From three dates to 300 questions, Hulu's Muslim Matchmaker proves halal love is within reach for Muslim Americans

“People don’t know how to date. That’s why they come to us.”

“I don’t like a hairy man...”

“Well, that’s all Muslim men out then!”

These are the opening lines from the trailer of a first-of-its-kind unscripted series on ABC and Hulu, which delves into the world of finding ‘halal love’ among Muslim Americans.

With the help of matchmakers Hoda Abrahim and Yasmin Elhady, Muslim American singles from across the community’s diverse cultures seek to find marital partners in line with their Islamic faith.

The eight-episode series was created by Smriti Mundhra, who is responsible for the highly acclaimed Indian Matchmaking that premiered on Netflix in 2020.

In each 30-minute episode, the series follows young Muslim singles from various backgrounds, ages and heritages across the country, with Hoda and Yasmin guiding them on their quest to find love.

At a time when modern dating apps and hook-up culture are norms for Millenials and Gen-Zs, one could argue that the pair hit their clients with something quite different — their cardinal “Rules of Three”: three dates, three months, and — a far cry from the nominal ‘100 questions to ask your future spouse list’ — three hundred questions.

From cringey first dates to moments of connection, Hoda and Yasmin help Muslims navigate the complexities of ‘finding the one’ in today’s modern setting, in a way that is both enlightening to both Muslim and non-Muslim audiences.

Bringing a wealth of storytelling experience to Muslim Matchmaker, executive producer Poh Si Teng has long been at the forefront of a litany of powerful and thought-provoking narratives.

Whether that was during her time as a video journalist at the New York Times, to line producing for Al-Jazeera’s Witness documentary series, the critically acclaimed Oscar-nominated St. Louis Superman documentary film (2019), which tells the story of activist, battle rapper and former politician Bruce Franks Jr.

The New Arab speaks with her to find out what it took to help produce this exciting series, starting with: "How much fun was this to make?"

Poh Si laughs, “Where do I start? It was seeing ordinary people doing extraordinary things. From casting, production, to the edit. I laughed a lot in the past year and a half, and it’s certainly required in light of all the things happening in the world.”

She was an executive at ABC when Smriti, whom she had worked with before on the Superman documentary, pushed her to watch the concept reel for Muslim Matchmakers.

"I couldn’t stop watching. That’s when you know ‘This has to be made,’” she explains to The New Arab.

“Every decision-making, creator and executive tends to borrow from their lived experiences to see what has commercial value," she continues.

"Growing up in a Muslim majority country (Malaysia) and then working at Al Jazeera English for four years, a lot of this isn’t new to me. We have Indian Matchmaking and the Jewish Matchmaking that were already successful. It was a no-brainer. There’s a lot of correction that still needs to be made on narratives and Muslims, especially in the West. What better than to do this with a romcom?” Poh Si says.

In Islam, romantic relationships between the sexes are only permitted within marriage. And while family, friends and acquaintances at the local mosque have been traditional pathways to finding one’s ‘significant’ other, the rise of matrimonial muslim apps has changed the game. Which is why this series is intriguing.

According to research from YouGov in 2021, entitled A global look at who has found love through an app, adults in Indonesia, the United Arab Emirates and India were most likely to have found a partner through apps, while Western countries like the US and the UK trailed with lower rates.

Fewer users in these regions find longer-term relationships, even though apps remain popular in these regions. 

One of the highlights of the series is the diversity of Muslims across race, culture, national background and age brackets — something that hasn’t quite been done before or been given fair weighting.

For Poh Si, the concept of commercial value was an important factor in bringing this project to life. She acknowledges that it has taken time for a show of this nature to emerge, particularly for a community often misrepresented.

When asked what kind of challenges her team experienced in creating an unscripted entertainment programme that balanced ‘commerciability’ and authenticity, especially when telling a story about a community that’s been long demonised in the media, she replied: "It all comes down to the team. Some projects come my way — great ideas — but I wouldn't take them on unless I know the team is right to tell the story.

"We had an amazing team, including one executive producer who is Muslim-American. Even during production, we were deliberate about hiring Muslim creatives," Poh Si adds.

"It’s risky to take on projects like this without a production team that understands the nuances of the community.

"It’s been a long time coming for the Muslim community. I hope that this show helps open minds and perspectives.”

Muslim Matchmaker is now streaming on Hulu and ABC

[Cover photo: Yasmin Elhady (L) and Hoda Abrahim (R) (Disney+)]

Adama Juldeh Munu is an award-winning journalist who's worked with TRT World, Al-Jazeera, the Huffington Post, Middle East Eye and Black Ballad. She writes about race, Black heritage and issues connecting Islam and the African diaspora

Follow her on X: @adamajmunu