• YEMEN
    • EN Background: North Yemen became independent of the Ottoman Empire in 1918. The British, who had set up a protectorate area around the southern port of Aden in the 19th century, withdrew in 1967 from what becameSouth ...
    • UZBEKISTAN
    • TAN Background: Russia conquered Uzbekistan in the late 19th century. Stiff resistance to the Red Army after World War I was eventually suppressed and a socialist republic set up in 1924. During the Soviet era, inte...
    • UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
    • TES Background: The Trucial States of thePersian Gulf coast granted the UK control of their defense and foreign affairs in 19th century treaties. In 1971, six of these states - Abu Zaby, 'Ajman, Al Fujayrah, Ash Sh...
    • TURKMENISTAN
    • TAN Annexed byRussia between 1865 and 1885, Turkmenistan became a Soviet republic in 1925. It achieved its independence upon the dissolution of the USSR in 1991. President NIYAZOV retains absolute control over the cou...
    • TURKEY
    • KEY Background: Present-day Turkey was created in 1923 from the Turkish remnants of theOttoman Empire. Soon thereafter, the country instituted secular laws to replace traditional religious fiats. In 1945Turkey joined...
    • TUNISIA
    • SIA Following independence fromFrance in 1956, President Habib BOURGUIBA established a strict one-party state. He dominated the country for 31 years, repressing Islamic fundamentalism and establishing rights for wome...
    • TAJIKISTAN
    • TAN Tajikistan has experienced three changes in government and a five-year civil war since it gained independence in 1991 from theUSSR. A peace agreement among rival factions was signed in 1997, and implemented in 2000. ...
    • Imam Sajjds Supplication in Bidding...
    • g Farewell to the Month of Ramadan O God, O He who desires no repayment! O He who shows no remorse at bestowal! O He who rewards not His servant tit for tat! Thy kindness is a new beginning, Thy pardon gratuitous ...
    • SYRIA
    • RIA Following the breakup of theOttoman Empire duringWorld War I, Syria was administered by the French until independence in 1946. In the 1967 Arab-Israeli War, Syria lost the Golan Heights to Israel. Since 1976, Syr...
    • SUDAN
    • Military regimes favoring Islamic-oriented governments have dominated national politics since independence from the UK in 1956. Sudan has been embroiled in a civil war for all but 10 years of this period (1972-82)....
    • THE INWARD CONDITIONS OF FASTING
    • NG Al-Ghazali Three Grades It should be known that there are three grades of Fasting: ordinary, special and extra-special. Ordinary Fasting means abstaining from food, drink and sexual satisfaction. Special Fasting...
    • On the Secrets of Fasting
    • ng Ibn `Arabi translated by Aisha Bewley     O you who laugh in the form of the weeper!        By us you are the complaint and the complainer.     Is the fa...
    • Fasting in the Quran
    • 'an 2:183 O ye who believe! Fasting is prescribed to you as it was prescribed to those before you, that ye may (learn) self-restraint, - 2:184 (Fasting) for a fixed number of days; but if any of you is ill, or on a ...
    • SIERRA LEONE
    • ONE Since 1991, civil war between the government and the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths and the displacement of more than 2 million people (well over one-third of the po...
    • SENEGAL
    • GAL Independent from France in 1960, Senegal joined with The Gambia to form the nominal confederation ofSenegambia in 1982. However, the envisaged integration of the two countries was never carried out, and the unio...
    • SAUDI ARABIA
    • BIA  In 1902, ABD AL-AZIZ bin Abd al-Rahman Al Saud captured Riyadh and set out on a 30-year campaign to unify the Arabian Peninsula. In the 1930s, the discovery of oil transformed the country. Following Iraq's inv...
    • QATAR
    • TAR  Ruled by the Al Thani family since the mid-1800s,Qatar transformed itself from a poor British protectorate noted mainly for pearling into an independent state with significant oil and natural gas revenues. Du...
    • PAKISTAN
    • The separation in 1947 of British India into the Muslim state of Pakistan (with two sections west and east) and largely Hindu India was never satisfactorily resolved. A third war between these countries in 1971 resulted...
    • OMAN
    • MAN In 1970, QABOOS bin Said Al Said ousted his father and has ruled as sultan ever since. His extensive modernization program has opened the country to the outside world and has preserved a long-standing political a...
