Apparently I have seen a lot of opinions given by many people here in regards to your question. Here is what Islam says.
No, you cannot be good friends with the opposite sex. This is the case when you have to see each other, meet and talk. However, as was the case in the time of rasool(saaw), you may talk behind a curtain. Today it could be a phone or email/chat. But even in that, the topics should be modest and it should not talk about I love you and things like this.
It should only be conversation concerning the state of the ummah and about Islamic related ideas/work, etc.
As far as being togther is concerned, rasool(saaw) said that when a non-mahram man & a non-mahram woman are together then the third person is the shaytan. Which basically means that the shaytan gives you ideas & puts impure thoughts in your minds reagrding the other person.
Therefore it is better not to be alone with a non-mahram of the opposite sex and Islam also does not allow social gathering between the members of the opposite sex.
I think the specific answer could have been a verse from Quran and/or hadith, and then some reference to the Ulma who interpret the respecitve verse/hadith and some argument favoring why that Ulma's interpretation holds true.
If the implication of such a conversation over the phone/email/chat comes from the conversations men and women had among them in Mohammad's (pbuh) time then it would seem impossible to have all the conversations and their nature pinpointed to being "concerning the state of the ummah and about Islamic related ideas/work, etc.". As I think it is very natural that when two people socialize, they usually have more than couple of topics to talk about.
And
[quote]
Says your religion...If you only knew
[/quote]
You would have not said that if you only knew... about my religion, that is.
thanx for a reply but i have never heard of that u cannot be friends with the opposite sex. i don't know can u find an ayyat or something? nice reply roman. :)
It is rather complimentry for me to be called 'Not a Muslim' than not to stand by my strong belief in women's equal role and rights in the society. And sure enough, it does imply inheritence, hijab concept, number of marriages and so forth, regardless of what Islam says on them.
However, I don't think that it is anybody's place and/or right to judge anybody's else's religious affliation or standing. Not me, not you, not anybody else.
If I were to come forward and say "Islam says that women have the right to have four husbands at one time" then I better have the solid references, evidence, and logical argument to prove it otherwise it would be a false statement.
Same goes for any statement that starts with "Islam says...."
Now question remains, that
[quote]
It should only be conversation [in the context of the thread, it implies phone or email/chat] concerning the state of the ummah and about Islamic related ideas/work, etc.
[/quote]
Obviously, there was no such concept (email/phone etc) of communication/social interaction 1400 years ago so the above quote is definitely an implication of some sort of evidence, logical argument, and belief that would have an associated reference. So what is that reference, saying, belief, and logical argument that proves the above quote? And who implied it?