With thanks from Karelia:

First of all I wish to express my sincere gratitude to the founders of website marrymecity.com - for their great idea to bring Muslim people together, for their inspiration and making it possible for 'singles' to find our second half in this wide world.

My special words of thanks to professionals of the site and, particularly, to the support team. These brothers and sisters very co-operatively, react to requests and needs of people, they give great advice and provide orientation to different issues. JazakAlalh Khair. May Allah grant them khair for their care and attention towards people, for their willingness to help even outside office hours.

As for my particular situation - I must admit that by being left alone, with five small children on my hands, I fell into depression. The situation seemed to become totally unbearable, not seeing any way out of my crisis. Even though I don't have any financial difficulties, I have great respect and status in society, and was'nt deprived of my kids. I understood that to survive, to live further without a husband is rather difficult. Grey days of loneliness without a man's love, care, support and warmth.

Then I asked Allah to help me, to guide me, to give me a 'clue' how to find 'a way out'. A new thought came to my mind, as a kind of inspiration what I should do! I must start to search by myself. And where else one can search for life partner if not on the internet...
With shaking hands I typed related keywords, simple phrase 'muslim marriage agency'. It was my very first time I was looking for a marriage agency, Especially for marriage agency in internet. To be honest, I didn't really believe that I could find a husband through this means, but there was a small sparkle of hope deep inside my heart.
The results of search engine came back with marrymecity.com being first. I again made du'a and asked Allah to assist me to fill my marriage profile correctly, to guide me in this not-so-easy task.
The next step was to add my photos - for me it was easier to send it to support's email - they optimised and added it to my profile on the very same day.

And what a miracle - I began to receive letters on the very next day. And within just in a week I received a letter that put a 'full stop' o my expectations. A handsome man from South Africa immediately attracted my attention with his kind eyes and gentle look. And what letters he writes - only a woman with a stone heart won't melt from such caring words. Intelligent, attentive, full of personal attention and serious intentions! Even through using a computer's translator one could feel the decency, tact and good manners of this person, and what is most important - sincerity of his intentions.

His country at first was absolutely unknown for me. Except Nelson Mandela and Ahmad Deedat, I never heard anything about South Africa, to be honest, I never paid any interest. But after reading the letters of my new friend from far away, I started my research about this country. And, on top of everything, additional letters from support team (some of them live in South Africa and gladly asnwered to all my questions with regardrs to this country). In other words, it was a last drop in my cup of doubts. And I made my final decision. And when Yazid made a proposal in one of his next emails, I said 'YES'.

Obviously we still have to go through many issues, related to documents, my relocation and other life's necessaties, and it needs some time and our patience. But the most important we have done already - we made our decision! And the rest - nothing, in comparison with our happiness and our inshAllah great future. We have found peace in hearts and now impatiently waiting for our first meeting, our nikah and our future marriage life inshaaAllah. Thanks to Allah for guiding me to this website and for inspiring its founders to create and to run such important Islamic portal - to unite souls who believe in Allah and who wish to live in compliance with Sunnah - to have family!.
I am wishing all to find their happiness. With many many thanks. Fatima, December, 2008
Fatima ---



Russia-South Africa: Story of Success: two hearts who met each other in MarryMeCity - NIKAH celebration in South Africa. First correspondace via MarryMeCity: December 2007, application for visa in 1 week, visa granted in 20 days, bride arrived in the end of January.

End of January - Proposal and Engagement,
10 February - Nikah - photo below:



MarryMeCity website was primarily set up for Russian Muslim ladies and South African men. Last week, on 10th of February 2008 the wedding (nikah) of a MarryMeCity couple - was performed in South Africa – a successful story of a Russian revert lady and South African man who met each other on our site, mashaAllah. The full story will be published soon, inshaAllah.

