All people, more or less, feel a sense of regret by departure of the Holy month of Ramadan. However, the best thing we could do on this occasion is to take an account of ourselves. We need to do an evaluation of where we stand now after remaining hungry and thirsty for so long. We should ask ourselves certain questions like where we were before the arrival of Ramadan and where we are moving now after passing the days of fasting. Let this self-introspection lead us to feel infinite happiness for the good we have done throughout Ramadan and remorse for the bad which we have not yet changed, even at the end of Ramadan.

Pope Kyrillos V, born Yohanna in the town of Beni Sweif in 1831, lived through turmoil, revolution and wars. He became the 112th pope of the Coptic Church in 1874 and held the post until he died in 1927 at the age of 96, making him the longest-serving pope in the history of the Church. The name Kyrillos, which means master in Greek, is popular in the Coptic Church, where clerics associate it with biblical accounts of the life of Joseph.

In any case the situation is indeed far graver than it has ever been presented in the media or elsewhere. The time for dealing with it through sermons or flat denials is past. Nothing will be gained by running news on TV to the effect that Hindus, Sikhs and Christians are buying national flags as enthusiastically as patriotic Muslims, though it may well be true. The time has come for the state to undertake a thorough reappraisal of whatever is amiss in law and social practice with regard to the right of minorities to be treated as equal citizens of Pakistan.

Severe restrictions imposed by the Taliban, on access to education, health care and work, before they were ousted from power after Sept. 11 have been lifted in government-controlled areas. Women have run for office, been named to government posts and become more involved in Afghan society; some operate their own businesses. The 2004 Constitution guaranteed equal rights. In 2009, a new law banned violence against women and set new penalties for underage and forced marriage, rape and other abuses. Many more girls are in school and maternity death rates are down.

As they adopt new identities as Israeli soldiers, the recruits are joining a military, and a society, struggling with its own identity crisis. The Supreme Court in February declared illegal a program exempting thousands of ultra-Orthodox yeshiva students from the draft, and Parliament failed to come up with a new program to enroll them as well as Palestinian citizens of Israel into the army or civilian service. On Monday, ultra-Orthodox leaders issued a warning to young men not to sign draft notices.

If Muhammad Ali Jinnah were alive today only half of Pakistan would consider him a Muslim. The ethnic, sectarian, and tribal fault lines have reached such depths that the nation once founded to be the homeland of Muslims is now bickering over who gets to be called a Muslim. The latest poll by the US-based Pew Research Center has exposed the depth of sectarian fault lines where only one in every two Sunni Muslims in Pakistan accepts Shias as Muslims.

"اے ایمان والو! نبیِ (مکرّم صلی اللہ علیہ وآلہ وسلم) کے گھروں میں داخل نہ ہوا کرو سوائے اس کے کہ تمہیں کھانے کے لئے اجازت دی جائے (پھر وقت سے پہلے پہنچ کر) کھانا پکنے کا انتظار کرنے والے نہ بنا کرو، ہاں جب تم بلائے جاؤ تو (اس وقت) اندر آیا کرو پھر جب کھانا کھا چکو تو (وہاں سے اُٹھ کر) فوراً منتشر ہوجایا کرو اور وہاں باتوں میں دل لگا کر بیٹھے رہنے والے نہ بنو۔ یقیناً تمہارا ایسے (دیر تک بیٹھے) رہنا نبیِ (اکرم) کو تکلیف دیتا ہے اور وہ تم سے (اُٹھ جانے کا کہتے ہوئے) شرماتے ہیں اور اللہ حق (بات کہنے) سے نہیں شرماتا، اور جب تم اُن (اَزواجِ مطّہرات) سے کوئی سامان مانگو تو اُن سے پسِ پردہ پوچھا کرو، یہ (ادب) تمہارے دلوں کے لئے اور ان کے دلوں کے لئے بڑی طہارت کا سبب ہے، اور تمہارے لئے (ہرگز جائز) نہیں کہ تم رسول اللہ (صلی اللہ علیہ وآلہ وسلم) کو تکلیف پہنچاؤ اور نہ یہ (جائز) ہے کہ تم اُن کے بعد ابَد تک اُن کی اَزواجِ (مطّہرات) سے نکاح کرو، بیشک یہ اللہ کے نزدیک بہت بڑا (گناہ) ہے،"۔  

