title: Tooth

text: An adult horse has between 36 and 44 teeth. The enamel and dentin layers of horse teeth are intertwined. All horses have 12 premolars, 12 molars, and 12 incisors. Generally, all male equines also have four canine teeth (called tushes) between the molars and incisors. However, few female horses (less than 28%) have canines, and those that do usually have only one or two, which many times are only partially erupted. A few horses have one to four wolf teeth, which are vestigial premolars, with most of those having only one or two. They are equally common in male and female horses and much more likely to be on the upper jaw. If present these can cause problems as they can interfere with the horse's bit contact. Therefore, wolf teeth are commonly removed.


title: Tooth

text: Horse teeth can be used to estimate the animal's age. Between birth and five years, age can be closely estimated by observing the eruption pattern on milk teeth and then permanent teeth. By age five, all permanent teeth have usually erupted. The horse is then said to have a "full" mouth. After the age of five, age can only be conjectured by studying the wear patterns on the incisors, shape, the angle at which the incisors meet, and other factors. The wear of teeth may also be affected by diet, natural abnormalities, and cribbing. Two horses of the same age may have different wear patterns.


title: Tooth

text: A horse's incisors, premolars, and molars, once fully developed, continue to erupt as the grinding surface is worn down through chewing. A young adult horse will have teeth which are long, with the majority of the crown remaining below the gumline in the dental socket. The rest of the tooth will slowly emerge from the jaw, erupting about each year, as the horse ages. When the animal reaches old age, the crowns of the teeth are very short and the teeth are often lost altogether. Very old horses, if lacking molars, may need to have their fodder ground up and soaked in water to create a soft mush for them to eat in order to obtain adequate nutrition.


title: Tooth

text: Elephants' tusks are specialized incisors for digging food up and fighting. Some elephant teeth are similar to those in manatees, and it is notable that elephants are believed to have undergone an aquatic phase in their evolution.


title: Tooth

text: At birth, elephants have a total of 28 molar plate-like grinding teeth not including the tusks. These are organized into four sets of seven successively larger teeth which the elephant will slowly wear through during its lifetime of chewing rough plant material. Only four teeth are used for chewing at a given time, and as each tooth wears out, another tooth moves forward to take its place in a process similar to a conveyor belt. The last and largest of these teeth usually becomes exposed when the animal is around 40 years of age, and will often last for an additional 20 years. When the last of these teeth has fallen out, regardless of the elephant's age, the animal will no longer be able to chew food and will die of starvation.


title: Tooth

text: Rabbits and other lagomorphs usually shed their deciduous teeth before (or very shortly after) their birth, and are usually born with their permanent teeth. The teeth of rabbits complement their diet, which consists of a wide range of vegetation. Since many of the foods are abrasive enough to cause attrition, rabbit teeth grow continuously throughout life. Rabbits have a total of 6 incisors, three upper premolars, three upper molars, two lower premolars, and two lower molars on each side. There are no canines. Three to four millimeters of the tooth is worn away by incisors every week, whereas the posterior teeth require a month to wear away the same amount.


title: Tooth

text: The incisors and cheek teeth of rabbits are called aradicular hypsodont teeth. This is sometimes referred to as an elodent dentition. These teeth grow or erupt continuously. The growth or eruption is held in balance by dental abrasion from chewing a diet high in fiber.


title: Tooth

text: Rodents have upper and lower hypselodont incisors that can continuously grow enamel throughout its life without having properly formed roots. These teeth are also known as aradicular teeth, and unlike humans whose ameloblasts die after tooth development, rodents continually produce enamel, they must wear down their teeth by gnawing on various materials. Enamel and dentin are produced by the enamel organ, and growth is dependent on the presence of stem cells, cellular amplification, and cellular maturation structures in the odontogenic region. Rodent incisors are used for cutting wood, biting through the skin of fruit, or for defense. This allows for the rate of wear and tooth growth to be at equilibrium. The microstructure of rodent incisor enamel has shown to be useful in studying the phylogeny and systematics of rodents because of its independent evolution from the other dental traits. The enamel on rodent incisors are composed of two layers: the inner portio interna (PI) with Hunter-Schreger bands (HSB) and an outer portio externa (PE) with radial enamel (RE). It usually involves the differential regulation of the epithelial stem cell niche in the tooth of two rodent species, such as guinea pigs.


title: Tooth

text: The teeth have enamel on the outside and exposed dentin on the inside, so they self-sharpen during gnawing. On the other hand, continually growing molars are found in some rodent species, such as the sibling vole and the guinea pig. There is variation in the dentition of the rodents, but generally, rodents lack canines and premolars, and have a space between their incisors and molars, called the diastema region.


title: Tooth

text: Manatees are polyphyodont with mandibular molars developing separately from the jaw and are encased in a bony shell separated by soft tissue.


title: Tooth

text: Fish, such as sharks, may go through many teeth in their lifetime. The replacement of multiple teeth is known as polyphyodontia.


title: Tooth

text: Unlike the continuous shedding of functional teeth seen in modern sharks, the majority of stem chondrichthyan lineages retained all tooth generations developed throughout the life of the animal. This replacement mechanism is exemplified by the tooth whorl-based dentitions of acanthodians, which include the oldest known toothed vertebrate, "Qianodus" "duplicis""."


title: Tooth

text: All amphibians have pedicellate teeth which are modified to be flexible due to connective tissue and uncalcified dentine that separates the crown from the base of the tooth.


title: Tooth

text: Most amphibians exhibit teeth that have a slight attachment to the jaw or acrodont teeth. Acrodont teeth exhibit limited connection to the dentary and have little enervation. This is ideal for organisms who mostly use their teeth for grasping, but not for crushing and allows for rapid regeneration of teeth at a low energy cost. Teeth are usually lost in the course of feeding if the prey is struggling. Additionally, amphibians that undergo a metamorphosis develop bicuspid shaped teeth.


title: Tooth

text: The teeth of reptiles are replaced constantly throughout their lives. Crocodilian juveniles replace teeth with larger ones at a rate as high as one new tooth per socket every month. Once mature, tooth replacement rates can slow to two years and even longer. Overall, crocodilians may use 3,000 teeth from birth to death. New teeth are created within old teeth.


title: Tooth

text: A skull of Ichthyornis discovered in 2014 suggests that the beak of birds may have evolved from teeth to allow chicks to escape their shells earlier, and thus avoid predators and also to penetrate protective covers such as hard earth to access underlying food.


title: Tooth

text: True teeth are unique to vertebrates, although many invertebrates have analogous structures often referred to as teeth. The organisms with the simplest genome bearing such tooth-like structures are perhaps the parasitic worms of the family Ancylostomatidae. For example, the hookworm "Necator americanus" has two dorsal and two ventral cutting plates or teeth around the anterior margin of the buccal capsule. It also has a pair of subdorsal and a pair of subventral teeth located close to the rear.


title: Tooth

text: Historically the European medicinal leech, another invertebrate parasite, has been used in medicine to remove blood from patients. They have three jaws (tripartite) that resemble saws in both appearance and function, and on them are about 100 sharp teeth used to incise the host. The incision leaves a mark that is an inverted Y inside of a circle. After piercing the skin and injecting anticoagulants (hirudin) and anaesthetics, they suck out blood, consuming up to ten times their body weight in a single meal.


title: Tooth

text: In some species of Bryozoa, the first part of the stomach forms a muscular gizzard lined with chitinous teeth that crush armoured prey such as diatoms. Wave-like peristaltic contractions then move the food through the stomach for digestion.


title: Tooth

text: Molluscs have a structure called a radula which bears a ribbon of chitinous teeth. However, these teeth are histologically and developmentally different from vertebrate teeth and are unlikely to be homologous. For example, vertebrate teeth develop from a neural crest mesenchyme-derived dental papilla, and the neural crest is specific to vertebrates, as are tissues such as enamel.


title: Tooth

text: The radula is used by molluscs for feeding and is sometimes compared rather inaccurately to a tongue. It is a minutely toothed, chitinous ribbon, typically used for scraping or cutting food before the food enters the oesophagus. The radula is unique to molluscs, and is found in every class of mollusc apart from bivalves.


title: Tooth

text: Within the gastropods, the radula is used in feeding by both herbivorous and carnivorous snails and slugs. The arrangement of teeth (also known as denticles) on the radula ribbon varies considerably from one group to another as shown in the diagram on the left.


title: Tooth

text: Predatory marine snails such as the Naticidae use the radula plus an acidic secretion to bore through the shell of other molluscs. Other predatory marine snails, such as the Conidae, use a specialized radula tooth as a poisoned harpoon. Predatory pulmonate land slugs, such as the ghost slug, use elongated razor-sharp teeth on the radula to seize and devour earthworms. Predatory cephalopods, such as squid, use the radula for cutting prey.


title: Tooth

text: In most of the more ancient lineages of gastropods, the radula is used to graze by scraping diatoms and other microscopic algae off rock surfaces and other substrates. Limpets scrape algae from rocks using radula equipped with exceptionally hard rasping teeth. These teeth have the strongest known tensile strength of any biological material, outperforming spider silk. The mineral protein of the limpet teeth can withstand a tensile stress of 4.9 GPa, compared to 4 GPa of spider silk and 0.5 GPa of human teeth.


title: Tooth

text: Because teeth are very resistant, often preserved when bones are not, and reflect the diet of the host organism, they are very valuable to archaeologists and palaeontologists. Early fish such as the thelodonts had scales composed of dentine and an enamel-like compound, suggesting that the origin of teeth was from scales which were retained in the mouth. Fish as early as the late Cambrian had dentine in their exoskeletons, which may have functioned in defense or for sensing their environments. Dentine can be as hard as the rest of teeth and is composed of collagen fibres, reinforced with hydroxyapatite.


title: Tooth

text: Though teeth are very resistant, they also can be brittle and highly susceptible to cracking. However, cracking of the tooth can be used as a diagnostic tool for predicting bite force. Additionally, enamel fractures can also give valuable insight into the diet and behaviour of archaeological and fossil samples.


