FWIW, Islam does have a dogma forbidding “excessive laughter”.
In Irshad Manji’s book The Trouble With Islam, the author descibes an instructive pamphlet for Muslims that says; " an abundance of laughter proves that we Muslims have been manipulated by charm and wit, which softens our character and piety."
Scary stuff, IMO.
ok, I did the experiment. Smiled at tow obviously Islamic ladies, both in Tudung, one in seriouso tudung with only the eyes showing.
First one smiled back, wide and toothy- I’d never seen her before, but she accepted my smile with all the warmth it was offered on a ‘ain’t it a lovely morning to back walkin’ about, t’besure!’.
Second one… well… I don’t know, but then I was in a taxi on the other side of the road and she was looking the other way. But then again, her mouth was covered, so…
Do you think my experiment was a bit skewed?
Or maybe I’m not taking this seriously.
But one thing I can say with certainty, I have many colleagues, people I know quite well, with whom I’ll talk and enjoy life, who not only won’t smile but won’t even make eye contact. And these are Christian, Buddhist and Hindu folks…
So… maybe people are all different. Maybe we can’t assume anything based on small observed bits of data… (after all, the Puritans had rules against dancing, singing, laughing, etc. So does anyone know if Amish women smile? -hey, a new thread!).
TWO, not tow!
(no, I didn’t smile at any tow-headed youths).
No offense, but I’d rather get infomration about Islam from a source that’s not so blatantly biased.
I’m a non-Muslim woman who doesn’t wear a headscarf, and I rarely if ever smile at men I don’t know. I don’t want to encourage them. I smile at the devastatingly charming ones, though.
Found this on some kind of Islamic site…
I think some people might be taking this OP out of context. I wasn’t “hitting” on this Muslim woman. I was standing there window shopping, she was standing close by doing the same. We happened to look at each other and I said “Hi”, and smiled. She stared at me with a spooky-eyed stone face for a few seconds, then looked away. That’s all.
I find it curious that some people find it so offensive when someone makes a reasonable observation that people from different cultures do, indeed, act differently. Why is that so horrible? Would a guy from a traditional African or South American society get shouted down for observing that generally speaking, and strangely, to him, Western women tend to avoid baring their breasts? Or that American men are circumcised more often than not? Or that Korean women hold their liquor like a trooper, or that Muscovite women tend to be extremely fashion-conscious, or that Columbian men tend to be extremely macho in their attitudes?
Funny how the same folks who (I imagine) would trumpet “diversity” at the drop of a hat, are so quick to condemn diversity when it is actually observed. :rolleyes:
As for the OP: I’ve had some Iranian and Pakistani friends–guys, admittedly–and they freely shared with me their feelings that they would tend to look down on women from their own cultures who too freely smile at strangers. shrug I guess I’d take their word for it.