Observing Ramadan around the world

Palestinians prayed at al-Aqsa Mosque compound.

Pakistani Muslims offered Friday prayers.

Palestinian Muslims read verses of the Quran.

Egyptian Muslims walked in the streets of the old city of Cairo in the early morning, before the fasting started.

A Pakistani man prepared food on a table for the people as time to break the fast approached.

Pakistanis prepared drinks for the evening breaking of the fast.

A Palestinian man distributed food to children.

Pakistani Muslims offered noon prayers at the Red mosque.

Indian Muslim girls offered”Dua” prayers in their classroom during the Holy month of Ramadan at Madrasatur-Rashaad religious school in Hyderabad.

Muslim devotees waited for the time to break their fast as meals provided free of charge by a mosque were lined up in Banda Aceh, Indonesia, on July 16.

A worker dried vermicelli, a specialty eaten during Ramadan, at a factory in the northern Indian city of Allahabad.

A newlywed Muslim couple prepared to pose for wedding photos at Niujie Mosque during Ramadan in Beijing.

Teachers showed a giant Koran displayed at Al-Ashriyyah Nurul Iman boarding school in Parung, West Java, Indonesia.

Free Iftar meals were set out before foreign Muslim workers arrived to break their fast in Dubai on July 15.

Family members of Palestinian Abu Jaber gathered between graves at the Almaamadani Muslim cemetery adjacent to their family’s place of living to break fast. Abu Jaber’s family lives at the cemetery in Azkola, central Gaza Strip, in difficult and poor conditions.

Kashmiri Muslims offered prayers in Srinagar, India.

Indian Muslim men performed ablution, or washing, before offering prayers on the first Friday of the holy month of Ramadan at an old Mughal era mosque in New Delhi, India.

View a guide to the holy month of Ramadan.

An Indonesian woman read a copy of the Koran at the Istiqlal mosque on the sixth day of Ramadan in Jakarta.

Brian Buzby, a recent convert to Islam, attended an evening prayer called “maghrib’’ at a Ramadan fund-raiser at the Islamic Society of Boston Cultural Center on July 13.

A municipal worker cleaned carpets before Friday prayers at the Ottoman-era Suleymaniye Mosque in Istanbul.

Filipino Muslim women prayed at a mosque in the province of Sulu, Philippines.

A Muslim man washed before prayers at Noor Mosque in Nairobi, Kenya.

A Musaharati, or dawn awakener, struck his drum to wake observant Muslims for their overnight “sahur,’’ last meal, before the day’s fast during Ramadan in Sidon’s Old City in south Lebanon.

Palestinians used a ladder to climb over the separated barrier in A-Ram, north of Jerusalem, on their way to Al-Aqsa mosque in the old city of Jerusalem to attend the first Friday prayer in the month of Ramadan. Israel allowed women this year to enter Israel without restriction of age, and limited the age of men to over 40 years. More than one million Palestinians are expected to enter Israel during the month of Ramadan.

Pakistani Muslims offered Friday prayers in Karachi.

A Bangladeshi vendor displayed traditional food items as Muslims crowded the area to break their fast on the first day of Ramadan in Dhaka on July 11.

A Nepalese Muslim woman read the Koran on the first day of Ramadan in Kathmandu.

Worshippers prayed at the Grand Mosque in the holy Muslim city of Mecca.

An Afghan man distributed bread in a evening free meal during Iftar at the Eidga mosque in Kabul.

A Nepalese Muslim offered prayers in Kathmandu.

A Pakistani policeman stood guard as Muslims performed a special evening prayer “tarawih” on a street of Karachi.

A prayer mat vendor waited for customers a day before the start of Ramadan in the old quarters of Delhi. Ramadan in India began on July 11.

A child bent between rows of members of the Muslim community attending midday prayers at Strasbourg Grand Mosque in France on July 9, the first day of Ramadan. The Grand Mosque of Paris has fixed the first day of Ramadan as Wednesday, splitting with the French Council of Muslim Religion.

