From bride to widow in 30 days - Thanna Alghabban
I was born in Manchester and moved to London when I was seven years old. I was raised in a moderately religious Muslim family, all of whom observed hijab. I therefore decided to observe hijab myself when I was eight years old and I continued to wear a headscarf (though not in the most modest of ways). I had just started work at a law firm and so began my “westernised” lifestyle; “drinks after work”, “birthdays”, “Christmas parties”, “events”, you name it- I did it. I justified my participation as just doing what was necessary to integrate with my peers, and because I didn’t drink and I didn’t engage in what was strictly and very outwardly “haram”, day by day I found myself becoming numb to the situations I was being exposed to. Soon enough they became normal; what seemed like a big deal at first, became normal and what became normal, became instilled in my life. For about a year, I got worse and worse, until I eventually reached what I thought to be a “balance”. I call ...