title: Alex Hales

text: Hales first came to national attention in 2005 when, as a sixteen-year-old, he hit 55 off a single over (three no-balls, eight sixes, one four) in a Cricket Idol T20 tournament at Lords. Ironically, he had been picked for his fast bowling ability.


title: Alex Hales

text: Hales first represented Buckinghamshire in Minor Counties cricket during the 2006 season, and played for MCC Young Cricketers in the Second XI Championship of 2007. He then impressed whilst trialling with Nottinghamshire in 2007, scoring 218 in only his second appearance for the county, following it up with a hundred and two 95s. Notts offered him a two-year contract until the end of the 2009 season. He made his List A debut in a rain-affected match against Leicestershire in May 2008 and his first-class debut against Somerset in September 2008. During the 2009 season, after an impressive start, he signed a new two-year contract extension. On 29 August 2009, Alex hit the top score in the Pro40 2009, 150 off 102 balls for Nottinghamshire against Worcestershire at Trent Bridge.


title: Alex Hales

text: In July 2011, Hales made a century for Nottinghamshire in the county championship, a score that, according to Cricinfo marked him as "beginning to warrant the attention of the England selectors": it was the second century of his first-class career. He went on to make 184.


title: Alex Hales

text: In May 2015, Hales hit six consecutive sixes across two overs on the opening day of the NatWest t20 Blast in his 86 not out against Birmingham.


title: Alex Hales

text: Hales represented England U19s in the summer of 2008 in a series of youth Test matches and ODIs against a touring New Zealand U19's, enjoying a successful time averaging 50 in the Tests and over 30 in the ODIs, including 3 half centuries. After just one season on the county circuit he was named in an England Performance Programme squad in the 09/10 winter. In the 2011 summer he was selected for the England Lions against Sri Lanka and was chosen for all the matches.


title: Alex Hales

text: Following an impressive year in domestic Twenty20, he was selected for the senior England squad to play India. He scored a two-ball duck on debut, however in the following series against the West Indies, he scored an unbeaten 62 in a 128-run stand with Craig Kieswetter as England won by 10 wickets. Hales kept his place in the side for the T20 match against India, but only scored 11 runs off 19 balls.


title: Alex Hales

text: On 24 June 2012, England achieved their highest successful chase in Twenty20 internationals. Hales was man of the match, after scoring 99 before losing his wicket to a yorker bowled by Rampaul with the game almost won. Hales played in both games against South Africa, making scores of 11 in both innings, although he remained unbeaten in the second as the match was rained off. Alex Hales is the only batsman to be dismissed for 99 in a T20I innings.


title: Alex Hales

text: Now an integral part of England's T20 team, Hales played in the 2012 ICC World Twenty20. England beat Afghanistan to qualify from the group, with Hales being run out on 31. However, England were bowled out for 80 in the next game against India. In the super 8 stage, Hales again batted well against the West Indies, scoring 68. In that match against West Indies he along with Eoin Morgan set the record for the highest 4th wicket partnership in ICC World T20 history (107). After beating New Zealand, England lost to Sri Lanka, with Hales being dismissed for just 3, meaning England were knocked out of the tournament.


title: Alex Hales

text: Hales played in all three T20 games against New Zealand, now batting with his county teammate Michael Lumb. He made scores of 21, 5 and 80. In the third match of the series, in which Hales made 80, he participated in a 143 opening partnership with Lumb as England won by 10 wickets. In the return series Hales made 39 before the final match was abandoned. Hales made 94 in the second match against Australia, as he consolidated his position at the top of the ICC player rankings. Hales was less effective in the away series in Australia, scoring 22, 16 and 6. He was then selected in the limited overs tour of West Indies, where he was also expected to play in his first ODI. However, injury meant he could only play in the T20 series, where he made scores of 3, 40 and 38.


title: Alex Hales

text: England were drawn in a tough group for the 2014 World T20. Hales made a second ball duck in the first match against New Zealand, but followed this up by an unbeaten 116 against Sri Lanka. In doing so he became the first Englishman to score a T20I century. In that same match he along with Eoin Morgan set the record for the highest 3rd wicket partnership in T20 World Cup history(152). However, although Hales made 38 against South Africa, England lost and were knocked out of the competition. They then suffered a humiliating defeat against the Netherlands in their final match, in which Hales made 12 as England were bowled out for 88.


title: Alex Hales

text: Hales kept his place in the team for Peter Moores first game in charge of the T20 side against Sr Lanka. Although England lost, Hales top scored with 66.


title: Alex Hales

text: Hales made his long-awaited ODI debut in the series against India. He started well, making scores of 42 and 40 in his first two games although England went on to lose them both. In the final two games of the series, he could only manage scores of 6 and 4 as England lost the series 3–1. He returned to form in the only T20 match between the two sides, hitting 40 to help England win the game.


title: Alex Hales

text: He was selected in the squad for the series against Sri Lanka, but was surprisingly dropped for the first two games. He made 27 when he was recalled for the third ODI, batting in the middle order. In the fourth ODI he replaced suspended captain Alistair Cook at the top of the order, but was dismissed for a first ball duck. He made seven in the final match of the series.


title: Alex Hales

text: Hales was overlooked for the start of England's World Cup campaign and did not play until the must-win game against Bangladesh. He made 27 as England lost the game to go out of the tournament. He played in the final game against Afghanistan, making 37 as England won the match by nine wickets.


title: Alex Hales

text: Hales was included in the squad for the five-ODI series at home against New Zealand. He scored 20 in the first match, but England went on to win by 210 runs. In the second ODI Hales performed more strongly, scoring 54 off 49 balls, but England lost by 13 runs in a close match. England lost the third ODI by 3 wickets, with Hales making 23. In the fourth ODI Hales scored 67 off 38 balls as England won by seven wickets. In the final game of the series, Hales was out for just one, but England went on to win the game by three wickets and the series 3–2. He made 27 as England won the one-off T20 match between the two sides.


title: Alex Hales

text: In the only T20 between the two sides, Hales made just three, but England went on to win the game by five runs. Hales had a poor start to the ODI series, scoring 22 in the first game and 18 in the second, as England lost both games to go 2-0 down in the series. However, England won the third game, despite Hales continuing to struggle for form. In the fourth match, Hales was out for a duck, but England chased down Australia's total of 299 to level the five match series 2-2. Hales poor series ended with a score in 4 in the final game, which England lost to hand the series to Australia.


title: Alex Hales

text: Despite being included in the Test squad to face Pakistan, Hales did not play in any Tests. He came into the side for the ODI series, and made in ten as England lost their opening game. He ended his poor run of form in the second match of the series, scoring 109 as England won by 95 runs. He made a score of 30 in the next match as England recorded a six wicket win to go 2-1 up in the series. England won the final game of the series, with Hales making a score of 22, to help England to a 3–1 series win.


title: Alex Hales

text: In the one-day series again Pakistan in the UAE, BBC Sport commentator Jonathan Agnew stated that Hales' technique was simply too fallible outside off stump, planting his front foot on middle stump and playing with a bat two feet away from his body. Agnew surmised that whilst in 20 and 50 over cricket with no slips Hales could get away with this issue, in test cricket he could not. In the first three tests in South Africa, Hales' technique was cruelly exposed by their fast-bowling attack. In the first Tests he made scores of 10 and 26, although England went on to win the game by 241 runs. In a high scoring second Test, Hales made 60 in the first innings but was dismissed for just five in the second. In the third Test, he was out for one in the first innings as England made 323. He was out for 18 in the second innings, as England went onto secure a seven wicket victory. In the final match of the series, he again struggled, and after making 15 in the first innings, he was out for just one in the second innings as England were bowled out for just 101. Despite the heavy defeat, England won the series 2–1.


title: Alex Hales

text: However, in the ODI series, Hales returned to form in spectacular style. He scored 4 consecutive fifties and a century to garner Man of the Series. In the first ODI, Hales scored 57 off just 47 balls to put behind the poor Test series. He then went on to score 99 in the second ODI falling just short of his second ODI century. He continued this great form in the third ODI scoring 65 off 73 balls in a losing effort. In the fourth ODI, he scored yet another half-century scoring 50 off 56 balls in another losing effort. In the final ODI, he finally scored his second and well-deserved ODI century, scoring 112 off 128 balls finishing the series with 383 runs overall and the series highest run-scorer.


title: Alex Hales

text: In the T20 series Hales scored 27 in the first game which England lost, before making a score of 16 in England's final match before the T20 World Cup, in which England were comprehensively beaten by nine wickets.


title: Alex Hales

text: Hales made a score of 28 in England's opening game defeat against the West Indies, before making 17 in a historic run chase against South Africa. After missing the third game against Afghanistan through injury, Hales returned for the crucial game against Sri Lanka, and although he was out for a duck, England won the game. He made 20 in the semi-final against New Zealand as England booked their place in the final, but he was out for just one against the West Indies as England finished as runners-up.


title: Alex Hales

text: Hales retained his place in the test team for the Sri Lanka series, but after much debate by the selectors. He repaid their faith in the first test at Headingley by scoring 86, and sharing a century partnership with Jonny Bairstow when England were in trouble. England went on to win the match by an innings and 88 runs. In the first innings of the second test he again gave himself a good start of 83, but failed to reach his first Test century. He was out for just eleven in the second innings as England secured a nine wicket victory. In the third and final test at Lord's, Hales scored just 18 runs in the first innings, but made a brilliant 94 in the second innings, and was dismissed lbw by Angelo Mathews just six runs short of a place on the honours board. The third match ended in a draw, with England winning the series 2–0.


title: Alex Hales

text: Hales made just 4 in the first ODI against Sri Lanka, as the match ended in a tie, with both teams posting 286. In the second match he made 133 not out and was involved in a record breaking partnership with Jason Roy as England won by ten wickets after reaching 256/0. In the third match he was out for a duck in a rain affected match, and did not bat in the fourth match which England won, due to injury. The injury ruled him out of the final match of the series, which England won to take the series 3–0.


title: Alex Hales

text: Hales was out for six in the first innings in the first Test against Pakistan, and then made 16 in the second innings as England lost by 75 runs. England won the second Test, although Hales only scored 34 runs in the match. After scoring 17 in the first innings of the third Test, Hales scored 54 in the second innings to help England turn the game around and win by 141 runs. Hales again struggled in the final Test, scoring just six in England's first innings as they were dismissed for 328 and just 12 in the second innings, as England suffered a ten-wicket defeat and drew the series, 2–2. Hales made scores of seven and 14 in the first two ODIs as England went 2-0 up in the series. In the third ODI Hales achieved the highest ever individual ODI score posting 171 during the third ODI against Pakistan on his home soil at Trent Bridge. The record was previously held by Robin Smith for 23 years. Hales' ton helped England achieve the highest ever team ODI score in the same game with England posting 444–3, bettering the previous record of 443 by Sri Lanka back in 2006 against the Dutch at Amstelveen. England won the match by 169 runs as well to seal the series. In the fourth ODI Hales made eight as England chased down Pakistan's target of 248 to go 4–0 up in the series. In the final match, Hales could only manage 23 as England lost their first game of the series, with it finishing 4–1. Hales top-scored for England with 37 in the only T20I between the two sides, but England lost by nine wickets.


