Internet Dating in Saudi Arabia

In Saudi Arabia, the Islamic faith is still taken very seriously, in particular in areas like Abha. Here, everything stops five times every day, as every Muslim in the world turns towards Mecca to pray.

So-called mutaweens, essentially religious policemen, empowered by the Commission promoting virtue and preventing vice, are ever present to enforce these rules.

From dress code to both religious and gender segregation, traditions are still very much part even of today's otherwise very modern Saudi life. Foreign women are equally expected to wear the abaya, a cloak type floor length over-garment, although they do not have to wear the veils usually accompanying Arab women's abayas.

Shops, cafes and even branches of banks are segregated into so-called singles sections, for men only, and areas for families or unaccompanied women. This, of course, makes it almost impossible for young people to meet.

Dating is consequently also not possible. While families living within various Western communities are often a little more relaxed in the adherence to these rules, often allowing engaged young couples to go out together in groups, here, this can not be done. Breaking the rules can have severe consequences, from fines to lashes, imprisonment or even stoning to death.

While couples are still able to meet in the presence of their families, they usually have very few opportunities to get to talk and know one another between their first meeting and the day they are married.

Strict as the rules are, Internet dating is widely regarded as acceptable, as the young people don't actually meet in person and are therefore not likely to become victims of their physical desires.

As such, it is possible, after getting parental approval, for young people to meet up and talk to each other for some time before they meet in person and ultimately get married. It should be remembered that muslim dating is not regarded as fun, but as a serious search for a spouse.

When they 'date', the ultimate goal is to marry the person they are dating, unlike the type of dating teenagers in Western societies are used to. Even once couples are engaged, they still do not spend time in each other's company without a chaperone.

This may sound incredibly wrong to those not of the Muslim faith, but this tradition does seem to work well, as Arab weddings usually end in lasting marriages. This is being credited to the fact that couples get married out of a deep understanding, as opposed to being guided by lustful desires.