Will and Anne Ali

Will and Anne Ali | Muslim Community Members (Los Angeles, CA)

Anne Ali: As Salaam alaikum [peace be upon you]. My name is sister Anne Milan Ali, I was asked to speak on marriage and longevity of marriage. The first thing about marriage is that the major part has to do with sharing. To share we have to do things in each other's interests. Luckily, or by design, my husband and I were attracted to each other through our love of writing and reading. So it was easy. We grew in that way. On our fifty sixth anniversary I wrote the following poem, entitled Still, which expresses this idea:

After fifty six years of marriage still finish each other's sentences.

We laugh at things others don't understand.

We call each other by the names “Candy” and “B.”

We think “B” is the funniest comedian, and “B” thinks that “Candy” is the best cook.

We watch movies we don't like just for the other's enjoyment.

The women cook and the men wash clothes.

We wake up each morning with "How you feelin?"

“B” asks me if he's losing weight and keeping his hair.

We say how much our children are like their grandparents.

We go to bed with greetings of peace.

We complain about each other's nagging habits, but never with disdain.

We can name off ten good habits that overshadow those.

We can look at each other and see the woman and man who said, I do.

Fifty six years ago with love, respect, laughter, appreciation and wanting to spend time together,

Still…

Will Ali: As Salaam alaikum [peace be upon you]. My name is brother Will Ali. Number one: a couple has to be attracted to each other. That is the number one thing. I mean, you have to be attracted to each other. The two spirits have to be in agreement. They have to respect each other's presence from the beginning, from the very beginning, you have to respect each other's presence. They have to have a good communication base from the very beginning, because communication is the very foundation of the longevity of marriage, communication, that's the foundation. Their goals have to be similar. Otherwise, you have nothing in which to build up on. You can't build one house and she buildin' another, you have to be in the same frame of mind. They have to support each other ideas and plans. They must never be jealous of each other's progress because they are like one body walking on two legs going in the same direction. That is to be guarded. Number five and they should know what to give each other the special space because each of us. Have a particular space in which we like to retreat.

Back in February 2022, when we first shared Sister Anne and Brother Will’s portrait, Sister Anne was still with us. Although she is no longer in this physical realm, we still glean from the love and light she shared with us all. May Allah bless her family, and we recite surah [chapter] Al-Fatihah [The Opening] for her. Lastly, before her death she wrote a book about the beloved and cherished Sister Clara Muhammad, entitled, Impeccable: Remembering Sister Clara Muhammad.

Sister Anne Milan Ali was one of the Nation of Islam's secretaries in the 1960s and 1970s, and in her book she recalls her rewarding experience and shares lessons learned from a woman who lived a labor of love, duty and challenge. In "Impeccable," a first-hand candid account, Ali introduces readers to a personal side of Sister Clara Muhammad.