In January 2010 EastEnders opened the viewers eyes and made us gain new understanding about the Muslim faith and their community with the impending nuptuals of Syed Masood to Amira Shaw.
The event kicked off with the cast doing a traditional Muslim dance the day before the actual ceremony which was really interesting and fun to watch. The dancing was performed not only by their Muslim cast members but their white castmates took part in it as well.
The actual wedding did not go without its drama though, as Syed is a gay muselim man whom hasn’t come out to his family or his future wife. Before the ceremony his boyfriend Christian Clartk tells Syed that he should be true to himself and tell everyone he's gay.
Syed on the other hand begged to differ on the issue as he was still going to go through with the wedding to Amira, He did not want to hurt anyone with his huge revelation that would bring shame and embarrassment upon his family. If the secret were to be exposed then the family would risk getting black balled by the mosque because their son and brother was in a relationship that was not accepted in the Muselim community.
Zainab tracks her son down only to find Christian walking out of the cafe in tears and she asks Syed what was wrong with Christian , she automatically hits the nail on the head and she figures out that something happened between her son and Christian.
Syed tries to stop his mum from going to confront Christian , but even the viewers know you can't control the weather and you sure as hell can not stop Zainab from erupting like a volcano. She's a force to be reckoned with and this is why she is one of my favourite characters. For the most part she is a what most would perceive as a control freak and and over protective mother.
She really can't help being the way she is , because she loves her kids so much
For me I felt that the storyline was beautifully executed, everything they did from the props, to the traditional wedding garb and the way the secret of Syed being an out gay man stand out in my mind.
A confrontation ensues between mother and son , but Syed does not go back on his word and he marries Amira even though he’s not in love with her. He feels that if he didn’t marry her he would disappoint his mother and father and would be going against his faith by admitting to the world he was a muselim gay man
The ceremony itself was beautiful with the cast dressed in traditional muselim wedding clothes.
Click on the video below to see the traditional Muslim dance , along with Zainab finding out Syed is gay and his marrying Amira despite being in love with Christian
How will Amira react when she discovers that her new hubby has been harbouring the secret that he is attracted to men