title: Alex Hales

text: After missing the series against Bangladesh due to safety concerns, Hales played in the first ODI against India and made nine in England's total of 350 runs, although England lost by three wickets. In the second ODI he made 14 as England lost by 15 runs. Injury ruled Hales out of the rest of the series.


title: Alex Hales

text: Hales missed the first two matches against the West Indies through injury, but returned in the final game, making 110 as England made 328 and won by 186 runs.


title: Alex Hales

text: Hales scored 55 from 47 balls in the 1st ODI in a modest chase of 127 which England accomplished in 20 overs and made 32 of 35 balls in the 2nd ODI which England also won by 8 runs.


title: Alex Hales

text: Hales started well in the ODI series with 61 off 60 balls in a 72 run for England in the 1st ODI, however, he could only make 24 off 28 balls in the next match and would follow it up with a 2-ball 1 in the 3rd ODI where England were bundled out for a poor 153. He made 47 off 38 balls in the first T20 and then was not in the squad for the 2nd T20, although he came back for the 3rd T20 where he scored 36 from 28 balls.


title: Alex Hales

text: He started off the tournament sublimely with a blazing 86-ball 95, although missing out on a hundred, his good form continued with 56 from 62 balls against New Zealand, however, he was bowled for a duck in the last group stage encounter against Australia and could only make 11 against Pakistan in the semi final which England lost.


title: Alex Hales

text: In April 2019, he was named in England's squad for the 2019 Cricket World Cup. However, two days after the England squad was named, Hales made himself unavailable for Nottinghamshire's fixture against Lancashire in the 2019 Royal London One-Day Cup citing "personal reasons". Nottinghamshire posted a statement on their website stating that no timetable had been made for his return to cricket. On 26 April 2019, it was confirmed that Hales had failed a drugs test for use of a recreational drug, and had been banned for 21 days. On 29 April 2019, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) announced that Hales had been dropped from England's preliminary World Cup squad and all England squads ahead of the international season. Hales was not called up for England for the rest of England captain Eoin Morgan's tenure, with Morgan stating that Hales had lost the trust of the team.


title: Alex Hales

text: In September 2022, Hales was called back to the English T20 squad for the T20 World Cup, as a late replacement for the injured Jonny Bairstow. After a couple of middling scores in the first two games, Hales hit a good run of form alongside the batting with his captain, Jos Buttler. The pair followed partnerships of 81 and 75 against New Zealand and Sri Lanka with a record opening-partnership of 170 in the semi-final against India. Hales hit 86 not-out, winning the Man of the Match award and saw his team into the final. England went on to win the match, and hence their second T20 World Cup, though Hales made only a single.


title: Alex Hales

text: On 14 March 2015, Hales signed for Mumbai Indians for the final match of the regular season and the knockout stages replacing injured Corey Anderson. However, he ended his short stint without making a single appearance for the side.


title: Alex Hales

text: After going unsold in the 2018 IPL auction, on 31 March 2018, it was announced that Hales would join Sunrisers Hyderabad for the 2018 season replacing David Warner. Hales made his IPL debut against Rajasthan Royals on 29 April 2018 and scored 45. Hales again went unsold in the 2021 IPL auction. In February 2022, he was bought by the Kolkata Knight Riders in the auction for the 2022 Indian Premier League tournament but later pulled out due to personal reasons.


title: Alex Hales

text: Hales has played for Melbourne Renegades, Adelaide Strikers, Hobart Hurricanes, and Sydney Thunder. Playing for Sydney Thunder, Hales finished as top scorer in the 2020–21 Big Bash League season.


title: Alex Hales

text: Hales was picked by Islamabad United in 2018 Pakistan Super League Draft. On 1 December 2018, Hales hit a record 87 not out off just 32 balls playing for Maratha Arabians. On 25 January 2019 Alex struck his first BPL century off 47 balls for the Rangpur Riders


title: Alex Hales

text: In September 2019, he was named in the squad for the Durban Heat team for the 2019 Mzansi Super League tournament. In July 2020, he was named in the Barbados Tridents squad for the 2020 Caribbean Premier League. In December 2021, he was signed by Islamabad United following the players' draft for the 2022 Pakistan Super League. On 15 February 2022, he pulled out of PSL due to bubble fatigue. He made a surprise return to PSL ahead of the Islamabad United's first eliminator playoff game against Peshawar Zalmi. In April 2022, he was bought by the Trent Rockets for the 2022 season of The Hundred.


title: Alex Hales

text: Alex Hales has signed up for BPL franchise Rangpur Riders for the 2018-19 season, their CEO Ishtiaque Sadeque has confirmed. Hales became Riders' first of the two signings from outside the draft, apart from their four retained players Chris Gayle, Mashrafe Mortaza, Nazmul Islam and Mohammad Mithun.


title: Alex Hales

text: In September 2017, Hales, along with teammate Ben Stokes, was charged with bringing the game into disrepute by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB). The charge related to an incident that took place outside a Bristol nightclub, in September 2017, several hours after England had played a one-day international against the West Indies at the County Ground in the city. Stokes was charged with affray over the incident by police and the ECB deferred its disciplinary hearing until the legal proceedings had finished.


title: Alex Hales

text: In December 2018, the Cricket Disciplinary Commission reached a verdict in response to Hales's behaviour in Bristol and in relation to "inappropriate images". The Commission banned Hales for six white-ball matches, two of which had been served and the remaining four were suspended. Hales was also fined £17,500, £10,000 of which was suspended for 12 months. Hales was also required to undertake "appropriate training" at his own cost.


title: Alex Hales

text: In April 2019, Hales tested positive for a recreational drug as he underwent a hair follicle test. According to a report published by the Guardian, Hales was subjected to a ban by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) for 21 days as it was his second violation along with his removal from England's squad in the 2019 Cricket World Cup and all squads ahead of the international season. Hales' ban followed him pulling out of Nottinghamshire's Royal London One Day Cup campaign due to "personal reasons".


title: Peter Gabriel (1977 album)

text: Peter Gabriel is the debut studio album by the English singer-songwriter and producer Peter Gabriel, released on 25 February 1977 by Charisma Records. After his departure from the progressive rock band Genesis was made public in 1975, Gabriel took a break to concentrate on his family life. In 1976, he began writing material for a solo album and met producer Bob Ezrin, who agreed to produce it. Gabriel hired several additional musicians to play on the album, including guitarist Robert Fripp and bassist Tony Levin. The album was later known as Peter Gabriel I or Car, referring to the album's artwork produced by Hipgnosis.


title: Peter Gabriel (1977 album)

text: Upon the album's release, it peaked at No. 7 on the UK Albums Chart and No. 38 on the US "Billboard" 200. It has since reached Gold certification in both countries for selling 100,000 and 500,000 copies, respectively. The song "Solsbury Hill" was the first single which peaked at No. 13 in the UK. Gabriel supported the album with a tour of Europe and the US through 1977, featuring a seven-piece band including Fripp and Levin. The album was remastered in 2002 and 2011.


title: Peter Gabriel (1977 album)

text: In August 1975, Gabriel's departure from the progressive rock band Genesis was made public. He had announced the decision to the band early into their tour supporting "The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway" (1974), citing estrangement from the other members, the strains on his marriage, and his wish to spend more time with his family. He also wanted to avoid giving the impression of quitting Genesis "to run off and do my solo album", and took a break. Genesis drummer Phil Collins, who later replaced Gabriel as lead vocalist, said the band had known about Gabriel's departure for some time. When they learned that Gabriel was to make a solo album, they sent a telegram wishing him luck.


title: Peter Gabriel (1977 album)

text: By mid-1976, Gabriel had recorded a collection of demos for his album. He considered several producers, including Todd Rundgren and Jack Nitzsche. Someone suggested Canadian producer Bob Ezrin, known for working with Alice Cooper, Lou Reed and Kiss. Gabriel played his demo of "Here Comes the Flood" to Ezrin, who enjoyed the track so much he went to bed that night singing the song. He said: "We understood each other. We talked. There was an excellent rapport immediately – a human rapport – and that was what I was looking for above all." The pair agreed to share production duties; Ezrin led the "American rhythm sections" and "very rock passages", while Gabriel led the "more European things" and "quiet parts".


title: Peter Gabriel (1977 album)

text: "Peter Gabriel" was recorded at The Soundstage in Toronto in the autumn of 1976, with additional sessions at Morgan and Olympic Studios in London. Gabriel was uncertain of what parts he could and could not perform, so he agreed to Ezrin's choice of musicians, including bassist Tony Levin and guitarist Robert Fripp to cover Gabriel's soundscape-oriented ideas. Gabriel recalled the Toronto sessions as "fast, exciting and hot". After two days of hearing Levin play, Gabriel invited him to play on the tour. Other musicians involved were drummer Allan Schwartzberg, percussionist Jimmy Maelen, guitarist Steve Hunter, keyboardist Jozef Chirowski, and Larry Fast on synthesisers and programming.


title: Peter Gabriel (1977 album)

text: Although mainly happy with the music, Gabriel felt that the album, particularly "Here Comes the Flood", was overproduced. Piano-only or piano with synth versions of that song appear on Fripp's album "Exposure" and his appearance on Kate Bush's television special in December 1979, in which Gabriel and Bush sang "Another Day" by Roy Harper. A third version appeared on the 1990 compilation album "". Gabriel often performs the song live, accompanied by only himself on keyboard, either in German or English, depending on the audience. The song was debuted during an appearance on Thames Television's "Good Afternoon" in the summer of 1976.


title: Peter Gabriel (1977 album)

text: The front cover depicts Gabriel sitting in the front passenger seat of a 1974 Lancia 2000 owned by Storm Thorgerson, co-founder of Hipgnosis and the cover's designer. For the shoot, which took place in Wandsworth, London, the car was sprayed with water from a hose. The black-and-white image was then hand-coloured, and reflections modified using a scalpel by artist Richard Manning. Because Gabriel's first four albums were not titled or numbered, the album later became informally known as "Car". An alternative proposal was to feature a photograph of Gabriel wearing contact lenses intended to give his eyes the appearance of metallic ball bearings; this was included on the inner sleeve.


