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Egypt Bagged Again

… courtesy of infiltration stratagem by Jehovah-Enlil’s clan

With the passing of Joshua’s generation, General Atiku, the promised peace and prosperity of a land flowing with milk and honey disappeared, giving way to chaos and confusion.

Maybe Joshua himself was to blame for this shambolic state of affairs. He had failed to mentor a successor in the manner Moses had mentored him. He had left the nation without a central government or a human head of state but as a confederacy of twelve independent tribes without any unifying force except their Anunnaki gods.

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Besides lacking central temporal authority (i.e. central government), there was little religious authority in many ways as well. Although they had the Tabernacle (which centuries later would be replaced by the Temple in Jerusalem), there was competition from private altars.

These were not altars for idol worship, but a place in the backyard to offer private sacrifices. The alternative of private sacrifices undermined the idea of the Tabernacle as the central location for religious life. On top of everything, the era of the Judges was a period of almost continual warfare – a state of affairs that would continue until the time of Samuel, the last of the Judges.

Just who were the judges, General? At that time in Israel, a judge was almost never a person who passed judgment on certain cases, or who settled disputes, though there was such a role. Deborah did have a kind of judicial function, but this seemed to be more related to her role as a prophetess than as one of Israel’s judges. None of the other judges in the Book of Judges actually judged in the commonest sense of the word.

Judges were not an early prototype of Israel’s kings, either. Judges were primarily “deliverers” from the oppression of Israel’s enemies. They sometimes acted independently, as did Samson, who was a kind of “Lone Ranger judge”. Some of the judges led the military forces of one or more tribes against their foes.

These judges did not lead the military forces of the entire nation, but only certain segments of it. As a rule, they did not have any administrative function, as a king would. The Anunnaki gods raised these judges spontaneously, because of Israel’s oppression by their enemies. There was no succession and no dynasty. Usually, the Israelites were free from oppression as long as the judge lived.

The era of judges lasted for at least 300 years. This was 15 judges in all, General.

The first judge was Othniel, Joshua’s nephew, and the last was Samuel.

Othniel led for 40 years. The longest reign was Ehud’s, Othniel’s successor who was in office for 80 years. With a tenure of less than 1 year, Shamgar’s was the shortest.

Of the 15 judges, only one was a woman, Deborah. The fourth judge, she led for 40 years, one of only very few women in the Bible to receive a prominence that is otherwise strictly the preserve of males.

Perhaps the most famous judge of all, General, was Samson, who led for 22 years. Of course his saga as related in the Bible is replete with legendary tales: no man of any size simply would possess the power to bring down a hall or take on a whole army singlehandedly and repulse them: such feats are only possible in Sylvester Stallone’s Rambo franchise movies. It also does not make sense that once he was shorn of his hair, he lost his power.

ENLILITES WIN BACK EGYPT IN THE TIME OF PEREZ

In about 1130 BC, the Enlilites, General, once again had Egypt back into their sphere of influence through Ramesses IX, the eighth Pharaoh of Egypt’s 20th dynasty. The biblical book of Ruth furnishes more than a hint that King David, Israel’s greatest King, was descended from Ramesses IX. How, General, do we so deduce given that the name Ramesses does not appear anywhere in the relevant passage?

RUTH 4:18-22 lists David’s ancestors as follows: “Now these are the generations of Perez: Perez fathered Hezron, Hezron fathered Ram, Ram fathered Amminadab, Amminadab fathered Nahshon, Nahshon fathered Salmon, Salmon fathered Boaz, Boaz fathered Obed, Obed fathered Jesse, and Jesse fathered David.” This is 10 names in all. But let us for the time being assume away the first 8. This leaves us with Jesse and David only, the last two on the list.

According to Egypt’s 21st dynasty king list, the last two pharaohs of that era were Siamun and Psusennes II. The name Siamun means “Son of Amun”, Amun being the Egyptian national god who in that country was known as Amen-Ra but who in Sumerian records is referred to as Marduk, Enki’s firstborn son.

Amun was therefore a suffix name. Now, if, General, we remove the suffix Amun and replace it with “Yah”, the abbreviation for Yahweh, the generic name of the Jewish god, we get “Si-Yah” or Yah-Si (meaning “God’s gift” in Hebrew) when reversed. This is Jesse in English, General!

As for Psusennes II, General, this is the Greek rendering of the name Pashebakaenat. Pashebakaenat means “Bright Star of the Lord” and we know that the prominent Jewish figure who is associated with a star is David. But there is more, General.

