The Galactic Library
Columns
Benson C Saili
THIS EARTH, MY BROTHER…
Earth is such a gem it has been the scene of armed clashes between ET races warring for its proprietorship
Our planet, Earth, is 4.6 billion years old. The Solar System as a whole is 5 billion years old, calculated from the time the Sun, known as Sol in astronomy, came into being. Both these ages, that of Earth and the Solar System, are a drop in the ocean compared to that of this Internet-like universe itself. According to the Andromedans, the kindly Aliens from the Andromedan star system who have been communicating with Alex Collier (a human incarnate from that region of the universe), the universe is 21 trillion years old.
If the universe is 21 trillion years old, it means there is a lot that has happened over the ages we do not know. But wise King Solomon did provide us a cue. He says, “There is nothing new under the Sun. What has been will be again, and what has been done will be done gain.” – ECCLESIASTES 1:9. In other words, events are cyclical: they keep repeating themselves, not in exactly the same fashion but in one way or the other. Thus, what is happening today or what has happened in relatively recent times does provide a reasonable glimpse into what may have happened, say, millions or even billions of years ago. As such, we will always have an idea of what transpired ages before us even if we may not have hard facts.
Our generation is also fortunate in that ancient records, such as the Sumerian tablets, have surfaced and provide invaluable insights into what happened on our planet not only 6000 years or so ago but well beyond – from half a million years ago when the Anunnaki came to Earth and created mankind to 4 billion years ago when the Celestial Battle took place.
Now, when we say the Anunnaki, the Aliens from the Orion and Sirius star systems via planet Nibiru, “created” mankind, we use the term conventionally, that is, in its loosest sense. The Anunnaki did not create us as such: they fashioned us. They gave rise to Homo sapiens using genetic engineering – the fusion of their own genes with that of an ape-like being known as Homo erectus, a subject we will dwell upon in detail very soon. Put differently, we were the first humanoids indigenous to Earth, not the first humanoids to inhabit the planet. Before us, there were other beings on our planet.
HOW LIFE IS SEEDED
The seeding of a planet with life forms is known as panspermia. Throughout the universe, this seeding has taken place in two forms.
First, there is the seeding by beings who have come to be known as the Founders. Most pundits of the origins of life mistake these Founders with the Paal Taal, the first beings God, the First Source, created. This is unfortunate. This universe was not founded by the Paal Taal: it was founded by Lucifer and his host of angels, what Christianity refer to as demons. It is not a real universe: it is a counterfeit universe, a make-believe universe much like the cyberspace of the Internet. Lucifer and his angels constitute what we call the Dark Forces. The Dark Forces are the original creators of physical life in the universe. It is they who seeded it. This seeding by Dark Forces is what can aptly be called Direct Panspermia. In the case of Earth, Direct Panspermia occurred 4 billion years ago when the planet Nibiru smashed into the planet Tiamat and split it into our Earth and the Asteroid Belt. When Nibiru caused this Celestial Battle, it was already crawling with life forms in their earliest stages and these life forms were imparted to Earth. The life Nibiru transferred to Earth had been seeded on it by Dark Forces through scientific means. As we once pointed out, science is the art not of God but of Lucifer and his angels.
Direct Panspermia can also be done by Aliens who are scientifically and technologically advanced. Examples are the Siriuns (from the Sirius star system), the Aryans (from the Orion star system) and the Drakons (from the Draco star system). These Alien civilisations are capable of using meteors, asteroids, and other such small heavenly bodies to sow life on newly formed or discovered planetary bodies. They pack the meteors with seeds of organic life of all forms then direct those meteors at the planet. When the meteors crash into the planet, life is seeded there and then and over millions of years this life evolves into sophisticated creatures such as dinosaurs, apes and finally mankind.
The other way in which life is seeded, which has now become much more commonplace, involves transferring fully developed life forms from one planet or several other planets to another. For example, the Martians, supposing they evolved much earlier than us, would relocate several species of animals to Earth and leave them here for thousands of years, after which they would return to assess the stage of development of these animals. In this case therefore, it was not the seeds of life that were planted: it were full-fledged animals.
Now, you will be aware by now that there is no animal species that stays an animal forever. Every animal ultimately evolves into a humanoid (a being resembling humans but not exactly like us anatomically and physiologically) over millions of years. Dogs, cats, insects, birds, lizards, snakes, fishes, dolphins, bears, rats, rabbits, etc – they all ultimately assume forms that look like we are – with head, thorax, abdomen, two arms, two legs, upright gait. Facially, they may not look exactly like we are but they will be close. The evolutional blueprint of this universe as designed by Lucifer and his angels is that all creatures should at long last transform into humanoids.
