Is that a religious beard?

My parents and I were walking to a restaurant for dinner, for some reason they attract more attention than I do from shop owners. It's probably because they look more put together than I do so they appear as a larger dollar sign. Shop owners will often randomly walk up to foreigners and speak in English and be friendly and tell you about their shop right down the street and ask you to come take a look and take a business card of theirs. The first store owner we crossed paths with tried this approach and Dad handled it well. The second one took a much different approach and it definitely threw Dad off because he talked for a while. Instead of saying hello or welcome to my country, this store owner was much more blunt and straight forward; the conversation began by him complimenting Dad's beard. I started laughing and had to turn away, I turned back just in time to hear the Egyptian ask if it was a religious beard.

The three of us were humored by the conversation and it definitely a unique approach to making a sale.