Halal Speed Dating is a real thing

Speed dating isn’t exactly a new idea in KL. The people of ‘Hati-Hati’ for instance, have been doing it since 2013 and there's obviously also Tinder – basically speed dating in an app. What’s new (and possibly shariah-compliant) is Halal Speed Dating.

Wah, so all the participants are halal-certified by JAKIM?
Err, no that’s not actually possible but what makes this different from the usual speed dating is that the organisers have created a matchmaking platform that follows the Islamic principle of taaruf, a sort of courtship process between a man and woman that is similar to dating but not quite; interactions are supervised by a family member and marriage is the #relationshipgoal. Halal Speed Dating is not a project by any government bodies because obviously they have better things to do than provide a matchmaking service.

Okay lah how do I start?
You’ll have to register a profile and the Halal Speed Dating team will review it and if everything checks out, they’ll send you an invitation to the speed dating event. During the event, female participants must bring a family member along to chaperone (plot twist: The chaperone falls in love. Bam). Participants are not allowed to exchange contact information with one another – this and more etiquette guidelines are available in the FAQs section of the website.

What sort of people are we looking at here?
You can go through the candidate profiles and see that the age range is quite diverse (and so far, we haven't read any profiles looking for wife number four). Qualities championed here are: khalifah-like, professionals and non-smokers. So for the rest of us who don’t fit in with the criteria, let’s go back to Tinder or OK Cupid or hope Hati-Hati will organise something cool real soon.

The next Halal Speed Dating event has been set for October 3. For more info, visit halalspeeddating.com.