Questions on Credo Mutwa
Benson C Sail
THIS EARTH, MY BROTHER
Today, we answer questions about the iconic Zulu Shaman, Vusamazulu Credo Mutwa
WHEN DO WE SEE AN OBITUARY OF CREDO MUTWA?
Only in the event of his demise. The great Zulu shaman continues to draw breath at age 98. True, he is frail and sports a pair of bifocals which are as thick as a magnifying glass, but he is yet to cross over. Would to God that he lived forever!
CREDO MUTWA’S MIDDLE NAME IS “VUSAMAZULU”. WHAT DOES IT MEAN?
It is a honorific conferred on him by his fellow tribesmen. It stands for “Awakener of the Zulus”, meaning the tribe’s greatest enlightener. But he’s arguably the world’s greatest enlightener. David Icke has described Credo as the most knowledgeable human being he has ever encountered and dedicated his most impactful book, The Biggest Secret, to the man.
CREDO MUTWA REFERS TO HIMSELF AS THE ZULU SANUSI. WHAT DOES IT MEAN?
It means “Keeper of Ancient Knowledge”. This has been passed on through ancient African religion, which according to Credo went underground and assumed the guise of “Secret Societies” when the white man started to ridicule and demonise our spirituality. Credo is the only surviving Zulu Sanusi. For many years, it was only he and his departed aunt.
DID CREDO MUTWA GO TO SCHOOL?
He did yes. He started when he was 14 years old, which was not odd in his time. But how far he went is not clear. If his education was interrupted time and again, it was because his father was always travelling. But he’s so naturally brilliant and articulate and speaks and writes English with flawless mastery.
OF CREDO MUTWA’S BOOKS, WHICH ONE IS YOUR FAVOURITE?
It is Indaba My Children. I doubt whether it is still in print today. It was first published in 1964 and it is highly informative. I bought it from a Gaborone bookshop ten years ago myself.
I GATHER YOU MET CREDO MUTWA IN THE POSH AMBIENCE OF SUN CITY HOTEL IN SOUTH AFRICA. TELL.
I wish I did. What happened was that some Smart Alec with a Spanish accent called me from Sun City and invited me over to meet “the ranks of the Anunnaki”. He claimed he was Anunnaki himself. I refused to take the bait hook, line, and sinker. It wasn’t Credo at all but that’s how the word went out. Credo had written thus of Sun City: “I was told that under Sun City strange mining operations were in progress, deep underground, and that many of the Africans who worked in those mines disappeared and never returned home again, although their paychecks kept on being sent to their family. The men never returned home, as ordinary miners do.” Forewarned is forearmed!
I KNOW CREDO IS GETTING ALONG IN YEARS. HOW IS HE DOING HEALTHWISE?
Like every Tyrannosaurus Rex, he has his share of ailments that attend senescence. You cannot be in excellent health at that age. Years back, in 2011, Credo had a serious health scare when he suffered a massive stroke that left him a virtual vegetable. But David Icke moved in double quick time to bring in a special breed of healers, Andreas and Mike, who restored Credo to sound health practically in a trice. They did not use drugs, herbs, prayer, or incantations: they simply “cupped” their hands around his head (watch the miracle here: https://newsvideo.su/video/4025787) and engaged him in lighthearted conversation. They said their method was an advanced form of healing using “the real laws of physics”.
Although at least one of the two shows his face on video, neither publicised his full names or place of residence. The duo didn’t want to be overnight celebrities of some sort. Since then, Credo has generally been in fine fettle, walks unaided, and speaks without faltering. He is far from senile. His only complaint is that of age-related diabetes.
WHAT IS CREDO’S NAME FOR THE ANUNNAKI?
He calls them the Chitauli. But this is a blanket term for every Alien race from outer space. He defines the term as meaning “despots” or “task-masters” – basically the enslavers of mankind. Remember what Enlil-Jehovah instructed Enki when the latter was mandated to fashion Adam and Eve? “Create a slave race”. To tell by the way Credo characterises the Chitauli, he’s either referring to Reptoids or the Enlilites, who are allied to the Reptoids.
THE TERM ZULU IS TAKEN TO MEAN “PEOPLE OF THE SKY”. DOES CREDO SUBSCRIBE TO THE SAME MEANING TOO?