Why must we evolve? Why can’t we just start as humanoids straightaway? It is part of Lucifer’s strategy to maximally benefit from his manipulation of us. Advanced beings, such as humans, treat animals with varying degrees of cruelty. We even feed on some animals and animals not only feed on each other but some of them can also feed on us. It is all part of Lucifer’ scheme to create polarity and mutual antagonism amongst creatures for this state of affairs serves to generate an endless amount of negative emotional energy on which he and his angels thrive.
Most of the human population are not aware that when we kill animals, they die with resentment. Animals have a primitive conscience and when they are cruelly killed – like the way we kill cows – they generate a protest hormone in their bloodstream and when we feed on their meat, we ingest that hormone too, with very deleterious effects on our physical wellbeing. These days, the multifarious diseases that have come to afflict mankind are sometimes attributed to the intrigues of the Illuminati but the greater degree of ailments come from the meat we eat. It is the “ill-will” of the animal that dies a most cruel death that gives rise to certain complex and incurable ailments. When Jesus said do unto others as you have them to do unto you, he knew what he was talking about. If we don’t treat animals the way we would want them to treat us, our wellbeing will always be shambolic, trust me folks.
A LIVING GENETIC LIBRARY
Planet Earth has two key attributes that make it unique. The first is that it is the most treasured planet in the Milky Way Galaxy. If it were a mineral, it would be called gold, the most prized of all commodities. Earthlings do not know just how special their planet is but Aliens do. There is simply no other planet like Earth in the Milky Way Galaxy: that’s the long and short of it. Second, Earth has been the scene of more wars than any other planet in our galaxy. Advanced Alien civilisations have fought pitched wars against each other for hegemony over this planet. No wonder it is so jinxed with wars: there is never a single moment when a war is not raging in some part of the planet.
What makes planet Earth so unique? Well, the collective of civilisations in the Milky Way Galaxy long designated the planet as the galaxy’s Living Genetic Library. The familiar concept of a library is that of a place where you find all sorts of books on all sorts of topics authored by all sorts of authors. In the case of a genetic library, it is a place where you find all sorts of life forms fashioned by all sorts of civilisations from all sorts of places in the broader universe.
In 2011, scientists postulated that there were 8.7 million species of life on our planet and this was just an estimate. 86 percent of these species have not even been described. And what is more, new species are being discovered each year. In 2015, for instance, new discoveries included the world’s tiniest snail (smaller than the head of a match); toothed frogs; musical spiders (they produce mating songs); and the Ninja Lanternshark (a shark with the face of a Japanese Ninja!). Animal species are just as varied as plant life on our planet.
A little-known fact to the wider global citizenry is that most of Earth’s fauna (animal kingdom) is not indigenous to Earth. Many were brought from other planets in the vast expanse of the Milky Galaxy in their fully developed form and deposited into the Living Library that is our planet to propagate themselves. Both benevolent and malevolent Aliens deposited a life form here, with some of these life forms “authored” right here on Earth through genetic tinkering or hybridisation. That’s why we have poisonous plants as well as well as medicinal or edible plants. That’s why we have wild animals and domesticated animals. That’s why we have fierce and harmless animals.
Earth is what it is not by accident but by deliberate design. It was meant to be a Living Genetic Library. And just as we borrow books from a library and return them at the due time, various civilisations from various parts of the universe come to Earth to harvest life forms, take them to their planets, and have them reproduce either naturally or by way of cloning. However, when Aliens take from our planet, they rarely return what they took. It seems they are not under obligation to return what they borrowed since they are reaping what they sowed.
Earth was also meant to be a huge pharmacopoeia; a natural drug store replete with herbal cures to every and any ailment. Our own ancestors of several generations back were aware of what a treasure trove Earth was in this respect. They were able to cure every conceivable disease using only herbal medicine: whether it was cancer, heart attack, or a stroke, our ancestors had very potent and efficacious cures for all these maladies. My late paternal grandmother used to tell us that there were only three ways Africans died in the not-too-distant past: through violence, witchcraft, or old age. Otherwise, every natural disease was curable. Even in the case of witchcraft, some herbalists knew how to concoct countervailing medicine that could reverse a disease caused by witchcraft or perform rituals that would neutralise the dark forces behind the disease. Demons which tormented and afflicted some people were driven away not through prayer but through a ritual dance, the performance of certain rites, and the utterance of certain invocative words.