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February 2008 :::

~~~ Conversation of two hearts ~~~

To be frank, I myself could hardly believe that one could meet a soulmate on the internet. And especially to find through cyberspace such a good person who is a REAL Man and a sincere Practising Muslim. I thought to meet somebody who is of such a calibre, is next to Impossible.

However, I did not have any other choice but to give it a try. As the wife of our beloved Rasulullah (SAW) made a first step towards proposal, I decided to take my first steps towards finding my future husband, to create a happy family with strong Islamic values and to fulfil half of the Sunnah.

My first step was my registration on an Islamic matrimonial site, MARRYMECITY.COM . Second step - I wrote first - to two Muslim men on this site and they responded the very next day. So the ice broke. We began to correspond. They were both from the same country where I live.

In correspondence I looked first at their Imaan. From the contents of the first letter of the one man, I noticed that the his vision in life, ideas and understanding of Islam are very different from mine. As well as our characters and aims in life etc. etc. Thus, without hesitattion, to prevent wasting of time (his and mine) I politely refused to continue and asked forgiveness for Allah's sake. alhamdulillah, he understood and we parted as friends.

As for the second Muslim man... Allahu Akbar! From the very second letter he took my telehone number and contacted me. We both, from the very first minutes of our conversation felt our mutual understanding. It was so easy to talk to each other as if we knew each other for ages. And our ideas, views, goals and religious approach happened to be very similar. We began to exchange sms's, phone calls, after one month he flew to my city to meet my parents and me.

When I saw him... the very first glance ... all of in me shivers.... Yes, all in me was telling me " He is my second half".

SubhanAllah, he walked towards me with a very fast pace, while I... ran towards him. ....and when we met... we kept silent... But our hearts met and our souls.. And it was a communication ...on another level. Conversation of hearts... Conversation without words. Only hearts' beats.

Then, breaking the silence, he said, "Bismillah. MashaAllah. Sumaya, please, marry me. Be my beloved wife, be my faithful companion and my best friend... For Allah sake!"

And my answered flew from my lips - without any hesitations: "Yes, I agree to become your wife for Allah sake!"

Then we went to my house where my parents were waiting for us. They also liked him very much. And they gave us their blessings.

All agreements were made the very same day on a mutual basis. deciding not to wait unnecessarily.

Nikah and the wedding arrangements were made for the next month. We had already chosen a beautiful (rather I should say, a Stunning, a Dream of each and every girl!) wedding dress (closed - according to Shariah) from the catalogue on one of the Islamic Fashion Websites online.

Now I do believe - the Dream can come true. But one must make his/her first step!

Thank you so much to the MarryMeCity Team and their attentive support and all personal assistance I have been provided all the time during my membership.

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February 2008 :::

~~~ Sometimes our dreams come true but in totally different way… ~~~

You might find it rather strange but I came to MarryMeCity website on personal recommendation from one of my friends (lady-friend) whom I met also ion the internet two years ago (via also matrimonial site where I was corresponding to a man from Daghestan). Since he did not know much English and I was not able to write in Russian, he asked his friends to assist us in our emails. And they introduced me to a Russian lady named Marina and we became good pen- friends. That correspondence did not lead me to possible future relationships as it so happened that at time I had some domestic problems and I wasn’t able to go to Russia nor was he able to come to the Netherlands. So gradually we stopped our letters, but I continued with my new friend Marina who would patiently answer all my questions including about her country and the Russian people.

Being quite interested in Russian culture, character etc. etc. I really began to dream about finding a good Muslim from Russia (or former USSR). So when I heard about Russian Muslim Matrimonial I joined this site immediately. Why hesitate when such an opportunity came …. And especially since they provide support in English!

Upon registration I did my first search on this site and sent 4 messages to different men whose profiles I liked. Basically I judged by the photos because they did provide much information.

In a week since my registration I received replies from 2 of them. In addition I also received 3 responses by other members expressing an interest in me, including one from my country (Muslim man who is a revert to Islam).

Frankly speaking I didn’t even think about taking a Platinum Membership where I could receive personal translation and many other extra features of personal support. At first, I found it a little bit tricky to communicate with foreigners, but by using translation online nowadays most barriers becomes invisible. So I was corresponding with 3 men at the same time, including the one from the Netherlands. He admitted that he also came to this site in search for Russian bride but was very glad to find somebody from his motherland. Our intention of correspondence was solely to become friends (as my aim was to meet a Russian man and his – to meet a Russian girl). He lives a 2 hour drive from Amsterdam (in Appeldorn) so we met 2 weeks after our first chat. We went for coffee and I was really impressed by everything in him. It would be so nice if this friendship could lead to something more serious. He was reluctant to contact me often – seemingly too shy (what might sound weird for man) and I took initiative in my hands. I called him myself and sent SMS's everyday. Some SMS services with ready text for Islamic SMS and friendship SMS were of great help. He always responded immediately, always polite and very friendly. Then step by step I began to ask him some questions about his family, work and, finally, about his life in general. It transpired that he had a bad experience in the past and after embracing Islam he was never in contact with any women. This was the reason why he was not prepared (or too modest) to initiate first steps. Day by day our emails became frequent, chat online (and on the phone) longer, SMS more of personal nature.

It took another month for him to get some courage before he proposed. Today we are engaged and are planning to get married in 6 months (as our family are busy with preparation for our wedding). I would like to thank MarryMeCity site for a miracle – for helping me to find man of my dreams (his lovely personality are above all my expectations!) So even though we both were looking for somebody else, Allah gave us a chance to meet each other and to re-consider our expectations. InshaAllah, after the marriage we will send you our wedding photo. Shukriya. Oh yes, I forgot to mention, we both are reverts to Islam. So once again, thank you so much for helping us to accomplish Sunnah (for Nikyah) - to find each other.