title: Peter Gabriel (1977 album)

text: The album was released on 25 February 1977 on Charisma Records and in the US and Canada on Atco Records, and reached No. 7 in the UK and No. 38 in the US. The first single taken from it, "Solsbury Hill", became a Top 20 hit in the UK and reached No. 68 on the "Billboard" Hot 100. The second single, "Modern Love", did not chart.


title: Peter Gabriel (1977 album)

text: After "Peter Gabriel"s release, Gabriel assembled a touring band, consisting of Fripp (occasionally using the pseudonym "Dusty Rhodes", and sometimes performing from offstage) and Hunter on guitar, Levin on bass, Fast on synthesisers, Schwartzberg on drums, Phil Aaberg on keyboards and Jimmy Maelen on percussion. The first leg of his debut solo tour, entitled "Expect the Unexpected", started on 5 March 1977 in the United States and continued until April. The UK portion of the tour concluded on 30 April. A second leg assembled a different band, which included Sid McGinnis on guitar, Levin on bass, Jerry Marotta on drums and Bayette on keyboards. The "Sightings in the Test Area During Autumn" leg began on 30 August and saw the band play throughout England and Europe before concluding on 1 November 1977.


title: Peter Gabriel (1977 album)

text: "Rolling Stone" critic Stephen Demorest described "Peter Gabriel" as "a grab bag collection of songs that bear little resemblance to one another" and called it "an impressively rich debut album". Robert Christgau of "The Village Voice" found it "a lot smarter" than Gabriel's past work in Genesis, and despite noting that "every time I delve beneath its challenging textures to decipher a line or two I come up a little short", felt that the album was "worth considering". Nick Kent, writing in "NME" in 1978, said that "Peter Gabriel" was "a fine record with at least one 24-carat irresistible classic in 'Solsbury Hill' and a strong supporting cast of material that, all in all, in a year besmeared with great albums was, in retrospect, sorely underrated". The album received the prize of the French Académie Charles Cros.


title: Yalitza Aparicio

text: Yalitza Aparicio Martínez (; born 11 December 1993) is a Mexican actress and preschool teacher. She made her film debut as Cleo in Alfonso Cuarón's 2018 drama "Roma", which earned her a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress. In 2019, "Time" magazine named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world. On 4 October 2019, she was named the UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador for Indigenous Peoples.


title: Yalitza Aparicio

text: Yalitza Aparicio Martínez was born 11 December 1993 in Tlaxiaco, Oaxaca. Her parents are of indigenous origin; her father is Mixtec and her mother is Triqui. She was not, however, fluent in the Mixtec language and had to learn it for her role in "Roma". Aparicio was raised by a single mother who worked as a maid. She does not have formal training in acting, but rather has pursued a degree in pre-school education while already holding a degree in early childhood education and worked in a school. She won her first acting role just prior to qualifying as a teacher.


title: Yalitza Aparicio

text: Aparicio made her acting debut in the drama film "Roma", which was written and directed by Alfonso Cuarón. The film was released in November 2018. Aparicio received critical acclaim, with Peter Bradshaw of "The Guardian" stating that she "brings to the role something gentle, delicate, stoic and selfless. She is the jewel of this outstanding film."


title: Yalitza Aparicio

text: For her performance, she was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress, becoming the first Indigenous American woman to receive a Best Actress Oscar nomination.


title: Yalitza Aparicio

text: She also earned nominations in the same category from the Chicago Film Critics Association, the Critics' Choice Movie Awards, the Hollywood Film Awards, the Gotham Awards, the San Francisco Film Critics Circle, the Satellite Awards, and the Women Film Critics Circle, as well as recognition from "Time" and "The New York Times".


title: Yalitza Aparicio

text: Aparicio appeared on the cover of "Vogue México" in January 2019. She also appeared in the Vanity Fair 2019 "Hollywood Issue" cover. Aparicio was given the keys to Panama City, Panama, on 8 April 2019.


title: Pistol-whipping

text: Pistol-whipping or buffaloing is the act of using a handgun as a blunt weapon, wielding it as an improvised club. Such a practice dates to the time of muzzle loaders, which were brandished in such fashion in close-quarters combat once the weapon's single projectile had been expended.


title: Pistol-whipping

text: The term "buffaloing" is documented as being used in the Wild West originally to refer to the act of being intimidated or cheated by bluffing. It would develop into a term meaning to strike someone with a handgun in the 1870s when Stuart N. Lake reported Wyatt Earp doing so. Wild Bill Hickok would also be a prominent practitioner of the technique. The new use of the term developed because the act of hitting someone with their revolver was seen as an additional insult to the character of the victim.


title: Pistol-whipping

text: The modern terms "pistol-whipping" and "to pistol-whip" were reported as "new words" of American speech in 1955, with cited usages dating to the 1940s.


title: Pistol-whipping

text: The practice of using the handgun itself as a blunt-force weapon began with the appearance of muzzle loaders in the 15th century. Single-shot weapons that were tedious to reload were used to strike opponents directly in close-quarters combat after their projectile had been expended. It was entirely up to circumstance whether the user had time or chose to reverse the gun in their hand and strike a blow with its handle or merely swung the heavy weapon as a club or baton holding it normally.


title: Pistol-whipping

text: There are arguments as to the efficacy of either approach. Author Paul Wellman notes that clubbing an opponent with the butt of a gun held by its barrel, as seen in some Westerns, is problematic. First, the danger of an unintentional discharge could fatally wound the wielder. Second, many early revolvers of the black-powder cap and ball era, were relatively fragile around their cylinders relative to solid single-shot weapons. Third, rotating a gun so that it can be held by its barrel takes extra time, potentially crucial in a conflict.


title: Pistol-whipping

text: To avoid the risk of damage or potential delay, pistol-whipping may be done with the gun held in an ordinary manner, hitting the target with an overhand strike from either the barrel or the flank of the gun above the trigger. It was a fairly common way to incapacitate a man in Western frontier days (assisted by the heavy weight of the handguns of the era), known as "buffaloing", with the verb form being "to buffalo".


title: Pistol-whipping

text: The practice was seen as a means of avoiding fatal confrontations. Instead of opening fire, an officer could knock someone unconscious with the barrel of their revolver which they claimed lowered mortality rates. This technique would later be considered a form of police brutality.


title: Pistol-whipping

text: This form of pistol-whipping with an 1870s-style revolver was tested on the Spike TV television show "Deadliest Warrior". The testers showed that using the long barrel of a weapon such as the Colt Single Action Army in a whipping motion produced enough force to fracture a skull and could potentially kill a man with a single blow.


title: Pistol-whipping

text: Pistol whipping may leave unusual lacerations on the body of the injured due to various protruding details of the pistol. When blows are struck using the butt of the weapon rather than its barrel or flank, semicircular or triangular lacerations on the skin may be produced. The magazine well at the bottom of a semi-automatic pistol and its surrounding base produce rectangular lacerations on the skin. These lacerations can vary in depth and severity, but "whipped" fractures are common. The skin underneath the "whipped" area often will not present with bruising because the skin is split and not crushed.


title: London Hammer

text: The London Hammer (also known as the "London Artifact") is a name given to a hammer made of iron and wood that was found in London, Texas in 1936. Part of the hammer is embedded in a limey rock concretion, leading to it being regarded by some as an anomalous artifact, asking how a man-made tool could come to be encased in Lower Cretaceous rock.


title: London Hammer

text: The hammer was purportedly found by a local couple, Max Hahn and a female friend, while out walking along the course of the Red Creek near the town of London. They spotted a curious piece of loose rock with a bit of wood embedded in it and took it home with them. A decade later, their son Max broke open the rock to find the concealed hammerhead within.


title: London Hammer

text: The metal hammerhead is approximately long and has a diameter of , leading some to suggest that this hammer was not used for large projects, but rather for fine work or soft metal. The metal of the hammerhead consists of 96.6% iron, 2.6% chlorine, and 0.74% sulfur.


title: London Hammer

text: The Hammer began to attract wider attention after it was bought by creationist Carl Baugh in 1983, who claimed the artifact was a "monumental 'pre-Flood' discovery." He has used it as the basis of speculation of how the atmospheric quality of a pre-flood earth could have encouraged the growth of giants. Baugh's Creation Evidence Museum purchased the hammer around 1983 and began to promote it as ‘the London Artifact’.


title: London Hammer

text: Other observers have noted that the hammer is stylistically consistent with typical American tools manufactured in the region in the late 19th century. Its design is consistent with a miner's hammer. One possible explanation for the rock containing the artifact is that the highly soluble minerals in the ancient limestone may have formed a concretion around the object, via a common process (like that of a petrifying well) which often creates similar encrustations around fossils and other nuclei in a relatively short time.


title: Telephoto lens

text: A telephoto lens, in photography and cinematography, is a specific type of a long-focus lens in which the physical length of the lens is shorter than the focal length. This is achieved by incorporating a special lens group known as a "telephoto group" that extends the light path to create a long-focus lens in a much shorter overall design. The angle of view and other effects of long-focus lenses are the same for telephoto lenses of the same specified focal length. Long-focal-length lenses are often informally referred to as "telephoto lenses", although this is technically incorrect: a telephoto lens specifically incorporates the telephoto group.


title: Telephoto lens

text: Telephoto lenses are sometimes broken into the further sub-types of short telephoto (85–135 mm in 35 mm film format), medium telephoto: (135–300 mm in 35 mm film format) and super telephoto (over 300 mm in 35 mm film format) .


title: Telephoto lens

text: In contrast to a telephoto lens, for any given focal length a simple lens of non-telephoto design is constructed from one lens (which can, to minimize aberrations, consist of several elements to form an achromatic lens). To focus on an object at infinity, the distance from this single lens to focal plane of the camera (where the sensor or film is respectively) has to be adjusted to this focal length. For example, given a focal length of 500 mm, the distance between lens and focal plane is 500 mm. The farther the focal length is increased, the more the physical length of such a simple lens makes it unwieldy.


title: Telephoto lens

text: But such simple lenses are not telephoto lenses, no matter how extreme the focal length – they are known as "long-focus lenses". While the optical centre of a simple ("non-telephoto") lens is within the construction, the telephoto lens moves the optical centre in front of the construction. While the length of a long-focus lens approximates its focal length, a telephoto lens manages to be shorter than its focal length. E.g., a telephoto lens might have a focal length of 400 mm, while it is shorter than that.