    • NIGER
    • GER Not until 1993, 35 years after independence from France, did Niger hold its first free and open elections. A 1995 peace accord ended a five-year Tuareg insurgency in the north. Coups in 1996 and 1999 were followed by...
    • Marrakesh
    • esh Marrakech is not only a fantastic city, it is also a symbol of the Morocco that once was, and which still survives here. The streets of the old and pink city have been too narrow to allow the introduction of cars, an...
    • MOROCCO
    • CCO Morocco's long struggle for independence fromFrance ended in 1956. The internationalized city ofTangier was turned over to the new country that same year.Morocco virtually annexed Western Sahara during the late 19...
    • Kabul
    • bul Kabul city (1997 est. pop. 1,500,000), is the capital of Afghanistan and its largest city and economic and cultural center, on the KabulRiver. It is strategically located in a high narrow valley, wedged between mountain...
    • MAURITANIA
    • NIA Independent fromFrance in 1960, Mauritania annexed the southern third of the formerSpanish Sahara (nowWestern Sahara) in 1976, but relinquished it after three years of raids by the Polisario guerrilla front seeking i...
    • MAYOTTE
    • OTTE    Mayotte was ceded to France along with the other islands of the Comoros group in 1843. It was the only island in the archipelago that voted in 1974 to retain its link with France and forego independence...
    • Multan
    • tan Location: Multan Division lies between north latitude 29'-22' and 30'-45 and east longitude 71'-4' and 72'-4'55/Pakistan. It is located in a bend created by five confluent rivers. The Sutlej separates it from Ba...
    • MALI
    • r="#9391a2">MALI The Sudanese Republic and Senegal became independent of France in 1960 as the Mali Federation. WhenSenegal withdrew after only a few months, theSudaneseRepublic was renamed Mali. Rule by dictatorship w...
    • Tripoli
    • poli Tripoli (Trablus), 85 kilometers north ofBeirut, has a special character. Thanks to its historical wealth, relaxed lifestyle and thriving business climate, this is a city where modern and medieval blend easily into a li...
    • Tashkent
    • kent Capital of Uzbekistan Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan and Central Asia’s premier metropolis, betrays little of its 2,000-year history as a crossroads of ancient trade routes. This modern city of 2.1 ...
    • Sarajevo
    • evo "In the green and wooded bosom of this mountainous and springy land of Bosnia, there is an enchanting city called Sarajevo." Sarajevo, city and capital, Bosnia and Herzegovina (commonly referred to ...
    • SANAA
    • NA'A Sana'a he capital city ofYemen, is located in a high altitude basin (2,300 meters) in the central mountainous region. It is a city gathering more than 1 million people (1998). In the foreground we see...
    • Medina
    • EDINA (Al Madinah) Al-Madinah Al-Munawarah is the second holy city to Moslems after Makkah Al-Mukkaramah. It has also got many other names such as Taibah, Yathrib, the City of the Messenger, and Dar Al-Higra ...
    • Mecca
    • cca General Information Mecca(Arabic: Makkah), the birthplace of the Prophet Muhammad(may the blessing and peace of Allah be upon him and his family), is the holiest city of the Islamic faith. According to Isla...
    • Kuala Lumpur
    • MPUR Kuala Lumpur (or "K. L.," as it's known to locals) is the center and symbol ofMalaysia's rapid rise as an economic powerhouse. There are enchanting temples and mosques, small white-washed colonial ...
    • Jakarta
    • ARA Jakarta , capital of Indonesia, is the largest city of the country. It is located on the north-western coast of the island of Java on Jakarta Bay, at the mouth of the Ciliwung River. Jakarta is also the cent...
    • Istanbul
    • NBUL GEOGRAPHICAL LOCATION Istanbul is the only city in the world built on two continents. Istanbul is a province designed to be the capital and it has been the capital of three empires which used to dominate ...
    • Cocos Islands
    • ands Background There are 27 coral islands in the group. Captain William Keeling discovered the islands in 1609, but they remained uninhabited until the 19th century. Annexed by the UK in 1857, they ...
    • Bangladesh
    • desh Location and Geography Location: Southern Asia, bordering the Bay of Bengal, between Burma and India n xstyle="color: black"> (Most of the country is situated on deltas of large rivers flowi...
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