More than half of Gaza's population are children. Though none of them has ever voted for Hamas, they're the designated targets of Israel's military operations and more generally, of the siege imposed upon Gaza. They're resilient children, standing up against a multitude of ailments and obstacles. According to a recent report of the Palestinian Medical Relief Society, 52 percent of Gaza's children are anemic and suffer from serious nutritional problems due to the insufficiency of phosphorous, calcium and zinc in their food. The rate of respiratory illnesses they suffer is also cause for concern. -- Vittorio Arrigoni

IN SHAKURPUR Basti, a teeming Muslim-dominated, workingclass neighbourhood in North Delhi, there is a four-storey building with a mosque on the ground floor. This is the Darul Ujloom Nizamia Ghausul Uloom Madrassa. On the face of it, there is nothing to set this madrassa apart from an estimated 35,000 madrassas in the country. But unknown to the community, the Darul Ujloom madrassa is subverting its foundational pact with both Allah and his followers. In many ways, madrassas are a cornerpiece in Islamic community life. They are seminaries where children go for religious education, and in poor neighbourhoods, for non-formal schooling. Most madrassas in India are affiliated either to the Deobandi, Barelvi or Ahl-i-Hadith sects and are funded by zakat — the com- passionate Islamic practice of people donating 2.5 percent of their income to support hospitals, charities or Islamic schools. Zakat donated to madrassas is meant to pay for maulvis’ salaries and free meals, clothing, books and lodging for children. In keeping with this tradition, the Darul Ujloom Madrassa, set up in 1992 by three maulvis of the Barelvi sect, is supposed to house 150 poor Muslim children and provide them with shelter, education and food. Far from doing this though, in a disturbing twist, TEHELKA found that the Darul Ujloom Madrassa was illegally sending its minor children out to work harrowing twelve hour shifts at nearby factories and sweatshops.-- Neha Dixit

"Women are attracted to Islam because they want freedom. Islam gives them independence because they do not have to be a slave of any man. Islam is against moral aggression against women. The chastity and honor of women are protected. No illicit relations are allowed. All these things attract women," said Siddiqi.

Islamic law also provides that men may have more than one wife. "This cannot seem to leave Japanese heads," said Siddiqi. "We explain one thousand times that marrying four times is permissible only in certain unavoidable circumstances such as impotency, infertility and so forth. As a result there is no prostitution in Islam. If you need another woman, then marry her, take care of her children."-- Lynne Y. Nakano

25,000 Jews live in Iran. It's the largest Jewish population in the Middle East outside of Israel. Iranian Jews are not persecuted or abused by the state, in fact, they are protected under Iran's constitution. They are free to practice their religion and to vote in elections. They are not stopped and searched at checkpoints, they are not brutalized by an occupying army, and they are not herded into a densely-populated penal colony (Gaza) where they are deprived of the basic means of survival. Iranian Jews live in dignity and enjoy the benefits of citizenship.

"(Ahmadinejad's) office recently donated money for Tehran's Jewish hospital. It is one of only four Jewish charity hospitals worldwide and is funded with money from the Jewish diaspora - something remarkable in Iran where even local aid organizations have difficulty receiving funds from abroad for fear of being accused of being foreign agents." -- Mike Whitney

In the 1970s and 1980s close monitoring and farsightedness were the defining features of Libya's education policy. Free state and compulsory education for all children under 15 years of age were introduced. Parents who did not send their children to school were prosecuted – as indeed is still the case. Over the last two decades, however, the standard of education has steadily declined. -- Mustafa el-Fituri

It's midday. Not the 12 o'clock sandwich break at your desk that comes to mind nor the 2pm midday pause button that slows this entire country to a digestive halt for its civilized daily lunch break, but simply a natural breath in the equator of the long day. A young man climbs a spiral set of stairs and takes in the privileged view that spreads out in the valley below him.

He pauses, takes a deep breath and then something happens. Something that hasn't been heard on the skirts of these sometimes snowy mountains in more than 500 years, yet something that once rang out 5 times a day across most of this country for almost 800 years. -- Troy Nahumko

For Muslims in the West, fasting provides a particular challenge. As members of a religious minority, it is a challenge that not all of the faithful are ready and willing to take on. Azima Moustafa and Haidar Omar have lived in Germany for 13 years. As Syrian Kurds they faithfully observed Ramadan every year in their homeland. Now, however, they find it increasingly difficult to do without food and drink in the fasting period. -- Ulrike Hummel

The Chinese government, it is clear, views the influence that local Imams wield in the Kashgar community with considerable anxiety, if only for the reason that this is one public forum over which they cannot exercise complete control. Unlike in Ningxia, Imams chosen by local communities are often replaced in Xinjiang, locals in Kashgar and Urumqi said in interviews, if they are found deviating even a little from the official script.