A man at Cheng Ho Mosque in Surabaya, Indonesia, prepared mats for use in first “tarawih’’ prayers of Ramadan.

Students sat in circles during a Koran recital class at Ar-Raudlatul Hasanah Islamic boarding school in Medan, North Sumatra, Indonesia, on July 10.

Serbian Muslims attended an evening communal prayer session called “tarawih” at the Bajrakli mosque in Belgrade.

Indonesian Muslims prayed in Jakarta.

Worshippers prayed at the entrance of the Cave of Hira on the top of al-Nour mountain in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. The Cave of Hira is where Muslims believe Muhammad received his first revelations.

A Lebanese man prayed at a mosque in Beirut on July 10.

Turkish antigoverment protesters gathered as they broke their first day of fasting for Ramadan on Istiklal street, the main shopping corridor in Istanbul.

A Muslim child offered prayers, silhouetted against the evening sky, as devotees gathered to visualize the moon near the Moti Masjid in Bhopal, India.

A Palestinian decorated his shop near the Al-Aqsa mosque compound in the old city of Jerusalem.

A woman prepared floral offerings for visitors making pilgrimages to visit the graves of family members before Ramadan in Surabaya, Indonesia.

Muslim men performed an evening prayer to mark the first eve of the holy fasting month of Ramadan at a mosque in Denpasar, Bali, Indonesia, on July 9. During Ramadan, the holiest month in Islamic calendar, Muslims refrain from eating, drinking, smoking and sex from dawn to dusk.

Indonesian Muslim men prepare to sight the new moon from the rooftop of the Al-Hidayah Basmol mosque in Jakarta on July 8 in preparation for the beginning of Ramadan. The start of the holy month is determined by the sighting of the new moon.

Yemeni girls wore traditional costumes at a festival for children to welcome Ramadan in the old city of Sanaa, Yemen.

An Ustad led a prayer with his students inside the IBN Khaldon Asian Integrated Institute in Maharlika south of Manila. Philippines President Benigno Aquino called for unity and cooperation among Filipino Muslims as they prepared to observe Ramadan.

Indonesian Muslims prepared to sight the new moon from the rooftop of the Al-Hidayah Basmol mosque in Jakarta on July 8.

A Palestinian laborer repaired a light on a wall near the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem’s Old City.

Brunei’s Islamic religious officers performed “rukyah,” the sighting of the new moon of Ramadan, in Bandar Seri Bebawan. Muslims scanned the sky at dusk in the beginning of the lunar calendar’s ninth month in search of the new moon to proclaim the start of Ramadan.

A Palestinian man prepared decorations at the entrance of the Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem’s Old City.

A Pakistani boy cleaned the floor of a mosque ahead of Ramadan in Peshawar, Pakistan.

A family read verses from the Koran at a relative’s grave a day before the start of Ramadan. Traditionally, Indonesian Muslims will visit the graves of their relatives before and towards the end of the the holy month.

A vendor offered dates for sale on a roadside in Peshawar, Pakistan. Traditionally, dates are known as the food the prophet Mohammad ate when he broke from his fast.

A man prepared special sweets at a small traditional factory in Kabul on July 8.

An worker carried sweets at a traditional “jelabi’’ or sweet factory in Herat, Afghanistan. Throughout the month, devout Muslims abstain from food and drink from dawn until sunset when they break the fast with the Iftar meal.

Afghan workers made sweets at a factory in Herat.

A Sudanese boy helped prepare a shop for Ramadan shopping at a market in Khartoum, Sudan.

A vendor held a mirror as a man tried on a prayer cap in Peshawar, Pakistan.

A vendor held strings of beads at a prayer-beads shop in Peshawar, Pakistan.

A steam roller machine destroyed hundreds of alcohol drinks and pornographic and pirated video DVDs in a Jakarta police station. The items were seized during recent raids in some areas of the Indonesian capital, as authorities prepared for Ramadan.