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“Depart Earth”

Benson C Saili
THIS EARTH, MY BROTHER   
 

King Anu issues evacuation decree as catastrophic globalwide flood looms

As the merciless Ice Age tightened its grip and mankind continued to reel from starvation and famine, a flint-hearted Enlil, the Bible’s primary Jehovah/Yahweh, simply looked the other way in a gloating fashion.

 

The kindly Enki approached and implored him: “Let us the Earthlings pond- and canal-building teach, let them from the seas fish and sustenance obtain!” Enlil outrightly rejected the plea. In fact, he underlined to the pantheon that under no circumstances should any of the Anunnaki bigwigs have anything to do with ameliorating the plight of mankind. “This by decree I forbid!  Let the Earthlings by hunger and pestilence perish!” Enki in particular was told he would be closely watched in case he deviated from upholding this declaration.     


Mankind was in a bind. The Anakim, the giant offspring of the Nephilim and their human spouses, had now proliferated and like mankind they too were on their own. They resorted to plundering the little food that mankind had to spare by way of bluster. They would lay siege to a particular human settlement and extort foodstuffs from them on pain of death. As such, mankind came to dub them “locusts”. Locusts, as you may be aware, can swarm a whole field in their billions and eat up all the vegetation in it till only bare ground remains.

 

Then came crunch time, when mankind could not spare a crumb for the Anakim. The Anakim now resorted to feeding on humans themselves, a propensity humans replicated by desperate necessity when they too began to feed on each other. It is this cannibalistic bent that gave “giants” the reputation of man-eaters in legends and folk stories that survive to this day.


By this time, Noah, who was not aware Enki was his real father, was a grown man. He had inherited Enki’s most distinguishing trait – boundless compassion.  As a priest, Noah lived a life of privilege but his heart bled for ordinary mankind. It reached a stage where he could no longer stand the misery that he was seeing all around him and so moved from Shuruppak, where he was based, to Eridu, Enki’s cult city.

 

There, he set up abode in a cottage behind Enki’s Temple, as royal Anunnaki homes were called.  Every day, Noah “wept, bringing oblations in the morning and at night giving attention to dreams”, in the hope that through this medium Enki might convey instructions to him which would serve to allay the hardships mankind was facing. Noah relentlessly bid Enki to try and prevail over his step brother Enlil to exercise mercy on the suffering and dying masses.


Initially, Enki, who was yoked to Enlil’s no-reach-out-and-touch decree, remained dismissively silent. In fact, he began to absent himself from his home, sailing in the marshlands throughout the day as Noah’s tears gave him a lump in the throat. But Noah was not giving up: noting that Enki now had become a scarce commodity, he built a makeshift cabin right on the banks of the river so that the moment Enki came ashore, whether this be at dusk or midnight, he would run to him, throw himself at his feet, and petition him to get Enlil to relax his hand vis-a-vis the fate of mankind.    

ENKI DEFIES ENLIL

Unable to stand the pestering of Noah anymore, Enki finally hearkened. He called Noah, along with some of his advisors, into his inner sanctums and dubbing his eyes with a handkerchief explained to him how of the pantheon he had gallantly opposed Enlil but in vain. Then after sitting in silence for a long while, he announced that that he was going to defy Enlil anyway.

 

He there and then radioed his trusted lieutenants across the globe and made known  to them that as the official “God of the Sea” – Oanness in Greek – he  was giving the green light for mankind to fish from the seas. All the aerial and maritime patrols that had been in place to ensure mankind did not come near the sea were to be suspended forthwith.   In addition, mankind was to be provided with corn from strategic reserves which continued to sustain the Anunnaki.


The stampede was of apocalyptic proportions. It was like the opening up of the sluice gates. The swoop on the bodies of brine was such that some people died in the very frenzy. The pro-Enki Anunnaki joined in the fray too: using sophisticated, mechanised fishing equipment, they came up with huge hauls just to help mankind. 

 

Obviously, such frantic mass activity could not escape Enlil for long. When he got wind of it, he was furious. He there and then summoned Enki to Nippur and before the whole ruling assembly tore into him for his treachery, for being in breach of the surveillance and containment plans. “Just what’s wrong with you Enki?” he snorted. “Why can’t you listen to me for a change? I know you are older than me but I’m senior in rank, mandated to discharge my due functions by King Anu. It’s time you came to terms with that inalienable truth Enki.”


Enki’s terse response was that if Enlil were in his shoes, he would be just as empathetic: it was he, Enki, who created mankind and it was therefore natural to feel for them. Enlil angrily retorted that what Enki had created were second-rate beings who were so dumb and unruly that he, Enlil, was made to spend sleepless nights just to ram sanity into them and bring them in line.

