Some people from India, where I used to teach, have put to me the following question: Why now do you teach classes in which men and women students share the same space? [By ‘the same space’ is meant a space without any sort of physical partition.] Since the question addresses my own practice, I am obliged to answer for myself.

Translated by Dr. Abu Zayd They asked: What is the meaning of the month of Ramadan? I replied: It is a month of blessings, abundance, happiness, and beauty. In it, the Qurʾān was revealed as guidance for humanity, guidance that is self-evident and clear....

They asked: What is the greatest book? I replied: After the Book of God, the greatest book undoubtedly is the Ṣaḥīḥ of Imām Bukhārī, entitled al-Jāmiʿ al-Musnad al-Ṣaḥīḥ al-Mukhtaṣar min Umūr Rasūlillāh wa Sunanihī wa Ayyāmihī. Nothing like it has ever been authored in Islam or any other tradition.

Many people have asked me: As we are compelled to pray in our homes, can we follow an imam via live broadcast by radio or TV or other means of ‘live-streaming’? A congregational prayer is valid if there are two or more than two doing the prayer in the same space.

Only a week remains to prepare, before we welcome the month of Ramadan. With the covid-19 pandemic ongoing, so is the lockdown, and it is most likely that the lockdown will continue throughout Ramadan, and perhaps even longer. People are preparing themselves for this...