Is it permissible to attend a gathering for the purpose of getting acquainted for marriage, which includes 150 young men and 150 young women, accompanied by their guardians? And is it permissible to pay 60 pounds per person to the organizers?

Such a gathering—where an equal number of men and women are invited to a hall, and each woman sits at a table while men circulate among the tables to sit with each woman for five minutes—is not permissible under Islamic law. This is due to the prohibited free mixing (ikhtilat) it involves, men looking at women in a way that is unlawful for them, and the degradation and humiliation of women's dignity. The rulings issued by scholars regarding the impermissibility of acquaintance, correspondence, and conversation between the sexes apply to this situation with even greater emphasis.