[meIias]

>Be careful about joining the ancient prayers, though, unless you know how to perform them, and have converted to Islam. Otherwise you'll really offend people.

Disagree with this, they'll likely be overjoyed that someone foreign shows positive interest in their religion.

[halflings]

Your comment is downvoted, and people are posting comments like "ok, try", "this is offensive". Doesn't sound like a hackernews thread :)

There are some things you have to do before going to a mosque: unlike churches, you can't get in a mosque "just to visit" (except if they have open-hours for non-worshippers/tourists, which is unlikely for a mosque in the middle of Yemen). You have to be in a state of purity (http://www.onislam.net/english/reading-islam/understanding-i... Also, joining the prayer if you're not muslim can be troublesome, but by all means if you just get in the mosque and maybe observe people praying, I'm not sure you'll get in any trouble. Theoretically, even a rude behavior in a mosque shouldn't cause you any big problem (a man once urinated inside the prophet's mosque, and the prophet stopped some believers that wanted to punish him and just covered the part where that man urinated).

Muslims are really friendly with non-muslims that are geniunly interested (even in mosques where there are some rules to respect)

[idlewords]

This is a really wonderful comment. What I was trying to get at is that you can't just show up and pray along with the group, like you can do in some Christian churches. There's no way to stand in the back and follow along.

In my experience, the biggest challenge you face in visiting a mosque is that people will make a sincere effort to convert you to Islam. They do this out of generosity and kindness, but it leads to some intense conversations. It is best to be ready with some good deflecting answers, unless you are considering becoming a Muslim.

I was very surprised to find myself invited to enter nearly every mosque I visited in Yemen. The only exception was the Great Mosque in Sana'a, which is closed to nonbelievers. My guess is this is because Sana'a sees a relatively large number of tourists compared to the rest of Yemen.

It would be hard to overemphasize the positive, welcoming, generous attitude of Muslims towards anyone with a sincere interest in their religion.

[kome]

ok, try.

[unexpected]

This is probably one of the most offensive things you can do in Islam.

[wavefunction]

Islam isn't a monolith. It's also not a country. You should observe your locale, inquire politely, and behave respectfully, as is true with interacting with any culture you're unfamiliar with.