Muslim Marriage Biodata Format, With Examples to Copy

A Muslim marriage biodata has the same sections as any other: personal details, education and career, family, a short piece about you, what you're looking for, and how to reach you. What changes is the religious section. Gotra, rashi, nakshatra and manglik status don't apply, and in their place many families expect a line for sect, sometimes one for maslak, and a plain description of how you practise.

There are two complete formats below, one for a girl and one for a boy, that you can copy and edit. The copied text pastes straight into Word or Google Docs if you want to print it or save it as a PDF.

The rest of this guide covers the rows that take some thought. For the general structure and why each section is there, the marriage biodata format guide goes through it in full.

Already downloaded a generic format? Fix it first

Many of the free formats online are built for a Hindu biodata. If you've downloaded one, three changes turn it into a Muslim biodata:

• Delete gotra, rashi, nakshatra, manglik status, and any "horoscope" or "kundli" row. Birth time and birth place usually go too, because they're only there for the horoscope. Keep your date of birth if you like, or give your age alone.
• Rename or remove the "Caste" row. If you want a community line at all, see the section on it below.
• Add your sect, maslak if your family uses it, a line on how you practise, and any Islamic education you have.

What doesn't work is keeping the horoscope rows and writing "N/A" in each of them. It tells the reader the format wasn't made for you, and it fills the page with rows that don't apply.

The religious details, row by row

Sect

Sunni or Shia. One word is usually enough, because it tells a reader what they need to know at this stage, and a family that wants more detail will ask.

Some families add their school of law, as in "Sunni (Hanafi)" or "Sunni (Shafi'i)", and some Shia families add the community they belong to. If your family writes it that way, do the same. If it doesn't, the single word is complete.

Maslak

Maslak means a school of thought. On a Sunni biodata in India, the ones you'll see most often are Deobandi, Barelvi and Ahl-e-Hadith.

This is a line some families care about a great deal and many others never mention. If yours uses it, one word is enough: "Maslak: Deobandi". If yours doesn't, leave it off. A maslak on the page can read as a condition to a family that doesn't think in those terms, and you'd be setting a filter you didn't intend.

How you practise

"Religious", "moderate" and "modern" mean something different to every reader. A family that calls itself moderate and a family reading "moderate" can have completely different pictures in mind. Say what you actually do instead:

Practice: Prays five times a day. Wears hijab.

Practice: Prays regularly and fasts in Ramzan. Doesn't wear hijab.

Practice: Prays on Fridays and on Eid. Not very religious, and comfortable
with a partner who is more so.

Practice: Hafiz-e-Quran. Prays five times a day and keeps a beard.

Write only what's true and what matters to you. If religious practice isn't something you want on a document that gets forwarded, leave the line out and let it come up when you talk. Some people do, and that's a reasonable choice.

Islamic education

If you've studied at a madrasa, put it in the education section next to your degree, not in a box of its own. Say where and when, the way you would for any qualification.

• Hafiz (or Hafiza, for a woman) means you've memorised the Quran.
• Alim (for a man) or Alimah (for a woman) means you've completed the Alimiyat course at a madrasa. Courses run for different lengths at different institutions, so the name of the madrasa does more work than the number of years.

Education: B.Com, Osmania University (2019)
Islamic Education: Alimah, Jamiatul Mominath, Hyderabad (2022)

Education: B.Tech Civil Engineering (2018)
Islamic Education: Hafiz-e-Quran (2010)

Generic formats have no row for it, so it's easy to leave off. For some families it's one of the first things they look for.

Community or biradari

Some biodatas carry a community or biradari line, often a family name that doubles as a community name. Some families look for it. Many others consider it irrelevant, and some object to being asked.

If it's a real condition for your family, include it, because an unstated condition comes up later and at a worse moment. One line is enough, "Community: Ansari", with no commentary around it. If it isn't a condition, leave the row out. Plenty of biodatas don't have one.

The top line: Bismillah or 786

Many Muslim biodatas begin with Bismillah, written in Arabic script or as "Bismillahir Rahmanir Raheem". Some use 786 instead, a number that stands for the same phrase. Some families prefer the phrase to the number, and plenty of biodatas have neither. Use what your family uses.

Muslim marriage biodata format for a girl

BISMILLAHIR RAHMANIR RAHEEM

PERSONAL DETAILS
Name: Sana Mirza
Date of Birth: 12 February 1999
Age: 27
Height: 5 ft 3 in
Marital Status: Never married
Mother Tongue: Urdu
Current Location: Pune, Maharashtra (family in Bhopal)

EDUCATION & CAREER
Education: B.Des Communication Design, Pune (2021)
Occupation: UX designer
Organisation: A fintech company in Pune
Annual Income: ₹14 lakh per annum

RELIGIOUS DETAILS
Religion: Muslim
Sect: Sunni
Practice: Prays five times a day and wears hijab. Fasts in Ramzan.

FAMILY DETAILS
Father: Imran Mirza, runs a pharmacy in Bhopal
Mother: Nazia Mirza, maths teacher at a government school
Siblings: One younger brother, final year B.Tech
Family Background: The family has lived in Bhopal for three generations.

ABOUT ME
I design banking apps for a living, which mostly means making forms less
painful to fill in. I moved to Pune for college and stayed for work.
Weekends are for long walks, cooking with whatever's in the fridge, and
calls home. I'm close to my family and I'd like to live somewhere I can
visit them easily.

