To eventually marry her husband after ten years of courtship, Sharon Adewale* had to fulfil a primary condition – forgoing her birth religion, Islam, for husband’s, Christianity. The courtship had dragged on for that long because of this religious difference. Although her own family didn’t mind having a son-in-law of another faith, his family disapproved of her.
“His family was scared of allowing me to marry their son. Because of how much he loved me, they even feared more that I might eventually make him convert to my religion. They said they’d seen so [much] of that before and they didn’t want a situation where the woman would change their son to her own religion,” Sharon said.
Adewale’s religion changing as a result of marriage is a shared reality among many Nigerian women in interreligious romantic relationships, especially marriage. Even among public figures, women are seen taking their husbands’ faiths upon marriage. In the deeply religious country of Nigeria, an average extended family is a mix of relatives with different faiths, usually Christianity and Islam. However, religious uniformity within a nuclear family is often highly prized.