Businesses closed across the Muslim world, as people dressed up and visited relatives, enjoying their first daytime meals in a lunar month. Mosques hold special prayers at sunrise, and children are often given gifts or a special allowance.

The holiday lasts one to three days, and is eagerly anticipated after the month of fasting. During Ramadhan, the faithful refrain from eating, drinking, smoking or sexual activity from dawn to dusk, with even a small sip of water enough to invalidate the fast, which is one of the five pillars of Islam.

For the world's 1.5 billion Muslims, Eid al-Fitr is second only to Eid al-Adha, which comes around two months later.

Ordinarily a festive occasion, this year' Eid comes after a month of attacks by Islamic extremists that killed more than 350 people in several countries, including a suicide truck bomb in Iraq that claimed at least 175 lives and a suicide bombing outside the Prophet Muhammad's mosque in Saudi Arabia, one of Islam's holiest sites.

Wars are raging in Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and Yemen, as tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran exacerbate political conflicts throughout the Middle East. The two powers have cast their rivalry in corrosive sectarian terms, with Saudi Arabia positioning itself as the champion of Islam's more numerous Sunnis and Iran claiming to lead the faith's minority Shiites.

In the disputed Kashmir region on Wednesday, Muslim protesters hurled stones at Indian police, who fired tear gas and pellets to disperse them.

Here is a selection of Eid al-Fitr photos from around the world.

Muslims pray in a public park to mark the end of the holy month of Ramadhan, known as Eid al Fitr, July 6, in Manila, Philippines. (AP/Bullit Marquez)

Egyptians try to catch balloons distributed for free after Eid al-Fitr prayers outside al-Seddik mosque in Cairo, Egypt, July 6.(AP/Amr Nabil)

Muslim residents attend Eid al-Fitr prayers at the Niujie mosque, the oldest and largest mosque in Beijing, July 6.(AP/Ng Han Guan)

Iranian women pray during the Eid al-Fitr prayers in Tehran, Iran, July 6.(AP/Ebrahim Noroozi)

Muslims march during Eid al-Fitr prayers along the Mekong river of Tanong, northeast of Phnom Penh, Cambodia, July 6. (AP/Heng Sinith)

Kashmiri Muslim protesters throw stones on Indian policemen during a protest near an open area where they performed Eid prayers in Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, July 6. (AP/Mukhtar Khan)

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