Young Muslims can now dodge the non-halal meat market of dating apps like Tinder with a popular app designed just for Muslims looking for love and marriage.
In the Islamic world, dating can be everything from tricky to ‘haram’ (forbidden). As such, Muslim communities can often find dating in the Tinder era a somewhat uncomfortable experience.
Muslims tend to wait for marriage before having sex, and often don’t even go on public outings together when dating. Even talking on the phone with someone of the opposite sex is frowned upon unless it’s a family member. So what’s a young Muslim person to do in 2019?
A former London banker thinks he’s created the perfect solution. Shahzad Younas quit his job in 2015 and launched a Muslim online dating app called Muzmatch from his bedroom. The app claims to bridge the gap between high-tech, modern dating and deeply held Islamic traditions.
Younas says Muzmatch tops more than a million members worldwide and has led to weddings in 190 different countries between 25,000 people. The app has also raised just under AUD$2 million.
“I am a Muslim, so I totally understand the predicament,” he said. “Look, Muslims don’t date. We marry.”
Research from the National Academy of Sciences states that, of 20,000 respondents, 35 per cent of people found their partners online in 2005 -2014. A further half of that group found their partner specifically through online dating sites.
Mr Ali Hassan has been looking for love online for three years and has experience in several dating apps such as Tinder, Minder and, his favourite, Muzmatch.
“Tinder users are focused more on judging the girls as ‘thick or busty’ and guys as ‘muscly and manly’,” he said. “But Muzmatch is focused on the profile of the individual plus their personality with a traditional mindset of keeping things halal.”
Another convert, Farhad Mohsen, says Muzmatch is often incorrectly described as the ‘Muslim Tinder’.
“It is more about being serious on who you are swiping right to,” he said. “The person you are swiping to should be someone you’re interested to marry and be with forever rather than swiping to hook up for temporary period.”
Watch the video above for a guided tour of Muzmatch and the features which make it unique.