title: Tooth

text: Decalcification removes the enamel from teeth and leaves only the organic interior intact, which comprises dentine and cementine. Enamel is quickly decalcified in acids, perhaps by dissolution by plant acids or via diagenetic solutions, or in the stomachs of vertebrate predators. Enamel can be lost by abrasion or spalling, and is lost before dentine or bone are destroyed by the fossilisation process. In such a case, the 'skeleton' of the teeth would consist of the dentine, with a hollow pulp cavity.


title: Ages of consent in Africa

text: The age of consent in Africa for sexual activity varies by jurisdiction across the continent. The specific activity engaged in or the gender of its participants can also affect this age and the legality of sexual activity. The highlighted age refers to an age at or above which an individual can engage in unfettered sexual relations with another person who is also at or above that age. Other variables, for example homosexual and/or sodomy provision(s) that are illegal or close in age exceptions may exist and are stated when relevant.


title: Ages of consent in Africa

text: The age of consent in Algeria is 16 for vaginal intercourse, as specified in Article 334 of the penal code.


title: Ages of consent in Africa

text: "Heterosexual Sodomy" (anal and/or oral sex with an opposite-sex partner) is illegal, Article 388 of the Penal Code. As well as all same-sex sexual conduct, Article 338, and "outrages to public decency", Article 333. The punishment for both the first two activities with those under 19 years of age is more severe for the older participant.


title: Ages of consent in Africa

text: The age of consent in Angola is 14 but sexual activity with persons under 16 is prohibited if a person over 18 years of age "takes advantage of their inexperience or a situation of particular need".


title: Ages of consent in Africa

text: These laws are covered under articles 192 and 193 of the penal code—sexual abuse of a minor under 14, and sexual abuse of a minor under 16.


title: Ages of consent in Africa

text: Some online sources incorrectly list the age of consent as 12, but article 192 criminalizes all sexual acts with persons under 14 (penalties are aggravated if there is penetration or if the victim is under 12).


title: Ages of consent in Africa

text: A new penal code which comes into effect in February 2021 adds protections for sexual orientation and removes criminalizing “vices against nature”, which had been used to criminalize same-sex sexual activity.


title: Ages of consent in Africa

text: The age of consent in Benin is 16 for females, per Article 3 of The Law on the Prevention and Punishment of Violence against Women.


title: Ages of consent in Africa

text: The age of consent is 18, as of the Penal Code Amendment Bill 2018. Same-sex relationships have been legal since 2019.


title: Ages of consent in Africa

text: Section 533-4 of the penal code criminalizes "indecent assaults" against minors at least 15 but less than 18.


title: Ages of consent in Africa

text: Under the new "Penal Code of 2009" (in French), the age of consent in Burundi for heterosexuals (both men and women) is 18 years. However, under "Article 567", homosexual acts (both men and women) carry a fine of up to 100,000 Burundian francs and up to 3 years' imprisonment.


title: Ages of consent in Africa

text: However, article 344 of the same code states; "Whoever, in order to satisfy the desires of another person, habitually excites, encourages or facilitates the debauch or corruption of any person under (?) years of age...".


title: Ages of consent in Africa

text: This appears subjective as to what acts, in what situations, may be considered to encourage debauchery or corruption (when involving minors aged 16 or above). An additional concern—and the reason for the question mark above—is that the original French version of the text lists the age of persons who may not be corrupted as those "under 21" (the age of majority in Cameroon), but the English version lists the age as "under 18".


title: Ages of consent in Africa

text: The age of consent in Cape Verde is 14 regardless of sexual orientation and/or gender, with partial protections for those under age 16.


title: Ages of consent in Africa

text: Sexual relations with a child under age 14 are considered a public crime and invoke mandatory reporting from anyone who becomes aware of the crime.


title: Ages of consent in Africa

text: Article 144 of the penal code makes it illegal to engage in sexual acts with persons younger than 14.


title: Ages of consent in Africa

text: Article 145 makes it illegal to engage in sexual acts with a 14- to 15-year-old if, being an adult, the offender takes advantage of their superiority (power or control) in the relationship, or if the victim is entrusted to them for education or assistance.


title: Ages of consent in Africa

text: The minimum age of sexual consent is 18 years of age regardless of gender. This is established in the Penal Code under chapter 5, Article 86 (any indecent assault or attempt without violence).


title: Ages of consent in Africa

text: Article 87 specifies that any indecent assault against a person younger than 15 is considered rape, and the punishment is more severe than in the previous article.


title: Ages of consent in Africa

text: Article 359 of the 2017 penal code penalizes sexual relations with persons younger than 13 years with 2–10 years in prison.


title: Ages of consent in Africa

text: Article 361 penalizes anyone who commits an indecent act in the presence of a person under 16 years of age. Penalties are aggravated if the act is committed with violence. The French wording of the article ("un outrage a la pudeur") can also be translated to indecent exposure, so it is not entirely clear from the text alone whether this applies to consensual acts committed with persons aged 13–15, or simply to acts committed in their presence without their involvement.


title: Ages of consent in Africa

text: Article 354 proscribes 3 months to 2 years' imprisonment for sexual relations with a member of the same sex, thus making homosexuality illegal. Penalties are aggravated if a person involved is under 18 (Article 360).


title: Ages of consent in Africa

text: Finally, Article 363 criminalizes anyone who excites, promotes, or facilitates the "debauchery" of anyone below the age of civil majority, which is 21 years in Chad.


title: Ages of consent in Africa

text: Article 318 of the penal code punishes any indecent assault (or attempt) against the person of a child of either sex under age 15.


title: Ages of consent in Africa

text: This is specified in penal code article 356, which states that an indecent act against a person under 15—without violence or coercion—will be penalized with 1–3 years' imprisonment.


title: Ages of consent in Africa

text: However, there is also a law (article 337) that forbids "facilitating the corruption or debauchery of youth of either sex below the age of 18 years". What specific acts would run afoul of this law, and under what circumstances, are unclear. It is included in a section of violations against public morality alongside pimping, solicitation, and prostitution offenses.


title: Ages of consent in Africa

text: The age of consent in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is 18, regardless of gender. This was established by the Law Relative to Sexual Violence (2006) and the Child Protection Act (2009).


title: Ages of consent in Africa

text: The age of consent is 15, but charges can also be applied to those aged 15–17 if the act "corrupts" or "incites the minor to debauchery".


title: Ages of consent in Africa

text: Although Djiboutian law establishes that parties to a marriage should be 18 or over, there is an exemption in cases where minors may marry with the consent of their guardians. In 2007, 13.6% of married women under the age of 50 married before the age of 18.


title: Ages of consent in Africa

text: Article 464 deals with sexual assault on a person under age 15 without violence or coercion, which sets a strict minimum age of 15.


title: Ages of consent in Africa

text: Article 466 pertains to sexual assault on a minor over 15. However, this section only applies to guardians, people in a position of authority over the victim, or a person who abuses the authority conferred on him by his functions.


title: Ages of consent in Africa

text: Article 162 refers to inciting to debauchery or promoting the corruption of a minor in organizing meetings involving sexual exhibitions or relations in which the minor participates or attends. This charge could be applied to those who engage in sexual activity with minors aged 15–17, though the requirements for "organizing meetings" are not specified.


title: Ages of consent in Africa

text: The age of consent in Egypt is 18 years, for heterosexual males and females. This is outlined in article 269 of the penal code.


title: Ages of consent in Africa

text: The age of consent in Eritrea appears to be 18, as stipulated by Article 305 of the 2015 penal code, "Sexual outrage on minors between 15 and 18 years of age". This article states that sexual acts with minors of this age is a petty offense punishable by 6–12 months' imprisonment.


title: Ages of consent in Africa

text: Article 311 Consent to Sexual Conduct (1) states that when an accused is charged with an offense under the chapter (chapter 3: sexual offenses, which spans articles 303–311) pertaining to a victim under 15 years, it shall not be a defense that the victim consented, unless the accused is also under age 15 and no more than 1 year older than that person.


title: Ages of consent in Africa

text: Article 311 (3) goes on to state that consent shall not be a defense to charges under articles 309 (homosexuality) or 310 (incest).


title: Ages of consent in Africa

text: Charges pertaining to Article 305 are not mentioned, so it is unclear whether consent may be an affirmative defense to a charge pertaining to minors aged 15–17.


title: Ages of consent in Africa

text: The age of consent is 18, updated as of the SODV (sexual offenses and domestic violence) Act of 2018.


title: Ages of consent in Africa

text: Under the offense of rape, 3(c) states that an unlawful sexual act includes that which is committed against "a person who is incapable in law of appreciating the nature of the act"


title: Ages of consent in Africa

text: 6(e) lists one of the conditions that would render a person incapable as; "a person below the age of 18 years"


title: Ages of consent in Africa

text: The minimum age for consensual sex is 18 years, as specified in Article 626 of the 2004 Criminal Code—sexual outrages on minor's between 13 and 18 years. Sexual intercourse is punishable with "rigorous imprisonment" for 3–15 years.


title: Ages of consent in Africa

text: The law, however, is not effectively enforced; nearly 20% of girls are married by the age of 15. Early childhood marriage is especially common in rural areas, where some girls are married as young as 7 years old.


title: Ages of consent in Africa

text: The age of consent in Mayotte, Reunion and the French Southern and Antarctic Lands is 15 as they are under French sovereignty.


title: Ages of consent in Africa

text: Article 258 of the Penal Code (most recently amended in 1969) states that indecent assault without violence on a person under 15 years will be punished with 3–6 years' imprisonment. Whoever commits an indecent act or act against nature on a person of the same sex and under 21 years shall be imprisoned for 1–3 years.


title: Ages of consent in Africa

text: Article 263 prescribes 1–5 years' imprisonment for anyone who "habitually" incites, promotes, or facilitates debauchery or corruption of persons of either sex below age 18. The wording of this article requires multiple acts for a crime to have taken place.


title: Ages of consent in Africa

text: A person who unlawfully has carnal knowledge of a girl between the ages of 16 and 18 commits an offence and is liable on conviction to imprisonment not exceeding 7 years.


title: Ages of consent in Africa

text: The legal age for non-penetrative sexual contact may be 16. Section 5 requires "carnal knowledge", but section 3 (rape) applies to "sexual acts", which are defined much more broadly and include "any form of genital stimulation", committed against those under age 16.


