title: Lettice Knollys

text: Lettice Dudley was left a wealthy widow. Leicester's will appointed her as executrix and her income from both her husbands' jointures amounted to £3,000 annually, to which came plate and movables worth £6,000. However, her jointure was to suffer greatly from paying off Leicester's debts, which at some £50,000 were so overwhelming that she was advised to decline the responsibility of dealing with her husband's financial legacy.


title: Lettice Knollys

text: In March or April 1589, hardly six months after Leicester's death, Lettice married Sir Christopher Blount, a relatively poor Catholic soldier 12 years her junior, who had been the Earl of Leicester's Gentleman of the Horse and a trusted friend of his. The marriage was a great surprise, and the Earl of Essex complained that it was an "unhappy choice". In the face of tittle-tattle that had reached even France, Lady Leicester—she continued to be styled thus—explained her choice with being a defenceless widow; like her marriage to Leicester, the union proved to be a "genuinely happy" one. Some 60 years later, it was claimed in a satirical poem that she had poisoned the Earl of Leicester on his deathbed, thereby forestalling her own murder at his hands, because he had found out about her supposed lover, Sir Christopher Blount.


title: Lettice Knollys

text: Lettice's second son, Walter Devereux, died 1591 in France while on military duty, and in subsequent years she was anxious for her elder son's safety. She addressed him "Sweet Robin", longing for his letters and helpless about his moodiness and depression. In 1593, she sold Leicester House to him, after which it became known as Essex House. She moved to Drayton Bassett near Chartley in Staffordshire, which would be her main residence for the rest of her life. Still banished from court, she saw no point in returning to London without being reconciled to Elizabeth. In December 1597, having heard from friends that "Her Majesty is very well prepared to hearken to terms of pacification", she prepared to do "a winter journey" if her son thought "it be to any purpose". "Otherwise a country life is fittest for disgraced persons", she commented. She travelled to London, staying at Essex House from January till March 1598, and seeking a reconciliation with Elizabeth. At last a short meeting was granted, in which the Countess kissed the Queen and "the Queen kissed her", but nothing really changed.


title: Lettice Knollys

text: Essex was imprisoned in 1599 after returning from his command in Ireland without licence; his mother came to London to intercede for him with the Queen. She tried to send Elizabeth a present in the form of a gown, which Elizabeth neither accepted nor refused. Her efforts to get sight of her son made matters worse: "Mislike is taken that his mother and friends have been in a house that looks into York Garden where he uses to walk, and have saluted each other out of a window." Both his military incompetence and his "de facto" abandonment of his post were condoned on that occasion, but rather than count his blessings and hold his peace, he became malcontent, chaffed at his failures, and fell into rebellion. During Essex' revolt, trial, and execution in February 1601, Lettice remained at Drayton Basset. The event was a comprehensive personal disaster for her, because she lost not only her son but also her beloved third husband, who was, she wrote, her "best friend". Sir Christopher Blount was executed on 18 March 1601, three weeks after the execution of his stepson, to whom he had been a friend and confidant for many years. Sir Christopher had taken in Mary Cresswell and after he died she was looked after by Lettice. Lettice was alarmed when she discovered that Cresswell was set on becoming a nun. With the aid of her chaplain she close to brainwashed the child until she finally accepted the Protestant faith. Cresswell's life story would in time be well known.


title: Lettice Knollys

text: The executions and attainders of Essex and Blount led to a legal dispute over the Countess of Leicester's remaining property. In this context she claimed that Blount, in the process of paying off Leicester's debts, had squandered her jewels and much of her landed wealth. The death of Elizabeth I in 1603 meant some form of rehabilitation for the Countess; the new monarch, James I, not only restored her grandson, the third Earl of Essex, to his father's title and estate, but quickly cancelled the rest of her debts to the Crown, almost £4,000.


title: Lettice Knollys

text: Even more than his debts, the Earl of Leicester's will triggered litigation. He had intended his illegitimate son from his early 1570s relationship with Douglas Sheffield, the adolescent Robert Dudley, to inherit Kenilworth after the death of his brother, Ambrose Dudley, 3rd Earl of Warwick. Some of the countess' jointure manors lay in the castle's vicinity, while at the same time they had been assigned to the younger Dudley's inheritance by the overseers of Leicester's will. After Warwick's death in February 1590, lengthy legal proceedings ensued over whether particular parts of Lady Leicester's jointure belonged to the Kenilworth estate or not.


title: Lettice Knollys

text: In 1603, Dudley initiated moves to prove that he was the legitimate son of his parents and thus the heir to the earldoms of Warwick and Leicester. If successful, this claim would not only have implied that Lettice Knollys' union with Leicester had been bigamous, but would also have nullified her jointure rights.


title: Lettice Knollys

text: Consequently, in February 1604, she filed a complaint against Dudley in the Star Chamber, accusing him of defamation. She was backed by Sir Robert Sidney, who considered himself the only legitimate heir of his uncles Leicester and Warwick. During the Star Chamber proceedings 56 former servants and friends of the Earl of Leicester testified that he had always regarded Dudley as his illegitimate son. The other side was unable to cite clear evidence and the King's chief minister, Robert Cecil, thought it unwise to rake up the existing property settlement, so the outcome was in favour of Lady Leicester. All the evidence was impounded to preclude a resumption of the case.


title: Lettice Knollys

text: Throughout her life, Lettice Knollys cared for her siblings, children, and grandchildren. Until their respective deaths in 1607 and 1619, her daughters Penelope and Dorothy were her closest companions. The young third Earl of Essex, also called Robert, shared much of his life with the old Countess at Chartley and Drayton Bassett.


title: Lettice Knollys

text: Still walking a mile a day at nearly 90, she died in her chair in the morning of 25 December 1634, aged 91. Widely mourned as a symbol of a by-gone age, she wished to be buried "at Warwick by my dear lord and husband the Earl of Leicester with whom I desire to be entombed". Her request was respected and she came to rest in the Beauchamp Chapel of Collegiate Church of St Mary, Warwick, opposite the tomb of her son, young Lord Denbigh.


title: Lettice Knollys

text: An episode of the genealogical television series "Who Do You Think You Are?" traced British comedian Josh Widdicombe's ancestry in direct line to Knollys, via his grandmother, a member of the Barings family.


title: LGBT rights in Pakistan

text: Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people in Pakistan face social difficulties compared to non-LGBT persons. Even in large cities, gays and lesbians have to be highly discreet about their sexual orientation. Pakistani law prescribes criminal penalties for same-sex sexual acts. The Pakistani Penal Code of 1860, originally developed under the British Raj, criminalises sodomy with possible penalties of prison sentences from two years to a life sentence and fines. The Penal Code has other provisions that impact LGBT Pakistanis, under the guise of protecting public morality and order. Despite its illegality, homosexual acts are not commonly prosecuted by authorities in Pakistan.


title: LGBT rights in Pakistan

text: Discrimination and disapproval of the LGBT community and the associated social stigma, which can lead to harassment and violence, make it difficult for LGBT people to have steady relationships. Nevertheless, the LGBT community is still able to socialise, organise, date, and even—in rare cases—live together as couples, if done mostly in secret.


title: LGBT rights in Pakistan

text: Sexual encounters between same-sex partners are more accessible in Lahore, in particular for gay and bisexual men. As a result of globalisation, increasing liberalisation trends and advancing social tolerance, private gay parties in Lahore have been increasing for a number of years. In addition, there is a growing number of individuals—generally from more affluent and educated families—who are coming out to their friends and introducing them to their same-sex partner.


title: LGBT rights in Pakistan

text: In 2018, the Parliament passed the "Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act" which established broad protections for transgender people. Earlier, in a historic 2009 ruling, the Supreme Court of Pakistan ruled in favour of civil rights for transgender citizens, and further court rulings upheld and increased these rights. Pakistan does not have civil rights laws to prohibit discrimination or harassment on the basis of sexual orientation. Neither same-sex marriages nor civil unions are permitted under current law and are scarcely ever brought up in the political discourse.


title: LGBT rights in Pakistan

text: Pakistani law is a mixture of both British law and Islamic law. The section of the Penal Code criminalising consensual same-sex relations was inherited from the colonial rule of the British Raj; it was enacted on 6 October 1860 and went into force on 1 January 1862. Written by Lord Macaulay, the then-named "Indian Penal Code 1860", made male same-sex sexual acts illegal under the British law of "Unnatural Offences". After Pakistan gained independence in 1947, the Parliament retained the Penal Code, merely changing the title to "Pakistan Penal Code" (Act XLV of 1860). Within the Penal Code, Article 377 ("Unnatural Offences") states: "Whoever voluntarily has carnal intercourse against the order of nature with any man, woman or animal, shall be punished with imprisonment ... for a term which shall not be less than two years nor more than ten years, and shall also be liable to fine".


title: LGBT rights in Pakistan

text: As part of the Islamisation of Pakistan, the Hudood Ordinances were enacted in 1979, stipulating severe punishments for adultery, fornication, consuming alcohol and sodomy. The amendments included corporal and capital punishments, such as whipping of up to 100 lashes and death by stoning if married (for adultery). According to the United States State Department's 2021 "Country reports on human rights practices: Pakistan", the Hudood Ordinances have not been enforced "since the 1985 lifting of martial law", and there are no known cases of it being applied to same-sex sexual conduct. No known executions for homosexual activity have occurred.


title: LGBT rights in Pakistan

text: The Pakistani Constitution does not explicitly make mention of sexual orientation or gender identity. It does contain certain provisions that may impact the constitutional rights of LGBT Pakistani citizens.


title: LGBT rights in Pakistan

text: No civil rights legislation exists to prohibit public or private sector discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. However, since 2018, discrimination on the basis of gender identity is prohibited in a wide range of areas, including employment, education, health care, access to goods and services, housing and public office. The International Commission of Jurists summarises the coverage of the act:


title: LGBT rights in Pakistan

text: The Green Party of Pakistan has expressed some support for LGBT rights, but most political parties either ignore the issue of LGBT rights or oppose LGBT rights on religious grounds.


title: LGBT rights in Pakistan

text: Sociologists Stephen O. Murray and Badruddin Khan have written that the penal laws themselves are rarely enforced directly, but are used by the police and other private citizens as a form of blackmail.