In the Egyptian language, the Milky Way Galaxy, a star cluster of which the Solar System is a part, is referred to as the Duhat. This is Dufat when the “h” is replaced with an “f”, or David in English! In hieroglyphic imagery, the Duat was represented by a star in a circle. Pashebakaenat also translates as “the Star of the City”. The city was Avaris, the Hebrew capital in northern Egypt during Hykso rule. Avaris was also known as Zoan, which is Zion in the Bible.

Thus the Star of the City of Zion, the Duat, was King David, a honour he was accorded when he ruled Egypt as Pharaoh Psusennes II. Indeed, when Pharaoh Psusennes II was buried, the cartouche inscription on his grave showed glyphs representing a star and a city to underscore the fact that he was the Star of the Hyksos’ capital city.

Similarities between Pharaoh Psusennes II and King David in fact abound, General. Pharaoh Psusenne II’s daughter was called Maakhare MuTamhat, while David’s daughter was known as Maakhah Tamar. The Pharaoh’s army general was called Tchoeb, while David’s was called Joab. The Pharaoh’s architect was called Herum Atif, while David’s was called Hiram Abif, the masonic hero.

The fact that the Hebrew patriarchs were Egyptian pharaohs, General, explains why there isn’t the slightest archeological evidence of their presence in today’s Israel. The Old Testament scribes knew all about this but they went out of their way to conceal the fact that some of the Jewish patriarchs were actually Egyptian pharaohs.

The reason they so did was to avoid glorifying Egypt, which being the place of their 400-year bondage left a very sour taste in the mouths of the Israelites. It’s like the Israeli establishment owning up to the fact that Adolf Hitler was actually a Jew (that is, a Rothschild as we demonstrated in the Zeta Series): how would the ordinary Jew receive that when all along he has been told that Hitler was the Devil incarnate himself who gassed to death 6 million Jews?

The ten patriarchs listed in the Book of Ruth straddle both the 20th and 21st century dynasties, with Perez being Ramesses IX, Hezron corresponding with Ramesses X, and Ram equating with Ramesses XI – the last three kings of the 20th dynasty. The rest, who include David, constituted the entire Pharaonic roll of the 21st dynasty.

But exactly how did the Enlilites prise Egypt from the Enkites circa 1130 BC, General?

SMENDES OPENS INFILTRATION GAMBIT

Infiltrational intermarriages, General, were the Enlilites’ tried and tested strategy for seizing the reins in Egypt. This tactic they repeated during the reign of Ramesses IX (Perez in the Bible), when they had Smendes marry Tentamun B, the daughter of Ramesses IX in the 1120s BC.

Historians all note that Smendes was like a bolt out of the blue. “His precise origins remain a mystery,” says the authoritative online encyclopaedia Wikipedia, very typical of somebody shady.

Since the Enlilites were a patient lot and liked to bide their time particularly in matters of this nature, Smendes wasn’t fast-tracked to Pharaonic office. Ramesses IX was succeeded by Ramesses X (Hezron in the Bible), who in turn was succeeded by Ramesses XI (Ram in the Bible), their combined reign amounting to 56 years by some accounts. It was after the death of Ramesses XI, the 10th and last Pharaoh of the 20th dynasty, that Smendes (Aminadab in the Bible) was finally inserted as Pharaoh circa 1070 BC to usher in the biblically significant 21st dynasty.

At the time Smendes took over (not through a legal succession but a power-grab), he was the governor of Avaris in Lower Egypt (northern Egypt, formerly Hykso-Hebrew territory), and therefore controlled that region. Nor did Ramesses XI wield that much power: his authority had been drastically curtailed by the Amunite priesthood, who were based at Thebes, the capital of Upper Egypt (southern Egypt) as he effectively ruled southern Egypt along with the god Marduk’s High Priest.

After ruling for 26 years, Smendes was succeeded by Amenemnisu (Nashon in the Bible), who ruled for only 4 years. Meanwhile, in order to foster peaceful co-existence, the high priesthood and the Pharaonic line had intermarried. The next Pharaoh, Psusennes I (Salmon in the Bible), who we may as well call the first David as the two are namesakes, was the product of this merger and he’s on record as having at least provisionally unified Egypt during his reign. Psusennes I was based in northern Egypt although he was universally acknowledged as the Egyptian Pharaoh overall. He ruled for 52 years, in his waning years by co-regency with his heir Amenemope.

JESSE USED TO PRISE EGYPTIAN THRONE FROM LIBYANS

Now, according to the 21st dynasty king list, General, Amenemope (Obed in the Bible) was succeeded by Osorkon (Boaz in the Bible). In the Bible, however, the positions of the two are reversed, with Obed coming after Boaz. Why did the Jewish scribes switch the names, General? Clearly, there must have been something they wanted to fudge and obfuscate here. If so, just what was this, General?

