I have been married to my husband for 6 years. He is Muslim and grew up in Pakistan, and I was Christian and grew up in North Carolina. Once I married him I became Muslim BUT we don’t practice and honestly don’t follow a lot of Islam. He owns a business and works 24/7. I stay home with our 2 kids and really don’t even know where to start with them or with practicing Islam.

Long story short is we met through his brother, who I worked for. My husband was living In Pakistan. We talked online, eventually met in Thailand for the first time, applied for a fiancé visa, and he came here and we got married. This all happened in less than a year….it went by quickly. I asked him what he expected from me as a wife before we got married. He didn’t have much to say. We had a lot of arguments when we first go married. There were a lot communication problems due to language barriers. I am a very nice and friendly person and wave to everyone. He didn’t understand that and took it the wrong way…. Lots of problems happened but it got better. We had our kids in 2016 and 2019. I defaulted Into becoming a stay at home mom due to child care costs and the fact that my husband wasn’t willing to do anything with our kids to take care of them (except play with them). Anytime I tried to work and he had to watch them, he would get angry and tell me he’s not a servant and also he can’t do certain home chores just because he doesn’t want to.

Now he has a business and works 12 hr days and is never home. It’s 40 min away from our home. He is tired … I am tired…. I applied for a job where I could bring my kids and they offered it to me but he told me I shouldn’t do it so I didn’t. I’m not happy and I told him I am struggling.

I know a lot of this is part of culture and not Islam. But…what in Islam, how is the wife supposed to be towards husband and how is the husband suppose to treat the wife?