title: LGBT rights in Pakistan

text: In March 2012, at the Human Rights Council, Hina Jilani, who was then also Chair of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan and former Special Representative of the Secretary-General, said,it was very important to emphasise that a serious obstacle was the persistent denial of protection for people from violence on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. That denial and rejection were not prudent for any Government that claimed the commitment to the promotion and protection of human rights. It was not convincing when culture and religion were used as a shield and an excuse for failure to protect. There was no notion of responsibility that allowed duty bearers to selectively hold out on protection.


title: LGBT rights in Pakistan

text: In most South Asian nations, there is a concept of third gender where members are referred to by society as neither man nor a woman. Pakistan is no different and has a vibrant culture of "hijras" (). While the term is commonly used in South Asia, it is considered derogatory in Urdu and the term "khawaja sara" () is used instead. They are sometimes referred to as transgender, intersex or eunuchs in English language publications. Like transgender people in many countries, they are sometimes the subjects of ridicule, abuse, and violence. That said, they enjoy a certain level of acceptance due to their position in precolonial society. For example, they are welcome at weddings where they will dance as entertainment for the men, and are also welcome among the women. In Punjabi, there are referred to as () and in Sindhi, as ().


title: LGBT rights in Pakistan

text: Their presence in society is usually tolerated and are considered blessed in the Pakistani culture. Most "khawaja saras" are deemed to have been direct cultural descendants of the court eunuchs of the Mughal era. Thought to be born with genital dysphoria and afraid that they might curse one their fate, people listen to their needs, give them alms, and invite their presence at various events and functions, e.g., birth of a child, circumcisions, or weddings. This mysteriousness that shrouds their existence was born of the fact that the khawaja sara communities live a very secretive life. In 2004, it was reported that Lahore alone has 10,000 active transvestites.


title: LGBT rights in Pakistan

text: People have started accepting sex reassignment surgery to change their sex as a norm as compelled by gender dysphoria. There are situations where such cases have come into the limelight. A 2008 ruling at Pakistan's Lahore High Court gave permission to Naureen, 28, to have a sex change operation, although the decision was applicable only towards people suffering from gender dysphoria.


title: LGBT rights in Pakistan

text: In 2009, the Pakistani Supreme Court ruled in favour of a group of transvestites. The landmark ruling stated that as citizens they were entitled to the equal benefit from the federal and provincial governments' financial support schemes such as the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP). Pakistan's Chief Justice, Iftikhar Chaudhry, was the architect of major extension of rights to Pakistan's transgender community during his term.


title: LGBT rights in Pakistan

text: In 2010, the Supreme Court ordered the full recognition of the transgender community, including the provision of free medical and educational facilities, microcredit schemes and job quotas for transgender people in every government department. They did not order protections for transgender people against discrimination in public services or housing.


title: LGBT rights in Pakistan

text: In 2017, the Lahore High Court ordered the Government to include transgender people in the national census.


title: LGBT rights in Pakistan

text: In February 2018, a Senate committee determined that transgender people could inherit property without being required to have their gender decided by a medical board.


title: LGBT rights in Pakistan

text: In May 2019, Shireen Mazari, the Federal Minister for Human Rights, appointed Ayesha Moghul, a transgender woman to her department for the first time.


title: LGBT rights in Pakistan

text: Under the "Transgender Person (Protection of Rights) Act 2018" (), Pakistanis may choose to self-identify as male, female, both or neither. They may express their gender according to their own preferences, and they may have their gender identity of choice reflected on their documents, "including National Identification Cards, passports, driver's licenses and education certificates." The act ensures transgender people's "fundamental rights to inheritance, education, employment, vote, hold public office, health, assembly, and access to public spaces and property. It confirms that they enjoy all the rights that the nation’s constitution grants to its citizens."


title: LGBT rights in Pakistan

text: The act defines "transgender person" as someone with a "mixture of male and female genital features or congenital ambiguities", or, a male who "undergoes genital excision or castration", or, more broadly, "any person whose gender identity and/or gender expression differs from the social norms and cultural expectations based on the sex they were assigned at the time of their birth," which allows people to self-identify as such. They are guaranteed the right to inherit assets and to run for public office. The law has been widely hailed by Pakistani transgender activists as progressive in its language and scope. Mehlab Jameel, an activist and researcher who worked with the Parliamentarians to draft the law, said that "This kind of development is not only unprecedented in Pakistani history, but it's one of the most progressive laws in the whole world."


title: LGBT rights in Pakistan

text: The bill unanimously passed the Pakistani Senate in early March 2018. On 8 May 2018, the National Assembly voted to pass the bill. It was signed into law when acting President Muhammad Sadiq Sanjrani gave his assent on 18 May 2018.


title: LGBT rights in Pakistan

text: In August 2018, the School Education Department of the largest province in the country, Punjab, instructed its officials to guarantee equal access to schools to transgender children as per the "Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act 2018". The department told its officials to include their gender when they are being admitted to schools and give equal importance to transgender children during enrolment drives. The department instructed its officials that the instructions were binding on government as well as privately owned schools in the province. Punjab became the first province to take practical steps in the implementation of the Act.


title: LGBT rights in Pakistan

text: On 9 June 2016, Vice News released a short documentary in which they showed different members of the LGBT community in Lahore. Young men who are sex workers were shown in the video and they explained the difficulties of being gay in Pakistan. The documentary also focused on some underground organisations that work for basic human rights for the LGBT community. In the film, there is a short clip shown of a young boy getting beaten up and is later sodomised with a tree branch after he was caught in homosexual acts by conservative religious society members. It also displayed how gay and transgender people use social media apps like Tinder to get in contact with other people of the community. However, this documentary, made in collaboration with Google's technology incubator Jigsaw, has been criticised by some for its sensational approach and blatantly showcasing Google's agenda of juxtaposing empowerment through digital technologies such as Tinder and the collective backwardness and oppression as shown through the blurred video of the young boy being beaten.


title: LGBT rights in Pakistan

text: In 2005, Ali Saleem, 28, the son of an army colonel, appeared on Geo TV's "Hum Sub Umeed Se Hain" as cross-dressed Benazir Bhutto. So loved were his performances that he has taken to act to extremes on-air and presents his own talk show where he appears as a dragged-up character named Begum Nawazish Ali. Begum would almost always interview influential politicians, e.g. Naimatullah Khan who was a member of Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan and former Mayor of Karachi.


title: LGBT rights in Pakistan

text: To raise awareness of LGBT issues, author Eiynah published a children's book called "My Chacha is Gay". Toronto LGBT bookstores have added the book to their shelves in recent years. The topic of LGBT issues remains taboo in Pakistan to discuss, despite curiosity. Relative to its total Google searches, for the year ending 15 June 2013, Pakistan was the world leader for searches of the term "shemale sex", second in the world for searches of "man fucking man", and third in the world for searches of "gay sex pics".


title: LGBT rights in Pakistan

text: In June 2016, a small clerical body in Lahore known as Tanzeem Ittehad-i-Ummat declared transgender marriages legal under Islamic law.


title: LGBT rights in Pakistan

text: In November 2016, Kami Sid, a transgender activist, did a photoshoot with photographer Haseeb M. Siddiqui, stylist Waqar J. Khan and makeup artist Nighat Misbah, as a form of protest against the atrocities committed against transgender people in Pakistan. One such atrocity was the death of transgender woman, Alisha. The woman died while staff mocked and belittled the patient and her friends; treatment was significantly delayed while staff decided whether her care should occur in a male ward or female ward.


title: LGBT rights in Pakistan

text: While Pakistan has addressed a "third" gender when identifying transgender people, Sid believes more can be done. Sid is quoted as saying "We have to understand that by just mentioning the third gender identity on your CNIC, the state has not done enough. It is not enough that the government has fixed a two percent job quota either. No! It’s a protracted fight that we have to continue to get equal opportunities".


title: LGBT rights in Pakistan

text: Prior to the photoshoot, Sid had already been a part of two documentaries "How Gay is Pakistan?" and "Chuppan Chuppai" to shed light on what it means to be transgender in Pakistan. In January 2017, Sid discussed a new movie she was starring in, "Rani", in which she played a transgender woman who finds an abandoned baby and raises it as her own. Hina Pathani, another prominent transgender activist, starred alongside Kami Sid in "Rani." The movie was directed by Hammad Rizvi, and produced by GrayScale. Sid was hopeful that it would have a positive impact on Pakistan's societal view of transgender people, much like the photoshoot. Sid was helpful in the development of the show by providing advice on the preconceived notions of transgender people in the TV show "Khuda Mera Bhi Hai". Asma Nabeel, the writer of the show, consulted Sid for guidance on transgender questions.


title: LGBT rights in Pakistan

text: Kami Sid was also accused of rape and sexual assault after which Aurat March organisers removed her from serving as a part of their organising team in 2018. Though Sid rejects the allegations, Aurat March organisers issued a statement that she intimidated them. Kami Sid's participation in the PR campaign "Change The Clap" has also been critiqued for appeasing neoliberal forces and ignoring local practices of the Khawaja Sira community.


title: LGBT rights in Pakistan

text: In March 2017, a well-known music band featured a transgender model Rimal Ali in their music video. Rimal Ali has performed as an actress and model in many music videos to further her career.


title: LGBT rights in Pakistan

text: In March 2017, Mani AQ became the first transgender man in Pakistan's history to officially register himself as male. Mani is a well known human rights activist and also one of the task force team members who were closely involved during the Transgender Act 2018 and now involved in the Provincial bill for Transgender Person Protection of Rights. He is actively working on the implementation of the Act, inclusion of transgender men in policies, and for visibility of transgender men in Pakistan.


title: LGBT rights in Pakistan

text: In 2018, Nisha Rao attained her law degree from Karachi's Sindh Muslim Law College and became Pakistan's first transgender lawyer.


title: LGBT rights in Pakistan

text: In early 2019 the word "transgender" appeared for the first time in the Urdu language, translated as () by the Lahore-based organisation, HOPE - Have Only Positive Expectations. Before this, no term or translation existed to cover the whole transgender spectrum in Urdu. The new term encompasses transgender women (MTF), transgender men (FTM), non-binary people, , and other gender expressions.


