Terms and Conditions

1. Introduction and acceptance

These Terms and Conditions (“Terms”) govern access to and use of MawaddaWaRahma, including our website and web application (together, the “Service”). The Service is operated by Mawadda Wa Rahma

By creating an account or otherwise using the Service, you agree to these Terms and to our Privacy Policy. If you do not agree, do not use the Service.

MawaddaWaRahma is a matrimonial platform for Muslims — in particular, those seeking marriage in accordance with the Qur'an and authentic Sunnah — who are genuinely seeking marriage. It is not intended for casual interaction, dating, or any purpose unrelated to seeking marriage.

2. Eligibility

To use the Service, you must:

1. be at least 18 years old. This is enforced at the point of profile creation — an account cannot be completed with a date of birth indicating an age under 18;
2. be legally capable of entering into a binding agreement;
3. be Muslim and genuinely seeking marriage. Beyond the verification described below, we do not independently verify religion, sect, or level of religious observance. You are responsible for making your own enquiries about another user before relying on anything stated in their profile;
4. provide accurate, current, and non-misleading information; and
5. not have been previously suspended or banned from the Service, unless we agree otherwise.

2.1. Profile verification. A profile may display a “Verified” indicator once you have uploaded a copy of a government-issued identity document (such as a passport, national ID card, or driving licence) and we have reviewed it. Verification is a limited, point-in-time check comparing the name and details on the document you submitted against your profile information — it is not a criminal-record check or background check. It does not confirm your character, intentions, marital status, religious sincerity, or safety, and does not guarantee that a verified user is honest or suitable. You are responsible for your own judgment when relying on any profile, verified or not.

2.2. We do not perform criminal-record or background checks. No independent confirmation of marital status, religious practice, or any profile field beyond the identity check described in Section 2.1 is carried out.

3. Account registration and security

3.1. Accounts are created using an email address and password, and email addresses are verified by a confirmation code before an account can be used.

3.2. You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your login credentials and for all activity under your account. Notify us promptly at contact@mawaddawarahma.app if you suspect unauthorised access.

3.3. You may hold only one account. You must not create an account on behalf of another person, impersonate someone else, or misrepresent your age, gender, or identity to circumvent any restriction in these Terms.

3.4. We do not currently verify phone numbers associated with your own account. A phone number is only ever collected as part of wali (guardian) information — see Section 5.

4. Your profile

4.1. Information collected. Building a profile may involve providing information including, but not limited to: your name, date of birth, gender, country and city of residence, nationality and ethnicity; marital status, children, and family circumstances; physical description (such as height, weight, and body type); lifestyle information (occupation, education, languages, willingness to relocate); and religious information (such as sect/madhab, prayer consistency, Islamic background, hijab or niqab practice, beard style, and a religious bio).

4.2. No photographs. MawaddaWaRahma does not collect, store, or display photographs on any profile. This is a deliberate design choice, not a missing feature.

4.3. Accuracy. You must ensure the information on your profile is true, accurate, and not misleading — including your religious, marital, and family information. Misrepresenting a material fact is a breach of these Terms and, given the purpose of the Service, may cause serious harm to another user.

4.4. Profile completion. Certain fields must be completed before your profile becomes visible to others and before you can browse other profiles. Depending on your gender, this may include fields specific to female profiles (such as hijab/niqab practice and a saved wali record) or to male profiles (such as beard style).

4.5. Visibility and search. Your profile may be shown to, and searched or filtered by, other eligible users of the opposite gender based on the information in Section 4.1. Section 8 explains how you can reduce your visibility, and our Privacy Policy explains this in more detail.

5. Wali (guardian) information

5.1. Female profiles are required to provide a wali record, consisting of the wali's name, phone number, and relationship to the user. This is not requested from male profiles.

5.2. By providing wali information, you confirm that you have the wali's permission, or another lawful basis, to share their name and phone number with us, and that the information is accurate to the best of your knowledge.

