1. The spiritual entity Qalb

  

Prophecy and knowledge relating to this was granted to the Prophet Adam

  

In the Urdu language the fleshy meat, (the heart) is known as dil, and in Arabic it is called fawad. The spiritual entity that is next to the heart is the Qalb and according to a Prophetic statement the heart and the Qalb are two separate entities.

  

Our solar system is the physical human sphere. There are other realms and spheres, for example the realm of the angels, the realm of the throne of God, the realm of the soul, the realm of the secrets, the realm of unification and the realm of the essence of God. These spheres and life forms inhabiting these spheres have existed before the eruption of the ball of fire, our Sun, which created our solar system. Ordinary angels were created alongside the creation of the souls when God commanded "Be" but the Archangels and the spiritual entities (which are placed inside the human body at birth) have existed in these realms before the formation of our solar system.

  

Many planets in our solar system were inhabited but subsequently these life forms became extinct. The remaining planets and their inhabitants are awaiting their destruction. The Archangels and the spiritual entities (of the human body) were created seventy thousand years before the command "Be."

  

Of these spiritual entities God placed the Qalb in the realm of love. It is with this that a human being is able to become connected with God. The Qalb acts like a telephone operator between God and the human being. A human being receives guidance and inspiration through it. Whereas the worship and the meditation done by the spiritual entities themselves can reach the highest realm, the Throne of God, with the aid of the Qalb. The Qalb itself, however cannot travel beyond the realm of the angels, as its place of origin is the Khuld, the lowest heaven in the realm of the angels.

  

The Qalb’s meditation is from within and its vibrating rosary is within the human skeleton (the heartbeat). People that failed to achieve this meditation of the Qalb in this lifetime will be regretful, even though they may be in paradise. As God has stated regarding those who will go to paradise, that do they, the inhabitants of paradise think that they will be equal to those who are elevated (reached higher realms by practicing the spiritual disciplines and becoming illuminated). As those that have achieved the meditation of the Qalb, they will enjoy its pleasures even in paradise when their Qalb will be vibrating with the Name of God.

After death physical worship ceases to exist and the people whose Qalb and spiritual entities are not strengthened and illuminated with the light of God are afflicted and distressed in their graves and their spiritual entities waste away. Whereas the illuminated and strengthened spiritual entities will go to the realm where the righteous will wait before the final judgement.

After the day of judgement a second body will be given, the illuminated spiritual entities along with the human soul will enter that body. The people that taught their spiritual entities, meditation, whereby the entities chanted the Name of God Allah in this life time will find that the spiritual entities will continue with this meditation even in the hereafter. Such people will continue to be elevated and exalted in the hereafter.

  

Those that were “blind of heart” (not illuminated) in this life time will be in darkness in that realm also, as this world was the place of action and effort. Those in the latter category will become quiescent.

Besides the Christians and the Jews the Hindu faith also holds a belief in these spiritual entities. The Hindu faith refers to them as Shaktian and the Muslims know them as Lata’if.

The Qalb is two inches, to the left of the heart. This spiritual entity is yellow in colour. When it is illuminated in a person, that person sees the colour yellow in their eyes. Not only this but there are many practitioners of alternative medicine who use the colours of these spiritual entities to heal people.

Most people regard their heart’s word, “inner feeling” to be truthful. If the hearts of people were indeed truthful, then why are all the people of the heart not united?

The Qalb of an ordinary person is in the sleeping or unconscious state and it does not possess any appreciation or awareness. Due to the dominance of the spirit of the self, the ego, and the Khannas, or due to the individual’s own simple- mindedness the heart can make judgements in error. Placing trust in a sleeping Qalb is foolish.

Only when the Name of God Allah, does vibrate in the heart does an appreciation of right and wrong and wisdom follow. At this stage the Qalb is known as the awakened Qalb. Thereafter due to the increase in the meditation by the Qalb, of the Name of God Allah, it is then known as the God-seeking Qalb. At this stage the heart is capable of preventing the person from doing wrong but it is still incapable of making a right or just decision. Thereafter and only when the Light and the rays of the Grace of God (theophany) start to descend upon that heart, is it known as the purified and illuminated Qalb that stands in the presence of God (witnessing Qalb).

  

A Prophetic statement:

“The mercy of God descends upon a broken heart and an afflicted grave.”

  

Thereafter when the heart reaches this stage then one must accept whatever it dictates, quietly without question because due to the rays of the Light and the Grace of God the spirit of the self, (ego) becomes completely illuminated, purified and at peace. God is then closer to that individual than that person’s jugular vein.

God then says, “I become his tongue with which he speaks and I become his hands with which he holds.”

     

2. The Human Soul

  

Prophecy and knowledge relating to this was granted to the Prophet Abraham

  

This is on the right side of the chest. This is awakened and illuminated by the meditation and one-pointed concentration on it. Once it becomes illuminated, a vibration similar to the heartbeat is felt on the right side of the chest. Then the Name of God, Ya Allah is matched with the vibrating pulse. The meditation of the soul is done in this way. At this point, there are now two spiritual entities meditating inside the human body, this is an advancement in rank and status and is better than the Qalb. The soul is a light red in colour and when it is awakened, it is able to travel to the realm of the souls (the station of the Archangel Gabriel). Anger and rage are attached to it that burn and turn into majesty.

  

3. The spiritual entity Sirri

  

Prophecy and knowledge relating to this was granted to the Prophet Moses

  

This spiritual entity is to the left of the centre of the chest. This is also awakened and illuminated by the meditation and one-pointed concentration on it with the Name of God, Ya Hayy, Ya Qayyum. Its colour is white and in the dream state or by spiritual separation from the physical body “transcendental meditation” it can journey to the realm of the secrets. Now there are three spiritual entities meditating within a person and its status is higher than the other two.

     

4. The spiritual entity Khaffi

  

Prophecy and knowledge relating to this was granted to the Prophet Jesus

  

This is to the right of the centre of the chest. It too is taught the Name of God Ya Wahid by meditation. It is green in colour and it can reach the realm of unification. Due to the meditation of four entities one's status is further increased.

  

5. The spiritual entity Akhfa

  

Prophecy and knowledge relating to this was granted to the Prophet Mohammed

  

This is situated at the centre of the chest. It is awakened by meditating on the Name of God, Ya Ahad. It is purple in colour and it too, is connected to that veil in the realm of unification behind which is the throne of God.

  

The hidden spiritual knowledge relating to these five spiritual entities was granted to the Prophets, one by one and half of the knowledge of every spiritual entity was granted from the Prophets to the Saints of their time. In this way there became ten parts of this knowledge. The Saints in turn passed this knowledge on to the spiritually favoured (Godly) who then had the benefit of the sacred knowledge.

  

The apparent knowledge of the seen is connected to the physical body, the spoken word, the human realm and the spirit of the self, this is for the ordinary mortals. This knowledge is contained in a book that has thirty parts. Spiritual knowledge was also given to the Prophets by revelation brought by Gabriel and for this reason it is known as the spiritual Holy Scripture.

  

Many of the verses of the Qur’an would sometimes be abolished, since the Prophet Mohammed would sometimes mention matters relating to this “hidden spiritual knowledge” before ordinary people, which was only meant for the special and Godly. Later this knowledge passed on spiritually from the chest of one Saint to another, and now it has become widespread by its publication in books.

  

6. The spiritual entity Anna

  

This spiritual entity is inside the head and is colourless. It is by the meditation on the Name of God Ya Hu that this spiritual entity reaches its pinnacle. It is this spiritual entity that when it becomes illuminated and powerful it can stand in the Presence of God, face to face, and communicate with God unobstructed. Only the extreme lovers of God reach this realm and station. Besides this there are a few and extremely exalted people who are granted additional spiritual entities, for example the spiritual entity Tifl-e-Nuri or a spiritual entity of the Godhead, Jussa-e-Tofiq-e-Ilahi, the spiritual status of such people is beyond understanding.

  

With the spiritual entity, Anna, God is seen in the dream state.

  

With the spiritual entity of the Godhead, God is seen in the “physical meditating state” when the spiritual entity itself leaves the human body and transcends to the essence of God.

  

Those possessing the spiritual entity, the Tifl-e-Nuri, see God whilst they are fully conscious.

  

It is these people who are the majesty and power of God in the world. They can either occupy the people by prescribing worship and austerities or by their spiritual grace send a person straight to the realm of God’s love. In their sight, concerning dispensing spiritual grace the believers and the non-believers, the dead and the living are all the same. Just as a thief became a Saint, in an instant, by the passing glimpse of the Saint Sheikh Abdul-Qadir al-Jilani, similarly, Abu-Bakr Havari and Manga the thief, became instant Saints by the passing glimpses of such Saints.

  

The five major Messengers were given knowledge of the five spiritual entities separately and in order of their appearance, as a result of which spirituality continued to prosper. With whichever spiritual entity you practice meditation you will be connected to the corresponding Messenger and become worthy of receiving spiritual grace (from that Messenger).

  

Whichever spiritual entity receives the rays of the Grace of God (favour), the Sainthood granted to that spiritual entity will be connected to the corresponding Prophet’s spiritual grace.

  

Access to seven realms and gaining elevated spiritual status in the seven heavens is obtained through these spiritual entities.

The functions of the spiritual entities inside the human body

  

Akhfa: Due to the spiritual entity, Akhfa a person is able to speak. In its absence a person may have a normal tongue but will be dumb. The difference between human beings and animals lies in the presence or the absence of these spiritual entities. At birth, if the entity, Akhfa was unable to enter the body for whatever reason, then a Prophet appointed for the rectification of this ailment would be called to treat the condition as a result of which the dumb would start to speak.

  

Sirri: A person is able to see due to the spiritual entity, Sirri. If it does not enter the body the person is blind from birth. An appointed Prophet had the duty to find and place the spiritual entity into the body, as a result of which the blind would start to see again.

Qalb: Without the spiritual entity of the Qalb, in the body, a person is like the animals, unacquainted, far from God, miserable and without purpose. Returning this entity into the body was the task of the Prophets also.

The miracles of the Prophets were also granted to the saints, in the form marvels and mystical wonders as a result of which even the impious and liberal became close to God. When a spiritual entity is returned by any allocated Saint or Prophet, the deaf, dumb and the blind are healed.

Anna: When the spiritual entity, Anna, fails to enter the body, a person is regarded as insane even though the brain may be functioning normally.

Khaffi: In the absence of the spiritual entity, Khafi, a person is deaf, even if the ears are opened wide.

These conditions can be caused by other defects in the body, and can be treated. There is no cure in the case, where the defect is caused by the absence of the associated spiritual entity except where a Prophet or a Saint intervenes and cures the defect.

Nafs, self: As a result of the spiritual entity of the self (ego) a persons mind is occupied with the material world and it is because of the spiritual entity Qalb that a persons direction turns towards God. For more detail visit www.goharshahi.org or visit asipk.com and for videos visit HH rags

 

BCWF Wrestling - Wrestle World IV - Legion Von Creed Vs Andy namite, Joey D

 

Legion Von Creed (c) def. (Pin) Andy namite, Joey D (c)

Type of match : Table Match

Title Unification

For : BWS championship (No Change)

BCWF european championship (New Champ)

 

( BCWF Wrestle World IV a Grivegnee, Liege, le vendredi 9 novembre ! )

BCWF Wrestling - Wrestle World IV - Legion Von Creed Vs Andy namite, Joey D

 

Legion Von Creed (c) def. (Pin) Andy namite, Joey D (c)

Type of match : Table Match

Title Unification

For : BWS championship (No Change)

BCWF european championship (New Champ)

 

( BCWF Wrestle World IV a Grivegnee, Liege, le vendredi 9 novembre ! )

Piața Unirii (Unification Square or Union Square) is one of the largest squares in central Bucharest, located in the center of the city where Sectors 1, 2, 3, and 4 meet.

 

It is bisected by Unirii Boulevard, originally built during the Communist era as the Boulevard of the Victory of Socialism, and renamed after the Romanian Revolution of 1989.

Syracuse is a historic city in Sicily, the capital of the province of Syracuse. The city is notable for its rich Greek history, culture, amphitheatres, architecture, and as the birthplace of the preeminent mathematician and engineer Archimedes.This 2,700-year-old city played a key role in ancient times, when it was one of the major powers of the Mediterranean world. Syracuse is located in the southeast corner of the island of Sicily, next to the Gulf of Syracuse beside the Ionian Sea.

 

The city was founded by Ancient Greek Corinthians and Teneans and became a very powerful city-state. Syracuse was allied with Sparta and Corinth and exerted influence over the entirety of Magna Graecia, of which it was the most important city. Described by Cicero as "the greatest Greek city and the most beautiful of them all", it equaled Athens in size during the fifth century BC. It later became part of the Roman Republic and Byzantine Empire. After this Palermo overtook it in importance, as the capital of the Kingdom of Sicily. Eventually the kingdom would be united with the Kingdom of Naples to form the Two Sicilies until the Italian unification of 1860.

 

In the modern day, the city is listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site along with the Necropolis of Pantalica. In the central area, the city itself has a population of around 125,000 people. The inhabitants are known as Siracusans. Syracuse is mentioned in the Bible in the Acts of the Apostles book at 28:12 as Paul stayed there. The patron saint of the city is Saint Lucy; she was born in Syracuse and her feast day, Saint Lucy's Day, is celebrated on 13 December.

 

Syracuse and its surrounding area have been inhabited since ancient times, as shown by the findings in the villages of Stentinello, Ognina, Plemmirio, Matrensa, Cozzo Pantano and Thapsos, which already had a relationship with Mycenaean Greece.

 

Syracuse was founded in 734 or 733 BC by Greek settlers from Corinth and Tenea, led by the oecist (colonizer) Archias. There are many attested variants of the name of the city including Συράκουσαι Syrakousai, Συράκοσαι Syrakosai and Συρακώ Syrako. A possible origin of the city's name was given by Vibius Sequester citing first Stephanus Byzantium] in that there was a Syracusian marsh (λίμνη) called Syrako and secondly Marcian's Periegesis wherein Archias gave the city the name of a nearby marsh; hence one gets Syrako (and thereby Syrakousai and other variants) for the name of Syracuse, a name also attested by Epicharmus. The settlement of Syracuse was a planned event, as a strong central leader, Arkhias the aristocrat, laid out how property would be divided up for the settlers, as well as plans for how the streets of the settlement should be arranged, and how wide they should be. The nucleus of the ancient city was the small island of Ortygia. The settlers found the land fertile and the native tribes to be reasonably well-disposed to their presence. The city grew and prospered, and for some time stood as the most powerful Greek city anywhere in the Mediterranean. Colonies were founded at Akrai (664 BC), Kasmenai (643 BC), Akrillai (7th century BC), Helorus (7th century BC) and Kamarina (598 BC).

 

The descendants of the first colonists, called Gamoroi, held power until they were expelled by the Killichiroi, the lower class of the city. The former, however, returned to power in 485 BC, thanks to the help of Gelo, ruler of Gela. Gelo himself became the despot of the city, and moved many inhabitants of Gela, Kamarina and Megera to Syracuse, building the new quarters of Tyche and Neapolis outside the walls. His program of new constructions included a new theatre, designed by Damocopos, which gave the city a flourishing cultural life: this in turn attracted personalities as Aeschylus, Ario of Methymna, Eumelos of Corinth and Sappho, who had been exiled here from Mytilene. The enlarged power of Syracuse made unavoidable the clash against the Carthaginians, who ruled western Sicily. In the Battle of Himera, Gelo, who had allied with Theron of Agrigento, decisively defeated the African force led by Hamilcar. A temple dedicated to Athena (on the site of today's Cathedral), was erected in the city to commemorate the event.

 

Syracuse grew considerably during this time. Its walls encircled 120 hectares (300 acres) in the fifth century, but as early as the 470's BC the inhabitants started building outside the walls. The complete population of its territory approximately numbered 250,000 in 415 BC and the population size of the city itself was probably similar to Athens.

 

Gelo was succeeded by his brother Hiero, who fought against the Etruscans at Cumae in 474 BC. His rule was eulogized by poets like Simonides of Ceos, Bacchylides and Pindar, who visited his court. A democratic regime was introduced by Thrasybulos (467 BC).[13] The city continued to expand in Sicily, fighting against the rebellious Siculi, and on the Tyrrhenian Sea, making expeditions up to Corsica and Elba. In the late 5th century BC, Syracuse found itself at war with Athens, which sought more resources to fight the Peloponnesian War. The Syracusans enlisted the aid of a general from Sparta, Athens' foe in the war, to defeat the Athenians, destroy their ships, and leave them to starve on the island (see Sicilian Expedition). In 401 BC, Syracuse contributed a force of 3,000 hoplites and a general to Cyrus the Younger's Army of the Ten Thousand.

 

Then in the early 4th century BC, the tyrant Dionysius the Elder was again at war against Carthage and, although losing Gela and Camarina, kept that power from capturing the whole of Sicily. After the end of the conflict Dionysius built a massive fortress on Ortygia and 22 km-long walls around all of Syracuse. Another period of expansion saw the destruction of Naxos, Catania and Lentini; then Syracuse entered again in war against Carthage (397 BC). After various changes of fortune, the Carthaginians managed to besiege Syracuse itself, but were eventually pushed back by a pestilence. A treaty in 392 BC allowed Syracuse to enlarge further its possessions, founding the cities of Adranon, Tyndarion and Tauromenos, and conquering Rhegion on the continent. In the Adriatic, to facilitate trade, Dionysius the Elder founded Ancona, Adria and Issa. Apart from his battle deeds, Dionysius was famous as a patron of art, and Plato himself visited Syracuse several times.

 

His successor was Dionysius the Younger, who was however expelled by Dion in 356 BC. But the latter's despotic rule led in turn to his expulsion, and Dionysius reclaimed his throne in 347 BC. Dionysius was besieged in Syracuse by the Syracusan general Hicetas in 344 BC. The following year the Corinthian Timoleon installed a democratic regime in the city after he exiled Dionysius and defeated Hicetas. The long series of internal struggles had weakened Syracuse's power on the island, and Timoleon tried to remedy this, defeating the Carthaginians in the Battle of the Crimissus (339 BC).

 

After Timoleon's death the struggle among the city's parties restarted and ended with the rise of another tyrant, Agathocles, who seized power with a coup in 317 BC. He resumed the war against Carthage, with alternate fortunes. He was besieged in Syracuse by the Carthaginians in 311 BC, but he escaped from the city with a small fleet. He scored a moral success, bringing the war to the Carthaginians' native African soil, inflicting heavy losses to the enemy. The defenders of Syracuse destroyed the Carthaginian army which besieged them. However, Agathocles was eventually defeated in Africa as well. The war ended with another treaty of peace which did not prevent the Carthaginians from interfering in the politics of Syracuse after the death of Agathocles (289 BC). They laid siege to Syracuse for the fourth and last time in 278 BC. They retreated at the arrival of king Pyrrhus of Epirus, whom Syracuse had asked for help. After a brief period under the rule of Epirus, Hiero II seized power in 275 BC.

 

Hiero inaugurated a period of 50 years of peace and prosperity, in which Syracuse became one of the most renowned capitals of Antiquity. He issued the so-called Lex Hieronica, which was later adopted by the Romans for their administration of Sicily; he also had the theatre enlarged and a new immense altar, the "Hiero's Ara", built. Under his rule lived the most famous Syracusan, the mathematician and natural philosopher Archimedes. Among his many inventions were various military engines including the claw of Archimedes, later used to resist the Roman siege of 214 BC–212 BC. Literary figures included Theocritus and others.

 

Hiero's successor, the young Hieronymus (ruled from 215 BC), broke the alliance with the Romans after their defeat at the Battle of Cannae and accepted Carthage's support. The Romans, led by consul Marcus Claudius Marcellus, besieged the city in 214 BC. The city held out for three years, but fell in 212 BC. The successes of the Syracusians in repelling the Roman siege had made them overconfident. In 212 BC, the Romans received information that the city's inhabitants were to participate in the annual festival to their goddess Artemis. A small party of Roman soldiers approached the city under the cover of night and managed to scale the walls to get into the outer city and with reinforcements soon took control, killing Archimedes in the process, but the main fortress remained firm. After an eight-month siege and with parleys in progress, an Iberian captain named Moeriscus is believed to have let the Romans in near the Fountains of Arethusa. On the agreed signal, during a diversionary attack, he opened the gate. After setting guards on the houses of the pro-Roman faction, Marcellus gave Syracuse to plunder.

 

Imperial Roman and Byzantine period include

 

The Roman amphitheatre

 

The Temple of Apollo

 

Piazza Duomo

 

The Cathedral

Though declining slowly through the years, Syracuse maintained the status of capital of the Roman government of Sicily and seat of the praetor. It remained an important port for trade between the Eastern and the Western parts of the Empire. Christianity spread in the city through the efforts of Paul of Tarsus and Saint Marziano, the first bishop of the city, who made it one of the main centres of proselytism in the West. In the age of persecutions by Christians massive catacombs were carved, whose size is second only to those of Rome.

