ABSTRACT
This case study deals with several problems—marital, cultural, religious, familial, and psychological—between a married couple: a Muslim architect, Asif Mohammad from Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia, and his Chinese wife, a linguist who originally came from Taipei in Taiwan. They were both students in Hong Kong. They met at their university, and after completing their postgraduate studies, decided to get married—despite strong opposition from their respective families, which manifested itself in their refusal to attend the wedding. Asif Mohammad and his wife Mary Chung lived in a rented apartment in Kuala Lumpur and avoided meeting their families. But upon the sudden death of Asif’s mother 2 years later, the estranged couple returned to Asif’s parental home in Kuala Lumpur. It was soon after moving into their family home that their disagreements and conflicts began to surface.