It is tear-jerking that we have now been so taken in by imported faiths that every practice wrought by our ancestors is dismissed as demonic, primitive, or benighted. All traditional medicines they dug up and used are demonic and all ceremonies they used to perform are demonic. We have painted everything they did with the same brush thanks to inveterate indoctrination by our Western brothers who came with a Bible in one hand and a gun in the other. This Earth, My Brother …
REPTILIANS, HUMANOIDS VIE FOR CONTROL OF EARTH
Aliens who have fought for the control of Earth are in three categories basically. These are Reptilians, Serpentines, and Humanoids.
The Reptilians have mostly been the Drakons from the Draco star system. Serpentines have mainly been Aryans, the beings from the Orion star system. Humanoids have primarily been those from the Sirius star system, Procyon, and Aldebaran. Galactic wars are seldom fought between planets: typically, they are fought between species. Reptilians have always engaged in war against humanoids, either directly or indirectly, a tone that was set with the first galactic war in the Lyraen star system when Reptilians invaded that region of the galaxy, conquered it, destroyed several planets in a high-tech war, and had the humanoids who peopled that star system scatter all over the universe – a theme we have already discussed.
Our planet Earth is today dominated by humans, but that has not always been the case. Once, Earth was dominated by Reptilians, who were the first to evolve on the planet from dinosaurs. Reptilians are in two major categories. There are foreign Reptilians, who are usurpers from other regions of space, notably the Draco star system. Then there are indigenous Reptilians, the strain that evolved from dinosaurs right here on Earth and who are genetic cousins of the Drakons. Indigenous Reptilians live under the Earth, in a world inconceivably more sophisticated than the one we have on the surface.
Reptilians have always claimed Earth belongs to them because they were the first to evolve on the planet. But when you are firstborn, it does not necessarily follow that you have sole entitlement to a bequest. True, our primate ancestors, the apes, came much later than dinosaurs but we have as much a claim to ownership of Earth as Reptilians. Reptilians contend that we are not pure Earthlings because our genetics are a mixture of several Alien species whereas theirs are pure. In a way they are right, but it is not our fault that our genetics are a hybrid. We did not ask to be hybridised. We were the victims of hybridisation. If we had been left alone as Homo erectus, we would one day have evolved into pure humans. In any case, Reptilians themselves have hybridised themselves with humans in a bid to reclaim rulership of Earth. The people in position of political, economic, military, and religious power today in much of the influential world are all Reptilian/human hybrids.
Every time there have been high-tech wars between Reptilians and humanoids on our planet, it has been either they have decimated each other or one species has triumphed over the other. In the war that wiped off the dinosaurs 65 million years ago, Drakons used a particle beam weapon that triggered a 200-year-long winter on the planet just to wrestle control of the planet from humanoids. On average, however, humanoids have won most of the wars and that’s why we’re a dominant race on the planet today populationwise. The reason Reptilians live underground is because they were driven there in the aftermath of a war with humanoids (who were not indigenous to Earth but came from Procyon).
Following the destruction that was wrought on the planet by Alien Reptilians, the Aryans of Orion at some stage came to the planet to restore it to its pristine condition, a competence in which they are very well-versed. Since then, Earth (and the Solar System as a whole) has been claimed by Arians as their property. Earth is therefore part of the Orion Empire, with the Aryans being the appointed Guardians of this Living Genetic Library. The Aryans (who evolved from the snake species) are allied with the Siriuns (who evolved from a Wolfen-Leonine creature) though their alliance keeps blowing hot and cold. However, Reptilians still have hijacked control, either directly or indirectly, of some parts of the Solar System. The planet Saturn and the Moon, for example, are directly controlled by Reptilians.
