He is western educated and not a Islamist.
He is western educated and not a Islamist."
wirestripper, I hope you are right. It really is an arab-culture thing, not a islam-religious thing. I lived in Iran for a few years (many years ago), and before leaving the states was given a class on what not to do. I will never forget the emphasis placed on never showing the bottom of your shoe to someone. And as I said, it has nothing to do with Islam. Even a western-educated mid-eastern person would not do it. I'm not convinced it wasn't deliberate and done as a subtle message ('I'm here with them, but here is my real opinion').
I hope I'm wrong, but I don't think so. In any case, the service was beautiful.