In April, the local government in the town of Aksu issued a public notice, calling for all religious texts, even those used in local schools, to be submitted for government approval. It also began a monthly inspection of religious sites. “Religious teachers are strictly prohibited from using non-approved texts, and no person may conduct religious activities outside of pre-approved religious sites, or face investigation as an unapproved Imam,” read one regulation. The government has also cracked down on informal religious schools in Kashgar, where young Uighurs like Mahsum would get together to study the Quran. These gatherings are now deemed illegal.

Communist Party members — who dominate government positions — are also discouraged from being believers. Those who are found attending mosques will likely lose their jobs, says Mahsum. One advertisement for a job position in the Xinjiang government's education department openly calls for candidates “who do not believe in religion” and “do not participate in religious activities”. – ANANTH KRISHNAN

Amineh [not real name] divorced her husband, just two months after marriage, as she found him to be drug addict. She said when she went to the Sharia judge for a court order allowing her to divorce her husband, the judge in usual Islamic dress, proposed her to spend few nights with him for such order. She said: "I had to virtually turn into a concubine of the judge for several weeks, till he settled my divorce issue. I even became pregnant, while the judge managed for abortion in a government hospital, secretly, just by using his official status accorded by Mullahs in Iran."

Amineh appealed to Iranian women in the world, who might be reading this interview to do anything possible in ending the devil regime of Mullahs. She said: "If you can do this, I will kiss your feet and hand." -- Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury

Saturday will mark the 30th death anniversary of Mohammed Rafi, India’s singing legend who was loved beyond the borders of South Asia. Though he was paired with many playback singers over a career spanning four decades, his more memorable songs were rendered with the iconic female vocalist, Lata Mangeshkar. Rafi was a Punjabi Muslim, Lata a Maharashtrian Hindu. Their love songs still inspire millions. -- Jawed Naqvi

It would be obvious to proclaim that no place is safe from the brutality of terrorism in Pakistan. There are no safe havens here where the barbarians can’t and won’t strike. However, over the last couple of years, what was once the most troubled city has remained nervously quiet (if not entirely peaceful).

As suicide bombers go off with audacious frequency right across Khyber Pakhtun-khwa, Punjab and Islamabad, comparatively speaking Karachi has remained largely peaceful, save politically motivated targeted killings. Karachi has always been known as the only truly cosmopolitan city in the country with strong liberal and pluralistic overtones. But ironically, till 1984, it was also the only major city where fundamentalist political/ religious groups such as the JI and the JUP enjoyed their finest electoral hours...

Though still one of the most complex and diverse cosmopolitan entities, Karachi’s relatively peaceful decorum in the face of the havoc being perpetrated by extremists elsewhere is due to some admiring compromises that the people and politicians of this city have struck in the last few years. A delicate but promising compromise was struck between the secular political expressions of Karachi’s mohajir, Punjabi, Pakhtun, Baloch and Sindhi populations, namely the MQM, the ANP, and the PPP. - Nadeem F Paracha

All kinds of target killers seem to have landed in this country of pious people. You name them and there they are holding a gun in their hands and ready to take a shot at the target any time they wish. Every location in the country has different brands of target killers with different aims and objectives. At domestic level, we have target killers that mostly target women in the name of honour and feel pride in successfully accomplishing their tasks. At city level, we have target killers hunting the people belonging to certain ethnic, political, and sectarian communities. -- Mohammad Nafees

Hashem al-Madani made it possible for some southern Lebanese to do what film stars usually do in front of the camera: kiss. As this was more socially acceptable with a partner of the same sex (some people preferred this anyway), it resulted in a whole series of photographs of women – or men – homing in on each other, nose to nose... It is obvious that from the very beginning of photography, the Arab bourgeoisie worked to establish codes of its own: amorphous, oriented sometimes towards a European viewpoint, sometimes against it – but always self-aware. -- Mona Sarkis

For Pakistanis with a feudal or tribal mindset, who believe power can be retained by maintaining the status quo and controlling people through archaic rules, an education that teaches questioning is irrelevant. Education is a mere ritual for their scions as they have seldom, if ever, used their education to bring the benefits of progressive thinking to their people and have almost never challenged their own false sense of entitlement. While they pay lip service to human rights at international forums, at home they demand unquestioning servility from their oppressed tribesmen.

Politicians from tribal or feudal backgrounds have repeatedly shown with their actions, and even voiced, their support for parallel justice systems like the jirgas which continue to pass verdicts despite being outlawed in Sindh and elsewhere. This system is so ‘rigged’ against the poor that it has yet to give a verdict condemning powerful land-grabbers, rapists and murderers. So to expect such persons to endorse a value system based on the principles of equality, justice and rule of law would be a tall order. When education is in conflict with a retrogressive world view, how can a degree be more than a piece of paper that, if needed, can perhaps be bought to further feudal goals in the corridors of power. ...

