Islam 101. Answer is no.
Re: AGE OLD QUESTION: Can guys and girls be friends?
If either one is in a committed relationship with someone....then often times their partner will not approve of the friendship if he/she comes to know about it.....and that friendship wouldn't or rather shouldn't be a close one. If you have a girlfriend or a wife....or boyfriend/husband.....then it's THIS significant other that you should be spending hours chatting/texting with and that u should be more close to.......not the friend, cuz that equation is off.
may b
I think that friendship with opposite gender may b turn in to love or some sex relation.. 
Re: may b
Haii sissoo sippy, u mast be the vary careful so frandship does not b dat way
AGE OLD QUESTION: Can guys and girls be friends?
If your a single girl in uni and know that you'll be stepping out to hang out with your guy friends, most probably you will consider what you look like no matter what. If your a single girl about to hang out with her girls friends and know its just a girls gathering casually you probably won't think about it too hard. .. It may not be on purpose but its natural you are probably a certain way around your male friends than your female friends who probably see a more relaxed side of you. Like someone said priorities change naturally when your in a relationship. Whether your husband is cool or not, if your marriage/relationship is a priority, you naturally drift towards another direction than constantly being available to hang out with friends the way you used to. Unless you've been in a serious relationship, you probably believe girls and guys can be friends. Once your committed you will automatically notice the difference and why boundaries are naturally established without even noticing. My husband doesn't care about that stuff but that doesn't mean he would be okay with me texting my guy friends late at night like I would with my girl fiends. Or making plans at odd times like I can with my girls. My husbands friends circle is big and everyone's married so natural boundaries are there and I am quite open with his friends but because everyone is married. When your single its just different. So my belief, no I don't think your guys friends can be equally as close for too long. Up until uni yes but rarely after that. How many of the same male relationships have you maintained since high school? Probably just a few why, because as you move past certain phases of your life you grow out of them and the things you considered important one year keep changing. It's called growing up.
Re: AGE OLD QUESTION: Can guys and girls be friends?
Where did I say only guy friends take a backseat? What are you disagreeing with exactly?
you said it here:
"Marriage/relationships play a major role in our lives and soak up our time, energy, affections, etc. Your husband becomes a priority and the rest of your guy friends take a backseat."
Re: AGE OLD QUESTION: Can guys and girls be friends?
I don't think its imperative to change them but there's no denying that they do change naturally. Marriage/relationships play a major role in our lives and soak up our time, energy, affections, etc. Your husband becomes a priority and the rest of your guy friends take a backseat. More importantly, lots of men don't like their wives having male friends. That's just how it is...don't know a single girl who is still just as chummy with her guy friends after marriage as she was during school.
you said it here:
"Marriage/relationships play a major role in our lives and soak up our time, energy, affections, etc. Your husband becomes a priority and the rest of your guy friends take a backseat."
The **context **of my answer indicates I was referring to a married situation where I am addressing the issue of male friends a woman might have. If you see above and read the entire post - before and after the part you quoted - it will make much more sense.
Re: AGE OLD QUESTION: Can guys and girls be friends?
The short and sweet answer is NO. Islamically, it's pretty clear, hard to be friends with someone when you can't look at them.
However, religion aside, I can see certain situations where it can probably work but only if both parties are married and only meet/talk in the presence of their significant others. Having separate "events" with just your platonic friend or having "close" conversations on the phone etc., please, who are you kidding. A formal relationship can still exist but not any sort of BFF story. And to be honest, if you are married, you really don't have the time or need for such friendships.
Re: AGE OLD QUESTION: Can guys and girls be friends?
I would like to ask a question, if you find no difference between interacting with male and female friends, then why it maters to you when you mom asks you to be kept at arm’s length as acquaintances?
If there is no difference for you then you must be able to replace you male friend with female ones easily.
Re: AGE OLD QUESTION: Can guys and girls be friends?
Your mom is right. I also had a close male friend who I would share everything with. I always thought that we would stay friends and lovey dovey stuff wouldn't get in between us. We never talked romantically or flirted but one day I began to realise that he had fallen for me. He then told me and honestly I didn't feel the same way and I don't talk to him as much any more.
The point is that YOU might think that you will never feel romantically inclined towards your male friends but you don't know what they are feeling. Whether or not they express it, there will always be attraction.
Moms are always right :p
Re: AGE OLD QUESTION: Can guys and girls be friends?
Ofcourse they can be friends. Whether or not they should be, that is the question you should be asking. My suggestion is, in order for you to answer this question you must wait till you are as old as your mother now. Fair comparison of opinions can only be made if and when two equally experienced people contribute.
@OP
Re: AGE OLD QUESTION: Can guys and girls be friends?
I had this conversation with my mother today and she disagreed and said that friends of the opposite gender will never be as close as friends of the same gender, and should, especially if you are married, be kept at arm's length as acquaintances........
Key words are in bold red. It is different from saying 'cannot be friends'.
Re: AGE OLD QUESTION: Can guys and girls be friends?
I would like to ask a question, if you find no difference between interacting with male and female friends, then why it maters to you when you mom asks you to be kept at arm's length as acquaintances? If there is no difference for you then you must be able to replace you male friend with female ones easily.