title: Ages of consent in Africa

text: The age of consent is 16, established in Section 101 (defilement of a child under 16 years of age) of the 1960 Criminal Code.


title: Ages of consent in Africa

text: Article 272 of the penal code states that any indecent act committed without violence against a child of either sex under age 16 is punishable by imprisonment for 3–10 years.


title: Ages of consent in Africa

text: The same punishment applies to indecent acts against minors aged 16–17 if they are committed by an ascendant and the minor is not emancipated by marriage.


title: Ages of consent in Africa

text: Article 355 criminalizes anyone who "habitually" offends against morals by inciting debauchery or promoting the corruption of minors.


title: Ages of consent in Africa

text: As of the 1993 Penal Code, the minimum age of consent appears to be 12 regardless of sexual orientation and/or gender.


title: Ages of consent in Africa

text: However, additional protections are in place for those under 16 years of age. Article 134 of the code states (approximate translation) that those who practice copulation with females older than 12 but younger than 16 by "taking advantage of their inexperience" are guilty of sexual abuse, punishable by 2 to 8 years' imprisonment, or 1 to 5 years for "significant sexual acts" with males or


title: Ages of consent in Africa

text: females not amounting to copulation. The article also applies to anyone who takes advantage of a person's temporary or permanent physical or mental impairment, but that clause applies regardless of the victim's age.


title: Ages of consent in Africa

text: The third and final paragraph states that if the agent—WITHOUT resorting to violence, serious threat or coercion (the presence of any of those conditions could be charged as rape under Article 133)—engages in copulation or a significant sexual act with a female person, or the latter with a male person, 12 years of age or less, it is presumed, until it is well founded, that he has taken advantage of the victim's incapacity for sexual determination and is punishable by imprisonment of between two and ten years.


title: Ages of consent in Africa

text: The age of consent in Kenya is 18 years, as children are defined under 18 and are not able to give consent. Marriage is not possible below the age of 18, the law is clear about this. Homosexuality in Kenya is illegal.


title: Ages of consent in Africa

text: This is confirmed by articles 48 (indecency with children) and 49 (unlawful sexual intercourse with children) of the Penal Code Act, 2010. A child is defined by the code as anyone under age 18, and both articles specify that consent is irrelevant.


title: Ages of consent in Africa

text: The age of consent in Liberia is 18, if the offender is 18 or above. Statutory rape is a first-degree rape offense which carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment. The age of consent was raised to 18, from 16, in 2009.


title: Ages of consent in Africa

text: 14.75 Corruption of Minors specifies a 5-year "close in age" exception for sexual intercourse when the minor is under age 16, but this would be superseded by the revised rape statute for offenses on or after January 16, 2006 (when the older person is at least 18 years of age).


title: Ages of consent in Africa

text: A person who knowingly has sexual contact with another person or causes such other to have sexual contact with him or her, when they are not married to each other has committed a second degree misdemeanor if...


title: Ages of consent in Africa

text: (G) the other person is less than 16 years of age and the actor is at least 5 years older than the other person


title: Ages of consent in Africa

text: During the Gaddafi government, the regular age of consent was 18, but sixteen-year-old girls could be married as long the parents consented. Pre-marital sex was illegal.


title: Ages of consent in Africa

text: After the 2011 revolution, the age of consent limit was removed. Presently, there is no defined age of consent, although sex is not allowed outside of marriage. However, the law is practically never enforced due to the Libyan Civil War.


title: Ages of consent in Africa

text: Age of consent is 14 years, according to article 331 in the Criminal Law. In certain cases, including relatives and homosexuals, it is 21 years.


title: Ages of consent in Africa

text: It was raised from 13 to 16 via an Amendment to the penal code in 2011. The relevant articles are 138 (dealing with sexual intercourse) and 160 (any other sexual contact).


title: Ages of consent in Africa

text: Article 225 of the updated 2001 Penal Code states that indecent assault committed against a child under age 15 without violence is punishable by 5–10 years' imprisonment.


title: Ages of consent in Africa

text: Indecent acts with minors at least 15 but under 21 without violence are illegal if the offender is an ascendant, a person in a position of authority (such as an employer), or a person responsible for education or supervision.


title: Ages of consent in Africa

text: Article 1: For the purposes of this Ordinance, every human being under eighteen years is a child and shall be registered immediately after birth


title: Ages of consent in Africa

text: Article 26: Sexual assault other than rape is punishable by two to four years' imprisonment and 120,000 to 160,000 ouguiyas fine when committed against a child.


title: Ages of consent in Africa

text: Acts of sexual touching of any nature whatsoever, committed against a child constitutes the crime of pedophilia and sentenced to 5 years' imprisonment and a fine of 200,000 ouguiyas.


title: Ages of consent in Africa

text: However, under section 306 of the Legal Code, any act that violates Islamic morality is illegal, but a clear definition of morality does not exist in the country's laws, so it is very open to interpretation by local officials as to what is moral and what is not. Thus, many acts surrounding the age of consent could be considered illegal. The same article punishes any "indecent assault" with penalties of 1 month to 2 years' imprisonment, but indecent assault is not clearly defined either.


title: Ages of consent in Africa

text: (...) Any person who has sexual intercourse with a female "'under the age of sixteen (16)", "even with consent", shall be liable to penal servitude not exceeding ten (10) years.


title: Ages of consent in Africa

text: The age of consent in Madeira is 14 years, regardless of sexual orientation and/or gender, as it is under Portuguese sovereignty.


title: Ages of consent in Africa

text: Premarital sex is illegal in Morocco, with punishment of 1 month to 1 year's imprisonment (Penal Code Article 490).


title: Ages of consent in Africa

text: The legal age for marriage is 18, and Art. 484 of the Penal Code provides harsher penalties (2–5 years) for committing sexual acts without violence on a victim younger than 18.


title: Ages of consent in Africa

text: 'Sexual offences with girls under sixteen (16) years', Section 14 of the 'Combating of Immoral Practices Act 1980'


title: Ages of consent in Africa

text: a) has or attempts to have unlawful carnal intercourse with a girl under the age of sixteen (16) years; or


title: Ages of consent in Africa

text: c) solicits or entices such a girl to the commission of an immoral or indecent act, -shall be guilty of an offence and liable on conviction to imprisonment for a period not exceeding six years with or without a fine not exceeding three thousand rand in addition to such imprisonment.


title: Ages of consent in Africa

text: (2) It shall be a sufficient defence to any charge in terms of this section if it appears to the court:


title: Ages of consent in Africa

text: a) that the girl at the time of the commission of the offence was a prostitute, that the person so charged was at the said time under the age of twenty-one (21) years and that it is the first occasion on which he is so charged; or


title: Ages of consent in Africa

text: c) that the girl or person in whose charge she was, deceived the person so charged into believing that she was over the age of sixteen (16) years at the said time.'


title: Ages of consent in Africa

text: Article 293 prohibits anyone from "habitually exciting, promoting, or facilitating the debauchery or corruption of the youth of either sex under 21 years". This article is listed along with other articles relating to prostitution offenses, and it is unclear what circumstances would be considered "debauchery".


title: Ages of consent in Africa

text: The age of consent in the Republic of the Congo is 18 regardless of sexual orientation and/or gender. Sex with a minor is punishable by up to 5 years in prison and a fine of 10,000,000 CFA.


title: Ages of consent in Africa

text: The age of consent in the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic is 13 regardless of sexual orientation and/or gender.


title: Ages of consent in Africa

text: The age of consent in São Tomé and Príncipe is 14 years, regardless of sexual orientation and/or gender.


title: Ages of consent in Africa

text: This is specified in article 175 of the Penal Code. Article 177 prohibits sexual activity with 14- and 15-year-olds if access is gained by "abusing his/her inexperience", while Article 178 establishes the age of consent for homosexual sex to be 16.


title: Ages of consent in Africa

text: The age of consent in Senegal is 16 ("Article 320" deals with children under 16; "Article 319" deals with children under 13). Homosexual sex is illegal.


title: Ages of consent in Africa

text: 130. (1) A person who sexually assaults another person is guilty of an offence and liable to imprisonment for 20 years:


title: Ages of consent in Africa

text: Provided that where the victim of such assault is under the age of 15 years and the accused is of or above the age of 18 years and such assault falls under subsection (2)(c) or (d), the person shall be liable to imprisonment for a term not less than 14 years and not more than 20 years:


title: Ages of consent in Africa

text: Provided also that if the person is convicted of a similar offence within a period of 10 years from the date of the first conviction the person shall be liable to imprisonment for a period not less than 28 years:


title: Ages of consent in Africa

text: Provided further that where it is the second or a subsequent conviction of the person for an assault referred to in subsection (2)(d) on a victim under 15 years within a period of ten years from the date of the conviction, the person shall be liable to imprisonment for life.


title: Ages of consent in Africa

text: (3) A person does not consent to an act which if done without consent constitutes an assault under this section if-


title: Ages of consent in Africa

text: (a) the person's consent was obtained by misrepresentation as to the character of the act of the identity of the person doing the act;


title: Ages of consent in Africa

text: (c) the person's understanding and knowledge are such that the person was incapable of giving consent.


title: Ages of consent in Africa

text: 135. (1) A person who commits an act of indecency towards another person who is under the age of fifteen years is guilty of an offence and liable to imprisonment for 20 years:


title: Ages of consent in Africa

text: ...(2) A person is not guilty of an offence under this section if at the time of the offence the victim of the act of indecency was-


title: Ages of consent in Africa

text: (a) fourteen years old or older and the accused had reasonable ground to believe that the victim was over fifteen years old; or


title: Ages of consent in Africa

text: According to the U.S. State Department, the Seychelles age of consent is "traditionally understood" to be 15 but that the country's statutes "fail to clearly define the ages of consent and legal majority"; according to the State Department this causes confusion in regards to the "traditionally understood" age of consent and the age of majority of 18 and therefore complicates enforcement of the law.


title: Ages of consent in Africa

text: The age of consent is 18 regardless of sexual orientation and/or gender, under the Sexual Offenses Act 2012.


