Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Thank You
- Today's World
- Glossary
- The Mayoress
- The Pioneer
- Dadi Ma the Motivator
- From Sylhet to Ilkley
- Music ‘n’ Motherhood
- Identity
- No Mercy!
- Journey to the House of Allah
- I have a Dream!
- From Roots to Routes
- Jihad
- The Preacher’s Voice
- Salaam Namaste
- The Visionary
- Turning Pennies into Pounds
- Busing in the Immigrants
- White Abbey Road
- The Spiritual Tourist
- Burning Ambitions
- Rags to Riches
- Final Thoughts
The Mayoress
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 16 July 2022
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Thank You
- Today's World
- Glossary
- The Mayoress
- The Pioneer
- Dadi Ma the Motivator
- From Sylhet to Ilkley
- Music ‘n’ Motherhood
- Identity
- No Mercy!
- Journey to the House of Allah
- I have a Dream!
- From Roots to Routes
- Jihad
- The Preacher’s Voice
- Salaam Namaste
- The Visionary
- Turning Pennies into Pounds
- Busing in the Immigrants
- White Abbey Road
- The Spiritual Tourist
- Burning Ambitions
- Rags to Riches
- Final Thoughts
Summary
If I could give you information of my life it would be to show how a woman of very ordinary ability has been led by God in strange and unaccustomed paths to do in His service what He has done in her. And if I could tell you all, you would see how God has done all, and I nothing. I have worked hard, very hard, that is all; and I have never refused God anything. (Florence Nightingale)
I never thought that this shy little girl from a village would end up being the first ever Asian Lady Mayoress in Great Britain. I never imagined it at all! I was born in Khanyara Sharif. You know there's the town of Mirpur, well Dadyal's the village bit further along from Mirpur and my village is near that. I’m nearly 57 now. I was married at a very young age and I came to England as a young bride when I was just 16. That was 1969. I’d heard really good things about England then. Everybody that went back from England seemed to be well dressed and nicely turned out like gentlemen and everybody was curious to see England for themselves. I wasn't that keen to come here though you know because my entire family, my brothers and sisters, my parents, they were all in my village. It was heart breaking leaving them behind. But my husband was here so I had no choice, I had to come.
You may not believe this but when I first arrived in 1969, for an entire year it felt as though I had been locked up. My husband was working for a housing association then so he’d be out of the door early every morning. We had some family here then but I had to spend the whole day in this big house. I was scared stiff! I felt anxious. And the weather was atrocious – I’d seen nothing like it before – fog, rain and more fog. It was awful. I never went shopping for groceries. I just didn't go out on my own. I preferred to go with my husband who had a better understanding of what was halal, what wasn’t. I would cook whatever he brought home. I just thought everything about this country was strange – the streets, the houses, the weather.
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- Chapter
- Information
- Our stories, our LivesInspiring Muslim Women's Voices, pp. 15 - 19Publisher: Bristol University PressPrint publication year: 2009