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Friday, 19 April 2024

Enlil Rapes Virgin!

Columns

Benson C Saili

THIS EARTH, MY BROTHER

Earth’s superintending god plies a young medical officer with an intoxicating beverage and forces himself on her

About 400,000 years ago, Ninmah touched down on Earth with 29 other female Anunnaki medics. Ninmah was King Anu’s eldest and smartest daughter. As a medical savant, she was unsurpassed by the Anunnaki womenfolk and of the Anunnaki menfolk, only Enki and his son Ningishzidda were her match.   A ravishing beauty and a highly accomplished biomedical researcher, Ninmah had been the head of life sciences on Nibiru.

Ninmah, who was Enlil’s half-sister and Enki’s step sister, had been dispatched to Earth by King Anu, “Our Father Who Art In Heaven”, for several reasons. She was to oversee medical and health matters for the Anunnaki, the seeding of medicinal and health-enhancing plants (whose seeds and DNA she had brought with her), and the adaptation of domesticated animals (again which she had carried along with her from Nibiru) to Earth’s environment.  Agriculture and farming on our planet was to be jumpstarted from the specimens she had brought. 

When the Anunnaki arrived on Earth, their circadian rhythm was inevitably disturbed because of Earth’s rotational patterns that were way different from those of planet Nibiru. A circadian rhythm is a roughly 24-hour cycle in

the physiological processes of living beings, including plants, animals, fungi and bacteria which primarily respond to light and darkness.  Since Nibiru’s circadian rhythm, gravitational force, and duration of day were different from those of Earth, the Anunnaki  suffered from chronic indispositions such as headaches and sight-related problems on the much quicker (rotation-wise) and brighter  (in terms of sunlight) planet. Nibiru, about four to nine times larger than Earth, had a 36-hour-day and a much stronger force of gravity. Ninmah’s other brief therefore was to help address the physiological problems brought about by Earth’s peculiar physics.

Ninmah also brought with her what was called the Elixir of Life, or Food of Life. The Anunnaki had noticed that here on Earth, they aged much faster than they did on Nibiru and that their children who were born on Earth aged even much more rapidly.  The Elixir of Life was intended to considerably slow the aging process though not exactly align it with that of Nibiru. It was typically consumed along with the Water of Life.  The seeds of the drug flourished in a cool climate.

Ninmah was ecstatically welcomed to Eridu, the Anunnaki’s iconic settlement on Earth, by Enlil and Enki and the rest of the already Earth-based Heroes. The exhilaration was specially heightened by the presence now on Earth of female Anunnaki for the first time since the first Anunnaki landing in over 30,000 years.  

In a closed mission-debriefing session with her two brothers, Ninmah recounted her journey and what transpired on Mars. She reported that Alalu had died and a commemorative, permanent memorial to him was already in place in the form of a mountain sculpture. She also made mention of her restoration to life of Anzu and of the 20 men who had remained along  with him with a view to setting up a way station for Nibiru and Earth-bound gold freighters. 

The death of Alalu touched Enki. Otherwise,   he was happy and content with all that had transpired on Mars. On the other hand, Enlil, a hard-hearted, power-obsessed type, was indignant: he demanded to know under whose authority Alalu had been so honoured and Anzu had been entrusted charge of Mars activities.   Ninmah set him at ease when she told him everything was done at the say-so of King Anu and that Anzu was actually subordinate to both he and Enki.

YAHWEH DOGGED BY SEXUAL STRESS

Since their arrival on Earth, the Anunnaki had until now been wholly deprived of female company. For as long as they were still prospecting for gold, they were not allowed to return to Nibiru. Particularly sexually stressed were the Heroes in Enki’s pioneer landing party, who had had no conjugal indulgencies for 32,400 years (equivalent to 9 years, or shars, in Nibiru terms).  It is not stretching the imagination to  suppose that some of the  Anunnaki folk were compelled to resort to unnatural sexual practices and that is  how the homosexual and bestiality genes were triggered, which genes continue to haunt some members of the human race today. (Tendencies are not only inherited: they can also be acquired, genetically embedded, and then passed on to offspring).  Even Enlil, who was not that worse for wear having being on Earth for only two shars, was bursting with libidinous fever. It goes without saying that his half-sister Ninmah seemed a godsend. After all, he already had a son with her, Ninurta, who was born on Nibiru.  