 

After a period of Vandal rule, Syracuse and the island was recovered by Belisarius for the Byzantine Empire (31 December 535). From 663 to 668 Syracuse was the seat of Emperor Constans II, as well as metropolis of the whole Sicilian Church.

 

Emirate of Sicily.

The city was besieged by the Aghlabids for almost a year in 827–828, but Byzantine reinforcements prevented its fall. It remained the center of Byzantine resistance to the gradual Muslim conquest of Sicily until it fell to the Aghlabids after another siege on 20/21 May 878. During the two centuries of Muslim rule, the capital of the Emirate of Sicily was moved from Syracuse to Palermo. The Cathedral was converted into a mosque and the quarter on the Ortygia island was gradually rebuilt along Islamic styles. The city, nevertheless, maintained important trade relationships, and housed a relatively flourishing cultural and artistic life: several Arab poets, including Ibn Hamdis, the most important Sicilian Arab poet of the 12th century, flourished in the city.

 

In 1038, the Byzantine general George Maniakes reconquered the city, sending the relics of St. Lucy to Constantinople. The eponymous castle on the cape of Ortygia bears his name, although it was built under the Hohenstaufen rule. In 1085 the Normans entered Syracuse, one of the last Arab strongholds, after a summer-long siege by Roger I of Sicily and his son Jordan of Hauteville, who was given the city as count. New quarters were built, and the cathedral was restored, as well as other churches.

  

In 1194, Emperor Henry VI occupied the Sicilian kingdom, including Syracuse. After a short period of Genoese rule (1205–1220) under the notorious admiral and pirate Alamanno da Costa, which favoured a rise of trades, royal authority was re-asserted in the city by Frederick II. He began the construction of the Castello Maniace, the Bishops' Palace and the Bellomo Palace. Frederick's death brought a period of unrest and feudal anarchy. In the War of the Sicilian Vespers between the Angevin and Aragonese dynasties for control of Sicily, Syracuse sided with the Aragonese and expelled the Angevins in 1298, receiving from the Spanish sovereigns great privileges in reward. The preeminence of baronal families is also shown by the construction of the palaces of Abela, Chiaramonte, Nava, Montalto.

  

The city was struck by two ruinous earthquakes in 1542 and 1693, and a plague in 1729. The 17th century destruction changed the appearance of Syracuse forever, as well as the entire Val di Noto, whose cities were rebuilt along the typical lines of Sicilian Baroque, considered one of the most typical expressions of art of Southern Italy. The spread of cholera in 1837 led to a revolt against the Bourbon government. The punishment was the move of the province capital seat to Noto, but the unrest had not been totally choked, as the Siracusani took part in the Sicilian revolution of independence of 1848.

 

After the Unification of Italy of 1865, Syracuse regained its status of provincial capital. In 1870 the walls were demolished and a bridge connecting the mainland to Ortygia island was built. In the following year a railway link was constructed.

  

Heavy destruction was caused during World War II by both the Allied and German bombings in 1943. Operation Husky, the codename for the Allied invasion of Sicily, was launched on the night between 9–10 July 1943 with British forces attacking the west of the island. The British 5th Infantry Division, part of General Sir Bernard Montgomery's Eighth Army, captured Syracuse on the first day of the invasion almost unopposed. The port was then used as a base for the British Royal Navy. To the west of the city is a Commonwealth War Graves cemetery where about 1,000 men are buried. After the end of the war the northern quarters of Syracuse experienced a heavy, often chaotic, expansion, favoured by the quick process of industrialization.

 

Syracuse today has about 125,000 inhabitants and numerous attractions for the visitor interested in historical sites (such as the Ear of Dionysius). A process of recovering and restoring the historical centre has been ongoing since the 1990s. Nearby places of note include Catania, Noto, Modica and Ragusa.

  

Syracuse experiences a hot-summer Mediterranean climate (Köppen climate classification Csa) with mild, wet winters and warm to hot, dry summers. Snow is infrequent but not rare at all; the last heavy snowfall in the city occurred in December but frosts are very rare, the last one happening in December

  

In 2016, there were 122,051[1] people residing in Syracuse, located in the province of Syracuse, Sicily, of whom 48.7% were male and 51.3% were female. Minors (children ages 18 and younger) totalled 18.87 percent of the population compared to pensioners who number 16.87 percent. This compares with the Italian average of 18.06 percent (minors) and 19.94 percent (pensioners). The average age of Syracuse resident is 40 compared to the Italian average of 42. In the five years between 2002 and 2007, the population of Syracuse declined by 0.49 percent, while Italy as a whole grew by 3.56 percent. The reason for decline is a population flight to the suburbs, and northern Italy.[18][19] The current birth rate of Syracuse is 9.75 births per 1,000 inhabitants compared to the Italian average of 9.45 births.

 

As of 2006, 97.9% of the population was of Italian descent. The largest immigrant group came from other European nations (particularly those from Poland, and the United Kingdom): 0.61%, North Africa (mostly Tunisian): 0.51%, and South Asia: 0.37%.

  

Since 2005, the entire city of Syracuse, along with the Necropolis of Pantalica which falls within the province of Syracuse, were listed as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. This programme aims to catalogue, name and conserve sites of outstanding cultural or natural importance to the common heritage of humanity. The deciding committee which evaluates potential candidates described their reasons for choosing Syracuse because "monuments and archeological sites situated in Syracuse are the finest example of outstanding architectural creation spanning several cultural aspects; Greek, Roman and Baroque", following on that Ancient Syracuse was "directly linked to events, ideas and literary works of outstanding universal significance".

 

Buildings of the Greek period include,

The Temple of Apollo, at Piazza Emanuele Pancali, adapted to a church in Byzantine times and to a mosque under Arab rule.

The Fountain of Arethusa, on the Ortygia island. According to a legend, the nymph Arethusa, hunted by Alpheus, took shelter here.

The Greek Theatre, whose cavea is one of the largest ever built by the ancient Greeks: it has 67 rows, divided into nine sections with eight aisles. Only traces of the scene and the orchestra remain. The edifice (still used today) was modified by the Romans, who adapted it to their different style of spectacles, including also circus games. Near the theatre are the latomìe, stone quarries, also used as prisons in ancient times. The most famous latomìa is the Orecchio di Dionisio ("Ear of Dionysius").

The Roman amphitheatre. It was partly carved out from the rock. In the centre of the area is a rectangular space which was used for the scenic machinery.

The Tomb of Archimede, in the Grotticelli Nechropolis. Decorated with two Doric columns.

The Temple of Olympian Zeus, about 3 kilometres (2 miles) outside the city, built around 6th century BC.

   

The Cathedral of Syracuse (Italian: Duomo) was built by bishop Zosimo in the 7th century over the great Temple of Athena (5th century BC), on Ortygia island. This was a Doric edifice with six columns on the short sides and 14 on the long sides: these can still be seen incorporated in the walls of the current church. The base of the temple had three steps. The interior of the church has a nave and two aisles. The roof of the nave is from Norman times, as well as the mosaics in the apses. The façade was rebuilt by Andrea Palma in 1725–1753, with a double order of Corinthian columns, and statues by Ignazio Marabitti. The most interesting pieces of the interior are a font with marble basin (12th–13th century), a silver statue of St. Lucy by Pietro Rizzo (1599), a ciborium by Luigi Vanvitelli, and a statue of the Madonna della Neve ("Madonna of the Snow", 1512) by Antonello Gagini.

Basilica of Santa Lucia extra Moenia, a Byzantine church built, according to tradition, in the same place of the martyrdom of the saint in 303 AD. The current appearance is from the 15th-16th centuries. The most ancient parts still preserved include the portal, the three half-circular apses and the first two orders of the belfry. Under the church are the Catacombs of St. Lucy. For this church Caravaggio painted the Burial of St. Lucy, now housed in the Church of Santa Lucìa alla Badìa.

Our Lady of Tears Shrine (20th century).

Church of San Paolo (18th century).

Church of San Cristoforo (14th century, rebuilt in the 18th century).

Church of Santa Lucìa alla Badìa, a Baroque edifice built after the 1693 earthquake. It houses the Burial of St. Lucy by Caravaggio

Church of Santa Maria dei Miracoli (13th century).

Church of the Spirito Santo (18th century).

Church of the Jesuit College, a majestic, Baroque building.

Church of St. Benedict (16th century, restored after 1693). It houses a painting of the Death of Saint Benedict by the Caravaggisti Mario Minniti.

Chiesa della Concezione (14th century, rebuilt in the 18th century), with the annexed Benedictine convent.

Church of San Francesco all'Immacolata, with a convex façade intermingled by columns and pilaster strips. It housed and ancient celebration, the Svelata ("Revelation"), in which an image of the Madonna was unveiled at dawn of 29 November.

Basilica of St. John the Evangelist, built by the Normans and destroyed in 1693. Only partially restored, it was erected over an ancient crypt of the martyr San Marciano, later destroyed by the Arabs. The main altar is Byzantine. It includes the Catacombs of San Giovanni, featuring a maze of tunnels and passages, with thousands of tombs and several frescoes.

  

Castello Maniace, constructed between 1232 and 1240, is an example of the military architecture of Frederick II's reign. It is a square structure with circular towers at each of the four corners. The most striking feature is the pointed portal, decorated with polychrome marbles.

The important Archaeological Museum, with collections including findings from the mid-Bronze Age to 5th century BC.

Palazzo Lanza Buccheri (16th century).

Palazzo Bellomo (12th century), which contains an art museum that houses Antonello da Messina's Annunciation (1474).

Palazzo Montalto (14th century), which conserves the old façade from the 14th century, with a pointed portal.

The Archbishop's Palace (17th century, modified in the following century). It houses the Alagonian Library, founded in the late 18th century.

The Palazzo Vermexio, the current Town Hall, which includes fragments of an Ionic temple of the 5th century BC.

Palazzo Francica Nava, with parts of the original 16th century building surviving.

Palazzo Beneventano del Bosco, originally built in the Middle Ages but extensively modified between 1779 and 1788. It has a pleasant internal court.

Palazzo Migliaccio (15th century), with notable lava inlay decorations.

The Senate Palace, housing in the court an 18th-century coach.

The Castle of Euryalos, built 9 kilometres (6 miles) outside the city by Dionysius the Elder and which was one of the most powerful fortresses of ancient times. It had three moats with a series of underground galleries which allowed the defenders to remove the materials the attackers could use to fill them.

The Mikveh: a bath used for the purpose of ritual immersion in Judaism, built during the Byzantine era. It is situated in the Giudecca: the ancient Jewish Ghetto of Syracuse.

Piața Unirii (Unification Square or Union Square) is one of the largest squares in central Bucharest, located in the center of the city where Sectors 1, 2, 3, and 4 meet.

 

It is bisected by Unirii Boulevard, originally built during the Communist era as the Boulevard of the Victory of Socialism, and renamed after the Romanian Revolution of 1989.

The North American A-5 Vigilante was an American carrier-based supersonic bomber designed and built by North American Aviation for the United States Navy. It set several world records, including long-distance speed and altitude records. Prior to 1962 unification of Navy and Air Force designations, it was designated the A3J Vigilante.

 

The aircraft only replaced the Douglas A-3 Skywarrior as the Navy's primary nuclear-strike aircraft briefly, however its RA-5C tactical strike reconnaissance variant saw extensive service during the Vietnam War.

  

The aviation concern of North American became a household name in American military aviation thanks to its World War 2 contributions through the P-51 "Mustang" fighter and B-25 "Mitchell" medium bomber lines. The company struck gold once more in the Korean War with its F-86 "Sabre" jet fighter - the war serving to showcase the first jet-versus-jet duels in military history. Throughout the 1950s, the company moved on several notable programs including its X-15 rocket-powered research aircraft and the impressive, yet cancelled, XB-70 "Valkyrie" supersonic bomber. The XF-108 "Rapier" was a proposed interceptor design that, at one point, was considered as an escort fighter for the XB-70. Both the XB-70 and XF-108 endeavors failed in netting any serial production commitments though the XB-70 went on to see extended flying time in the research role.

 

The XF-108 interested the USAF for its interception capabilities which required a very fast aircraft with a high rate-of-climb to meet the threat of incoming Soviet bombers. When the program was cancelled, North American reconstituted the aircraft's fuselage, its systems, and weapons suite into a new form to interest the United States Navy as a carrier-based, supersonic, nuclear-capable strike bomber. North American began preliminary design study work on such an aircraft as early as 1953 under a private company initiative.

 

While the XF-108 retained many design qualities of its bigger counterpart - the XB-70 - that made it appear cutting edge by 1950s standards, the new North American strike bomber revealed smoother lines more consistent with military aircraft emerging from the 1960s. It was a large, heavy aircraft with excellent performance for its time. The double-delta wings featured in the XF-108 gave way to a more traditional forward mainplane and rear-set horizontal tailplane arrangement with swept angles for aerodynamic efficiency at high speeds. Twin intakes were used to aspirate two engines, the pairing providing the necessary power while also increasing survivability over vast ocean spaces and enemy territory. The crew numbered two and were seated in tandem - the pilot at front with the bombardier / navigator in the rear (both positions featured ejection seats). The undercarriage was of a traditional tricycle approach and each leg wholly retractable into the body of the aircraft. A single vertical tail fin (an all-moving surface) was affixed to the extreme aft end of the fuselage and set above and between engine housings. A unique internal bomb bay delivery system (detailed below) was implemented as was an early-form of Fly-by-Wire (FBW) and Head-Up Display (HUD). At the heart of the aircraft was an advanced navigation / attack computer through the AN/ASB-12 system.

 

North American was handed a development contract in late August of 1956 and, a little over two years later, prototype "XA3J-1" made its maiden flight on August 31st, 1958. A second prototype was later added to the stable.

 

As a supersonic nuclear bomber, the aircraft featured a novel internal bomb bay release system essentially made up of a tube filling the space found between the two engine installations. This bay served a single nuclear bomb. The bomb was inserted into this bay followed by two disposable fuel tanks and all three were capped by the aircraft's tail cone assembly. When the bomb was to be released, the tail cone was jettisoned and the fuel tanks cleared the aircraft followed by the nuclear payload. In this way, the aircraft was free to deliver the armament at high speed which reduced its exposure to enemy fire and interception. An internal bomb bay also decreased overall drag as opposed to externally-held ordnance. Two external hardpoints were fitted though these became reserve stations for extra fuel stores.

 

After the requisite flight testing and formal evaluation phases were completed, the aircraft was accepted by the USN as the A3J-1 "Vigilante". Production models would be recognized as A3J-1A and the vehicle became the first (and only) Mach 2-capable attack bomber to serve the branch. The first squadron to equip with the type was VAH-3 during June of 1961 and the aircraft was used to succeed the aging Douglas A-3 "Skywarrior" line in the carrier-based strike role. During 1962, the U.S. military adopted an all new naming scheme for its aircraft which revised the A3J-1 designation to become "A-5". As such, the early A3J-1A models became "A-5A".

Once in service, the complex A-5 showcased issues which limited its success - such was the price for the technology in play. It was an expensive aircraft that held a rigorous maintenance schedule and its large size limited storage space on already space-strapped American carriers. In time, and with further exposure to their new aircraft, crews began to paint a more favorable opinion of their attack bombers - they proved fast and agile for their dimensions and weight and there was much love for the power inherent in two J79 afterburning turbojets.

 

A-5A was fielded with 2 x General Electric J79-GE-8 series engines which provided the airframe with 10,900 lbf of thrust (each) on dry and 17,000 lbf of thrust (each) with afterburner engaged. Afterburner involved raw fuel being pumped into the jet exhaust creating a short burst of speed at the expense of higher fuel consumption. The A-5A held a maximum speed of Mach 2.0 (1,320 mph) at 40,000 feet and showcased a ferry range of 1,807 miles with a combat radius of 1,290 miles. Rate-of-climb was 8,000 feet per minute.

 

The nuclear payload ultimately cleared for use by the A-5 included the Mk 27, B28, and B43 series of free-fall nuclear bombs. A conventional loads could also be carried on the two external hardpoints though this was a seldom used feature of the aircraft throughout its service career.

 

Ten Vigilante squadrons were formed during the life of the aircraft. The original A-model was followed by the revised "A3J-2" which became the "A-5B" after the 1962 restructuring. Fifty-seven A-5A aircraft were eventually produced along with twenty A-5B models. The B-models were given extended operational ranges by way of new internal fuel stores and two additional external hardpoints (four total now). The internal tanks forced a noticeable "hump" along the dorsal fuselage spine which easily identified the updated models in service. B-models also included leading edge blown flaps and reinforced undercarriage members.

 

Fortunes for the A-5 (and other aircraft) changed when the need for high-flying, high-speed penetration nuclear bombers was losing ground in the minds of American warplanners particularly as Soviet air defenses improved and the worldwide focus shifted to InterContinental Ballistic Missiles (ICBMs) as the primary means of nuclear weapons delivery. Land-based launchers were now joined by submarines equipped to launch ICBMs from underwater locations from anywhere in the world leading many to believe that such aircraft as the A-5 held little value moving forward. This shift led to the A-5's reduced purchase total of just 156 aircraft. The initial production batch appeared from 1956 to 1963.

 

With its reduced mission role, the A-5 was reconsidered as a fast reconnaissance platform which begat the "RA-5C" designation ("A3J-3P" before 1962). The revised aircraft emerged through 91 new-build airframes, 43 converted A-5A models and 6 converted A-5B models. RA-5C aircraft differed some from their attack bomber origins in that the featured increase wing areas and a "multi-sensor" reconnaissance pack fitted under the fuselage. The installation gave the aircraft a Side-Looking Airborne Radar (SLAR) capability as well as increased countermeasures support, ELectronic Intelligence (ELINT) support, InfraRed (IR), and various camera systems. Heavier than its original production forms, the RA-5C lost some of its performance value but retained its ordnance-carrying capabilities as well as its two crew.

 

Eight of the ten established A-5 squadrons were pressed into combat service during the Vietnam War (1955-1975) where they began their service tenure in August of 1964 in the reconnaissance role. Speed and agility were key assets to the aircraft though the low-to-medium altitude operation environments made the A-5 susceptible to ground-based threats and interception. Eighteen RA-5Cs fell to enemy action during the war with a further nine lost to accidents. These heavy losses forced A-5 production lines to reopen and 36 more aircraft were added to existing stocks from the span of 1968 to 1970. While its wartime service record is considered rather poor, the aircraft was heavily relied upon by war planners in a fighting environment it was never intended for.

 

With the end of the war, the A-5 series became one of the victims of the post-war drawdown and flew its last flight during November of 1979 - bringing an end to its service tenure. Its lack-luster combat record and expensive maintenance schedule did little to extend the career of this once-proud design. Its service as an attack aircraft was overshadowed by its time aloft as a reconnaissance platform and both of these roles were quickly taken over by more modern, compact, and lower-cost options - officially ending the reign of the A-5 Vigilante.

 

The A-5 aircraft was briefly considered for the USAF's proposed Improved Manned Interceptor (IMI) program as the NR-349. This version was to fit three General Electric J79 engines and hold 6 x AIM-54 "Phoenix" long-range air-to-air missiles as its primary armament. The initiative ultimately fell to naught.

 

As Frampton faces Scott Quigg in the eagerly awaited Super Bantamweight IBF & WBA unification world championship fight on 27th February 2016, it made me think of many photos I have taken at past weigh ins, conferences and fights. Here is Carl Frampton squaring up to Welshman Robbie Turley in his 10th fight, after the weigh-in at City Hall, Cardiff back on the 3rd June 2011. Carl won by unanimous decision. This was on the undercard of the European Championship that Gavin Rees won agains Andy Murray.

The Narmer Palette, one of the most important artifacts from early Egyptian history. This ceremonial palette commemorates the unification of Upper and Lower Egypt. On one side, the king is depicted with the bulbed White Crown of Upper (southern) Egypt, and the other side depicts the king wearing the level Red Crown of Lower (northern) Egypt. The name of Narmer is between two human-faced bovine heads, thought to represent the patron cow goddess Bat. On this side of the palette, the king wears the white crown, and smites an enemy. Before him, a Horus falcon holds a rope around the defeated enemy, as a human-headed papyrus marsh representing the Delta. On the left of the king is a man bearing the king's sandals, once again flanked by a rosette symbol. In the register below, is depicted two naked, bearded men. They are either running or are meant to be seen as sprawling dead upon the ground.

1st dynasty, from Hierakonpolis Main Deposit.