title: Telephoto lens

text: A telephoto lens works by having the outermost (i.e. light gathering) element of a much shorter focal length than the equivalent long-focus lens and then incorporating a second set of elements close to the film or sensor plane that extend the cone of light so that it appears to have come from a lens of much greater focal length. The basic construction of a telephoto lens consists of front lens elements that, as a group, have a positive focus. The focal length of this group is shorter than the effective focal length of the lens. The converging rays from this group are intercepted by the rear lens group, sometimes called the "telephoto group," which has a negative focus. The simplest telephoto designs could consist of one element in each group, but in practice, more than one element is used in each group to correct for various aberrations. The combination of these two groups produces a lens assembly that is physically shorter than a long-focus lens producing the same image size.


title: Telephoto lens

text: This same property is achieved in camera lenses that combine mirrors with lenses. These designs, called catadioptric, 'reflex', or 'mirror' lenses, have a curved mirror as the primary objective with some form of negative lens in front of the mirror to correct optical aberrations. They also use a curved secondary mirror to relay the image that extends the light cone the same way the negative lens telephoto group does. The mirrors also fold the light path. This makes them much shorter, lighter, and cheaper than an all refractive lens, but at the cost of some optical compromises due to aberrations caused by the central obstruction from the secondary mirror.


title: Telephoto lens

text: The heaviest non-Catadioptric telephoto lens for civilian use was made by Carl Zeiss and has a focal length of 1700 mm with a maximum aperture of , implying a entrance pupil. It is designed for use with a medium format Hasselblad 203 FE camera and weighs .


title: Telephoto lens

text: The telephoto lens design has also been used for wide angles, at least once in the case of the Olympus XA where it permitted a 35 mm focal length to fit in an extra compact camera body.


title: Telephoto lens

text: Inverting the telephoto configuration, employing one or more negative lens groups in front of a positive lens group, creates a wide-angle lens with an increased back focal distance. These are called retrofocus lenses or inverted telephotos, which have greater clearance from the rear element to the film plane than their focal length would permit with a conventional wide-angle lens optical design. This allows for greater clearance for other optical or mechanical parts such as the mirror parts in a single-lens reflex camera. Zoom lenses that are telephotos at one extreme of the zoom range and retrofocus at the other are now common.


title: Telephoto lens

text: The concept of the telephoto lens, in reflecting form, was first described by Johannes Kepler in his "Dioptrice" of 1611, and re-invented by Peter Barlow in 1834.


title: Telephoto lens

text: Histories of photography usually credit Thomas Rudolphus Dallmeyer with the invention of the photographic telephoto lens in 1891, though it was independently invented by others about the same time; some credit his father John Henry Dallmeyer in 1860.


title: Telephoto lens

text: In 1883 or 1884, New Zealand photographer Alexander McKay discovered he could create a much more manageable long-focus lens by combining a shorter focal length telescope objective lens with negative lenses and other optical parts from opera glasses to modify the light cone. Some of his photographs are preserved in the holdings of the Turnbull Library in Wellington, and two of these can be unequivocally dated as having been taken during May 1886. One of McKay's photographs shows a warship anchored in Wellington harbour about two and a half kilometres away, with its rigging lines and gun ports clearly visible. The other, taken from the same point, is of a local hotel, the Shepherds Arms, about 100 metres distant from the camera. The masts of the ship are visible in the background. McKay's other photographic achievements include photo-micrographs, and a ‘shadow-less technique’ for photographing fossils.


title: Telephoto lens

text: McKay presented his work to the Wellington Philosophical Society (the precursor of the Royal Society of New Zealand) in 1890.


title: Quranism

text: Quranism (";" also known as Quran-only Islam) is a movement within Islam. It holds the belief that traditional religious clergy has corrupted religion, and Islamic guidance should be based strictly on the Quran, thus opposing the religious authority of all or most of the hadith literature and extra non-Quranic sources. Quranists believe that religious laws (as opposed to narrations of various people) already in the Quran are clear and complete, and can be understood without referencing outside texts. Quranists claim that the vast majority of hadith literature may be fabrications, and that the Quran itself criticizes the hadith (and its role in Islam) both in the technical sense and the general sense.


title: Quranism

text: In the Muslim world, Quranists have faced opposition and have been labeled as "animals" and "apostates" in fatwas issued against them. In several countries, being a Quranist is punishable by death and/or torture. Quranist authors who fear for their lives write anonymously or under a pseudonym.


title: Quranism

text: As a result, in matters of faith, jurisprudence, and legislation, Quranists differ from Sunnis and Shias, who consider the hadith, scholarly opinions, the opinions of the , and , and Islam's legislative authority in matters of law and creed in addition to the Quran. Each hadith-espousing sect of Islam has its own distinct collection of hadith upon which its followers rely, the differences in which are rejected by other sects despite these collections overlapping for the most part, while the Quranists reject all of the differing collections of hadith and have none of their own. This methodological difference has led to considerable divergence between Quranists, and both Sunnis and Shia (the two largest sects in Islam) in matters of theology and law as well as the understanding of the Quran.


title: Quranism

text: Quranism is similar to movements in other Abrahamic religions such as the Karaite in Judaism and the view of some Protestant Christians.


title: Quranism

text: Most Quranists define themselves simply as "Muslims", while other names used include "Quranic Muslims", "Submitters [to God]". Other sects refer to them as "Quranists" (), and also sometimes as "reformists" or "progressive Muslims", although Quranists themselves mostly deny these names.


title: Quranism

text: Quranists believe that God's message in the Quran is clear and complete as it is and that it can be fully understood without referencing outside sources. They believe that the Quran is clear, complete, and that it can be fully understood without recourse to the hadith and sunnah. Therefore, they use the Quran itself to interpret the Quran:


title: Quranism

text: In the centuries following Muhammad's death, Quranists did not believe in Naskh. The Kufan scholar Dirar ibn Amr's Quranist belief led him to deny in Al-Masih ad-Dajjal, Punishment of the Grave, and Shafa'ah in the 8th century. The Egyptian scholar Muhammad Abu Zayd's Quranist commentaries led him to reject the belief in the Isra and Mi'raj in the early 20th century. In his rationalist Quran commentary published in 1930, which uses the Quran itself to interpret the Quran, he claimed that verse 17:1 was an allusion to the Hijrah and not Isra and Mi'raj.


title: Quranism

text: Syed Ahmad Khan argued that, while the Quran remained socially relevant, reliance on hadith limits the vast potential of the Quran to a particular cultural and historical situation.


title: Quranism

text: The extent to which Quranists reject the authority of the Hadith and Sunnah varies, but the more established groups have thoroughly criticised the authority of the Hadith and reject it for many reasons. The most common view being the Quranists who say that Hadith is not mentioned in the Quran as a source of Islamic theology and practice, was not recorded in written form until a century after the death of Muhammad, and contain internal errors and contradictions as well as contradictions with the Quran. For Sunni Muslims, "the sunnah", i.e the sunnah (the way) of the prophet, is one of the two primary sources of Islamic law, and while the Quran has verses enjoining Muslims to obey the Prophet, the Quran never talks about "sunnah" in connection with Muhammad or other prophets. The term "sunnah" appears several times, including in the phrase "sunnat Allah" (way of God), but not "sunnat al-nabi" (way of the prophet) – the phrase customarily used by proponents of hadith.


title: Quranism

text: Quranists believe that the Quran is the sole source of religious law and guidance in Islam and reject the authority of sources outside of the Quran like Hadith and Sunnah. Quranists suggest that vast majority of hadith literature are forged and that the Quran criticizes the hadith both in technical sense and general sense. Quranists claim that the Sunni and Shias have distorted the meaning of the verses to support their agenda, especially in verses about women and war. Due to these differences in theology, there are differences between traditional Islamic and Quranist practices.


title: Quranism

text: Among Quranists, different views can be found in ritual prayer (salah). The vast majority of Quranist movements, like in traditional Islam, pray five times a day, but there are also those who perform three or two daily prayers. A minority of Quranists see the Arabic word as a spiritual contact or a spiritual devotion to God through the observance of the Quran and worship to God, and therefore not as a standard ritual to be performed.


title: Quranism

text: The blessings for Muhammad and Abraham, which are part of the traditional ritual, are not practiced by most Quranists in the call to prayer and in the prayer itself, arguing that the Quran mentions prayers are only for God, and the Quran tells believers to make no distinction between any messenger.


title: Quranism

text: There are other minor differences: for Quranists, menstruation does not constitute an obstacle to prayer, men and women are allowed to pray together in a mosque and that there is no catching up later once a prayer is missed.


title: Quranism

text: The ablution in prayer (Wudu) only includes washing the face, hands up to the elbows and stroking the head and feet, since only these steps are mentioned in the Quran.


title: Quranism

text: In traditional Islam, giving Zakat is a religious duty and amounts to 2.5 percent of the annual income. The Quranists give Zakat based on the Quranic verses. In the opinion of many Quranists, Zakat must be paid, but the Quran does not specify a percentage because it does not appear explicitly in the Quran. Other Quranists are in agreement with the 2.5 percent, but do not give the Zakat annually, but from every money they earn.


title: Quranism

text: The majority of Quranists fast for all of Ramadan, but do not see the last day of Ramadan as a holy day.


title: Quranism

text: Extra-Quranic traditions in the Hajj, such as kissing or hugging the black stone and the symbolic stoning of the devil by throwing stones are rejected and seen as possible shirk by Quranists.


title: Quranism

text: According to Sunni hadith, a Muslim who leaves his religion should be killed. However, since Quranists do not accept hadith and no command to kill apostates can be found in the Quran, they reject this procedure. In addition, 2:256, which states that "there shall be no compulsion/pressure in religion", is taken into account and everyone is allowed to freely decide on their religion.


title: Quranism

text: Quranists, unlike Sunnis and Shias, have very strict rules with regard to polygamy (having multiple wives). Some Quranist movements allow polygamy only on the condition of the adoption of orphans who have mothers and do not want to lose them, but other Quranist movements argue that although it is not explicitly banned, polygamy is a thing of the past because the regulations which are contained in the Quran are very strict and they have been fulfilled by almost nobody on Earth, therefore polygamy cannot be practiced anymore. In the extremely rare case in which it may be practiced, there is a strict limit on the number of wives, which is four.


title: Quranism

text: Most Quranist movements interpret the "holy war" as a solely defensive war, because according to them that is the only type of war allowed in the Quran. A war is only "holy" when Muslims are threatened on their own lands. Therefore, unlike the Sunnis and Salafi-Jihadis, for the Quranists "holy war" does not refer to an offensive war against non-Muslim countries or communities in any circumstances.


title: Quranism

text: Quranists can eat food which is prepared by Christians and Jews as stated in the Quran, but some Quranists believe that animals which are raised by Christians and Jews should still be blessed before they are eaten. According to Quranists, the Quran forbids the inflicting of pain on the animal during its slaughter, thus for them, the techniques of slaughtering animals in the Western world are illegitimate. Unlike Sunnis, Quranists can eat food with both of their hands, even with their left hands because the Quran does not forbid it.


