Former fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar recently appeared on Hafiz Ahmed’s podcast where he opened up about whether he would get married for a second time.
The speedster rejected the idea of marrying again, saying that he would remain committed to his wife. The cricketer said that although Islam allows men to marry multiple times, it also encourages men to remain faithful and kind to their wives:
“You can get married four times, but I believe that once you’re attached to someone, they have left their home for you so you should leave your things for them as well. Be nice to her, kind to her. You should be an inspiring figure to her. You should have a strong character and shouldn’t pressurise her to do anything. I’m always straight forward and honest, I take care of my children and teach them the Quran.”
The cricketer, who tied the knot with Rubab Khan in 2014, talked about the arranged marriage his parents had set up for him, when they met his wife’s parents during Hajj:
“My mother had met my wife’s mother during the time they were completing Hajj, and during this visit she had taken a lot of care of my mother. When my parents came back, during that moment my mother introduced me to a girl and told me ‘This is your wife’, and I agreed to marry her.”
Akhtar said they had a simple nikkah ceremony, which wasn’t open to public, with just a few people from his family and from his wife’s family.
Akhtar went on to reveal that he is quite different from his conservative wife because of his liberal views, but he has never pressurised her to do anything that she doesn’t want to, including asking her to make media appearances:
“My family doesn’t like coming on tv. My wife is very conservative, even though I am very liberal, very open minded. I keep asking her to go out and eat something, and she refuses.”
Akhtar also added that he respects his wife’s preference which is why he doesn’t speak about their personal life during media appearances, to keep supporting her choice to remain a private figure.
