In this episode, Aina Khan OBE, an international family lawyer based in London who started the Register Our Marriage campaign, joins Dr. Daisy Khan to talk about religious-only marriages: couples who have a nikah but never register their marriage with the state.

Aina, explains why England and Wales still marry under rules set by the Marriage Act of 1949, what a wife can lose when a marriage is not registered, from property and maintenance to a pension and a say in a medical emergency, and why so many women assume a nikah is enough. She shares the calls that started her campaign, including women who found out after decades that they had never been legally married.

They discuss triple talaq and the right way to divorce in Islam, the responsibility of imams, the Prophet's teaching to "tie your camel," and the law Khan would like to see: every faith registering its religious marriages, so that a marriage made before God is also recognized by the law.

02:52 Religious vs legal marriage
05:11 The calls that started the campaign
05:56 Register Our Marriage: stuck in 1949
08:57 Why the government won't act
10:39 "Test her out"
14:32 What unregistered wives lose
17:20 Why women think a nikah is enough
20:08 How to protect yourself
21:21 Triple talaq and the right way to divorce
24:38 The imam's responsibility
25:42 Changing England's marriage law
27:24 "Tie your camel"
29:21 "The angels are our witnesses"
30:54 Marriage is the basis of civilization
31:33 The ideal law

Aina Khan OBE's Socials:
Website: https://www.ainakhanlaw.com
Register Our Marriage: https://registerourmarriage.org
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ainakhanobe/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ainakhanlawyer
X: https://x.com/ainakhanlondon

Sources and credits:
Office for National Statistics, Census 2021 (Religion, England and Wales).
Channel 4 / True Vision Aire survey of 903 Muslim women, 2017 ("The Truth About Muslim Marriage").
Hadith: Jami' at-Tirmidhi 2517.
Photo of Theresa May: "Official portrait of Baroness May of Maidenhead" by Roger Harris / UK Parliament, CC BY 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/), via Wikimedia Commons.
Additional footage: Pexels (pexels.com).

Daisy's Socials:
Website: https://daisykhan.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/daisykhan.nyc/?hl=en
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drdaisykhan/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/daisy.khan.56246/
X: https://x.com/DaisyKhan

In this episode, Daisy Khan speaks with the author of Missfit Muslim about survival, identity, faith, and the journey of challenging the expectations placed on Muslim and South Asian women. Missfit discusses the generational “checklist” centered on marriage, harsh beauty standards that reduce women to appearance and “marriageability,” and the family culture of silence around trauma, including a male reader’s account of childhood sexual abuse and the need to speak, seek validation, and heal. Missfit also explores an honest, questioning relationship with God, her disconnection from Umrah rituals until a reflective moment near Jannat al-Ma‘la, inspiration from early Muslim women, defining healing versus harmful rebellion, reclaiming joy through the inner child, and donating 10% of book sales while running a donor circle supporting students in Pakistan.

02:21 Breaking the Desi Checklist

04:22 Beauty Standards Pressure

06:35 Silence and Speaking Up

08:49 Roof Edge and Hopelessness

11:08 Parents Empathy and Support

13:27 Faith Beyond Ritual

16:46 Women Who Redefined Islam

18:01 Ishq and Divine Love

19:31 Rebellion That Heals

20:34 Reclaiming the Inner Child

MissFit Socials and Websites:

🌐Website: | 📚Goodreads

📖Available worldwide in ebook & paperback
◎ Follow: @missfit.writes

Daisy's Socials:
Website: https://daisykhan.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/daisykhan.nyc/?hl=en
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drdaisykhan/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/daisy.khan.56246/
X: https://x.com/DaisyKhan

In this episode, Faizan Syed speaks about his humorous book Run: Sharia Is Coming and why satire helps counter fear-driven misunderstandings of Sharia.

Syed explains Sharia as everyday religious practice, prayer, fasting, charity, honoring parents, fully compatible with U.S. civil law and the First Amendment and describes how anti-Sharia bills shifted into “foreign law” bans. They discuss misinformation from “patio furniture experts,” political scare tactics, bots amplifying anti-Muslim narratives, and examples of shared values like family care and community.

Syed highlights interest-free student loans, debt relief principles, women’s financial and marital rights in Islamic tradition, the growth of Yemeni coffeehouses as community spaces, and how “Allahu Akbar” simply means “God is great,” urging listeners to meet Muslim neighbors and support mosque open houses.

00:15 Why Sharia

01:40 Why Humor Works

02:57 What Sharia Really Means

05:32 Sharia at the Dinner Table

07:54 Patio Experts and Myths

12:50 Fear Politics and Bots

14:48 What America Can Learn

19:24 Churches Mosques and Community

22:02 Women Rights in Sharia

23:26 Halal Food and Coffeehouses

26:30 Allah Akbar Explained

Faizan Syed's Socials:

• https://www.facebook.com/FaizanSyedPage
• https://www.youtube.com/@FaizanSyed
• https://www.instagram.com/faizan.s.syed/?hl=en
• https://www.tiktok.com/@directorfaizansyed

Daisy's Socials:
Website: https://daisykhan.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/daisykhan.nyc/?hl=en
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drdaisykhan/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/daisy.khan.56246/
X: https://x.com/DaisyKhan