PARTNER PREFERENCES
Age: 27 to 32
Education: Graduate or above
Profession: Working professional
Practice: Prays regularly
Location: Pune or Bhopal preferred

CONTACT
Phone: 98XXXXXX27 (father, Imran Mirza)
Email: mirza.family@example.com

A few lines here are doing more than they look. "Family in Bhopal" in the location row tells a reader where the family actually is, which matters as much as where Sana works. The practice line is two plain facts rather than a label. And the phone number says whose it is, which saves the first caller an awkward moment.

The partner preferences include one line about practice. That's Sana's call, not a rule. The partner expectations guide covers how to tell a real condition from a preference, and how to word each.

Muslim marriage biodata format for a boy, written by a parent

Parents often write the son's biodata, and it reads better in the third person when they do. This one is from a family in Kerala, which is a reminder that Urdu isn't every Muslim family's mother tongue.

BISMILLAH

PERSONAL DETAILS
Name: Muhammed Shafeeq P.
Date of Birth: 3 August 1996
Age: 30
Height: 5 ft 9 in
Marital Status: Never married
Mother Tongue: Malayalam
Current Location: Dubai, UAE (family in Kozhikode, Kerala)

EDUCATION & CAREER
Education: B.Tech Civil Engineering, NIT Calicut (2018)
Islamic Education: Hafiz-e-Quran (2010)
Occupation: Site engineer with a construction firm in Dubai, since 2021
Annual Income: About ₹24 lakh per annum

RELIGIOUS DETAILS
Religion: Muslim
Sect: Sunni
Practice: Prays five times a day. Leads taraweeh at our local masjid when
he's home for Ramzan.

FAMILY DETAILS
Father: Abdul Rasheed P., retired government school headmaster
Mother: Sainaba A., homemaker
Siblings: One elder sister, married, a dentist in Kannur
Family Background: The family has always lived in Kozhikode.

ABOUT SHAFEEQ
Shafeeq has worked in Dubai for five years and plans to move back to
Kerala within the next three. He memorised the Quran as a boy and it is
still a big part of his week. Outside work he plays football on Friday
evenings and he's the one his cousins call when something needs fixing.
He is close to his sister and speaks to us every day.

PARTNER PREFERENCES
Age: 24 to 29
Education: Graduate or above
Profession: Working or not working, as she prefers
Location: Should be comfortable living in Dubai for the next few years

CONTACT
Phone: 94XXXXXX51 (father, Abdul Rasheed)
Email: rasheed.family@example.com

Taraweeh is the extra night prayer in Ramzan, and a Hafiz is often asked to lead it. That one line tells a reader more about Shafeeq's practice than "very religious" ever could.

The location preference is the most useful line in the section. Living abroad for a few more years is the fact the other family most needs, and stating it early saves a conversation that would otherwise happen weeks in.

For a second marriage, the biodata example post has a complete Muslim biodata written for that situation, including how to mention children.

Sending a biodata without a photo

A photo is the most personal thing on a biodata, and it goes wherever the file goes. Some families send the text first and share a photo only once both sides want to talk. Others want the photo straight away. Both are normal ways to start.

If you're sending the text version, leave the photo out and write "Photo on request" at the bottom. When a family asks, send the photo to them directly rather than attaching it to a file that can be forwarded to a whole group.

If you wear hijab, use a photo in hijab. The picture should look like the person a family will meet.

What to leave off

• Mahr. Mahr is what the groom commits to give the bride, and it's agreed as part of the nikah. A biodata isn't the place to state an expectation, in either direction.
• Dowry or jahez. Demanding dowry is an offence under section 4 of the Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961. No line about gifts or "expectations from the family" belongs on a biodata.
• Your home address. A city is enough. The family details guide explains how quickly a locality, your parents' names and an employer add up to a findable house.
• A long list of relatives. Some families add one line for the mother's side, the nanihaal: her father's name and the town. The family details guide has a section on lines like this, and when to skip them.

Common mistakes

Keeping the horoscope rows. A downloaded format with "N/A" beside gotra, rashi and nakshatra is the most common giveaway. Delete the rows.

A label instead of a fact. "Religious family" or "modern outlook" tells a reader nothing they can act on. What you do tells them everything.

Writing a maslak or community line you don't mean as a condition. Readers treat what's on the page as a requirement. If it isn't one for you, leave it off.

Adjectives about yourself. "Pious, God-fearing, well-mannered" turns up on biodata after biodata, which is exactly why it carries no information. Show it with a fact or leave it out.

One PDF, with a photo, sent to a large group. Once it's forwarded, you don't get it back. How to share a marriage biodata covers the options for sending it more carefully.

Making it on Marriage Profile

On Marriage Profile, religion is a dropdown in the Astrology & Culture step: pick Muslim. Gotra, rashi, nakshatra and manglik status are optional, and anything you leave blank doesn't appear on the biodata or in its PDF. The caste field is optional too.

There's no separate row for sect or practice, so add them as a line in your About Me or the family description.

Two things work differently from the text formats above. A profile photo is required to publish, so if you'd rather a photo didn't circulate freely, set the biodata to private with a view password and give the password only to the families you choose. Password protection is part of the paid plans. And if you add a date of birth, it shows under a heading called Astrology, on the biodata and in its PDF. Your age is its own field, so you can leave the date of birth out.

The biodata can be read in English, Hindi, Marathi or Gujarati from the same link. Urdu isn't one of them, so if your family would rather read Urdu, the copyable formats above are the better place to start. The template gallery shows the same details in eight designs, if you want to see how yours would look.