Muslim woman ever since’. She said her family had ‘put love before religion’ and ‘had worked through the difficult time’.
source (opens in a new tab)