title: LGBT rights in Pakistan

text: In 2020, a transgender woman named Gul Panra was shot dead in the Pakistani city of Peshawar. This is the latest case of attacked on the LGBT community in the county. Along with her, a friend of Gul's were also injured, but escaped death. Since 2015, it is reported that 68 transgender people were murdered in Pakistan. However, a total of 479 transgender people were attacked since 2018 in the Pakistani province of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa alone. But, these figures may not include the actual figure, as recording of anti-trans violence is poor.


title: LGBT rights in Pakistan

text: Several incidents of pederasty by clerics towards young boys at religious schools ("madrasahs") have been reported. It is difficult for the victims to get justice in these situations because the public does not want to believe that a cleric could engage in pederasty and the victims, young boys who are forced to be the receptive partner in anal intercourse, are often perceived as being gay and are thus subjected to social hostility and even legal sanctions.


title: LGBT rights in Pakistan

text: While the LGBT community is not ready to tackle such abuse and prejudices, a growing number of gay and bisexual men are creating social networks.


title: LGBT rights in Pakistan

text: Metropolitan areas like Lahore and Karachi have seen many gay men, mostly from the middle and upper classes, enjoying themselves at parties aimed at proclaiming their "gay pride". These usually involve large numbers of men dancing together in huge isolated rooms modelled into a discothèque environment and making out. In 2008, an incident that caught the eyes of passers-by was a group of cross-dressed men dancing to Bollywood tunes on a rooftop on the day of Basant. An anonymous interviewee told the BBC that he cannot remember an occasion in almost 10 years that he has felt threatened with regards to his sexuality in Pakistan.


title: LGBT rights in Pakistan

text: In 2003, however, three Pakistani men were arrested in the city of Lahore when one of their relatives turned them in for engaging in same-sex sexual acts at a private party. Their punishment was not known.


title: LGBT rights in Pakistan

text: In 2005, a man named Liaquat Ali, 42, from the Khyber region bordering Afghanistan married fellow tribesman Markeen, 16, with the usual pomp and show associated with tribal weddings. Upon hearing of the man's religious infidelity, a tribal council told the pair to leave the area or face death.


title: LGBT rights in Pakistan

text: Where men are now opening up to sexuality, lesbianism has lesser exposure in the country and publicised events of women indulging in same-sex relationships are rare. One such court case, decided in 2008, displayed the same disapproving attitude towards a lesbian relationship as it would have towards two men involved.


title: LGBT rights in Pakistan

text: In 2016, a 23-year-old activist named Alisha was shot seven times and was taken to Lady Reading Hospital in Peshawar, where she was left to bleed to death as the staff argued over whether they should take Alisha to the men's ward or women's ward. Alisha's friends reported that the men discrimined against and taunted them, asked if Alisha's blood was "HIV-positive" and asked for her friend's phone number to invite her to a dance party. Alisha was an avid activist for the transgender community and worked hard all her life to make a living. Alisha's friend Farzana said that transgender people are easily targeted as they are weak and have no social status. Even though the Government has passed laws in favour of transgender people, the locals tend to not accept them and deny them basic education and healthcare. The morning after Alisha's death, an activist group called Trans Action posted a status on Facebook directed to the local authorities saying, "Kill all of us."


title: LGBT rights in Pakistan

text: In November 2017, a transgender woman was gunned down in Peshawar. Initial reports from the police suggest that the perpetrator was closely related to the victim and that it might be an incident of honour killing.


title: LGBT rights in Pakistan

text: In 2017, in an interview with Manchester Evening News, a 40-year-old woman who used the name Zayna talked about her life as a lesbian Muslim in Pakistan before she moved to the United Kingdom. She talked about how she had to face major beatings and a lot of discrimination. She was told she cannot be a lesbian if she is a Muslim and was told to leave her university and workplace because of her sexuality.


title: LGBT rights in Pakistan

text: Some transgender women in Pakistan use hormones and silicone to bring focus on their feminine characteristics; however, this is usually done in terrible medical conditions without proper equipment and supervision, as expensive sex change surgeries in Pakistan are not done mostly due to lack of education on the topic and the taboos of society.


title: LGBT rights in Pakistan

text: Even though the Pakistani government recognises a third gender on ID cards, many people from the transgender community are hesitant to apply for it as they will not be allowed to enter the holy city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia as a transgender person.


title: LGBT rights in Pakistan

text: The Pakistani Government has always shown resistance towards the issue of LGBT rights and never hid its intolerance. A United Nations vote cast on 25 April 2003 on issues of LGBT human rights was derailed at the last minute by an alliance of five disapproving Muslim countries, including Pakistan. The others were Egypt, Libya, Saudi Arabia and Malaysia.


title: LGBT rights in Pakistan

text: The countries delayed their votes to stall the process and proposed amendments that were meant to kill the measure deliberately, removing all references to discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, rendering the resolution meaningless. The resolution was tabled by Brazil with support from 19 of the 53 member countries of the UN Human Rights Commission (UNHRC) in Geneva. It called on member states to promote and protect the human rights "of all persons, regardless of their sexual orientation".


title: LGBT rights in Pakistan

text: Political parties, interest groups and other political organisations in Pakistan are required to support Islam and public morality. The small Green Party has expressed some support for LGBT rights, but political groups tend to avoid the issue or express opposition.


title: LGBT rights in Pakistan

text: Transgender people are treated differently, at least on paper, than gay, lesbian and bisexual people. Pakistani citizens who are transgender or a member of the third gender are a recognised minority group and are thus entitled to certain civil rights.


title: LGBT rights in Pakistan

text: Pakistani media strictly censors LGBT related news stories. In late 2013, the Government of Pakistan censored the website Queerpk.com from being viewed.


title: LGBT rights in Pakistan

text: When a Chinese court accepted to hear a case regarding the issue of same-sex marriage, the news story received substantial international coverage. However, in the Pakistani version of the "International New York Times" ("Express Tribune"), the picture accompanying the article was censored and a blank space was left on the front page of the newspaper. "Daily Times" columnist Farman Nawaz raised several questions about this kind of journalistic approach.


title: LGBT rights in Pakistan

text: In July 2016, a young Pakistani man named Ihsan wrote an article in the UK-based gay e-zine "Gay Star News" about his experiences of being gay in Pakistan. He described Pakistani society and laws as hostile towards LGBT people. He wrote, "The status of LGBTI people, socially and legally, is at its worst. LGBTI people face prosecution by the state. And the subject is still taboo – considered too disgusting to talk about." His surname was omitted for his security.


title: LGBT rights in Pakistan

text: While national media and state have censored queer discourses, transnational documentaries such as "How Gay is Pakistan?", "Being LGBT in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan", and "Transgenders: Pakistan's Open Secret" have been critiqued for their neo-colonial, self-othering, disciplinary, and moralistic narratives. Similar documentaries made on other countries such as Uganda and Turkey have been critiqued for their tourist gaze, inadequate research, sweeping statements, and sensational approaches that create binary between sexually empowered Western countries and sexually backward rest of the world.


title: LGBT rights in Pakistan

text: One of the issues that has opened up public discussion about LGBT rights has been the effort to combat the spread of HIV/AIDS among men who have sex with other men, but who do not necessarily identify as being gay or bisexual. UNAIDS official reports suggest that they are targeting night truck drivers who are known for having sex with younger men.


title: LGBT rights in Pakistan

text: The AIDS pandemic first arose in Pakistan in 1987, and government reports estimate (as of 2004) that nearly 3,000 Pakistanis were living with the syndrome, although several critics believe that the Government is underestimating the problem.


title: LGBT rights in Pakistan

text: Today, a small number of organisations exist in Pakistan to promote greater education about HIV/AIDS, including the Association for People Living With AIDS/HIV in Pakistan, which was created in 2006. One of the few public educators is a woman named Shukria Gul, who was infected by her husband. She has been fighting ever since to raise awareness of the virus, and has been highly critical of the Government's efforts.


title: LGBT rights in Pakistan

text: Ignorance about the virus, and how it is spread, is commonplace; this is particularly true among people performing high-risk behaviour such as prostitutes. Pakistani prostitutes do not have access to condoms or contraception, and there is little effort to provide any sort of public health education for this high-risk group.


title: LGBT rights in Pakistan

text: Where there was no public call for tolerance or acceptance of LGBT people, the subject of sexual orientation and gender identity are becoming more openly discussed, especially in light of the HIV/AIDS pandemic.


title: LGBT rights in Pakistan

text: A survey done in 2009 showed that male and transgender sex workers in Pakistan were at high risk of HIV/AIDS mostly as they had sex with IDU clients. Because of lack of knowledge and education on this topic, the health of sex workers is at risk.


title: LGBT rights in Pakistan

text: On 4 July 2011, the US Embassy in Islamabad hosted an LGBT event in support of gay rights in Pakistan. The embassy described the event as its first gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender pride celebration. Jamaat-e-Islami and other groups of religious conservatives in Pakistan condemned the event and went on a protest. Over 75 people attended, including Pakistani LGBT organisation advocates. Many Pakistanis were greatly offended by this and called this event an act of "social and cultural terrorism against the country". In news speculation, it was also said by religious leaders that homosexuals cannot be "Pakistani" or "Muslim". "Dawn" wrote that it was seen as the second most dangerous attack from the US to Pakistan after dropping missiles as this issue was so serious. Violence against the LGBT community raised a lot after this controversial incident. The US Deputy Chief of Mission Ambassador Richard Hoagland replied back to the backlash saying that the US will fight for equal rights for everyone regardless of their sexual orientation and that the embassy will support anyone from the LGBT community. However, many LGBT advocates from Pakistan were not in support of everything that had happened and thought that the public eye was not what was needed for the LGBT community.


title: LGBT rights in Pakistan

text: Public opinion regarding LGBT politics is complex. In June 2013, the Pew Research Center stated that of 39 countries studied, Pakistan was one of the least accepting of homosexuality with 87% of those surveyed saying "Homosexuality should not be accepted by society".