5.3.We do not verify the wali's identity, their relationship to you, their authority to act as a wali, or their willingness to be contacted. You and any matched user remain responsible for your own appropriate enquiries.

5.4. Disclosure. Wali information is never shown to other users while browsing or before a match. It is disclosed only:

1. to the profile owner themselves; and
2. to a matched user, once an interest between the two of you has been mutually accepted (see Section 6).

5.5. Once disclosed, the recipient may contact the wali directly (including by phone or WhatsApp). Any such communication takes place entirely outside the Service and is not something we control, monitor, or are responsible for — see Sections 7 and 16.

5.6. If you delete your account, your wali record is deleted.

6. How matching works

6.1. Interests. You may send an interest to a profile of the opposite gender. Sending an interest uses one credit (Section 9). The recipient may accept or reject a pending interest; you may cancel an interest you sent while it remains pending; and either party may end an accepted match at any time. Accepting an interest does not, by itself, create any way to communicate through the Service — see Section 7.

6.2. Favorites. You may privately save a profile to your own list. This is not visible to the other user, has no cost, and does not require any action from them.

6.3. Profile views. When you view another user's profile, this may be recorded and shown to that user (for example, under a “Visitors” list). This helps users see who has shown interest in their profile.

6.4. Sending interests, browsing, and searching are restricted to profiles of the opposite gender.

7. No in-platform messaging

MawaddaWaRahma does not provide a messaging or chat feature. Once a match is accepted and, where applicable, wali information is disclosed, any further communication (for example, between a matched user and a wali, by phone or WhatsApp) happens entirely outside the Service.

We are not a party to, and are not responsible for, any communication, arrangement, or relationship that develops outside the Service. This includes the accuracy of anything said, the conduct of any participant, and any outcome — including whether a marriage results.

8. Profile visibility and pausing

8.1. You may pause your profile at any time from your account settings. While paused, other users see only a limited version of your profile (such as your name, age, gender, city, and occupation) — your bio, religious information, and wali details are not shown.

8.2. A user with whom you have an accepted match, or who you have already sent a still-pending interest to, may continue to see your full profile even while it is paused.

8.3. Pausing your profile is not the same as deleting your account — see Section 12.

9. Credits

9.1. Sending an interest to another user uses one credit.

9.2. New accounts receive a number of complimentary credits, and a limited number may replenish periodically, in each case in an amount we set and may change from time to time. Current amounts are shown in the Service.

9.3. Credits are tied to your account, are not transferable, have no cash value, and are forfeited if your account is deleted.

10. Acceptable use and reporting

10.1. You must not:

1. provide false, misleading, or incomplete information, or impersonate another person;
2. harass, threaten, abuse, or intimidate another user;
3. use the Service if you are not genuinely seeking marriage, or for a commercial, dating-only, or other purpose inconsistent with Section 1;
4. attempt to circumvent the matching process (for example, by placing contact details in your profile before a match is accepted);
5. misuse another user's information, including any wali information disclosed to you, for any purpose beyond considering that specific match;
6. pressure another user, or a wali, to communicate, meet, or send money;
7. use bots, scrapers, or other automated means to access the Service; or
8. otherwise use the Service unlawfully or in a way that could harm another user or the integrity of the Service.

10.2. Reporting. You may report a profile or user, with a reason and description, if you believe they have breached these Terms or engaged in unsafe conduct. Reports are reviewed by our team through our internal admin tools. We may request further information from you, contact the reported user, and take action at our discretion — including restricting, suspending, or removing an account, or removing content — proportionate to the report. We review reports as promptly as reasonably possible but do not commit to a fixed timeframe, and we may not be able to share the outcome or details of any action taken against another user.

11. Suspension and termination

11.1. We may restrict, suspend, or terminate your account, at our discretion, where we reasonably believe these Terms have been breached, your safety or another user's safety may be at risk, your information is false or misleading, verification information was falsified, or for another legitimate reason. This decision may follow a report (Section 10.2) or our own review through our admin tools. Where appropriate, we will notify you of the action taken and a general reason, though we may withhold detail where disclosure could compromise safety, identify a reporter, or prejudice an investigation.