title: Quranism

text: Clothing does not play a key role in Quranism. All Quranist movements agree that Islam has no sets of traditional clothings, except the rules described in the Quran. Therefore, traditional Islamic style like beards are not necessary. What is mandatory is being modest. The men and women should hide their sexually appealing parts, and they should –symbolically or literally – lower their gaze when seeing the opposite sex and not check out their sexual parts.


title: Quranism

text: Quranists believe that hadith, while not being reliable sources of religion, can be used as a reference to get an idea on historical events. They argue that there is no harm in using hadith to get a common idea on the history, while not taking them as certain historical facts. According to them, a hadith narration about history can be true or can be false, but a hadith narration adding rulings to religion is always completely false. They believe that the trustworthiness of the narrator is not enough to give credibility to hadith, as, they state, it is stated in the Quran that Muhammad himself could not recognize who was real believer and who were hypocrite in their mind. Moreover, Quranists quote Sahih Muslim 42:7147 to argue Muhammad forbid any hadith beside the Quran.


title: Quranism

text: Although there are Quranist Tafsir works, for the most part Quranists do not have Tafsir and do not think that it is needed. They believe the Quran does not give anyone the authority to interpret and Allah sends guidance individually, as, they claim, said so in Quran.


title: Quranism

text: The following aspects can be cited as further examples which, compared to traditional Islam, are rejected by Quranists or regarded as irrelevant:


title: Quranism

text: Quranists date their beliefs back to the time of Muhammad, who they claim prohibited the writing of hadiths. As they believe that hadith, while not being reliable sources of religion, can be used as a reference to get an idea on historical events, they point out several narrations about early Islam to support their beliefs. According to one of these narrations, one of Muhammad's companions and successor Umar, also prohibited the writing of hadith and destroyed existing collections during his rule as Caliph. Similar reports claim when Umar appointed a governor to Kufa, he told him: "You will be coming to the people of a town for whom the buzzing of the Qur'an is as the buzzing of bees. Therefore, do not distract them with the Hadiths, and thus engage them. Bare the Qur'an and spare the Hadith from God's messenger!".


title: Quranism

text: The centrality of the Quran in the religious life of the Kufans that Umar described was quickly changing, however. A few decades later, a letter was sent to the Ummayad caliph Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan regarding the Kufans: "They abandoned the judgement of their Lord and took hadiths for their religion; and they claim that they have obtained knowledge other than from the Koran . . . They believed in a book which was not from God, written by the hands of men; they then attributed it to the Messenger of God."


title: Quranism

text: In the following years, the taboo against the writing and following of hadiths had receded to such an extent that the Ummayad leader Umar II ordered the first official collection of Hadith. Abu Bakr ibn Muhammad ibn Hazm and Ibn Shihab al-Zuhri, were among those who wrote Hadiths at Umar II's behest.


title: Quranism

text: Despite the trend towards hadiths, the questioning of their authority continued during the Abbasid dynasty and existed during the time of Al-Shafi'i, when a group known as "Ahl al-Kalam" argued that the prophetic example of Muhammad "is found in following the Quran alone", rather than Hadith. The majority of Hadith, according to them, was mere guesswork, conjecture, and bidah, while the book of God was complete and perfect, and did not require the Hadith to supplement or complement it.


title: Quranism

text: There were prominent scholars who rejected traditional ahadith like Dirar ibn Amr. He wrote a book titled "The Contradiction Within Hadith". However, the tide had changed from the earlier centuries to such an extent that Dirar was beaten up and had to remain in hiding until his death. Like Dirar ibn Amr, the scholar Abu Bakr al-Asamm also had little use for hadiths.


title: Quranism

text: In South Asia during the 19th century, the Ahle Quran movement formed partially in reaction to the Ahle Hadith whom they considered to be placing too much emphasis on Hadith. Many Ahle Quran adherents from South Asia were formerly adherents of Ahle Hadith but found themselves incapable of accepting certain hadiths. Abdullah Chakralawi, Khwaja Ahmad Din Amritsari, Chiragh Ali, and Aslam Jairajpuri were among the people who promulgated Quranist beliefs in India at the time.


title: Quranism

text: In Egypt during the early 20th century, the ideas of Quranists like Muhammad Tawfiq Sidqi grew out of the reformist ideas of Muhammad Abduh, specifically a rejection of taqlid and an emphasis on the Quran. Muhammad Tawfiq Sidqi of Egypt "held that nothing of the Hadith was recorded until after enough time had elapsed to allow the infiltration of numerous absurd or corrupt traditions." Muhammad Tawfiq Sidqi wrote an article titled "Al-Islam Huwa ul-Qur'an Wahdahu" ('Islam is the Qur'an Alone) that appeared in the Egyptian journal "Al-Manar", which argues that the Quran is sufficient as guidance:


title: Quranism

text: Like some of their counterparts in Egypt such as Muhammad Abu Zayd and Ahmed Subhy Mansour, some reformist scholars in Iran who adopted Quranist beliefs came from traditional institutions of higher learning. Shaykh Hadi Najmabadi, Mirza Rida Quli Shari'at-Sanglaji, Mohammad Sadeqi Tehrani, and Ayatollah Borqei were educated in traditional Shia universities in Najaf and Qom. However, they believed that some beliefs and practices that were taught in these universities, such as the veneration of Imamzadeh and a belief in Raj'a, were irrational and superstitious and had no basis in the Quran. And rather than interpreting the Quran through the lens of hadith, they interpreted the Quran with the Quran ("tafsir al-qur'an bi al-qur'an"). These reformist beliefs provoked criticism from traditional Shia scholars like Ayatollah Khomeini, who attempted to refute the criticisms made by Sanglaji and other reformists in his book Kashf al-Asrar. Quran-centered beliefs have also spread among lay Muslims like Iranian American, Ali Behzadnia, who became Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare and acting Minister of Education shortly after the Iranian Revolution. He has criticized the government in Iran for being undemocratic and totally alien to the "Islam of the Quran".


title: Quranism

text: Quranism also took on a political dimension in the 20th century when Muammar al-Gaddafi declared the Quran to be the constitution of Libya. Gaddafi asserted the transcendence of the Quran as the sole guide to Islamic governance and the unimpeded ability of every Muslim to read and interpret it. He had begun to attack the religious establishment and several fundamental aspects of Sunni Islam. He denigrated the roles of the ulama, imams, and Islamic jurists and questioned the authenticity of the hadith, and thereby the sunna, as a basis for Islamic law.


title: Quranism

text: Quranism has been criticised by Sunnis and Shias. The Sunni belief is that "the Quran needs the Sunnah more than the Sunnah needs the Quran". The Sunni and Shia establishment argues that Islam can not be practised without hadith.


title: Quranism

text: Quranist doctrines have grown throughout the world in the twenty-first century, and supporters have faced opposition. Quranists were labeled as "disbelievers," "animals," "apostates," and "hypocrites" in fatwas issued against them. In several countries, being a Quranist is punishable by death. Followers of the Quran-only approach are persecuted and expect sanctions. For this reason, many Quranist authors who fear for their lives write anonymously or under a pseudonym.


title: Quranism

text: In Sudan, Quranist men were imprisoned and sentenced to death for only recognizing the Quran and rejecting the Sunnah.


title: Quranism

text: In Turkey, Quranist ideas became particularly noticeable, with portions of the youth either leaving Islam or converting to Quranism. There has been significant Quranist scholarship in Turkey, with there being even Quranist theology professors in significant universities, including scholars like Yaşar Nuri Öztürk and Caner Taslaman. Some believe that there are secret Quranists even in the Diyanet itself.


title: Quranism

text: The Turkish Directorate of Religious Affairs (Diyanet) regularly criticizes and insults Quranists, gives them no recognition and calls them kafirs (disbelievers). Quranists responded with arguments and challenged them to a debate.


title: Quranism

text: In Saudi Arabia, Quranism is described as apostasy, therefore punishable by death. Saudi Quranist scholar, Hassan Farhan al-Maliki, was arrested and charged with death penalty for promoting ideas that have been described as "Quranist", "moderate", "tolerant", and one of opposition to the more strict Saudi wahhabi ideology. Other Saudi intellectuals, like Abdul Rahman al-Ahdal, continue to advocate for the abandonment of hadith and a return to the Quran.


title: Quranism

text: The spread of Quranist beliefs in Russia has provoked the anger of the Sunni establishment. The Russian Council of Muftis issued a fatwa against Quranism and threatened the Quranists.


title: Quranism

text: In South Africa, an Oxford educated history scholar, Taj Hargey, established the Open Mosque. Hargey intended the mosque to be more open to demographics traditionally shunned by Sunni and Shia mosques, like women. Hargey describes the principles of the mosque as, "Quran-centric, gender equality, non-sectarian, inter-cultural and independent". He was criticized.


title: Quranism

text: Ahle Quran is an organisation formed by Abdullah Chakralawi, who described the Quran as "ahsan Hadith", meaning most perfect hadith and consequently claimed it does not need any addition. His movement relies entirely on the chapters and verses of the Quran. Chakralawi's position was that the Quran itself was the most perfect source of tradition and could be exclusively followed. According to Chakralawi, Muhammad could receive only one form of revelation (wahy), and that was the Quran. He argues that the Quran was the only record of divine wisdom, the only source of Muhammad's teachings, and that it superseded the entire corpus of hadith, which came later.


title: Quranism

text: This is a Quranist organization in Kazakhstan whose Cyrillic name, "Ізгі амал", may be transliterated into the Latin script as "İzgi amal". It has an estimated 70 to 80 thousand members. Its leader, Aslbek Musin, is the son of the former Speaker of the Majlis, Aslan Musin.


title: Quranism

text: Kala Kato is a Quranist movement whose adherents reside mostly northern Nigeria, with some adherents residing in Niger. Kala Kato means a "man says" in the Hausa language, in reference to the sayings, or hadiths, posthumously attributed to Muhammad. Kala Kato accept only the Quran as authoritative and believe that anything that is not Kala Allah, which means what "God says" in the Hausa language, is Kala Kato.


title: Quranism

text: The Malaysian Quranic Society was founded by Kassim Ahmad. The movement holds several positions distinguishing it from Sunnis and Shias such as a rejection of the status of hair as being part of the awrah; therefore exhibiting a relaxation on the observance of the hijab, which according to Quranists is not in the Quran.