JE32169 - CG14716

Ground floor, gallery 43

 

Cairo Museum

BCWF Wrestling - Wrestle World IV - Legion Von Creed Vs Andy namite, Joey D

 

Legion Von Creed (c) def. (Pin) Andy namite, Joey D (c)

Type of match : Table Match

Title Unification

For : BWS championship (No Change)

BCWF european championship (New Champ)

 

( BCWF Wrestle World IV a Grivegnee, Liege, le vendredi 9 novembre ! )

This Mongolia Mongolei Mongolië travel photography photo was taken by Dutch travel photographer Hans Hendriksen. The celebration of the 800th anniversary of the founding of the Mongolian nation in 2006 represented an incredible travel photography opportunity as Mongolia showed its splendour to the world. Many events were held throughout this year to commemorate the unification of the tribes by Chinggis Khan in the year 1206. The culmination of the festivities was Mongolia's national holiday, "Nadaam", held from 11 to 13 of July 2006. The Nadaam festival is the biggest of the year. It runs for three days in all parts of the country and features the greatest athletes in Mongolia's most popular sports: horse racing, archery, and wrestling. Women participate in all but the wrestling category. The competitions take place on the first two days, and the third day is reserved merry-making! Should you want to buy a high-res file for publication, photo print or poster? Visit www.hanshendriksen.net to find all information about the author and how to order or publish his work.

 

Este Mongolia Mongolei Mongolie viajes fotografía foto fue tomada por el fotógrafo holandés Hans Hendriksen viaje. La celebración del 800 aniversario de la fundación de la nación mongol en 2006 representó una oportunidad increíble de fotografía de viajes como Mongolia mostraron su esplendor a todo el mundo. Muchos eventos se han celebrado a lo largo de este año para conmemorar la unificación de las tribus por Chinggis Khan en el año 1206. La culminación de los festejos fue la fiesta nacional de Mongolia ", Nadaam", que se celebró del 11 al 13 de julio de 2006. Nadaam El festival es el más grande del año. Se ejecuta por tres días en todas partes del país y cuenta con el mayor en los atletas de Mongolia de deportes más populares: carreras de caballos, tiro con arco, y la lucha. Las mujeres participan en todas las categorías, pero la lucha libre. Las competiciones tienen lugar en los dos primeros días, y el tercer día está reservado alegre toma! Si usted quiere comprar un archivo de alta resolución para su publicación, impresión de fotografías o carteles? www.hanshendriksen.net para encontrar toda la información sobre el autor y la forma de orden o publicar su trabajo.

 

Это Монголия Mongolei Mongolië поездки фотография фотография была сделана голландской поездок фотограф Ханс Hendriksen. Празднование 800-летия со дня основания монгольской нации в 2006 году представляет собой невероятную возможность поездки фотографии Монголии как показали его величия в мире. Многие мероприятия были проведены на протяжении этого года для того, чтобы отметить объединение племен в Чингис Хана в 1206 году. Кульминация торжества был Монголии национальный праздник ", Nadaam", проходившей с 11 по 13 июля 2006 года. В Nadaam фестиваль является крупнейшим в этом году. Она проходит в течение трех дней во всех районах страны и отличается большим спортсменам в Монголии наиболее популярные виды спорта: конные скачки, стрельба из лука, и борьба. Женщины участвуют во всех, но борьба категории. Соревнования проходят в течение первых двух дней, а на третий день резервируется веселых решений! Если вы хотите купить высоким разрешением файл для публикации, фотографии для печати или плакат? Посетите www.hanshendriksen.net чтобы найти всю информацию об авторе и о том, как к тем или опубликовать его работу.

 

BCWF Wrestling - Wrestle World IV - Legion Von Creed Vs Andy namite, Joey D

 

Legion Von Creed (c) def. (Pin) Andy namite, Joey D (c)

Type of match : Table Match

Title Unification

For : BWS championship (No Change)

BCWF european championship (New Champ)

 

( BCWF Wrestle World IV a Grivegnee, Liege, le vendredi 9 novembre ! )

BCWF Wrestling - Wrestle World IV - Legion Von Creed Vs Andy namite, Joey D

 

Legion Von Creed (c) def. (Pin) Andy namite, Joey D (c)

Type of match : Table Match

Title Unification

For : BWS championship (No Change)

BCWF european championship (New Champ)

 

( BCWF Wrestle World IV a Grivegnee, Liege, le vendredi 9 novembre ! )

Sunday December 1st is Great Union Day (Romanian: Ziua Marii Uniri; also called Unification Day or National Day).

 

In the morning was a military parade on the Romanian Champs-Élysées called 'Bulevardul Regele Mihai I al României'.

 

Tanks and rockets and all kinds of military equipment was driving by and fighters were flying over. It was pretty spectacular. Very crowded and lots of kids! Not only from the Romanian army but also military equipment from other nations participated.

This Mongolia Mongolei Mongolië travel photography photo was taken by Dutch travel photographer Hans Hendriksen. The celebration of the 800th anniversary of the founding of the Mongolian nation in 2006 represented an incredible travel photography opportunity as Mongolia showed its splendour to the world. Many events were held throughout this year to commemorate the unification of the tribes by Chinggis Khan in the year 1206. The culmination of the festivities was Mongolia's national holiday, "Nadaam", held from 11 to 13 of July 2006. The Nadaam festival is the biggest of the year. It runs for three days in all parts of the country and features the greatest athletes in Mongolia's most popular sports: horse racing, archery, and wrestling. Women participate in all but the wrestling category. The competitions take place on the first two days, and the third day is reserved merry-making! Should you want to buy a high-res file for publication, photo print or poster? Visit www.hanshendriksen.net to find all information about the author and how to order or publish his work.

 

Este Mongolia Mongolei Mongolie viajes fotografía foto fue tomada por el fotógrafo holandés Hans Hendriksen viaje. La celebración del 800 aniversario de la fundación de la nación mongol en 2006 representó una oportunidad increíble de fotografía de viajes como Mongolia mostraron su esplendor a todo el mundo. Muchos eventos se han celebrado a lo largo de este año para conmemorar la unificación de las tribus por Chinggis Khan en el año 1206. La culminación de los festejos fue la fiesta nacional de Mongolia ", Nadaam", que se celebró del 11 al 13 de julio de 2006. Nadaam El festival es el más grande del año. Se ejecuta por tres días en todas partes del país y cuenta con el mayor en los atletas de Mongolia de deportes más populares: carreras de caballos, tiro con arco, y la lucha. Las mujeres participan en todas las categorías, pero la lucha libre. Las competiciones tienen lugar en los dos primeros días, y el tercer día está reservado alegre toma! Si usted quiere comprar un archivo de alta resolución para su publicación, impresión de fotografías o carteles? www.hanshendriksen.net para encontrar toda la información sobre el autor y la forma de orden o publicar su trabajo.

 

Это Монголия Mongolei Mongolië поездки фотография фотография была сделана голландской поездок фотограф Ханс Hendriksen. Празднование 800-летия со дня основания монгольской нации в 2006 году представляет собой невероятную возможность поездки фотографии Монголии как показали его величия в мире. Многие мероприятия были проведены на протяжении этого года для того, чтобы отметить объединение племен в Чингис Хана в 1206 году. Кульминация торжества был Монголии национальный праздник ", Nadaam", проходившей с 11 по 13 июля 2006 года. В Nadaam фестиваль является крупнейшим в этом году. Она проходит в течение трех дней во всех районах страны и отличается большим спортсменам в Монголии наиболее популярные виды спорта: конные скачки, стрельба из лука, и борьба. Женщины участвуют во всех, но борьба категории. Соревнования проходят в течение первых двух дней, а на третий день резервируется веселых решений! Если вы хотите купить высоким разрешением файл для публикации, фотографии для печати или плакат? Посетите www.hanshendriksen.net чтобы найти всю информацию об авторе и о том, как к тем или опубликовать его работу.

 

1. The spiritual entity Qalb

 

Prophecy and knowledge relating to this was granted to the Prophet Adam

 

In the Urdu language the fleshy meat, (the heart) is known as dil, and in Arabic it is called fawad. The spiritual entity that is next to the heart is the Qalb and according to a Prophetic statement the heart and the Qalb are two separate entities.

 

Our solar system is the physical human sphere. There are other realms and spheres, for example the realm of the angels, the realm of the throne of God, the realm of the soul, the realm of the secrets, the realm of unification and the realm of the essence of God. These spheres and life forms inhabiting these spheres have existed before the eruption of the ball of fire, our Sun, which created our solar system. Ordinary angels were created alongside the creation of the souls when God commanded "Be" but the Archangels and the spiritual entities (which are placed inside the human body at birth) have existed in these realms before the formation of our solar system.

 

Many planets in our solar system were inhabited but subsequently these life forms became extinct. The remaining planets and their inhabitants are awaiting their destruction. The Archangels and the spiritual entities (of the human body) were created seventy thousand years before the command "Be."

 

Of these spiritual entities God placed the Qalb in the realm of love. It is with this that a human being is able to become connected with God. The Qalb acts like a telephone operator between God and the human being. A human being receives guidance and inspiration through it. Whereas the worship and the meditation done by the spiritual entities themselves can reach the highest realm, the Throne of God, with the aid of the Qalb. The Qalb itself, however cannot travel beyond the realm of the angels, as its place of origin is the Khuld, the lowest heaven in the realm of the angels.

 

The Qalb’s meditation is from within and its vibrating rosary is within the human skeleton (the heartbeat). People that failed to achieve this meditation of the Qalb in this lifetime will be regretful, even though they may be in paradise. As God has stated regarding those who will go to paradise, that do they, the inhabitants of paradise think that they will be equal to those who are elevated (reached higher realms by practicing the spiritual disciplines and becoming illuminated). As those that have achieved the meditation of the Qalb, they will enjoy its pleasures even in paradise when their Qalb will be vibrating with the Name of God.

After death physical worship ceases to exist and the people whose Qalb and spiritual entities are not strengthened and illuminated with the light of God are afflicted and distressed in their graves and their spiritual entities waste away. Whereas the illuminated and strengthened spiritual entities will go to the realm where the righteous will wait before the final judgement.

After the day of judgement a second body will be given, the illuminated spiritual entities along with the human soul will enter that body. The people that taught their spiritual entities, meditation, whereby the entities chanted the Name of God Allah in this life time will find that the spiritual entities will continue with this meditation even in the hereafter. Such people will continue to be elevated and exalted in the hereafter.

  

Those that were “blind of heart” (not illuminated) in this life time will be in darkness in that realm also, as this world was the place of action and effort. Those in the latter category will become quiescent.

Besides the Christians and the Jews the Hindu faith also holds a belief in these spiritual entities. The Hindu faith refers to them as Shaktian and the Muslims know them as Lata’if.

The Qalb is two inches, to the left of the heart. This spiritual entity is yellow in colour. When it is illuminated in a person, that person sees the colour yellow in their eyes. Not only this but there are many practitioners of alternative medicine who use the colours of these spiritual entities to heal people.

Most people regard their heart’s word, “inner feeling” to be truthful. If the hearts of people were indeed truthful, then why are all the people of the heart not united?

The Qalb of an ordinary person is in the sleeping or unconscious state and it does not possess any appreciation or awareness. Due to the dominance of the spirit of the self, the ego, and the Khannas, or due to the individual’s own simple- mindedness the heart can make judgements in error. Placing trust in a sleeping Qalb is foolish.

Only when the Name of God Allah, does vibrate in the heart does an appreciation of right and wrong and wisdom follow. At this stage the Qalb is known as the awakened Qalb. Thereafter due to the increase in the meditation by the Qalb, of the Name of God Allah, it is then known as the God-seeking Qalb. At this stage the heart is capable of preventing the person from doing wrong but it is still incapable of making a right or just decision. Thereafter and only when the Light and the rays of the Grace of God (theophany) start to descend upon that heart, is it known as the purified and illuminated Qalb that stands in the presence of God (witnessing Qalb).

 

A Prophetic statement:

“The mercy of God descends upon a broken heart and an afflicted grave.”

 

Thereafter when the heart reaches this stage then one must accept whatever it dictates, quietly without question because due to the rays of the Light and the Grace of God the spirit of the self, (ego) becomes completely illuminated, purified and at peace. God is then closer to that individual than that person’s jugular vein.

God then says, “I become his tongue with which he speaks and I become his hands with which he holds.”

   

2. The Human Soul

 

Prophecy and knowledge relating to this was granted to the Prophet Abraham

 

This is on the right side of the chest. This is awakened and illuminated by the meditation and one-pointed concentration on it. Once it becomes illuminated, a vibration similar to the heartbeat is felt on the right side of the chest. Then the Name of God, Ya Allah is matched with the vibrating pulse. The meditation of the soul is done in this way. At this point, there are now two spiritual entities meditating inside the human body, this is an advancement in rank and status and is better than the Qalb. The soul is a light red in colour and when it is awakened, it is able to travel to the realm of the souls (the station of the Archangel Gabriel). Anger and rage are attached to it that burn and turn into majesty.

  

3. The spiritual entity Sirri

 

Prophecy and knowledge relating to this was granted to the Prophet Moses

 

This spiritual entity is to the left of the centre of the chest. This is also awakened and illuminated by the meditation and one-pointed concentration on it with the Name of God, Ya Hayy, Ya Qayyum. Its colour is white and in the dream state or by spiritual separation from the physical body “transcendental meditation” it can journey to the realm of the secrets. Now there are three spiritual entities meditating within a person and its status is higher than the other two.

   

4. The spiritual entity Khaffi

 

Prophecy and knowledge relating to this was granted to the Prophet Jesus

 

This is to the right of the centre of the chest. It too is taught the Name of God Ya Wahid by meditation. It is green in colour and it can reach the realm of unification. Due to the meditation of four entities one's status is further increased.

 

5. The spiritual entity Akhfa

 

Prophecy and knowledge relating to this was granted to the Prophet Mohammed

 

This is situated at the centre of the chest. It is awakened by meditating on the Name of God, Ya Ahad. It is purple in colour and it too, is connected to that veil in the realm of unification behind which is the throne of God.

 

The hidden spiritual knowledge relating to these five spiritual entities was granted to the Prophets, one by one and half of the knowledge of every spiritual entity was granted from the Prophets to the Saints of their time. In this way there became ten parts of this knowledge. The Saints in turn passed this knowledge on to the spiritually favoured (Godly) who then had the benefit of the sacred knowledge.

 

The apparent knowledge of the seen is connected to the physical body, the spoken word, the human realm and the spirit of the self, this is for the ordinary mortals. This knowledge is contained in a book that has thirty parts. Spiritual knowledge was also given to the Prophets by revelation brought by Gabriel and for this reason it is known as the spiritual Holy Scripture.

 

Many of the verses of the Qur’an would sometimes be abolished, since the Prophet Mohammed would sometimes mention matters relating to this “hidden spiritual knowledge” before ordinary people, which was only meant for the special and Godly. Later this knowledge passed on spiritually from the chest of one Saint to another, and now it has become widespread by its publication in books.

  

6. The spiritual entity Anna

 

This spiritual entity is inside the head and is colourless. It is by the meditation on the Name of God Ya Hu that this spiritual entity reaches its pinnacle. It is this spiritual entity that when it becomes illuminated and powerful it can stand in the Presence of God, face to face, and communicate with God unobstructed. Only the extreme lovers of God reach this realm and station. Besides this there are a few and extremely exalted people who are granted additional spiritual entities, for example the spiritual entity Tifl-e-Nuri or a spiritual entity of the Godhead, Jussa-e-Tofiq-e-Ilahi, the spiritual status of such people is beyond understanding.

 

With the spiritual entity, Anna, God is seen in the dream state.

 

With the spiritual entity of the Godhead, God is seen in the “physical meditating state” when the spiritual entity itself leaves the human body and transcends to the essence of God.

 

Those possessing the spiritual entity, the Tifl-e-Nuri, see God whilst they are fully conscious.

 

It is these people who are the majesty and power of God in the world. They can either occupy the people by prescribing worship and austerities or by their spiritual grace send a person straight to the realm of God’s love. In their sight, concerning dispensing spiritual grace the believers and the non-believers, the dead and the living are all the same. Just as a thief became a Saint, in an instant, by the passing glimpse of the Saint Sheikh Abdul-Qadir al-Jilani, similarly, Abu-Bakr Havari and Manga the thief, became instant Saints by the passing glimpses of such Saints.

 

The five major Messengers were given knowledge of the five spiritual entities separately and in order of their appearance, as a result of which spirituality continued to prosper. With whichever spiritual entity you practice meditation you will be connected to the corresponding Messenger and become worthy of receiving spiritual grace (from that Messenger).

 

Whichever spiritual entity receives the rays of the Grace of God (favour), the Sainthood granted to that spiritual entity will be connected to the corresponding Prophet’s spiritual grace.

 

Access to seven realms and gaining elevated spiritual status in the seven heavens is obtained through these spiritual entities.

The functions of the spiritual entities inside the human body

 

Akhfa: Due to the spiritual entity, Akhfa a person is able to speak. In its absence a person may have a normal tongue but will be dumb. The difference between human beings and animals lies in the presence or the absence of these spiritual entities. At birth, if the entity, Akhfa was unable to enter the body for whatever reason, then a Prophet appointed for the rectification of this ailment would be called to treat the condition as a result of which the dumb would start to speak.

 

Sirri: A person is able to see due to the spiritual entity, Sirri. If it does not enter the body the person is blind from birth. An appointed Prophet had the duty to find and place the spiritual entity into the body, as a result of which the blind would start to see again.

Qalb: Without the spiritual entity of the Qalb, in the body, a person is like the animals, unacquainted, far from God, miserable and without purpose. Returning this entity into the body was the task of the Prophets also.

The miracles of the Prophets were also granted to the saints, in the form marvels and mystical wonders as a result of which even the impious and liberal became close to God. When a spiritual entity is returned by any allocated Saint or Prophet, the deaf, dumb and the blind are healed.

Anna: When the spiritual entity, Anna, fails to enter the body, a person is regarded as insane even though the brain may be functioning normally.

Khaffi: In the absence of the spiritual entity, Khafi, a person is deaf, even if the ears are opened wide.

These conditions can be caused by other defects in the body, and can be treated. There is no cure in the case, where the defect is caused by the absence of the associated spiritual entity except where a Prophet or a Saint intervenes and cures the defect.

Nafs, self: As a result of the spiritual entity of the self (ego) a persons mind is occupied with the material world and it is because of the spiritual entity Qalb that a persons direction turns towards God. For more detail visit www.goharshahi.org or visit asipk.com and for videos visit HH rags

 

1. The spiritual entity Qalb

 

Prophecy and knowledge relating to this was granted to the Prophet Adam

 

In the Urdu language the fleshy meat, (the heart) is known as dil, and in Arabic it is called fawad. The spiritual entity that is next to the heart is the Qalb and according to a Prophetic statement the heart and the Qalb are two separate entities.

 

Our solar system is the physical human sphere. There are other realms and spheres, for example the realm of the angels, the realm of the throne of God, the realm of the soul, the realm of the secrets, the realm of unification and the realm of the essence of God. These spheres and life forms inhabiting these spheres have existed before the eruption of the ball of fire, our Sun, which created our solar system. Ordinary angels were created alongside the creation of the souls when God commanded "Be" but the Archangels and the spiritual entities (which are placed inside the human body at birth) have existed in these realms before the formation of our solar system.

 

Many planets in our solar system were inhabited but subsequently these life forms became extinct. The remaining planets and their inhabitants are awaiting their destruction. The Archangels and the spiritual entities (of the human body) were created seventy thousand years before the command "Be."

 

Of these spiritual entities God placed the Qalb in the realm of love. It is with this that a human being is able to become connected with God. The Qalb acts like a telephone operator between God and the human being. A human being receives guidance and inspiration through it. Whereas the worship and the meditation done by the spiritual entities themselves can reach the highest realm, the Throne of God, with the aid of the Qalb. The Qalb itself, however cannot travel beyond the realm of the angels, as its place of origin is the Khuld, the lowest heaven in the realm of the angels.

 

The Qalb’s meditation is from within and its vibrating rosary is within the human skeleton (the heartbeat). People that failed to achieve this meditation of the Qalb in this lifetime will be regretful, even though they may be in paradise. As God has stated regarding those who will go to paradise, that do they, the inhabitants of paradise think that they will be equal to those who are elevated (reached higher realms by practicing the spiritual disciplines and becoming illuminated). As those that have achieved the meditation of the Qalb, they will enjoy its pleasures even in paradise when their Qalb will be vibrating with the Name of God.

After death physical worship ceases to exist and the people whose Qalb and spiritual entities are not strengthened and illuminated with the light of God are afflicted and distressed in their graves and their spiritual entities waste away. Whereas the illuminated and strengthened spiritual entities will go to the realm where the righteous will wait before the final judgement.

After the day of judgement a second body will be given, the illuminated spiritual entities along with the human soul will enter that body. The people that taught their spiritual entities, meditation, whereby the entities chanted the Name of God Allah in this life time will find that the spiritual entities will continue with this meditation even in the hereafter. Such people will continue to be elevated and exalted in the hereafter.