Why were the Anunnaki so predisposed to marrying or at the very least bear children with their half-sisters (same father but different mothers)? In the society of today here on Earth, such a course of action would be denounced as outright incest in any culture and even criminalised. Yet the Anunnaki succession code gave preference to a son by a half-sister rather than somebody wholly unrelated.    It was a son born of a half-brother and half-sister who became the heir, not necessarily the firstborn son overall. This same code was followed in antiquity here on Earth – by both the Sumerians and the biblical patriarchs. Abraham, for instance, was married to half-sister Sarah and Moses was married to half-sister Mirriam according to pre-biblical sources. Ishmael, Abraham’s son, was 13 years older than Isaac but the right of succession passed to Isaac because Isaac was born to Sarah, Abraham’s half-sister spouse.     

It turns out the Anunnaki knew something modern science has yet to discover. In 1980, Washington University scientists found that given a choice, female monkeys preferred to mate with half-brothers – those with whom they had the same father but different mothers. And in the December 1988 edition of Discover magazine, a featured study showed that male wasps ordinarily mated with their sisters, with the preferential mating being with half-sisters.

In order to make it easier to get into Ninmah’s pants, Enlil bragged up the Cedar Mountains, the setting of his abode, as the ideal environment for propagation of the Elixir of Life and forthwith assigned her there. But Enki, who had his own ulterior motives too, prevailed upon Ninmah to alternate her tours of duty between the Cedar Mountains and Eridu on the one hand and the Abzu on the other as that was what was expected of the Chief Medical Officer

At his Abode of the North Crest in the Cedar Mountains, a lust-ridden Enlil wasted no time in making  coital moves on Ninmah. “Enlil embraced her, with fervour he kissed Ninmah,” Enki records. “Oh my sister, my  beloved Enlil to her he whispered. By her loins he grabbed her.” But Ninmah had no inclination whatsoever for renewed intimate relations with Enlil after King Anu had cursed her for having a child with him (Enlil) at the expense of Enki, who he desired Ninmah to marry. A gallant Enlil tried all manner  of ways to seduce his sister. For instance, he revealed to her  that one of the six new cities  he was about to establish in the Edin would be directly governed by her. All this sweet talk did not wash, however. “Into her womb his semen he did not pour,”   regrets Enki.  

YAHWEH  IS EXILED

Now, nature is simply nature. Enlil was pressed for conjugation, especially that now he was frequently rubbing shoulders with female freshbloods who formed the medical team assigned to Eridu and the Cedar Mountains. It happened one summer that as he took a walk in the cedar forest “in the cool of the day” as was his habit, he chanced upon young female Anunnaki splashing about in a stream stark naked. The spectacle got a rise out of  him and he decided it was time he pounced and relieved himself of the overpowering sexual stress.     

“In a cool mountain stream, some of Ninmah’s young ones, to the  Landing Place (the Anunnaki terrestrial airport)  assigned, were bathing,” relates Enki. “By the beauty and grace of one, Sud was her name, Enlil was enchanted. To his cedar wood abode Enlil invited. Come, partake with me in the Elixir of Nibiru’s fruit that grow here so to her he said. Sud into Enlil’s abode he entered, the Elixir in a cup to her Enlil presented. Sud drank, Enlil drank too.”

Enki reports that as Sud, who was Ninmah’s young but highly promising deputy, gradually became tipsy, Enlil began to force his mouth on hers amid her protestations to the effect that she was a virgin  who “knows not copulation” and therefore did not wish to indulge in sexual relations with him. Enlil paid no heed: “His semen  into her womb he poured,”  Enki records, this time accomplishing what he had failed to do to his sister. A tearful, bloodied and stumbling Sud went straight to Ninmah to report the abomination.

Now, one good think about the Anunnaki was that their sense of  justice knew no sacred cows: everybody, be it Enki or Enlil, was subject to the rule of the land. Yes, the Anunnaki had a very flexible moral code but forced sex was anathema.  “Enlil, immoral one, for  your deed judgement you shall face!” a shocked and furious Ninmah thundered in her brother’s face.

Enlil was indicted and tried before the Seven Who Judge and before an audience of 50 Anunnaki, with Ninmah as the case prosecutor. Justice was expeditiously dispensed: the most powerful man on Earth pleaded guilty as charged with a view to a less severe sentence.  Sadly, the crime was so heinous the planet’s Commander-in-Chief was slapped the maximum penalty: he was sentenced to permanent exile to a “Land of No Return”, somewhere in the wilderness of  the Abzu, that is, Africa. The sentence was effected on the spot. Enlil was bundled onto a “sky chamber”   and assigned pilot Abgal, who was the most familiar with the African terrain, to ferry him to his penal colony.

“In the sky chamber  the two of them journeyed, to another land was their direction,” writes Enki. “There, amidst forbidding mountains, at a place of desolation, Abgal the sky chamber landed. This your place of exile shall be Abgal to Enlil was saying.” 