title: Quranism

text: The Quran Sunnat Society is a Quranist movement in India. The movement was behind the first ever woman to lead mixed-gender congregational prayers in India. It maintains an office and headquarters within Kerala. There is a large community of Quranists in Kerala. One of its leaders, Jamida Beevi, has also spoken out against India's triple talaq law which is mostly based on the Sunni inspired Muslim Personal Law (Shariat) Application Act, 1937. The most prominent predecessor to the Quran Sunnat Society in India was from the views put forth by Ahmed Khan in the 19th century.


title: Quranism

text: The movement was initiated by Ghulam Ahmed Pervez. Ghulam Ahmed Pervez did not reject all hadiths; however, he accepted only hadiths that "are in accordance with the Quran or do not stain the character of the Prophet or his companions". The organization publishes and distributes books, pamphlets, and recordings of Pervez's teachings. Tolu-e-Islam does not belong to any political party, nor does it belong to any religious group or sect.


title: Quranism

text: In the United States, at the end of the 20th century, the Egyptian Quranist biochemist Rashad Khalifa, who is known as the discoverer of the Quran code (Code 19), which is a hypothetical mathematical code in the Quran, developed a theological doctrine that influenced Quranists in many other countries. With the help of computers, he carried out a numerical analysis of the Quran, which according to him clearly proved that it is of divine origin. The number 19, which is mentioned in chapter 74 of the Quran as being "one of the greatest miracles" played the fundamental role, which according to Khalifa can be found everywhere in the structure of the Quran, and the fact that a Quranist discovered such a big miracle proved the Quranist approach. Some objected to these beliefs and, in 1990, Khalifa was assassinated by someone associated with the Sunni group Jamaat ul-Fuqra.


title: Quranism

text: The organization "United Submitters International" (USI) founded by Khalifa has its center in Tucson and has published a monthly newsletter with the title "Submitter's Perspective" since 1985. The movement popularized the phrase: "The Quran, the whole Quran, and nothing but the Quran."


title: Quranism

text: A Turkish (of Kurdish descent) activist, Edip Yüksel, initially campaigned for a Quranist-Islamic revolution in Turkey, which is why he was imprisoned. Later he met Khalifa and joined the organisation after witnessing the "19 miracle". In 1989 he had to leave the country because of this and joined the headquarters in Tucson. Yüksel and two other authors created their own translation of the Quran. In some points, however, his views differ from those of Khalifa.


title: Quranism

text: In Malaysia, a Submitter Kassim Ahmad wrote a book in which he called for a scientific evaluation of the Hadith and the entire Islamic tradition, as these are responsible for the backwardness of Muslims. He saw the Quran as the only sunnah of the Prophet Muhammad and criticized the classic Sunni view of the sunnah. His book was banned in Malaysia and Ahmad was declared a heretic.


title: Quranism

text: Among those influenced by Khalifa's ideas include Edip Yüksel, Ahmad Rashad, and Nigerian High Court Judge, Isa Othman.


title: Patricia Southall

text: Patricia "Pat" Annette Smith (née Southall; born December 17, 1970) is an American founder and spokesperson of Treasure You, ex-wife of comedian Martin Lawrence and the wife of former Dallas Cowboys running back and Pro Football Hall of Famer Emmitt Smith. The former beauty queen from Chesapeake, Virginia is a James Madison University journalism graduate who won the Miss Virginia USA crown in late 1993. Representing Virginia in the Miss USA 1994 pageant, Southall placed first runner-up to Lu Parker of South Carolina.


title: Patricia Southall

text: Over the course of their marriage, Pat and Emmitt Smith have been significant donors to a variety of causes and non-profit organizations through Pat & Emmitt Smith Charities. In 2012, the couple's charitable organization, Pat & Emmitt Smith Charities, was among the people and organizations honored at the Trumpet Awards.


title: Patricia Southall

text: Southall married actor-comedian Martin Lawrence in 1995. She and Lawrence met in the summer of 1992, while she was working in Gov. Douglas Wilder's media office. Lawrence was appearing in Richmond at a Def Comedy Jam concert. Lawrence and Southall have one child together, daughter Jasmin Page Lawrence (born January 15, 1996). They divorced in 1997.


title: Patricia Southall

text: Southall married football star Emmitt Smith on April 22, 2000. They have three children together: sons Emmitt James Smith IV (born May 15, 2002) and Elijah Alexander James Smith (born September 22, 2010), and daughter Skylar Smith (born October 15, 2003). Southall is also the stepmother to Rheagen Smith (born November 2, 1998), who is Smith's daughter with ex-girlfriend Hope Wilson. She is a member of Delta Sigma Theta sorority.


title: North 24 Parganas district

text: North 24 Parganas (abv. 24 PGS (N)) or sometimes North Twenty Four Parganas is a district in southern West Bengal, of eastern India. North 24 Parganas extends in the tropical zone from latitude 22° 11′ 6″ north to 23° 15′ 2″ north and from longitude 88º20' east to 89º5' east. Barasat is the district headquarters of North 24 Parganas. North 24 Parganas is West Bengal's most populous district and also (since 2014) the most populated district in the whole of India. It is the tenth-largest district in the State by area.


title: North 24 Parganas district

text: The territory of Greater 24 Parganas were under the Satgaon (ancient Saptagram, now in Hoogly district) administration during the Mughal era and later it was included in Hoogly chakla (district under post-Mughal Nawabi rule) during the rule of Murshid Quli Khan. In 1757, after the Battle of Plassey, Nawab Mir Jafar conferred the Zamindari of 24 parganas and janglimahals (small administrative units) upon the British East India Company. These Parganas are: 1. Akbarpur, 2. Amirpur, 3. Asimabad, 4. Balia, 5. Baridhati, 6. Basandhari, 7. Calcutta, 8. Dakshin Sagar, 9. Garh, 10. Hathiagarh, 11. Ikhtiarpur, 12. Kharijuri, 13. Khaspur, 14. Maidanmal or Mednimall, 15. Magura, 16. Mayda, 17. Manpur, 18. Murnagacha, 19. Paika, 20. Pechakul, 21. Satal, 22. Shahnagar, 23. Shahpur, and 24. Uttar Pargana (O'Mally, L.S.S. (1914) Bengal District Gazetteers: 24 Parganas. Page 44). Since then, this entire territory is known as 'Twentyfour Parganas'.


title: North 24 Parganas district

text: In 1751, the Company assigned John Zephaniah Holwell as zemindar of the District. In 1759, after the Bengali War of 1756–1757, the Company assigned it to Lord Clive as a personal Jaghir (zamindari) and after his death it again came under the direct authority of the company.


title: North 24 Parganas district

text: In 1793, during the rule of Lord Cornwallis, entire Sunderbans were in Twentyfour Parganas. In 1802, some parganas on the western banks of river Hoogly were included into it. These parganas were in Nadia earlier. In 1814, a separate collectorate was established in Twenty-four Parganas. In 1817, Falta and Baranagar and in 1820, some portions of Nadia's Balanda and Anwarpur were encompassed to it. In 1824, portions of Barasat, Khulna and Bakhargunge (now in Bangladesh) were also included to it. In 1824, the district headquarters was shifted from Kolkata to Baruipur, but in 1828, it was removed to Alipore. In 1834, the district was split into two districts – Alipore and Barasat, but later these were united again.


title: North 24 Parganas district

text: In 1905, some portion of this district around the Sunderbans was detached and linked to Khulna and Barishal. These parts remained in Bangladesh territories where Jessore's Bangaon was joined to Twentyfour Pargana after the 1947 partition.


title: North 24 Parganas district

text: In 1980, an administrative reform committee under the chairmanship of Dr. Ashok Mitra suggested splitting the district into two and as per the recommendation of the committee in 1983, on 1 March 1986, two new districts – North 24 Parganas (24 PGS (N)) and South 24 Parganas (24 PGS (S)) were created.


title: North 24 Parganas district

text: The North 24 Parganas which was included in the Presidency division has been formed with five sub-divisions of the Greater 24 Parganas, namely Barasat Sadar (Headquarters), Barrackpore, Basirhat, Bangaon, and Bidhannagar (a satellite township of Kolkata, popularly known as Salt Lake).


title: North 24 Parganas district

text: On 1 August 2022, the Chief Minister of West Bengal Mamata Banerjee announced to create two more districts named Ichamati district consisting of Bangaon subdivision and a yet unnamed district consisting of Basirhat subdivision by bifurcating the district for better development and smooth administration purpose.


title: North 24 Parganas district

text: The district lies within the Ganga–Brahmaputra delta. The major distributary of river Ganga that is river Hooghly flows along the western border of the district. There are many other distributory branches, sub-branches of Ganga river and other local rivers, which include the Ichhamati, Jamuna, and Bidyadhari.


title: North 24 Parganas district

text: People are mainly engaged in farming, fishing and other agricultural activities. The average size of agricultural landholdings is about 3.2 Bighas. North 24 Parganas is one of the less economically backward districts of West Bengal, but there is chronic poverty in the southern half of the District (the Sundarbans area)


title: North 24 Parganas district

text: The information technology hub of Kolkata is at this district, which is the centre of some of the notable IT/ITES Indian and multinational companies. Approximately 1,500 companies have their offices in Sector V. Majority of the corporate offices are situated in Sector V and Sector III. Around 3.5 Lakh (by 2017) people are employed in Salt Lake City.


title: North 24 Parganas district

text: The district comprises five subdivisions: Barrackpore, Barasat Sadar, Basirhat, Bangaon and Bidhannagar.


title: North 24 Parganas district

text: Barasat is the district headquarters. There are 35 police stations, 22 development blocks, 27 municipalities, 200 gram panchayats and 1599 villages in this district.


title: North 24 Parganas district

text: Other than municipality area, each subdivision contains community development blocks which in turn are divided into rural areas and census towns. In total there are 48 urban units: 27 municipalities and 20 census towns and 1 cantonment board.


title: North 24 Parganas district

text: As per order of the Delimitation Commission in respect of the delimitation of constituencies in the West Bengal, the district is divided into 33 assembly constituencies:


title: North 24 Parganas district

text: This district is rich in culture. Many famous places like Dakshineswar Kali Temple, Baranagar Math (first monastery of Ramakrishna Order) are situated in this district. Many places of this district are famous for festivals – Helencha, Habra, Barrackpore, Barasat, Naihati and Madhyamgram are for Kali puja, Bangaon, Baranagar, Basirhat are for Durga puja, Ashoknagar Kalyangarh is for Jagatdhatri puja, Berachampa is for Basanti puja etc.


title: North 24 Parganas district

text: The electrified suburban rail network of the ER is extensive and penetrates far and deep into the neighbouring districts of Kolkata, South 24 Parganas, Nadia, Howrah, Hooghly etc.