NEXT WEEK: DEVELOPMENTS IN THE SIRIUS STAR SYSTEM
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GONE FISHING
In recent years, using personal devices in working environments has become so commonplace it now has its own acronym, BOYD (Bring Your Own Device). But as employees skip between corporate tools and personal applications on their own devices, their actions introduce a number of possible risks that should be managed and mitigated with careful consideration. Consider these examples:
Si-lwli, a small family-run business in Wales, is arguably as niche a company as you could find, producing talking toys used to promote the Welsh language. Their potential market is small, with only some 300,000 Welsh language speakers in the world and in reality the business is really more of a hobby for the husband-and-wife team, who both still have day jobs. Yet, despite still managing to be successful in terms of sales, the business is now fighting for survival after recently falling prey to cybercriminals. Emails between Si-Iwli and their Chinese suppliers were intercepted by hackers who altered the banking details in the correspondence, causing Si-Iwli to hand over £18,000 (around P ¼ m) to the thieves. That might not sound much to a large enterprise, but to a small or medium business it can be devastating.
Another recent SMB hacking story which appeared in the Wall Street Journal concerned Innovative Higher Ed Consulting (IHED) Inc, a small New York start-up with a handful of employees. IHED didn’t even have a website, but fraudsters were able to run stolen credit card numbers through the company’s payment system and reverse the charges to the tune of $27,000, around the same loss faced by Si-Iwli. As the WSJ put it, the hackers completely destroyed the company, forcing its owners to fold.
And in May 2019, the city of Baltimore’s computer system was hit by a ransomware attack, with hackers using a variant called RobinHood. The hack, which has lasted more than a month, paralysed the computer system for city employees, with the hackers demanding a payment in Bitcoin to give access back to the city.
Of course, hackers target governments or business giants but small and medium businesses are certainly not immune. In fact, 67% of SMBs reported that they had experienced a cyber attack across a period of 12 months, according to a 2018 survey carried out by security research firm Ponemon Institute. Additionally, Verizon issued a report in May 2019 that small businesses accounted for 43% of its reported data breaches. Once seen as less vulnerable than PCs, smartphone attacks are on the rise, with movements like the Dark Caracal spyware campaign underlining the allure of mobile devices to hackers. Last year, the US Federal Trade Commission released a statement calling for greater education on mobile security, coming at a time when around 42% of all Android devices are believed to not carry the latest security updates.
This is an era when employees increasingly use their smartphones for work-related purposes so is your business doing enough to protect against data breaches on their employees’ phones? The SME Cyber Crime Survey 2018 carried out for risk management specialists AON showed that more than 80% of small businesses did not view this as a threat yet if as shown, 67% of SMBs were said to have been victims of hacking, either the stats are wrong or business owners are underestimating their vulnerability. A 2019 report by PricewaterhouseCoopers suggests the latter, stating that the majority of global businesses are unprepared for cyber attacks.
Consider that a workstation no longer means a desk in an office: It can be a phone in the back of a taxi or Uber; a laptop in a coffee shop, or a tablet in an airport lounge. Wherever the device is used, employees can potentially install applications that could be harmful to your business, even from something as seemingly insignificant as clicking on an accidental download or opening a link on a phishing email. Out of the physical workplace, your employees’ activities might not have the same protections as they would on a company-monitored PC.
Yet many businesses not only encourage their employees to work remotely, but assume working from coffee shops, bookstores, and airports can boost employees’ productivity. Unfortunately, many remote hot spots do not provide secure Wi-Fi so if your employee is accessing their work account on unsecured public Wi-Fi, sensitive business data could be at risk. Furthermore, even if your employee uses a company smartphone or has access to company data through a personal mobile device, there is always a chance data could be in jeopardy with a lost or stolen device, even information as basic as clients’ addresses and phone numbers.
BOYDs are also at risk from malware designed to harm and infect the host system, transmittable to smartphones when downloading malicious third-party apps. Then there is ransomware, a type of malware used by hackers to specifically take control of a system’s data, blocking access or threatening to release sensitive information unless a ransom is paid such as the one which affected Baltimore. Ransomware attacks are on the increase, predicted to occur every 14 seconds, potentially costing billions of dollars per year.
Lastly there is phishing – the cyber equivalent of the metaphorical fishing exercise – whereby cybercriminals attempt to obtain sensitive data –usernames, passwords, credit card details –usually through a phoney email designed to look legitimate which directs the user to a fraudulent website or requests the data be emailed back directly. Most of us like to think we could recognize a phishing email when we see it, but these emails have become more sophisticated and can come through other forms of communication such as messaging apps.
Bottom line is to be aware of the potential problems with BOYDs and if in doubt, consult your IT security consultants. You can’t put the own-device genie back in the bottle but you can make data protection one of your three wishes!
