UK: U.S. Dating App Users Welcome Study And New Documentary Highlighting Black Muslim Love Stories

Muzmatch, one of the world’s largest Muslim dating apps, released a film and conducted a survey on the discrimination issues faced by Black Muslims to mark October’s Black History month in the UK.

The survey found that 74% of their black members felt that they weren’t accurately represented on the app and that their race affected their matches. The respondents cited issues such as fetishization, discrimination and colorism.

In response to the results, Muzmatch partnered with Black Muslim Girl to create a documentary about Black Muslim love entitled “This is Love.”

Pictured: Shahzad YounasShahzad Younas, the founder and CEO of Muzmatch, said Black History Month was the perfect time to release this documentary.

“Black History Month is a perfect opportunity to partner with Black Muslim Girl and celebrate Black Muslim love, sharing the beautiful and moving love stories captured in our documentary we premiered at our launch event,” he said.

Tahirah Dean, a lawyer who used Muzmatch in the past, said Pictured: Tahirah Deanthe documentary is a “fantastic initiative” to start conversations about the discrimination against Black Muslims.

“The documentary doesn’t specifically focus on the stigma black Muslims face, but instead highlights why some Black or African Muslims choose to date/marry within the same racial-ethnic background,” she said. “It’s understandable that people don’t want to deal with any racism or ethnocentrism. I totally get it. The documentary was a beautiful portrayal and celebration of Black love in the Muslim community. We’ve seen nothing like that before.”

Thanna, another Muzmatch user, also loved the documentary. She “couldn’t stop smiling” while watching it.

“It is refreshing to see Black Muslims highlighted in Muslim-centered platform because they are so often overlooked,” she said. “This is evident when it comes to finding a spouse. The process is already difficult, but it is compounded for non-Arab/non-Desi folks because of the stigma that is revealed in this process. Listening to each couple share their beautiful stories felt hopeful that in this struggle you will inshallah find the one you are comfortable spending the rest of your life with.”

Betsy Liliana, a blogger, said she experienced fetishization as a Latino Muslim and even went as far as changing her ethnicity on the app.

“I kept being targeted by brothers for odd requests like temporary marriage, uneducated matches, polygyny and Visa marriages,” she said. “I feel that as a convert we are usually targeted for these unconventional marriages as many people presume we aren’t affiliated to our tribe or Muslim support systems. I often advocate on the experience of convert women to bring awareness to these issues within the community.”

As the administrator of multiple Facebook groups, Liliana recalls African American men being hard to find on the app due to ethnicity and nationality restrictions.

Younas said Muzmatch was originally created to empower different communities to find love regardless of race.

“This campaign is so important to us,” he said. “We have been helping single Muslims find love for 10 years now and we always strive to use our sizable platform to empower the different communities we serve.”

The documentary can be streamed here.