Her POV

I felt like I was in a cliché story from some writing website online with bizarre obsessions towards clichés, abusive men; submissive man-hating so-called "pious" Muslimahs, and insane plotlines that make no sense and couldn't happen in real life. I was 18 and just graduated from the best university in the world. but my mom said I had to marry him. AstaghfirAllah, may Allah forgive me for acknowledging the opposite gender exists...

I didn't want to merry him but it was my dad's wish and I had to obey. so I threw my life and everything I wanted away to go be his bride. little did I no, he was looking for a maid, not a wife. Actually, not maid either, just a punching bag. On our wedding night it all seemed great. Smiles and pcitures and meeting family. but when we got into his limo that stretched for one whole mile, he put on the gloves, and that's when I knew... he would never love me.

I had a blackeye for our walimah, but I told everyone it was makeup. they were dumb enough to believe me. he beet me up again later after the walimah just for laughs. then he called his brother. and he beat me too. then he called his friend tom, a police officer, and he beat me up too. Then they threw me of a cliff and I had to climb back up. and when I reached the top, he kicked my face and I fell. but not before I got to see his smirk. it made it all better.

On our honeymoon, he made me stay home and scrub the entire house with my toothbrush, while he went out and partied. He got drunk. smoked crack. cheated with his old girlfriend. then brought me a rose from bushes outside where he puked at before he came home. Ma Shaa Allah, he's so thoughtful. I guess it means he does love me, and ijust have to be patient. one day he'll be good. I just know it. Actually, AstaghfirAllah, he might be good right now. I shouldn't judge. AstaghfirAllah. He's such a good Muslim and I'm the worst. I'm probably going to jahannam for judging him. and I accidentally said good morning to the old mailman on Tuesday. I'm so awful.

_________

his pov

This is stupid. money is all I care about. I smirked.

"Hey!" I yelled at her. She's not my wife. not even a maid. she's nothing to me. and I had to let her know. "YOU SUCK! I hate you."

"I'm sorry," she apologized. I winked. She swooned. Girls...

"Oh by the way I'm taking Susie out on a date tonight."

"But it's the last night of are honeymon. Can we go to the beach?"

"No. You need to stay here and fix the plumbing and stictch up my boxing gloves."

"NO! I am my own person and I don't have to do what you say!"

"What did you say? EXPLETIVE EXPLETIVE EXPLETIVE!"

BAM! I punched her stomach. BOOM! I kicked her teeth. CHOP! I karate chopped her onto the ground. HIYAH! I bodyslammed her then stood her up and dropkicked her then, worst of all, I gave her a wet-willy!

"I'm sorry," she said. "Don't you love me?!"

"no. you stink." The look in her eyes was sad. very sad. her heart was broken. Good. she deserved it. She didn't even know or care that my mom died in an accident when I was a kid. she didn't no I rode motorcycles and joined 5 gangs to hide the pain. Know one would no.

"can you take me to the hospital?"

"No. I lost the rope so I cant tie you to the roof again. So no."

"Okay. I love you."

"Shut up." 

..... maybe I did love her too. No. She cant change me. no one will effect my hart. I don't know what love is.

____________________________

A/N

That was horrible. I'm disgusted to have written that. Nonetheless, that was me venting some frustration at the nonsensical cliché stories that seem to be on the rise here. It's atrocious. Now, okay, I don't want to be too harsh because I know everyone is allowed to think up what they want to think, and no one should force their own ideas of creativity on everyone else. However, it's just a little upsetting to the ratio of good stories versus awful clichés increasing.

I took a trip through the ranking of Spritual books, not just to see where I personally stood (310 if anyone's wondering), but to see what's there, what's good, what isn't, and what's popular. The popular stories... ugh. Okay, there are a few good authors up there, so props to them for keeping some decency alive and such. But the cliché stories. WHY?!

WHY?!!!

WHY MUST THERE BE SO MANY AWFUL CLICHES?!

Muslim girl married or subservient to some random rich guy (half of them aren't even Muslim and the other half are only Muslim by name). He's pretty much a chaotic atheist who revels in being the badboy and not caring. He abuses her (either mentally, emotionally, and in quite a few stories, physically...which is alarming for many reasons). She loves him and thinks she can change him. He hates her and takes out his aggression and past pains on her...for no reason.

But of course, everyone is sympathetic to him. Oh, and he smirks and/or winks. And is irresistibly handsome...except to her. She hates him at first because being "pure" and "righteous" for these stories means hating the opposite gender. And even as adults, they're forced to marry each other (okay, not gonna pretend forced marriages don't happen in real life, sadly that is a thing, but it is NOT Islamic and I wish writers would stop putting it in so-called "Islamic" love stories).  So even though neither of them wants to be together, they get married. And he's just awful to her. But she either blames herself or is naively "patient" and takes whatever comes her way.

What kind of message is that sending? That's not being peaceful, dutiful, respectful, or patient. That is not piety of any sort. It's just pacifism to a dangerous degree. She believes in him and thinks he can change. Okay, people can and do change, true enough; BUT THAT DOESN'T MEAN STICK AROUND WITH AN ABUSER AND LET YOURSELF BE HARMED. 

