Hiba Kazim Weds Hadi Mirza

By Jawahar Malhotra

HOUSTON: For this young, modern Muslim couple born and brought up in the USA, the road to their wedding started almost a year in a most traditional manner. A family friend of the boy’s family who lives in San Francisco suggested to his parents that a suitable girl lived in Houston. A message was sent to the girl’s parents and they in turn suggested that she contact him.

Internet conversations led to phonecalls between the couple and they finally met seven months ago. Four months later they were engaged. This past week, on Thursday, June 11, Hiba Kazim and Hadi Mirza made it official and were married in Houston in a Muslim nikah ceremony with Hyderabad-style sanchak mehndi celebrations. It was a colorful mixture of Indian and Muslim cultural traditions found in Uttar Pradesh and Hyderabad in India, complete with dhol, music, singing and dancing.

A large reception was held in their honor the next day on June 12 at the Marriott Westchase, attended by nearly 500 people, including guests from India, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Canada as well as friends and relatives from New Jersey, Florida, Washington State, Indiana and Illinois. The Muslim traditional valeema (reception by the boy’s family) ceremony followed the next day.

Hiba, 26, is an attorney working with Greenberg Taurig, an international law firm, at its offices in Houston. After graduating from Texas A & M University, she went to Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, to obtain her law degree in 2013. She is the daughter of Haider Kazim, a veteran journalist who has worked in several newspapers in India, the Middle East and the United States, including this newspaper. Her mother Asra is a former school-teacher who currently owns and operates a daycare, Little Scholars Learning Center, on Westheimer. Hiba has a younger brother, Saif.

Hadi, 27 is a marketing executive with Lending Club, the world’s largest peer-to-peer lending company, at its offices in San Francisco. California. He obtained his MBA Finance degree from California State University in 2015. His parents are from Hyderabad, India and have been in the US for 40 years. His father Khursheed Mirza, is a software consultant and his mother Meraj is a home maker and they have another son and daughter.

After a honeymoon in Thailand, Hadi will relocate from California and the couple intends to make their home in Houston.