Like many who arrive here for the first time, I was exhausted by the grind of London life. Wanting to escape the grey skies and endless rain that seemed to characterise this summer, I sought spiritual renewal overseas. What better place than the concrete jungle that dreams are made of? The reason for my trip was to visit friends and do some book promotion.
Still, conversations on dating and sex have been abundant during my time here β not least among my American Muslim friends, some of whom, like me, are on the verge of giving up altogether. I was intrigued by that.
In my mind, it always seemed like a place people headed to with dreams, ambitions and a desire to carve out their own lives, perhaps putting some distance between themselves and their families.
One of my friends, Fatima, a film student in her mid-twenties, told me that she had been using apps for years. Rather than looking for casual relationships, she was now using them to search exclusively for Muslim partners. She hoped to find a man who shared her faith and could be a prospect for a serious relationship, but the ones she matched with were interested only in talking about sex.
Whenever she tried to change the subject, they would say she was boring. Another friend, Harj, told me that she had recently reconnected with an ex, which seemed promising at first. I know, girls, sounds like commitment, right? Sadly not. In New York, a city filled with people on demanding schedules and with big ambitions, casual dating appears to be going out of fashion.
