The Princess of Wales learned the ways and customs of Islam the hard way during a royal visit to the Islamic Center in Hayes, London.
While Prince William naturally came to shake hands with an imam, Kate Middleton wants to do the same. But, facing the hand of the young woman, the imam kindly refuses the gesture and places his own hand on her heart.
There was nothing disdainful or disrespectful regarding the imam’s refusal, on the contrary: he acted according to certain Muslim traditions. These differentiate between unmarriageable women (mahram) and those who are. One can shake hands with a mahram woman in the event that one shares family ties with her, blood, alliance, etc.
Kate Middleton as we had never seen her: the princess photographed in trellis under the snow
On the side of non-Mahram women, therefore potentially to be married, it is however forbidden to shake hands with them before marriage unless the woman is already very old (in which case she is considered too old to seduce or even be seduced). It is therefore authorized to shake hands with him.
According to the convictions of this imam, Kate Middleton was therefore a non-Mahram woman, to whom he might not shake hands. He then chose another form of polite greeting: putting his hand over his heart and nodding.