The degree debacle in parliament has shocked us by reminding the nation of Pakistan’s rotting public examination system and high threshold of tolerance for criminal behaviour. In today’s examination centres invigilators and examiners are terrorised with weapons and muscle, and hard-working and honest students are short-changed by influential cheats. Some parents are found to be a party to this fraud as was shown on a TV news report of a raid on Karachi examination centres during matriculation exams. A media scandal broke loose when a politician was caught in Rawalpindi for sending his cousin to replace him in the examination hall. Such widespread malpractices have spawned a cottage industry of fake degrees, surrogate candidates and cheating facilitators.-- Niilofur Farrukh

After yuppies and puppies come the Muppies or Muslim upwardly mobile professionals who appear to be increasingly on the high road to white collar jobs and comfortable lives and demonstrate a desire to leave the ghetto real and metaphorical of the past behind.
Just weeks after minority affairs minister Salman Khurshid said that minority recruitment to public sector jobs has risen from 6.9% in 2007 to 9.24% in 2009, TOI correspondents from across the country reveal that the Muppie really does exist in India today. Across the country, large numbers of young Muslims are realizing their dreams through professional education. And as we report from Hyderabad, their families too are able to realize delayed, if cherished dreams of improved lifestyles through their childrens achievement.
The Muppie is breaking the stereotype. In just three years, the minorities share of government jobs went up 24%.
The Muppie looks to be here to stay...Read on.

Saudi Marriage Officiant Dr. Ahmad Al-Mu'bi: "Marriage is actually two things: First we are talking about the marriage contract itself. This is one thing, while consummating the marriage – having sex with the wife for the first time – is another thing. There is no minimal age for entering marriage. You can have a marriage contract even with a one-year-old girl, not to mention a girl of nine, seven, or eight. This is merely a contract [indicating] consent. The guardian in such a case must be the father, because the father's opinion is obligatory. Thus, the girl becomes a wife... But is the girl ready for sex or not? What is the appropriate age for having sex for the first time? This varies according to environment and traditions. In Yemen, girls are married off at nine, ten, eleven, eight, or thirteen, while in other countries; they are married off at 16. Some countries have legislated laws forbidding having sex before the girl is eighteen."

With the publication of "Muslim World Almanac 2008," a group of individuals based in Makkah and Jeddah has done a remarkable job. Dr. Abdullah Omar Naseef has rightly said in his preface: "Seldom do we come across a comprehensive exposition of our faith and its tradition, together with its authentic and up-to-date portrayal of the geopolitical and socioeconomic conditions in the Muslim world. Here is a response to this challenge, covering, inter alia, the current state of affairs in the Muslim regions, ethnic and demographic composition including the historical turns and twists that characterize our worldwide community. The Makkah-based treatise is indeed a noteworthy attempt." Shaheen Nazar of Arab News reports.

Female voters would exercise their right to vote for the first time ever in the urban areas of Pakistan’s northwest district of Battagram in North West Frontier Province in tomorrow’s by-election on the PF-59 electoral constituency seat for the provincial legislature. Sources said that the contesting candidates and the male voters had reached an understanding that the women in the rural areas of the district would be kept away from the polling stations.

The Dubai Women Establishment (DWE) has signed a strategic co-operation agreement with the Dubai Statistics Centre (DSC) to share crucial data that will further the goals of both organisations to provide better understanding on the status of UAE women. The agreement was signed by Mona Al Marri, Chairperson of the board of Dubai Women Establishment, and Arif Obaid Al Muhairi, CEO of the Dubai Statistics Centre, recently. The DWE aims to source relevant updated data on women that will aid the establishment to  provide an in-depth analysis of their status and their individual and collective capabilities to contribute to the national economy.

A Malaysian city has urged Muslim women not to wear brightly colored lipstick, tight clothes or high-heeled shoes while working, an official said Tuesday. "Nowadays the way women dress attracts unwanted attention. It could lead to all sorts of vice," said Azman Mohd Daham, public relations director of the city council in Kota Bharu, capital of conservative northern Kelantan state. We do not advocate tight clothes, too much lipstick or thick make-up, and even the headscarf should not be too transparent," he told AFP. "Women should dress modestly, this is what Islam requires."

Academics and writers at a function in Dhaka on 19 June called for taking inspiration from poet Sufia Kamal’s works to establish rights of women.  Addressing the programme organised to celebrate the 70th anniversary of publication of the poet’s first collection of poems, Sanjher Maya, they said Sufia Kamal had become an inspiration to all Bangalis through her 70-year of devotion to poetry. ‘Sufia Kamal believed that it was impossible to attain progress without establishing equal rights of men and women,’ Selina said, and urged all to take spirit from her poems to establish women’s rights.