Thank you for confiding in me. I will try to answer according to the best of my knowledge of the Quran and Hadith inshallah, praying that Allah may help us be on the straight path of Islam, amen.

This is something natural in the sense that we are human beings and we do become attracted to one another. Additionally, we wish to have many things that we have a liking for.

However, the question is will we, or are we going to have whatever we take a liking to?

Also do we have to obtain things that we like i.e. would we be able to own/have them?

What if they are not written for us by Allah at the first place?

To sum up, this is a matter of 'taqdeer', i.e. predestination - which is part of our Islamic belief system. It means that we should be happy with whatever has been decided for us by Allah. This does not mean that we should not make an effort to achieve things, but it means is that whatever the outcome, we accept it with happiness, believing that this is better for us, inshallah.

Allah says: 'shall man then have whatever he covets? The last and the first belong to Allah' (53:24,25).

This is to understand the reality of our desires and what we like, that we might not have at the end of the day, which is part of the 'game' of the life of this world.

However, when it comes to the serious business of liking someone of the opposite sex, and getting married, the teachings of Islam are as clear as anything else.

The Prophet of Islam Muhammad SAW says that: 'The best way forward for two people loving each other is Nikah'. There is no way whatsoever other than Nikah for a relationship between non-mahram (unrelated) male and female individuals.

Having said that, we have different cultures and traditions. This is perfectly compatible with Islam, unless and until these traditions are against a clear injunction of Islam.

Now getting to your specific situation, I think you need to approach the brother through someone from your family, if that is possible - because if you express your concern directly to him, he might think that this is inappropriate and a sort of 'shamelessness' and straight away start thinking negatively about you, and 'the first impression is the last impression'.

I hope I have been able to answer your question. If anything is unclear, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Your duaas.