Should I take the other way?

That night, I chatted with Tsabita, my younger sister, while lying down on a bed and staring at the room ceiling. Although she was sleepy, I proceeded to tell her my thought that had been lingering in my mind for several days.

 "Bit, you know, last week when I go tahfidz with my friend at Universitas Indonesia. We want to go to the masjid using the back entrance."

"But we stopped, because we saw two boys are putting on their shoes at the entrance"

"My friend seemed hesitant to continue our plan to use the back entrance"

"I also think, 'Should we just use the front entrance?', but we've just need a very few steps to enter the masjid. The front entrance is quite far, you must walk around half of the building. anyway, isn't this street open to everyone. So, we have the right to use it"

Oh, for your information, my friend and I are accustomed to use the Islamic guidelines for interacting with opposite sex. Thus, we felt hesitant about passing by these boys.

"Anyway, after a few seconds, I decided to take off my shoes at some distance from them, about 2-3 wide steps, and then bring my shoes while my friend is following me behind. and then whoosh.. we quickly walk past the boy, enter the mosque."

I close my story with a question, "So, what do you think? Is my decision right?"

Then Tsabita replied, "well...". She seemed hesitant. Looked unsure to give the exact answer right away.

"You know, I once walked with Abi (Dad). At that time we wanted to go through a path. But it turned out that there were lots of middle school girls chatting beside the path. Then Abi decided to take an alternative route, instead of using that path."

At that time, I remember how often Abi choose an alternative route, instead of a shortcut that we can use to go out of our housing complex. Abi said he is uncomfortable if he use that shortcut around praying time, because it'll disturb the santri (student of an Islamic boarding school) who want to go shalat and use that path. *Our house is quiet close to the boarding school.

Well, I realized that Abi has a shy side of him. And it's cute, also masya Allah at the same time. He still choose the other way, even if it doesn't really matter if you use the first option.

Then Tsabita add another story, "You know, my friend whose joining IQF (Indonesia Quran Foundation, a place that helps you memorize the Qur'an) once want to go to some place with her friends, but if there is male students who are in the way. She and her friend will wait until the boys walk away."

At the end of the day, I believe that it is okay to do both (note that I'm not a scholar, or mufti hahaha), whether you want to go past the opposite sex or just use the other way, even it took a longer route. it depends on the situation.

If there is just one, or two, or three, maybe I'll still go pass the boys (if the path is wide). In my normal setting, I'll choose to avoid group of males as much as I can. If there is an alternative way, I'll take it. If no, hmm I'll wait till they are quiet far.

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Oh, you know, two days after we talk about this stuff, when my sister and I went to buy some groceries. On our way home, there is a group of male students sitting beside of the street. So, we turn around and head the other way. I chuckled and muttered to myself "Didn't we just talked about this a few days ago, and Allah gave me this kind of situation again. Hehe, thank you Allah, I'll do what you like and do it with pleasure." ♡