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“I Propose to Diana Tonight”
About five days before Princess Diana and Dodi Al Fayed landed in Paris, General Atiku, a certain Edward Williams was taking a walk in a woods in the Welsh town of Mountain Ash. Williams, then 73, was a psychic of some renown. He had in the past foretold assassination attempts on US President Ronald Reagan, which occurred on March 30, 1981, and Pope John Paul II, which came to pass on May 13, 1981.
As he trudged the woods, Williams had a sudden premonition that pointed to Diana’s imminent fate as per Christopher Andersen’s book The Day Diana Died. “When the vision struck me, it was as if everything around me was obscured and replaced by shadowy figures,” Williams was later to reminisce. “In the middle was the face of Princess Diana. Her expression was sad and full of pathos. She was wearing what looked like a floral dress with a short dark cardigan. But it was vague. I went cold with fear and knew it was a sign that she was in danger.”
Williams hastily beat a retreat to his home, which he shared with his wife Mary, and related to her his presentiment, trembling like an aspen leaf as he did so. “I have never seen him so upset,” Mary recounted. “He felt he was given a sign and when he came back from his walk he was deeply shaken.”
The following day, Williams frantically sauntered into a police station to inform the police of his premonition. The officer who attended to him would have dismissed him as no more than a crackpot but he treated him seriously in view of the accuracy of his past predictions. He took a statement and immediately passed it on to the Special Branch Investigative Unit.
The report read as follows:
“On 27 August, at 14:12 hrs, a man by the name of Edward Williams came to Mountain Ash police station. He said he was a psychic and predicted that Princess Diana was going to die. In previous years, he has predicted that the Pope and Ronald Reagan were going to be the victims of assassination attempts. On both occasions he was proved to be correct. Mr Williams appeared to be quite normal.”
Williams, General, was spot-on as usual: four days later, the princess was no more.
Meanwhile, General, even as Dodi and Diana were making their way to the Fayed-owned Ritz Hotel in central Paris, British newspapers were awash with headlines that suggested Diana was kind of deranged. Writes Andrew Morton in Diana in Pursuit of Love: “In The Independent Diana was described as ‘a woman with fundamentally nothing to say about anything’. She was ‘suffering from a form of arrested development’. ‘Isn’t it time she started using her head?’ asked The Mail on Sunday. The Sunday Mirror printed a special supplement entitled ‘A Story of Love’; The News of the World claimed that William had demanded that Diana should split from Dodi: ‘William can’t help it, he just doesn’t like the man.’ William was reportedly ‘horrified’ and ‘doesn’t think Mr Fayed is good for his mother’ – or was that just the press projecting their own prejudices? The upmarket Sunday Times newspaper, which had first serialised my biography of the princess, now put her in the psychiatrist’s chair for daring to be wooed by a Muslim. The pop-psychologist Oliver James put Diana ‘On the Couch’, asking why she was so ‘depressed’ and desperate for love. Other tabloids piled in with dire prognostications – about Prince Philip’s hostility to the relationship, Diana’s prospect of exile, and the social ostracism she would face if she married Dodi.”
DIANA AND DODI AT THE RITZ
Before Diana and Dodi departed the Villa Windsor sometime after 16 hrs, General, one of Dodi’s bodyguards Trevor Rees-Jones furtively asked Diana as to what the programme for the evening was. This Trevor did out of sheer desperation as Dodi had ceased and desisted from telling members of his security detail, let alone anyone else for that matter, what his onward destination was for fear that that piece of information would be passed on to the paparazzi. Diana kindly obliged Trevor though her response was terse and scarcely revealing. “Well, eventually we will be going out to a restaurant”, that was all Diana said. Without advance knowledge of exactly what restaurant that was, Trevor and his colleagues’ hands were tied: they could not do a recce on it as was standard practice for the security team of a VIP principal. Dodi certainly, General, was being recklessly by throwing such caution to the winds.
At about 16:30, Diana and Dodi drew up at the Ritz Hotel, where they were received by acting hotel manager Claude Roulet. The front entrance of the hotel was already crawling with paparazzi, as a result of which the couple took the precaution of using the rear entrance, where hopefully they would make their entry unperturbed and unmolested. The first thing they did when they were ensconced in the now $10,000 a night Imperial Suite was to spend some time on their mobiles and set about touching base with friends, relations, and associates. Diana called at least two people, her clairvoyant friend Rita Rogers and her favourite journalist Richard Kay of The Daily Mail.
