| Zahida Issa, the daughter of local businessman and former Dundee Citizen of the Year Mohammed Issa MBE, married Umar Farooq, from Huddersfield, in a Muslim wedding attended by more than 500 guests, including family from Pakistan.
Zahida, a University of Abertay Dundee graduate, met Umar in Lahore in November 2006 when she was in Pakistan for a family wedding.
Zahida recalled, “The proposal was made in Pakistan when I went there in June. There were no Muslim traditions but we had a big engagement party.” With the date set for March 9, preparations for the celebration began.
In South Asian culture the Mendhi or Henna Night is one of the major events in the wedding calendar followed by the wedding day — Nakah.
The joint Henna night, with both the bride and groom in attendance, was held on Friday at the Marrayt Hall in Dundee, with more than 200 of the happy couple’s close family members and friends in attendance.
Traditionally the Henna night is geared towards the bride-to-be to celebrate the pending marriage. It involves various acts and customs that include applying Henna dye patterns to her hands, arms and feet. In this case Umar was also decorated.
Zahida said, “The girls brought the paint and applied it to my hands and on the groom as well. After this family and friends danced all night.”
Muslim weddings differ to the traditional Scottish ceremony but vary enormously according to the culture of the people involved.
Generally marriages are arranged by the parents in close consultation with the couple who, ultimately, have the final say.
Traditionally the sacred months of Muharram, the first month of the Islamic calendar, and Ramadan, widely considered the most venerated and blessed month of the Islamic year, are very bad times to hold a wedding.
Muslim weddings usually occur on a Sunday — as Zahida and Umar’s did.
An integral part of the service is the recital of verses from the Qur’an.
Umar and his family arrived at the Caird Hall and were welcomed by Zahida’s family, including her father Mohammed and his brother Ramzan, with whom he owns the 1st Stop 2 Shop store in Fintry.
Once the guests were seated, Zahida pulled up outside the Caird Hall in a horse and carriage, accompanied by her younger sisters, Shazia and Nazia, who acted as her bridesmaids, and her cousins Abdul Salam and Umar Sher, who fulfilled a tradition where the brother gives his sister away.
“After the vows and rings were exchanged and after the food there was a traditional ceremony where the bride’s sisters demanded money from the groom,” Zahida explained.
“They gave the groom milk and when he drank it he had to give them as much money as they demanded. My sisters took the groom’s shoes off and would not return them until they got the money.”
After all this the bride left her family, an emotional time for the bride’s side as they let go of their daughter.
Zahida then left with the groom’s side of the family.
The couple plan to spend their honeymoon in Dubai before returning to settle in Dundee. |
