Salams Muhammad and Stacey! Muslim Influencer Power Couple Gives Advice on Seeking Marriage

@HoopFinesse and @Staaceyj are two instagram handles you should have already heard of, and if you haven’t, you know of them now.

HoopFinesse—Muhammad Abdul Aleem– is a 34 year old African American Muslim. Staaceyj –Stacey J – is a 26 year old Puerto Rican Revert Muslim. 

This Muslim Influencer power couple resides in Florida and has built up their social media standing for the past 4 years together. They have established a youtube platform, created skits on Instagram, and flexed in pics as a couple.

– “Can we get a MashaAllah”–

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This couples' positive images, hilarious videos, and fun vibes attracted thousands of muslims followers over the years. Ibrahim Sal, our Salams Blog writer, was able to interview this muslim power couple. This beautiful muslim couple shares their insight on marriage as both a  muslim couple and as an interracial married couple. Let’s read about their story from Ibrahim:

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Muhammad (HoopFinesse) was Stacey’s Uber driver where he met Stacey, a Puerto Rican Revert Muslim, who was born on April 15, 1995. Muhammad picked up Stacey and her best friend from downtown Orlando.  After speaking for the short period of the car ride they had decided the next morning to get breakfast. A month later, it was mutually decided that the two would get married on April 18, 2019 (a month after the Uber car ride).  This was the beginning of a new chapter of success, and happiness within this couple. 

Muhammad and Stacey have used their platforms, to help better the youth, and even spread Islam throughout the community of their followers that include Muslims and non-Muslims. Muhammad’s personal goal for social media is to finish memorizing the Quran.

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Stacey has set personal goals as well through implementing the religion of Islam into her own very company. Called, “Flame & Clay”, the essence of the company is to bring us back to our roots as humans, which was from clay. This candle company implements the two factors of clay (the tray of the candle) and the flame that emits from the candle, representing that jinns come from the flame, and humans come from the clay. She is launching the company this year and hopes to reach every audience possible with this mission of spreading the message!

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Muhammad and Stacey are both big advocates for interracial marriages, being a mixed couple themselves, and state that interracial marriages are  encouraged in Islam and breaks racism and discrimination. This power couple created a list of factors and advice on Marriage. (Not in any specific order)

1. Trust Allah 

"Because if you don’t have your trust in Allah, how are you going to have trust in yourself to find the other half of your deen. Always put your trust in Allah SWT’s hands. Having Tawakkul in Allah’s hands is the only reliance you will need in this dunya, because He is all knowing and the only one we should rely on." 

2. Seek good character and piety in your future spouse 

"Rather than looking for looks or any unrealistic characteristics in your spouse, one could look for a man or woman with good character and piety. A man that is religious will carry good character, and a woman that practices her Deen actively will portray good character as well. With Deen, comes Ikhlaq (manners)."

3. Don't seek the perfect spouse 

"Don’t chase after anyone in this Dunya. That is unfortunately unrealistic, there are plenty of fish in the sea. The perfect man is not based on his salary, and not based on how many followers he has on social media. It's based on the amount of respect that he’s giving you as his spouse, and how much he practices his Deen. For men, the perfect girl is not one that chases this Dunya and its materialistic ideas, it is a woman that will respect you as her partner."

4. Make sure as best as possible, the family of the bride/groom are in agreement.

"In our modern society it is very possible for two individuals to meet and want to make things halal through their families and get serious as soon as possible. Although, with some families there are some unfortunate events where the families do not agree and the two individuals that wanted things done the correct way (the halal way) are in terms of wanting to get married. This is a cause of conflict of culture rather than conflict of religion. Some families tend to forget that culture is not religion, and religion is not culture. Nevertheless, it is still important to try your very best to get both families to be in full agreement."‍

5. Be patient 

"Completing the other half of your Deen is not something that is going to happen as quickly as you think it is. Patience is one of life’s biggest virtues, as the more patient you are with finding the correct spouse and not the “perfect” spouse, put your Tawakkul in Allah’s hands. And no one will take care of you more than Allah SWT will, be patient. The good is coming your way."‍

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6. No situation or relationship is perfect, so seek the good but don't ignore major red flags

"Meeting a person that has no red flags is very rare to come across, as no one in this world is a perfect human being. When looking for a spouse, make sure to be aware of any major red flags; a man or a woman who does not pray, a possible spouse that treats his family or parents in the wrong manner. These are red flags that if ignored will carry on into the marriage. It is a very well known saying, that if you want to see how a man will treat you, look at how he treats his mother, and look at how he possibly treats his sister. No situation is perfect, nobody is perfect, seek the good but don’t ignore the flags."

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Muhammad and Stacey made it very important to note that interracial marriages are healthy for the heart, body, and outlook of life. And hope that these pieces of advice can help a man or woman out there needing to seek help on getting married!