No he doesn’t. In fact, he laughs off this interpretation as simply silly. Credo is persuaded that Zulu means “People from other Worlds”. This is what he says: “When you ask a South African White anthropologist what the name of Zulu means, he will say it means ‘the sky’, and therefore the Zulu call themselves ‘People of the Sky’. That is nonsense. In the Zulu language, our name for the sky, the blue sky, is sibakabaka.
Our name for inter-planetary space, however, is izulu and the weduzulu, which means ‘inter-planetary space, the dark sky that you see with stars in it every night’, also has to do with travelling. The Zulu word for travelling at random, like a nomad or a gypsy, is izula. Now, you can see that the Zulu people in South Africa were aware of the fact that you can travel through space, not through the sky like a bird but you can travel through space!” Credo scoffs at the idea that it was Albert Einstein who first realised that space and time were simply sides of the same coin.
“The people of America and the people of Europe say that it was Albert Einstein who came out with the idea that time and space are one and the same thing. My answer to that is, ‘No!’ My people, the Zulus, knew that space and time was one thing. In the language of the Zulu, one of the names for space is umkati. And the Zulu name for time is isikati. Now, our people knew that space and time were one and the same thing, hundreds of years before Einstein’s birth. And furthermore, our people believed, like the Dogon people (of Mali), that there are 24 planets in our part of space which are inhabited by intelligent creatures of various states. And this knowledge has never been recorded in any book.”
WHAT ARE THE SIMILARITIES/DIFFERENCES BETWEEN CREDO’S VERSION OF REPTOIDS AND THAT OF THE SUMERIAN CHRONICLERS?
Both the two identify Reptoids as essentially Lizards who are capable of “shape-shifting”, that is, switching their appearance from Reptoid to human in a split second. Both say the Reptoids came from another planet, “in terrible vessels which flew through the air, vessels which were shaped like great bowls and which made a terrible noise and a terrible fire in the sky” (spaceships), that they cross-bred with our womenfolk to produce Kings and Chiefs. Both tell us that these Reptoids are fallen angels who once rebelled against God and created this holographic universe of theirs; that the Reptoids feed on human beings both directly and indirectly. Credo Mutwa:
“Throughout South Africa, amongst many tribes, you’ll find stories of these amazing creatures who are capable of changing from reptile to human being, and from reptile to any other animal of their choice. And these creatures do really exist. No matter where you go throughout Southern, Eastern, Western, and Central Africa, you’ll find that the description of these creatures is the same. Even amongst tribes which never, throughout their long history, had contact with each other at all … They hide in deep cavities underground, because they are always feeling cold.
In these cavities, we are told, there are huge fires which are kept going by slaves, human, zombie-like slaves. And, it is further said, that these Zuswazi, these Imbulu, or whatever you choose to call them, are not capable of eating solid food. They either eat human blood, or they eat that power, the energy that is generated when human beings, on the surface of the Earth, are fighting and killing each other in large numbers.” However, whereas cosmic historians say the Reptoids originate from the Draco star system, Credo suggests that they hail from Alpha Centauri, which at only 4.7 light years away is the closest star and planetary system to the Solar System.
“Where they come from, I will never claim to know,” he admits candidly. “But they are associated with certain stars in the sky, and one of these stars is a large group of stars which is part of the Milky Way, which our people call Ingiyab, which means ‘The Great Serpent’. And there is a red star, a reddish star, near the tip of this huge rim of stars which our people call IsoneNkanyamba.
Now, this star called IsoneNkanyamba, I managed to find its English name. It is the star called Alpha Centauri, in English. Now, this, is something that is worth investigating. Why is it that well over 500 tribes in parts of Africa which I’ve visited in the last 40 or 50 years or so, all of them describe similar creatures?”
IS IT TRUE THAT THE ZULUS KNOW ABOUT PLANET NIBIRU?
It is yes. I wrote about that (see Article 69, titled Nibiru Wreaks Havoc.). They call it Mushoshonono and characterise it as a sinister star because of the hazards it can pose to Earthlings when it approaches. They say it has been responsible for globalwide floods and abrupt changes in Earth’s spinning direction. Credo Mutwa: “I am told by the great storytellers of our tribes that … once, many thousands of years ago a terrible star, the kind of star with a very long tail, descended very close upon our skies.
So close that the earth turned upside down … The sun rose in the south and set in the north … After that came a terrible deluge of water accompanied by winds so great that they blew whole mountaintops away … That is the great story of our forefathers. And we are told that this thing is going to happen again very soon.”
