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.
