Sorry to hear that.

Submitted by Straight_Talk_Luigi (United States), Feb 3, 2008 at 23:11

Thanks for sharing. It's not easy to say what you just said, but maybe this is for the best. Ending a relationship is really never easy, even if you are not treated with respect.

A person who is very religious isn't likely to have a successful romance with a non-religious person, especially if one tries to change the other and that person doesn't want to. As a religion person myself, I would love for and encourage people to find peace in Jesus. But, I also realize that any relationship requires work and most people don't like change.

Is this common the Arabic world? Well, I think it's more of an Islam thing than a race (Arabic) thing. Muslims are generally are taught not to get serious with someone who is not Muslim or will not convert to Islam. Some think that if they get aggressive the woman will just give in. Many Muslims do use Western women for a temporary sexual fling (as do Western men, obviously), but it sounds like in your experience he thought he would meet a Western woman and covert her and raise children as Muslims as a favor to Islam. I think many Muslims don't really communicate this very well in relationships until after marriage--or after you've been together for a while.

Pre-martial sex is something they wouldn't get in their own culture as easily. I really don't think that many of them are used to the culture shock from going from a very conservative society to one that is secular. Here I see many problems. They go from seeing women in burkas to nude beaches, and I don't think many of them can handle that change.

I would say you aren't the only one by any means. It's true that most people date within their own religions, culture and race because they already have that mutual understanding. As you can see on this board, there are some women who have been happy in international relationships, but I personally am not a fan of it.

If there is one thing I would say to anyone is that just because someone appears religious don't expect them to treat you with respect and don't expect loyalty. Have them earn your trust as you would anyone else.

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