Why don’t Muslim Women Shake Hands?
Greeting customs of Muslims and how to handle the differences.
I once was able to attend a roundtable discussion panel at the University of Iowa on the subject of Student Immigrants. The stories the students who had come to America from other countries told were fascinating and sometimes heartbreaking. I was riveted for every second of it.
After it was over, there were the customary lines of people waiting to meet and greet the panel members. I don’t remember what I exactly wanted to say, but there was one panel member that had come to the US from Bahrain that I was especially keen to talk to.
I waited eagerly in line and then before I knew it, I was standing face to face with him. Wanting to make a good impression and show off my best manners, I stuck out my hand to shake his.
He hesitated, glancing from my hand to the scarf I wore on my head and back to my hand. How could I have forgotten! Muslims, especially from the Middle East, do not shake hands with the opposite sex. I was mortified.
I stammered out an apology and an excuse that as a convert I always forget. He nodded in a way that I knew he understood the problems of cross-cultural exchanges.