title: LGBT rights in Pakistan

text: According to a 2017 poll carried out by ILGA, a plurality of 45% of Pakistanis agreed that gay, lesbian and bisexual people should enjoy the same rights as straight people, while 36% disagreed (with rest being undecided). Additionally, 41% agreed that they should be protected from workplace discrimination. 46% of Pakistanis, however, said that people who are in same-sex relationships should be charged as criminals, while 31% disagreed. As for transgender people, 49% agreed that they should have the same rights, 51% believed they should be protected from employment discrimination and 44% believed they should be allowed to change their legal gender.


title: LGBT rights in Pakistan

text: According to a World Values Survey from 2017 to 2020, 44% of Pakistanis said that same-sex couples are as good parents as heterosexual couples, while 31% disagreed. In the same survey, 59% of Pakistanis said they would accept a homosexual neighbour, while 41% would not.


title: Mariah the Scientist

text: Mariah Amani Buckles (born October 27, 1997), known professionally as Mariah the Scientist, is an American singer-songwriter. She released her debut studio album "Master", on August 23, 2019, with her now former labels, Canadian rapper Tory Lanez's label One Umbrella Records and RCA Records. She was featured on the show " Impact Atlanta"


title: Mariah the Scientist

text: Mariah Amani Buckles was born on October 27, 1997 in Atlanta, Georgia. She graduated from Southwest DeKalb High School in Decatur, Georgia a year early and attended college at St. John’s University in New York City in hopes of becoming an anesthesiologist, but later dropped out to pursue music.


title: Mariah the Scientist

text: Mariah discovered singing when she joined her elementary school chorus. She began writing songs while attending St. John's University in New York on a biology scholarship, which she later dropped out of to concentrate on her music career. Mariah's stage name came from her genuine love of science. She released her debut EP, the six-track "To Die For", on SoundCloud in January 2018.


title: Mariah the Scientist

text: She was discovered by Canadian rapper Tory Lanez. She later went on to tour with him, while honing her sound in preparation for releasing her debut studio album. The Canadian artist took on a mentor role in her career. In February 2019, she was signed to Tory Lanez's label One Umbrella Records and RCA Records. She released her debut on the labels, the ten-track album "Master", on 23 August 2019, executive produced by Tory Lanez. The debut single, "Beetlejuice," made NPR's Heat Check weekly roundup in August 2019, and the video for the track "Reminders" premiered on "Complex" on 21 August 2019.


title: Mariah the Scientist

text: Her touring schedule in 2020 included bookings at Coachella, Primavera Sound, and Pitchfork Music Festival. On May 22, 2020, Mariah released the single "RIP". In June 18, 2021, she released the single "2 You," then followed up with the release of her sophomore album, "RY RY WORLD," on July 9, 2021, which included features from Young Thug and Lil Baby. She also released the music video for the second song on the album, "Aura".


title: Mariah the Scientist

text: In April 2022, after the release of "Buckles Laboratories Presents: The Intermission," she began her first headlining tour, "The Experimental Tour", selling out across North America and Europe. She announced via Instagram live in July 2022 that she and her labels had parted ways, becoming an independent artist.


title: Spiritual successor

text: A spiritual successor (sometimes called a spiritual sequel) is a product or fictional work that is similar to, or directly inspired by, another previous work, but (unlike a traditional prequel or sequel) does not explicitly continue the product line or media franchise of its predecessor, and is thus only a successor "in spirit". Spiritual successors often have similar themes and styles to their source material, but are generally a distinct intellectual property.


title: Spiritual successor

text: In fiction, the term generally refers to a work by a creator that shares similarities to one of their earlier works, but is set in a different continuity, and features distinct characters and settings. Such works may arise when licensing issues prevent a creator from releasing a direct sequel using the same copyrighted characters and names as the original.


title: Spiritual successor

text: The term is also used more broadly to describe a pastiche work that intentionally evokes similarities to pay homage to other influential works, but is also distinct enough to avoid copyright infringement.


title: Spiritual successor

text: Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories, published between 1887 and 1927, drew a large number of pastiches from other authors as early as the 1900s to capture the same mystery and spirit as Doyle's writings. Subsequently, Doyle and his publishers, and since then Doyle's estate, had aggressive enforced copyright on the Holmes character, often requiring authors that were publishing stories to change any use of Holmes' name to something else. The name "Herlock Sholmes" became one of the more common variations on this, notably in Maurice Leblanc's "Arsène Lupin versus Herlock Sholmes", with the Sholmes character having a personality similar, but not quite exactly like Holmes to further distance potential copyright issues. In and around the 1950s, the character Solar Pons, a pastiche of Holmes, appeared in several books not authorized by the estate of Conan Doyle. These copyright issues have continued into contemporary times: in the case "Klinger v. Conan Doyle Estate, Ltd." (2014), it was determined that due to copyright laws, the characters of Holmes and Watson remained under copyright until 2023, making spiritual successors using these characters by name violations of the Doyle estate's copyright.


title: Spiritual successor

text: In films and television shows, spiritual successor often describes similar works by the same creator, or starring the same cast. For example, the show "Parks and Recreation" is a spiritual successor to "The Office." Both are workplace mockumentaries developed by Greg Daniels, featuring satirical humor, and characters being filmed by an in-universe documentary film crew.


title: Spiritual successor

text: The film "10 Cloverfield Lane" was not originally scripted with any connection to "Cloverfield". When the film was acquired by Bad Robot Productions, producer J. J. Abrams recognized a common element of a giant monster attack between the two films, and chose to market "10 Cloverfield Lane" as a spiritual successor to "Cloverfield" to help bring interest to the newer film, which allowed him to establish a franchise he could build upon in the future.


title: Spiritual successor

text: Spiritual successors are common in Indian film industries, particularly Bollywood, where films marketed as sequels do not share continuity with their predecessors.


title: Spiritual successor

text: The 2022 film "" was created as a spiritual sequel to 1988 film "Who Framed Roger Rabbit", both films showcases worlds where cartoon characters co-habitat with humans.


title: Spiritual successor

text: Spiritual successor games are sometimes made by the same studio as the original, but with a new title due to licensing issues. Some examples of these include:


title: Spiritual successor

text: Alternatively, a successor may be developed by some of the staff who worked on the preceding game, under a new studio name. Examples of these include:


title: Spiritual successor

text: The term is also more broadly applied to video games developed by a different studio with no connection to the first, and is simply inspired by the gameplay, aesthetics or other elements of the preceding work. Examples of such games include:


title: Spiritual successor

text: In sports, the Ravens–Steelers rivalry is considered the spiritual successor to the older Browns–Steelers rivalry due to the original Cleveland Browns relocation to Baltimore, as well as the reactivated Browns having a 6–30 record against the Steelers since returning to the league in 1999.


title: Spiritual successor

text: The Honda CR-Z is regarded as the spiritual successor to the second generation Honda CR-X in both name and exterior design, despite a nearly two decade time difference in production. The Toyota Fortuner SUV is a spiritual successor to the Toyota 4Runner SUV mainly because they both share the same platform as the Hilux pickup truck. The Canon Cat computer was Jef Raskin's spiritual successor to the Apple Macintosh.


title: Nadeem Anjum

text: Lieutenant General Nadeem Ahmed Anjum is a three-star general in the Pakistan Army and is currently serving as the Director-General of the ISI since 20 November 2021.


title: Nadeem Anjum

text: He served as the Inspector-General of the Frontier Corps in Balochistan from December 2016 to December 2018.


title: Nadeem Anjum

text: In a highly unprecedented move, DG ISI Nadeem made a surprising appearance at a press conference alongside DG ISPR Babar Iftikhar after the former had opted to stay out of the public eye. They addressed and answered on multiple issues that were taking place for the time being especially on Lettergate issue, Arshad Sharif's death, imran khan being targeted and attacked by army and support of shahbaz sharif and direct involvement of gen bajwa in imran khan outsed Imran Khan and Khan's Azadi March 2022.


title: Nadeem Anjum

text: At the beginning of October 2021 the Prime Minister's Office formally received three names from the COAS for the appointment of a new Director-General of the ISI, including Lt. Gen. Nadeem Anjum, Lt. Gen. Sarfraz Ali and Lt. Gen. Saqib Malik.


title: Nadeem Anjum

text: He was "de-facto" appointed by the Chief of Army Staff, following an announcement by the DG ISPR. However, the PM's secretariat did not issue a notification in this regard until 26 October 2021. Prime Minister Imran Khan announced to make a consultation for this important future assignment.


title: Graphite oxide

text: Graphite oxide (GO), formerly called graphitic oxide or graphitic acid, is a compound of carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen in variable ratios, obtained by treating graphite with strong oxidizers and acids for resolving of extra metals. The maximally oxidized bulk product is a yellow solid with C:O ratio between 2.1 and 2.9, that retains the layer structure of graphite but with a much larger and irregular spacing.


title: Graphite oxide

text: The bulk material spontaneously disperses in basic solutions or can be dispersed by sonication in polar solvents to yield monomolecular sheets, known as graphene oxide by analogy to graphene, the single-layer form of graphite. Graphene oxide sheets have been used to prepare strong paper-like materials, membranes, thin films, and composite materials. Initially, graphene oxide attracted substantial interest as a possible intermediate for the manufacture of graphene. The graphene obtained by reduction of graphene oxide still has many chemical and structural defects which is a problem for some applications but an advantage for some others.


title: Graphite oxide

text: Graphite oxide was first prepared by Oxford chemist Benjamin C. Brodie in 1859, by treating graphite with a mixture of potassium chlorate and fuming nitric acid. He reported synthesis of "paper-like foils" with 0.05 mm thickness. In 1957 Hummers and Offeman developed a safer, quicker, and more efficient process called Hummers' method, using a mixture of sulfuric acid HSO, sodium nitrate NaNO, and potassium permanganate KMnO, which is still widely used, often with some modifications. Largest monolayer GO with highly intact carbon framework and minimal residual impurity concentrations can be synthesized in inert containers using highly pure reactants and solvents.


title: Graphite oxide

text: Graphite oxides demonstrate considerable variation of properties depending on the degree of oxidation and the synthesis method. For example, the temperature point of explosive exfoliation is generally higher for graphite oxide prepared by the Brodie method compared to Hummers graphite oxide, the difference is up to 100 degrees with the same heating rates. Hydration and solvation properties of Brodie and Hummers graphite oxides are also remarkably different.