WHAT DOES CREDO SAY CONCERNING THE ABODE OF THE DEAD?
He says the Zulu people postulate two venues. The Abapezulu (“those who are above”) live in some celestial place happily ever after. The Abapansi (“the ones who are below”) live somewhere in the bowels of the Earth. This is not the proverbial Hell, but an idyllic place.
I HEAR CREDO ONCE HAD AN ENCOUNTER WITH THE SO-CALLED “GREYS”.
Yes, on several occasions actually when they have tried to kind of “investigate” him. He says they are the servants of the Reptoids. This is the way he describes them: “Their limbs were too long for their body, and their necks were very thin, and their heads were almost as large as full-grown watermelons. They had strange eyes, which looked like goggles of some kind. They had no noses, as we have, only small holes on either side of the raised area between their eyes.
Their mouth had no lips, only thin cuts as if made by a razor … I looked into the thing’s eyes and I noticed that the creature wanted me to keep looking into his eyes. I looked and saw that, through these covers over their eyes, I could see the creature’s real eyes behind this black, goggle-like cover. Its eyes were round, with straight pupils, like those of a cat. And the thing was not moving its head. It was breathing; I could see that. I could see little nostrils moving, closing and shutting, but if anybody says to me that I smelled like that creature, really, I would konk him one on the face.
The creature smelled like nobody’s business. It had a strange smell, a throat-tightening, chemical smell, which smelled like rotten eggs, and also like hot copper [sulfur], a very strong smell. And the creature saw me looking at it, and it looked down at me and, all of a sudden. It had thin, long fingers, which had more joints than my human fingers have. And the thumb was in the wrong place. Each one of the fingers ended in a black claw, almost like certain African birds.”
THE ANUNNAKI: WHAT WERE THEY CALLED WHEN AFRICANS FIRST ENCOUNTERED THEM?
Credo says the Zulus called them Wazungu. He explains thus: “Many, many, many centuries ago, before the first White man came to Africa, we African people encountered a race of Alien beings which looked exactly like the European White man who were going to invade Africa in our future. These Alien creatures are tall. Some of them are rather well built, like athletes, and they have slightly slanting blue eyes and high cheek-bones.
And they have got golden hair, and they look exactly like the Europeans of today, with one exception: their fingers are beautifully made, long and like those of musicians and artists. Now, these creatures came to Africa out of the sky, in craft which looked like the boomerang of the Australian people. Now, when one of these craft comes down to land, it creates a whirlwind of dust, which makes a very large sound indeed, like that of a tornado.
In the language of some African tribes, a whirlwind is zungar-uzungo. Now, our people gave several names to these White-skinned Aliens. They called them Wazungu, a word which loosely means “god” but literally means “people of the dust-devil or the whirlwind” … And when Africans saw the real Europeans, the White men from Europe, they transferred to them the name Wazungu.
Before we met the people from Europe, we Africans, we had met White skinned Wazungu, and we transferred the name Wazungu to the Europeans, from the Aliens. Now, in the Zulu language, we call a White man Umlungu. Now, the word Umlungu means exactly the same as Wazungu, ‘a god or a creature which creates a big whirlwind underground’.”
YOU WROTE SOMETHING ABOUT THE WONDERS OF COPPER. WHAT DOES CREDO MUTWA SAY ABOUT THE SAME METAL?
He says the Zulus call it ithusi, which means “helper” as it serves to frighten evil spirits (I too wear a roundish copper bungle touching at the ends around my wrist for the same reason). But of iron, he says it is called insimbi, which means “evil metal” – the metal of war. Spears or assegais were forged from iron and when Zulus returned from war, they underwent a purification ritual which lasted some seven days.
IS IT TRUE THAT CREDO MUTWA WAS ONCE ABDUCTED BY THE REPTOIDS?
Yes he was, in 1959, by the Greys, who Zulus call the Matindane. He went missing for 4 days. This was when he was in search of a special herb around Zimbabwe’s Inyangani Mountain. He was simply spirited into the mountain and subjected to excruciating torture. Once he had undergone this experience, he became bisexual. Credo says even today, people vanish when they draw closer to the Inyangani Mountains as under it thrives a Reptoid city. He says the same of the Matopo Hills, where Cecil Rhodes is buried, and the Leribe Mountain in Lesotho.
NEXT WEEK: QUESTIONS ON STEWART SWERDLOW
Columns
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.