Rita, General, was alarmed that Diana had proceeded to venture to Paris notwithstanding the warning she had given Dodi and herself in relation to what she had seen of him in the crystal ball when the couple had consulted her. When quizzed as to what the hell she indeed was doing in Paris at that juncture, Diana replied that she and Dodi had simply come to do some shopping, which though partially true was not the material reason they were there. “But Diana, remember what I told Dodi,” Rita said somewhat reprovingly. Diana a bit apprehensively replied, “Yes I remember. I will be careful. I promise.” Well, she did not live up to her promise as we shall soon unpack General.
As for Richard Kay, Diana made known to him that, “I have decided I am going to radically change my life. I am going to complete my obligations to charities and to the anti-personnel land mines cause, but in November I want to completely withdraw from formal public life.”
Once she was done with her round of calls, Diana went down to the hair saloon by the hotel swimming pool to have her hair washed and blow-dried ahead of the scheduled evening dinner.
THE “TELL ME YES” RING IS DELIVERED
Since the main object of their Paris trip was to pick up the “Tell Me Yes” engagement ring Dodi had ordered in Monte Carlo a week earlier, Dodi decided to check on Repossi Jewellery, which was right within the Ritz prencincts, known as the Place Vendome. It could have taken less than a minute for Dodi to get to the store on foot but he decided to use a car to outsmart the paparazzi invasion. He was driven there by Trevor Rees-Jones, with Alexander Kez Wingfield and Claude Roulet following on foot, though he entered the shop alone.
The Repossi store had closed for the holiday season but Alberto Repossi, accompanied by his wife and brother-in-law, had decided to travel all the way from his home in Monaco and momentarily open it for the sake of the potentially highly lucrative Dodi transaction. Alberto, however, disappointed Dodi as the ring he had chosen was not the one he produced. The one he showed Dodi was pricier and perhaps more exquisite but Dodi was adamant that he wanted the exact one he had ordered as that was what Diana herself had picked. It was a ploy on the part of Repossi to make a real killing on the sale, his excuse to that effect being that Diana deserved a ring tha was well worthy of her social pedigree. With Dodi having expressed disaffection, Repossi rendered his apologies and assured Dodi he would make the right ring available shortly, whereupon Dodi repaired back to the hotel to await its delivery. But Dodi did insist nonetheless that the pricier ring be delivered too in case it appealed to Diana anyway.
Repossi delivered the two rings an hour later. They were collected by Roulet. On inspecting them, Dodi chose the very one he had seen in Monte Carlo, apparently at the insistence of Diana. There is a possibility that Diana, who was very much aware of her public image and was not comfortable with ostentatious displays of wealth, may have deliberately shown an interest in a less expensive engagement ring. It may have been a purely romantic as opposed to a prestigious choice for her.
The value of the ring, which was found on a wardrobe shelf in Dodi’s apartment after the crash, has been estimated to be between $20,000 and $250,000 as Repossi has always refused to be drawn into revealing how much Dodi paid for it. The sum, which enjoyed a 25 percent discount, was in truth paid for not by Dodi himself but by his father as was the usual practice.
Dodi was also shown Repossi’s sketches for a bracelet, a watch, and earrings which he proposed to create if Diana approved of them.
DIANA AND DODI GUSH OVER IMMINENT NUPTIALS
At about 7 pm, Dodi and Diana left the Ritz and headed for Dodi’s apartment at a place known as the Arc de Trompe. They went there to properly tog themselves out for the scheduled evening dinner. They spent two hours at the luxurious apartment. As usual, the ubiquitous paparazzi were patiently waiting for them there.
As they lingered in the apartment, Dodi beckoned over to his butler Rene Delorm and showed him the engagement ring. “Dodi came into my kitchen,” Delorm relates. “He looked into the hallway to check that Diana couldn’t hear and reached into his pocket and pulled out the box … He said, ‘Rene, I’m going to propose to the princess tonight. Make sure that we have champagne on ice when we come back from dinner’.” Rene described the ring as “a spectacular diamond encrusted ring, a massive emerald surrounded by a cluster of diamonds, set on a yellow and white gold band sitting in a small light-grey velvet box”.
Just before 9 pm, Dodi called the brother of his step-father, Hassan Yassen, who also was staying at the Ritz that night, and told him that he hoped to get married to Diana by the end of the year.