title: Graphite oxide

text: Recently a mixture of HSO and KMnO has been used to cut open carbon nanotubes lengthwise, resulting in microscopic flat ribbons of graphene, a few atoms wide, with the edges "capped" by oxygen atoms (=O) or hydroxyl groups (-OH).


title: Graphite oxide

text: Graphite (graphene) oxide has also been prepared by using a "bottom-up" synthesis method (Tang-Lau method) in which the sole source is glucose, the process is safer, simpler, and more environmentally friendly compared to traditionally "top-down" method, in which strong oxidizers are involved. Another important advantage of the Tang-Lau method is the control of thickness, ranging from monolayer to multilayers, by adjusting growth parameters.


title: Graphite oxide

text: The structure and properties of graphite oxide depend on the particular synthesis method and degree of oxidation. It typically preserves the layer structure of the parent graphite, but the layers are buckled and the interlayer spacing is about two times larger (~0.7 nm) than that of graphite. Strictly speaking "oxide" is an incorrect but historically established name. Besides epoxide groups (bridging oxygen atoms), other functional groups found experimentally are: carbonyl (C=O), hydroxyl (-OH), phenol and for graphite oxides prepared using sulphuric acid (e.g. Hummers method) some impurity of sulphur is often found, for example in a form of organosulfate groups. The detailed structure is still not understood due to the strong disorder and irregular packing of the layers.


title: Graphite oxide

text: Graphene oxide layers are about 1.1 ± 0.2 nm thick. Scanning tunneling microscopy shows the presence of local regions where oxygen atoms are arranged in a rectangular pattern with lattice constant 0.27 nm × 0.41 nm. The edges of each layer are terminated with carboxyl and carbonyl groups. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy shows the presence of several C peaks, their number and relative intensity depending on the particular oxidation method used. Assignment of these peaks to certain carbon functionalization types is somewhat uncertain and still under debate. For example, one interpretation goes as follows: non-oxygenated ring contexts (284.8 eV), C-O (286.2 eV), C=O (287.8 eV) and O-C=O (289.0 eV). Another interpretation, using density functional theory calculation, goes as follows: C=C with defects such as functional groups and pentagons (283.6 eV), C=C (non-oxygenated ring contexts) (284.3 eV), spC-H in the basal plane and C=C with functional groups (285.0 eV), C=O and C=C with functional groups, C-O (286.5 eV), and O-C=O (288.3 eV).


title: Graphite oxide

text: Graphite oxide is hydrophilic and easily hydrated when exposed to water vapor or immersed in liquid water, resulting in a distinct increase of the inter-planar distance (up to 1.2 nm in saturated state). Additional water is also incorporated into the interlayer space due to high pressure induced effects. The maximal hydration state of graphite oxide in liquid water corresponds to insertion of 2-3 water monolayers. Cooling the graphite oxide/HO samples results in "pseudo-negative thermal expansion" and cooling below the freezing point of water results in de-insertion of one water monolayer and lattice contraction. Complete removal of water from the structure seems difficult since heating at 60–80 °C results in partial decomposition and degradation of the material.


title: Graphite oxide

text: Similar to water, graphite oxide easily incorporates other polar solvents, e.g. alcohols. However, intercalation of polar solvents occurs significantly different in Brodie and Hummers graphite oxides. Brodie graphite oxide is intercalated at ambient conditions by one monolayer of alcohols and several other solvents (e.g. dimethylformamide and acetone) when liquid solvent is available in excess. Separation of graphite oxide layers is proportional to the size of alcohol molecule. Cooling of Brodie graphite oxide immersed in excess of liquid methanol, ethanol, acetone and dimethylformamide results in step-like insertion of an additional solvent monolayer and lattice expansion. The phase transition detected by X-ray diffraction and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) is reversible; de-insertion of solvent monolayer is observed when sample is heated back from low temperatures. An additional methanol and ethanol monolayer is reversibly inserted into the structure of Brodie graphite oxide under high pressure conditions.


title: Graphite oxide

text: Hummers graphite oxide is intercalated with two methanol or ethanol monolayers at ambient temperature. The interlayer distance of Hummers graphite oxide in an excess of liquid alcohols increases gradually upon temperature decrease, reaching 19.4 and 20.6 Å at 140 K for methanol and ethanol, respectively. The gradual expansion of the Hummers graphite oxide lattice upon cooling corresponds to insertion of at least two additional solvent monolayers.


title: Graphite oxide

text: Graphite oxide exfoliates and decomposes when rapidly heated at moderately high temperatures (~280–300 °C) with formation of finely dispersed amorphous carbon, somewhat similar to activated carbon.


title: Graphite oxide

text: XRD, FTIR, Raman, XPS, AFM, TEM, SEM/EDX, etc. are some common techniques used to characterize GO samples. Experimental results of graphite/graphene oxide have been analyzed by calculation in detail. Since the distribution of oxygen functionalities on GO sheets is polydisperse, fractionation methods can be used to characterize and separate GO sheets on the basis of oxidation. Different synthesis methods give rise to different types of graphene oxide. Even different batches from similar oxidation methods can have differences in their properties due to variations in purification or quenching processes.


title: Graphite oxide

text: It is also possible to modify the surface of graphene oxide to change its properties. Graphene oxide has unique surface properties which make it a very good surfactant material stabilizing various emulsion systems. Graphene oxide remains at the interface of the emulsions systems due to the difference in surface energy of the two phases separated by the interface.


title: Graphite oxide

text: Graphite oxides absorb moisture in proportion to humidity and swell in liquid water. The amount of water absorbed by graphite oxides depends on the particular synthesis method and shows a strong temperature dependence.


title: Graphite oxide

text: Brodie graphite oxide selectively absorbs methanol from water/methanol mixtures in a certain range of methanol concentrations.


title: Graphite oxide

text: Membranes prepared from graphite oxides (recently more often called "graphene oxide" membranes) are vacuum tight and impermeable to nitrogen and oxygen, but are permeable to water vapors. The membranes are also impermeable to "substances of lower molecular weight". Permeation of graphite and graphene oxide membranes by polar solvents is possible due to swelling of the graphite oxide structure. The membranes in swelled state are also permeable by gases, e.g. helium. Graphene oxide sheets are chemically reactive in liquid water, leading them to acquire a small negative charge.


title: Graphite oxide

text: The interlayer distance of dried graphite oxides was reported as ~6–7 Å but in liquid water it increases up to 11–13 Å at room temperature. The lattice expansion becomes stronger at lower temperatures. The inter-layer distance in diluted NaOH reached infinity, resulting in dispersion of graphite oxide into single-layered graphene oxide sheets in solution. Graphite oxide can be used as a cation exchange membrane for materials such as KCl, HCl, CaCl, MgCl, BaCl solutions. The membranes were permeable by large alkali ions as they are able to penetrate between graphene oxide layers.


title: Graphite oxide

text: Nonlinear optical materials are of great importance for ultrafast photonics and optoelectronics. Recently, the giant optical nonlinearities of graphene oxide (GO) has proven useful for a number of applications. For example, the optical limiting of GO is indispensable in the protection of sensitive instruments from laser-induced damage. And the saturable absorption can be used for pulse compression, mode-locking and Q-switching. Also, the nonlinear refraction (Kerr effect) is crucial for applications including all-optical switching, signal regeneration, and fast optical communications.


title: Graphite oxide

text: One of the most intriguing and unique properties of GO is that its electrical and optical properties can be tuned dynamically by manipulating the content of oxygen-containing groups through either chemical or physical reduction methods. The tuning of the optical nonlinearities has been demonstrated during the laser-induced reduction process through the continuous increase of the laser irradiance, and four stages of different nonlinear activities have been discovered, which may serve as promising solid state materials for novel nonlinear functional devices. And metal nanoparticles can greatly enhance the optical nonlinearity and fluorescence of graphene oxide.


title: Graphite oxide

text: Graphite oxide has attracted much interest as a possible route for the large-scale production and manipulation of graphene, a material with extraordinary electronic properties. Graphite oxide itself is an insulator, almost a semiconductor, with differential conductivity between 1 and 5×10 S/cm at a bias voltage of 10 V. However, being hydrophilic, graphite oxide disperses readily in water, breaking up into macroscopic flakes, mostly one layer thick. Chemical reduction of these flakes would yield a suspension of graphene flakes. It was argued that the first experimental observation of graphene was reported by Hanns-Peter Boehm in 1962. In this early work the existence of monolayer reduced graphene oxide flakes was demonstrated. The contribution of Boehm was recently acknowledged by Andre Geim, the Nobel Prize winner for graphene research.


title: Graphite oxide

text: Partial reduction can be achieved by treating the suspended graphene oxide with hydrazine hydrate at 100 °C for 24 hours, by exposing graphene oxide to hydrogen plasma for a few seconds, or by exposure to a strong pulse of light, such as that of a xenon flash. Due to the oxidation protocol, manifold defects already present in graphene oxide hamper the effectiveness of the reduction. Thus, the graphene quality obtained after reduction is limited by the precursor quality (graphene oxide) and the efficiency of the reducing agent. However, the conductivity of the graphene obtained by this route is below 10 S/cm, and the charge mobility is between 0.1 and 10 cm/Vs. These values are much greater than the oxide's, but still a few orders of magnitude lower than those of pristine graphene. Recently, the synthetic protocol for graphite oxide was optimized and almost intact graphene oxide with a preserved carbon framework was obtained. Reduction of this almost intact graphene oxide performs much better and the mobility values of charge carriers exceeds 1000 cm/Vs for the best quality of flakes. Inspection with the atomic force microscope shows that the oxygen bonds distort the carbon layer, creating a pronounced intrinsic roughness in the oxide layers which persists after reduction. These defects also show up in Raman spectra of graphene oxide.


title: Graphite oxide

text: Large amounts of graphene sheets may also be produced through thermal methods. For example, in 2006 a method was discovered that simultaneously exfoliates and reduces graphite oxide by rapid heating (>2000 °C/min) to 1050 °C. At this temperature, carbon dioxide is released as the oxygen functionalities are removed and it explosively separates the sheets as it comes out.


