Betty Rollin reports.
BETTY ROLLIN: Hala Durrah and Adeeb Jaber, who live in Bowie, Maryland, have been married -- very happily, they say -- for three years. Their daughter, Ayah, is two. Both Hala and Adeeb are traditional Muslims -- no casual dating allowed. But they met in a very untraditional way.
HALA DURRAH: I had gone through the traditional channels that a lot of Muslim-American and Arab-American women did, which were being introduced by people through your parents, through family friends. And I didn't really find anyone, and I was getting a bit frustrated. So a few friends kind of suggested to me, "Why don't you go on the Internet?" So I decided to try it, and I went on a Web site called Zawaj.com. I set up a profile describing who I was, briefly what I looked like, what my goals in life were, what I was looking for. At the same time you could browse the Web site to look at other profiles of eligible mates or partners and see what you liked and kind of respond to their ad.
ROLLIN: Adeeb, who is a doctor, also submitted a profile to Zawaj.com.
Dr. ADEEB JABER: I said that I'm a well-educated professional, actively practicing Muslim, seeking a Muslim who is also trying to do that which pleases God.
Ms. DURRAH: I had loved everything he said except for the age. At the time when I saw his profile, there would have been a 10-year age difference. And I kind of put the cutoff at 9 years.
ROLLIN: But after several weeks, Hala had second thoughts.
Ms. DURRAH: I saw his profile, and something in my head just kept telling me, "Respond! Just send him an e-mail. You have nothing to lose. Just do it!" And I did.
ROLLIN: And so they began to get to know each other via e-mail.
Dr.
JABER: With the Internet, you can just log on, see where we last left off, you know, and then touch base again. And what it essentially did was it allowed for a beautiful continuum to go on. You actually grew with each other.
ROLLIN: As is the tradition, the family was soon involved, and a meeting with the young couple and Hala's parents was arranged.
Ms. DURRAH: My parents asked him questions, because in the Arab culture, and even in the Muslim religion, it's really a family kind of marrying a family.
ROLLIN: What did you think when you looked at him?
Ms. DURRAH: Well, I actually had a picture of him prior to his coming. He didn't know what I looked like, and he never asked.
ROLLIN(To Dr. Jaber): So what did you think?
Dr. JABER: When I first saw her in her veil, I first thought she looked like an angel, she looked so beautiful.
ROLLIN: Esther and Shlomo Druckman of New York City have been married just six months. Like Muslims, some Orthodox Jews also have strict dating restrictions.
SHLOMO DRUCKMAN: You can't be in the room alone with a woman; there's no physical contact until you are married, like you couldn't hold hands, you can't give her a hug.
ROLLIN: The Druckmans, too, turned to the Internet, to a site for observant Jews called Saw You at Sinai.com, which involves a matchmaker as well.
Mr. DRUCKMAN: I can't go and look at a woman's profile if she's not been suggested to me. I get to make a profile, and I get to see which matchmaker sees the profile. And then the matchmaker from there decides who else's profile I can see.
Mrs
DRUCKMAN: I'll tell you: passion. He kept talking about how he was passionate about studying and how he was passionate about music and he was passionate about everything he did in his life. And that was exactly what I wanted.
Dr.
NEIL CLARK WARREN(Founder, eHarmony.com): Amongst Christians, the divorce rate is just as high as amongst atheists and agnostics, and that has been terrible for us to deal with.
ROLLIN: Singles bars are still thriving, especially in big cities, like this one in New York, but many religious people wouldn't dream of going to a singles bar. While the young people here may be looking to hook up, as they say, for the short term, religious people are looking to hook up for life.
Mr.
DRUCKMAN: You are destined to marry someone; you are destined to meet the right person. There's a question as to whether or not it was real. So I was very skeptical -- but not skeptical anymore.