 

“You cannot pride yourself on fashioning such imbecilic beings,” Enlil charged. “You ought to be ashamed of yourself Enki. Look at how your Lulu’s  have multiplied and filled every inch of the globe, all  because the only think they could ever be good at is having sex. You created beings, Enki, whose brains reside not in their skulls but in their groins.”    


Enlil once again restated his earlier decree: mankind, the Nephilim, and the Anakim were to be left to their own devices. Their fate was extermination arising from hunger and disease. If any one single “god” so much as extended a charitable hand to them, he would incur the full wrath of he Enlil.  

NIBIRU THREAT HAS ANU ORDER ANUNNAKI EVACUATION

This time around, Enki steeled himself and stoically bore the suffering of his own creation for a much longer time. Whilst deep down he was aching and seething and Noah was relentless in badgering him to take the desperately needed remedial action, he remained aloof for fear of ruffling Enlil’s feathers. Everything has a limit though and in the seventh shar after the onset of the Ice Age, Enki once again buckled.


Mankind was “starving and disintegrating”. They were “like ghosts of the dead”. Enki just could not bear the sight of these wraith-like human figures. At the time, mankind was now worshipping the Anunnaki gods formally, in the manner we do today. Wherever they were, they would congregate once in a while and air intercessions and supplications to the Anunnaki, particularly Enlil, Enki, Ninmah and Marduk although the Enkites as a rule abhorred the rite of worship. Humans were doing this out of sheer desperation in the hope that their “gods” might hear them and do something to put an end to their woes.  


Enki assembled all the Enkites and loyal elders at his mansion at Eridu and pronounced these instructions: "Make a loud noise in the land. Send out heralds to command all the people: ‘Do not revere your gods, do not pray to your goddesses.  There is to be total disobedience!” In other words, Enki decided to force the abolition of religion so that mankind should not remain in a docile, long-suffering state but actualise the inert power in him and become more militant. What this amounted to was an instigation to rise up against Enlil and his fellow Enlilites, who had introduced religion in the time of Seth’s son Enosh.  


Enlil of course knew who was behind the whole humdrum and wasted no time in summoning the ever intractable Enki before the Assembly of the Gods. For much of the meeting, Enki and Enlil exchanged caustic words, Enki in defence of his actions and Enlil spewing venom at him for his intransigence.


Meanwhile, Nibiru was in its way back to the Solar System ecliptic in its 3600-year orbital journey around the Sun and its preliminary effects were already being felt. Using seismological instruments, Ninurta had already detected “quakes and jitters” in the Earth’s crust. Perhaps the most chilling of developments was a report submitted to the Assembly of the Gods by Enki’s second-born son Nergal and his wife Ereshkigal, who were based at Cape Agulhas, the astronomical, climate and Earth-monitoring station in South Africa.

 

They had just returned from the Antarctica and had found that the Antarctic Ice Sheet was slipping and was already at its most precarious angle in relation to the sea. What that meant was that the gravitational tug of a nearing Nibiru was certain to dislodge it into the sea, causing an apocalyptic globalwide flood.


Shortly after receiving the Antarctic Report, Enlil filed his own to King Anu on Nibiru thus: “The next time Nibiru the Sun shall be nearing, Earth to Nibiru's net force (gravity) exposed shall be, Lahmu (Mars) in its circuits on the Sun's other side shall a station take. From the net force of Nibiru Earth in the heavens protection shall not have, Kishar (Jupiter) and its host agitated shall be, Lahamu (Venus) shall also shake and wobble.

 

In Earth's great Below (southern hemisphere), the snow-ice of the Whiteland (Antarctica) its footing is losing; the next time Nibiru the closest to Earth shall approach, the snow-ice off the Whiteland's surface shall come a-sliding. A watery calamity it shall cause: by a huge wave, a Deluge, the Earth will be overwhelmed”!


After studying the report and following consultations with his advisors, King Anu made the decision that both Earth and Mars were to be evacuated and all the Anunnaki were to return to Nibiru. The gold mines in Africa and the smelting and refining facilities at Badtibira were to be shut down. All the Earth-based Anunnaki were to abandon their postings and converge at Sippa, the space station.

 

King Anu was to dispatch a fleet of “celestial chariots” (shuttlecraft) to transport the Anunnaki to the Mothership and onward to Nibiru. Of course all this would not happen overnight: it would take several years for preparations to be made, which in Anunnaki time amounted to mere weeks.