title: Graphite oxide

text: Exposing a film of graphite oxide to the laser of a LightScribe DVD has also revealed to produce quality graphene at a low cost.


title: Graphite oxide

text: Graphene oxide has also been reduced to graphene "in situ", using a 3D printed pattern of engineered "E. coli" bacteria. Currently, researchers are focussed on reducing graphene oxide using non-toxic substances; tea and coffee powder, lemon extract and various plants based antioxidants are widely used.


title: Graphite oxide

text: Graphite oxides were studied for desalination of water using reverse osmosis beginning in the 1960s. In 2011 additional research was released.


title: Graphite oxide

text: In 2013 Lockheed Martin announced their Perforene graphene filter. Lockheed claims the filter reduces the energy costs of reverse osmosis desalination by 99%. Lockheed claimed that the filter was 500 times thinner than the best filter then on the market, one thousand times stronger and requires 1% of the pressure. The product was not expected to be released until 2020.


title: Graphite oxide

text: Another study showed that graphite oxide could be engineered to allow water to pass, but retain some larger ions. Narrow capillaries allow rapid permeation by mono- or bilayer water. Multilayer laminates have a structure similar to nacre, which provides mechanical strength in water free conditions. Helium cannot pass through the membranes in humidity free conditions, but penetrates easily when exposed to humidity, whereas water vapor passes with no resistance. Dry laminates are vacuum-tight, but immersed in water, they act as molecular sieves, blocking some solutes.


title: Graphite oxide

text: A third project produced graphene sheets with subnanoscale (0.40 ± 0.24 nm) pores. The graphene was bombarded with gallium ions, which disrupt carbon bonds. Etching the result with an oxidizing solution produces a hole at each spot struck by a gallium ion. The length of time spent in the oxidizing solution determined average pore size. Pore density reached 5 trillion pores per square centimeter, while retaining structural integrity. The pores permitted cation transport after short oxidation periods, consistent with electrostatic repulsion from negatively charged functional groups at pore edges. After longer oxidation periods, sheets were permeable to salt but not larger organic molecules.


title: Graphite oxide

text: In 2015 a team created a graphene oxide tea that over the course of a day removed 95% of heavy metals in a water solution.


title: Graphite oxide

text: One project layered carbon atoms in a honeycomb structure, forming a hexagon-shaped crystal that measured about 0.1 millimeters in width and length, with subnanometer holes. Later work increased the membrane size to on the order of several millimeters.


title: Graphite oxide

text: Graphene attached to a polycarbonate support structure was initially effective at removing salt. However, defects formed in the graphene. Filling larger defects with nylon and small defects with hafnium metal followed by a layer of oxide restored the filtration effect.


title: Graphite oxide

text: In 2016 engineers developed graphene-based films powered by the sun that can filter dirty/salty water. Bacteria were used to produce a material consisting of two nanocellulose layers. The lower layer contains pristine cellulose, while the top layer contains cellulose and graphene oxide, which absorbs sunlight and produces heat. The system draws water from below into the material. The water diffuses into the higher layer, where it evaporates and leaves behind any contaminants. The evaporate condenses on top, where it can be captured. The film is produced by repeatedly adding a fluid coating that hardens. Bacteria produce nanocellulose fibers with interspersed graphene oxide flakes. The film is light and easily manufactured at scale.


title: Graphite oxide

text: Optically transparent, multilayer films made from "graphene oxide "are impermeable under dry conditions. Exposed to water (or water vapor), they allow passage of molecules below a certain size. The films consist of millions of randomly stacked flakes, leaving nano-sized capillaries between them. Closing these nanocapillaries using chemical reduction with hydroiodic acid creates "reduced graphene oxide" (r-GO) films that are completely impermeable to gases, liquids or strong chemicals greater than 100 nanometers thick. Glassware or copper plates covered with such a graphene "paint" can be used as containers for corrosive acids. Graphene-coated plastic films could be used in medical packaging to improve shelf life.


title: Graphite oxide

text: Dispersed graphene oxide flakes can also be sifted out of the dispersion (as in paper manufacture) and pressed to make an exceedingly strong graphene oxide paper.


title: Graphite oxide

text: Graphene oxide has been used in DNA analysis applications. The large planar surface of graphene oxide allows simultaneous quenching of multiple DNA probes labeled with different dyes, providing the detection of multiple DNA targets in the same solution. Further advances in graphene oxide based DNA sensors could result in very inexpensive rapid DNA analysis. Recently a group of researchers, from university of L'Aquila (Italy), discovered new wetting properties of graphene oxide thermally reduced in ultra-high vacuum up to 900 °C. They found a correlation between the surface chemical composition, the surface free energy and its polar and dispersive components, giving a rationale for the wetting properties of graphene oxide and reduced graphene oxide.


title: Graphite oxide

text: Graphene oxide has been demonstrated as a flexible free-standing battery anode material for room temperature lithium-ion and sodium-ion batteries. It is also being studied as a high surface area conducting agent in lithium-sulfur battery cathodes. The functional groups on graphene oxide can serve as sites for chemical modification and immobilization of active species. This approach allows for the creation of hybrid architectures for electrode materials. Recent examples of this have been implemented in lithium ion batteries, which are known for being rechargeable at the cost of low capacity limits. Graphene oxide-based composites functionalized with metal oxides and sulfides have been shown in recent research to induce enhanced battery performance. This has similarly been adapted into applications in supercapacitors, since the electronic properties of graphene oxide allow it to bypass some of the more prevalent restrictions of typical transition metal oxide electrodes. Research in this field is developing, with additional exploration into methods involving nitrogen doping and pH adjustment to improve capacitance. Additionally, research into reduced graphene oxide sheets, which display superior electronic properties akin to pure graphene, is currently being explored. Reduced graphene oxide greatly increases the conductivity and efficiency, while sacrificing some flexibility and structural integrity.


title: Graphite oxide

text: The optical lens has been playing a critical role in almost all areas of science and technology since its invention about 3000 years ago. With the advances in micro- and nanofabrication techniques, continued miniaturization of the conventional optical lenses has always been requested for various applications such as communications, sensors, data storage and a wide range of other technology-driven and consumer-driven industries. Specifically, ever smaller sizes, as well as thinner thicknesses of micro lenses, are highly needed for subwavelength optics or nano-optics with extremely small structures, particularly for visible and near-IR applications. Also, as the distance scale for optical communications shrinks, the required feature sizes of micro lenses are rapidly pushed down.


title: Graphite oxide

text: Recently, the excellent properties of newly discovered graphene oxide provide novel solutions to overcome the challenges of current planar focusing devices. Specifically, giant refractive index modification (as large as 10^-1), which is one order of magnitude larger than the current materials, between graphene oxide (GO) and reduced graphene oxide (rGO) have been demonstrated by dynamically manipulating its oxygen content using the direct laser writing (DLW) method. As a result, the overall lens thickness can be potentially reduced by more than ten times. Also, the linear optical absorption of GO is found to increase as the reduction of GO deepens, which results in transmission contrast between GO and rGO and therefore provides an amplitude modulation mechanism. Moreover, both the refractive index and the optical absorption are found to be dispersionless over a broad wavelength range from visible to near infrared. Finally, GO film offers flexible patterning capability by using the maskless DLW method, which reduces the manufacturing complexity and requirements.


title: Graphite oxide

text: As a result, a novel ultrathin planar lens on a GO thin film has been realized recently using the DLW method. The distinct advantage of the GO flat lens is that phase modulation and amplitude modulation can be achieved simultaneously, which are attributed to the giant refractive index modulation and the variable linear optical absorption of GO during its reduction process, respectively. Due to the enhanced wavefront shaping capability, the lens thickness is pushed down to subwavelength scale (~200 nm), which is thinner than all current dielectric lenses (~ µm scale). The focusing intensities and the focal length can be controlled effectively by varying the laser powers and the lens sizes, respectively. By using an oil immersion high numerical aperture (NA) objective during DLW process, 300 nm fabrication feature size on GO film has been realized, and therefore the minimum lens size has been shrunk down to 4.6 µm in diameter, which is the smallest planar micro lens and can only be realized with metasurface by FIB. Thereafter, the focal length can be reduced to as small as 0.8 µm, which would potentially increase the numerical aperture (NA) and the focusing resolution.


title: Graphite oxide

text: The full-width at half-maximum (FWHM) of 320 nm at the minimum focal spot using a 650 nm input beam has been demonstrated experimentally, which corresponding to the effective NA of 1.24 (n=1.5), the largest NA of current micro lenses. Furthermore, ultra-broadband focusing capability from 500 nm to as far as 2 µm have been realized with the same planar lens, which is still a major challenge of focusing in infrared range due to limited availability of suitable materials and fabrication technology. Most importantly, the synthesized high quality GO thin films can be flexibly integrated on various substrates and easily manufactured by using the one-step DLW method over a large area at a comparable low cost and power (~nJ/pulse), which eventually makes the GO flat lenses promising for various practical applications.


title: Graphite oxide

text: Photocatalytic water splitting is an artificial photosynthesis process in which water is dissociated into hydrogen (H2) and oxygen (O2), using artificial or natural light. Methods such as photocatalytic water splitting are currently being investigated to produce hydrogen as a clean source of energy. The superior electron mobility and high surface area of graphene oxide sheets suggest it may be implemented as a catalyst that meets the requirements for this process. Specifically, graphene oxide's compositional functional groups of epoxide (-O-) and hydroxide (-OH) allow for more flexible control in the water splitting process. This flexibility can be used to tailor the band gap and band positions that are targeted in photocatalytic water splitting. Recent research experiments have demonstrated that the photocatalytic activity of graphene oxide containing a band gap within the required limits has produced effective splitting results, particularly when used with 40-50% coverage at a 2:1 hydroxide:epoxide ratio. When used in composite materials with CdS (a typical catalyst used in photocatalytic water splitting), graphene oxide nanocomposites have been shown to exhibit increased hydrogen production and quantum efficiency.


