💌 As I quickly scroll through my inbox trying to decide which messages need to be answered first, I find out that a guy whom I've known through our parents back in Saudi Arabia sent a salaam which had me wondering, "Should I respond to his greeting and continue our conversation? What if our dialogue isn't that important and it leads to some sort of fitna? Alhamdulillah I'm contentedly married and he's married with kids too. Maybe there's nothing wrong with a casual chit-chat if we see each other like brothers and sisters? Nah that whole friendzoning and 'I see you like a brother' thing aren't applicable in Islam since non-mahrams of different genders can't be "just friends". So I left his message on seen mode, just as I've chosen not to answer the dozens of salaams and misspellings from other guys many of whom may be searching for soulmates in the wrong place.
I pray that he and the others will understand the importance of lowering their gaze, minding their business, networking with male students of knowledge if they have questions about Islam, focusing on improving the love they have for their own women or asking Allah Subhaanahu wa Ta'aala for loyal, supportive and pious Muslim wives in the future.
Alhamdulillah it's better to be an unintentional heartbreaker whom Allah the Most Loving still loves than to be someone who doesn't take their Deen seriously and shows inability to keep desires under control.
Friendly conversations among unrelated men and women may seem harmless at the beginning, but situations can gradually get out of hand when the conniving shaytan comes in between them.
~•~
📖 Abu Qatadah RadhiAllahu 'anhu narrated: Allah's noble Messenger Muhammad SallAllahu 'alaihi wa sallam said, "Verily, you will never leave anything for the sake of Allah the Almighty but that Allah will replace it with something better."
Source: Musnad Ahmed 22565
Grade: Sahih (Authentic) according to Al-Albani
📖 Jabir Ibn Abdullah RadhiAllahu 'anhu narrated: Allah's noble Messenger Muhammad SallAllahu 'alaihi wa sallam said, "Whoever has faith in Allah and the Last Day, let him not be alone with an unrelated woman without her guardian (mahram). Verily, the third of them is shaytan."
Source: Musnad Ahmed 14241
Grade: Sahih (Authentic) according to Al-Albani
https://www.abukhadeejah.com/free-mixing-between-the-sexes-in-islam-a-detailed-discussion/