The Male Chaperones of Muslim Dating Apps

Hussein Kesvani, The Male Chaperones of Muslim Dating Apps discusses Muzmatch, which I refer to in my next book

Islam, Women and Me

BBC, Islam, Women and Me, 31 Jan 2018

Mehreen Baig's very personal documentary, which includes a visit to a 'Sharia Council', a discussion on dating apps, and her negotiations with her father about moving out ... The programme is available on iPlayer for the next month.

SingleMuslim.com: how the Yorkshire dating site transformed Muslim romance

Guardian, SingleMuslim.com: how the Yorkshire dating site transformed Muslim romance "It is one of the biggest dating sites in the world and after 17 years, it has has led to over 50,000 marriages. Last week, it hit the headlines as matchmaker to two terror suspects. Tim Adams meets its founders in Wakefield."

Matchmaking apps

TechCrunch, YC-backed Muzmatch definitely doesn’t want to be Tinder for Muslims

 

 Source: Muzmatch.com

Also see:
 
CBC, Canadian women create ‘offline dating’ service for Muslims looking for love

This discusses Matchbox which has a different approach to these issues.

Jihadists Using Matchmaking Sites to Find Partners

VOA News, Jihadists Using Matchmaking Sites to Find Partners "Observers say that the jihadists’ use of the dating site may suggest it is becoming harder for IS members to find people to marry. The number of mainly young Western and North African women traveling to Syria to marry fighters appears to have gone down, they say."

Iran's Dating Revolution

Radio Times, Unreported World, Iran's Dating Revolution " Under Iran’s strict Islamic laws sex outside marriage is illegal. Even so, half the population between the ages of 18 and 35 aren’t married and the government is concerned they’re not “playing by the rules”. It’s tackled what they describe as a marriage crisis by setting up an online dating agency." Previews a forthcoming Channel 4 TV programme, on tomorrow.

Matchmaking online

Lydia Green, BBC News, Why millions of Muslims are signing up for online dating, 10 Dec 2014 "Arranged marriages are standard practice in many societies, but the introductions and screening process can be an ordeal for the young people involved - even if they are pleased with the eventual outcome. Some Western Muslims have concluded that online matchmaking can help reduce embarrassment."

Also see: 

alarabiya.net, Online dating gains traction among Muslims in West "Adeem Younis, founder of matchmaking site Single Muslim, which boasts of having over one million members, told the BBC that he set up the service after to avoid the pain of family-orchestrated matchmaking – and as an alternative to the more casual hook-up culture prevalent with many secular dating sites."

Courtship in Islam - opinion piece

Opinion piece Ustaz AbdulJaleel Solaudeen, Tribune (Nigeria), Courtship in Islam  "Internet courting is in new practice found among the muslims today. This act is not encouraged because of its woes. In most cases it involves giving false impression about oneself just to win the heart of the man or woman. It also involves wasting our precious time in writing polished e-mails and exchanging worthless chats."

Online Dating: A Muslim Guide on How to Be Safe

SuhaibWebb/mideastposts.com, Online Dating: A Muslim Guide on How to Be Safe, 22 Mar 2011: "Their increased popularity over the last decade is proof that matchmaking sites will continue to grow and couples will increasingly meet for the first time through the Internet. This phenomenon is also apparent in the Muslim community. A Google search of “Muslim matchmaking” calls up over 400,000 sites. With more Muslims turning to the Internet to find a spouse, there needs to be a discussion of the positive and negative aspects of meeting people online."

Matchmaking online

Jawd Mohamed, alarabiya.net, UK Muslims prefer internet matchmaking, 10 Nov 2010 "A considerable portion of Muslim men and women in Britain resort to a popular matchmaking website to look for spouses amid debates over the validity of internet marriages"

SingleMuslim.com

middle-east-online.com, Piety tops marriage criteria among Muslims, 24 June 2010 "SingleMuslim.com, an interactive community of more than 500,000 members seeking potential marriage partners, polled its members to find out the most important criteria they used when searching for a partner."

See singlemuslim.com

Matrimonial websites

muslimette.com, Single Sisters : Do you look for love online? blog discussion, that I happened upon when searching for something else...

