My friend's friend had become more devout. It was a personal decision at a key point in their life - early thirties, a stage of commitment.
Being Muslim and male, this meant that he could no longer hug my female friend any more, as part of a greeting or to say good bye.
I asked whether my friend felt afronted or excluded in some way. And I tried to consider how I would feel if, for instance, a female friend decided to wear a veil, or take up a new religion.
She said no, that she was happy with his decision. For he was still there for her. Still the same happy, warm person that she had always liked. Only now she could not touch him. But she could kid him about it and he happily took the joke, for his personality had not changed.
And maybe that's the point. It was a personal statement, it was not a character change. And it was not a rejection.
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