Meet Dawit Mohammed Mahmoud and his darling wife Aisha. They're a lovely Muslim couple that recently moved to the East End of Ottawa, Province of Ontario. Dawit Mahmoud was born in the town of Baalbek, Republic of Lebanon, to a Somali mother and Lebanese father. Tall and broad-shouldered, with light brown skin, curly Black hair and light brown eyes, this handsome stud embraces both his Arabian and African heritage. He graduated from Carleton University with a bachelor's degree in African Studies and a Master's degree in Business Administration. These days he works for the Canadian Revenue Agency. His wife Aisha Al-Sharif Mahmoud is a Yemeni national who moved to Canada four years ago. The short, slender and bronze-skinned, beautiful young Arab woman came to the township of Ottawa for school and fell in love both with the Capital of Canada and a certain uniquely handsome Muslim stud she met at school.
At first, Aisha's conservative Yemeni Muslim parents weren't keen on the idea of their daughter marrying a man who not only wasn't Yemeni, he was also part Black. Yes, even today, there is a lot of racism in the Arab world. A lot of Arab men date and even marry beautiful Black women but they get mad when they see a Black man with an Arab woman. The son of Suleyman Mahmoud, a wealthy Lebanese businessman who married Zarah Labaan, a beautiful Somali woman, Dawit was exposed to the racism ever present in the Arab world for most of his life. And he wasn't about to allow Aisha's parents to intimidate him. He was in love with her. In the end, his persistence and the fact that his family was wealthy and hers was broke kind of paid off. They got married in a small, private ceremony at a mosque in the east end of Ottawa. Now they're living together in a nice three-bedroom apartment in the McArthur avenue area. Not too far from the Saint Laurent Shopping Center, their favorite mall.
Dawit and Aisha are modern Muslims. Their faith matters to them, yes, but they're also a fairly relaxed and easygoing couple. Aisha is a stylish gal who likes to dress both comfortably and sexy. Sometimes she wears long dresses and a hijab. Other times she wears short skirts and tight shirts. And her husband always finds her beautiful no matter what she's wearing or not wearing. Even though they came from different worlds, inside they were a lot alike. For starters, they were both flexible and open-minded. Once they moved into their nice apartment in the east end, they made friends with their neighbors whether they were Hindu, Christian, Atheist or whatever. Aisha loved her charming, easygoing husband. A lot of Muslim men treat their women like shit and they're also harsh and intolerant. Dawit wasn't like that. He was wise beyond his years sometimes. She changed a lot since she met him. A biracial Muslim man who owned a German shepherd, listened to hard core rap music, made friends with Christians and Jews to the point of inviting them to his house fairly often, and also strongly supported the European Union's growing anti-burka stance secular and democratic European nations.
While this might surprise you, it really shouldn't. Just because Dawit Mahmoud was a Muslim didn't mean he agreed with everything in Muslim culture. Besides, he grew up in Canada and wholeheartedly embraced Canada's values of liberalism and tolerance. The racism and sexism of many Muslim men was something he staunchly disapproved of because he was often exposed to it growing up. Even though his Arab father was wealthy and powerful, to many Arabs he was still a kalb or slave just because his mother was Black. Well, Dawit was equally proud of his Lebanese father and Somali mother. And he never backed down before Arab racism. He was a strong man through and true. Aisha loved that about him.
