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Online matchmaking has many Muslim women elbowing traditional courtship


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Yasmin El Jamal, a 20-year-old New Yorker, knows her friend Haneen Ahmad from Washington state through Facebook, the social networking site.

Although they talk on the phone, the two have never met. What brought them together was a Facebook group for people interested in the kuffiya, a traditional Palestinian scarf.

Although she and her parents think it's fine to meet a friend this way, neither El Jamal nor her parents think the Internet is the place for a Muslim woman to meet a suitor.

"I don't think talking to a person online and looking at random people's pictures is the right way to find a husband or a wife," says El Jamal. "A lot of people are doing it behind their parents' backs and getting in a lot of trouble. I know a lot of girls who ended up having premarital sex."

Even though El Jamal lives in the United States, she expects her route to marriage will follow the customs of her Palestinian family and many traditional Muslims: Young people meet at college or weddings and if attraction kicks in, an eligible suitor goes to the woman's home to meet her and the family in a supervised setting.
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4 responses // Online matchmaking has many Muslim women elbowing traditional courtship

  • crazy how technology changes things.
    starlightblue
  • Nowadays most of us are so busy with school, work, etc. Looking for friends or people to be in a relationship with online is the way to go.
    Ice_cream_Man
  • Muslim Matchmaking sites are popping up all over the place. They even advertise on Myspace. I never thought these were safe, Muslim or non-Muslim.
    thehermit
  • when I clicked into this article i thought it was about ninjas...

    anywho, meeting people off the internet, fun but risky is how I'd sum it up
    Owwmykneecap

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