Can women keep their moral bearings in today’s fast world?

“Sometimes, I find it funny that my younger brother (age 21) is sent to accompany me on a date,” Simaan laughs. “Mom and dad know that he gets into more trouble than me. But, there he is watching over me.”

Intimacy seems to have lost a lot of its exclusiveness and the essence of romance. Many shy away from the subject. The relationship between love and sex is difficult todefine since the two are inextricably intertwined, and yet for many people the connection is difficult subject matter.

We have the tradition.

The idea of the division between sex and love is as old as the Middle Eastern civilizations themselves. We have the tradition of Alhub Aluzr, the virginal love. Many have said that the idea of courtly or romantic love could be historically attributed to Arabian tribes. Accordingly, love was based on a poetic conception illustrating that for both Eastern and Western cultures, and throughout civilizations, there has always been a strong tendency to separate the two concepts of sex and love. Love was elevated to a high pedestal, almost on a par with the divine.

On the contrary, it was written "Premarital love...is unlawful" because the lovers could not be left together without the danger of sinning, thus stressing the need for lovers to unite in marriage as quickly as possible.

This explains why in many Middle Eastern cultures, Egypt, Israel and Saudi Arabia included, the idea of pre-marital love is traditionally frowned upon.
There is a dichotomy of thought on the issue of sex and love. The long tradition of love poetry attests to the fact that Middle Eastern culture inherently celebrates love and its natural consummation – sex. Yet, society continues the restriction of sexual and love relationships.

“Some people - and especially Hadi’s friends – tell us to ‘loosen up,’” says Mohammed, her father. “There’s nothing wrong with sex and intimacy. Our culture has a long history of its celebration. However, when you look closely, most of those stories involve couples who are married and not just passing in the night.”
While many youth long for the day of greater freedoms, most of their parents agree that the restrictions lead to less peripheral problems and more responsibility for the mind, body and soul.

“I’d have to say, we are friendly with 20-25 couples with children from all over the spectrum of race, color and creed,” Mohammed analyzes. “In our discussions, you discover that most of the problems arise from parents lending too much trust and not enforcing enough restrictions. There’s nothing wrong with protecting your children at any age.”

Through all of the pressures, Simaan sums it up this way, “Some of my friends just lie to their parents rather than conform to their beliefs. Although I think I should get more trust from my parents, I don’t mind the constant reminders to protect my virtue. After all, it is the only thing I truly own.”