title: Ages of consent in Africa

text: Article 29 of the national constitution of Somalia defines a child as any individual under the age of 18, and stipulates that "every child has the right to be protected from mistreatment, neglect, abuse, or degradation. Homosexual sex is illegal.


title: Ages of consent in Africa

text: The Sexual Offenses Bill (2018) amended the existing penal code and established the age of consent to be 18 years.


title: Ages of consent in Africa

text: The age of consent in South Africa is 16 regardless of sexual orientation and/or gender, as specified by sections 15 and 16 of the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Related Matters) Amendment Act, 2007. Section 15 ("statutory rape") prohibits the commission of ""an act of sexual penetration with a child who is 12 years of age or older but under the age of 16 years"", while section 16 ("statutory sexual assault") prohibits the commission of ""an act of sexual violation with a child who is 12 years of age or older but under the age of 16 years"". The law includes a close-in-age exception, so that sexual acts between two children where both are between 12 and 16, or where one is under 16 and the other is less than two years older, are not criminal. Children under the age of 12 are conclusively presumed by the law to be incapable of consenting, so a sexual act with a child under that age constitutes rape or sexual assault.


title: Ages of consent in Africa

text: Under the Roman-Dutch common law there was a conclusive presumption that girls under the age of 12 were unable to consent to sexual intercourse. This presumption can be traced back to the "old authorities" of the seventeenth century.


title: Ages of consent in Africa

text: The Girls' and Mentally Defective Women's Protection Act, 1916, which replaced the differing age of consent laws of the four colonies that formed the Union of South Africa, criminalised sexual intercourse between a man and a girl under the age of sixteen unless they were married. This act was replaced by a similar prohibition in section 14 of the Immorality Act, 1957. Although sex between men was already illegal, prohibited by the common law as "sodomy" or "unnatural sexual acts", the Immorality Act also criminalised sexual intercourse between a man and a boy under sixteen.


title: Ages of consent in Africa

text: The Immorality Amendment Act, 1969, which was enacted in response to a national moral panic over homosexuality, raised to 19 the age below which the Immorality Act prohibited sex between males. The Immorality Amendment Act, 1988 inserted mirror provisions applying to women, prohibiting intercourse between a woman and a boy under 16 or a girl under 19. It also renamed the Immorality Act to the Sexual Offences Act, 1957.


title: Ages of consent in Africa

text: The Interim Constitution, which came into force in 1994, prohibited discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, as does the final Constitution which replaced in 1997. As a result, the Constitutional Court struck down the laws prohibiting homosexual sex in the 1998 case of "National Coalition for Gay and Lesbian Equality v Minister of Justice". That case did not, however, address the difference between the heterosexual and homosexual ages of consent in section 14 of the Sexual Offences Act.


title: Ages of consent in Africa

text: In the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Related Matters) Amendment Act, 2007, Parliament reformed and codified the law on sexual offences and made it gender-neutral. The common-law presumption relating to girls under 12 was replaced by a general presumption that children under 12 cannot consent. The act also fixed the age of consent at 16 for all sexual acts. In the 2008 case of "Geldenhuys v National Director of Public Prosecutions", the Constitutional Court held that the former difference in the ages of consent had been unconstitutional.


title: Ages of consent in Africa

text: The age of consent in the Canary Islands, Ceuta, Melilla and the "plazas de soberanía" is 16 regardless of sexual orientation and/or gender, as of 1 July 2015, as they are under Spanish sovereignty.


title: Ages of consent in Africa

text: Art. 224: paedophilia is any sexual intercourse or touching, of any kind, committed by a person over the age of majority, without fraud, threats, coercion or violence, against a child under the age of fifteen (15) years, or any exhibition or exploitation for commercial or tourist purposes of photographs, images and sound obtained by any technical process, pornographic films or drawings depicting one or more children under the age of fifteen (15) years.


title: Ages of consent in Africa

text: Article 389 increases the penalties for indecent assault when committed against a child, but does not specify any particular age at which consent is negated.


title: Ages of consent in Africa

text: Art. 389: anyone guilty of indecent assault shall be punished by imprisonment of one (1) to three (3) years and a fine of one million (1,000,000) to three million (3,000,000) CFA francs or both.


title: Ages of consent in Africa

text: Indecent assault on a child shall be punishable by a term of imprisonment of between three (3) and five (5) years and a fine of between three million and five million CFA francs. If the indecent assault was committed with violence or threats against the person of a child, the penalties are five (5) to ten (10) years of rigorous imprisonment and a fine of two million (2 million) to ten million (10 million) CFA francs


title: Ages of consent in Africa

text: Law 58 (the elimination of violence against women), which came into effect in 2018, raised the age threshold for rape charges under penal code article 227 from 13 to 16 years. A child younger than 16 is considered automatically incapable of consent.


title: Ages of consent in Africa

text: However, Article 227 bis was also amended, and now prescribes 5 years' imprisonment for a sexual act committed on a minor between 16 and 18 years of age (whereas it previously applied to anyone aged 15–20).


title: Ages of consent in Africa

text: Consent does not appear to be a defense; the punishment is simply reduced if the minor is at least 16 years of age.


title: Ages of consent in Africa

text: The age of consent in Uganda is 18 years, for vaginal intercourse. "Heterosexual sodomy" (anal and/or oral sex with an opposite-sex partner) and all same-sex sexual conduct was illegal until January 2014 when President Museveni blocked the anti-gay law.


title: Ages of consent in Africa

text: The age of consent in Zimbabwe is 18. It was raised in 2022 from a previous age of 16, which had in turn been raised from 12.


title: Ages of consent in Africa

text: All male same-sex hand-holding and/or male same-sex sexual conduct can lead to one year's imprisonment. Same-sex hand-holding is illegal.


title: Ages of consent in Africa

text: Article 70 of the penal code (Sexual intercourse or performing indecent acts with young persons), in combination with article 61 which defines “young person” as “boy or girl under the age of sixteen years”. Article 64 specifies that if the victim is under 12 years old the charge shall be rape. In May 2022, the Constitutional Court struck down the provision setting the age of consent at 16, and set the new and current age of consent at 18.


title: Missionaries of Charity

text: The Missionaries of Charity () is a Catholic centralized religious institute of consecrated life of Pontifical Right for women


title: Missionaries of Charity

text: established in 1950 by Mother Teresa, now known in the Catholic Church as Saint Teresa of Calcutta. , it consisted of 5,281 members religious sisters. Members of the order designate their affiliation using the order's initials, "M.C.". A member of the congregation must adhere to the vows of chastity, poverty, obedience, and the fourth vow, to give "wholehearted free service to the poorest of the poor." Today, the order consists of both contemplative and active branches in several countries.


title: Missionaries of Charity

text: Missionaries care for those who include refugees, former prostitutes, the mentally ill, sick children, abandoned children, lepers, people with AIDS, the aged, and convalescent. They have schools that are run by volunteers to teach abandoned street children and run soup kitchens as well as other services according to the community needs. These services are provided, without charge, to people regardless of their religion or social status.


title: Missionaries of Charity

text: On October 7, 1950, Mother Teresa and the small community formed by her former pupils was labelled as the "Diocesan Congregation of the Calcutta Diocese", and thus received the permission from the Diocese of Calcutta to identify as a Catholic organization. Their mission was to care for (in Mother Teresa's words) "the hungry, the naked, the homeless, the crippled, the blind, the lepers, all those people who feel unwanted, unloved, uncared for throughout society, people that have become a burden to the society and are shunned by everyone." It began as a small community with 12 members in Calcutta (now Kolkata), and in 2020 had 5,167 members serving in 139 countries in 760 homes, with 244 of these homes in India. The sisters run orphanages, homes for those dying of AIDS, charity centres worldwide, and care for refugees, the blind, disabled, aged, alcoholics, the poor and homeless and victims of floods, epidemics and famine in Asia, Africa, Latin America, North America, Europe and Australia. They have 19 homes in Kolkata (Calcutta) alone which include homes for women, orphaned children and homes for the dying; a school for street children, and a leper colony.


title: Missionaries of Charity

text: In 1963, Brother Andrew (formerly Ian Travers-Ballan) founded the Missionary Brothers of Charity in Australia along with Mother Teresa.


title: Missionaries of Charity

text: In 1965, by granting a Decree of Praise, Pope Paul VI granted Mother Teresa's request to expand her congregation to other countries. The Congregation started to grow rapidly, with new homes opening all over the globe. The congregation's first house outside India was in Venezuela, others followed in Rome and Tanzania and worldwide.


title: Missionaries of Charity

text: In 1979 the contemplative branch of the Brothers was added and in 1984 a priest branch, the Missionaries of Charity Fathers, was founded by Mother Teresa with Fr. Joseph Langford, combining the vocation of the Missionaries of Charity with the Ministerial Priesthood. As with the Sisters, the Fathers live a very simple lifestyle without television, radios or items of convenience. They neither smoke nor drink alcohol and beg for their food. They make a visit to their families every five years but do not take annual holidays. Lay Catholics and non-Catholics constitute the Co-Workers of Mother Teresa, the Sick and Suffering Co-Workers, and the Lay Missionaries of Charity.


title: Missionaries of Charity

text: The first home of the Missionaries of Charity in the United States was established in the South Bronx, New York, where in 2019 they had convents for both their active and contemplative branches, and had placed 108 sisters in their province that stretches from Quebec to Washington, DC. Their first rural mission in the United States, in 1982, was in one of the poorest, former coal mining areas of Kentucky, where they still serve. In the US, the Missionaries of Charity are affiliated with the Council of Major Superiors of Women Religious, a body of female religious, representing 20% of American religious sisters. They are identified by the wearing of religious habits, and loyalty to church teaching. By 1996, the organisation was operating 517 missions in more than 100 countries.


title: Missionaries of Charity

text: In 1990, Mother Teresa asked to resign as head of the Missionaries but was soon voted back in as Superior General. On March 13, 1997, six months before Mother Teresa's death, Sister Mary Nirmala Joshi was elected the new Superior General of the Missionaries of Charity. In April 2009, Sister Mary Prema was elected to succeed Sister Nirmala, during a general chapter held in Kolkata.