title: North 24 Parganas district

text: The Circular Rail encircles the entire city of Kolkata, and also used to provide an offshoot to connect the Dum Dum Airport, but now it is limited up to Dum Dum Cantonment. Jessore Road and Biman Bandar railway stations are closed for the construction work of Noapara–Dum Dum Airport–Barasat Metro rail (Kolkata Metro Line 4).


title: North 24 Parganas district

text: Metro rail is also a transport medium of this district's people. Four stations of Kolkata Metro Line 1 are located here, Dum Dum metro station at Dum Dum, Baranagar metro station at Baranagar, Dakshineswar metro station at Dakshineswar and Noapara metro station at Noapara, Baranagar.


title: North 24 Parganas district

text: The Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport (IATA code:CCU), which is at Dum Dum (previously known as Dum Dum Airport) in North 24 Parganas, is the only airport serving the city Kolkata. It operates both domestic and international flights. It is a gateway to North-East India, Bangkok, and Bangladesh. The number of people using the airport has consistently increased over the last few years.


title: North 24 Parganas district

text: The road network is fairly well developed. Sparsed across by state-highways, it provides a convenient means of transport. NH


title: North 24 Parganas district

text: 12 connects the district with northern and southern region of the state and its sub road NH 112 connect the district headquarter Barasat with the border town Bangaon and Petrapole, the largest land port of India.


title: North 24 Parganas district

text: According to the 2011 census North 24 Parganas district has a population of 10,009,781, roughly equal to the nation of Bolivia or the US state of Michigan. This gave it a ranking of second in India (out of a total of 640) and first in its state. However, in 2014 the Thane district (in Maharashtra), which had been ranked first in India in 2011, was divided into two, thus promoting North 24 Parganas District to first in India. The district has a population density of . Its population growth rate over the decade 2001–2011 was 12.86%. North Twenty Four Parganas has a sex ratio of 949 females for every 1000 males, and a literacy rate of 84.95%. Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes make up 21.67% and 2.64% of the population respectively.


title: North 24 Parganas district

text: Hinduism is the main religion in the district, and especially dominates urban areas where they are nearly 90% of the population. Most Muslims are rural, and in the rural areas Hindus and Muslims are in equal proportions. In Bongaon and Sandeshkhali regions, Hindus, mainly descendants of refugees from Bangladesh, dominate the rural population. But in the rest of the district, Muslims dominate the rural population. Muslims are in majority in Amdanga (58.48%), Barasat II (73.81%), Deganga (70.92%), Baduria (65.48%), Basirhat I (68.54%), Basirhat II (70.10%), Harora (61.12%), Minakhan (51.60%) and Hasnabad (56.51%) blocks. Muslims are significant minorities in Swarupnagar (47.58%), Habra II (48.76%), Barasat I (44.08%) and Rajarhat (39.89%) CD blocks.


title: North 24 Parganas district

text: According to the 2011 census, 88.91% of the population spoke Bengali, 7.69% Hindi and 2.28% Urdu as their first language.


title: North 24 Parganas district

text: The district is also home to the Bibhutibhushan Wildlife Sanctuary, which was established in 1985 and has an area of .


title: Yoga as exercise

text: Yoga as exercise is a physical activity consisting mainly of postures, often connected by flowing sequences, sometimes accompanied by breathing exercises, and frequently ending with relaxation lying down or meditation. Yoga in this form has become familiar across the world, especially in America and Europe. It is derived from medieval Haṭha yoga, which made use of similar postures, but it is generally simply called "yoga". Academics have given yoga as exercise a variety of names, including modern postural yoga and transnational anglophone yoga.


title: Yoga as exercise

text: Posture is described in the "Yoga Sutras" II.29 as the third of the eight limbs, the ashtanga, of yoga.


title: Yoga as exercise

text: Sutra II.46 defines it as that which is "steady and comfortable", but no further elaboration or list of postures is given.


title: Yoga as exercise

text: Postures were not central in any of the older traditions of yoga; posture practice was revived in the 1920s by yoga gurus including Yogendra and Kuvalayananda, who emphasised its health benefits. The flowing sequences of Surya Namaskar (Salute to the Sun) were pioneered by the Rajah of Aundh, Bhawanrao Shrinivasrao Pant Pratinidhi, in the 1920s. It and many standing poses used in gymnastics were incorporated into yoga by the yoga teacher Krishnamacharya in Mysore from the 1930s to the 1950s. Several of his students went on to found influential schools of yoga: Pattabhi Jois created Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga, which in turn led to Power Yoga; B. K. S. Iyengar created Iyengar Yoga, and defined a modern set of yoga postures in his 1966 book "Light on Yoga"; and Indra Devi taught yoga as exercise to many celebrities in Hollywood. Other major schools founded in the 20th century include Bikram Yoga and Sivananda Yoga. Yoga as exercise spread across America and Europe, and then the rest of the world.


title: Yoga as exercise

text: Haṭha yoga's non-postural practices such as its purifications are much reduced or absent in yoga as exercise. The term "hatha yoga" is also in use with a different meaning, a gentle unbranded yoga practice, independent of the major schools, often mainly for women. Practices vary from wholly secular, for exercise and relaxation, through to undoubtedly spiritual, whether in traditions like Sivananda Yoga or in personal rituals. Yoga as exercise's relationship to Hinduism is complex and contested; some Christians have rejected it on the grounds that it is covertly Hindu, while the "Take Back Yoga" campaign insisted that it was necessarily connected to Hinduism. Scholars have identified multiple trends in the changing nature of yoga since the end of the 19th century. Yoga as exercise has developed into a worldwide multi-billion dollar business, involving classes, certification of teachers, clothing such as yoga pants, books, videos, equipment including yoga mats, and holidays.


title: Yoga as exercise

text: The Sanskrit noun योग ', cognate with English "yoke", is derived from the root ' "to attach, join, harness, yoke". Its ancient spiritual and philosophical goal was to unite the human spirit with the divine. The branch of yoga that makes use of physical postures is Haṭha yoga. The Sanskrit word हठ "haṭha" means "force", alluding to its use of physical techniques.


title: Yoga as exercise

text: Haṭha yoga flourished among secretive ascetic groups such as Nath yogins in South Asia from c. 1100-c. 1900. Instruction was directly from guru to individual pupil, in a long-term relationship. It was associated with religions, especially Hinduism but also Jainism and Buddhism. Its objectives were to manipulate vital fluids to enable absorption and ultimately liberation. It consisted of practices including purifications, postures (asanas), locks, the directed gaze, seals, and rhythmic breathing. These were claimed to provide supernatural powers including healing, destruction of poisons, invisibility, and shape-shifting. Yogins wore little or no clothing; their bodies were sometimes smeared with cremation ash as a reminder of their forthcoming deaths. Equipment, too, was scanty; sometimes yogins used a tiger or deer skin as a rug to meditate on. Hatha yoga made use of a small number of asanas, mainly seated; in particular, there were very few standing poses before 1900. They were practised slowly, often holding a position for long periods. The practice of asanas was a minor preparatory aspect of spiritual work. Yogins followed a strict vegetarian diet, excluding stimulants such as tea, coffee or alcohol. Their yoga was taught without payment; gurus were supported by gifts and the philosophy was anti-consumerist.


title: Yoga as exercise

text: According to one theory, the system of physical education practised in the 19th-century Young Men's Christian Association, adapted by ex-military gymnasts for the schooling system in colonial British India, became the default form of mass-drill, and this influenced the "modernized hatha yoga". According to the yoga scholar Suzanne Newcombe, modern yoga in India is a blend of Western gymnastics with postures from Haṭha yoga in India in the 20th century.


title: Yoga as exercise

text: From the 1850s onwards, there developed in India a culture of physical exercise to counter the colonial stereotype of supposed "degeneracy" of Indians compared to the British, a belief reinforced by then-current ideas of Lamarckism and eugenics. This culture was taken up from the 1880s to the early 20th century by Indian nationalists such as Tiruka, who taught exercises and unarmed combat techniques under the guise of yoga. The German bodybuilder Eugen Sandow was acclaimed on his 1905 visit to India, at which time he was already a "cultural hero" in the country. The anthropologist Joseph Alter suggests that Sandow was the person who had the most influence on modern yoga. The first handbook of asanas in English, and the first to be illustrated with photographs, was Seetharaman Sundaram's 1928 "Yogic Physical Culture".


title: Yoga as exercise

text: Yoga was introduced to the Western world by the spiritual leader Vivekananda's 1893 visit to the World Parliament of Religions in Chicago, and his 1896 book "Raja Yoga". However, he rejected Haṭha yoga and its "entirely" physical practices such as asanas as difficult and ineffective for spiritual growth, out of a widely shared distaste for India's wandering yogins. Yoga asanas were brought to America by the yoga teacher Yogendra. He founded a branch of The Yoga Institute in New York state in 1919, starting to make Haṭha yoga acceptable, seeking scientific evidence for its health benefits, and writing books such as his 1928 "Yoga Asanas Simplified" and his 1931 "Yoga Personal Hygiene". The flowing sequences of salute to the sun, Surya Namaskar, now accepted as yoga and containing popular asanas such as Uttanasana and upward and downward dog poses, were popularized by the Rajah of Aundh, Bhawanrao Shrinivasrao Pant Pratinidhi, in the 1920s.


title: Yoga as exercise

text: In 1924, the yoga teacher Kuvalayananda founded the Kaivalyadhama Health and Yoga Research Center in Maharashtra, combining asanas with gymnastics, and like Yogendra seeking a scientific and medical basis for yogic practices.


title: Yoga as exercise

text: In 1925, Kuvalayananda's rival Paramahansa Yogananda, having moved from India to America, set up the Self-Realization Fellowship in Los Angeles, and taught yoga, including asanas, breathing, chanting and meditation, to "tens of thousands of Americans". In 1923, Yogananda's younger brother, Bishnu Charan Ghosh, founded the Ghosh College of Yoga and Physical Culture in Calcutta.


title: Yoga as exercise

text: Tirumalai Krishnamacharya (1888–1989), "the father of modern yoga", claimed to have spent seven years with one of the few masters of Haṭha yoga then living, Ramamohana Brahmachari, at Lake Manasarovar in Tibet, from 1912 to 1918. He studied under Kuvalayananda in the 1930s, and then in his yogashala in the Jaganmohan Palace in Mysore created "a marriage of Haṭha yoga, wrestling exercises, and modern Western gymnastic movement, and unlike anything seen before in the yoga tradition." The Maharajah of Mysore Krishna Raja Wadiyar IV was a leading advocate of physical culture in India, and a neighbouring hall of his palace was used to teach Surya Namaskar classes, then considered to be gymnastic exercises. Krishnamacharya adapted these sequences of exercises into his flowing vinyasa style of yoga. The yoga scholar Mark Singleton noted that gymnastic systems like Niels Bukh's were popular in physical culture in India at that time, and that they contained many postures similar to Krishnamacharya's new asanas.


