[My plan was to write about criterias and then move on to other subjects but for now that'll have to wait...]
Normally, I communicate with potential spouses via email. I find it non-threatening. You can think about what you have to say without feeling nervous and it's a quick way of figuring out if you are compatible with a person. I generally try to ask questions that are most important to me and usually it's done in a very formal way as I feel getting too friendly would not be very Islamic. A few seem to think it makes me sound very serious but marriage is after all a very serious matter and it's not that I do not have a sense of humor and such but in this matter I don't find it appropriate.
However, the problem with me comes when I actually like someone because of what I feel is good character and a possible match. Now that makes me nervous irrespective of whether we are communicating via email or not. It makes me think even more of what I should say and I how I should phrase my sentences and at the same time trying to communicate my real opinions. The whole time I'm doing so, I'm thinking at the back of my mind if the conversation is going to end here because our views don't match. And wondering if it's worth losing out on a possibly good match because of a couple of things. Now these things aren't random things. They are important to me and what's important to me, I feel, should also be important to my husband and vice versa but somehow I've noticed if guys are religious, as in really practicing their deen, they are not too liberal or open to differences in opinion which doesn't really go with Islam. And it's not just having differences in opinion, which all couples will have on certain matters, but is there room for compromise? And will that compromise really satisfy both couples or will they end up feeling this is not what they want?
May be I'm afraid of compromise on some level because of the experiences of couples where it turns out more to be a sacrifice on the part of the wives of their desires and even though husbands originally agreed to certain things, soon after marriage they seem to have a change of heart. And it turns into a battle instead of a companionship. May be it's impossible to find someone who thinks exactly like you and has the same mentality but is it really worth it to go into a marriage knowing you may not really be happy? To me, it's not. And when I really like someone I tend to have an internal debate with myself on whether I can sacrifice what I hope for in case there can't be a compromise.
I think there are a few girls like me who have faced this internal battle and decided to choose to remain single until they either meet someone who is willing to accept them as they are or die in hopes of such a person or give up and marry any person just to end their loneliness. As far as their happiness is concerned, only Allah (swt) is aware of that. Some are satisfied in their decisions and some regret it. It's sad to think that simple things like marriage can become so hard and stressful.
In the event that I really can't decide, I'll leave it to Allah (swt) through istikhara and will consult my parents. But somehow my heart and maybe my gut is telling me that I still have some waiting to do.
