Let me just ask you a question: Do you believe that men and women can just be friends without catching feelings?
Most men would believe it depends, while most women would believe they can just be friends.
Men, imagine this: your wife has a male friend you don’t know about. They hang out, but she never tells you. How does that make you feel? Of course, not. You would not be comfortable with this if you truly loved her.
Is it okay to be jealous if your wife has a secret friend? Of course! It’s a normal human response to feel threatened when someone we love is spending time with someone we don’t know. In fact, a healthy amount of jealousy can show that we care deeply about our partners and want to protect them. Obviously, there would be levels of jealousy, not the crazy levels but the level of jealousy which indicates that you love the person so much that you need to look after her.
Now women, imagine this: your husband has a female friend that you don’t know about. They hang out on a regular basis, but he never tells you about her. How does that make you feel? Some women would be fine with this. But most men don’t want their wives to have a male friend.
Men are built in a certain way. Regardless of what others say: If you are a dude, you are a dude!
Have you ever noticed how common it is for people to cheat on their partners with their friends? So many people fall into this trap with someone who catches a friend of the opposite gender and starts messaging them while also hiding it from the other partner. The Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him) warned us about this danger when he said, “Whenever a man is alone with a woman, the devil makes a third.”
Have you ever caught yourself getting a little too close to a friend of the opposite sex? Maybe you started off taking a class together or working on a project together. But before you knew it, you were finding excuses to spend more and more time with them. And even though you told yourself there were no feelings involved, you couldn’t help but feel a spark.
Beware, my friend. For the third party is always the devil.
Have you ever had a best friend of the opposite gender? Someone you’ve known for years, and you’ve never thought of romantically? But then, one day, something changes. You catch yourself looking at them in a new light. And you start to wonder if there could be more to your relationship.
Be careful. Because the devil is always looking for ways to destroy good things. And one of his favorite ways to do that is to break up couples.
So, if you’re feeling tempted to cross the line with your best friend, remember: that the third person in your relationship is Satan.
And by the way, it’s also proven by a study too, according to a study by the American Psychological Association, infidelity occurs in about 20 percent to 40 percent of U.S. marriages. And, according to a study by Marriage Builders, Inc., the majority of affairs start as opposite-sex friendships.
I hope you enjoyed reading. Make sure to clap and follow for more. And thanks to Ruqayyah Ali for editing this story.
