31 October 2007
Online dating is growing more and more popular with young Muslims, some of whom are forbidden from dating before marriage and have to accept their parents’ choice of partner. Now they can search through potential partners online without breaking any of the rules of Islam. According to Shaadi.com, based in India, 700,000 of its ten million members are in Britain. Meanwhile, of the 100,000 users browsing singlemuslim.com, about 10% are British.
Internet dating has solved the dilemma for young people who want to choose their partner but marry within their religious and racial groups. Many dating services incorporate traditional aspects. Parents can view and discard potential partners on various sites, while chaperones attend any meetings between the matched couple to ensure that there is no impropriety. More than 10% of the profiles on singlemuslim.com have been uploaded by family members.
When Adeem Younis started the site, which promises a “closely monitored and cost-effective matrimonial service for single Muslims”, he braced himself for a barrage of criticism, he told the Times:
I thought traditionalists would be completely against the idea of an introduction agency, but the only opposition came from people who didn’t understand it or didn’t know what the Internet is capable of, now I get aunties and uncles coming up to me and saying, ‘That machine that you’ve got, can you use it to find my daughter a husband?’
Denise Knowles, a counsellor from Relate, said that marriage websites were an extension of having family and friends introduce potential partners, she comments:
They let you design the perfect partner, it’s a way of meeting people, and you don’t have to continue if it doesn’t
Mr Younis said that he was inspired to set up his website after he attended Leeds University and discovered that Muslim men and women were not mixing.
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