Losianna (Lateefa) and Albert (Ali)

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March 2008

For many years I lived a quiet life without hope or even thought that I might meet someone suitable. And I became used to this kind of life – the same routine everyday – breakfast, work, occasional outing with friends, gym, library, home. Home, home, home. Alone, alone, alone… You see, after reverting to Islam, in Russia it is almost impossible to find a good decent single Muslim man. Especially if you are in your 40s and are looking for a intelligent, caring, understanding and SINGLE man. If you are not prepared for a short marriage, in other words to be used by someone under "legal" false pretenses until he absconds,your chances are very low indeed. Or to become somebody's second wife. What is very strange for me and beyond my understanding - I personally know one Russian woman – talented, young (looks for under 20s), beautiful, stunning shape and style and very intelligent. She is Christian and in spite of having 3 university degrees but willing to marry a decent Arab Muslim man even if has got a wife already.
So if even such women with such mild criteria are struggling to find suitable life partners. That is why I think we, who are above 40 have much choice. Most men of this age are already married or are looking for young charming brides – in their under 25s, blond, long-legged models and so-called babes. Again I would like to emphasise that for us, newcomers to Islam, it is more difficult to find respectable husbands. Nobody can really help us – unlike in Muslim families where people introduce each other and prefer to get married into the same culture, nationality or even family (distant relatives).

So literally I would say, I don't stand any chance. And as for foreigners… Also no good chances…. Especially without knowledge of English. Anyway, if NO then NO, and I can't do anything about it. This is the bitterness of life and I have no other choice but to accept and submit. That I will have to spend rest of my life alone. Anyway, better to be alone than with somebody not deserving. Less troubles, less stress. If there are no chances then why should I worry. Accept this thought once and for all and carry on with one's life! Thus I decided not to think about this at all!

Until one day, after couple of years since my coming to Islam, I happened to overhear a conversation of my colleagues about a Matrimonial website. One was complaining to another that it is not free and one has to pay to be able to leave messages. "Spoilt brats!" I thought to myself. "They were used to somebody bringing them everything, just like this, ready-made on a plate with golden edges!" When they stopped their discussion, I addressed one of them, asking for more details. I found out that this site was opened more than 1 year ago.. And when I asked about the webaddress they told me that it will be a real 'waste of time! Can you imagine it was free but not anymore! I would rather ask my brothers – they would find someone for me!" one woman couldn't stop expressing her disappointment. "And there are so many young girls in their late teens and early twenties, and after 1 year they are still there. So why do you want to upset yourself? What do you expect? A Miracle?" she even began to tease me.

Being stubborn, I insisted on giving me the web-address. With funny face and biting smile through teeth I was finally 'granted' the name of the site.

An inclination of adventure was rekindled in me that moment. "Well, maybe this is the chance! Let me give it a try!" I said to myself, typing the address in browser. I managed to register fairly fast and was given an instruction to wait until activation of my profile by the site's admin. Next day I received a notification email confirming that my profile had been approved and activated and that I could start my 'search'

After placing my ad the first week I didn’t receive a single letter or salam, nothing. Nobody even visited my profile. And to my disappointment even my own letter that I sent here and there stayed unread. And my colleagues were even more sceptical for good reason. Ah, whatever. The money I paid won’t even buy a proper dinner, besides it is sort of 'sadaqa' from me.

But at the end of week a surprise awaited me – a letter from sporty looking man from South Africa. On top of this – in my language, in Russian. He was saying that he had some help with translation, very impressed by my profile , that I came to Islam and wished to know more. And he left his email for me to write to, asking if I could write in English, it would be preferable but if not, Russian would be ok but then he would have to wait for it to be translated.

Todays’ technology is a real miracle. And on internationally famous mail.ru one can do automatic translation Russian-English-Russian. And few other European languages as well. So I used my ‘leftover’ knowledge of English and automatic translation together and sent him letter in English. He responded, although not immediately, rather dry and short, thanking me for my letter and telling me about his country. I replied on the same day, telling him about Moscow, Islam in Moscow and my lonely life. Then, for about 2 weeks there were no responses which made me think that he lost interest. During this time he uploaded a new photo of himself.

Surely he met someone else, I thought. And, when checking my emails I was really shocked. He apologised for such a long silence from his side and…. Asked me whether I wished to correspond with a Russian lady, also revert, who lives in his country and who is happily married there. And he provided her email.

I am very communicable person and always keen on making new friend. Especially in this situation – Russian, revert and she lives there. So I emailed her instantly. She replied and we began to exchange letters, then I even phoned her there – to make sure it is really South Africa! Discovering that she is also very often online, we agreed to communicate on mail agent. I still could not believe that I am chatting to a Russian person who lives in Africa. But she was real, and online everyday. And she was telling me more and more about the country where she decided to live. Funny enough, in Russia we have a very wrong idea about South Africa. Some people think that there is no internet or electricity. And my aunt even asked me where people bath in South Africa – in the ocean or whether they have to heat up water. She thought that if at best people were supplied with cold water (or bring it from well) than surely they don’t have hot water. She was shocked when I showed her photos of fashionable modern houses and huge shopping malls. And that for example many people have at home even SPA, swimming pool. Even more – bidet with function of lady’s wash, man wash, healing wash, temperature and power setting and even heated fan to dry. And the bidet sieat one can set up at the desired temperature you prefer. She couldn’t believe how ignorant we are about some countries. So I literally fell in love with the beauty of this country where, as it said in the article here, that you will find all in one “Western comfort, African exotics and Eastern magic touch”.

... to be continued. (this story is in process of translation from Russian).

Received stories under editing & will be published soon.