22-year-old Naila and 23-year-old Zubair are both single and looking for someone to marry.
We hear how Islam encourages marriage, and see Naila attending classes about the responsibilities of marriage at her mosque, where men and women are segregated.
Devout Muslims aren't allowed to date, and Naila is trusting her mother to select suitable candidates, and set up meetings between the two families to see if the young people like each other.
Zubair meets the father of a woman who is looking for a husband. Despite liking her when they meet, she decides against the match because he wants to return to Pakistan to live.
The woman always has the choice whether to agree to a second meeting. Naila likes the first man her mother introduces to her, but her mother decides they are not well suited enough.
Both Naila and Zubair intend to continue their search for a marriage partner.
Teacher Notes
You could ask you students to respond to the following:
a) How do they think many young British Muslims understand the idea of an arranged marriage?
b) Talk about the similarities and differences between their initial ideas abut arranged marriages and what the young people in the short film said. What reasons can they offer for these similarities and differences?
c) How would students feel about living abroad and away from their family?
Curriculum Notes
This short film will be relevant for teaching religious studies or modern studies at GCSE/KS4 in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, and National 4/5 in Scotland.
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Finding a partner - Hinduism. video
We follow two young British Hindu women as they search for a partner using the traditional Hindu system of introduction through family.
Finding a partner - Judaism. video
We follow two young British Jews searching for the right person to marry, including the problems posed by the limited choice of Jewish people and deciding whether to marry in or out of their faith.