They are my friends, they are more than just their gender, they are human beings that I have formed close bonds with. Your question strikes me as odd as saying to someone whether they would swap their children with someone else's, they are just kids after all...
Re: AGE OLD QUESTION: Can guys and girls be friends?
Nope.
Re: AGE OLD QUESTION: Can guys and girls be friends?
They are my friends, they are more than just their gender, they are human beings that I have formed close bonds with. Your question strikes me as odd as saying to someone whether they would swap their children with someone else's, they are just kids after all...
No offense intended.
Maybe that's not easy for you but equating the swapping kids with swapping friends is bit illogical.
Consider you are kid of your mom and why you discussed this issue with your mom instead of your friends. Your feelings for your friend cannot exceed the feeling you have for you mom. If you say that your mom to you is equal to any deep friend then your are right on what you say, but to me its an exception.
however, i don’t agree with the notion ‘nothing happens to you’. A doctor say if you keep on interacting with opposite gender and nothing happens to then something wrong with you and you need a psychiatrist.
p.s no offense intended.
Re: AGE OLD QUESTION: Can guys and girls be friends?
No offense intended.
Maybe that's not easy for you but equating the swapping kids with swapping friends is bit illogical. Consider you are kid of your mom and why you discussed this issue with your mom instead of your friends. Your feelings for your friend cannot exceed the feeling you have for you mom. If you say that your mom to you is equal to any deep friend then your are right on what you say, but to me its an exception.
however, i don’t agree with the notion ‘nothing happens to you’. A doctor say if you keep on interacting with opposite gender and nothing happens to then something wrong with you and you need a psychiatrist.
p.s no offense intended.
Firstly, I was using the analogy to expose the ridiculous nature of the suggestion, rather than the depth of the connection between friends and betweee mother and child. I was trying to say that just in the same way that a mother would be baffled if someone said to her she could just swap her children as if they were toys, similarly I am astonished that there are people who think that friendship is of such a light and meaningless nature that friends can just be exchanged like goods are refunded. Would you consider it a reasonable request if I said "forget your white friends, swap them for some asians"? No. Similarly, I think it absurd that someone thinks I can throw out my male friends like yesterday's leftovers and arbitrarily force relations with some random women.
Secondly, please give me the details of the doctor who said such a thing because I am guessing that in order to make such a stupid statement that clearly is devoid of any knowledge of psychiatry, the are most likely holding a fake degree and the hospital they are working at needs to be informed that they are a fraud. My entire family is full of doctors and several of them are psychiatrists, and they would be truly shocked if they heard a colleague make such a highly unscientific and untrue statement.
Re: AGE OLD QUESTION: Can guys and girls be friends?
Firstly, I was using the analogy to expose the ridiculous nature of the suggestion, rather than the depth of the connection between friends and betweee mother and child. I was trying to say that just in the same way that a mother would be baffled if someone said to her she could just swap her children as if they were toys, similarly I am astonished that there are people who think that friendship is of such a light and meaningless nature that friends can just be exchanged like goods are refunded. Would you consider it a reasonable request if I said "forget your white friends, swap them for some asians"? No. Similarly, I think it absurd that someone thinks I can throw out my male friends like yesterday's leftovers and arbitrarily force relations with some random women.
Secondly, please give me the details of the doctor who said such a thing because I am guessing that in order to make such a stupid statement that clearly is devoid of any knowledge of psychiatry, the are most likely holding a fake degree and the hospital they are working at needs to be informed that they are a fraud. My entire family is full of doctors and several of them are psychiatrists, and they would be truly shocked if they heard a colleague make such a highly unscientific and untrue statement.
If there is valid/good reason then i can be distant from some friends depending on the situation. It seems you are bit emotional and have already made your mind that what you are doing is ok and just looking for like minded opinions. Maybe i am wrong. and i m not trying to judge you.
The medical doctor gave that opinion is a great religious scholar and his name is included in top 500 influential persons of 2011. I don’t want to mention his name as his religious being alone is sufficient to consider his opinion “biased”.
Re: AGE OLD QUESTION: Can guys and girls be friends?
most of my friends are females and they are close to me as my male friends, i go out with them to restaurants cinemas etc.. have conversations about everything and anything never has there been any attractions or anything to do with more than friends
i think its just Pakistani mentality, and culture that believes male and females cant be just friends
Oh o you think i's Pakistani mentality and culture. So obviously you don't follow this Pakistani culture and mentality....then why are you on a Pakistani site?
Re: AGE OLD QUESTION: Can guys and girls be friends?
Of course they can be. Haynes and Maidenform got together recently. Both reportedly doing well.
Re: AGE OLD QUESTION: Can guys and girls be friends?
Yes, they can. They obviously won't be as close friends as friends of the same gender would be for obvious reasons (comfort level etc.) but they certainly CAN be friends. Not every guy is attracted to every girl and vice versa. Everyone has their preferences in looks, personality etc. for what they would want in a wife/husband but those standards would not apply to just a simple friendship. My own husband has some good female friends that he has had since high school and college days. In fact, these friends of his are now also my friends. He is not super close with them but he sees them on occasion (with me present off course). He told me his relationship with these 2 girls has always been just friendship because he was never "attracted" to them in that way - so this goes to show that every one...guy or girl has their own "preferences" and it is VERY possible to have friends of the opposite gender and not develop romantic feelings.