We wanted to build something fun. We also wanted to build it right.

We are Muslims first. Everything else follows from that.

We follow the Quran and Sunnah upon the understanding of the companions and pious predecessors. That is not a tag line. That is how we live, and it shapes every decision we make at MCG, from the wordplay in the product names to what never made it into the box.

When we decided to build something fun for Muslim couples, and started leaning into puns like Wudu/Would You, and writing challenges around the five love languages, and crafting conversation prompts about Muslim married life, the question was never whether to get it reviewed. It was just how and by whom. We were building something for the ummah. We wanted to do it properly.

Here is something most people do not know.

There is a principle in the Shariah regarding matters of the dunya: the default ruling on anything related to the affairs of this world, such as buying, selling, and daily interactions, is permissibility. It is allowed unless proven otherwise.

This is the opposite of acts of worship. For ibadah you need a daleel (evidence) that something is a legitimate form of worshipping Allah before you do it. The five daily prayers, fasting in Ramadan, giving zakah. These require evidence. Buying a card game does not.

So you might be thinking: MCG is a dunya product, permissible by default, so why go through all the trouble?

Fair point. Here is why.

Because we added Islamic content. And that changes things.

The moment we started incorporating Islamic references into the games, because this is a product made for Muslims, two things became non-negotiable.

Factual accuracy. Every Islamic reference in the games needs to be correct. Not roughly correct. Correct.

Boundary checking. Even well-intentioned questions can drift into territory we should not be in. We needed someone with the knowledge to catch that before anything went into production.

A general principle of permissibility is not enough when you are putting Islamic content in front of the ummah. You do it properly, or you do not do it.

How we got the games approved.

• 1
  All content completed first We finished every question, rule, and game concept in full before submitting anything for review. No half-finished drafts.
• 2
  Full submission to a qualified Ustadh Everything was given to a qualified Ustadh who went through each question and concept one by one. Where he was uncertain, he consulted with more senior scholars he is in contact with before giving a ruling. Nothing was waved through.
• 3
  Flagged items annotated with explanations Every card that needed a change had a comment explaining the issue, how to correct it, or whether it needed to go entirely.
• 4
  Iterations until full approval We made the changes and went back through the process. This continued until every single card was approved. Alhamdulillah.

What the changes actually looked like.

One category of changes involved questions referencing miracles. The issue was that the original wording could imply a prophet or person had an ability in and of themselves, rather than making clear it was by the will of Allah. Simple fix. But it mattered.

Small change. Significant difference in meaning. This is exactly why the process exists.

Some things you will never see from us.

Standards are not just about what goes into the games. They are about how we show up everywhere, including how we market to you. Here are three lines we hold, and the reasoning behind each one.

You will not hear music in our content.

Not by accident. By principle. We keep our videos, ads, and content clean and free of music, because that is the standard we hold ourselves to and the standard our community deserves.

We would rather lose a trend than gain it through something impermissible. Barakah over reach, every time.

You will not see real women used to sell to you.

We protect haya in how we market, not just in what we make. We will not use real women in our photography or video to capture attention or drive sales. It is an easy shortcut that a lot of brands take, and it is one we have chosen to close off entirely.

Modesty is not a setting we switch on for the product and off for the marketing. It runs through everything.

Our illustrations do not have full facial features.

You may notice the characters in our artwork have no detailed faces. This is deliberate. Reproducing complete faces falls under the matter of image-making (tasweer), which carries a stern warning in the Sunnah. So our characters stay simple and faceless, allowing us to tell a story visually while staying on the cautious side of the ruling.

The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: "Those who will be most severely punished by Allah on the Day of Resurrection will be the image-makers." Reported by al-Bukhari (see al-Fath, 10/382).

Same standard for our conversation app.

A similar process was done for the MCG conversation app. A qualified Ustadh with over ten years of experience as a marriage coach went through every prompt. We made iterations until he approved the full set.

The app is not just a product feature. It is a tool Muslim couples use to have real conversations about their marriage. It carries the same responsibility as the physical games, and we treated it that way.

Every product. Same process.

Every new game, every new card set, every significant content update goes through the same review before it reaches you. That is not going to change.

We are not the first to build something for Muslim couples and we will not be the last. But we intend to do it in a way that is pleasing to Allah. That is the standard we hold ourselves to, and we ask Allah to keep us on it.

Your brother in Islam, Abu Talha, Founder of Muslim Couple Games