Syria

middle-east-online.com, Syria’s gays, lesbians fight discrimination, 22 Nov 09 "Online, Syrian homosexuals can find several dating and chatting websites where they can exchange photos and telephone numbers and sometimes fix dates to meet."

'Love at First Site'

BBC Radio 4, Love at First Site, 24 Aug 09 "Sarfraz Manzoor explores the world of matrimonial websites aimed at the Asian diaspora around the world and the alternative they present to the traditional arranged marriage." Sounds fascinating. Only problem is that Radio 4 are not making it available on their Listen Again feature at present. I'll check again later on.

Also see Sarfraz Manzoor, The Guardian, Forget internet dating, this is online matchmaking, 24 Aug 09

Matchmaking online

The Jakarta Post, Muslim soulmates now connect in cyberspace, 21 Aug 09 "Some matchmaking services have chosen to focus on high-class clients, wooing users with candlelit dinners and free dining vouchers, targeting modern and cosmopolitan ideals.

"Others, however, still embrace long-standing ideals, including religious ones, but with revamped technology.

"An example of this is birojodohmuslim.com, an online Islamic dating service run by a couple with a extensive experience in traditional matchmaking."

The site provides a breakdown of member profiles, which is interesting in terms of professions/gender balance, etc.

Matchmaking

alarabiyya, Arabs seek partners via matchmaking channels, 16 Mar 09 "Satellite channels are an increasingly popular matchmaking tool, especially among Saudi and Egyptian women, who are more dependent on them than other Arab women the study found.

"Siham Ahmed Azab, assistant professor of sociology at King Abdulaziz University, spearheaded the study, which found the proportion of females relying on satellite channels for marriage higher than the number of Arab males who use these channels.

"One such channel is Wasit al Khair, a Gulf channel that acts as a SMS forum for marriage seekers. Participants send SMS messages describing themselves and the partner they seek that are posted on the screen."

Saudi Arabia: Society

Mary Fitzgerald, Irish Times, Mobile phones change dating habits as Saudis search for new identity, 11 Mar 09 "Back at the cafe in Jeddah, Jawaher and her friends discuss politics and the place of religion in Saudi society. “When it comes to religion here, there is only one voice – not just Islam, but one particular interpretation of Islam,” complains Badr, who recalls with distaste some of what he was taught in school about other faiths." Useful article. Ref. to Ahmed al-Omran (Saudi Jeans)

'Mullah Matchmaker'

CNN, Mullah Matchmaker, 5 Mar 09

"An Iranian religious figure's matchmaking service results in more than 2,000 marriages. Reza Sayah reports."



Jafar Ardabili profile. For more information, see Jafar Ardabili's web site. 'Success stories' are in the gallery

This issue is discussed in iMuslims

Malaysia

Here's a story on Malaysia that I missed while concentrating on other headlines, but it has a relevance for this blog (+ great headline!): Audrey Vijaindrenn, New Straits Times, Here comes the cyber-bride, 21 Dec 08 "Project director of the Malaysian Islamic Consumers Association, Noor Nirwandy Mat Noordin, says: "This is not a new thing, there are lots of cupid type of companies out there. The only difference is that the concept has shifted from manual to web-based procedures, to reach more people.

""We've received complaints from those who have been conned by the websites. It's not a good way within the Muslim community to find a spouse like this. We don't have specific rules and regulations, but we must ask the National Fatwa Council, Jabatan Kemajuan Islam Malaysia (Jakim) and the religious councils in all states to evaluate if it's according to Islam."

"He says most single girls panic when they can't find a husband at the age of 30.""

Related links: Malaysian Islamic Consumers Association

Qiran.com

Muslima.com

Iran

Guardian, Dating site 'prostitution', says Iran, 11 Dec 08 "A popular Iranian internet dating website that claimed to be helping people find a spouse and start families has been banned for "promoting prostitution", on the advice of leading Islamic clerics.

"Hamsarchat.com, which boasts of having chalked up more than 1.6m page visits, was also fined and ordered to pay back money collected from clients, after a judge consulted senior ayatollahs - known as "sources of emulation" - following a complaint from Tehran's public prosecutor."

The hamsarchat.com site is still live (at present).