  

Those that were “blind of heart” (not illuminated) in this life time will be in darkness in that realm also, as this world was the place of action and effort. Those in the latter category will become quiescent.

Besides the Christians and the Jews the Hindu faith also holds a belief in these spiritual entities. The Hindu faith refers to them as Shaktian and the Muslims know them as Lata’if.

The Qalb is two inches, to the left of the heart. This spiritual entity is yellow in colour. When it is illuminated in a person, that person sees the colour yellow in their eyes. Not only this but there are many practitioners of alternative medicine who use the colours of these spiritual entities to heal people.

Most people regard their heart’s word, “inner feeling” to be truthful. If the hearts of people were indeed truthful, then why are all the people of the heart not united?

The Qalb of an ordinary person is in the sleeping or unconscious state and it does not possess any appreciation or awareness. Due to the dominance of the spirit of the self, the ego, and the Khannas, or due to the individual’s own simple- mindedness the heart can make judgements in error. Placing trust in a sleeping Qalb is foolish.

Only when the Name of God Allah, does vibrate in the heart does an appreciation of right and wrong and wisdom follow. At this stage the Qalb is known as the awakened Qalb. Thereafter due to the increase in the meditation by the Qalb, of the Name of God Allah, it is then known as the God-seeking Qalb. At this stage the heart is capable of preventing the person from doing wrong but it is still incapable of making a right or just decision. Thereafter and only when the Light and the rays of the Grace of God (theophany) start to descend upon that heart, is it known as the purified and illuminated Qalb that stands in the presence of God (witnessing Qalb).

 

A Prophetic statement:

“The mercy of God descends upon a broken heart and an afflicted grave.”

 

Thereafter when the heart reaches this stage then one must accept whatever it dictates, quietly without question because due to the rays of the Light and the Grace of God the spirit of the self, (ego) becomes completely illuminated, purified and at peace. God is then closer to that individual than that person’s jugular vein.

God then says, “I become his tongue with which he speaks and I become his hands with which he holds.”

   

2. The Human Soul

 

Prophecy and knowledge relating to this was granted to the Prophet Abraham

 

This is on the right side of the chest. This is awakened and illuminated by the meditation and one-pointed concentration on it. Once it becomes illuminated, a vibration similar to the heartbeat is felt on the right side of the chest. Then the Name of God, Ya Allah is matched with the vibrating pulse. The meditation of the soul is done in this way. At this point, there are now two spiritual entities meditating inside the human body, this is an advancement in rank and status and is better than the Qalb. The soul is a light red in colour and when it is awakened, it is able to travel to the realm of the souls (the station of the Archangel Gabriel). Anger and rage are attached to it that burn and turn into majesty.

  

3. The spiritual entity Sirri

 

Prophecy and knowledge relating to this was granted to the Prophet Moses

 

This spiritual entity is to the left of the centre of the chest. This is also awakened and illuminated by the meditation and one-pointed concentration on it with the Name of God, Ya Hayy, Ya Qayyum. Its colour is white and in the dream state or by spiritual separation from the physical body “transcendental meditation” it can journey to the realm of the secrets. Now there are three spiritual entities meditating within a person and its status is higher than the other two.

   

4. The spiritual entity Khaffi

 

Prophecy and knowledge relating to this was granted to the Prophet Jesus

 

This is to the right of the centre of the chest. It too is taught the Name of God Ya Wahid by meditation. It is green in colour and it can reach the realm of unification. Due to the meditation of four entities one's status is further increased.

 

5. The spiritual entity Akhfa

 

Prophecy and knowledge relating to this was granted to the Prophet Mohammed

 

This is situated at the centre of the chest. It is awakened by meditating on the Name of God, Ya Ahad. It is purple in colour and it too, is connected to that veil in the realm of unification behind which is the throne of God.

 

The hidden spiritual knowledge relating to these five spiritual entities was granted to the Prophets, one by one and half of the knowledge of every spiritual entity was granted from the Prophets to the Saints of their time. In this way there became ten parts of this knowledge. The Saints in turn passed this knowledge on to the spiritually favoured (Godly) who then had the benefit of the sacred knowledge.

 

The apparent knowledge of the seen is connected to the physical body, the spoken word, the human realm and the spirit of the self, this is for the ordinary mortals. This knowledge is contained in a book that has thirty parts. Spiritual knowledge was also given to the Prophets by revelation brought by Gabriel and for this reason it is known as the spiritual Holy Scripture.

 

Many of the verses of the Qur’an would sometimes be abolished, since the Prophet Mohammed would sometimes mention matters relating to this “hidden spiritual knowledge” before ordinary people, which was only meant for the special and Godly. Later this knowledge passed on spiritually from the chest of one Saint to another, and now it has become widespread by its publication in books.

  

6. The spiritual entity Anna

 

This spiritual entity is inside the head and is colourless. It is by the meditation on the Name of God Ya Hu that this spiritual entity reaches its pinnacle. It is this spiritual entity that when it becomes illuminated and powerful it can stand in the Presence of God, face to face, and communicate with God unobstructed. Only the extreme lovers of God reach this realm and station. Besides this there are a few and extremely exalted people who are granted additional spiritual entities, for example the spiritual entity Tifl-e-Nuri or a spiritual entity of the Godhead, Jussa-e-Tofiq-e-Ilahi, the spiritual status of such people is beyond understanding.

 

With the spiritual entity, Anna, God is seen in the dream state.

 

With the spiritual entity of the Godhead, God is seen in the “physical meditating state” when the spiritual entity itself leaves the human body and transcends to the essence of God.

 

Those possessing the spiritual entity, the Tifl-e-Nuri, see God whilst they are fully conscious.

 

It is these people who are the majesty and power of God in the world. They can either occupy the people by prescribing worship and austerities or by their spiritual grace send a person straight to the realm of God’s love. In their sight, concerning dispensing spiritual grace the believers and the non-believers, the dead and the living are all the same. Just as a thief became a Saint, in an instant, by the passing glimpse of the Saint Sheikh Abdul-Qadir al-Jilani, similarly, Abu-Bakr Havari and Manga the thief, became instant Saints by the passing glimpses of such Saints.

 

The five major Messengers were given knowledge of the five spiritual entities separately and in order of their appearance, as a result of which spirituality continued to prosper. With whichever spiritual entity you practice meditation you will be connected to the corresponding Messenger and become worthy of receiving spiritual grace (from that Messenger).

 

Whichever spiritual entity receives the rays of the Grace of God (favour), the Sainthood granted to that spiritual entity will be connected to the corresponding Prophet’s spiritual grace.

 

Access to seven realms and gaining elevated spiritual status in the seven heavens is obtained through these spiritual entities.

The functions of the spiritual entities inside the human body

 

Akhfa: Due to the spiritual entity, Akhfa a person is able to speak. In its absence a person may have a normal tongue but will be dumb. The difference between human beings and animals lies in the presence or the absence of these spiritual entities. At birth, if the entity, Akhfa was unable to enter the body for whatever reason, then a Prophet appointed for the rectification of this ailment would be called to treat the condition as a result of which the dumb would start to speak.

 

Sirri: A person is able to see due to the spiritual entity, Sirri. If it does not enter the body the person is blind from birth. An appointed Prophet had the duty to find and place the spiritual entity into the body, as a result of which the blind would start to see again.

Qalb: Without the spiritual entity of the Qalb, in the body, a person is like the animals, unacquainted, far from God, miserable and without purpose. Returning this entity into the body was the task of the Prophets also.

The miracles of the Prophets were also granted to the saints, in the form marvels and mystical wonders as a result of which even the impious and liberal became close to God. When a spiritual entity is returned by any allocated Saint or Prophet, the deaf, dumb and the blind are healed.

Anna: When the spiritual entity, Anna, fails to enter the body, a person is regarded as insane even though the brain may be functioning normally.

Khaffi: In the absence of the spiritual entity, Khafi, a person is deaf, even if the ears are opened wide.

These conditions can be caused by other defects in the body, and can be treated. There is no cure in the case, where the defect is caused by the absence of the associated spiritual entity except where a Prophet or a Saint intervenes and cures the defect.

Nafs, self: As a result of the spiritual entity of the self (ego) a persons mind is occupied with the material world and it is because of the spiritual entity Qalb that a persons direction turns towards God. For more detail visit www.goharshahi.org or visit asipk.com and for videos visit HH rags

 

1. The spiritual entity Qalb

 

Prophecy and knowledge relating to this was granted to the Prophet Adam

 

In the Urdu language the fleshy meat, (the heart) is known as dil, and in Arabic it is called fawad. The spiritual entity that is next to the heart is the Qalb and according to a Prophetic statement the heart and the Qalb are two separate entities.

 

Our solar system is the physical human sphere. There are other realms and spheres, for example the realm of the angels, the realm of the throne of God, the realm of the soul, the realm of the secrets, the realm of unification and the realm of the essence of God. These spheres and life forms inhabiting these spheres have existed before the eruption of the ball of fire, our Sun, which created our solar system. Ordinary angels were created alongside the creation of the souls when God commanded "Be" but the Archangels and the spiritual entities (which are placed inside the human body at birth) have existed in these realms before the formation of our solar system.

 

Many planets in our solar system were inhabited but subsequently these life forms became extinct. The remaining planets and their inhabitants are awaiting their destruction. The Archangels and the spiritual entities (of the human body) were created seventy thousand years before the command "Be."

 

Of these spiritual entities God placed the Qalb in the realm of love. It is with this that a human being is able to become connected with God. The Qalb acts like a telephone operator between God and the human being. A human being receives guidance and inspiration through it. Whereas the worship and the meditation done by the spiritual entities themselves can reach the highest realm, the Throne of God, with the aid of the Qalb. The Qalb itself, however cannot travel beyond the realm of the angels, as its place of origin is the Khuld, the lowest heaven in the realm of the angels.

 

The Qalb’s meditation is from within and its vibrating rosary is within the human skeleton (the heartbeat). People that failed to achieve this meditation of the Qalb in this lifetime will be regretful, even though they may be in paradise. As God has stated regarding those who will go to paradise, that do they, the inhabitants of paradise think that they will be equal to those who are elevated (reached higher realms by practicing the spiritual disciplines and becoming illuminated). As those that have achieved the meditation of the Qalb, they will enjoy its pleasures even in paradise when their Qalb will be vibrating with the Name of God.

After death physical worship ceases to exist and the people whose Qalb and spiritual entities are not strengthened and illuminated with the light of God are afflicted and distressed in their graves and their spiritual entities waste away. Whereas the illuminated and strengthened spiritual entities will go to the realm where the righteous will wait before the final judgement.

After the day of judgement a second body will be given, the illuminated spiritual entities along with the human soul will enter that body. The people that taught their spiritual entities, meditation, whereby the entities chanted the Name of God Allah in this life time will find that the spiritual entities will continue with this meditation even in the hereafter. Such people will continue to be elevated and exalted in the hereafter.

  

Those that were “blind of heart” (not illuminated) in this life time will be in darkness in that realm also, as this world was the place of action and effort. Those in the latter category will become quiescent.

Besides the Christians and the Jews the Hindu faith also holds a belief in these spiritual entities. The Hindu faith refers to them as Shaktian and the Muslims know them as Lata’if.

The Qalb is two inches, to the left of the heart. This spiritual entity is yellow in colour. When it is illuminated in a person, that person sees the colour yellow in their eyes. Not only this but there are many practitioners of alternative medicine who use the colours of these spiritual entities to heal people.

Most people regard their heart’s word, “inner feeling” to be truthful. If the hearts of people were indeed truthful, then why are all the people of the heart not united?

The Qalb of an ordinary person is in the sleeping or unconscious state and it does not possess any appreciation or awareness. Due to the dominance of the spirit of the self, the ego, and the Khannas, or due to the individual’s own simple- mindedness the heart can make judgements in error. Placing trust in a sleeping Qalb is foolish.

Only when the Name of God Allah, does vibrate in the heart does an appreciation of right and wrong and wisdom follow. At this stage the Qalb is known as the awakened Qalb. Thereafter due to the increase in the meditation by the Qalb, of the Name of God Allah, it is then known as the God-seeking Qalb. At this stage the heart is capable of preventing the person from doing wrong but it is still incapable of making a right or just decision. Thereafter and only when the Light and the rays of the Grace of God (theophany) start to descend upon that heart, is it known as the purified and illuminated Qalb that stands in the presence of God (witnessing Qalb).

 

A Prophetic statement:

“The mercy of God descends upon a broken heart and an afflicted grave.”

 

Thereafter when the heart reaches this stage then one must accept whatever it dictates, quietly without question because due to the rays of the Light and the Grace of God the spirit of the self, (ego) becomes completely illuminated, purified and at peace. God is then closer to that individual than that person’s jugular vein.

God then says, “I become his tongue with which he speaks and I become his hands with which he holds.”

   

2. The Human Soul

 

Prophecy and knowledge relating to this was granted to the Prophet Abraham

 

This is on the right side of the chest. This is awakened and illuminated by the meditation and one-pointed concentration on it. Once it becomes illuminated, a vibration similar to the heartbeat is felt on the right side of the chest. Then the Name of God, Ya Allah is matched with the vibrating pulse. The meditation of the soul is done in this way. At this point, there are now two spiritual entities meditating inside the human body, this is an advancement in rank and status and is better than the Qalb. The soul is a light red in colour and when it is awakened, it is able to travel to the realm of the souls (the station of the Archangel Gabriel). Anger and rage are attached to it that burn and turn into majesty.

  

3. The spiritual entity Sirri

 

Prophecy and knowledge relating to this was granted to the Prophet Moses

 

This spiritual entity is to the left of the centre of the chest. This is also awakened and illuminated by the meditation and one-pointed concentration on it with the Name of God, Ya Hayy, Ya Qayyum. Its colour is white and in the dream state or by spiritual separation from the physical body “transcendental meditation” it can journey to the realm of the secrets. Now there are three spiritual entities meditating within a person and its status is higher than the other two.

   

4. The spiritual entity Khaffi

 

Prophecy and knowledge relating to this was granted to the Prophet Jesus

 

This is to the right of the centre of the chest. It too is taught the Name of God Ya Wahid by meditation. It is green in colour and it can reach the realm of unification. Due to the meditation of four entities one's status is further increased.

 

5. The spiritual entity Akhfa

 

Prophecy and knowledge relating to this was granted to the Prophet Mohammed

 

This is situated at the centre of the chest. It is awakened by meditating on the Name of God, Ya Ahad. It is purple in colour and it too, is connected to that veil in the realm of unification behind which is the throne of God.

 

The hidden spiritual knowledge relating to these five spiritual entities was granted to the Prophets, one by one and half of the knowledge of every spiritual entity was granted from the Prophets to the Saints of their time. In this way there became ten parts of this knowledge. The Saints in turn passed this knowledge on to the spiritually favoured (Godly) who then had the benefit of the sacred knowledge.

 

The apparent knowledge of the seen is connected to the physical body, the spoken word, the human realm and the spirit of the self, this is for the ordinary mortals. This knowledge is contained in a book that has thirty parts. Spiritual knowledge was also given to the Prophets by revelation brought by Gabriel and for this reason it is known as the spiritual Holy Scripture.

 

Many of the verses of the Qur’an would sometimes be abolished, since the Prophet Mohammed would sometimes mention matters relating to this “hidden spiritual knowledge” before ordinary people, which was only meant for the special and Godly. Later this knowledge passed on spiritually from the chest of one Saint to another, and now it has become widespread by its publication in books.

  

6. The spiritual entity Anna

 

This spiritual entity is inside the head and is colourless. It is by the meditation on the Name of God Ya Hu that this spiritual entity reaches its pinnacle. It is this spiritual entity that when it becomes illuminated and powerful it can stand in the Presence of God, face to face, and communicate with God unobstructed. Only the extreme lovers of God reach this realm and station. Besides this there are a few and extremely exalted people who are granted additional spiritual entities, for example the spiritual entity Tifl-e-Nuri or a spiritual entity of the Godhead, Jussa-e-Tofiq-e-Ilahi, the spiritual status of such people is beyond understanding.

 

With the spiritual entity, Anna, God is seen in the dream state.

 

With the spiritual entity of the Godhead, God is seen in the “physical meditating state” when the spiritual entity itself leaves the human body and transcends to the essence of God.

 

Those possessing the spiritual entity, the Tifl-e-Nuri, see God whilst they are fully conscious.

 

It is these people who are the majesty and power of God in the world. They can either occupy the people by prescribing worship and austerities or by their spiritual grace send a person straight to the realm of God’s love. In their sight, concerning dispensing spiritual grace the believers and the non-believers, the dead and the living are all the same. Just as a thief became a Saint, in an instant, by the passing glimpse of the Saint Sheikh Abdul-Qadir al-Jilani, similarly, Abu-Bakr Havari and Manga the thief, became instant Saints by the passing glimpses of such Saints.

 

The five major Messengers were given knowledge of the five spiritual entities separately and in order of their appearance, as a result of which spirituality continued to prosper. With whichever spiritual entity you practice meditation you will be connected to the corresponding Messenger and become worthy of receiving spiritual grace (from that Messenger).

 

Whichever spiritual entity receives the rays of the Grace of God (favour), the Sainthood granted to that spiritual entity will be connected to the corresponding Prophet’s spiritual grace.

 

Access to seven realms and gaining elevated spiritual status in the seven heavens is obtained through these spiritual entities.

The functions of the spiritual entities inside the human body

 

Akhfa: Due to the spiritual entity, Akhfa a person is able to speak. In its absence a person may have a normal tongue but will be dumb. The difference between human beings and animals lies in the presence or the absence of these spiritual entities. At birth, if the entity, Akhfa was unable to enter the body for whatever reason, then a Prophet appointed for the rectification of this ailment would be called to treat the condition as a result of which the dumb would start to speak.

 

Sirri: A person is able to see due to the spiritual entity, Sirri. If it does not enter the body the person is blind from birth. An appointed Prophet had the duty to find and place the spiritual entity into the body, as a result of which the blind would start to see again.

Qalb: Without the spiritual entity of the Qalb, in the body, a person is like the animals, unacquainted, far from God, miserable and without purpose. Returning this entity into the body was the task of the Prophets also.

The miracles of the Prophets were also granted to the saints, in the form marvels and mystical wonders as a result of which even the impious and liberal became close to God. When a spiritual entity is returned by any allocated Saint or Prophet, the deaf, dumb and the blind are healed.

Anna: When the spiritual entity, Anna, fails to enter the body, a person is regarded as insane even though the brain may be functioning normally.

Khaffi: In the absence of the spiritual entity, Khafi, a person is deaf, even if the ears are opened wide.

These conditions can be caused by other defects in the body, and can be treated. There is no cure in the case, where the defect is caused by the absence of the associated spiritual entity except where a Prophet or a Saint intervenes and cures the defect.

Nafs, self: As a result of the spiritual entity of the self (ego) a persons mind is occupied with the material world and it is because of the spiritual entity Qalb that a persons direction turns towards God. For more detail visit www.goharshahi.org or visit asipk.com and for videos visit HH rags

 

This Mongolia Mongolei Mongolië travel photography photo was taken by Dutch travel photographer Hans Hendriksen. The celebration of the 800th anniversary of the founding of the Mongolian nation in 2006 represented an incredible travel photography opportunity as Mongolia showed its splendour to the world. Many events were held throughout this year to commemorate the unification of the tribes by Chinggis Khan in the year 1206. The culmination of the festivities was Mongolia's national holiday, "Nadaam", held from 11 to 13 of July 2006. The Nadaam festival is the biggest of the year. It runs for three days in all parts of the country and features the greatest athletes in Mongolia's most popular sports: horse racing, archery, and wrestling. Women participate in all but the wrestling category. The competitions take place on the first two days, and the third day is reserved merry-making! Should you want to buy a high-res file for publication, photo print or poster? Visit www.hanshendriksen.net to find all information about the author and how to order or publish his work.

 

Este Mongolia Mongolei Mongolie viajes fotografía foto fue tomada por el fotógrafo holandés Hans Hendriksen viaje. La celebración del 800 aniversario de la fundación de la nación mongol en 2006 representó una oportunidad increíble de fotografía de viajes como Mongolia mostraron su esplendor a todo el mundo. Muchos eventos se han celebrado a lo largo de este año para conmemorar la unificación de las tribus por Chinggis Khan en el año 1206. La culminación de los festejos fue la fiesta nacional de Mongolia ", Nadaam", que se celebró del 11 al 13 de julio de 2006. Nadaam El festival es el más grande del año. Se ejecuta por tres días en todas partes del país y cuenta con el mayor en los atletas de Mongolia de deportes más populares: carreras de caballos, tiro con arco, y la lucha. Las mujeres participan en todas las categorías, pero la lucha libre. Las competiciones tienen lugar en los dos primeros días, y el tercer día está reservado alegre toma! Si usted quiere comprar un archivo de alta resolución para su publicación, impresión de fotografías o carteles? www.hanshendriksen.net para encontrar toda la información sobre el autor y la forma de orden o publicar su trabajo.