11.2. You may stop using the Service, or delete your account, at any time — see Section 12.

11.3. On suspension or termination by us, your profile will no longer be visible to other users, and pending or accepted interests involving your profile will be ended.

11.4. Discontinuation of the Service. We may discontinue the Service in its entirety, at our discretion — for example, if it is no longer viable for us to continue operating it. If we do, unused credits apply only for as long as the Service continues to operate, and, to the extent permitted by law, we are not obligated to refund them as a result of a full discontinuation. Where reasonably possible, we will try to give advance notice before shutting down the Service so you can make use of any remaining benefits, but this is not a guarantee.

12. Account deletion and data handling

12.1. You may delete your account at any time from your account settings, and will be asked for a reason for leaving.

12.2. On deletion:

1. your account can no longer be logged into;
2. your profile becomes invisible to other users, and personal profile content (such as your bio and religious bio) is cleared;
3. your wali record is deleted;
4. any pending or accepted interests involving your profile are ended, and the other party is notified; and
5. your email address is retained in an altered form (not your original, usable email address) for support and audit purposes, and we may retain your stated reason for leaving, in a form not linked back to your identity, to help us improve the Service. Records of favorites, profile views, and reports involving your account may also be retained for safety and moderation purposes.

12.3. Retained account data described in Section 12.2(e) is permanently removed no later than 12 months after your account is deleted, except where we need to keep it longer for safety, fraud-prevention, or legal reasons — see Section 10.3 of our Privacy Policy for records connected to a report.

12.4. For more detail on what we collect and how long we keep it, see our Privacy Policy.

13. Privacy

Our Privacy Policy explains what personal information we collect (including sensitive information such as your religious practice and, for female profiles, your wali's information), how we use it, who can see it, and your rights. It forms part of these Terms.

14. Intellectual property

14.1. The Service, including its design, branding, and software (but not user-submitted profile content), is owned by us or our licensors.

14.2. You retain ownership of the content you submit to your profile. By submitting it, you grant us a licence to host, store, and display it to other eligible users for the purpose of operating the Service.

14.3. You must not copy, redistribute, or use another user's profile information for any purpose beyond considering a potential match.

15. Third-party services

15.1. Account authentication is provided by Amazon Web Services (Cognito). Their handling of your login credentials is subject to their own security practices.

15.2. Verification documents you upload (Section 2.1) are stored on Amazon Web Services (S3), in a private location not accessible to other users, and handled as described in our Privacy Policy.

15.3. If you contact a disclosed wali by phone or WhatsApp, that communication is subject to WhatsApp's or your telecom provider's own terms and is not something we control — see Section 7.

16. Disclaimers and limitation of liability

16.1. The Service is provided on an “as is” basis. We do not guarantee that you will receive any particular number of matches, that another user's information is accurate, that a wali is genuine or willing to act, or that using the Service will result in an introduction, engagement, or marriage.

16.2. We are not a wali, guardian, chaperone, counsellor, or religious authority. Our identity verification (Section 2.1) is limited in scope and does not confirm anyone's character, intentions, or religious observance, and we do not verify a wali's identity or authority (Section 5.3). You are responsible for your own due diligence before relying on anything in another user's profile or agreeing to any introduction.

16.3. To the extent permitted by law, we are not liable for any loss arising from your use of the Service, another user's conduct, or anything that happens outside the Service (including communications after a match is accepted, as described in Section 7).

16.4. Nothing in this section excludes liability that cannot lawfully be excluded.

17. Changes to these Terms

We may update these Terms from time to time, including when we introduce new features such as paid credits (Section 9) or a more detailed moderation process (Sections 10–12). We will post the updated Terms with a revised effective date. Continued use of the Service after an update means you accept the revised Terms.

18. Governing law and contact

18.1. Questions about these Terms can be sent to contact@mawaddawarahma.app.