title: Missionaries of Charity

text: The quality of care offered to terminally ill patients in the Home for the Dying in Calcutta was the subject of discussion in the mid-1990s. Some British observers, on the basis of short visits, drew unfavourable comparisons with the standard of care available in hospices in the United Kingdom. Remarks made by Dr. Robin Fox relative to the lack of full-time medically-trained personnel and the absence of strong analgesics were published in a brief memoir in an issue of "The Lancet" in 1994. These remarks were criticised in a later issue of "The Lancet" on the ground that they failed to take account of Indian conditions, specifically the fact that government regulations effectively precluded the use of morphine outside large hospitals.


title: Missionaries of Charity

text: In Phoenix, Arizona, the sisters' accommodation for 40 homeless men is funded by a clothier, featured in Vogue, who grew up within a few blocks of Mother Teresa's original home for the dying destitute in Kalighat, Calcutta.


title: Missionaries of Charity

text: Princess Diana, who was very close to Mother Teresa, wrote that she found in her "the direction I've been searching for all these years".


title: Missionaries of Charity

text: The Missionaries of Charity sisters were particularly hard hit by the 2020 outbreak of COVID-19, as in places they continued to distribute food and minister to the poor who had been affected.


title: Missionaries of Charity

text: In April 2022, Sister Mary Joseph was elected to succeed Sister Mary Prema as superior general of the order, with Sister Mary Christie elected as assistant superior general.


title: Missionaries of Charity

text: In July 1998 in Al Hudaydah, Yemen, three Missionaries of Charity, two Indians and a Filipina, were shot and killed as they left a hospital.


title: Missionaries of Charity

text: In March 2016 in Aden, Yemen, sixteen people were shot and killed in a home for the elderly operated by the Missionaries of Charity. Among the dead were four missionary sisters: Sisters Marguerite and Reginette from Rwanda, Sister Anselm from India and Sister Judit from Kenya. According to Bishop Paul Hinder of the Apostolic Vicariate of Southern Arabia, their superior escaped harm by hiding. Bishop Hinder described the attack as "religiously-motivated". A Salesian Syro-Malabar priest who was living at the facility, Fr. Tom Uzhunnalil of Bangalore, India, was taken prisoner by the attackers.


title: Missionaries of Charity

text: On Good Friday, March 25, 2016, several media outlets reported that Fr. Tom Uzhunnalil was crucified by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. However, Bishop Hinder indicated he had strong indications that the priest was alive and still being held by his captors. In early September 2017 Fr. Uzhunnalil was rescued after 18 months in captivity, and first sent to the Vatican to meet with Pope Francis.


title: Missionaries of Charity

text: It takes nine years to become a full-fledged Missionary of Charity. An initial short-term "come-and-see" period is available. Those considered possible candidates by the Congregation may enter Aspirancy, focused on learning English (which is the community language) for those who are not from English-speaking countries and religious studies. It is followed by Postulancy (introduction into the study of Scripture, the Constitutions of the Society, Church history, and theology). If found suitable, they enter the Novitiate, the beginning of the religious life. Novices wear white cotton habits with a girdle, and white saris without the three blue stripes. In the first year (called canonical), they undertake more religious study and learn about life as a Missionary of Charity, the second year is more focused on practical training for the mission life. After two years, they take temporary vows for one year, which are renewed annually, for five years in total. They also receive a metal crucifix and a sari whose three blue stripes stand for their vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience. In the sixth year, they travel to Rome, Kolkata or Washington D.C. for "Tertianship", further religious study, at the end of which they make their final profession.


title: Missionaries of Charity

text: A sister's few possessions include: three saris (one to wear, one to wash, one to mend), two or three cotton habits, a girdle, a pair of sandals, a crucifix, and a rosary. They also have a plate, a set of cutlery, a cloth napkin, a canvas bag, and a prayer book. In cold countries, sisters may own a cardigan and other articles suited to the local climate such as a coat, scarf, and closed shoes.


title: Missionaries of Charity

text: A British former volunteer at the Home, Robin Fox (now editor of the British medical journal "The Lancet") disclosed in 1994 that syringes were rinsed in cold water and reused; that inmates were given cold baths; and that aspirin was administered to people with terminal cancer. Fox also noted, however, that the residents were "eating heartily and doing well", and that the sisters and volunteers focused on cleanliness, tending wounds and sores, and providing loving kindness. The controversy remains due to the use of unsterilized needles and the failure to make proper diagnoses, as put by Dr. Jack Preger: "If one wants to give love, understanding and care, one uses sterile needles."


title: Missionaries of Charity

text: In 2018, all child care homes in India run by the Missionaries of Charity were inspected by the Ministry of Women and Child Development following allegations that two staff members at a Jharkhand home sold babies for adoption. A sister and a social worker employed there were arrested. Sister Konsalia Balsa and social worker Anima Indwar were accused of having already sold three babies from the home, which provides shelter for pregnant, unmarried women, and of trying to sell a boy baby for roughly £1,325. The Missionaries of Charity had discontinued its participation in adoption services in India three years earlier over religious objections to the country's new adoption rules. In December 2021, Ministry of Home Affairs (India) refused to renew the registration under Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) of Missionaries of Charity along with 6000 other charity organizations, which is mandatory for charities, NGOs and any non-profit organizations receiving foreign funding in India registration . The decision was subsequently reverted in the first week of January 2022.


title: Rangoon (2017 Hindi film)

text: Rangoon is a 2017 Indian Hindi-language period war drama film, directed by Vishal Bhardwaj and produced by Sajid Nadiadwala and Viacom 18 Motion Pictures. The project is a period film set during World War II (1939–1945) with the leading actress supposedly playing a character based on the life and times of Mary Ann Evans aka Fearless Nadia, Bollywood's first original stunt-woman still remembered for her fiery role in the movie Hunterwali. It stars Saif Ali Khan, Shahid Kapoor and Kangana Ranaut in lead roles. The film was released on 24 February 2017 on the Mahashivratri weekend.


title: Rangoon (2017 Hindi film)

text: In 1943, as the Second World War rages on, India is fighting a war of her own: independence from British rule. Subash Chandra Bose, founder of the Indian National Army (INA), has become disenchanted with Mahatma Gandhi's "Ahimsa" (non-violent) movement and desires to fight fire with fire. Recognizing the growing dominance of Imperial Japanese Army in the Indo-China region, the INA allies itself with the Japanese, hoping to ride the wave to Delhi. Indian troops in the British Indian Army are locked in pitched battles with both the INA and its Japanese contingent. In one such skirmish close to the Indo-Burma border, Jemadar Nawab Malik and a group of fellow soldiers are cornered by the Japanese infantry. Running to escape on a barge, he is shot and captured as a prisoner of war. Meanwhile, the INA's top brass desperately seeks finances to replenish its heavy ammunition to aid the charge to Delhi.


title: Rangoon (2017 Hindi film)

text: Concurrently in India, Julia a leading film star of the Indian cinema is the star performer of a dance troupe that entertains civilians and armed forces alike through films espousing her daredevilry. Zulfi is her butler, make-up man, and trusted confidant. Her films are produced by Rustom "Rusi" Billimoria, a former Indian action film star whose career was cut short when he lost a hand in a film stunt gone wrong. He is now Julia's mentor and the scion of a production house. Billimoria is on friendly terms with the resident British commander Major General David Harding, who encounters a gem-encrusted royal sword belonging to a Maharajah at a gathering hosted by Billimoria. Slighted by the commander's arrogant demeanor, the King endeavours to send the sword to Indo-Burma border, where the INA hopes it can fund its artillery program and drive the British out of India. An opportunity arises when Harding proposes dispatching Julia and her troupe to the war-torn border where he hopes to raise the sagging morale of his troops through her shows. When Billimoria and Julia (who are now in a relationship) object, Harding promises top-grade security and coerces them by threatening to block supplies of film stock from England, as Nazi Germany has stopped shipments. Billimoria's affair with Julia causes rifts in his family, with his wife demanding a divorce and his grandfather concocting a ruse to prevent Billimoria accompanying Julia on the tour.


title: Rangoon (2017 Hindi film)

text: On board the train, Jemadar Malik, who has apparently escaped as a prisoner of war, is assigned as security detail to Julia, much to her chagrin. Crossing a river, the full complement of passengers and boatmen come under fierce Japanese aerial attack, resulting in numerous casualties. The British assume Julia has fallen, but she has survived and is accosted by three Japanese soldiers. Malik, who has also escaped unscathed, arrives in time to save her from being killed and in the process, captures one Japanese soldier Hiromichi as a hostage to lead them back to the Indian border. Through the rain-drenched jungle and a war-zone swarming with enemy platoons, Julia, Malik, and Hiromichi march slowly to their destination. Combing an anti-aircraft bunker, they barely escape a booby trap, with Malik furious at Hiromichi for leading them into an ambush. As Julia's gentleness and compassion counteracts against Malik's battle-hardened cynicism and aggression, the two fall in love, despite the overwhelming realisation their journey will be over when Julia is reunited with Billimoria.


title: Rangoon (2017 Hindi film)

text: Back in India, Harding again proposes that Julia, now engaged to Billimoria, be dispatched to the front-lines, with anti-aircraft gun protection this time. Julia continues to exhibit feelings for Malik: she endorses him for the prestigious Victoria Cross medal and deliberately forces him to volunteer for a stage show. Billimoria begins to have suspicions about her behaviour, which are confirmed after one surreptitious and passionate episode between Malik and Julia during an air-raid. Desiring vengeance, Billimoria volunteers as a stage hand on Julia's next show and after a tense routine, indirectly reveals that he is aware of her infidelity and ready to engage in a fight-to-the-finish with Malik. Meanwhile, Zulfi, who has also survived the earlier raid and is in reality a spy for the INA, has been entrusted to take the sword back to the INA by Mema, an INA agent in the British ranks, and Malik. It is then revealed that Malik did not escape his captivity in Rangoon but was freed by the INA who enlightened him about the evils of British rule in India, thereby enlisting him in the Gandhi regiment of the INA. Convinced of the cause and endowed with a fresh purpose, Malik clandestinely meets Julia before a show and delivers final instructions to Zulfi, who takes up a position outside her tent. Major Williams racially insults Zulfi after trying to forcibly enter Julia's tent to make her begin the show. Infuriated and inebriated, Zulfi hurls derogatory threats to the British on the radio during Julia's show. The outburst is heard by Billimoria, Harding, and other British soldiers, who rush to uncover the offensive culprit. Zulfi pleads guilty in Julia's presence on the stage but is shot dead by Williams, while Harding discovers Zulfi possessed a British Army officer's pistol. Distraught, Julia protests Billimoria's decision to not give Zulfi a proper burial as another member of Julia's troupe covertly abets Malik in a show of weapon check. As night falls, amid torrential downpour, Julia and Malik give Zulfi a proper burial, musing over loyalties and motivations.


