Marriage and Sex in Muslim Countries

Wedding ceremonies are held for the tie of marriage. Marriage is a socially recognized universal institution which is found in every society. It is a social contract of two opposite sexes for the satisfaction of physical, biological, social, psychological and spiritual needs of males and females. Almost all the religions in the world encourage couples to commit to this contract unless otherwise. The other most important element linked with marriage is sex. Sex is much more than physical and concerning procreation. It is important to recognize and identify the breadth of sexuality. Sex serves several of life’s basic purposes: from pleasure, stress reduction, and formation of our identity to our intimate connection. Almost all religions in world encourage couples to have sex since it’s not just a way to get more close to each other but also a way to flourish your generation.

However, there are some variations and conflicts on this topic when moving across the globe. In some countries, premarital sex is not a crime, people do it just for fun, or to get to know other partners in a better way. Yet, it is considered a sin in some religions and in some places, for example, in Islam, premarital sex is absolutely forbidden, there is no question about it. In the video, two Sri Lankan students talk about their move from Sri Lanka to the U.S. where besides facing other cultural shocks they were sexually obsessed. They mentioned how in Sri Lanka premarital sex looked down upon and how open and different they have encountered it in the U.S. Compared to American culture, where people even teenage students did not shy talk about sex, there are countries like Japan, where people seem uninterested in having sex. In short, in my opinion, America is a great place, there are great opportunities to learn about all sorts of things. People are taught about sex, STDs, and the outcomes or the circumstances of having sex, but compared to other countries, premarital sex, STDs, and abortion rate is higher in the U.S.

Being a Muslim and an immigrant, I have visualized many cultural differences and have seen people talk about their sexual relationship very openly. Although people in the U.S. are highly educated compared to the other countries, still there are higher rates of fornication and premarital sex. When I delved into it to find the reason, I think the only way I can find is that kids are taught way too early about sex and later in their lives, sex education is highly emphasized. Moreover, most of the young people did not seem to follow any religion which permits them to do everything for the sake pleasure. Everyone has the desire to have sexual contacts since it is a natural instinct that God has put in us but it is only the religion that keeps me away from such thoughts and emotions.