 

Это Монголия Mongolei Mongolië поездки фотография фотография была сделана голландской поездок фотограф Ханс Hendriksen. Празднование 800-летия со дня основания монгольской нации в 2006 году представляет собой невероятную возможность поездки фотографии Монголии как показали его величия в мире. Многие мероприятия были проведены на протяжении этого года для того, чтобы отметить объединение племен в Чингис Хана в 1206 году. Кульминация торжества был Монголии национальный праздник ", Nadaam", проходившей с 11 по 13 июля 2006 года. В Nadaam фестиваль является крупнейшим в этом году. Она проходит в течение трех дней во всех районах страны и отличается большим спортсменам в Монголии наиболее популярные виды спорта: конные скачки, стрельба из лука, и борьба. Женщины участвуют во всех, но борьба категории. Соревнования проходят в течение первых двух дней, а на третий день резервируется веселых решений! Если вы хотите купить высоким разрешением файл для публикации, фотографии для печати или плакат? Посетите www.hanshendriksen.net чтобы найти всю информацию об авторе и о том, как к тем или опубликовать его работу.

 

Those who really know the meaning of the world Yoga will know that its full meaning is “unification”, “to join”. Therefore, we all should embrace the idea of practising yoga together. For those who have never started, we have put together this short list of the Top 4 Easy Yoga Poses for Two People, with the idea of welcoming with open arms those who have never taken the step to begin.

 

It is common believe that real happiness is only real when

shared, so let´s give a go to Yoga with someone else, someone you love and that

you feel comfortable with. And specially, someone who can support you to begin

practising the full benefits and wonders of Yoga.

 

Please, if you feel that you don´t get the poses completely perfect, don’t worry. With practice, perseverance and the support of your partner, sure you will master this list of easy yoga poses for two people! And then, later on, you can try the Top 12 Coolest Yoga Poses for Two People.

 

To make the most of this list of Easy Yoga Poses for Two

People, you will need:

 

Two Yoga Mats. Just to feel comfortable, which is very important at the beginning stage. A Partner. Ideally the two of you should be at the beginner stage, so that you can help each other.Spacious room. You don’t want to feel that you lack space, so choose an open room or even outdoors.Relaxing music. We are big supporters of feeling relax and focus when practising yoga.Pictures of the Easy Yoga Poses. yogaposesfortwo.com/top-4-easy-yoga-poses-for-two-people/

The Roon monument on the Großer Stern in the Tiergarten district of Berlin commemorates the Prussian army reformer and German unification fighter Albrecht von Roon (1803–1879). Created in 1904 by Harro Magnussen in the neo-baroque style , it is one of the masterpieces of the Berlin sculpture school .

 

History and Description

The Roon Monument was created in 1904 by Harro Magnussen in the neo-baroque style . The five-meter-high bronze sculpture shows Roon in a contemporary uniform standing next to a column, his head turned slightly to the left . Around his neck he wears the Pour le Mérite , which was awarded to him for his services to the unification of Germany . His right hand is resting on his hip, his left hand is holding the general's helmet. The six meter high base made of shell limestone with the gold-plated inscription “ROON” has elements of neoclassicism . The total height of the statue is eleven meters. It is one of the masterpieces of the Berlin school of sculpture . The casting was carried out by Martin & Piltzing .

 

In 1938 the Roon monument, together with the monuments of Moltke , Bismarck and the Victory Column , was removed from its original location on the northern edge of Königsplatz , where it stood in the way of Albert Speer's plans for the conversion of Berlin into the world capital of Germania , and in 1939 to its current location Location placed on the northern edge of the Great Star . The substructure was removed and the base was replaced.

 

The statue surrounds an ornamental wall open to the Victory Column with the following inscription: “ALBRECHT GRAF VON ROON / PREUSS. FIELD MARSHAL GENERAL AND MINISTER OF WAR / BIRTH. April 30, 1803 . GEST. February 23, 1879 . BY IMPLEMENTING THE / ARMY REFORM HE CREATED THE PREREQUISITES FOR THE VICTORIES / IN THE WARS OF 1864. 1866. 1870-71”.

 

Albrecht Theodor Emil von Roon , Count von Roon from 1871 (born April 30, 1803 in Pleushagen near Kolberg ; † February 23, 1879 in Berlin ), was a Prussian field marshal . As Minister of War, he played a key role in Prussia's success in the Wars of German Unification . He is one of the most important army reformers of his time.

 

Albrecht von Roon was the son of Heinrich Friedrich von Roon (born October 17, 1768 in Berlin; † October 15, 1808 in Pleushagen), Prussian second lieutenant a. D. , ducal Braunschweig chamberlain and lord of Pleushagen, Fürstenthum district , and his wife Johanna Constantia Ulrike Albertine, née von Borke , widowed blacksmith von Schmiedeseck (* August 1773 in Schwochow; † October 4, 1823 in Friedensburg ).

 

After his father's death, Roon lived in Stettin since 1811 , came to the Prussian Army cadet institute in Kulm in 1816 and to the main cadet institute in Berlin in 1819. From January 9, 1821 he was a second lieutenant in the 14th Infantry Regiment . From 1824 to 1827 he attended the General War School in Berlin and university events organized by the geographer Carl Ritter and the historian Friedrich von Raumer . In 1833 he worked as a geographer for the topographical office of the Grand General Staff , which he joined in 1836 with the rank of captain . In the same year he married Anna Rogge, Bernhard Rogge 's older sister . The works he published as a student of Ritter had a reputation as standard works . From 1846 to 1848, Roon taught Prince Friedrich Karl and accompanied him during his studies in Bonn and on several trips to Germany, France and Italy.

 

In the summer of 1849, Roon served in Cologne as chief of the general staff of the 15th Division under Lieutenant General Moritz von Hirschfeld . When he took over the leadership of the first of the two army corps set up by Prussia to suppress the revolution in the Palatinate and Baden , Roon remained on his staff. During the campaign he made the acquaintance of the Supreme Commander, Prince of Prussia , to whose ideal circle he belonged from now on. Roon was deployed in various positions in the general staff and in the military service. In 1851 he was promoted to colonel , in 1856 he was appointed major general and in 1858 he was appointed commander of the 14th Division , always with transfers to various regions of the Prussian monarchy.

 

At the suggestion of the Prince of Prussia, Roon, retired in Kolberg , wrote a memorandum in the summer of 1858 on questions of modernizing the Prussian military system. It was entirely in the spirit of Otto von Bismarck and the prince in the looming Prussian constitutional conflict . After the beginning of his reign , the Prince of Prussia appointed Roon to the Commission for the Reorganization of the Army in 1859, appointed him Minister of War in December 1859 and, after his accession to the throne as Wilhelm I in 1861, also Minister of the Navy . As a non-attached member of the Prussian House of Representatives , of which he was a member from 1859 to 1860 and 1863 to 1870, Roon defended the army reform against the majority in an uncompromising and rhetorical manner.

 

When Wilhelm wanted to give up in the fight for army reform, Roon sent Bismarck a memorable telegram on September 18, 1862 with the sentence: “Periculum in mora. Dépêchez-vous!” (“Danger imminent! Hurry!”). The telegram prompted Bismarck to return from his Paris ambassadorial post to Berlin, where the king appointed him Prime Minister .

 

At Bismarck's side, Roon then modernized the army against strong liberal opposition . In the German public, Roon's reputation rose like that of Bismarck and Helmuth von Moltke when successes in solving the German question through blood and iron became noticeable in the wars against Denmark and Austria since 1864. The Prussian state parliament granted them endowments . After the Battle of Königgrätz, Roon received the Order of the Black Eagle .

 

On June 16, 1871, on the day of the brilliant Berlin Victory Parade , the king elevated Roon to the rank of Prussian count for his services to the victorious wars of unification and appointed him a lifelong member of the manor house in 1872 . The Reichstag , whose predecessor, the North German Reichstag , Roon had been a member of the conservative faction for the Teltow - Beeskow - Storkow constituency until 1868, awarded him an endowment of 300,000 thalers.

 

On January 1, 1873, Wilhelm I appointed Roon as Prime Minister of Prussia and appointed him Field Marshal . However, as a result of Roon's obvious excessive demands in the office of Prussian Prime Minister during the Kulturkampf , which was also evident for health reasons, the hoped-for relief for Bismarck as Reich Chancellor did not occur . On November 9, 1873, Wilhelm I awarded him the diamonds of the Order of the Black Eagle to mark his repeatedly requested farewell .

 

Roon acquired Gütergotz Castle near Potsdam in 1868 , beautified it and redesigned the park. After his departure, he sold the property and retired to Neuhof Castle near Coburg in Franconia . In Reichenbach he bought Krobnitz Castle on September 6, 1873 . Roon spent the last years of his life there and found his final resting place in the family crypt.

 

Harro Magnussen (born May 14, 1861 in Hamm near Hamburg; † November 3, 1908 in Grunewald near Berlin) was a German sculptor .

 

Family

As the son of the painter Christian Carl Magnussen, he received his first lessons in drawing, modeling and wood carving from his father. His siblings were the ceramist and landscape painter Walter Magnussen (1869–1946) and the painter and writer Ingeborg Magnussen (1856–1946).

 

Studies and work

In 1882, Harro Magnussen began studying painting at the Munich Art Academy under Nikolaus Gysis , Gabriel von Hackl and Ludwig von Löfftz . Strongly impressed by the works of the Berlin school of sculpture - especially the neo-baroque style of Reinhold Begas - he moved to Berlin in 1888 to Begas' studio, where he stayed for five years and, among other things, worked on the Kaiser Wilhelm National Monument . Self-employed since 1893, Magnussen took part in a number of competitions, but with only moderate success. In contrast, portrait busts dominated his work. His Bismarck bust from 1889 is said to have been sold ten years later in more than 1,000 copies, mostly in plaster or bronze, but also as an electroplating by the WMF .

  

Magnussen in his studio (1898)

In 1899, Magnussen attracted the attention of Kaiser Wilhelm II , who purchased a marble portrait of the dying Frederick II and commissioned him to design further designs for a statue of the king for the White Hall in the Berlin City Palace

 

With this reputation , Magnussen suddenly became known to the public. His memorial group for the Siegesallee Berlin earned him the Royal Order of the Crown, IV Class.

 

In 1905 he also took over the artistic supervision and stage design of the Small Theater in Berlin.

 

Magnussen committed suicide in 1908 .

 

Benefits

Harro Magnussen had a distinctive gift for characterizing the people he sculpted, which earned him a respected position among Berlin sculptors and the goodwill of the emperor. In his efforts to do justice to reality in his works, he did not go beyond a certain “rigidity” in the way he presented things.

 

The Großer Stern is the central square of the Großer Tiergarten in the Tiergarten district of Berlin .

 

History

The square was under Elector Friedrich III. (from 1701 Frederick I , King of Prussia ) created around 1698 by the court hunter Hemmrich as a hunting star . From 1742 onwards, the Großer Stern was expanded into a representative square as part of the redesign of the zoo by Knobelsdorff and from 1833 to 1840 by Peter Joseph Lenné . From the mid-18th to early 19th centuries, a group of sandstone statues of ancient gods, called The Dolls , stood there .

 

Today's expansion

Today several of the city's major traffic axes meet here:

 

the Street of June 17th

to the west over Ernst-Reuter-Platz , as Bismarckstrasse or Kaiserdamm to Theodor-Heuss-Platz and further as Heerstrasse

to the east over the Brandenburg Gate at Pariser Platz and the Boulevard Unter den Linden to the Palace Bridge at the Berlin Cathedral

Altonaer Straße to the northwest over Hansaplatz to the Gotzkowsky Bridge

the Spreeweg to the northeast to Bellevue Castle at the Luther Bridge

the Hofjägerallee to the south via Lützowplatz and Nollendorfplatz to Winterfeldtplatz

The Großer Stern is designed as a large, multi-lane spiral roundabout that is used by around 180,000 cars every day.

 

In the middle of the square stands the Victory Column with the gilded bronze sculpture of Victoria with a laurel wreath called Goldelse by the Berliners . The square got its current appearance in 1938. Its diameter was greatly enlarged and the Victory Column was moved from Königsplatz, today's Republic Square directly in front of the Reichstag building , and increased it - also for reasons of proportion - by a column drum. As part of the widening of the Great Star, the Hubertus Fountain by Cuno von Uechtritz-Steinkirch on the northern edge of the square was demolished in 1938. The Siegesallee, which was relocated to Große Sternallee in May 1938, ran back towards the Victory Column , only now in the direction of the Großer Stern . The monuments of the victors from 1864–1871, which had previously surrounded the Victory Column, were again placed in a semicircle: Bismarck National Monument , Albrecht von Roon and Helmuth Karl Bernhard von Moltke . The inauguration of the ensemble took place on April 20, 1939, Hitler's 50th birthday, when a gigantic military parade also rolled over the Großer Stern.

 

Tiergarten is a district in the Mitte district of Berlin . It was created during the administrative reform in 2001 by dividing the former Tiergarten district , which also included the Hansaviertel and Moabit . In today's usage, Tiergarten often stands for the Tiergarten district, the former Tiergarten district or the Großer Tiergarten city park . The area of ​​today's district south of the Großer Tiergarten is also called Tiergarten Süd in contrast to the former Tiergarten district .

 

Geography

The Tiergarten district is bordered in the north by the Spree . In the northwest, north and northeast it borders on the districts of Hansaviertel, Moabit and Mitte , all of which - like Tiergarten - belong to the Mitte district. To the west it borders on the Charlottenburg district in the Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf district , to the south it is connected to the Schöneberg district in the Tempelhof-Schöneberg district , and to the southeast is the Kreuzberg district in the Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg district .

 

A considerable part of the Tiergarten district is occupied by the Großer Tiergarten , Berlin's second largest park after Tempelhofer Feld ; the Kleiner Tiergarten, on the other hand, is located in the Moabit district.

 

History

Tiergarten district (before 1920)

The areas outside the Berlin customs wall between the Großer Tiergarten and the Spree were incorporated into Berlin in 1861. Since 1884, this area has been officially designated as the new Tiergarten district .The western part originally consisted of the “Schöneberger Wiesen”, on which the Hansaviertel was created in 1877. There was originally a large parade ground on the Spree bend further east . The representative Königsplatz (today's Platz der Republik ) was built there with the Victory Column , the Reichstag building and the Kroll Opera . The noble Alsenviertel with the Swiss Embassy was built on the northern edge of the Spree bend . In 1910 the Tiergarten district had 24,717 inhabitants.

 

Tiergarten District (1920–2000)

In 1920, the new Tiergarten district was formed from the Berlin districts of Tiergarten, Moabit, Untere Friedrichsvorstadt and Schöneberger Vorstadt . In 1938 the area south of Kurfürstenstrasse was ceded to the Schöneberg district ; At the same time, Martinikenfelde, which had previously belonged to Charlottenburg, was added to Tiergarten.

 

The developments south of the Spree and north of the Landwehr Canal were almost completely destroyed in the Second World War . In the Alsenviertel, north of the Reichstag building, numerous buildings had already been demolished as part of Hitler's “Germania” plans and many embassies had been relocated to the southern Tiergarten. The Great Hall was originally supposed to be built here. The Second World War put an end to these plans. During the division of Berlin the area lay fallow . After the political change and the federal government's move to Berlin, the former Alsenviertel became part of the new government district and several large-scale new buildings were built for the federal government's institutions. The only surviving building from before the First World War is the Swiss Embassy , ​​which today stands like a memorial in an open area on the edge of the Spreebogenpark , which was created in 2005 .

 

Severe destruction also occurred in the Tiergartenviertel , a villa colony from the first half of the 19th century, west of Potsdamer Platz . As in the Alsenviertel, several villas had already been demolished before the war to make room for Hitler's new building plans. Numerous Jewish owners had previously been expropriated and expelled from their homes. A few buildings in the district survived the Second World War, such as St. Matthäus Church , some historic embassy buildings and the Bendlerblock , today's Federal Ministry of Defense . Due to the division of Berlin, many of the historic cultural cities were located in the political east of the city, separated from West Berlin . As a result, the Kulturforum was built in the area of ​​the former Tiergartenviertel from 1958 as the new cultural center of the western part of Berlin.

 

Potsdamer Platz, one of the busiest squares in Europe in the Roaring Twenties with numerous restaurants, hotels and variety shows , was also in ruins after the Second World War and subsequently became a border area in the divided city due to its close proximity to the Berlin Wall . Only after the fall of the Berlin Wall did a planned new development take place in the 1990s, which was intended to continue the old tradition.

 

The Hansaviertel on the northern edge of the Tiergarten was also severely affected by the Allied air raids and was rebuilt by the most renowned architects as part of the Interbau International Building Exhibition in 1957.

 

In Moabit and south of the Landwehr Canal, however, large parts of the old buildings were preserved despite severe war damage.

 

The population of the Tiergarten district was 283,581 in 1925, 110,620 in 1946 and 86,380 in 1987.

 

Tiergarten district (since 2001)

The Tiergarten district was merged with the neighboring districts of Wedding and Mitte in 2001 to form today's new Mitte district . By decision of the district council , this new district was divided into the districts of Mitte, Wedding, Gesundbrunnen , Moabit, Hansaviertel and Tiergarten.

 

Berlin is the capital and a state of the Federal Republic of Germany . With around 3.8 million inhabitants, the city is the most populous and, with 892 square kilometers, the largest municipality in Germany and the most populous city in the European Union . The city has the third highest population density in the country. Around 4.8 million people live in the Berlin agglomeration and around 6.3 million in the Berlin-Brandenburg metropolitan region . The city-state consists of twelve districts . In addition to the rivers Spree , Havel and Dahme, there are smaller rivers and numerous lakes and forests in the urban area.

 

Berlin was first mentioned in documents in the 13th century . The city was the capital of the March of Brandenburg , Prussia and Germany . Over the course of the 19th and early 20th centuries, Berlin developed into the world's third largest city. After the end of the Second World War, the city was subject to four-power status in 1945 ; From 1949 , East Berlin served as the capital of the German Democratic Republic , while West Berlin became part of the Federal Republic . With the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and German reunification in 1990, the two halves of the city grew together again and Berlin regained its role as the pan-German capital. Since 1999, the city has been the seat of the federal government , the Federal President , the German Bundestag , the Bundesrat as well as most federal ministries , numerous federal authorities and embassies .

 

Berlin is one of the economic centers in Europe. Among the important branches of the city's economy are tourism , the creative and cultural industries , the biotechnology and health industry with medical technology and the pharmaceutical industry , information and communication technology , the construction and real estate industry , the financial industry , trade , and optoelectronics , energy technology , logistics as well as trade fairs and congresses . The city is a European transport hub for road , rail and air transport . Berlin is an international location for innovative company founders and has recorded high growth rates in the number of employed people since 2010 .

 

Berlin is considered a global city of culture , media and science . The city's universities, research institutions , sporting events and museums enjoy an international reputation. The metropolis holds the UNESCO title of City of Design and is one of the most visited destinations on the continent. Berlin's music, architecture , festivals , top gastronomy , nightlife and urban quality of life are known worldwide.

As traffic volumes and speeds have risen since unification, it looks like car no 37 has suffered a small confrontation with a motor vehicle. Triebwagen nr 37 was a 1968 Gotha/Tatra T2D which passed to Erfurt in 1992 as a works car no 3. The trailer may be no. 78, which received the same advertising panel for Deutscher Herold Life Insurance (part of the Zurich group)

The shop window contains a very large red model aeroplane. Rather odd!

This Mongolia Mongolei Mongolië travel photography photo was taken in Ulaan Baatar, Ulan Bator by Dutch travel photographer Hans Hendriksen. The celebration of the 800th anniversary of the founding of the Mongolian nation in 2006 represented an incredible travel photography opportunity as Mongolia showed its splendour to the world. Many events were held throughout this year to commemorate the unification of the tribes by Chinggis Khan in the year 1206. The culmination of the festivities was Mongolia's national holiday, "Nadaam", held from 11 to 13 of July 2006. The Nadaam festival is the biggest of the year. It runs for three days in all parts of the country and features the greatest athletes in Mongolia's most popular sports: horse racing, archery, and wrestling. Women participate in all but the wrestling category. The competitions take place on the first two days, and the third day is reserved merry-making! Should you want to buy a high-res file for publication, photo print or poster? Visit www.hanshendriksen.net to find all information about the author and how to order or publish his work.

