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Last Update: 02:14 GMT, Sunday, Nov. 29, 2009

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Question and Answer Details

Name of Questioner

Mas   - Jamaica

Title

Romancing the Stone

Question

As salamu `alaykum

I write to enquire what I can do to please my husband. Al hamdu llilah we are great friends and there is hardly a day that goes by that we don't laugh together. However I feel like I'm just a friend and not his wife. We have been married for just over a year, but since I have been pregnant my husband has made it clear that I'm not sexy and he does not want to have sexual relations with me at the moment, in fact we have not been sexually active for about 3 months now. I have questioned my husband about his lack of desire for me and he has put it all down to the pregnancy (I'm now over 9 months pregnant), however I'm not totally convinced as he has also been reluctant to kiss or hug me and often I have to request it and even then its not intimate and at worst he has told me you have to look pretty.

 

I have never felt so low about myself, I cry a lot, tell myself that I'm ugly, hide my body from him and display classic symptoms of depression at times (though I know this could be relative to the pregnancy, but I am also a counselor/psychologist/social worker he makes me feel like the most unattractive woman in the world. I have tried so hard to get any affection from my husband and we have discussed at length what I can do to make him happy. He explained that he would like me to wear make up and perfume etc which I have done almost every day for the past weeks to no avail. The other day was particularly hard for me. While we were out shopping a woman who was wearing hardly any clothes caught my husband's eye. He went on to say how the kafir (non-believer) women make him feel so weak and that when he sees them it lingers. Obviously I felt devastated because of all the effort I've made to be attractive. Above all I felt it was so insensitive for him to openly voice his desires about other women when he does not pay any attention to me as his wife. Anyhow as soon as we got home I made myself look as attractive as I could. I did not receive any response from my husband apart from your perfume smells nice which one is that? I fear that my husband is no longer happy with me, I keep trying out new things such as make up, clothes, perfume but nothing seems to entice him to me anymore I would really appreciate any advice as to what I can do next as I have exhausted my own ideas.

 

Jazakallahu Khayran, wa `alaykum salam wa rahmatullahi wa barakatahu

Date

13/Jul/2006

Name of Counsellor

Hwaa Irfan

Topic

Love & Intimacy

Answer

You have not only exhausted all your own ideas, but you have exhausted yourself with unnecessary worry.

 

I am not exactly sure what you expect of your husband considering that you are due to have the baby anytime now `in sha'allah. Your husband, like some men, are not attracted to women when they are pregnant. Because he has not been amorous with you physically, it does not mean to say that he is un-attracted to you. A man who walks past you and comments on your perfume is definitely attracted to you, but does he have to be physical? Would his physicality serve as proof of attractiveness. If you spend time seeing your pregnant self through the eyes of others, you will not enjoy your pregnancy and it may indeed effect bonding with your newborn if you become obsessed in this way. How do you know that your husband is within the Sunnah when it said:

 

A believing man should not hate a believing woman; if he dislikes one of her characteristics, he will be pleased with another" (Muslim 8: 3469).

 

There are several stages towards displaying attractiveness which involves all of the senses, if your husband does not fulfill the final stage (physical demonstration), does this mean he is not attracted towards you? Is this how you value yourself within the marriage?

 

Not knowing the character of your husband, what some men value in marriage, is a little more than a woman who is simply physically attractive. Because your husband looks at another woman, it is his weakness. What is in your favor is the fact that he has been honest with you as to the affect of that non-Muslim girl on him; this does mean that he loves you less or is attracted to you less; but it does offer you an opportunity to see try and get to know your husband's needs a little better. However, these needs may be a bit more than he expressed them then. For instance, a man may show "interest" in a girl who has displayed herself to be considered the sum total of her physical appearance, and this may act as an initial trigger to get a relationship going, but on closer interaction, this momentum can turn into hate, resentment and a form of betrayal. How? Most men do not feel like men by having a submissive wife, but when that wife is more evolved on a mental/social/psychological/spiritual level. You are within the first two years of your marriage, so you have to first:

 

  • Learn to be comfortable within your own body
  • Learn to be comfortable within your own thoughts
  • Learn to listen to yourself
  • Learn to listen to your husband
  • Learn to communicate your needs
  • Learn to give and take i.e. equally
  • Learn to be there for him as well as for yourself (but your spouse more)

 

On your part, maybe your husband is misreading what you want from him, because maybe you want physical intimacy ( a kiss, a hug etc). when he might be "reading" that you want sexual intimacy, so this can be clarified.

 

Once you can feel more comfortable with yourself, the energy within you will be less blocked and find a level of coherency with your husband. You will become more sensitive/empathic towards each others needs on all levels, and this is where the real intimacy begins.

 

For your further guidance, please try the following links:

He Refuses to Reciprocate

Mirror, Mirror: Putting Romance Back into Marriage

The Whisper, the Look and the Touch

Out of Time With Each Other

Feeling Very Deeply Empty

Which Men Are Marrying and Why?

The Muslim Family in North America: Spousal Relationships

 

 

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