title: Rangoon (2017 Hindi film)

text: During an attempt to arrange a rendezvous for transferring the sword with the INA via a letter, Malik and Mema are caught by Julia, who accuses Malik of betrayal. Torn between his feelings for her and his cause, Malik retorts by saying Julia is blinded by what she sees and the truth is lost on her. The letter reaches the INA, but Mema is trapped by the British while relaying messages. Next day, Harding blackmails Mema into revealing her co-conspirators by threatening to kill her son, at which point Malik discloses his true allegiance. Singing the INA anthem, Malik marches up defiantly to Harding, who signals Williams to shoot Mema dead. Enraged at this callous attitude, Malik lunges at Williams, but is captured and tortured by his former comrades. Horrified at this sequence of events, Julia turns a new leaf: she extracts Malik from a train bound for Delhi and resumes Zulfi's journey in getting the sword to the INA. At the bridge where the sword is to be handed over, Malik and Julia are cornered by the British. Malik convinces Julia to cross the bridge by covering her. In the ensuing gunfight, Malik is seriously injured by mortar fire while Billimoria arrives with British reinforcements. Harding tries to dissuade Julia from crossing the bridge with another false promise, but the mortally wounded Malik defies him by walking across the bridge and sacrifices his own life so that Julia can continue. Harding orders the bridge be blown up, causing grave injuries to Julia. Seeking to redeem himself, Billimoria asks Julia for her last wish, who appeals that he continue her task of delivering the sword to the INA before falling to her death. Unsheathing the shining sword, Billimoria massacres the rest of the British troops on the bridge, decapitates Harding, and walking on the rope delivers the sword to the INA. The film ends by proclaiming the INA raised the Indian flag in 1944.


title: Rangoon (2017 Hindi film)

text: Vishal Bhardwaj was supposed to shoot the film after "Omkara" (2006). However, the film was stalled for unknown reasons. It was previously titled "Julia". The screenplay was written by Matthew Robbins, who previously collaborated for "7 Khoon Maaf" (2011).


title: Rangoon (2017 Hindi film)

text: The film's shooting began on 18 November 2015 in Arunachal Pradesh. Many artists from Manipur, Arunachal joined the crew for the first shift. In mid January, the film's shooting was halted due to an injury to Shahid Kapoor and a Japanese actor. Kangana Ranaut travelled to New York City to research her role, and then headed to an island in Mexico to learn solo living.


title: Rangoon (2017 Hindi film)

text: The film was released on 24 February 2017. Upon its release, the film received positive reviews, although Kangana Ranaut's performance as Julia was widely praised as the strength of the film. The film failed to find a wider audience and was one of the biggest flops of 2017. The film is also available on Netflix.


title: Rangoon (2017 Hindi film)

text: Upon release, "Rangoon" received positive reviews from the film critics, with major praise drawn to Ranaut's performance. On the Indian film review aggregator website The Review Monk, "Rangoon" received an average score of 6.1/10 based on 27 reviews and 64% critics being in the favour. On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a rating of 55% based on 11 reviews and an average rating of 6.1/10.


title: Rangoon (2017 Hindi film)

text: Taran Adarsh of "Bollywood Hungama" gave the film a rating of 4/5 and wrote, ‘‘"Rangoon" is an epic love saga with strong strong emotional quotient, riveting second hour and nail-biting finale. Watch it for its layered plot, serpentine twists, proficient storytelling and bravura performances, its a content-driven film that’s worth a recommendation’’. Praising Ranaut's performance he further wrote, ‘‘Kangana portrays the lifeline of Rusi and Nawab with commanding authority; She owns every sequence she appears in, she makes every moment come alive with a memorable act. What’s noteworthy is that Kangana is effortless and stands tall in the most challenging sequences’’. Raja Sen from "Rediff" gave the film a rating of 4/5 and wrote, ‘‘"Rangoon" haunts in unlikely fashion and, while the director's most straightforward picture, holds enough of its own marvels to justify multiple viewings’’. Praising Ranaut's performance he further wrote, ‘‘Kangana Ranaut is extraordinary as she rides and throws and dances with aplomb in what is physically an immensely demanding part. Ranaut looks like she knows how to actually crack a whip instead of just hurl one around, and acquits herself admirably in old-world stuntwoman sequences, all the while playing the part with enough vulnerability and insecurity to mark Julia out as a confused girl who doesn't quite know what she's doing’’. Devarsi Ghosh of "India Today" gave the film a rating of 3.5/5 and wrote, ‘‘"Rangoon" is gorgeous-looking film with great cinematography, fantastic sound design and marvellous choreography’’.


title: Rangoon (2017 Hindi film)

text: Ujala Ali Khan from "The National" gave the film a rating of 4/5 and wrote, ‘‘The breathtaking cinematography and attention to detail in the film are remarkable; Cinematographer Panjak Kumar does a great job of delivering a believable peak into the past, and the leading trio slip effortlessly into their roles’’. Praising Ranaut's performance she further wrote, ‘‘The standout star is without a doubt Ranaut who does complete justice to Julia and, just like Fearless Nadia, takes your breath away with her stunts; Queen Kangana proves that she is here to stay’’. Mike McCahill from "The Guardian" gave the film a rating of 4/5 and called it a ‘‘sweeping second world war epic that describes a collision of worlds’’. He further wrote, ‘‘they’ve produced a properly expansive and enthralling afternoon matinee, owing as much to the David Lean back catalogue as it does to the industry that gifted us "Lagaan" – and those films didn’t have dance numbers about winding up Hitler’’. Meena Iyer from "Times of India" gave the film a rating of 3.5/5 and wrote, ‘‘"Rangoon" is an ambitious attempt to actually tell a triangular love story against the backdrop of war, the canvas is huge and Pankaj Kumar’s cinematography is exquisite’’. Praising the performances of lead actors she further wrote, ‘‘Saif gives his movie-entrepreneur act a razor-sharp quality. And, Shahid is outstanding. Kangana of course is the "piece de resistance"’’. Anupriya Kumar of "Reuters" wrote, ‘‘Bhardwaj ensure solid performances from his lead cast and topped it with clever execution’’. Praising Ranaut's performance she further wrote, ‘‘Ranaut displays a wide array of moods and emotions and is convincingly vain and generous, manipulative and gullible, brave and frightened’’.


title: Rangoon (2017 Hindi film)

text: Simon Abrams from "RogerEbert.com" gave the film a rating of 3/5 and wrote, ‘‘The most remarkable thing about "Rangoon" isn't how seamless its plot mechanics are or how ideologically nuanced it is; it's the movie's determination to foreground its characters and get you to care what happens to them’’. Rohit Vats of "Hindustan Times" gave the film a rating of 2/5 and criticized the writing and the script of the film. He praised Ranaut's performance by calling her the ‘‘Saving grace of "Rangoon"’’ and wrote, ‘‘Everything boils down to Kangana Ranaut’s Julia and her antics. She is undoubtedly a rock solid performer, because if there is one actor who shines despite odd writing, it’s her. She is terrific as a theatrics-loving stuntwoman. The poor script never lets Julia reach her pinnacle but she steals the show even with small scenes’’. Shubhra Gupta from "The Indian Express" gave the film a rating of 1.5/5 and described it as a ‘‘patchy film’’. She praised Ranaut's performance by stating, ‘‘Kangana Ranaut delivers a standout performance in this patchy film; Her body language is spot on, and some of her action sequences are thrilling, even if you can see the computer graphics a mile off. And she gets one spectacular speaking moment, the camera tight on her face, when she speaks of love and desire and heartbreak’’.


title: Rangoon (2017 Hindi film)

text: The music for the film is composed by Vishal Bhardwaj; the lyrics are by Gulzar. The first song titled 'Bloody Hell' from the movie was released on 11 January 2017, along with the music video. The full movie soundtrack was unveiled on 18 January and it consists 12 songs in total, including the movie theme song. The music rights are bought by T-Series.


title: Islamic culture

text: Islamic culture and Muslim culture refer to cultural practices which are common to historically Islamic people. The early forms of Muslim culture, from the Rashidun Caliphate to the early Umayyad period and the early Abbasid period, were predominantly Arab, Byzantine, Persian and Levantine. With the rapid expansion of the Islamic empires, Muslim culture has influenced and assimilated much from the Persian, Egyptian, North Caucasian, Turkic, Mongol, Indian, Bangladeshi, Pakistani, Malay, Somali, Berber, Indonesian, and Moro cultures.


title: Islamic culture

text: Islamic culture generally includes all of the practices which have developed around the religion of Islam. There are variations in the application of Islamic beliefs in different cultures and traditions.


title: Islamic culture

text: Arabic literature ( / ALA-LC: "al-Adab al-'Arabī") is the writing, both prose and poetry, produced by writers in the Arabic language. The Arabic word used for literature is ""Adab"", which is derived from a meaning of etiquette, and which implies politeness, culture and enrichment.


title: Islamic culture

text: Arabic literature emerged in the 5th century with only fragments of the written language appearing before then. The Qur'an,(the holy book of Islam) widely regarded by people as the finest piece of literature in the Arabic language, would have the greatest lasting effect on Arabic culture and its literature. Arabic literature flourished during the Islamic Golden Age, but has remained vibrant to the present day, with poets and prose-writers across the Arab world, as well as rest of the world, achieving increasing success.


