The Flood Breaks Forth
Benson C Saili
THIS EARTH, MY BROTHER
“My creatures have filled the rivers like dragonflies” – Ninmah, Enki’s partner in the creation of Adam
Why did Noah build such a humongous maritime vessel that was the size of a stadium? If you are to take Genesis on its word, the raison d’être was to have ample room to accommodate a pair of every creature that existed with a view to perpetuate the species after the flood, which was reckoned to be on such a scale as to destroy virtually every inkling of life. Certainly, estimates of the carrying capacity of the so-called ark – which in truth was a submarine – range from 70,000 to 120,000 animals of the size of a full-grown sheep.
The Sumerian records, which predated Genesis by 2500 years, do attest to creatures being on board the ark but they were in the form of DNA, not in fully-formed physicality. Enki, Ninmah, and Ningishzidda had seen to it that they were packaged in such a way. The notion, therefore, that the ark was designed with a view to accommodate scores of thousands of the animal family just does not wash. So why did Enki conceive of such a colossal submersible vessel?
Once again, the answer can easily be gleaned from the Sumerian records. Enki had anticipated that all the people who would help in the construction of the ark plus their family and friends might opt to come aboard when it was complete. We’re talking in the region of roughly 10,000 people given that Shuruppak was a cult centre and therefore must have been quite populous. Sadly, only a fraction of the craftsmen and their families chose to embark. “Any who to the abode of the lord Enki (Africa) wish to go, let them too aboard come,” Noah appealed to the hundreds of craftsmen who had assisted in the construction effort.
It is part of human nature to dread the unknown and so the overwhelming majority politely declined. Instead, they misguidedly looked forward to a new era of abundance that would be ushered in by Enlil once Noah had set sail for Africa. All they did was help ensure Noah and his family were well-catered to: they donated whatever provisions they could spare to get him to enjoy a hassle-free voyage. “Eager to see Ziusudra (Noah) depart, the townspeople to the boat food and water brought,” Enki relates in Zechariah Sitchin’s The Lost Book of Enki. “From their own mouths sustenance they took; to appease Enlil they were in a hurry! Four-legged animals into the boat were also driven, birds from the field by themselves flew in.”
Enlil, who as yet wasn’t aware Noah was Enki’s son nor that it was Enki who had come up with the idea of a salvavic water-borne vessel, watched indifferently as the ark took shape and as it readied for departure. His carefree attitude stemmed from his sadistic belief that the ark would capsize and all its inhabitants would drown in the raging flood.
ANUNNAKI PREPARE FOR TAKE-OFF
As the countdown to the onset of the Deluge began, Enlil assembled all the Anunnaki at Sippar, the spaceport, to administer to them dispersal instructions. Those destined for planet Nibiru, the rank-and-file Anunnaki, were the first to be briefed. The “celestial boats” (space vehicles) were assigned to them and soon they made their way aboard amid tears of nostalgia and other such sentimental outpourings.
Next were Marduk, the Nefilim (the Igigi who had settled on Earth), and the Anakim (the offspring of the Nefilim and Earthling women). Marduk put it to Enlil that these were his people and he would give them his own dispersal instructions. He accordingly had them airlifted to Mount Hermon, the landing place (airport) in modern-day Lebanon. There, he offered them two choices: either they came with him to Mars or they sought citadel in “distant mountainlands”. Only a few decided to accompany him to Mars: most opted to ride out the Flood right here on Earth as they had fallen in love with the breathtakingly beautiful planet as opposed to the dreary Mars.
The last to be briefed by Enlil were members of his own clan, who included Enki’s second-born son Nergal, who was married to Enlil’s daughter Ereshkigal. Ninurta, Enlil’s firstborn, was assigned to the “mountainlands beyond the oceans” (the Americas) to report on “rumblings”, or earth tremors, if at all. Nergal and Ereshkigal, the meteorological experts, were to keep vigil over Antarctica and alert Enlil on the slightest indication that the Antarctic Ice Sheet was slipping into the sea. Ishkur-Adad, Enlil’s youngest son, was to see to it that Earthlings did not besiege the spaceport as the Anunnaki space vehicles prepared to roar aloft into the inky space.
Utu-Shamash, Enlil’s grandson and the Anunnaki’s lead pilot who was also in charge of the spaceport at Sippar, was to be at the controls of the rocket in which Enlil would head into orbit. The rocket would blast off whilst “showering down a rain of eruptions” as a ceremonial farewell to the planet whose future viability was uncertain in the face of the upcoming Deluge.
Meanwhile, the Nefilim and the Anakim had at the urging of Enki and Marduk spread word amongst the Earthlings in their community that they relocate to higher ground without spelling out the specifics. In the 2012 book Lost Civilizations & Secrets of the Past, P Von Ward writes that, “The Snohomish of the Pacific Northwest say ETs (the Anunnaki) warned their ancestors to ride the coming tide to the mountaintops. More than 500 similar ‘legends’ have been identified worldwide, warning to prepare for survival after a widespread flood.”