I may be getting a little carried away, but just, reality, some of these writers don't know reality. Romanticizing these abusive relationships is unhealthy and when these girls get married, I fear for them. Love is not this cheap thing it's portrayed as in these books. It's not a fairytale and it's also not a gloomy, dark, oppressive, suffocating, dangerous disaster either! Reality isn't the bright ray of ultimate sunshine from princess movies, but it's also not dark, pessimistic abuse tales!

If someone hits and beats on you, even once, they're bound to do it again. Crying and promises not to do it aren't empty. Even if they are sincere at the time, it will come up again. And become an awful cycle. Study some psychology and do some research. That stuff gets deep... and I'm going way off topic. Sorry.

Anyways.... Clichés... um, right. Can we please stop with these awful clichés? WRITE SOMETHING NEW! Once upon a time I tried to start a movement here to get people to expand into other genres with their Islamic stories and bring some diversity. Though I would still love to see that, I'm not even going to push that right now. Write romance novels, I don't care; make as many Muslim love stories as you wish, BUT PLEASE, PLEASE START MAKING GOOD ONES.

Make ones that are worthwhile. Ones that are interesting, teach good morals, and do some benefit. It doesn't have to be over the top preachy or corny. It can still be fun and Islamically compliant. There are several examples from so many of the authors I'm following and even some whom I am not but I recognize their talents regardless. Take their examples (NOT THEIR STORYLINES, BE ORIGINAL).

I always say my objectives for writing are to educate, entertain, and inspire. And as a Muslim writer making stories about Muslims, that should be all of our goals. To get a positive and beneficial message delivered in a way that draws people in and makes an impact, something that teaches them and encourages them towards good. Writing is literally creating a whole world in your mind and sharing that world with other people; so show us something good.

Take this talent, use the opportunity, and do something that you would be proud to have in your records. Something that spread the message of Islam or softened the people's hearts towards Islam and Muslims, something that inspired Muslims to love their deen and practice it better. Something that brought smiles to people's faces and light to their hearts.

I apologize for the way this message here was delivered, and to anyone who takes offense with the previous "chapter" written above. I apologize to any of the writers who have written stories and feel that I've just attacked them. This isn't an attack. This is an advice. I'll admit, my original intention was just to write a parody and leave it at that, something like a protest and just see if I could make my way to the top ranking thereby.

But now that I've started writing this, I feel that a better way to reach you all would be through dialogue and assistance. I'm offering some advice and may even start posting some writing tips in here to help aspiring writers and people new to wattpad to start writing better stories.

First tip is, familiarize yourselves with a dictionary, a thesaurus, and grammar book. OOOOOOR.... take advantage of the people online who've done that for you and just go to google to search things up once in a while. I understand English isn't everyone's first language, but when you choose to write a story in English, it might be a good idea to make sure you understand the rules of doing so well enough. Typos are one thing, and we all miss out a word or two occasionally, but some stories are chock full of misspelled words, misused words, run-on sentences, poor grammar, and poor dialogue.  We should all learn these things and strive to better our writings through them. Trust me, it helps deliver your message in a much better way. AND, I can tell you from personal experience, MANY MANY MANY people are put off by bad grammar and awful spelling. So when they open your story and see too many mistakes...they close it and go away.

Anyways, more tips to come later, and some pics, and maybe more parody, who knows? Nonetheless, dear readers, this "Author's note" is getting rather lengthy so I must close it. Don't forget to vote, comment, and share this. Spread this around and let's see where it goes; maybe we'll make it to the top and some of those cliché writers and their fans will see it and take a lesson. We can only hope. Thanks for reading everyone, Salaam and see you in the next update

-Le_Muslim_MAN

OH! And can we PLEASE stop with the "his" titles. Sheesh. I mean, I have the characters in my stories call each other possessively (my Ahlaam, my Ahmad, my love, etc) but I mean, this trend some of you follow of "HIS...blah blah blah" "HIS MUSLIM doo doo doo" "BELONGING TO HIM..." and such, it's creepy. It's forcing this ownership thing that is just so....wrong. Please stop making the characters be property. Go watch Aladdin or something so you can hear Jasmine say she isn't a prize to be won. Okay? Thank you.... AND STOP SETTING UP THE MUSLIM GIRLS WITH AHTEIST/CHRISTIAN/NON-PRACTICING GUYS! Sheesh! The "forbidden love" thing is so played out and just has no place in Islam.

If you wanna take that route, do something interesting and unique. Set it up where she's in line with Islam, she's trying to marry a good guy, practicing, with good character, etc etc but it's "forbidden" for societal or cultural reasons. Make it to take a stance against racism/nationalism. Or status and caste things. Do something that teaches a lesson and the couple aren't in the wrong. And don't have the end up together by haram though.

If the wali refuses for a non-legitimate reason (ie race, status, tribalism, greed for wealth, etc) then she can get another wali or go to a judge or imam and get things done etc.  We don't see these storylines in these books, but maybe we should. Open things up, expand you world. Bring on some diversity, and I don't just mean by interracial marriages (although those are cool and definitely underrepresented on here). Different backgrounds, different lives, etc etc. Make them unique; make them a good match but not so predictable. They don't have to go perfect together but they don't have to be total opposites either. They can both be decent or practicing Muslims without one being an angel and one being a badboy winkmaster.  >.>

Anyways, it's late and I need to pray Isha so I really need to go. More ranting in the next update, In Shaa Allah.

Salaam.