In 21st dynasty times, a Berber tribe of Libyan origin known as the Meshwesh began to converge on Egypt and in the course of time grew so powerful as to pose a formidable threat to the stability of the country. They were particularly concentrated in the Nile Delta region of northern Egypt, where they established Bubastis as their power base.

The Egyptian establishment were alarmed by the prospect of being supplanted by the power in the ascendant that were the Meshwesh and so decided to integrate them as attempting to expel them from Egypt would have been a no-brainer. Hence there were intermarriages between the aristocratic families of northern and southern Egypt with the Meshwesh.

But the Meshwesh were not content with simply being integrated into the Egyptian nobility by way of matrimony: they wanted to take the Egyptian reins, which they did as the pharaoh who took over from Amenemope, Oskorn (Boaz), was of Libyan origins.

The biblical scribes didn’t want to make known the fact that Jesse, the father of King David, was of Libyan descent, which would make David a Libyan too. So they had Obed listed as the father of Jesse when Jesse’s father according to Egyptian records was the Libyan Oskorn.

But the biblical scribes, General, have a tendency of shooting themselves in the foot. To them, every King was fathered by his predecessor but that was not always the case. In the case of Jesse, he was not actually the son of Oskorn: he was a son-in-law. Once again, Jesse was the instrument used by the Enlilite to reclaim the Egyptian throne from the Libyans. He was an Egyptian of Hebrew origin and so he was a true-blue Jew.

The fact that Jesse was a Hebrew Pharaoh explains why the Bible seems to lay overmuch emphasis on “the Branch of Jesse” because the scribes were aware Oskorn, his predecessor, was not Jewish but Libyan.

But as shall soon become clear, General, the Libyans were not happy that they had lost the Egyptian throne to the Hebrews. They too began to plot a dramatic comeback. They were successful in this regard and incepted the 22nd dynasty. They took over Egypt during the reign of Psusennes II, Jesse’s son who is best known as King David.

PROPHET BALAAM FORETEELS OF DAVID

When Moses, as Egypt’s 10th Pharaoh of the 18th dynasty, set about heralding the return of planet Nibiru (Aten to the Egyptians), the planet of the Anunnaki – the Old Testament gods – this was circa 1367 BC. About 50 years later, Ishkur-Adad, the Jehovah of the Exodus, had a mercenary sorcerer announce the imminence of the Solar System’s most eminent planet. This non-Israeli seer is in the Bible known as Balaam.

We have in the past dwelt on Balaam, the renowned curse-and-bless prophet who was hired by the King of Moab with a view to predisposing the Israelites to a telling defeat in the event of war. As it was, Balaam, who was speaking on behalf of Adad, instead pronounced positive oracles – blessings – about the Nation of Israel. In addition, Balaam volunteered a projection of a future scenario at the say-so of Adad. “Let me tell you what the future holds,” he said to the King, “that which will come about to this nation and to your people at the end of days.”

The “future”, General, was being foretold in the context of a certain “star” that was headed in the direction of the ecliptic as Balaam spoke. The following are Balaam’s exact words in this connection: “I see it, though not now; I behold it, though it is not near: a Star of Jacob is on its course. A Scepter from Israel will arise — Moab’s quarters it will crush, all the Children of Seth it will unsettle” (NUMBERS 24:17).

In the statement, General, Balaam alludes to two things – a Star of Jacob and a Sceptre from Israel. Both these two terms can be logically interchanged with King David as he was the only Jewish King associated with a star, and the sceptre of course was an insignia of royalty.

David, it goes without saying, was the scepter that was going to rule Israel someday. But the reference to David, General, is secondary: what Balaam was here talking about was Nibiru, which at this juncture was 700 years away. It certainly was not nearing the ecliptic but it was en route. As explained in previous articles, Nibiru acquired the moniker “Star of Jacob” after Jacob sojourned there for about 300 years.

Balaam indicated that the Star of Jacob would pitch at “the End of Days”. In Christian pulpits, the term “Last Days” is spoken of in relation to that apocalyptic time when the reappearance of Jesus will loom large. That, General, is patently untrue. According to Sumerian records, the End of Days or Last Days referred to the concluding years of a zodiacal age. Thus, what Balaam was saying was that Nibiru would materialise as the Age of Aries (2220 to 60 BC) drew to a close.

Balaam employed the term “end of days” to echo the words Jacob, the progenitor of the 12 tribes of Israel, had used on his deathbed as he pronounced forth his last will and testament to his sons. “Come gather together,” Jacob said, “that I may tell you that which shall befall you at the end of days” (GENESIS 49:1).

I am sure, General, that Balaam did say much more on the subject of Nibiru, which the Jewish scribes disregarded as it was privileged information.

NEXT WEEK: THE DAVID ERA BEGINS

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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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