title: Graphite oxide

text: Graphene oxide is also being explored for its applications in hydrogen storage. Hydrogen molecules can be stored among the oxygen-based functional groups found throughout the sheet. This hydrogen storage capability can be further manipulated by modulating the interlayer distance between sheets, as well as making changes to the pore sizes. Research in transition metal decoration on carbon sorbents to enhance hydrogen binding energy has led to experiments with titanium and magnesium anchored to hydroxyl groups, allowing for the binding of multiple hydrogen molecules.


title: Graphite oxide

text: Graphene oxide has been studied for its promising uses in a wide variety of nanomedical applications including tissue engineering, cancer treatment, medical imaging, and drug delivery. Its physiochemical properties allow for a structure to regulate the behaviour of stem cells, with the potential to assist in the intracellular delivery of DNA, growth factors, and synthetic proteins that could allow for the repair and regeneration of muscle tissue. Due to its unique behaviour in biological environments, GO has also been proposed as a novel material in early cancer diagnosis.


title: Graphite oxide

text: It has also been explored for its uses in vaccines and immunotherapy, including as a dual-use adjuvant and carrier of biomedical materials. In September 2020, researchers at the Shanghai National Engineering Research Center for Nanotechnology in China filed a patent for use of graphene oxide in a recombinant vaccine under development against SARS-CoV-2.


title: Graphite oxide

text: Several typical mechanisms underlying graphene (oxide) nanomaterial's toxicity have been revealed, for instance, physical destruction, oxidative stress, DNA damage, inflammatory response, apoptosis, autophagy, and necrosis. In these mechanisms, toll-like receptors (TLR), transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-β) and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) dependent-pathways are involved in the signalling pathway network, and oxidative stress plays a crucial role in these pathways. Many experiments have shown that graphene (oxide) nanomaterials have toxic side effects in many biological applications, but more in-depth study of toxicity mechanisms is needed. According to the USA FDA, graphene, graphene oxide, and reduced graphene oxide elicit toxic effects both in vitro and in vivo. Graphene-family nanomaterials (GFN) are not approved by the USA FDA for human consumption. However, their theoretical and experimental use in SARS-CoV-2 recombinant vaccine studies, Respiratory Syncytial Virus tests, miniaturized in-vivo official health records and other biomedical applications in the form of graphene-based hydrogels has generated a great deal of scientific and possible commercial interest in recent years, with a de-emphasis on potential for toxicity.


title: 2013 North India floods

text: In June 2013, a mid-day cloudburst centered on the North Indian state of Uttarakhand caused devastating floods and landslides, becoming the country's worst natural disaster since the 2004 tsunami. The rainfall received that month was far greater than the rainfall the state usually received. Debris blocked the rivers, causing major overflow.The main day of the flood was 16 June 2013.


title: 2013 North India floods

text: Though some parts of Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh in India experienced the heavy rainfall, some regions of Western Nepal and some parts of Western Tibet also experienced heavy rainfall. Over 89% of the casualties occurred in Uttarakhand.Many people were declared dead in the floods. , according to figures provided by the Government of Uttarakhand, more than 5,700 people were "presumed dead." This total included 934 local residents. The death toll was later placed at 6,054.


title: 2013 North India floods

text: Destruction of bridges and roads left about 300,000 pilgrims and tourists trapped in the valleys leading to three of the four Hindu Chota Char Dham pilgrimage sites. The Indian Air Force, the Indian Army and paramilitary troops evacuated more than 110,000 people from the flood-ravaged area.


title: 2013 North India floods

text: From 16 June 2013 a well-marked cyclonic circulation developed around a low pressure area over the Bay of Bengal, moving westwards, rapidly intensified due to moisture supplied from both the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea, combining with intense western disturbances from the north, thus causing the Indian state of Uttarakhand and adjoining areas to receive heavy rainfall, leading to 375% of the benchmark rainfall during a normal monsoon. This caused the melting of Chorabari Glacier at the height of 3800 meters and cresting of the Mandakini River, which led to heavy floods near Gobindghat, Kedar Dome, Rudraprayag district, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and Western Nepal, and acute rainfall in other nearby regions of Delhi, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and some parts of Tibet.


title: 2013 North India floods

text: The upper Himalayan territories of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand are full of forests and snow-covered mountains and thus remain relatively inaccessible. They are home to several major and historic Hindu and Sikh pilgrimage sites besides several tourist spots and trekking trails. Heavy rainfall for four consecutive days as well as melting snow aggravated the floods. Warnings by the India Meteorological Department predicting heavy rains were not given wide publicity beforehand, causing thousands of people to be caught unaware, resulting in huge loss of life and property.


title: 2013 North India floods

text: Landslides, due to the floods, damaged several houses and structures, killing those who were trapped. The heavy rains resulted in large flash floods and massive landslides. Entire villages and settlements such as Gaurikund and the market town of Ram Bada, a transition point to Kedarnath, had been obliterated, while the market town of Sonprayag suffered heavy damage and loss of lives. Pilgrimage centres in the region, including Gangotri, Yamunotri, Kedarnath and Badrinath, the hallowed Hindu Chardham (four sites) pilgrimage centers, are usually visited by thousands of devotees, especially after the month of July on wards. Over 70,000 people were stuck in various regions because of damaged or blocked roads. People in other important locations like the Valley of flowers, Roopkund and the Sikh pilgrimage centre Hemkund were stranded for more than three days. National Highway 7 (Old National Highway 58), an important artery connecting the region was also washed away near Jyotirmath and in many other places. Because summers have more number of tourists, the number of people impacted is substantial. For more than three days, stranded pilgrims and tourists were without rations or survived on little food. The roads were seriously damaged at more than 450 places, resulting in huge traffic jams, and the floods caused many cars and other vehicles to be washed away. On 18 June, more than 12,000 pilgrims were stranded at Badrinath, the popular pilgrimage center located on the banks of the Alaknanda River. Rescuers at the Hindu pilgrimage town of Haridwar on the river Ganga recovered bodies of 40 victims washed down by the flooded rivers as of 21 June 2013. Bodies of people washed away in Uttarakhand were found in distant places like Bijnor, Allahabad and Bulandshahr in Uttar Pradesh. Searching for bodies who died during the extreme natural fury of June in Kedar valley continued for several months and even as late as September 2013, about 556 bodies were found out of which 166 bodies were found in highly decomposed state during fourth round of search operations.


title: 2013 North India floods

text: Although the Kedarnath Temple and the main Shiva Lingam inside was not damaged, its base was inundated with water, mud and boulders from the landslide, damaging its perimeter. Many hotels, rest houses and shops around the temple in Kedarnath township were destroyed, resulting in several casualties. Most of the destruction at Kedarnath was caused by a sudden rapid melting of ice and snow on the Kedarnath Mountain, from the temple, which flooded the Chorabari Lake (upstream) and then Kedarnath. The temple was flooded with water resulting in several deaths due to drowning and panic-driven stampede. Even after a week, dead bodies had not been removed from Kedarnath town, resulting in water contamination in the Kedarnath valley and villagers who depend on spring water suffered various types of health problems such as fever and diarrhea. When the flood receded, satellite images showed one new stream at Kedarnath town. No damage at the Kedarnath Temple occurred. The Uttarakhand Government announced that due to the extensive damage to the infrastructure, the temple will be temporarily closed to regular pilgrims and tourists for a year or two, but the temple rituals will still be maintained by priests. The Temple opened for pilgrims on Sunday, 4 May 2014.


title: 2013 North India floods

text: New Delhi, Gurugram, Faridabad and surrounding areas received a high amount of rainfall on 16 June 2013, leading to flooding of the low-lying areas of the cities. The Yamuna River swelled to a new height of 207.75 meters submerging the low lying flood plains along the banks.


title: 2013 North India floods

text: Six-hundred and nine villages, covering a population of 700,000, in 23 districts of Uttar Pradesh were affected by the flood and drought. , more than 120 deaths were reported from the state. The number of people who went to Uttarakhand were mostly from Uttar Pradesh


title: 2013 North India floods

text: About 6000 citizens of Nepal were visiting the Indian region, of which 1,000 were rescued as of 22 June 2013. Flooding of the Dhauliganga and the Mahakali rivers had caused extensive damage, with reports of 128 houses and 13 government offices swept away and over 1000 people homeless. A bridge that joins the India-Nepal border was highly damaged.


title: 2013 North India floods

text: National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), Public Works Department and local administrations worked together for quick rescue operations. Several thousand soldiers were deployed for the rescue missions. Activists of political and social organisations were also involved in the rescue and management of relief centres. The national highway and other important roads were closed to regular traffic. Helicopters were used to rescue people, but due to the rough terrain, heavy fog and rainfall, manoeuvring them was a challenge. By 21 June 2013, the Army had deployed 10,000 soldiers and 11 helicopters, the Navy had sent 45 naval divers, and the Air force had deployed 43 aircraft including 36 helicopters. From 17 to 30 June 2013, the IAF airlifted a total of 18,424 people - flying a total of 2,137 sorties and dropping/landing a total of 3,36,930 kg of relief material and equipments.


title: 2013 North India floods

text: On 25 June, one of 3 IAF Mil Mi-17 rescue helicopters returning from Kedarnath, carrying 5 Air Force Officers, 9 of the NDRF, and 6 of the ITBP crashed on a mountainous slope near Gauri Kund, killing all on board. The deceased soldiers were given a ceremonial Guard of honour by Home minister of India, at a function organised by the Uttarakhand State Government.


title: 2013 North India floods

text: Indo Tibetan border Police (ITBP) a Force which guards the Indo China borders on the high himalayas with its 3 Regional Response Centres (RRCs) based at Matli (Uttarkashi), Gauchar (Chamoli) and Pithoragarh swung into action and started rescue and relief operation. 2000 strong ITBP force with its mountaineering skills and improvisation methods started rescue of stranded pilgrims. It was a simultaneous effort by ITBP at Kedar ghati, Gangotri valley and Govind ghat areas. According to official figures by ITBP, they were able to rescue 33,009 pilgrims in 15 days on their own from extremely remote and inaccessible areas. Before Army or Air Force called in, being deployed in the nearby areas, ITBP took the first call and saved many lives. They also distributed food packets to stranded pilgrims who were in a pathetic condition being not having any food for more than 72 hours at many places.


