The Holy Qur'aan and Sunnah are the only two sources for the essential beliefs of those people who call themselves Muslims.

To be tremendously fit is a must for all professional footballers: a demand that leads some Muslim players to forgo the duty of fasting during Ramadan, preferring to fulfill their obligation when the football season ends. However, for Sevilla’s Freddie Kanoute, this is not the case.

Sharia, or Islamic law, influences the legal code in most Muslim countries. A movement to allow sharia to govern personal status law, a set of regulations that pertain to marriage, divorce, inheritance, and custody, is even expanding into the West. "There are so many varying interpretations of what sharia actually means that in some places it can be incorporated into political systems relatively easily," says Steven A. Cook, CFR senior fellow for Middle Eastern studies. Sharia's influence on both personal status law and criminal law is highly controversial, though.

THE law can be a peculiarly cruel ass in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Last week, the Lahore High court refused to release Tahir Iqbal on bail. He must remain in Lahore's Kot Lakhpat jail. Is this because the 30-year-old Mr Iqbal has a criminal record, and would run riot if he were allowed out? Hardly. He is a cripple, said by the jail's medical officer in his court report to be suffering from paraparesis"-partial paralysis of the legs-"with loss of sensation of the left side and no control over micturition or defecation."