 

Este Mongolia Mongolei Mongolie viajes fotografía foto fue tomada por el fotógrafo holandés Hans Hendriksen viaje. La celebración del 800 aniversario de la fundación de la nación mongol en 2006 representó una oportunidad increíble de fotografía de viajes como Mongolia mostraron su esplendor a todo el mundo. Muchos eventos se han celebrado a lo largo de este año para conmemorar la unificación de las tribus por Chinggis Khan en el año 1206. La culminación de los festejos fue la fiesta nacional de Mongolia ", Nadaam", que se celebró del 11 al 13 de julio de 2006. Nadaam El festival es el más grande del año. Se ejecuta por tres días en todas partes del país y cuenta con el mayor en los atletas de Mongolia de deportes más populares: carreras de caballos, tiro con arco, y la lucha. Las mujeres participan en todas las categorías, pero la lucha libre. Las competiciones tienen lugar en los dos primeros días, y el tercer día está reservado alegre toma! Si usted quiere comprar un archivo de alta resolución para su publicación, impresión de fotografías o carteles? www.hanshendriksen.net para encontrar toda la información sobre el autor y la forma de orden o publicar su trabajo.

 

Это Монголия Mongolei Mongolië поездки фотография фотография была сделана голландской поездок фотограф Ханс Hendriksen. Празднование 800-летия со дня основания монгольской нации в 2006 году представляет собой невероятную возможность поездки фотографии Монголии как показали его величия в мире. Многие мероприятия были проведены на протяжении этого года для того, чтобы отметить объединение племен в Чингис Хана в 1206 году. Кульминация торжества был Монголии национальный праздник ", Nadaam", проходившей с 11 по 13 июля 2006 года. В Nadaam фестиваль является крупнейшим в этом году. Она проходит в течение трех дней во всех районах страны и отличается большим спортсменам в Монголии наиболее популярные виды спорта: конные скачки, стрельба из лука, и борьба. Женщины участвуют во всех, но борьба категории. Соревнования проходят в течение первых двух дней, а на третий день резервируется веселых решений! Если вы хотите купить высоким разрешением файл для публикации, фотографии для печати или плакат? Посетите www.hanshendriksen.net чтобы найти всю информацию об авторе и о том, как к тем или опубликовать его работу.

 

BCWF Wrestling - Wrestle World IV - Legion Von Creed Vs Andy namite, Joey D

 

Legion Von Creed (c) def. (Pin) Andy namite, Joey D (c)

Type of match : Table Match

Title Unification

For : BWS championship (No Change)

BCWF european championship (New Champ)

 

( BCWF Wrestle World IV a Grivegnee, Liege, le vendredi 9 novembre ! )

Appeared within the periods before the unification of Egypt, divided into:

- Naqada I, known for its red pottery with white decoration and geometric palettes for makeup

- Naqada II, pots are beige with red decoration, often featuring boats, birds, and human figures and slate palettes in animal form

- Naqada III, has plainer pottery and palettes but has a greater variety of statues and ritual objects

 

NMEC National Museum of Egyptian Civilization, Cairo

The Mole Antonelliana is a major landmark of the Italian city of Turin. It is named for the architect who built it, Alessandro Antonelli. In Italian "Mole" (literally, "size") indicates a building of monumental proportions. Construction began in 1863, soon after Italian unification and was completed 26 years later, after the architect's death. Today it houses the National Museum of Cinema, and it is believed to be the tallest museum in the world.

The building was conceived and constructed as a synagogue. The Jewish community of Turin had enjoyed full civil rights since 1848, and at the time the construction of the synagogue began, Turin was the capital of the new Italian state, a position it held only from 1860 to 1864. The community, with a budget of 250,000 lire and the intention of having a building worthy of a capital city, hired Antonio Antonelli. Antonelli was notable for having recently added an "idiosyncratic" 121 metre-high dome and spire to the seventeenth-century Church of San Gaudenzio at Novara. He promised to build a synagogue for 280,000 lire.The relationship between Antonelli and the Jewish community was not a happy one. He immediately began to propose a series of modifications which raised the final height to 167 meters, over 46 meters higher than the dome in the original design. Such changes, in addition to greater costs and construction time than were originally anticipated, did not please the Jewish community and construction was halted in 1869 with a provisional roof.

With the removal of the Italian capital to Florence in 1864, the community shrank, but costs and Antonelli's ambition continued to rise. In 1876 the Jewish community, which had spent 692,000 lire for a building that was still far from finished, announced that it was withdrawing from the project. The people of Turin, who had watched the synagogue rise skyward, demanded that the city take over the project, which it did. An exchange was arranged between the Jewish community and the city of Turin for a piece of land on which a handsome Moorish Revival synagogue was quickly built.The Mole was dedicated to Victor Emmanuel II. Antonelli again began construction, which took the height to 146, 153, and finally 167 meters (548 feet). From 1908 to 1938, the city used it to house its Museum of the Risorgimento, which was moved to the Palazzo Carignano in 1938.

A 19th-century stereoscopic photograph showing the Mole with a temporary dome.

On 23 May 1953 a violent cloudburst, accompanied by a tornado, destroyed the uppermost 47 metres of the pinnacle, which was rebuilt in 1961 as a metal structure faced with stone.

Since 2000, the building has housed the Museo Nazionale del Cinema (National Museum of Cinema). The Mole appears on the reverse of the two cent Italian euro coins and was the inspiration for the official emblem of the 2006 Winter Olympics, as well as those of the of the 2005 World Bocce Championships and the 2006 World Fencing Championships.

On one side of the four-faced dome, the first Fibonacci numbers are written with red neon lights: they are part of the artistic work Il volo dei Numeri ("Flight of the numbers").

 

1. The spiritual entity Qalb

 

Prophecy and knowledge relating to this was granted to the Prophet Adam

 

In the Urdu language the fleshy meat, (the heart) is known as dil, and in Arabic it is called fawad. The spiritual entity that is next to the heart is the Qalb and according to a Prophetic statement the heart and the Qalb are two separate entities.

 

Our solar system is the physical human sphere. There are other realms and spheres, for example the realm of the angels, the realm of the throne of God, the realm of the soul, the realm of the secrets, the realm of unification and the realm of the essence of God. These spheres and life forms inhabiting these spheres have existed before the eruption of the ball of fire, our Sun, which created our solar system. Ordinary angels were created alongside the creation of the souls when God commanded "Be" but the Archangels and the spiritual entities (which are placed inside the human body at birth) have existed in these realms before the formation of our solar system.

 

Many planets in our solar system were inhabited but subsequently these life forms became extinct. The remaining planets and their inhabitants are awaiting their destruction. The Archangels and the spiritual entities (of the human body) were created seventy thousand years before the command "Be."

 

Of these spiritual entities God placed the Qalb in the realm of love. It is with this that a human being is able to become connected with God. The Qalb acts like a telephone operator between God and the human being. A human being receives guidance and inspiration through it. Whereas the worship and the meditation done by the spiritual entities themselves can reach the highest realm, the Throne of God, with the aid of the Qalb. The Qalb itself, however cannot travel beyond the realm of the angels, as its place of origin is the Khuld, the lowest heaven in the realm of the angels.

 

The Qalb’s meditation is from within and its vibrating rosary is within the human skeleton (the heartbeat). People that failed to achieve this meditation of the Qalb in this lifetime will be regretful, even though they may be in paradise. As God has stated regarding those who will go to paradise, that do they, the inhabitants of paradise think that they will be equal to those who are elevated (reached higher realms by practicing the spiritual disciplines and becoming illuminated). As those that have achieved the meditation of the Qalb, they will enjoy its pleasures even in paradise when their Qalb will be vibrating with the Name of God.

After death physical worship ceases to exist and the people whose Qalb and spiritual entities are not strengthened and illuminated with the light of God are afflicted and distressed in their graves and their spiritual entities waste away. Whereas the illuminated and strengthened spiritual entities will go to the realm where the righteous will wait before the final judgement.

After the day of judgement a second body will be given, the illuminated spiritual entities along with the human soul will enter that body. The people that taught their spiritual entities, meditation, whereby the entities chanted the Name of God Allah in this life time will find that the spiritual entities will continue with this meditation even in the hereafter. Such people will continue to be elevated and exalted in the hereafter.

  

Those that were “blind of heart” (not illuminated) in this life time will be in darkness in that realm also, as this world was the place of action and effort. Those in the latter category will become quiescent.

Besides the Christians and the Jews the Hindu faith also holds a belief in these spiritual entities. The Hindu faith refers to them as Shaktian and the Muslims know them as Lata’if.

The Qalb is two inches, to the left of the heart. This spiritual entity is yellow in colour. When it is illuminated in a person, that person sees the colour yellow in their eyes. Not only this but there are many practitioners of alternative medicine who use the colours of these spiritual entities to heal people.

Most people regard their heart’s word, “inner feeling” to be truthful. If the hearts of people were indeed truthful, then why are all the people of the heart not united?

The Qalb of an ordinary person is in the sleeping or unconscious state and it does not possess any appreciation or awareness. Due to the dominance of the spirit of the self, the ego, and the Khannas, or due to the individual’s own simple- mindedness the heart can make judgements in error. Placing trust in a sleeping Qalb is foolish.

Only when the Name of God Allah, does vibrate in the heart does an appreciation of right and wrong and wisdom follow. At this stage the Qalb is known as the awakened Qalb. Thereafter due to the increase in the meditation by the Qalb, of the Name of God Allah, it is then known as the God-seeking Qalb. At this stage the heart is capable of preventing the person from doing wrong but it is still incapable of making a right or just decision. Thereafter and only when the Light and the rays of the Grace of God (theophany) start to descend upon that heart, is it known as the purified and illuminated Qalb that stands in the presence of God (witnessing Qalb).

 

A Prophetic statement:

“The mercy of God descends upon a broken heart and an afflicted grave.”

 

Thereafter when the heart reaches this stage then one must accept whatever it dictates, quietly without question because due to the rays of the Light and the Grace of God the spirit of the self, (ego) becomes completely illuminated, purified and at peace. God is then closer to that individual than that person’s jugular vein.

God then says, “I become his tongue with which he speaks and I become his hands with which he holds.”

   

2. The Human Soul

 

Prophecy and knowledge relating to this was granted to the Prophet Abraham

 

This is on the right side of the chest. This is awakened and illuminated by the meditation and one-pointed concentration on it. Once it becomes illuminated, a vibration similar to the heartbeat is felt on the right side of the chest. Then the Name of God, Ya Allah is matched with the vibrating pulse. The meditation of the soul is done in this way. At this point, there are now two spiritual entities meditating inside the human body, this is an advancement in rank and status and is better than the Qalb. The soul is a light red in colour and when it is awakened, it is able to travel to the realm of the souls (the station of the Archangel Gabriel). Anger and rage are attached to it that burn and turn into majesty.

  

3. The spiritual entity Sirri

 

Prophecy and knowledge relating to this was granted to the Prophet Moses

 

This spiritual entity is to the left of the centre of the chest. This is also awakened and illuminated by the meditation and one-pointed concentration on it with the Name of God, Ya Hayy, Ya Qayyum. Its colour is white and in the dream state or by spiritual separation from the physical body “transcendental meditation” it can journey to the realm of the secrets. Now there are three spiritual entities meditating within a person and its status is higher than the other two.

   

4. The spiritual entity Khaffi

 

Prophecy and knowledge relating to this was granted to the Prophet Jesus

 

This is to the right of the centre of the chest. It too is taught the Name of God Ya Wahid by meditation. It is green in colour and it can reach the realm of unification. Due to the meditation of four entities one's status is further increased.

 

5. The spiritual entity Akhfa

 

Prophecy and knowledge relating to this was granted to the Prophet Mohammed

 

This is situated at the centre of the chest. It is awakened by meditating on the Name of God, Ya Ahad. It is purple in colour and it too, is connected to that veil in the realm of unification behind which is the throne of God.

 

The hidden spiritual knowledge relating to these five spiritual entities was granted to the Prophets, one by one and half of the knowledge of every spiritual entity was granted from the Prophets to the Saints of their time. In this way there became ten parts of this knowledge. The Saints in turn passed this knowledge on to the spiritually favoured (Godly) who then had the benefit of the sacred knowledge.

 

The apparent knowledge of the seen is connected to the physical body, the spoken word, the human realm and the spirit of the self, this is for the ordinary mortals. This knowledge is contained in a book that has thirty parts. Spiritual knowledge was also given to the Prophets by revelation brought by Gabriel and for this reason it is known as the spiritual Holy Scripture.

 

Many of the verses of the Qur’an would sometimes be abolished, since the Prophet Mohammed would sometimes mention matters relating to this “hidden spiritual knowledge” before ordinary people, which was only meant for the special and Godly. Later this knowledge passed on spiritually from the chest of one Saint to another, and now it has become widespread by its publication in books.

  

6. The spiritual entity Anna

 

This spiritual entity is inside the head and is colourless. It is by the meditation on the Name of God Ya Hu that this spiritual entity reaches its pinnacle. It is this spiritual entity that when it becomes illuminated and powerful it can stand in the Presence of God, face to face, and communicate with God unobstructed. Only the extreme lovers of God reach this realm and station. Besides this there are a few and extremely exalted people who are granted additional spiritual entities, for example the spiritual entity Tifl-e-Nuri or a spiritual entity of the Godhead, Jussa-e-Tofiq-e-Ilahi, the spiritual status of such people is beyond understanding.

 

With the spiritual entity, Anna, God is seen in the dream state.

 

With the spiritual entity of the Godhead, God is seen in the “physical meditating state” when the spiritual entity itself leaves the human body and transcends to the essence of God.

 

Those possessing the spiritual entity, the Tifl-e-Nuri, see God whilst they are fully conscious.

 

It is these people who are the majesty and power of God in the world. They can either occupy the people by prescribing worship and austerities or by their spiritual grace send a person straight to the realm of God’s love. In their sight, concerning dispensing spiritual grace the believers and the non-believers, the dead and the living are all the same. Just as a thief became a Saint, in an instant, by the passing glimpse of the Saint Sheikh Abdul-Qadir al-Jilani, similarly, Abu-Bakr Havari and Manga the thief, became instant Saints by the passing glimpses of such Saints.

 

The five major Messengers were given knowledge of the five spiritual entities separately and in order of their appearance, as a result of which spirituality continued to prosper. With whichever spiritual entity you practice meditation you will be connected to the corresponding Messenger and become worthy of receiving spiritual grace (from that Messenger).

 

Whichever spiritual entity receives the rays of the Grace of God (favour), the Sainthood granted to that spiritual entity will be connected to the corresponding Prophet’s spiritual grace.

 

Access to seven realms and gaining elevated spiritual status in the seven heavens is obtained through these spiritual entities.

The functions of the spiritual entities inside the human body

 

Akhfa: Due to the spiritual entity, Akhfa a person is able to speak. In its absence a person may have a normal tongue but will be dumb. The difference between human beings and animals lies in the presence or the absence of these spiritual entities. At birth, if the entity, Akhfa was unable to enter the body for whatever reason, then a Prophet appointed for the rectification of this ailment would be called to treat the condition as a result of which the dumb would start to speak.

 

Sirri: A person is able to see due to the spiritual entity, Sirri. If it does not enter the body the person is blind from birth. An appointed Prophet had the duty to find and place the spiritual entity into the body, as a result of which the blind would start to see again.

Qalb: Without the spiritual entity of the Qalb, in the body, a person is like the animals, unacquainted, far from God, miserable and without purpose. Returning this entity into the body was the task of the Prophets also.

The miracles of the Prophets were also granted to the saints, in the form marvels and mystical wonders as a result of which even the impious and liberal became close to God. When a spiritual entity is returned by any allocated Saint or Prophet, the deaf, dumb and the blind are healed.

Anna: When the spiritual entity, Anna, fails to enter the body, a person is regarded as insane even though the brain may be functioning normally.

Khaffi: In the absence of the spiritual entity, Khafi, a person is deaf, even if the ears are opened wide.

These conditions can be caused by other defects in the body, and can be treated. There is no cure in the case, where the defect is caused by the absence of the associated spiritual entity except where a Prophet or a Saint intervenes and cures the defect.

Nafs, self: As a result of the spiritual entity of the self (ego) a persons mind is occupied with the material world and it is because of the spiritual entity Qalb that a persons direction turns towards God. For more detail visit www.goharshahi.org or visit asipk.com and for videos visit HH rags

 

1. The spiritual entity Qalb

 

Prophecy and knowledge relating to this was granted to the Prophet Adam

 

In the Urdu language the fleshy meat, (the heart) is known as dil, and in Arabic it is called fawad. The spiritual entity that is next to the heart is the Qalb and according to a Prophetic statement the heart and the Qalb are two separate entities.

 

Our solar system is the physical human sphere. There are other realms and spheres, for example the realm of the angels, the realm of the throne of God, the realm of the soul, the realm of the secrets, the realm of unification and the realm of the essence of God. These spheres and life forms inhabiting these spheres have existed before the eruption of the ball of fire, our Sun, which created our solar system. Ordinary angels were created alongside the creation of the souls when God commanded "Be" but the Archangels and the spiritual entities (which are placed inside the human body at birth) have existed in these realms before the formation of our solar system.

 

Many planets in our solar system were inhabited but subsequently these life forms became extinct. The remaining planets and their inhabitants are awaiting their destruction. The Archangels and the spiritual entities (of the human body) were created seventy thousand years before the command "Be."

 

Of these spiritual entities God placed the Qalb in the realm of love. It is with this that a human being is able to become connected with God. The Qalb acts like a telephone operator between God and the human being. A human being receives guidance and inspiration through it. Whereas the worship and the meditation done by the spiritual entities themselves can reach the highest realm, the Throne of God, with the aid of the Qalb. The Qalb itself, however cannot travel beyond the realm of the angels, as its place of origin is the Khuld, the lowest heaven in the realm of the angels.

 

The Qalb’s meditation is from within and its vibrating rosary is within the human skeleton (the heartbeat). People that failed to achieve this meditation of the Qalb in this lifetime will be regretful, even though they may be in paradise. As God has stated regarding those who will go to paradise, that do they, the inhabitants of paradise think that they will be equal to those who are elevated (reached higher realms by practicing the spiritual disciplines and becoming illuminated). As those that have achieved the meditation of the Qalb, they will enjoy its pleasures even in paradise when their Qalb will be vibrating with the Name of God.

After death physical worship ceases to exist and the people whose Qalb and spiritual entities are not strengthened and illuminated with the light of God are afflicted and distressed in their graves and their spiritual entities waste away. Whereas the illuminated and strengthened spiritual entities will go to the realm where the righteous will wait before the final judgement.

After the day of judgement a second body will be given, the illuminated spiritual entities along with the human soul will enter that body. The people that taught their spiritual entities, meditation, whereby the entities chanted the Name of God Allah in this life time will find that the spiritual entities will continue with this meditation even in the hereafter. Such people will continue to be elevated and exalted in the hereafter.

  

Those that were “blind of heart” (not illuminated) in this life time will be in darkness in that realm also, as this world was the place of action and effort. Those in the latter category will become quiescent.

Besides the Christians and the Jews the Hindu faith also holds a belief in these spiritual entities. The Hindu faith refers to them as Shaktian and the Muslims know them as Lata’if.

The Qalb is two inches, to the left of the heart. This spiritual entity is yellow in colour. When it is illuminated in a person, that person sees the colour yellow in their eyes. Not only this but there are many practitioners of alternative medicine who use the colours of these spiritual entities to heal people.

Most people regard their heart’s word, “inner feeling” to be truthful. If the hearts of people were indeed truthful, then why are all the people of the heart not united?

The Qalb of an ordinary person is in the sleeping or unconscious state and it does not possess any appreciation or awareness. Due to the dominance of the spirit of the self, the ego, and the Khannas, or due to the individual’s own simple- mindedness the heart can make judgements in error. Placing trust in a sleeping Qalb is foolish.

Only when the Name of God Allah, does vibrate in the heart does an appreciation of right and wrong and wisdom follow. At this stage the Qalb is known as the awakened Qalb. Thereafter due to the increase in the meditation by the Qalb, of the Name of God Allah, it is then known as the God-seeking Qalb. At this stage the heart is capable of preventing the person from doing wrong but it is still incapable of making a right or just decision. Thereafter and only when the Light and the rays of the Grace of God (theophany) start to descend upon that heart, is it known as the purified and illuminated Qalb that stands in the presence of God (witnessing Qalb).

 

A Prophetic statement:

“The mercy of God descends upon a broken heart and an afflicted grave.”

 

Thereafter when the heart reaches this stage then one must accept whatever it dictates, quietly without question because due to the rays of the Light and the Grace of God the spirit of the self, (ego) becomes completely illuminated, purified and at peace. God is then closer to that individual than that person’s jugular vein.

God then says, “I become his tongue with which he speaks and I become his hands with which he holds.”

   

2. The Human Soul

 

Prophecy and knowledge relating to this was granted to the Prophet Abraham

 

This is on the right side of the chest. This is awakened and illuminated by the meditation and one-pointed concentration on it. Once it becomes illuminated, a vibration similar to the heartbeat is felt on the right side of the chest. Then the Name of God, Ya Allah is matched with the vibrating pulse. The meditation of the soul is done in this way. At this point, there are now two spiritual entities meditating inside the human body, this is an advancement in rank and status and is better than the Qalb. The soul is a light red in colour and when it is awakened, it is able to travel to the realm of the souls (the station of the Archangel Gabriel). Anger and rage are attached to it that burn and turn into majesty.

