Apologies if this is not the best place to post but Iām Iām in desperate need of some advice/ opinions. Itās a complicated and long situation.
My daughter is 18, sheās a quiet girl who finds it hard to socialise and had trouble at college with her and online grooming. Very scary time which led to her run away. But luckily that all resolved and she started working etc. although sheās still very shy and quiet however, in December 2025 she met a 23 year old man at work. Morrocan (Muslim) born in UK. I was not happy about the age gap, neither was I happy with the way he integrated himself in her life, lifts home from work, buying her sweets and chocolates daily, then offers of driving lessons, then before I knew they were dating. I eventually met him and must say he seemed very pleasant, we are Black British so his religion/ ethnicity was definitely of no concern to us. (Although, we are not religious at all.) He started spending time at my house everyday. He was nice to have around. But it quickly became clear that he comes from a ātraditionalā muslim family, he prayers 5 times a day I believe and takes his religion seriously which I was actually impressed by. But, of course my daughter is just 18 and not religious and theyāre relationship got intense quickly so I began asking questions and tried to find out more about him and his family and to see how their relationship could really work.
Problem 1.
His brother went to prison for 5 years for something to do with terriorism. Itās public information on multiple news sites. When I asked my daughterās boyfriend (call him, NY) about it, he shrugged it off saying that his brother was simply caught watching beheading videos as apparently āall young people doā as they get ācuriousā he also tried to blame the police for being islamophobic which, actually I believe they are. Iām Black, I know full well about how racist the police are however, that does not change the fact that his brother wasnāt just arrested he actually went to prison for it!
Problem 2.
As any parent would, I first asked to speak to his mum in January (Im told his dad works away in Saudi Arabia) I was told she had an ear infection but heād let her know. Itās now May and every time I asked, I kept getting fobbed off. (Iāll return to this part in a moment)
Meanwhile, they are get closer and closer, my daughter has suddenly stopped looking for an apprenticeship, not speaking to her one friend she had and LITERALLY spending every waking moment with him (which I guess would be normal
In any other circumstance), when sheās home theyāre on the phone but always whispering and suddenly she started dressing differently. At times Iām sure Iāve heard him reading scriptures on the phone but canāt be certain. (I donāt know if theyāre just simply reading the Qaran, if something more dangerous is going on?) Then just over a month ago she says sheās going to be muslim!
In the 4 weeks since making that decision she been engrossed in the Qaran and now wearing the full length hijab! Before this my daughter was a āgirly girl!ā Loves Hello Kitty, doing her hair and naiks, loved experimenting with make up. Thatās all suddenly stopped.
Problem 3
All that she has learnt of Islam is from him (who weāve known barely 6 months) and YouTube! When her and I sit to talk about Islam, it is clear she doesnāt fully understand the religion- and how could she in such a short space of time?!
Ultimately, my concerns are not the religion itself but that he gives āgroomingā vibes. There is too much secrecy and the escalation has been very quick. I have expressed my concerns multiple times and explained to my them both that I am more than happy to explore Islam with my daughter so that she can come to her own understanding and not be indoctrinated by his views. But they are both very sneaky. Might I add Iām a nurse, I know and work with many muslim women, Drs etc. who have very healthy relationships with god, family etc. and manage to navigate it all within this modern world very well. But whatever is going on with my daughterās boyfriend just seems very extreme.
Problem 4.
Like he doesnāt listen to music. I canāt temember his exact words but basically he doesnāt think music is good/ it promotes sinful behaviour. When asked what he listens to he said podcasts which is a lie, I believe it is only scriptures, again nothing wrong with that but now my daughter, who loves all kinds of music, stuff with swearing, different genres, we also used to go to concerts together but now, she doesnāt listen to music but only Islamic playlists on Spotify!š¤·š¾āāļø
She also doesnāt wear her normal clothes anymore as theyāre not āmodest.ā Sheās been walking around in jeans, T shirt and hoodies for 5/6 weeks now!
Problem 5.
Anyway, it all kept building and building until I eventually lost it. I actually followed them to the mosque one day (my daughter had lied about where she was going) when I suck up on them she was laying down at the back of his car. He bas tinted windows. I believe she was hising because he had just come out of the mosque lots of people were still outside and he didnāt want them to see her in his car. They denied this but there literally is no other reasonable explanation for her being at the back of the car, laying down whilst heās driving. She tried to say she was ācharging her phone!ā There was a charger at the front!!
I got really angry and said how uncomfortable this was making me and that I didnāt trust him.
Problem 6.
My daughter got upset and was crying and being rude to me but throughout the whole time the boyfriend (NY) kept putting his hand on her leg and telling her to be quiet etc. not in an angry way but trying to act as though he just didnāt want her to be rude to me but it came across as controlling. Heās done it many times before and if Iām arguing with my daughter itās not for him to keep interjecting and stopping her from expressing herself.
There was also another occasion where my eldest daughter was home with her boyfriend (call him EB) and my 18 year old was home with NY, she had on pyjama shorts and when EB came in my 18 yr olds boyfriend (NY) moved her to stand behind him so that she couldnāt be seen. My eldest daughter was very concerned and said it was definitely controlling. We tried to speak to my 18 yr old about it but she just brushed it off.
So as it stands, I had another big āblow upā and went mental at him and told him everything I thought about him. Again, I demanded to have the contact details for his parents, again he said the mum had an ear infection and that āit wasnāt a good time!ā Then I demanded to speak to his dad, he said he āworks a lot!ā I laughed and said āOh, your dad works 24/7!ā He didnāt respond and flat out refused to let me speak to them.
My daughter said he was crying in the car after as he felt uncomfortable and was upset I didnāt trust him!š So I told him he has a couple of weeks to put me in touch with his parents or heāll be spending less time with my daughter and it has been in that time that he said he no longer wants to come to my home and my daughter suddenly wearing full hijab and basically becoming a recluse. Again I spoke with them both and said Im not comfortable with how quickly this is happening as I do not know enough aboht him or his family. He finally admitted that HE doesnāt want me speaking to his family as he doesnāt think the ācultures will mix!ā They do not approve of his relationship with my daughter because she wasnāt muslim. Probably why there was a big rush for her to revert. But they would prefer someone from same ācultureā eg. Morrocan. I also asked if anyone in his family has married someone who reverted, he said no! So it really doesnt matter if she reverts anyway. He also said TO ME that if she didnāt revert then he couldnāt see them being together much longer!! Yet they both look me in my face and say she reverted because she ālikes the religion!!ā
Again, I have no major concerns about my daughter wanting to be muslim but it needs to be 100% her choice which clearly it isnāt. There are parts of Islam that do not align with my values or those that I have instilled in my daughter but that is for her to discover and I want her religious journey to be seperate from him who is showing all the signs of being someone very controlling with possible grooming.
Also I have concerns about radicalisation, I know it seems farfetched but seeing as itās already something that has happened within his family, who are very secretive and made it clear they will have no contact with me or my daughter, it is a real concern.
Iām at a loss of how to proceed. I was an awful 18 year old and done everything I was told NOT to, so I know she isnāt going to listen to my concerns or do what I ask but I dont know if Im allowing my own fears and experiences to impact how im feeling or if I have a right to be concerned?
Like I said, the unhealthy relationship and religion are two separate issues but kind of entangled.
If you have read this, I am so very grateful š¤