On his part, Enki personally took the trouble to inform Noah as to when he should give instructions to set the ark in motion. "When Shamash who orders a trembling at dusk will shower down a rain of eruptions, board thou the ship, button up the entrance!" Given that the royal rocket would launch at dusk and Shuruppak, where Noah was based, was only 180 km south of Sippar, the “rain of eruptions” spewing forth from the Shamash rocket would be more than amply visible to Noah and his submarine crew.
THE DELUGE IS ON
Finally, the die was cast. “For nights before the calamity struck, in the heavens Nibiru as a glowing star was seen,” relates Enki. “Then there was darkness in daytime, and at night the Moon as though by a monster was swallowed. The Earth began to shake, by a netforce (gravity) before unknown it was agitated. Then the sound of a rolling thunder boomed, lightnings the skies lit up. Depart! Depart! Utu to the Anunnaki gave the signal … The Anunnaki lifted up, their rocketships, like torches, setting the land ablaze with their glare …
Crouched in the boats of heaven (rockets), the Anunnaki heavenward were lofted … In Shuruppak, eighteen leagues away (180 km), the bright eruptions by Ninagal were seen.” The Deluge was in progress. The moment he saw the signal by Shamash, Ninagal, Enki’s fifth-born son with his wife Ninki, rushed to get aboard Noah’s ark.
Known as “Lord of the Great Waters”, that is, the seas, he was the Anunnaki’s greatest navigator and superintended over the shipping of ores from the Abzu (Africa) to the Edin in Sumeria. He was to be the lead pilot of the ark. Ninagal brought with him a “cedarwood box of the life essences and life eggs of living creatures”. This was simply a cryogenic tank in which the DNA of animals and even medicinal herbs were kept.
Noah’s children and their wives, his relations and a few hundred craftsmen along with their broader families, embarked too. Altogether, the number of humans on the ark must have been at least a thousand, and not only Noah and his nuclear family unit as Genesis wrongly suggests. Noah was the very last to come board. He was restless, anxious both for his own fate in case something went wrong and the ark broke apart and for that of the rest of mankind who were certain to perish in the great inundation. Says the Sumerian chronicles: "He was in and out (of the ark): he could not sit, could not crouch … His heart was broken: he was vomiting gall.”
The airborne Anunnaki themselves were far from calm and composed. Says Enki: “Though they were prepared for the Deluge, its coming was a frightening experience: the noise of the Deluge set the gods trembling.” The rage of the Deluge is described in bone-chilling detail in the Sumerian texts. Below is one such snippet:
“On that day, on that unforgettable day, the Deluge with a roar began. In the Whiteland (Antarctica), at the Earth's bottom, the Earth's foundations were shaking. Then with a roar to a thousand thunders equal, off its foundations the Ice Sheet slipped: by Nibiru's unseen netforce it was pulled away, into the south sea crashing. One sheet of ice into another Ice Sheet was smashing, the Whiteland's surface like a broken eggshell was crumbling. All at once, a tidal wave arose, the very skies was the wall of waters reaching.
A storm, its ferocity never before seen, at the Earth's bottom began to howl: its winds the wall of water were driving, the tidal wave northward was spreading. Northward was the wall of waters onrushing, the Abzu lands it was reaching. Therefrom toward the settled lands it travelled, the Edin it overwhelmed. When the tidal wave, the wall of waters, Shuruppak reached, the boat of Ziusudra the tidal wave from its moorings lifted, tossed it about: like a watery abyss the boat it swallowed. Though completely submerged, the boat held firm, not a drop of water into it did enter. Outside the storm's wave the people overtook like a killing battle.”
ANUNNAKI WEEP AT CARNAGE OF WATERY ORDEAL
The Deluge had a much more harrowing psychological effect on the Anunnaki who were in orbit in several spacecraft than the humans who were riding in Noah’s submarine. The Anunnaki were watching the disaster in real time on satellite television in their spacecraft. With close-up satellite pictures, they were easily able to assess the extent of the tear-jerking destruction of both property and lives.
Talking of tears, Ninmah, who had a direct role in the creation of mankind by way of genetic engineering, was inconsolable, with Inanna-Ishtar, Enlil’s granddaughter, no less so. Say the Sumerian texts: “The Mother Goddess herself, Ninhursag (Ninmah), was shocked by the utter devastation. She bewailed what she was seeing: the Goddess saw and she wept … Her lips were covered with feverishness … My creatures have become like flies, she mourned. They have filled the rivers like dragonflies, their fatherhood taken by the rolling sea."