  

3. The spiritual entity Sirri

 

Prophecy and knowledge relating to this was granted to the Prophet Moses

 

This spiritual entity is to the left of the centre of the chest. This is also awakened and illuminated by the meditation and one-pointed concentration on it with the Name of God, Ya Hayy, Ya Qayyum. Its colour is white and in the dream state or by spiritual separation from the physical body “transcendental meditation” it can journey to the realm of the secrets. Now there are three spiritual entities meditating within a person and its status is higher than the other two.

   

4. The spiritual entity Khaffi

 

Prophecy and knowledge relating to this was granted to the Prophet Jesus

 

This is to the right of the centre of the chest. It too is taught the Name of God Ya Wahid by meditation. It is green in colour and it can reach the realm of unification. Due to the meditation of four entities one's status is further increased.

 

5. The spiritual entity Akhfa

 

Prophecy and knowledge relating to this was granted to the Prophet Mohammed

 

This is situated at the centre of the chest. It is awakened by meditating on the Name of God, Ya Ahad. It is purple in colour and it too, is connected to that veil in the realm of unification behind which is the throne of God.

 

The hidden spiritual knowledge relating to these five spiritual entities was granted to the Prophets, one by one and half of the knowledge of every spiritual entity was granted from the Prophets to the Saints of their time. In this way there became ten parts of this knowledge. The Saints in turn passed this knowledge on to the spiritually favoured (Godly) who then had the benefit of the sacred knowledge.

 

The apparent knowledge of the seen is connected to the physical body, the spoken word, the human realm and the spirit of the self, this is for the ordinary mortals. This knowledge is contained in a book that has thirty parts. Spiritual knowledge was also given to the Prophets by revelation brought by Gabriel and for this reason it is known as the spiritual Holy Scripture.

 

Many of the verses of the Qur’an would sometimes be abolished, since the Prophet Mohammed would sometimes mention matters relating to this “hidden spiritual knowledge” before ordinary people, which was only meant for the special and Godly. Later this knowledge passed on spiritually from the chest of one Saint to another, and now it has become widespread by its publication in books.

  

6. The spiritual entity Anna

 

This spiritual entity is inside the head and is colourless. It is by the meditation on the Name of God Ya Hu that this spiritual entity reaches its pinnacle. It is this spiritual entity that when it becomes illuminated and powerful it can stand in the Presence of God, face to face, and communicate with God unobstructed. Only the extreme lovers of God reach this realm and station. Besides this there are a few and extremely exalted people who are granted additional spiritual entities, for example the spiritual entity Tifl-e-Nuri or a spiritual entity of the Godhead, Jussa-e-Tofiq-e-Ilahi, the spiritual status of such people is beyond understanding.

 

With the spiritual entity, Anna, God is seen in the dream state.

 

With the spiritual entity of the Godhead, God is seen in the “physical meditating state” when the spiritual entity itself leaves the human body and transcends to the essence of God.

 

Those possessing the spiritual entity, the Tifl-e-Nuri, see God whilst they are fully conscious.

 

It is these people who are the majesty and power of God in the world. They can either occupy the people by prescribing worship and austerities or by their spiritual grace send a person straight to the realm of God’s love. In their sight, concerning dispensing spiritual grace the believers and the non-believers, the dead and the living are all the same. Just as a thief became a Saint, in an instant, by the passing glimpse of the Saint Sheikh Abdul-Qadir al-Jilani, similarly, Abu-Bakr Havari and Manga the thief, became instant Saints by the passing glimpses of such Saints.

 

The five major Messengers were given knowledge of the five spiritual entities separately and in order of their appearance, as a result of which spirituality continued to prosper. With whichever spiritual entity you practice meditation you will be connected to the corresponding Messenger and become worthy of receiving spiritual grace (from that Messenger).

 

Whichever spiritual entity receives the rays of the Grace of God (favour), the Sainthood granted to that spiritual entity will be connected to the corresponding Prophet’s spiritual grace.

 

Access to seven realms and gaining elevated spiritual status in the seven heavens is obtained through these spiritual entities.

The functions of the spiritual entities inside the human body

 

Akhfa: Due to the spiritual entity, Akhfa a person is able to speak. In its absence a person may have a normal tongue but will be dumb. The difference between human beings and animals lies in the presence or the absence of these spiritual entities. At birth, if the entity, Akhfa was unable to enter the body for whatever reason, then a Prophet appointed for the rectification of this ailment would be called to treat the condition as a result of which the dumb would start to speak.

 

Sirri: A person is able to see due to the spiritual entity, Sirri. If it does not enter the body the person is blind from birth. An appointed Prophet had the duty to find and place the spiritual entity into the body, as a result of which the blind would start to see again.

Qalb: Without the spiritual entity of the Qalb, in the body, a person is like the animals, unacquainted, far from God, miserable and without purpose. Returning this entity into the body was the task of the Prophets also.

The miracles of the Prophets were also granted to the saints, in the form marvels and mystical wonders as a result of which even the impious and liberal became close to God. When a spiritual entity is returned by any allocated Saint or Prophet, the deaf, dumb and the blind are healed.

Anna: When the spiritual entity, Anna, fails to enter the body, a person is regarded as insane even though the brain may be functioning normally.

Khaffi: In the absence of the spiritual entity, Khafi, a person is deaf, even if the ears are opened wide.

These conditions can be caused by other defects in the body, and can be treated. There is no cure in the case, where the defect is caused by the absence of the associated spiritual entity except where a Prophet or a Saint intervenes and cures the defect.

Nafs, self: As a result of the spiritual entity of the self (ego) a persons mind is occupied with the material world and it is because of the spiritual entity Qalb that a persons direction turns towards God. For more detail visit www.goharshahi.org or visit asipk.com and for videos visit HH rags

 

Italian postcard by Film Soc. An. Ambrosio, Torino, no. 1650. Caption: Parlo come si parla a chi è abbandonato da Dio, e non può più far paura. (I speak as one should speak to one who is abandoned by God, and can no longer frighten.) (Chapter 7). Fra Cristoforo (Cesare Zocchi) demands Don Rodrigo (Luigi Chiesa) to leave Lucia in peace.

 

The internationally acclaimed I Promessi Sposi/The Betrothed (1913, Eleuterio Rodolfi) is one of the many film adaptations of the Italian historical novel of the same name by Alessandro Manzoni. This book is one of the most famous and widely read novels of the Italian language. The film produced by the Ambrosio company was welcomed in the USA as ‘entirely worthy to be enrolled in the list of the world’s moving picture classics’.

 

The idea for the novel came to Alessandro Manzoni (1783 – 1873) in 1821, from something he saw in a book he took on holiday with him to Brusuglio. This was an edict from the year 1627, which specified penalties for any priest who refused to perform a marriage. More material came from Giuseppe Ripamonti's Milanese Chronicles. Manzoni’s first version, Fermo e Lucia, was written between April 1821 and September 1823. It was heavily revised, and finished in August 1825. Corrections and proof-checking took two years. The original title, Gli Sposi Promessi, was changed for the sake of euphony shortly before its publication in three volumes in 1827. In the early 19th century, there was still some controversy as to what form the standard literary language of Italy should take. Manzoni was firmly in favor of the dialect of Florence and, after washing his vocabulary on the banks of the Arno (as he put it), he revised the novel for its republication in 1842.

 

The middle of the 19th century was a turbulent period in Italy (it was the time of the Risorgimento, the Italian unification) and the literature was used as a means to express opinions about the state, society and religion. I promessi sposi is considered the most representative document from the time of the Risorgimento and Romanticism. Moreover, it is considered one of the highlights of Italian literature and virtually every high school student in Italy read the book at school. Regarding the structure it is the first modern novel in Italian literary history and also has had a major influence on the national Italian language. The book describes the Italy of the seventeenth century, during the Spanish occupation of the country. This can be seen as a message to the Austrians, who at the time of publication of the book dominated Northern Italy. Famous is also the description of the plague which broke out around 1630 in Milan. I Promessi Sposi was inspired by Walter Scott's Ivanhoe and was the first Italian historical novel. It deals with a variety of themes, from the cowardly, hypocritical nature of a priest (Don Abbondio) and the heroic sainthood of others (Padre Cristoforo, Federico Borromeo), to the unwavering strength of love (the relationship between Renzo and Lucia and the struggle of these betrothed to finally meet again and get married), and offers some keen insights into the meanderings of the human mind.

 

Plot summary Chapters 1-8: Flight from the village

Lorenzo Tramaglino, or in short form Renzo is a young silk-weaver of humble origins. He is engaged to Lucia Mondella, a pious and kind young woman. They live in a village near Lake Como in 1628. The parish priest, Don Abbondio, is walking home on the previous evening when he is met by a pair of ‘bravoes’ (thugs) who tell him he is not to perform the marriage of Renzo and Lucia, as the local baron (Don Rodrigo) forbids it. The next day, Renzo is amazed when he turns up at Don Abbondio's home to hear that the marriage is to be postponed (he didn't have the courage to tell the truth). A long argument ensues and Renzo succeeds in extracting from the priest the name of Don Rodrigo. It turns out that Don Rodrigo has his eye on Lucia. Lucia's mother, Agnese, advises Renzo to ask the advice of Dr. Azzeccagarbugli (Dr. Quibble-weaver), a lawyer in the town of Lecco. Dr Azzeccagarbugli is at first sympathetic, showing Renzo a recent edict on the subject of priests who refuse to marry, but when he hears the name of Don Rodrigo he panics and drives Renzo away. Lucia sends a message to Fra Cristoforo (Friar Christopher), a respected Capuchin friar at the monastery of Pescarenico, asking him to come as soon as he can. At dawn, Fra Cristoforo comes to Lucia's cottage and hears the story. He immediately leaves for Don Rodrigo's mansion, where he finds the baron at a meal with his cousin Count Attilio, along with four guests, including the mayor and Dr Azzeccagarbugli. When Don Rodrigo is taken aside by the friar, he explodes with anger at his presumption and sends him away, but not before an old servant has a chance to offer him help. Meanwhile, Agnese comes up with a plan. In those days, it was possible for two people to marry by declaring themselves married before a priest and in the presence of two amenable witnesses. Renzo runs to his friend Tonio and offers him 25 lire if he agrees to help. When Fra Cristoforo returns with the bad news, they decide to put their plan into action. The next morning, Lucia and Agnese are visited by beggars who are, in fact, Don Rodrigo's men in disguise. They are examining the house in order to plan an assault. Late at night, Agnese distracts Don Abbondio's servant Perpetua while Tonio and his brother Gervaso enter Don Abbondio's study, ostensibly to pay a debt. They are followed indoors secretly by Lucia and Renzo. When they try to carry out their plan, the priest throws the tablecloth in Lucia's face and drops the lamp. They struggle in the darkness. In the meantime, Don Rodrigo's men invade Lucia's house, but nobody is there. A boy named Menico arrives with a message of warning from Fra Cristoforo and they seize him. When they hear the alarm being raised by the sacristan, who is calling for help on the part of Don Abbondio who raised the alarm of invaders in his home, they assume they have been betrayed and flee in confusion. Menico sees Agnese, Lucia and Renzo in the street and warns them not to return home. They go to the monastery, where Fra Cristoforo gives Renzo a letter of introduction to a certain friar at Milan, and another letter to the two women, to organise a refuge at a convent in the nearby city of Monza.

 

Chapters 9-10: the Nun of Monza and Renzo in Milan

Lucia is entrusted to the nun Gertrude, a strange and unpredictable noblewoman whose story is told in these chapters. A child of the most important family of the area, her father decided to send her to the cloisters for no other reason than to simplify his affairs: he wished to keep his properties united for his first-born, heir to the family's title and riches. As she grew up, she sensed that she was being forced by her parents into a life which would comport but little with her personality. However, fear of scandal, as well as maneuvers and menaces from her father, induced Gertrude to lie to her interviewers in order to enter the convent of Monza, where she was received as la Signora (the lady). Later, she fell under the spell of a young man of no scruples, associated with the worst baron of that time, the Innominato (the Unnamed). La Monaca di Monza (the Nun of Monza) was based on a historical character. Renzo arrives in famine-stricken Milan and goes to the monastery, but the friar he is seeking is absent and so he wanders further into the city. A bakery in the Corsia de' Servi, El prestin di scansc (Bakery of the Crutches), is destroyed by a rabble, which then goes to the house of the Commissioner of Supply in order to lynch him. He is saved in the nick of time by Ferrer, the Grand Chancellor, who arrives in a coach and announces he is taking the Commissioner to prison. Renzo becomes prominent as he helps Ferrer make his way through the crowd. After witnessing these scenes, Renzo joins in a lively discussion and reveals views which attract the notice of a police agent in search of a scapegoat. The agent tries to lead Renzo directly to ´the best inn´ (the prison) but Renzo is tired and stops at one nearby where, after being plied with drink, he reveals his full name and address. The next morning, he is awakened by a notary and two bailiffs, who handcuff him and start to take him away. In the street Renzo announces loudly that he is being punished for his heroism the day before and, with the aid of sympathetic onlookers, he effects his escape. Leaving the city by the same gate through which he entered, he sets off for Bergamo, knowing that his cousin Bortolo lives in a village nearby. Once there, he will be beyond the reach of the authorities of Milan (under Spanish domination), as Bergamo is territory of the Most Serene Republic of Venice. At an inn in Gorgonzola, he overhears a conversation which makes it clear to him how much trouble he is in and so he walks all night until he reaches the River Adda. After a short sleep in a hut, he crosses the river at dawn in the boat of a fisherman and makes his way to his cousin's house, where he is welcomed as a silk-weaver under the pseudonym of Antonio Rivolta. The same day, orders for Renzo's arrest reach the town of Lecco, to the delight of Don Rodrigo.

 

Chapters 18-24: Lucia and the Unnamed

News of Renzo's disgrace comes to the convent, but later Lucia is informed that Renzo is safe with his cousin. Their reassurance is short-lived: when they receive no word from Fra Cristoforo for a long time, Agnese travels to Pescarenico, where she learns that he has been ordered by a superior to the town of Rimini. In fact, this has been engineered by Don Rodrigo and Count Attilio, who have leaned on a mutual uncle of the Secret Council, who has leaned on the Father Provincial. Meanwhile, Don Rodrigo has organized a plot to kidnap Lucia from the convent. This involves a very great robber baron whose name has not been recorded, and who hence is called l'Innominato, the Unnamed. Gertrude, blackmailed by Egidio, a male neighbour (and acquaintance of l'Innominato) whose attentions she has returned, persuades Lucia to run an errand which will take her outside the convent for a short while. In the street Lucia is seized and bundled into a coach. After a nightmarish journey, Lucia arrives at the castle of the Unnamed, where she is locked up in a chamber. The Unnamed is troubled by the sight of her, and spends a horrible night in which memories of his past and the uncertainty of his future almost drive him to suicide. Meanwhile, Lucia spends a similarly restless night, during which she vows to take the veil if she is delivered from her predicament. Towards the morning, on looking out of his window, the Unnamed sees throngs of people walking past. They are going to listen to the famous Archbishop of Milan, Cardinal Federigo Borromeo. On impulse, the Unnamed leaves his castle in order to meet this man. This meeting prompts a ´miraculous´ conversion which marks the turning-point of the novel. The Unnamed announces to his men that his reign of terror is over. He decides to take Lucia back to her native land under his own protection, and with the help of the archbishop the deed is done.

 

Chapters 25-30: Fall of Don Rodrigo, Famine and War, Plague and Conclusion

The astonishing course of events leads to an atmosphere in which Don Rodrigo can be defied openly and his fortunes take a turn for the worse. Don Abbondio is reprimanded by the archbishop. Lucia, miserable about her vow to renounce Renzo, still frets about him. He is now the subject of diplomatic conflict between Milan and Bergamo. Her life is not improved when a wealthy busybody, Donna Prassede, insists on taking her into her household and admonishing her for getting mixed up with a good-for-nothing like Renzo. The government of Milan is unable to keep bread prices down by decree and the city is swamped by beggars. The lazzaretto is filled with the hungry and sick. Meanwhile the Thirty Years War brings more calamities. In 1629, German armies under Count Rambaldo di Collalto descend into Italy, looting and destroying. Agnese, Don Abbondio and Perpetua take refuge in the well-defended territory of the Unnamed. In their absence, their village is wrecked by the mercenaries. Then there are chapters with an account of the plague of 1630, largely based on Giuseppe Ripamonti's De peste quae fuit anno 1630 (published in 1640). Manzoni's full version of this, Storia della Colonna Infame, was finished in 1829, but was not published until it was included as an appendix to the revised edition of 1842. The end of August 1630 sees the death in Milan of the original villains of the story. Renzo, troubled by Agnese's letters and recovering from plague, returns to his native village to find that many of the inhabitants are dead and that his house and vineyard have been destroyed. The warrant, and Don Rodrigo, are forgotten. Tonio tells him that Lucia is in Milan. On his arrival in Milan, Renzo is astonished at the state of the city. His highland clothes invite suspicion that he is an ´anointer´; that is, a foreign agent deliberately spreading plague in some way. He learns that Lucia is now languishing at the lazzaretto, along with 16,000 other victims of the plague. But in fact, Lucia is already recuperating. Renzo and Lucia are reunited by Fra Cristoforo, but only after Renzo first visits and forgives the dying Don Rodrigo. The friar absolves her of her vow of celibacy. Renzo walks through a rainstorm to see Agnese at the village of Pasturo. When they all return to their native village, Lucia and Renzo are finally married by Don Abbondio and the couple make a fresh start at a silk-mill at the gates of Bergamo.

 

I promessi sposi was made into an opera of the same name by Amilcare Ponchielli in 1856 and by Errico Petrella in 1869. There have been many film versions, all made in Italy. The first silent adaptation was I Promessi Sposi (1908, Mario Mareis). In 1913 there were two competing versions: Film company Pasquali from Torino (Turin) made the one version, I promessi sposi (1913, Ubaldo Maria Del Colle), and the other version I promessi sposi (1913, Eleuterio Rodolfi) was produced by film company Ambrosio from the same city. Turin was the capital of the early Italian film industry. Nine years later followed another silent adaptation: I promessi sposi (1922, Mario Bonnard). The first sound version was I promessi sposi/The Spirit and the Flesh (1941, Mario Camerini) starring Gino Cervi as Renzo. Then there was a Spanish-Italian version I Promessi Sposi (1964, Mario Maffei), starring Gil Vidal and Maria Silva as Renzo and Lucia. There were also various television versions. In 1967 Nino Castelnuovo starred as Renzo in the TV series I promessi sposi (1967, Sandro Bolchi). Later followed the TV series I promessi sposi (1989, ) with an all-star cast including Danny Quinn, Alberto Sordi and Franco Nero, and the TV film Renzo e Lucia/Renzo and Lucia (2004, Francesca Archibugi) with Stefania Sandrelli as Agnese, Laura Morante as the Nun of Monza and Gottfried John as the Innominato. There were also some parodies. Director Nanni Moretti made the comic Come parli, frate? (1974, Nanni Moretti) and there was the TV miniseries I promessi Sposi (1990, Massimo Lopez, Anna Marchesini, Tullio Solenghi) with Giuliano Gemma as El Gringo.

 

The postcards in this post were all produced for the Ambrosio version, which premiered in September 1913. Ambrosio was one of the major production houses of the early Italian cinema. It was particularly renowned for quality literary adaptations, such as the super epic Gli ultimi giorni di Pompei/The Last Days of Pompeii (1908, Arturo Ambrosio, Luigi Maggi) and seven films based on the novels of Gabriele D’Annunzio in 1911 and 1912. Their version of I promessi sposi (1913, Eleuterio Rodolfi) starred Gigetta Morano as Lucia and Mario Voller-Buzzi as Renzo. The other actors included Ersilia Scalpellini (Agnese), Bianca Schinini (Perpetua), Umberto Scalpellini (Don Abbondio), Eugenia Tettoni (the Nun of Monza), Antonio Grisanti (the Innominato), Cesare Zocchi (Fra Cristoforo), Luigi Chiesa (Don Abbondio) and Edoardo Rivalta (Cardinal Borromeo). When the film was shown in the US in 1913, W. Stephen Bush wrote in The Moving Picture World: ”Something of the charm of Manzoni’s genius gets on the screen and casts a spell on the spectator. It is very evident that this was a labor of love with the Ambrosio company. To begin with, they have gone to the trouble of taking various scenes of the story on the various spots where Manzoni has located them, and we get glimpses of Lake Como set like a gem in one of the most beautiful landscapes of the world. The charm in the story lies in the fact that it deals with the adventures of a young couple from the ranks of the plain people of Italy. Their simple honesty is set in striking contrast with the corruption and magnificence of the noble rulers of the country. (…) The producer has improved to the utmost every opportunity for spectacular work. The insurrection and the bread riots in Milan and later the fearful scenes in the deserted streets when the plague wept over the city, are portrayed with imposing skill and fidelity to life and history. The Betroyed by the Ambrosio Company is entirely worthy to be enrolled in the list of the world’s moving picture classics.”

