It should be explained to each teenager that the pre-marital relationships, the engagements, etc to which we attach such a great deal of importance in this world have nothing but a negative bearing on our lives in the aakhirah.
It should be time and time again instilled into their minds that pre-marital relationships are a sin...nikaah is an ibaadah. Allah Ta'ala has Created men and women with natural desires, and He has Created nikaah as an institution in which these desires maybe fulfilled.
A nikaah in which both, husband and wife are striving to fulfill their obligations to Allah Ta'ala, such a nikaah will be filled with the mutual respect, love and inevitably, the contentment, which we hopelessly search for in pre-marital relationships. Within the sacred context of a nikaah, in which both parties are obedient to Allah Ta'ala, and adhere to His Commandments, there can be no room for the loss of respect, feelings of degradation, etc. which goes hand-in-hand with "going out" with or "dating" someone.
We should always bear in mind that should we die in the company of a "boyfriend" or a "girlfriend" we will be leaving this world, having spent our last few moments of this life in the company of a non-Mahram."
Additionally, if you want to know the meaning of 'fitna', a great part of it is what people nowadays call love or romance because it primarily is physical lure which results from throwing unwarranted glances at the opposite gender. Evidently, what is called as love in contemporary parlance often finds expression towards a not so beautiful or handsome person. This is so because those involved might have parameters that transcend mere instinctive appeal OR it is a result of falling in love with whom you possibly could given your means, opportunity & the response. Obviously one can't justify love marriage on the grounds that one fell in love with a not so beautiful person instead of Aishwarya Rai (former Miss World). It was not because his lower self preferred that not so beautiful person over Aishwarya Rai, but because he knew that Aishwarya Rai won't fall in love with him!
In our eastern society there is no concept of dating or living in de facto relationship or trying each other out before committing to each other.
"�believing men and women should lower their gaze" (An-Nur: 30).
Social studies have proved that dating, which some people view as necessary for a couple to familiarize with each other before marriage, doesn't lead to happier and more successful marriages. Or else, the divorce rates in a supposedly liberated society like the US which prides itself in being avant-garde wouldn't be soaring above 50%.
Ironically, its precisely because of healthy conservatism in the Muslim society where the exposure to the opposite gender is restricted on account of social etiquettes or individual discretion, whatever little exposure is possible sometimes translates into a surge of passion so much so that the object of affection becomes the be all & end all of their lives. We the youngsters should guard against the Satan who has the uncanny knack of exploiting the slightest of opportunities to mislead us. contd.....