Answer
Wa `alaykum As-Salamu wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh
In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.
All praise and thanks are due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon His Messenger.
In this fatwa:
1- Marriage in Islam should be based on love, mercy, and compassion. It is also based on mutual consent from the two partners.
2- As for your case, you are committing a big mistake by making so personal relation with this guy, which is impermissible in Islam. Hence you should immediately cut off your relation with him.
In his response to your question, Sheikh Ahmad Kutty, a senior lecturer and an Islamic scholar at the Islamic Institute of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, states:
Islam does not allow us to forge illicit liaisons or relations. So, you are not allowed to be freely chatting or isolating yourself with this man or anyone else.
For sure, you are allowed to see whether he is suitable for marriage while abiding by the strict rules of Islamic ethics governing male-female interactions.
Islam also insists on the consent of the guardian in marriage; this is primarily intended to protect women’s interests.
If this guy’s family refuse you for reasons that are purely racial or materialistic, then they should be persuaded and this guy should try his best in getting them change their minds.
Almighty Allah knows best.
Editor’s note: This fatwa is from Ask the Scholar’s archive and was originally published at an earlier date.