Muslim matchmakers introduce new agency in the UK

Friends Sadia Waseem and Yasmin Tahir match-make British Muslims Two British Muslim women have set-up their own matchmaking company to help Muslims in the UK find love.Sadia Waseem, 41, and Yasmin Tahir, 42, from Manchester formed Muslim Matrimonial Events UK, with more than 60 lovelorn singletons already signed up.The business partners claim that many British Muslim women in their later 20s and 30s struggle to find a suitable partner – as Muslim men opt to travel to Pakistan to find a wife instead.
Yasmin, who is also a trainee social worker and mother-of-two, speaking to Manchester Evening News, said: “Over the years we have always both been asked by friends to help find ­people for their grown-up children to marry.
“But we kept hearing from women in their late 20s to 40s that they couldn’t find any men the same age as them.”
“When I looked into it I found research showing the average age a Muslim man in Britain gets married is 22, but for a Muslim women it’s 29 and 12,000 Muslim men from the UK are going abroad to marry each year.”
“These women are professionals like pharmacists, teachers, dentists, and want a British Muslim man of the same level of profession as the,” she added.
Yasmin told Manchester Evening news that these women are not prepared to settle and would rather stay single than marry someone who isn’t a British Muslim.
Sadia, a teacher and mother-of-four, said: “I think the trend for arranged marriages is definitely fading.
“It’s not speed dating, or ­internet dating, but networking for British Muslims to find a future spouse in an informal environment.
The pair’s first event saw positive feedback, with 45 people turning up. Sadia and Yasmin intend to collaborate with mosques around Greater Manchester to help match-make those from surrounding areas.