title: Yoga as exercise

text: Among Krishnamacharya's pupils were people who became influential yoga teachers themselves: the Russian Eugenie V. Peterson, known as Indra Devi (from 1937), who moved to Hollywood, taught yoga to celebrities, and wrote the bestselling book "Forever Young, Forever Healthy"; Pattabhi Jois (from 1927), who founded the flowing style Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga whose Mysore style makes use of repetitions of Surya Namaskar, in 1948, which in turn led to Power Yoga; and B.K.S. Iyengar (from 1933), his brother-in-law, who founded Iyengar Yoga, with its first centre in Britain. Together they made yoga popular as exercise and brought it to the Western world. Iyengar's 1966 book "Light on Yoga" popularised yoga asanas worldwide with what the scholar-practitioner Norman Sjoman calls its "clear no-nonsense descriptions and the obvious refinement of the illustrations", though the degree of precision it calls for is missing from earlier yoga texts.


title: Yoga as exercise

text: Other Indian schools of yoga took up the new style of asanas, but continued to emphasize Haṭha yoga's spiritual goals and practices to varying extents. The Divine Life Society was founded by Sivananda Saraswati of Rishikesh in 1936. His many disciples include Swami Vishnudevananda, who founded the International Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centres, starting in 1959; Swami Satyananda of the Bihar School of Yoga, a major centre of Haṭha yoga teacher training, founded in 1963; and Swami Satchidananda of Integral Yoga, founded in 1966. Vishnudevananda published his "Complete Illustrated Book of Yoga" in 1960, with a list of asanas that substantially overlaps with Iyengar's, sometimes with different names for the same poses; Jois's asana names almost exactly match Iyengar's.


title: Yoga as exercise

text: Three changes around the 1960s allowed yoga as exercise to become a worldwide commodity. People were for the first time able to travel freely around the world: consumers could go to the east; Indians could migrate to Europe and America; and business people and religious leaders could go where they liked to sell their wares. Secondly, people across the Western world became disillusioned with organised religion, and started to look for alternatives. And thirdly, yoga became an uncontroversial form of exercise suitable for mass consumption, unlike the more religious or meditational forms of modern yoga such as Siddha Yoga or Transcendental Meditation. This involved the dropping of many traditional requirements on the practice of yoga, such as giving alms, being celibate, studying the Hindu scriptures, and retreating from society.


title: Yoga as exercise

text: From the 1970s, yoga as exercise spread across many countries of the world, changing as it did so, and becoming "an integral part of (primarily) urban cultures worldwide", to the extent that the word "yoga" in the Western world now means the practice of asanas, typically in a class. For example, Iyengar Yoga reached South Africa in 1979 with the opening of its institute at Pietermaritzburg; its Association of South East & East Asia was founded in 2009. Yoga's spread in America was assisted by the television show "Lilias, Yoga and You", hosted by Lilias Folan; it ran from 1970 to 1999. In Australia, by 2005 some 12% of the population practised yoga in a class or at home. As a valuable business, yoga has in turn been used in advertising, sometimes for yoga-related products, sometimes for other goods and services.


title: Yoga as exercise

text: The market for yoga grew, argues the scholar of religion Andrea Jain, with the creation of an "endless" variety of second-generation yoga brands, saleable products, "constructed and marketed for immediate consumption", based on earlier developments. For example, in 1997 John Friend, once a financial analyst, who had intensively studied both the postural Iyengar Yoga and the non-postural Siddha Yoga, founded Anusara Yoga. Friend likened the choice of his yoga over other brands to choosing "a fine restaurant" over "a fast-food joint"; "The New York Times Magazine" headed its piece on him "The Yoga Mogul", while the historian of yoga Stefanie Syman argued that Friend had "very self-consciously" created his own yoga community. For example, Friend published his own teacher training manual, held workshops, conferences, and festivals, marketed his own brand of yoga mats and water bottles, and prescribed ethical guidelines. When Friend did not live up to the brand's high standards, he apologised publicly and took steps to protect the brand, in 2012 stepping back from running it and appointing a CEO.


title: Yoga as exercise

text: Jain states that yoga is becoming "part of pop culture around the world". Alter writes that it illustrates "transnational transmutation and the blurring of consumerism, holistic health, and embodied mysticism—as well as good old-fashioned Orientalism." Singleton argues that the commodity is the yoga body itself, its "spiritual possibility" signified by the "lucent skin of the yoga model", a beautiful image endlessly sold back to the yoga-practising public "as an irresistible commodity of the holistic, perfectible self".


title: Yoga as exercise

text: In 2008, the United States Department of Health and Human Services labelled September as National Yoga Month. From 2015, at the suggestion of India's Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, an annual International Day of Yoga has been held on 21 June.


title: Yoga as exercise

text: The anthropologist Sarah Strauss contrasts the goal of classical yoga, the isolation of the self or "kaivalya", with the modern goals of good health, reduced stress, and physical flexibility. Sjoman notes that many of the asanas in Iyengar's "Light on Yoga" can be traced to his teacher, Krishnamacharya, "but not beyond him". Singleton states that yoga used as exercise is not "the outcome of a direct and unbroken lineage of haṭha yoga", but it would be "going too far to say that modern postural yoga has no relationship to asana practice within the Indian tradition." The contemporary yoga practice is the result of "radical innovation and experimentation" of its Indian heritage. Jain writes that equating yoga as exercise with hatha yoga "does not account for the historical sources": asanas "only became prominent in modern yoga in the early twentieth century as a result of the dialogical exchanges between Indian reformers and nationalists and Americans and Europeans interested in health and fitness". In short, Jain writes, "modern yoga systems ... bear little resemblance to the yoga systems that preceded them. This is because [both] ... are specific to their own social contexts." The historian Jared Farmer writes that twelve trends have characterised yoga's progression from the 1890s onwards: from peripheral to central in society; from India to global; from male to "predominantly" female; from spiritual to "mostly" secular; from sectarian to universal; from mendicant to consumerist; from meditational to postural; from being understood intellectually to experientially; from embodying esoteric knowledge to being accessible to all; from being taught orally to hands-on instruction; from presenting poses in text to using photographs; and from being "contorted social pariahs" to "lithe social winners". The trend away from authority is continued in post-lineage yoga, which is practised outside any major school or guru's lineage.


title: Yoga as exercise

text: Yoga as exercise consists largely but not exclusively of the practice of asanas. The numbers of asanas described (not just named) in some major Haṭha yoga and modern texts are shown in the table; all the Haṭha yoga text dates are approximate.


title: Yoga as exercise

text: Asanas can be classified in different ways, which may overlap: for example, by the position of the head and feet (standing, sitting, reclining, inverted), by whether balancing is required, or by the effect on the spine (forward bend, backbend, twist), giving a set of asana types agreed by most authors. The yoga guru Dharma Mittra uses his own categories such as "Floor & Supine Poses". Yogapedia and "Yoga Journal" add "Hip-opening"; the yoga teacher Darren Rhodes, Yogapedia and "Yoga Journal" also add "Core strength".


title: Yoga as exercise

text: The number of schools and styles of yoga in the Western world has continued to grow rapidly. By 2012, there were at least 19 widespread styles from Ashtanga Yoga to Viniyoga. These emphasise different aspects including aerobic exercise, precision in the asanas, and spirituality in the Haṭha yoga tradition.


title: Yoga as exercise

text: These aspects can be illustrated by schools with distinctive styles. For example, Bikram Yoga has an aerobic exercise style with rooms heated to and a fixed pattern of 2 breathing exercises and 24 asanas. Iyengar Yoga emphasises correct alignment in the postures, working slowly, if necessary with props, and ending with relaxation. Sivananda Yoga focuses more on spiritual practice, with 12 basic poses, chanting in Sanskrit, pranayama breathing exercises, meditation, and relaxation in each class, and importance is placed on vegetarian diet. Jivamukti Yoga uses a flowing vinyasa style of asanas accompanied by music, chanting, and the reading of scriptures. Kundalini yoga emphasises the awakening of kundalini energy through meditation, pranayama, chanting, and suitable asanas.


title: Yoga as exercise

text: Alongside the yoga brands, many teachers, for example in England, offer an unbranded "hatha yoga", often mainly to women, creating their own combinations of poses. These may be in flowing sequences (vinyasas), and new variants of poses are often created. The gender imbalance has sometimes been marked; in Britain in the 1970s, women formed between 70 and 90 percent of most yoga classes, as well as most of the yoga teachers.


title: Yoga as exercise

text: The tradition begun by Krishnamacharya survives at the Krishnamacharya Yoga Mandiram in Chennai; his son T. K. V. Desikachar and his grandson Kausthub Desikachar continued to teach in small groups, coordinating asana movements with the breath, and personalising the teaching according to the needs of individual students.


title: Yoga as exercise

text: Yoga sessions vary widely depending on the school and style, and according to how advanced the class is. As with any exercise class, sessions usually start slowly with gentle warm-up exercises, move on to more vigorous exercises, and slow down again towards the end. A beginners' class can begin with simple poses like Sukhasana, some rounds of Surya Namaskar, and then a combination of standing poses such as Trikonasana, sitting poses like Dandasana, and balancing poses like Navasana; it may end with some reclining and inverted poses like Setu Bandha Sarvangasana and Viparita Karani, a reclining twist, and finally Savasana for relaxation and in some styles also for a guided meditation. A typical session in most styles lasts from an hour to an hour and a half, whereas in Mysore style yoga, the class is scheduled in a three-hour time window during which the students practice on their own at their own speed, following individualised instruction by the teacher.


title: Yoga as exercise

text: The evolution of yoga as exercise is not confined to the creation of new asanas and linking vinyasa sequences. A wide variety of hybrid activities combining yoga with martial arts, aerial yoga combined with acrobatics, yoga with barre work (as in ballet preparation), on horseback, with dogs, with goats, with ring-tailed lemurs, with weights, and on paddleboards are all being explored.


title: Yoga as exercise

text: The energy cost of exercise is measured in units of metabolic equivalent of task (MET). Less than 3 METs counts as light exercise; 3 to 6 METs is moderate; 6 or over is vigorous. American College of Sports Medicine and American Heart Association guidelines count periods of at least 10 minutes of moderate MET level activity towards their recommended daily amounts of exercise. For healthy adults aged 18 to 65, the guidelines recommend moderate exercise for 30 minutes five days a week, or vigorous aerobic exercise for 20 minutes three days a week.