I’m a young Muslim lady and I have an important question for you to answer: Is it prohibited to chat and email boys even if nothing bad is said? I ask this because a boy emails me and from time to time we chat. I have a feeling that it is prohibited and I will be punished for doing it.
Islam is the religion of inner purification. It wants people to be morally clean. All its directives are meant to cleanse and purify our concepts and deeds. It declares that only people who have purified souls shall enter Paradise. So it asks its followers to avoid all actions that hamper this purification. Therefore, every person must try as much as he can to guard his soul and to preserve the modesty within him.
It also needs to be understood that Islam has based its social structure on the institution of family. To safeguard this structure, it discourages temporary unions and male-female friendships for these often lead to excesses and tend to stimulate base emotions. Also, such relationships tend to damage the repute and honour of a lady, which are so essential for her.
Chatting for the sake of chatting does not seem to be a desirable thing since it tends to affect one’s inner purity. On the other hand indulging in some meaningful dialogue or conversation is a different matter.