I remember when the Love is Blind franchise first dropped a few years ago, I initially joked to myself, “This is just a gentrified version of a Muslim arranged marriage.” Growing up as a Pakistani Muslim, the idea of getting married to someone you had never seen before wasn’t exactly unheard of. That’s not to say that I had seen anyone in my family actually get married like that, but I knew that this practice had happened a few generations back, and that some people back home still partook in these sorts of arrangements. But now that we’re seven seasons into the U.S. version of the show, one season into a U.K. version, and fresh off the release of Love is Blind Habibi — a show focused on Arab singles in the U.A.E. — I feel now more than ever that if anyone should be on a show like Love Is Blind it should be Muslim singles.
To understand why Love is Blind Habibi is so perfect, you need to get a clearer idea of what dating as a Muslim person is typically like. I truly believe Muslims are the demographic behind all of those “dating to marry” tweets you see on your timeline. Dating apps catered to helping Muslims find each other (like Muzmatch or Salams) are basically just “marriage apps.” No, seriously. One of the first prompts you see when joining a Muslim dating app is “what’s your marriage timeline?” and one of the options is “three months.” If you’re sitting there thinking, “wow, intense,” you now know why I have zero Muslim dating apps downloaded on my phone.
In Islam, getting married is considered completing half of your “deen” or religion. This, coupled with the idea that pre-marital sex is a grave sin, creates a really specific kind of dating pool. Young Muslim people often go into relationships ready to have the marriage talk off the rip. And while this can be a little intimidating to someone who may not be as practicing (hi, it’s me), it’s still pretty helpful when it comes to figuring out what you want in a life partner — which is why LIB Habibi is one of the smartest things Netflix could have done.
need em to cancel all the other love is blind franchises and gimme another 14 seasons of this one, real telly #loveisblindhabibi pic.twitter.com/d8mdyOCcFH
— ayan (@ayanyx) October 14, 2024
Now, am I saying that all of the singles on LIB Habibi are good people who are emotionally ready to get married? Absolutely fucking not. Have you seen Simo?? Mido? Unfortunately, the men suck no matter what continent you’re on. But if you’ve been keeping up with the conversations, you’ll notice they feel vastly different from the ones you’re used to seeing on the U.S. version of the show. For example, in the American version of LIB I’ve seen people believe they’re soulmates because they like the same baby name. In LIB Habibi they have a lot of honest conversations about what they’re looking for, the type of marriage they want, the lifestyle they’re used to living, and other things you really should know before marrying someone. And it’s all because we’ve been conditioned to approach dating and marriage the same exact way: very, very seriously.
Of course, that doesn’t equate to everyone being marriage material, but as worrisome as some of the contestants’ opinions may be (Ammar said a woman’s personal life should come second to her marriage), they’re very open and honest about these opinions. They don’t pretend to be someone else to try and appease the person behind the wall — and they don’t plan on changing either.
I need to stress that this doesn’t mean most or even any of these relationships will work out. Every single person on this show is insane. I mean, I think LIB is a pretty nutty concept in general: I’m a firm believer that I want to spend a lot of time with someone before I decide to marry them. But if anyone can do this show justice, it’s Muslim people. We were doing “Love is Blind” before it was even a thing. So even when drama breaks out, tensions rise, or you just see the worst possible person to ever exist, it’s just better television all around than the U.S. version. Also, I had to say this… the men are so much hotter on the U.A.E. show, so thank you Netflix.
