Their sympathy had worn off and I was back to how I started, except I no longer had my husband beside me. I thought the niqab (face veil) would protect me like it used to, make me look like I fit in with everyone else. But the little person holding my hand gives it away. His beautiful dark skin and short frizzy hair shows that he’s different. They see us as different and they don’t like it. - Born and brought up in the west with a Pakistani father and Palestinian mother, Esha’s never been liked by her extended family in Pakistan. But they remained polite until she went on to do something never seen in her father’s Pakistani village. She married a black man. To make matters worse, Esha and her husband, Isa, move to Pakistan so Esha can teach the less fortunate in the little village her father was brought up in. His passing caused her great grief and she wanted to feel closer to him. But they never accepted her. Yet, Esha refuses to move away and is adamant on raising her son alone in her father’s old house.

''Marriage isn't easy especially when it's arranged and you hardly know the guy.'' 23-year-old Zara, a modest and virtuous Muslimah, has finally accepted a marriage proposal and is ready to share her life and love with her husband. But what happens when he is broody, stiff and ignores her most of the time? Is it possible to make her own husband fall in love with her or will Zara become a victim of unrequited love? #WATTYSWINNER2014

As a Muslim girl, marriage is one of Safia's biggest dreams. All her life she kept herself pure for her faith and her future husband. Although having never had experienced love, and occasionally doubting whether she will, Safia feels herself growing impatient being single. She then sends her family to search for 'the one.' Trusting her family, she decides to say yes to the first person her family finds for her. She believes she will get married and face all her problems with her husband by her side. Is it really as simple as that? Yusuf feels a void in his heart. He tries to deny it, but he knows his mother's not proud of him. He knows she wishes he could be a little more modern like his brother. He wanted his family to find him a wife while he could focus on his deen (faith), but his idea of a wife clashes with his mother's. Seeing that his family were struggling to find him someone he likes, he decides to take matters into his own hands. But is he rushing into decisions without thinking?

I am active on Instagram : saidnotspoken Maryam and Darcey are two different people living in two complete different worlds. Maryam, 22 a devote muslim. Darcey, 25, non-muslim with a crafty past. When Maryam's dad brings his best friends son back from a foreign country for Maryam's hand in marriage who will she choose? A newly converted Darcey? Or go for the safe option and make her dad happy by opting Amir as her spouse?

How not to write an Islamic love story.