Final reflections before I cut toxic family ties - assalamu alaikum
Assalamu alaikum. I need to share this and get it off my chest. My wife is an American revert; she embraced Islam while deployed overseas with the Marines, before we ever met. We met through a Muslim matrimonial event and I told my parents I intended to marry her. They said they’d prefer someone from our culture, but if she was committed to Islam they’d accept her. When we married she was still serving and later resigned. After she became pregnant my parents moved in to help. My mother was often very rude to her during the pregnancy - saying hurtful things in our language so my wife wouldn’t understand. I told my mother she could not treat my wife that way in my home. A few days later it happened again, so I asked my parents to leave. I told them this was harming my pregnant wife. My mother then spread gossip in the community, painting it like her “American daughter‑in‑law” had kicked them out, omitting the abuse she inflicted. My father saw it and stayed silent. When the baby came they reappeared in our lives and for a while things seemed okay, until they started pressuring us about our son’s name. My wife chose an Islamic name but my parents said it wasn’t “Islamic enough” and refused to call him by the name we gave. So our son grew up with two names. Later my mother moved in again to help look after our three‑year‑old. But she prevented my wife and me from having privacy. She insisted my wife sleep with our son in his room because “that’s what mothers do in our culture,” which is not true where we come from. Our house is small - three bedrooms - so privacy is limited, and every time we were affectionate, the next day my mother would treat my wife abusively and lecture her that her duty was to the child, not to me. I argued that we are married and intimacy is part of marriage, but my mother claimed once you have a child marital life fades because the roles of wife and mother conflict. The final straw was when my mother told my wife that my son was really meant for my cousin’s daughter and that my wife had brought shame; she suggested my wife should take the child and leave. When my wife told me I confronted my mother and she agreed with the accusation. My father told me my mother was “100% right.” I told them my wife is my queen and my son is my life, and I wanted them to leave. It hurts that my four‑year‑old asked me if I was going to leave him and his mother because that’s what his grandmother had told him. I am so upset and feel ready to cut these toxic relatives out of our lives. I’m sharing this with fellow Muslims because I want dua, advice, and to know if others have had to set firm boundaries with parents who crossed every line. Jazakum Allahu khairan.