Secret meeting between Arab and Iran

I met my Arab friend, Hana last week in a fast food restaurant in a shopping mall. She brought her Iranian boyfriend, Hussein to introduce him to me. I had heard a lot about him from her before but it was the first time that I met him. We spent a few hours talking and talking to one another.

I was very happy to see Hana being very happy with him but at the same time I feel sorry for them. They try their best to avoid the possibility of bumping into their friends whenever and herever they meet. Considering Arabic and Iranian cultures, if someone that they know sees them being together, it can be a big gossip next day among Arabic and Iranian communities here. So, though they love to see each other as much as they can, they are never free from the fear that someone may be watching them. I wish there were some stress-free way for them to see each other. If I were Hana, I would not care what other people say but I may be able to say this as I am not Arab. Since Hana lives with her brother, she feels very afraid that her brother will find it out through his friends somehow. I know there is no such relation as boyfriend-girlfriend in Arabic countries or Iran. To be precise, there should be but it is not simply approved by their societies. Seeing Hana, I am very happy that she experiences a relation with someone special though they always have to be afraid of being spotted by others. To my eyes this kind of relation is very normal for college students like them. They are considering getting married in a peaceful way in the future but it is long way to go. Hana says that she would be forsaken by her family if they knew that she is seeing Hussein now.

I’m familiar with Arabic culture as my husband is from the same country as Hana. I can’t do anything with it but I always wish that there were a healthier way for a man and a woman to get to know each other. When I meet Arab people who show no sympathy and right away criticize such a relation as Hana and Hussein are having now, I always feel like saying, “Haven’t you ever fallen in love with someone?” I think they miss one of the greatest things in life. Or…maybe they feel the same way as I do but are not strong enough to express their true feelings against their culture. Some say it is against Islam but I who always respect peoples’ feelings first more than anything else still believe that there is a way for a man and woman to see each other in a way Islam allows. I hope Hana and Hussein will find a stress-free way of seeing each other and that their relation will lead them to happy marriage one day. Even if they were to break up one day, I would be still proud of Hana who has experienced the relation and known what it is to love someone, which many Arab people don’t know.