GALZU’S STAY-THE-COURSE MESSAGE

During these hectic days, a most interesting virtuoso of a being touched down at the spaceport at Sippar unannounced. Spaceport commander Utu-Shamash promptly got in touch with Enlil so that he meets him as Earth’s Chief Executive. The gray-haired being, who looked Anunnaki in every respect and sounded like a sage, introduced himself as Galzu, meaning “Great Soul”. He said he was coming from Nibiru as King Anu’s “emissary plenipotentiary” and had a special message to deliver. He asked that Enki and Ninmah also be present to hear the message.


Galzu raised suspicions in the mind of Enlil as Enlil had not received advanced notice from King Anu as to Galzu’s mission. Naturally, Enlil demanded that he shows his bonafides. Galzu produced a sealed and encrypted digital message and handed it to Enlil. Having opened and examined the message tablet, the IT experts at Nippur found that it indeed was consistent with other such tablets they had received from King Anu before: it was authentic and its coding was aboveboard. There was no need to request a confirmation from King Anu.  The message from King Anu in part said, “For King and Council Galzu speaks, his words are my command”.


Enlil then sent for Enki and Ninmah, who were prompt in their arrival. The first thing Galzu noted about Ninmah was how old she looked when she and him had, so he said,  gone to school together on Nibiru at some stage. “Do you remember me Ninmah?” Galzu asked. “We’re of the same age and were classmates.” On her part, Ninmah could not remotely remember the man, who thanks to the slowed biological clocks on Nibiru looked young enough to be her son.


Galzu said he had been sent to Earth to deliver final instructions about the Anunnaki evacuation from Earth ahead of the now near-at-hand Deluge that was certain to arise from the Antarctic Ice Sheet’s precipitate slippage into the Antarctic Sea.   It was not in the interests of the three to return to Nibiru as they simply would be returning to their death. Galzu said when Dumuzi came to Nibiru with Adapa and stayed there for one shar, his body chemistry was closely studied and it was found that if he stayed longer, he would die way much earlier than he could if he stayed on Earth. This was because having lived on Earth for all his life, his biological processes were now attuned to Earth’s circadian rhythms and were not amenable to Nibiru’s.


Galzu went on to say all the Anunnaki who had returned to Nibiru after their tour of duty had died after living for only a few shars. “Those who on Earth the longest stayed by the returning harshly were afflicted: their bodies to Nibiru's cycles were accustomed no longer, their sleep was disturbed, their eyesight was failing, the net force of Nibiru weighted their walk,” Galzu said. “Their minds were also affected, as sons were older than the parents they had left! Death, my comrades, to the returnees quickly came; of that I am here a warning to give!”

ENLIL OUTRAGED AT CONFINEMENT TO EARTH

 In a nutshell, Galzu’s message was that Enki, Enlil and Ninmah were to spend their entire lives on  Earth, where they stood a better chance of living longer than they would on Nibiru: they would return to  Nibiru only when staring death in the face so that the last rites were read on the planet of their origin. As such, they should ride out the Deluge and begin life on a new slate once the waters had receded. But the rest of the Anunnaki could return to Nibiru if they so chose.


“Now this is the secret command from Nibiru,” Galzu proceeded. “The three of you on Earth will remain; only to die to Nibiru you will return! In celestial chariots, the Earth encircling, the calamity you shall outwait; to each of the other Anunnaki, a choice to leave or the calamity outwait must be given. The Igigi who Earthlings espoused must between departure and spouses choose: no Earthling, Marduk's Sarpanit included, to Nibiru to journey is allowed! For all who stay and what happens see, in celestial chariots they safety must seek! As for all the others, to depart for Nibiru forthwith they ready must be.”


Enlil was furious as the implications were profound. If he was now confined to Earth, it meant he would no longer inherit the Sirian-Orion throne and he would have to continue contending with Marduk for supremacy on Earth. He ranted to Galzu that he regretted having come to this planet, which Enki and the Lulu’s he created had turned into a cesspit. He didn’t know that as a master, he would become the slave to slaves (Earthlings) and that he would end up being imprisoned on this backward planet.


Galzu listened to him sympathetically.  His response at long last was a philosophical one. Was the Anunnaki mission to Earth a matter of fate, which was avoidable, or destiny, which was unavoidable? “On Nibiru much thinking and soul-searching deep questions were being raised,” he said soothingly. “Should Nibiru to its fate have been left (when need arose to plug the Ozone hole with a canopy of gold particles)? Or was the coming to Earth by the Creator of All (God) conceived and we only unwitting emissaries? Of that, my comrades, the debate will continue!” Enlil cursed under his breath. But was Galzu indeed the genuine article he presented himself as or simply an impostor?

NEXT WEEK: ENKI’S BOAT OF SALVATION

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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 ÂŁ18,000 (around P ÂŒ 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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