Later that same evening, both Dodi and Diana would talk to Mohamed Al Fayed, Dodi’s dad, and make known to him their pre-nuptial intentions. “They called me and said we’re coming back (to London) on Sunday (August 31) and on Monday (September 1) they are
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RAMADAN – The Blessed Month of Fasting
Ramadan is the fasting month for Muslims, where over one billion Muslims throughout the world fast from dawn to sunset, and pray additional prayers at night. It is a time for inner reflection, devotion to Allah, and self-control. It is the ninth month in the Islamic calendar. As you read this Muslims the world over have already begun fasting as the month of Ramadan has commenced (depending on the sighting of the new moon).
‘The month of Ramadan is that in which the Qur’an was revealed as guidance for people, in it are clear signs of guidance and Criterion, therefore whoever of you who witnesses this month, it is obligatory on him to fast it. But whoever is ill or traveling let him fast the same number of other days, God desires ease for you and not hardship, and He desires that you complete the ordained period and glorify God for His guidance to you, that you may be grateful”. Holy Qur’an (2 : 185)
Fasting during Ramadan is one of the five pillars upon which the structure of Islam is built. The other four are: the declaration of one’s belief in Allah’s oneness and in the message of Muhammad (PBUH); regular attendance to prayer; payment of zakaat (obligatory charity); and the pilgrimage to Mecca.
As explained in an earlier article, fasting includes total abstinence from eating, drinking, smoking, refraining from obscenity, avoiding getting into arguments and including abstaining from marital relations, from sunrise to sunset. While fasting may appear to some as difficult Muslims see it as an opportunity to get closer to their Lord, a chance to develop spiritually and at the same time the act of fasting builds character, discipline and self-restraint.
Just as our cars require servicing at regular intervals, so do Muslims consider Ramadan as a month in which the body and spirit undergoes as it were a ‘full service’. This ‘service’ includes heightened spiritual awareness both the mental and physical aspects and also the body undergoing a process of detoxification and some of the organs get to ‘rest’ through fasting.
Because of the intensive devotional activity fasting, Ramadan has a particularly high importance, derived from its very personal nature as an act of worship but there is nothing to stop anyone from privately violating Allah’s commandment of fasting if one chooses to do so by claiming to be fasting yet eating on the sly. This means that although fasting is obligatory, its observance is purely voluntary. If a person claims to be a Muslim, he is expected to fast in Ramadan.
The reward Allah gives for proper fasting is very generous. Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) quotes Allah as saying: “All actions done by a human being are his own except fasting, which belongs to Me and I will reward it accordingly.” We are also told by the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) that the reward for proper fasting is admittance into heaven.
Fasting earns great reward when it is done in a ‘proper’ manner. This is because every Muslim is required to make his worship perfect. For example perfection of fasting can be achieved through restraint of one’s feelings and emotions. Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) said that when fasting, a person should not allow himself to be drawn into a quarrel or a slanging match. He teaches us: “On a day of fasting, let no one of you indulge in any obscenity, or enter into a slanging match. Should someone abuse or fight him, let him respond by saying: ‘I am fasting!’”
This high standard of self-restraint fits in well with fasting, which is considered as an act of self-discipline. Islam requires us to couple patience with voluntary abstention from indulgence in our physical desires. The purpose of fasting helps man to attain a high degree of sublimity, discipline and self-restraint. In other words, this standard CAN BE achieved by every Muslim who knows the purpose of fasting and strives to fulfill it.
Fasting has another special aspect. It makes all people share in the feelings of hunger and thirst. In normal circumstances, people with decent income may go from one year’s end to another without experiencing the pangs of hunger which a poor person may feel every day of his life. Such an experience helps to draw the rich one’s conscience nearer to needs of the poor. A Muslim is encouraged to be more charitable and learns to give generously for a good cause.
Fasting also has a universal or communal aspect to it. As Muslims throughout the world share in this blessed act of worship, their sense of unity is enhanced by the fact that every Muslim individual joins willingly in the fulfillment of this divine commandment. This is a unity of action and purpose, since they all fast in order to be better human beings. As a person restrains himself from the things he desires most, in the hope that he will earn Allah’s pleasure, self-discipline and sacrifice become part of his nature.
The month of Ramadan can aptly be described as a “season of worship.” Fasting is the main aspect of worship in this month, because people are more attentive to their prayers, read the Qur’an more frequently and also strive to improve on their inner and outer character. Thus, their devotion is more complete and they feel much happier in Ramadan because they feel themselves to be closer to their Creator.