title: Islamic culture

text: Persian literature comprises oral compositions and written texts in the Persian language and it is one of the world's oldest literatures. It spans over two-and-a-half millennia. Its sources have been within Greater Iran including present-day Iran, Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, the Caucasus, and Turkey, regions of Central Asia (such as Tajikistan) and South Asia where the Persian language has historically been either the native or official language. For instance, Rumi, one of best-loved Persian poets born in Balkh (in what is now the modern-day Afghanistan) or Vakhsh (in what is now the modern-day Tajikistan), wrote in Persian and lived in Konya, then the capital of the Seljuks in Anatolia. The Ghaznavids conquered large territories in Central and South Asia and adopted Persian as their court language. There is thus Persian literature from Iran, Mesopotamia, Azerbaijan, the wider Caucasus, Turkey, western parts of Pakistan, Bangladesh, India, Tajikistan and other parts of Central Asia. Not all Persian literature is written in Persian, as some consider works written by ethnic Persians in other languages, such as Greek and Arabic, to be included. At the same time, not all literature written in Persian is written by ethnic Persians or Iranians, as Turkic, Caucasian, and Indic poets and writers have also used the Persian language in the environment of Persianate cultures.


title: Islamic culture

text: Described as one of the great literatures of humanity, including Goethe's assessment of it as one of the four main bodies of world literature, Persian literature has its roots in surviving works of Middle Persian and Old Persian, the latter of which date back as far as 522 BCE, the date of the earliest surviving Achaemenid inscription, the Behistun Inscription. The bulk of surviving Persian literature, however, comes from the times following the Arab conquest of Persia c. 650 CE. After the Abbasids came to power (750 CE), the Iranians became the scribes and bureaucrats of the Arab empire and, increasingly, also its writers and poets. The New Persian language literature arose and flourished in Khorasan and Transoxiana because of political reasons, early Iranian dynasties such as the Tahirids and Samanids being based in Khorasan.


title: Islamic culture

text: Persian poets such as Ferdowsi, Sa'di, Hafiz, Attar, Nezami, Rumi and Omar Khayyam are also known in the West and have influenced the literature of many countries.


title: Islamic culture

text: For a thousand years, since the invasion of India by the Ghaznavids, the Persian-Islamic culture of the eastern half of the Islamic world started to influence the Indian culture. Persian was the official language of most Indian empires such as the Ghaznavids, the Delhi Sultanate, the Bengal Sultanate, the Deccan Sultanates (such as the Qutb Shahi dynasty) and the Mughal Empire. Persian artistic forms in literature and poetry such as ghazals have come to significantly affect Urdu and other Indian literature.


title: Islamic culture

text: More Persian literature was produced in India than in the Iranian world. As late as the 20th century, Allama Iqbal chose Persian for some of his major poetic works. The first Persian language newspaper was also published in India, given that printing machines were first implemented in India.


title: Islamic culture

text: In Bengal, Muslim writers were exploring different themes through Islamic narratives and epics such as culture, cosmology, love and history. Starting from Shah Muhammad Saghir in the 14th century, Muslim writers began to enrich the Bengali language for over 600 years, often being actively supported and promoted by the rulers themselves. The early 20th century brought a new era for Bengali Islamic literature, with its most notable poet Kazi Nazrul Islam espousing intense rebellion against colonialism and oppression, in addition to writing a highly acclaimed collection of Bengali ghazals. Sultana's Dream by Begum Rokeya, an Islamic feminist, is one earliest works of feminist science fiction.


title: Islamic culture

text: From the 11th century, there was a growing body of Islamic literature in the Turkic languages. However, for centuries to come the official language in Turkish-speaking areas would remain Persian. In Anatolia, with the advent of the Seljuks, the practise and usage of Persian in the region would be strongly revived. A branch of the Seljuks, the Sultanate of Rum, took Persian language, art and letters to Anatolia. They adopted Persian language as the official language of the empire. The Ottomans, which can "roughly" be seen as their eventual successors, took this tradition over. Persian was the official court language of the empire, and for some time, the official language of the empire, though the lingua franca amongst common people from the 15th/16th century would become Turkish as well as having laid an active "foundation" for the Turkic language as early as the 4th century (see Turkification). After a period of several centuries, Ottoman Turkish had developed towards a fully accepted language of literature, which was even able to satisfy the demands of a scientific presentation. However, the number of Persian and Arabic loanwords contained in those works increased at times up to 88%. However, Turkish was proclaimed the official language of the Karamanids in the 17th century, though it didn't manage to become the official language in a wider area or larger empire until the advent of the Ottomans. With the establishment of the Ottoman Empire, Ottoman Turkish grew in importance in both poetry and prose becoming, by the beginning of the 18th century, the official language of the Empire. Unlike India, where Persian remained the official and principal literary language of both Muslim and Hindu states until the 19th century.


title: Islamic culture

text: Public Islamic art is traditionally non-representational, except for the widespread use of plant forms, usually in varieties of the spiralling arabesque. These are often combined with Islamic calligraphy, geometric patterns in styles that are typically found in a wide variety of media, from small objects in ceramic or metalwork to large decorative schemes in tiling on the outside and inside of large buildings, including mosques. However, there is a long tradition in Islamic art of the depiction of human and animal figures, especially in painting and small anonymous relief figures as part of a decorative scheme. Almost all Persian miniatures (as opposed to decorative illuminations) include figures, often in large numbers, as do their equivalents in Arab, Mughal and Ottoman miniatures. But miniatures in books or muraqqa albums were private works owned by the elite. Larger figures in monumental sculpture are exceptionally rare until recent times, and portraiture showing realistic representations of individuals (and animals) did not develop until the late 16th century in miniature painting, especially Mughal miniatures. Manuscripts of the Qur'an and other sacred texts have always been strictly kept free of such figures, but there is a long tradition of the depiction of Muhammad and other religious figures in books of history and poetry; since the 20th century Muhammad has mostly been shown as though wearing a veil hiding his face, and many earlier miniatures were overpainted to use this convention.


title: Islamic culture

text: Some interpretations of Islam include a ban of depiction of animate beings, also known as aniconism. Islamic aniconism stems in part from the prohibition of idolatry and in part from the belief that creation of living forms is God's prerogative. Although the Quran does not explicitly prohibit visual representation of any living being, it uses the word "musawwir" (maker of forms, artist) as an epithet of God. The corpus of hadith (sayings attributed to the Islamic prophet Muhammad) contains more explicit prohibitions of images of living beings, challenging painters to "breathe life" into their images and threatening them with punishment on the Day of Judgment. Muslims have interpreted these prohibitions in different ways in different times and places. Religious Islamic art has been typically characterized by the absence of figures and extensive use of calligraphic, geometric and abstract floral patterns. However, representations of Muhammad (in some cases, with his face concealed) and other religious figures are found in some manuscripts from lands to the east of Anatolia, such as Persia and India. These pictures were meant to illustrate the story and not to infringe on the Islamic prohibition of idolatry, but many Muslims regard such images as forbidden. In secular art of the Muslim world, representations of human and animal forms historically flourished in nearly all Islamic cultures, although, partly because of opposing religious sentiments, figures in paintings were often stylized, giving rise to a variety of decorative figural designs.


title: Islamic culture

text: Islamic calligraphy is the artistic practice of handwriting and calligraphy, based upon the alphabet in the lands sharing a common Islamic cultural heritage. It includes Arabic Calligraphy, Ottoman, and Persian calligraphy. It is known in Arabic as "khatt Islami" (), meaning Islamic line, design, or construction.


title: Islamic culture

text: The development of Islamic calligraphy is strongly tied to the Qur'an; chapters and excerpts from the Qur'an are a common and almost universal text upon which Islamic calligraphy is based. However, Islamic calligraphy is not limited to strictly religious subjects, objects, or spaces. Like all Islamic art, it encompasses a diverse array of works created in a wide variety of contexts. The prevalence of calligraphy in Islamic art is not directly related to its non-figural tradition; rather, it reflects the centrality of the notion of writing and written text in Islam. It is noteworthy, for instance, that the Prophet Muhammad is related to have said: "The first thing God created was the pen."


title: Islamic culture

text: Islamic calligraphy developed from two major styles: Kufic and Naskh. There are several variations of each, as well as regionally specific styles. Islamic calligraphy has also been incorporated into modern art beginning with the post-colonial period in the Middle East, as well as the more recent style of calligraffiti.


title: Islamic culture

text: Islamic architecture is the range of architectural styles of buildings associated with Islam. It encompasses both secular and religious styles from the early history of Islam to the present day. Early Islamic architecture was influenced by Roman, Byzantine, Persian and all other lands which the Muslims conquered in the 7th and 8th centuries. Further east, it was also influenced by Chinese and Indian architecture as Islam spread to the Southeast Asia. Later it developed distinct characteristics in the form of buildings, and the decoration of surfaces with Islamic calligraphy and geometric and interlace patterned ornament. The principal Islamic architectural types for large or public buildings are: the Mosque, the Tomb, the Palace and the Fort. From these four types, the vocabulary of Islamic architecture is derived and used for other buildings such as public baths, fountains and domestic architecture.


title: Islamic culture

text: Islamic architecture may be identified with the following design elements, which were inherited from the first mosque built by Muhammad in Medina, as well as from other pre-Islamic features adapted from churches and synagogues.


title: Islamic culture

text: Whilst theatre is permitted by Islam, Islam does not allow for any performances to depict God, Muhammad, his companions, the angels or matters detailed in the religion that are unseen.


title: Islamic culture

text: The most popular forms of theatre in the medieval Islamic world were puppet theatre (which included hand puppets, shadow plays and marionette productions) and live passion plays known as "ta'ziya", where actors re-enact episodes from Muslim history. In particular, Shia Islamic plays revolved around the "shaheed" (martyrdom) of Ali's sons Hasan ibn Ali and Husayn ibn Ali. Live secular plays were known as "akhraja", recorded in medieval "adab" literature, though they were less common than puppetry and "ta'zieh" theatre.


