Wa 3alaikumus-salaam. Not everyone has a mahram, even if they do, they are not available always available for this. If you can get one, & he's not interfering in your conversation, & is there more like a deterrent, then yeah good for you, in'sha'Allah. Regarding your friend with you both in a public place, it is same like you guys in your uni classes which is mixed environment where you guys do uni stuff together, discuss cases, etc. as there's a need for it. Be just & hold the same standards. Nothing to make a big fuss about it.

It's terrible indeed. Get your mahram involved, another girl won't prevent haram.

No you need mahram 100%

In the specific situation of conversation while in uni cafe. Is what he said. 33:26

No no this is for the specific uni conversation that is not planned, but if u wanna get to know someone for marriage, organise a muqabalah, a 100% halal meeting with one of ur marhams, a man, and for the age, as long as he is mature enough its ok, if ur brother is 14, but is mature and able to have a conversation with the potential spouse, its perfect, wAllahu a3lam. Really, try to avoid any conversation with a man alone 😊

But if u have an older brother, ofc its better, the wiser and older he is, the better it is.

Not everyone has a mahram, even if they do, they are not available all the time due to work, uni, commitments, etc. Plus, mahram was not specifically mentioned probably bc you are not in a private place, but in public. Just like how you meet your colleagues in class. Hope you get the idea, in'sha'Allah. Also FYI, during the time of the Prophet ﷺ, there were women who proposed themselves to him ﷺ. And during the time of Musa AS, the 2 women spoke to him without any mahram, and one of the 2 later walked upto Musa AS by herself.

100%

khalwa refers to some form of seclusion. So how could that entail chatting to the opposite gender?

@@murtazashafiq6807 Chatting itself is haram, khalwa is too, touching is as well etc. Everything included in Free-mixing basically !

@@ElinoraMilanesi what’s the proof that chatting to opposite gender is haram?

​@@murtazashafiq6807 Lol where were you? Or maybe you are a new muslim (or newly obeying Allah), probably, so know that mixing of men & women is completely haram in Islam, unless there is a need (ضرورة). Abu Usayd al-Ansari narrated that he heard Allah’s Messenger (May peace and blessings be upon him) say to the women on his way out of the mosque when he saw men and women mixing together on their way home: ‘Give way (i.e., walk to the sides) as it is not appropriate for you to walk in the middle the road.’ Thereafter, women would walk so close to the wall that their dresses would get caught on it. Narrated by Abu Dawood in "Kitab al-Adab min Sunanihi, Chapter: Mashyu an-Nisa Ma’ ar-Rijal fi at-Tariq." The Prophet (May peace and blessings be upon him) enforced separation of men and women even at Allah’s most revered and preferred place, the mosque. This was accomplished via the separation of the women’s rows from the men’s; men were asked to stay in the mosque after completion of the obligatory prayer so that women will have enough time to leave the mosque; and, a special door was assigned to women. Abu Hurayrah said that the Prophet (May peace and blessings be upon him) said: ""The best of the men’s rows is the first and the worst is the last, and the best of the women’s rows is the last and the worst in the first." Narrated by Muslim under No. 664. -> This is the greatest evidence that the Law of Islam (Shari'ah) forbids meeting and mixing of men and women. The farther the men are from the women’s rows, the better, and vice versa. *If these procedures and precautions were prescribed and adhered to in a mosque, which is a pure place of worship where people are as far away as they ever are from the arousal of desire and temptation, then no doubt the same procedures need to be followed even more rigorously at other places.* Verse No. 53 of Surat al-Ahzab, the meaning of which: "...for anything you want, ask them from before a screen: that makes for greater purity for your hearts and for theirs..." Ibn Kathir said: "Meaning, as I forbade you to enter their rooms, I forbid you to look at them at all. If one wants to take something from them, one should do so without looking at them. If one wants to ask a woman for something, the same has to be done from behind a screen." Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allah have mercy on him) said: “None of the poets see anything wrong with talking to, addressing or looking at non-mahram women , but this is contrary to Islam and common sense, and it is exposing oneself to temptation. How many people have been affected in this way with regard to their religious commitment and worldly affairs.” (Rawdat al-Muhibbin, p. 88) There is an ocean of proofs. Ask scholars or a student of knowledge upon the Sunnah insha'Allah. You can look up the list of your mahram, any other woman outside of that is a stranger woman and you can only talk to her when necessary . This is basic knowledge in Islam. Only those who water down the Deen would say otherwise, and they don't fear Allah and the Last Day. May Allah protect us.