Ramadan: Around the Globe

Employees cover a nude statue in a Jakarta nightclub. Indonesia is the world’s most populous Muslim nation.

Kenyan Muslims hold up posters during a protest against the detention of several Kenyans in unknown locations in eastern Africa on suspicion of being involved in terrorism in Nairobi, Kenya

Pakistani youngsters pour a traditional mixture of milk and juice into glasses for Iftar, a time to break the fast, outside a mosque in Lahore, Pakistan

An Afghan woman with her son wearing leg supports begs for alms at a roadside in Kabul, Afghanistan

Poor residents seen receiving food during the fasting month of Ramadan at the Sunni mosque of Abdul Qadir al-Gailani in Baghdad

Afghan boys read the holy Quran in a ‘madrasa’ or Islamic school in Kabul, Afghanistan

A Palestinian boy holds a homemade sparkler firework after breaking his fast at the end of the seventh day of Ramadan in the West Bank city of Ramallah

A Palestinian refugee, who fled Nahr al-Bared camp during fierce fighting between the Lebanese army and Islamic militants, prepares food for the iftar, or breakfast meal, which breaks their Ramadan fast, at a school where she and others have taken refuge in the nearby Beddawi camp in north Lebanon

Visually impaired Palestinian Muslim students read verses of the Quran, Islam’s holiest book, during a Ramadan event at Al-Qabas Islamic school for the visually impaired in the West Bank city of Ramallah, Thursday, Sept. 20, 2007. The Islamic school is funded by local donations, that usually increase during the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan.

Kashmiri orphans receive food before Iftar, the meal Muslims eat to break their dawn-to-dusk fast during Ramadan, at the Jammu Kashmir Yateem Khana in Srinagar, India

A crescent moon is seen next to the King Hussein Bin Talal Mosque in Amman September 18, 2007, during the holy month of Ramadan.

An Israeli policeman scuffles with a Palestinian worshiper, as he and other Palestinians wait to cross the checkpoint near Bethlehem on their way to pray at the Al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, Friday, Sept. 14, 2007.

Chefs put finishing touches to a chocolate model of the Grand Mosque in a luxury hotel in Jakarta September 16, 2007. The chocolate sculpture, measuring 2.5 metres by 5 metres, was made from 150 kg of chocolate. The model will be displayed in the lobby of the Grand Melia Hotel during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.

Jakarta, Indonesia: Men rest after prayer on the second day of the month.

Somali children rummage through garbage to look for food in Mogadishu, Somalia, Monday, Sept. 17, 2007. Somalia is facing skyrocketing food prices during the holy month of Ramadan, the latest blow in a country struggling with a deadly insurgency, residents said Monday. Staple foods such as rice, spaghetti and cooking oil have nearly doubled in price, and many blame the lack of security combined with the monsoon season, which makes it perilous for ships carrying food to arrive in port.

Dushanbe, Tajikistan: During the holiday, observant Moslems get up before dawn to eat, then pray and then do not eat again until after the fourth prayer of the day, which occurs around sunset.

Sanaa, Yemen: Cosmetic Kohl is applied to the eyelids of a young man. Oral traditions relating to the words and deeds of Mohammad mention the use of Kohl frequently. It is believed to contribute towards the Islamic belief in thawaab, or reward

An Afghan child sleeps as his mother begs for alms in Herat, Afghanistan. During the holy month of Ramadan Muslims consider the giving of alms mandatory.