title: Islamic culture

text: One of the oldest, and most enduring, forms of puppet theatre is the Wayang of Indonesia. Although it narrates primarily pre-Islamic legends, it is also an important stage for Islamic epics such as the adventures of Amir Hamzah (pictured). Islamic Wayang is known as "Wayang Sadat" or "Wayang Menak".


title: Islamic culture

text: Karagoz, the Turkish Shadow Theatre has influenced puppetry widely in the region. It is thought to have passed from China by way of India. Later it was taken by the Mongols from the Chinese and transmitted to the Turkish peoples of Central Russia. Thus the art of Shadow Theatre was brought to Anatolia by the Turkish people emigrating from Central Asia. Other scholars claim that shadow theatre came to Anatolia in the 16th century from Egypt. The advocates of this view claim that when Yavuz Sultan Selim conquered Egypt in 1517, he saw shadow theatre performed during an extacy party put on in his honour. Yavuz Sultan Selim was so impressed with it that he took the puppeteer back to his palace in Istanbul. There his 47-year-old son, later Sultan Suleyman the Magnificent, developed an interest in the plays and watched them a great deal. Thus shadow theatre found its way into the Ottoman palaces.


title: Islamic culture

text: In other areas the style of shadow puppetry known as "khayal al-zill" – an intentionally metaphorical term whose meaning is best translated as 'shadows of the imagination' or 'shadow of fancy' survives. This is a shadow play with live music .."the accompaniment of drums, tambourines and flutes...also..."special effects" – smoke, fire, thunder, rattles, squeaks, thumps, and whatever else might elicit a laugh or a shudder from his audience"


title: Islamic culture

text: In Iran puppets are known to have existed much earlier than 1000, but initially only glove and string puppets were popular in Iran. Other genres of puppetry emerged during the Qajar era (18th–19th century) as influences from Turkey spread to the region. "Kheimeh Shab-Bazi" is a Persian traditional puppet show which is performed in a small chamber by a musical performer and a storyteller called a "morshed" or "naghal". These shows often take place alongside storytelling in traditional tea and coffee-houses ("Ghahve-Khave"). The dialogue takes place between the morshed and the puppets. Puppetry remains very popular in Iran, the touring opera Rostam and Sohrab puppet opera being a recent example.


title: Islamic culture

text: The Royal Opera House in Muscat, Oman. It is considered to be the first opera house linking Islamic culture with classical music.


title: Islamic culture

text: Following the independence of Pakistan in 1947, religion-based nationalism was strong and affected the theatre in both wings of the country. In East Pakistan (modern-day Bangladesh), playwrights emerged such as Ibrahim Khan (1894-1978), Ibrahim Khalil (b. 1916), Akbar ad-Din (1895-1978) and others. These playwrights would create plays related to the Islamic history of the subcontinent and Middle East, glorifying past Muslim rulers as well as the history of the Pakistan Movement.


title: Islamic culture

text: Many forms of dancing arts are practised in Muslim cultures, both in religious and secular contexts (such as folk and tribal dances, court dances, dances of celebration during weddings and festivals, belly dancing, "etc.").


title: Islamic culture

text: Some scholars of Islamic "fiqh" pronounced gender based rulings on dance, making it permissible for women within a female only environment, as is often performed at celebrations, but discouraging men to engage in it. Other classical authorities including Al-Ghazzali and Al-Nawawi allow it without this distinction, but criticised dancing which is "languid" or excites carnal lusts.


title: Islamic culture

text: Most of the religious orders ("tariqa") which dominate traditional Muslim religious life practice ritualised forms of dance in the context of "dhikr" ceremonies. "Dhikr", "recollection" (of God) is a meditative form of worship different from ritual prayer where the seeker focuses all of his senses and thoughts on God in the hope of attaining "maarifat" (experiential knowledge of God) and triggering mystic states within him- or herself. "Dhikr" can be performed individually or with like-minded followers under the direction of a sheikh, and can involve silent meditation or repetition and visualisation of sacred words such as the 99 names of God or Quranic phrases, and may be done at rest or with rhythmic movements and controlling one's breath. Traditional Islamic orders have developed varied "dhikr" exercises including sometimes highly elaborate ritual dances accompanied by Sufi poetry and classical music.


title: Islamic culture

text: Al-Ghazzali discussed the use of music and dancing in "dhikr" and the mystical states it induces in worshippers, as well as regulating the etiquette attached to these ceremonies, in his short treatise on Islamic spirituality "The Alchemy of Happiness" and in his highly influential work "The Revival of the Religious Sciences". Al-Ghazzali emphasized how the practices of music and dance are beneficial to religious seekers, as long as their hearts are pure before engaging in these practices.


title: Islamic culture

text: Notable examples include the Mevlevi Order founded by Jalaluddin Rumi, which was the main Sunni order of the Ottoman Empire, and its "sama" ritual (known in the West as "the whirling dervishes"). The Mevlevi order, its rituals and Ottoman classical music has been banned in Turkey through much of the 20th century as part of the country's drive towards secular "modernisation", and the order's properties have been expropriated and the country's mosques put out of its control, which has radically diminished its influence in modern Turkey. In 2008, UNESCO confirmed the "Mevlevi Sama Ceremony" of Turkey as one of the Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity, and the practice is now regaining interest.


title: Islamic culture

text: In Egypt and the Levant, the Mevlevi form of "sama" is known as tannoura and has been adopted (with some modifications) by other Sufi orders as well.


title: Islamic culture

text: The Chishti order, traditionally the dominant Islamic institution in Afghanistan and the Indian subcontinent and the most ancient of the major Sufi orders, also practices forms of "sama" similar to the Mevlevis, as well as other forms of devotional dance. The order is strongly associated with the development of Hindustani classical music and semi-classical devotional genres such as "qawwali" through famed pioneer figures such as Amir Khusrow. The Chishti order remains one of the largest and strongest Muslim religious orders in the world by far, retaining a vast influence on the spirituality and culture of around 500 million Muslims living in the Indian subcontinent.


title: Islamic culture

text: Other examples of devotional dance are found in the Maghreb where it is associated with gnawa music, as well as Sub-Saharan Africa and South-East Asia. The Naqshbandi order, predominant among Iran's Sunni minority, is a notable exception in that they do not use music and dancing in the context of "dhikr".


title: Islamic culture

text: In addition to these strictly religious forms of dance, colourful dancing processions traditionally take place in Muslim communities during weddings and public celebrations such as "Mawlid", "Eid el-Adha", and so on. Many Islamic cultures have also developed classical forms of dance in the context for instance of Mughal, Ottoman, Persian and Javanese court cultures, as well as innumerable local folk and tribal dances (for instance amongst Bedouin, Tuareg and Pashto peoples), and other forms of dance used for entertainment or sometimes healing such as belly dancing (principally associated with Egyptian culture).


title: Islamic culture

text: Although "tariqas" and their rituals have been an omnipresent part of Muslim life for most of Islam's history and were largely responsible for the spread of Islam throughout the world, their following and influence has sharply declined since the late 19th century, having been vigorously opposed and combated in turns by the French and British colonial administrations and by Muslim modernists and secularists like Kemal Atatürk, and in recent decades have been the target of vocal opposition by the fundamentalist Wahhabi sect promoted by Saudi Arabia (where most of the heritage associated with Sufism and "tariqa" was physically destroyed by the state in the 1930s). Wahhabi militant groups such as ISIS and the Taliban are repeatedly targeting "dhikr" ceremonies in terrorist attacks, notably in Egypt and Pakistan.


title: Islamic culture

text: The classic heartland of Islam is Arabia as well as other parts of the Middle East, North Africa and Central Asia. Because Islam is a multicultural religion, the musical expression of its adherents is diverse.


title: Islamic culture

text: The Seljuk Turks, a nomadic tribe that converted to Islam, conquered Anatolia (now Turkey), and held the Caliphate as the Ottoman Empire, also had a strong influence on Islamic music. See Turkish classical music.


title: Islamic culture

text: Sub-Saharan Africa, India, and the Malay Archipelago also have large Muslim populations, but these areas have had less influence than the heartland on the various traditions of Islamic music. For South India, see: Mappila Songs, Duff Muttu.


title: Islamic culture

text: All these regions were connected by trade long before the Islamic conquests of the 7th century and later, and it is likely that musical styles travelled the same routes as trade goods. However, lacking recordings, we can only speculate as to the pre-Islamic music of these areas. Islam must have had a great influence on music, as it united vast areas under the first caliphs, and facilitated trade between distant lands. Certainly the Sufis, brotherhoods of Muslim mystics, spread their music far and wide.


title: Islamic culture

text: See articles on Eid ul-Fitr, Eid ul-Adha, Ashurah (see also Hosay and Tabuik), Mawlid, Lailat al Miraj and Shab-e-baraat.


title: Islamic culture

text: In a Muslim family, the birth of a child is attended with some religious ceremonies. Immediately after the birth, the words of Adhan is pronounced in the right ear of the child. In the seventh day, the aquiqa ceremony is performed, in which an animal is slaughtered and its meat is distributed among the poor. The head of the child is also shaved, and an amount of money equaling the weight of the child's hair is donated to the poor. Apart from fulfilling the basic needs of food, shelter, and education, the parents or the elderly members of family also undertake the task of teaching moral qualities, religious knowledge, and religious practices to the children. Marriage, which serves as the foundation of a Muslim family, is a civil contract which consists of an offer and acceptance between two qualified parties in the presence of two witnesses. The groom is required to pay a bridal gift ("mahr") to the bride, as stipulated in the contract. With Muslims coming from diverse backgrounds including 49 Muslim-majority countries, plus a strong presence as large minorities throughout the world there are many variations on Muslim weddings. Generally in a Muslim family, a woman's sphere of operation is the home and a man's corresponding sphere is the outside world. However, in practice, this separation is not as rigid as it appears.


title: Islamic culture

text: Certain religious rites are performed during and after the death of a Muslim. Those near a dying man encourage him to pronounce the Shahada as Muslims want their last word to be their profession of faith. After the death, the body is appropriately bathed by the members of the same gender and then enshrouded in a threefold white garment called "kafan". Placing the body on a bier, it is first taken to a mosque where funeral prayer is offered for the dead person, and then to the graveyard for burial.