Sex and Muslim women: new Asian mag pushes limits

SINGAPORE — Flip through the pages of Aquila Asia magazine and it soon becomes apparent that the publication is different from other glossy women's magazines sold across the region.

Side by side with ads for expensive handbags and luxury cars are fashion spreads featuring professional models in Muslim headscarves -- and articles on topics like virginity and hymen reconstruction.

To be "modest and fabulous" is the motto of the bi-monthly magazine, whose name means "intelligence" in Arabic, said its vivacious founder and publisher Liana Rosnita, a Singaporean Muslim married to a Swiss man.

Aimed at "cosmopolitan Muslim women" in Southeast Asia, the magazine has corporate offices in Singapore and editorial operations in Jakarta, capital of the world's largest Muslim nation Indonesia. MORE