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What is the ruling on a woman describing herself (her hair, her body, her fairness) online to men with the intention of marriage, and what is the meaning of the Hadith: "A woman should not describe another woman to her husband"?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

"The proliferation of online marriage websites indicates the suffering of Muslim women due to the difficulty of marriage, which has led to widespread spinsterhood and despair. The rulings on these websites vary: some are serious and facilitate matchmaking between parties without publishing their data. There is no objection to this, and it falls under cooperation in righteousness and piety, keeping in mind that this is considered a proposal, not a marriage, unless the conditions for a valid marriage are met. Others are frivolous and publish the data of both parties; these are fraught with dangers and must be avoided. As for the hadith, 'A woman should not intimately describe another woman to her husband as if he is looking at her,' its prohibition is out of fear that the husband might be impressed by the description and what might result from it. However, it is permissible for a suitor to have a woman described to him or to see her in a non-secluded setting."

Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026

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