Life as a Muslim – Bowing in Japan – Part 2002 of a 999999 part series.
A great discovery over at Sylvain Bouchard’s blog. It brings back one of those dificult issues with being a Muslim and going to foreign countries. Being that a Muslim is specifically forbidden to bow before anything other than God, it lead to some very difficult moments of soul-searching. The first time I went, I tried nodding, which seemed very rude (to me). As a result, I tried half heartedly bending my head over quickly and then getting the heck out of Dodge, so to speak. However, over time I’ve comforted myself with the thought that bowing, as a greeting, is different from prostration that is considered forbidden (IE: bowing before a “God”-like figure) Whether that is correct or not – I doubt I’ll know. Maybe I should ask someone…