The holy month begins
Muslims the world over have been observing the beginning of the holy month of Ramadan, a time of prayer, charity and self-restraint, during which believers fast through the daylight hours.
The month marks the revelation of Islam's holy book, the Koran, to the Prophet Mohammed, and Muslims observe the period by giving up bad habits, while many also take part in special nightlong worship.
A Nepalese Muslim reads the Koran during Ramadan.
Students from an Islamic boarding school pray during the Koran recitation "Tadarus" in a mosque in North Sumatra.
A Muslim boy cups his hands as he offers prayers in Kathmandu.
A child plays on the floor as others pray at Strasbourg Grand Mosque.
Muslim women read the Koran at the start of Ramadan in Jakarta.
A Nepalese Muslim reads the Koran during the holy month.
A man sleeps next to a Koran in a mosque in Yemen.
People carry their purchases after shopping on the first day of Ramadan in Aleppo. They are walking at the Karaj Al-Hajez crossing, a passageway separating Aleppo's Bustan al-Qasr, which is under rebel control and the Al-Masharqa neighbourhood, an area controlled by the government.
A vendor sells dates, which many Muslims use to break their fast, at a market in Sanaa a few days before Ramadan.
People queue to buy traditional sweets for their Iftar meal, which breaks the fast after sundown, on the first day of Ramadan in Paris.
A supporter of the deposed Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi reads a Koran on the first day of Ramadan during a sit-in in Cairo.
Rohingya Muslims, who arrived in Thailand this year after fleeing a bloody conflict between Buddhists and Muslims in Myanmar's western Rakhine State, touch their heads at the end of prayers at an Immigration Detention Centre in the west of the country.
Muslims attend an evening mass prayer session known as "tarawih" to mark Ramadan at a mosque in Makassar, Indonesia.
A volunteer sets off fireworks during call to prayer on the first day of Ramadan in Egypt outside Rabaa Adawiya mosque.
Afghan Muslims wait for their iftar meal.
A little girl arranges plates before breaking fast on the first day of Ramadan in India.
Anti-government protesters break their fast on the first day of the holy month in Istanbul's Taksim Square. Turkish police allowed thousands of protesters who have been trying to block the redevelopment of a park nearby to have their Iftar meal before resuming efforts to get them to leave the area.
A Muslim woman prays after her iftar meal at the Jama Masjid (Grand Mosque) in the old quarters of Delhi.
A supporter of deposed Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi holds the Koran as she shouts slogans after breaking fast on the first day of Ramadan at the Rabaa Adawiya square, where Mursi supporters are camping.
Muslims attend an evening communal prayer session known as "tarawih" at the Bajrakli mosque in Belgrade.
Muslims worship at the prayer session during the holy fasting month.
