Ilyas was born in 1989 and grew up in a religious Sunni Muslim family in Pakistan.[1][2] At the age of 16, her father announced her arranged marriage with a businessman whom she had never met, and her new husband forced her to wear a veil and sexually abused her.[3][1] Ilyas sought help from her parents, but they refused, giving Islamic excuses for her husband's behaviour.[3][1] After daily unanswered prayers, Ilyas increasingly questioned the existence of Allah and professed her doubts to her husband, who reacted by forcing her out of their home and preventing her from seeing their daughter.[3][1]