For 74-year-old Mallam Muhammad Awal, it was destined that he would be married to his now wife, 45-year-old divorcee, Mallama Rahmat Muhammad this late and that no one can overcome what the Almighty has designed in their lives.
Little wonder a mammoth crowd comprising the young and the old, male and female attended the wedding solemnization which took place on Sunday in Lokoja, the Kogi State capital.
The crowd braved the early morning downpour to be at the occasion which Islamic clerics in the State officiated.
Speaking on why he had stayed this late before getting married, the septuagenarian said he had given up on marriage before he found Malama Rahmat.
To him, despite encouragement from family, friends and even some Islamic teachers that he should be brave and approach a lady he liked for marriage, he said his lack of financial capacity had held him back several times.
“I have always been afraid I might fail in my duty of care to a spouse if I married and it is something I fear and don’t want to joke with.
“I am also afraid of separation from my spouse. I know if I fail to take care of her, she might either leave me or cheat on me with another man, which I would not like. So, to avoid all of that, I dismissed the idea of marriage altogether. But now, Allah has made this a reality.”
On whether he has ever approached a woman to proposition marriage before, “I have. Many. This was when i was much younger. Many of them looked down on me, mostly because of my financial status. But I thank God it is in the past now.”
Asked whether he would have long been married had his financial situation been different, he replied in the affirmative, even as he added that if God had designed it differently, it would still have not been possible.
On what attracted him to his new wife and whether he would sire children with her, he said, “Apart from the fact that she is beautiful, she is also down-to-earth, understanding, religious and rooted in the marital institution.
“Only Allah knows if we are going to have children. You never know what the Almighty can do. It is not in our hands, but His hands.”
In her reaction, the new wife also admitted that it was destined that they would end up as a couple and prayed Allah to accept their wishes towards each other.
On her choice of Mallam Awal, “Why not him? she retorted. Allah has a reason for bringing us together and my prayers is for him to bless us and give us peace and understanding in our home.”
The clerics who officiated the wedding ceremony, prayed Allah to grant the couple peaceful home and blessed children.
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