title: 2013 North India floods

text: Even TDP Supremo N. Chandrababu Naidu hurried to Dehradun by a special aircraft to undertake rescue operations for pilgrims in the state. He carried 196 stranded pilgrims back to safety and arranged buses for their commute back to their destinations. In order to inform the families of the stranded and missing people in Uttarakhand, the party had established a phone centre at the NTR Trust Bhavan in Hyderabad. At the stations in Secunderabad, Kazipet, and Vijaywada, the party has also established information and assistance desks.


title: 2013 North India floods

text: The Prime Minister of India Manmohan Singh undertook an aerial survey of the affected areas and announced aid package for disaster relief efforts in the state. Several state governments announced financial assistance, with Uttar Pradesh pledging , the governments of Haryana, Maharashtra and Delhi each, the governments of Tamil Nadu, Odisha, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh each. The US Ambassador to India extended a financial help of US$150,000 through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to the NGOs working in the area and announced that the US will provide further financial aid of US$75,000. The help was later politely rejected by Government of India. The Government of Kerala offered 20 million rupees and all ministers offered one month's salary.


title: 2013 North India floods

text: The Government of India also cancelled 9 batches, or half the annual batches of the Kailash-Mansarovar Yatra, a Hindu pilgrimage. The Chardham Yatra pilgrimage, covering Gangotri, Yamunotri, Kedarnath and Badrinath was cancelled for 2 years to repair damaged roads and infrastructure, according to the Uttarakhand Government.


title: 2013 North India floods

text: Government agencies and priests of Kedarnath temple were planning mass cremation of the hundreds of victims, after one week of tragedy. Local youths from several affected villages near Gangotri helped stranded tourists and pilgrims, by sending messages to their places and by providing food. Rescuers also retrieved approximately and other jewellery from local persons, including some people dressed like sadhu babas, who reportedly collected it from a destroyed building of a Bank and damaged shops.


title: 2013 North India floods

text: Nehru Institute of Mountaineering (NIM) was given the responsibility of Rebuilding Kedarnath. Although the institute did not have the expertise in urban planning or construction, they mastered high-altitude training. Under the leadership of Colonel Ajay Kothiyal, the NIM was successful in rebuilding Kedarnath.


title: 2013 North India floods

text: A study by Utah State University analyzed the natural and anthropogenic influences on the climate anomalies using simulations, and found that (a) northern India has experienced increasingly large rainfall in June since the late 1980s, (b) the increase in rainfall appears to be associated with a tendency in the upper troposphere towards amplified short waves, and (c) the phasing of such amplified short waves is tied to increased loading of green-house gases and aerosols. In addition, a regional modeling diagnosis attributed 60–90 % of rainfall amounts in the June 2013 event to post-1980 climate trends.


title: 2013 North India floods

text: Unprecedented destruction the rainfall witnessed in Uttarakhand state was also attributed, by environmentalists, to unscientific developmental activities undertaken in recent decades contributing to high level of loss of property and lives. Roads constructed in haphazard style, new resorts and hotels built on fragile river and more than 70 hydroelectric projects in the watersheds of the state led to a "disaster waiting to happen" as termed by certain environmentalists. The environmental experts reported that the tunnels built and blasts undertaken for the 70 hydro electric projects contributed to the ecological imbalance in the state, with flows of river water restricted and the streamside development activity contributing to a higher number of landslides and more flooding.


title: 2013 North India floods

text: A novel titled "A Long Journey" was written and published by independent author Pawan Kumar Pandey, who has the floods and the resulting tragedy in his background.


title: 2013 North India floods

text: The 2018 film "Kedarnath" starring Sushant Singh Rajput and Sara Ali Khan tells of a love story set in the times of the disaster in the valley around the Kedarnath Temple.


title: Divorce in Islam

text: Divorce in Islam can take a variety of forms, some initiated by the husband and some initiated by the wife. The main traditional legal categories are "talaq" (repudiation), "khulʿ" (mutual divorce or ransom divorce) Historically, the rules of divorce were governed by sharia, as interpreted by traditional Islamic jurisprudence, though they differed depending on the legal school, and historical practices sometimes diverged from legal theory.


title: Divorce in Islam

text: In modern times, as personal status (family) laws have been codified, they generally have remained "within the orbit of Islamic law", but control over the norms of divorce shifted from traditional jurists to the state.


title: Divorce in Islam

text: According to the Quran, marriage is intended to be unbounded in time, as indicated by its characterization as a "firm bond" and by the rules governing divorce. The relationship between the spouses should ideally be based on love ("mawadda wa rahma", 30:21) and important decisions concerning both spouses should be made by mutual consent. When marital harmony cannot be attained, the Quran allows and even advises the spouses to bring the marriage to an end (2:231), although this decision is not to be taken lightly, and the community is called upon to intervene by appointing arbiters from the two families to attempt a reconciliation (4:35). The Quran establishes two further means to avoid hasty divorces. For a menstruating woman, Al-Baqarah 2:228 prescribes the waiting (Iddah) period before the divorce is finalized, as three monthly periods. Similarly for non-menstruating women, including post-menopause women and pre-menarche girls, At-Talaq 65:4 prescribes the waiting periods. This is to give the husband time to reconsider his decision. Moreover, a man who takes an oath not to have sexual intercourse with his wife, which would lead to automatic divorce, is allowed a four-month period to break his oath (2:226).


title: Divorce in Islam

text: The Quran substantially reformed the gender inequity of divorce practices that existed in pre-Islamic Arabia, although some patriarchical elements survived and others flourished during later centuries. Before Islam, divorce among the Arabs was governed by unwritten customary law, which varied according to region and tribe, and its observance depended on the authority of the individuals and groups involved. In this system, women were particularly vulnerable. The Quranic rules of marriage and divorce provided a fixed set of norms for all Muslims, backed by divine authority and enforced by the community. The early Islamic reforms included giving the wife a possibility to initiate divorce, abrogation of the husband's claim to his wife's property, condemnation of divorce without compelling reason, criminalizing unfounded claims of infidelity made by the husband, and institution of financial responsibilities of the husband toward his divorced wife. In pre-Islamic times, men kept their wives in a state of "limbo" by continually repudiating them and taking them back at will. The Quran limited the number of repudiations to three, after which the man cannot take his wife back unless she first marries another man. Additionally, the pre-Islamic bridewealth ("mahr"), which was paid by the groom to the bride's family, was transformed into a dower, which became property of the wife, though some scholars believe that the practice of giving at least a part of the "mahr" to the bride began shortly before the advent of Islam.


title: Divorce in Islam

text: The subject of divorce is addressed in four different surahs of the Quran, including the general principle articulated in 2:231:


title: Divorce in Islam

text: Classical Islamic law is derived from the scriptural sources of Islam (Quran and hadith) using various methodologies developed by different legal schools. It was historically interpreted by jurists ("muftis") who were expected to give a legal opinion ("fatwa") free of charge in response to any query. Family disputes are handled in a religious courts presided over by a judge ("qadi") who had enough legal education to decide some legal questions and queried a mufti if faced with a difficult legal issue. The judges were active members of the local community and were also involved in informal arbitration, which was the preferred method of resolving disputes. In court proceedings, they mediated between the letter of the law and exigences of the local social and moral concerns, with the overarching aim of ensuring social harmony. Actual legal practice sometimes deviated from the precepts of the legal school that was dominant in the area, at times to women's benefit and at times to their disadvantage. Members of all social classes and their witnesses argued their cases in court without professional legal representation, though members of the upper class generally did so through a representative. Women were commonly involved in litigation, usually as plaintiffs, were assertive in arguing their cases, and they were often treated sympathetically by the judge. According to legal doctrine, a woman's testimony in some areas of law carried half the weight of that of a man, though available evidence suggests that practical effects of this rule were limited and the legal standing of women in pre-modern Islam was comparable to or higher than that of their European contemporaries.


title: Divorce in Islam

text: The term "talaq" is commonly translated as "repudiation" or simply "divorce". In classical Islamic law it refers to the husband's right to dissolve the marriage by simply announcing to his wife that he repudiates her. Classical jurists variously classified pronouncement of "talaq" as forbidden or reprehensible unless it was motivated by a compelling cause such as impossibility of cohabitation due to irreconcilable conflict, though they did not require the husband to obtain court approval or provide a justification. The jurists imposed certain restrictions on valid repudiation. For example, the declaration must be made in clear terms; the husband must be of sound mind and not coerced. Upon talaq, the wife is entitled to the full payment of "mahr" if it had not already been paid. The husband is obligated to financially support her until the end of the waiting period or the delivery of her child, if she is pregnant. In addition, she has a right to child support and any past due maintenance, which Islamic law requires to be paid regularly in the course of marriage.


title: Divorce in Islam

text: Giving the husband a prerogative of repudiation was based on the assumption that men would have no interest in initiating a divorce without good cause, given the financial obligations it would incur. Additionally, classical jurists were of the opinion that "the female nature is wanting in rationality and self-control". Requiring a justification was seen as being potentially detrimental to the reputation of both spouses, since it may expose family secrets to public scrutiny.


title: Divorce in Islam

text: Talaq is considered in Islam to be a reprehensible means of divorce. The initial declaration of talaq is a revocable repudiation (ṭalāq rajʿah) which does not terminate the marriage. The husband can revoke the repudiation at any time during the waiting period ("‘iddah") which lasts three full menstrual cycles. The waiting period is intended to give the couple an opportunity for reconciliation, and also a means to ensure that the wife is not pregnant. Resumption of sexual relations automatically retracts the repudiation. The wife retains all her rights during the waiting period. The divorce becomes final when the waiting period expires. This is called a "minor" divorce ("al-baynuna al-sughra") and the couple can remarry. If the husband repudiates his wife for the third time, it triggers a "major" divorce ("al-baynuna al-kubra"), after which the couple cannot remarry without an intervening consummated marriage to another man. This is known as "tahlil" or "nikah halala". Making the third pronouncement irrevocable prevents the husband from using repeated declarations and revocations of divorce as a means of pressuring his wife into making financial concessions in order to "purchase her freedom". It also acts as a deterrent to rash repudiations.