When looking for the love of a lifetime, the services of a matchmaker work better than swiping right on Tinder, according to Sheikh Alaa Elzokm.
The Imam of Melbourne's Heidelberg Mosque is part of a new SBS TV documentary that follows Muslim, Hindu and Jewish matchmakers as they help singles from their congregations find love.
The Matchmakers premieres on Wednesday - Valentine's Day - with Sheikh Alaa keen to promote the role of religious leaders in setting up compatible couples in their communities.
In his extensive experience, the results are more enduring than those of dating apps.
"It's not just about being with a partner, it's also about having a successful marriage, that's our ultimate goal," he told AAP.
"Meeting a person is easy these days, but we aim for a successful relationship."
Sheikh Alaa moved to Australia from Egypt in 2013 and met his own wife, Rheme, an Australian Muslim from Melbourne, through an Islamic matchmaker.
A good result: the couple has been married nine years and has two children.
Sheikh Alaa has become a key matchmaker in his community, and with a congregation of about 800 people at the Heidelberg Mosque, he meets three or four people each week looking to engage his services.
Lately the demand has been such that his wife helps too, offering insights as they meet potential couples - a process that has given them insight into their own relationship, he said.
When a match they have set up ends in marriage, Sheikh Alaa officiates the ceremony at the mosque, and the happiness only increases when the couple's children later arrive, he said.
"We love to help couples to be together in that beautiful union, we see a lot of young people ... have a successful and happy marriage, and it is nice to be part of that."
The Sheik looks for shared religious values when considering potential match-ups, but said there are many other factors too.
"It's important as well to consider the physical shape of a person, how they look," he said.
Sheikh Alaa professes not to focus on his matchmaking success rate, and said sometimes things don't work out (with couples counselling also part of his brief, that becomes his business too).
"Unfortunately, sometimes because of how busy we are in life, we don't invest a lot in understanding the psychology of the person that is living with us," he explained.
"Everybody's reaction is different when they deal with an anxiety, stress, anger ... to not have a problem with your spouse, you need to know how they react," he said.
The Matchmakers airs on SBS from Wednesday at 8.40pm, with all three episodes available to stream free on SBS On Demand.