Inanna “cried out like a woman in travail: the olden days are alas turned to clay,” she whimpered. In his spacecraft, Enki turned off the live feed and buried his face into his hands, his tears as copious as the very floods that had swallowed up his own creation. Ninmah asked herself: why did she have to save her own life when mankind, who she had helped usher into existence, was being devoured by this molten inferno-like flood?
Enlil’s emotions are not documented but from the little that is said about his reaction, it seems he was more concerned about the damage wrought to Earth itself than to mankind as he had to begin life anew on the same wrecked planet. Meanwhile, the flood was on a roll. It was like the world had come to an end altogether and a brand new earth was in the offing. “The Moon disappeared,” says the inscriptions on Sumerian cuneiform clay tablets. “The rains roared in the clouds; the winds became savage. The Deluge set out, its might came upon the people like a battle … It bellowed like a bull: the winds whinnied like a wild ass. The darkness was dense; the Sun could not be seen.”
All the while, Noah’s ark kept afloat, wholly intact: the furious flood had no deleterious effect upon it whatsoever. Why did it hold up amidst the tumultuous waters? Says one expert: “The interesting thing about Noah’s ark is that its construction was on a 1:6 ratio. Naval architecture reveals that this is the most stable ratio for an ocean-going vessel. It could have easily survived even big ocean waves and would be next to impossible to capsize.” The incomparable Enki deserves plaudits for having mathematically taken such ramifications into account when he hunched over his desk to design the vessel.
Yet for all his brilliance, Enki had underestimated the duration of the inundation. It lasted not days or weeks but months. Because of this miscalculation, the Anunnaki had seriously undercut themselves in their rations. As such, when hunger hit, it did so with a vengeance, as if it was the price the Anunnaki had to pay for abandoning mankind to a most sudden and all-consuming demise. “The gods cowered like dogs … The Anunnaki, great gods, were sitting in thirst, in hunger … They sat weeping; crouching like sheep at a trough. Their lips were feverish of thirst, they were suffering cramp from hunger.”
NOAH OFFERS THANKSGIVING SACRIFICE TO ENKI AS DELUGE CONCLUDES
The Deluge was at the peak of its rage for five months. Thereafter, the waters began to recede. At that point, Noah instructed the submarine navigator Ninagal to set course for Mount Ararat in today’s Armenia. Mount Ararat was the highest altitude in that region. The vessel sailed for 2 months and 17 days before it came to rest on what Noah would come to term the “The Mountain of Salvation”. As the waters continued to subside, other mountain peaks became visible on the “11th day of the 10th month” according to Sumerian records, that is, about three months later.
During the next 40 days, Noah continued to assess the situation from within the ark using dashboard instruments, assisted by past navigational master Ninagal. Then he released a raven, a swallow and a dove to help signal whether the waters had diminished to ground level. During the first two days, the three birds returned “empty-handed”, which suggested the ground was still water-logged and the vegetation was still submerged.
But on the third day, the dove returned with an olive twig clipped in its mouth – a sign that the world was almost wholly habitable, that climatic peace was about fully restored. This is the origin of the English phrase “extend an Olive branch”, meaning offer terms of peace. The next time Noah sent out the dove, it went for good. The Deluge was over.
It was at this juncture that Noah disembarked from the ark. This was exactly one year and ten months since the Deluge began. “Opening the watertight hatch, from the boat Ziusudra emerged,” say the Sumerian records. “The sky was clear, the Sun was shining, a gentle wind was blowing. Hurriedly upon his spouse and children he to come out called.”
The first thing Noah decided to do was to pay tribute to Enki, who alone had made it possible for all who were in the ark to survive the Deluge. “The lord Enki let us praise,” he said. “To him thanks give!” Then reinforced by his sons, he gathered rocks and built an altar. “A fire on the altar he lit, with aromatic incense he made a fire. A ewe-lamb, one without blemish, for a sacrifice he selected. And upon the altar to Enki the ewe-Iamb as a sacrifice he offered.”
Meanwhile, the Anunnaki could not contemplate the totality of the destruction. It was horrendous and unconscionable. Writes Zechariah Sitchin: “The Deluge had ‘swept over’, and an effort of 120 shars (432,000 years) was wiped away overnight. The south African mines, the cities in Mesopotamia, the control centre at Nippur, the spaceport at Sippar – all lay buried under water and mud. Hovering in their shuttlecraft above devastated Earth, the Anunnaki pantheon impatiently awaited the abatement of the waters so that they could set foot again on solid ground. How were they going to survive henceforth on Earth when their cities and facilities were gone, and even their manpower – Mankind – was totally destroyed?”
NEXT WEEK: EXACTLY WHOSE WRATH WAS THE DELUGE?
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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!
Columns
“I Propose to Diana Tonightâ€
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.â€
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.â€
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.â€
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.â€
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 restaurantâ€, 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. Â 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. Â 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.â€
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 boxâ€.
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
Columns
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!’â€
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.