Meanwhile, Enki was to act as Earth’s Chief Executive pending formal confirmation from King Anu on Nibiru (this was before Ninurta vanquished Kumarbi, the “Evil Zu”, and was conferred Rank  50, which made him heir to Enlil).  Yet the good-natured Enki was by no means overjoyed: he felt for his step brother and had never intended to gain Earth’s supremacy simply by default.

Turncoats – people who betray trusts by switching loyalties on the spur of the moment – are not a rarity in life. Their treachery seldom springs from sympathy or empathy: often,  it is driven by the temptation to gain an advantage, to curry certain favours. Such  was Abgal.

Remember the seven nuclear weapons that were surplus to requirements during Alalu’s mission to Earth, when he had to blast his way through the dreaded Asteroid Belt? The weapons were stashed away in a secret location at the prompting of Enki, who feared that some unscrupulous fella could be tempted to employ them and wreak havoc on Earth. It was Enki himself, accompanied by his trusted aide Abgal, who took the trouble to conceal these weapons of  mass destruction. If only he  knew Abgal had a Judas streak behind his duteous and fawning façade. 

Abgal headed straight to the site in the Abzu where  the weapons were hidden and no sooner had his sky chamber   landed than he decided to ingratiate himself with Enlil.

“This your place of exile shall be,” he said to Enlil according to Enki’s documented reminiscences. “Not perchance have I it chosen. A secret of Enki in it is hidden. In the nearby cave Enki seven weapons of terror has hidden: from Alalu’s Celestial Chariot he had them removed. Take the weapons into your possession, with the weapons your freedom attain!” 

Abgal then left Enlil to consider his options with a view,  obviously, to making a clandestine return and possibly assist Enlil in launching his emancipatory blitz against Enki and company. Would Enlil indeed have gone to such lengths to secure his freedom? Would he have done an Alalu – attempt to blackmail his way back to his august perch as Earth’s Commander-in-Chief  by brandishing a nuclear-tipped missile? We will never know and need not know as the situation did not attain to such a fevered  point. The redeeming factor was none other than the victim of Enlil’s turpitude herself.

ENKI EXERCISES PREROGATIVE OF MERCY

Not long after Enlil’s banishment, Sud approached Ninmah and tearfully announced that she was actually pregnant and that she was prepared to make bygones be bygones and forgive Enlil for the sake of their child. Such was her desire for the child to grow up under its father that she was prepared to go and be with Enlil in his place of exile.  Was it possible for her wish to be granted?      

Ninmah replied that the decision did not rest with her but with Enki as the planet’s acting Commander-in-Chief.  Ninmah accordingly contacted Enki at his Eridu  residence to sound him out on Sud’s plea. Enki said he was prepared to allow Sud to join Enlil in the Abzu  but Enlil had to give consent first. Soon Abgal was on his way to the Abzu to deliver Enki’s message. On his return, Abgal reported that Enlil had sympathy for Sud’s pregnancy and indeed wanted to be with her so mother and father could jointly welcome the child into the world. Nevertheless, Enlil wished to do this as a free man, not as a prisoner in the thick of the African jungle. Consequently, he appealed to his step brother for the Prerogative of Mercy. 

The naturally considerate soul that was Enki did not wrestle with his conscience. He told Abgal in the presence of Ninmah and Sud that he was prepared to pardon his brother subject to one strong precondition – that he declares his readiness to tie the knot with Sud. But in the event that Enlil indeed got his pardon, in what capacity would he be returning to the leadership fold? This question was posed by Abgal and it was very pertinent indeed considering that Enki was the acting Head of Earth and only awaited the green light from Nibiru King Anu to be confirmed in his office, whereas Enlil had fallen headlong from grace possibly for good. 

Yet Enki was far from being besotted with   power. Yes, he had been done many injustices in the past that had snatched away the crowning glory when it was just within sniffing distance but he still had no axes to grind and no scores to settle such was his natural equanimity. So Enki pronounced that he was going to voluntarily  step aside and have Enlil reinstated as Commander-in-Chief. There was a catch though: Enlil would operate in an acting capacity, albeit with full powers, till he had sired at least one more child with Sud. Enki imposed this qualification because he wanted tangible evidence that Enlil now genuinely loved Sud and was not up to using her simply as a means to regain his freedom.

The next time Abgal returned from the Abzu, he was accompanied by a chastened Enlil, fully yielded as he was to the terms of Enki’s Prerogative of Mercy, which he did not find exacting as he did not voice the merest protest.  He embraced with his step brother and  half-sister and lavished Sud with gestures of impassioned affection. There was no doubt he intended a lasting union with the eye-poppingly beautiful nurse. 

NEXT WEEK:  WILDCAT STRIKE IN AFRICA

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GONE FISHING

28th March 2023

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”

28th March 2023

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

28th March 2023

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.

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