Women's group protests in Kashmir over Assam, Myanmar

Kohistani aims to inspire Afghan girls

Muslim immigrants at home key to U.S. image abroad

Acid attack: CM orders best treatment for affected nurses

Women henna stalls popular

Women, free speech, and the Tunisian constitution

Ghana: NPP Women Organizer Supports Muslim Community

Manteo grad helping Afghan women and children

New video of Swiss hostage in Yemen

Compiled by New Age Islam News Bureau

Photo: Veena Malik

اگست یعنی ستارہ سہیل پیدا ہوا اور پنڈت اور دانا  اور عارف ہوگیا او ربندھ پہاڑ اُس کی شاگرد ی سے منسوب ہوا سب دیوتا اگست کی خدمت  میں حاضر ہوئے اور التاس کی بندھ کو نصیحت فرمائیے کہ اپنی اصلی حالت پر جائے اگست اُس کے پاس گیا اور وہ تواضع کے سبب پست ہوگیا اگست نے کہا اسی طرح رہو تب تلک میں واپس آؤں بندّھ ویسا ہی  پست رہا  بھنڈ نے کہا کہ ایک بار مجھے یاد ہے کہ برہمن کو شراب حلا ل تھی او ر کمینوں کو حرام اور ایک  ایسا وقت تھا کہ عورت غیر سے صحبت رکھتی  اور اُسے پت برتا کہتے (اور پت برتا شوہر پرست کو کہتے ہیں )  اور میں یہ بھی جانتا ہوں کہ بشن اور اندر اور سورج اور چاند کب وجود میں  آئے۔ Yoga Vashishta, Translated from Sanskrit into Persian by Prince Mohammad Dara Shikoh

Pakistan

Base attacked to avenge Osama death: Taliban

Army will not launch a joint operation in NW: Kayani

Shia killing: TTP claims responsibility for Mansehra attack

Mideast Asia

Israel preparing to attack Iran: Report

Iran: Israel's Existence 'Insult to All Humanity'

Iran charges Gulf royals with hypocrisy

India

SIMI hand in Azad Maidan mayhem

Curfew relaxed in Assam, 100 people detained

Arab World

Wave of attacks in northern, central Iraq kill 100

In Lebanon, Sunnis Threaten Shiites as Kidnappings of Syrians Rise

UN ends observer mission in Syria as Aleppo under renewed attack

North America

Time and CNN revoke Fareed Zakaria's suspension

Ex-CIA officers accuse Obama of leaking details of Laden raid

South ast Asia

Indonesian Islamic Sect Tarekat Naqshabandiyah Observes Idul Fitri on Friday

On Intolerance, Jakarta Could Be Worse: Indonesian Council of Churches

South Asia

Another Afghan Police Attack Kills 2 US Troops

Taliban say they have infiltrated Afghan forces

Europe

Berlin court allows Prophet (PBUH)’s cartoons to be displayed at rally

Assad butchering Syrians, must go: France

Africa

More than 30 killed in South Africa mine violence

No peace in Sudan's Darfur despite costly peacekeeping force

Compiled by New Age Islam News Bureau

Photo: Taliban storm Pak air base that stores nuke warheads

For Details and More Headlines from All Regions, Please click, ‘More’

It is not piety, that you turn your faces to the East and to the West. True piety is this: to believe in God, and the Last Day, the angels, the Book, and the Prophets, to give of one's substance, however cherished, to kinsmen, and orphans, the needy, the traveller, beggars, and to ransom the slave, to perform the prayer, to pay the alms. And they who fulfil their covenant when they have engaged in a covenant, and endure with fortitude misfortune, hardship and peril, these are they who are true in their faith, these are the truly godfearing.

Ask all the questions, seek explanations, make comments on what the Mumbai police did or did not do before, during and after a Muslim mob behaved in despicable fashion — torching OB vans, attacking media persons and the police, molesting women constables, snatching arms from the police — in the backdrop of a rally at Azad Maidan last Saturday, to protest atrocities against Muslims in Assam and in Myanmar. (Police and the organisers agree that it was an armed group that suddenly surfaced outside the maidan and turned to violence.) But do allow for the possibility that responding in a most “un-police-like” fashion to extreme provocation, the city’s police commissioner, Arup Patnaik, may have opened a happy chapter in the otherwise unhappy Muslim-police relationship in the metropolis. … Those inclined to think this is too charitable an interpretation of the role of the police may wish to recall that whenever under attack, the police themselves tend to run riot. Every human life is precious and the tragic loss of two Muslim lives is not to be ignored. But nor must we forget that the mob was entirely responsible for the provocation and the overwhelming majority of those injured were policemen and policewomen, not to mention the unpardonable molestation of the latter. Peace was restored in about 30 minutes and mercifully the situation in the city is under control.

Behind all the syrupy shenanigans, the fact is the House of Saud and Tehran didn't - and couldn't - possibly agree on anything; this was more like a "let's keep talking" - the Mecca version of the good old' US-USSR red telephone. The "Custodian" called for "solidarity, tolerance and moderation"; hard to see any of this as the House of Saud - and Qatar - weaponize runaway gangs and an array of beheading-happy Salafi-jihadis in Syria.

According to the Wahhabi ideology it is strictly forbidden to oppose the ruler. Far from questioning the highly contentious actions of the Saudi regime, the religious establishment has issued religious fatwas to back them up. These fatwas were utilized by the Interior ministry headed by Nayef, to declare last February that these protests were a new form of terrorism that would be confronted with an iron fist, as was al-Qaeda. It also indirectly blamed Iran for the protests.

Indonesians will celebrate the country’s 67th Independence Day tomorrow. And this year’s Independence Day also coincides with Ramadhan 1433 Hijri. While some may feel that celebrating Independence Day is a big ask for the fasting population, many have the opportunity to view Independence Day as a moment of change and opportunity, and something that will encourage fellow citizens to celebrate and strengthen their national identity.