This short article first appeared on VICE Asia.
There is certainly Tinder. Then there clearly was Tinder just for Muslims. It’s called Minder—and in accordance with its web site, it is the destination “for awesome Muslims to meet up.” We don’t particularly think about ourselves as awesome, and something of us is not also Muslim. Nonetheless it didn’t stop three staffers during the VICE Asia workplace from giving it a spin for per month.
Here’s just how our lives that are dating during the period of per month.
Maroosha Muzaffar: in most my dating life I’ve never ever had a Muslim boyfriend. The operating laugh among my buddies is the fact that i’ve never ever seen a circumcised penis. But that apart, my mother usually reminds me personally that marrying a non-Muslim would bring laanat (damnation, spoil) towards the family members. The dilemma is mind-boggling. The search therefore the saga carry on.
Therefore whenever certainly one of my colleagues, Parthshri, came across Minder,“the accepted location for Muslims to meet”—think Tinder for Muslims—we jumped. Finally, we thought, i could bring house a Muslim guy to my mother. This is exactly what I had been looking forward to.
We registered in the application utilizing the easiest of bios and an image. Several hours later on, we received a message that is congratulatory Minder. right Here ended up being a Muslim, halal dating app and it implied i possibly could now continue to obtain the momin (true believer) of my fantasies.
Listed below are my takeaways that are key a thirty days on being on Minder:
1. Flirting is quite Islamic. Extremely halal. It is really not overt. But covert. “You may be my muazzin (one who summons faithful to prayer), i’ll be your imam (one who leads the prayer),” said one’s bio.
Image: Maroosha Muzaffar
2. It asked me personally exactly exactly what taste of Muslim I happened to be. Yeah, a double was done by me take too. Taste? The software wished to determine if I became Sunni or a Shia. We said, “Just Muslim” and moved on. Just as if pinpointing myself as Muslim had not been enough. 3. There ended up being no dearth of matches. And you know how guys start a chat if you’ve been on Tinder. It generally speaking goes similar to this: “Hey.” “Hi.” “Hi.” “Hey.” “Hey.” “Wussup.” “Hi.” In the event that you thought Minder will be any various, you’re incorrect. Proof below:
Image: Maroosha Muzaffar
4. Individuals bios were interesting. Islam ended up being every-where, gushing away like hot lava from every person’s profile. I saw a assisting of some Quranic verse right here, some Hadith (sayings of Prophet Muhammad) there. Some body ended up being earnestly “Looking for the Khadija in world of Kardashians.” 5. The Muslim dating pool is tiny. I obtained more matches from Mumbai and Bengaluru than Delhi. The pool is really tiny in office that I matched with my colleague who sits right next to me. His opening line: “Your eyes are just like streams of jannah (paradise).” 6. The conversations fizzled out sooner than I’d anticipated. We don’t blame the men. I happened to be busy fulfilling my due dates, even though the man I experienced tried my most difficult with probably matched utilizing the girl of their goals and managed to move on. Bonus point 7. I did son’t get any cock photos.
Zeyad Masroor Khan: “I am a momin shopping for a muslimah (Muslim girl),” we penned on my Minder profile whenever I made the account. With my spiritual meter set for ‘somewhat practicing,’ I happened to be prepared for my search for love, swiping close to girls from Hyderabad, Mumbai, and Delhi. When you look at the “short greeting” area We typed “Looking for halal (pious) love.”
Individuals had been different from your own dating that is regular software. The standard bio of many girls simply look over “Assalamu alaikum (may peace and mercy of Allah be upon you).” But there have been exceptions. a doctor that is 25-year-old “seeking a health care provider for 
wedding,” and a Mumbai woman reported to “make cash with equal ease.” Placing apart my ideological, issues, and choices, used to do what many guys do for a dating app—we swiped directly on every profile.