A Lebanese Muslim, who refused to shake hands was denied as German citizenship.
In 2015, 40-year-old man refused to shake the hand of a civil servant who was supposed to issue him a certificate of passing a naturalization test.
Then the woman canceled the application of the Lebanese. He stated, that he didn’t shake her hand because of the promise made to his wife that she allegedly asked him not to shake hands with other women.
The migrant then filed a claim with the Stuttgart Administrative Court, where he was rejected, after which he sent an appeal to a higher authority. But the administrative court of the German federal state of Baden-Württemberg also refused the Lebanese.
This decision was explained by the fact that “a man, who refuses to shake hands with a woman, seeing in her the danger of sexual temptation, proves his inability to integrate into German living conditions.”
The court also noted, that the handshake is “a non-verbal ritual of greeting and farewell, deeply rooted in the country’s culture.”
In addition, the gesture has legal significance, as it symbolizes the conclusion of a contract. Thus, by refusing to shake the hand of a civil servant, the migrant violates the equality enshrined in the FRG constitution.
The man came from Lebanon in 2002, at home he studied medicine, and in Germany he got a job as a doctor in a clinic.
