If the Oceans Were Ink: An Unlikely Friendship and a Journey to the Heart of the Quran

by Carla Power

Say, even if the ocean were ink For (writing) the words of my Lord, The ocean would be exhausted Before the words of my Lord were exhausted, Even if We were to add another ocean to it. (Chapter 18: Verse 109)

When the Sheikh first came to Oxford and began giving sermons at his local mosque, he shocked the congregation with his views on prayer caps. Was it necessary, one man asked him, for men to wear prayer caps when they prayed? No, responded Akram. It was simply a South Asian custom, not an Islamic requirement at all. The congregation was nonplussed. To pray bareheaded? But their fathers had prayed in caps, and theirs before them! Outrageous.