Answer
In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.
All praise and thanks are due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon His Messenger.
In this fatwa:
- It is permissible to seek marriage through social media and provide some information about the man and the lady.
- But to publish a picture of the lady, even with hijab, is highly undesirable.
- It is not enough for a man to decide to marry a lady through online chatting or some information published on the Internet.
In responding to your question about seeking marriage through social media, Sheikh Ahmad Kutty, a senior lecturer and an Islamic scholar at the Islamic Institute of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, states:
Seeking Marriage Through Social Media
There is nothing wrong, as far as Islam is concerned, in helping people get married through the Internet or any other means. However, I have some reservations regarding using the Internet for that purpose.
I know that there are some people who got to know each other through the Internet and this ended in marriage.
I myself know some people in our community who got successful marriage through the Internet. However, I have reservation against the way it is carried out.
I would say it is permissible to make marriage announcements on the Internet and provide some information about the man and the lady. But to publish a picture of the lady, even with hijab, is highly undesirable.
Though it is permissible for the suitor to look at the woman he is proposing to seek her hand in marriage, publishing her picture on the Internet would expose her to everybody and make it available for people of loose character to use the picture for satisfying their desires.
Some people might even use the picture for evil purposes and that would harm the lady in the end. So, caution has to be exercised. We can help people get to know each other, and then they should ask about each other in different ways.
To illustrate, it is not enough for a man to decide to marry a lady through online chatting or some information published on the Internet. That would pose a kind of risk.
Marriage is a solemn contract that has to be decided wisely. In choosing one’s partner one has to follow the rules and teachings of Islam in order to have a successful marriage and a prosperous life.
Almighty Allah knows best.
Editor’s note: This fatwa is from Ask the Scholar’s archive and was originally published at an earlier date.