Dating in the Muslim World

Illustration by cheerfulnuts

I’ve read an article from Time magazine entitled In Pursuit of Romance. It was an eye-opening piece of writing. You can read the article here:

http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2084273_2084272_2084265,00.html

Basically, the article is about dating in Saudi Arabia. Men and women rarely mingle in public places. Most often, men and women are segregated in weddings, churches, or schools. That is why looking for a partner could be very difficult.
The males would resort to aggressive ways to get the girls’ attention. They would flash their name card to a prospective date hoping that the recipient would copy the contact numbers. Once an interested female calls a male, the hardship doesn’t end there. Dating publicly is prohibited, except for married couples. Moreover, a female going over the male’s house requires a chaperon. Physical intimacies rarely happen during dating.

I live in a free and democratic country. Despite that, the environment where I was brought up was traditional and strict, though not to the extent as that in Saudi Arabia. Reputation was very important within my community. However, more and more people in the country are becoming modernized. Though traditional people still exists, the youth are becoming more and more liberal. In fact, nowadays, it is not unusual to encounter a single mom, an illegitimate child, or a cohabiting couple.

To me, there should be a balance between freedom and responsibility. Those who exercise enough freedom should be responsible enough for the consequences of their actions. Too much restriction, on the other hand, would only lead to frustrations.