 

Sources: Aldo Bernardini/Vittorio Martinelli (Il Cinema Muto Italiano 1913), Gino Moliterno (The A to Z of Italian Cinema), Wikipedia, and IMDb.

Looking east.

 

"Koblenz (UK: /koʊˈblɛnts/ koh-BLENTS, US: /ˈkoʊblɛnts/ KOH-blents, German: [ˈkoːblɛnts]) is a German city on the banks of the Rhine and the Moselle, a multinational tributary.

 

Koblenz was established as a Roman military post by Drusus around 8 B.C. Its name originates from the Latin (ad) cōnfluentēs, meaning "(at the) confluence". The actual confluence is today known as the "German Corner", a symbol of the unification of Germany that features an equestrian statue of Emperor William I. The city celebrated its 2000th anniversary in 1992.

 

It ranks in population behind Mainz and Ludwigshafen am Rhein to be the third-largest city in Rhineland-Palatinate. Its usual-residents' population is 112,000 (as at 2015). Koblenz lies in a narrow flood plain between high hill ranges, some reaching mountainous height, and is served by an express rail and autobahn network. It is part of the populous Rhineland.

 

Mittelrhein (or Middle Rhine) is a region (Anbaugebiet) for quality wine in Germany, and is located along a 120 km stretch of river Rhine in the tourist portions of the Rhine region known as Middle Rhine. On the left bank of Rhine, vineyards begin immediately downstream of the Nahe estuary and last until Koblenz. On the right bank, vineyards begin where Rheingau ends and last until 8 kilometers south of Bonn, in the Siebengebirge. Parts of the Rhine Gorge, a UNESCO World Heritage since 2002, make up the southern part of Mittelrhein.

 

The region's 448 hectares (1,110 acres) of vineyards (2013 situation) are dominated by white wine grapes (85%) to a higher extent than any other wine region of Germany with the exception of Mosel. With the much-appreciated Riesling being the most grown variety at 68% of the vineyards, and considering the vicinity to the world-famous regions Rheingau and Mosel, it could perhaps be expected that Mittlerhein would enjoy a commercial success. In reality, the situation is quite the opposite. In between 1989 and 2009 the Middle Rhine lost 36% of its total area of vines under cultivation, while the nationwide development shows a plus of 7.37% Since the region's planted area has been shrinking for quite some time, the region's wines are hardly ever seen on export markets, and seem to be rather unknown even inside Germany. The underlying reasons are manifold.

 

The must per hectare comparison of German wine growing regions shows that in average, the Middle Rhine ranks 3rd lowest in output per hectare with an average of 68 hl / ha between 2001 and 2012. Only Saale-Unstrut (56 hl/ha) and Saxony (45 hl/ha) yield a lower output. The nationwide average over the same time frame comes up to 91 hl/ha. Hence, in a ten-year average, the Middle Rhine region only yields 75% of the nation’s average hectolitre per hectare output.[6] In 2012, the output per hectare was 59 hl / ha, hence even 13% less than the ten year average of the region and 35% less than the average national output for 2012. In 2013, there were greater difficulties for harvesting and production. The bad weather conditions throughout the year led to minimal output, especially for late ripening grapes like Riesling, by far the most grown variety. Many quality producers only harvested 30 hl / ha, and some producers less. Despite these low yields, the region's wines in the 2013 vintage were of a high quality, and prices remained stable and low.

 

From countless conversations to wine growers in and outside the area, the conclusions on the underlying reasons are various. On one side, the area is vulnerable to the climate conditions of the respective vintage year; on the other side, there is an ongoing trend to forfeit quantity for the sake of quality. The most hyped wineries all over the world get worked up on only selecting the best grapes by hand. Due to the region’s geological conditions, this is usual practice on the Middle Rhine. The difference: Prices don't quadruple because of this fact.

 

The Rhine Gorge is a popular name for the Upper Middle Rhine Valley, a 65 km section of the Rhine between Koblenz and Rüdesheim in the states of Rhineland-Palatinate and Hesse in Germany. It was added to the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites in June 2002 because of its beauty as a cultural landscape, its importance as a route of transport across Europe, and the unique adaptations of the buildings and terraces to the steep slopes of the gorge.

 

The region's rocks were laid down in the Devonian period and are known as Rhenish Facies. This is a fossil-bearing sedimentary rock type consisting mainly of slate. The rocks underwent considerable folding during the Carboniferous period. The gorge was carved out during a much more recent uplift to leave the river contained within steep walls 200 m high, the most famous feature being the Loreley.

 

The gorge produces its own microclimate and has acted as a corridor for species not otherwise found in the region. Its slopes have long been terraced for agriculture, in particular viticulture which has good conditions on south-facing slopes. Most of the vineyards belong to the wine region Mittelrhein, but the southernmost parts of the Rhine Gorge fall in Rheingau and Nahe.

 

The river has been an important trade route into central Europe since prehistoric times and a string of small settlements has grown up along the banks. Constrained in size, many of these old towns retain a historic feel today. With increasing wealth, roughly 40 hilltop castles were built and the valley became a core region of the Holy Roman Empire. It was at the centre of the Thirty Years' War, which left many of the castles in ruins, a particular attraction for today's cruise ships which follow the river. At one time forming a border of France, in the 19th century the valley became part of Prussia and its landscape became the quintessential image of Germany.

 

This part of the Rhine features strongly in folklore, such as a legendary castle on the Rhine being the setting for the opera Götterdämmerung. The annual Rhine in Flames festivals include spectacular firework displays at Sankt Goar in September and Koblenz in August, the best view being from one of a convoy of boats." - info from Wikipedia.

 

Summer 2019 I did a solo cycling tour across Europe through 12 countries over the course of 3 months. I began my adventure in Edinburgh, Scotland and finished in Florence, Italy cycling 8,816 km. During my trip I took 47,000 photos.

 

Now on Instagram.

 

Become a patron to my photography on Patreon or donate.

An evening view from near the Brandenburg Gate of this main thoroughfare, looking eastwards towards Alexanderplatz. After the building of the wall in 1961 it didn't however lead anywhere until 1989 and the re-unification of the city.

 

So, I presume unlike today, nice and quiet, not a Mercedes or BMW to be seen!

#Repost @mehdifoundation with @repostapp

 

Unification and Divine Love: www.theawaitedone.com/articles/2016/04/30/unification-and...

 

Unity of humankind will occur when all human beings love God. A universal brotherhood can only be established when all hearts have the same direction and love for God.

 

#LordRaRiaz #GoharShahi #YounusAlGohar #spirituality #spiritualknowledge #Mexico #MexicoCity #MessiahFoundationInternational #religion #interfaith #instagood #God #holy #divinity #divine #interfaithdialogue #JesusChrist #Jesus #spanish #latino #Mexican #Christianity #Unification #brotherhood #humanity #enlightenment #spiritualhealing #goodvibes #religionofGod

~*Photography Originally Taken By: www.CrossTrips.Com Under God*~

 

World War II (1941-1945)

 

World War II, or the Second World War,[1] was a global military conflict, the joining of what had initially been two separate conflicts. The first began in Asia in 1937 as the Second Sino-Japanese War; the other began in Europe in 1939 with the German invasion of Poland.

 

This global conflict split the majority of the world's nations into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis powers. It involved the mobilization of over 100 million military personnel, making it the most widespread war in history, and placed the participants in a state of "total war", erasing the distinction between civil and military resources. This resulted in the complete activation of a nation's economic, industrial, and scientific capabilities for the purposes of the war effort. Over 60 million people, the majority of them civilians, were killed, making it the deadliest conflict in human history.[2] The financial cost of the war is estimated at about a trillion 1944 U.S. dollars worldwide,[3][4] making it the most costly war in capital as well as lives.

 

The Allies were victorious, and, as a result, the Soviet Union and the United States emerged as the world's leading superpowers. This set the stage for the Cold War, which lasted for the next 45 years. The United Nations was formed in hopes of preventing another such conflict. The self determination spawned by the war accelerated decolonization movements in Asia and Africa, while Europe itself began moving toward integration.[5]

Contents

[hide]

 

* 1 Background

* 2 Course of the war

o 2.1 War breaks out

o 2.2 Axis advances

o 2.3 The war becomes global

o 2.4 The tide turns

o 2.5 Allies gain momentum

o 2.6 Allies close in

o 2.7 Axis collapse, Allied victory

* 3 Aftermath

* 4 Casualties, civilian impact, and atrocities

o 4.1 Concentration camps and slave work

o 4.2 Chemical and bacteriological weapons

o 4.3 Bombings

o 4.4 War trials

* 5 See also

* 6 References

* 7 External links

 

Background

 

In the aftermath of World War I, the defeated German Empire signed the Treaty of Versailles.[6] This restricted German military and territorial growth and required the payment of massive war reparations. Civil war in Russia led to the creation of the communist Soviet Union which soon was under the control of Joseph Stalin. In Italy, Benito Mussolini seized power as a fascist dictator promising to create a "New Roman Empire".[7] The ruling Kuomintang (KMT) party in China launched a unification campaign against rebelling warlords in the mid-1920s, but was soon embroiled in a civil war against its former Chinese communist allies. In 1931, an increasingly militaristic Japanese Empire, which had long sought influence in China[8] as the first step of its right to rule Asia, used the Mukden Incident as justification to invade Manchuria; the two nations then fought several small conflicts until the Tanggu Truce in 1933.

German troops at the 1935 Nuremberg Rally

German troops at the 1935 Nuremberg Rally

 

In 1933, National Socialist Adolf Hitler became the leader of Germany and began a massive rearming campaign.[9] This worried France and the United Kingdom, who had lost much in the previous war, as well as Italy, which saw its territorial ambitions threatened by those of Germany.[10] To secure its alliance, the French allowed Italy a free hand in Ethiopia, which Italy desired to conquer. The situation was aggravated in early 1935 when the Saarland was legally reunited with Germany and Hitler repudiated the Treaty of Versailles, speeding up remilitarization and introducing conscription. Hoping to contain Germany, the United Kingdom, France and Italy formed the Stresa Front. The Soviet Union, also concerned due to Germany's goals of capturing vast areas of eastern Europe, concluded a treaty of mutual assistance with France.

 

These alliances did not amount to much. The Franco-Soviet pact, required to go through the League of Nations bureaucracy before taking effect, was essentially toothless[11][12] and in June of 1935, the United Kingdom made an independent naval agreement with Germany easing prior restrictions. The isolationist United States, concerned with events in Europe and Asia, passed the Neutrality Act in August.[13] In October Italy invaded Ethiopia, but was soon politically isolated, with Germany the only major European nation supporting its aggression. Alliances shifted, with Italy revoking its objections to Germany's goal of making Austria a satellite state.[14]

 

In March of 1936, Hitler remilitarized the Rhineland in direct violation of the Versailles and Locarno treaties, receiving little response from other European powers.[15] This strategy of giving an aggressor what they supposedly need in order to maintain peace is called appeasement. When the Spanish Civil War broke out in July, Hitler and Mussolini supported fascist Generalísimo Francisco Franco in his civil war against the Soviet-supported Spanish Republic. Both sides used the conflict to test new weapons and methods of warfare.[16]

 

With tensions mounting, efforts to strengthen or consolidate power were made. In October, Germany and Italy formed the Rome-Berlin Axis and a month later Germany and Japan, each believing communism–and the Soviet Union in particular–to be a threat, signed the Anti-Comintern Pact, which Italy would join in the following year. In China, the Kuomintang and communist forces agreed on a ceasefire to present a united front to oppose Japan.[17]

 

Course of the war

 

See also: Timeline of World War II

 

War breaks out

Japanese forces during the Battle of Wuhan

Japanese forces during the Battle of Wuhan

 

In mid-1937, following the Marco Polo Bridge Incident, Japan began a full invasion of China. The Soviets quickly lent support to China, effectively ending China's prior cooperation with Germany. Starting at Shanghai, the Japanese pushed Chinese forces back, capturing the capital Nanjing in December. In June of 1938 Chinese forces stalled the Japanese advance by flooding the Yellow River. Though this bought time to prepare their defenses at Wuhan, the city was still taken by October.[18] During this time, Japanese and Soviet forces engaged in a minor skirmish at Lake Khasan; in May of 1939, they became involved in a more serious border war.[19]

 

In Europe, Germany and Italy were becoming bolder. In March 1938, Germany annexed Austria, again provoking little response from other European powers.[20] Encouraged, Hitler began making claims on the Sudetenland; France and Britain conceded these for a promise of no further territorial demands.[21] Germany soon reneged, and in March 1939 fully occupied Czechoslovakia.

Soviet and German officers in Poland

Soviet and German officers in Poland

 

Alarmed, and with Hitler making further demands on Danzig, France and Britain guaranteed their support for Polish independence; when Italy conquered Albania in April, the same guarantee was extended to Romania and Greece.[22] The Soviet Union also attempted to ally with France and Britain, but was rebuffed due to western suspicions about Soviet motives and capability.[23] Shortly after the Franco-British pledges to Poland, Germany and Italy formalized their own alliance with the Pact of Steel; following this, in a move that shocked all other major powers, Germany and the Soviet Union concluded a non-aggression pact, including a secret agreement to split Poland and eastern Europe between them.[24]

 

By the start of September 1939, the Soviets had routed Japanese forces and the Germans invaded Poland. France, Britain, and the countries of the Commonwealth declared war on Germany but lent little support other than a small French attack into the Saarland.[25] In mid-September, after signing an armistice with Japan, the Soviets launched their own invasion of Poland.[26] By early October, Poland had been divided between Germany and the Soviet Union. During the battle in Poland, Japan launched its first attack against Changsha, a strategically important Chinese city, but was repulsed by early October.[27]

 

Axis advances

British and French soldiers taken prisoner in Northern France

British and French soldiers taken prisoner in Northern France

 

Following the invasion of Poland, the Soviets began moving troops into the Baltic region. Finnish resistance in late November led to a four-month war, ending with Finnish concessions.[28] France and the United Kingdom, treating the Soviet attack on Finland as tantamount to entering the war on the side of the Germans[29] responded to the Soviet invasion by supporting its expulsion from the League of Nations.[29] Though China had the authority to veto such an action, it was unwilling to alienate itself from either the Western powers or the Soviet Union and instead abstained.[29] The Soviet Union was displeased by this course of action and as a result suspended all military aid to China.[29] By mid-1940, the Soviet Union's occupation of the Baltics was completed with the installation of pro-Soviet governments.[30]

 

In Western Europe, British troops deployed to the Continent, but neither Germany nor the Allies launched direct attacks on the other. In April, Germany invaded Denmark and Norway to secure shipments of iron-ore from Sweden which the allies would try to disrupt. Denmark immediately capitulated, and despite Allied support Norway was conquered within two months.[31] British discontent over the Norwegian campaign led to the replacement of Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain by Winston Churchill on May 10, 1940.[32]

 

On that same day, Germany invaded France and the Low Countries, making rapid progress using blitzkrieg tactics. By the end of the month the Netherlands and Belgium had been overrun and British troops were forced to evacuate the continent, abandoning their heavy equipment.[33] On June 10th, Italy invaded, declaring war on both France and the United Kingdom;[33] twelve days later France surrendered and was soon divided into German and Italian occupation zones,[34] and an unoccupied rump state under the Vichy Regime. In early July, the British attacked the French fleet in Algeria to prevent their seizure by Germany.[35]

German bombers during the Battle of Britain

German bombers during the Battle of Britain

 

With France neutralized, the Axis was emboldened. Germany began an air superiority campaign over Britain to prepare for an invasion[36] and enjoyed success against an over-extended Royal Navy, using U-boats against British shipping in the Atlantic.[37] Italy began operations in the Mediterranean, initiating a siege of Malta in June, conquering British Somaliland in August, and making an incursion into British-held Egypt in early September. Japan increased its blockade of China in September by seizing several bases in the northern part of the now-isolated French Indochina.[38]

 

Throughout this period, the neutral United States took measures to assist China and the Western Allies. In November 1939, the American Neutrality Act was amended to allow Cash and carry purchases by the Allies.[39] During 1940, the United States implemented a series of embargos, including oil, iron, steel and mechanical parts, against Japan;[40] in September it agreed to a trade of American destroyers for British bases.[41]

 

At the end of September the Tripartite Pact between Japan, Italy and Germany formalized the Axis Powers. As a warning to the United States, the pact stipulated that, with the exception of the Soviet Union, any country not currently in the war which attacked any Axis Power would be forced to go to war against all three.[42] The Soviet Union expressed interest in joining the Tripartite Pact, sending a modified draft to Germany in November and offering a very German-favourable economic deal;[43] while Germany remained silent on the former, they accepted the latter.[44] Regardless of the pact, the United States continued to support the United Kingdom and China by introducing the Lend-Lease policy[45] and creating a security zone spanning roughly half of the Atlantic Ocean where the United States Navy protected British convoys.[46]

 

Soon after the pact, Italy's fortunes changed. In October, Italy invaded Greece but within days were repulsed and pushed back into Albania, where a stalemate soon occurred.[47] Shortly after this, in Africa, Commonwealth forces launched offensives against Libya and Italian East Africa. By early 1941, with Italian forces having been pushed back into Libya by the Commonwealth, Churchill ordered a dispatch of troops from Africa to bolster the Greeks. The Italian Navy also suffered significant defeats, with the Royal Navy putting three Italian battleships out of commission via carrier attack at Taranto, and several more warships neutralized at Cape Matapan.[48]

German paratroopers invading Crete

German paratroopers invading Crete

 

The Germans soon intervened to assist Italy. Hitler sent German forces to Libya in February and by the end of March they had launched an offensive against the diminished Commonwealth forces. In under a month, Commonwealth forces were pushed back into Egypt with the exception of the besieged port of Tobruk. The Commonwealth attempted to dislodge Axis forces in May and again in June, but failed on both occasions. In early April the Germans similarly intervened in the Balkans, invading Greece and Yugoslavia; here too they made rapid progress, eventually forcing the Allies to evacuate after Germany conquered the Greek island of Crete by the end of May.[49]

 

The Allies did have some successes during this time though. In the Middle East, Commonwealth forces first quashed a coup in Iraq which had been supported by German aircraft from bases within Vichy-controlled Syria,[50] then, with the assistance of the Free French, invaded Syria and Lebanon to prevent further such occurrences.[51] In the Atlantic, the British scored a much needed public morale boost by sinking the German flagship Bismarck.[52] Perhaps most importantly, the Royal Air Force had successfully resisted the Luftwaffe's assault, and on May 11, 1941, Hitler called off the bombing campaign over Britain.[53]

 

In Asia, in spite of several offensives by both sides, the war between China and Japan was stalemated by 1940. In August of that year, Chinese communists launched an offensive in Central China; in retaliation, Japan instituted harsh measures in occupied areas to reduce human and material resources for the communists.[54] Mounting tensions between Chinese communist and nationalist forces culminated in January 1941, effectively ending their co-operation.[55]

 

With the situation in Europe and Asia relatively stable, Germany, Japan and the Soviet Union made preparations. With the Soviets wary of mounting tensions with Germany and the Japanese planning to take advantage of the European War by seizing resource-rich European possessions in Southeast Asia the two powers signed a neutrality agreement in April, 1941.[56] By contrast the Germans were steadily making preparations for an attack on the Soviet Union, amassing forces on the Soviet border, particularly in Finland and Romania.[57]

 

The war becomes global

German soldiers in the Soviet Union, 1941

German soldiers in the Soviet Union, 1941

 

In late June, Germany, along with other European Axis members and Finland, invaded the Soviet Union. They made significant gains into Soviet territory, inflicting a large numbers of casualties, and by the start of December had almost reached Moscow, with only the besieged cities of Leningrad and Sevastopol behind their front-lines left unconquered.[58] With the onset of a fierce Soviet winter though, the Axis offensive was ground to a halt[59] and the Soviets launched a counter-offensive using reserve troops brought up from the border near Japanese Manchukuo.[60]

 

Following the German attack on the Soviets, the United Kingdom began to regroup. In July, the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union formed a military alliance against Germany[61] and shortly after jointly invaded Iran to secure the Persian Corridor and Iran's oilfields.[62] In August, the United Kingdom and United States jointly issued the Atlantic Charter, a vision for a post-war world which included "the right of all peoples to choose their form of government".[63] In November, Commonwealth forces launched a counter-offensive in the desert, reclaiming all gains the Germans and Italians had made.[64]

 

In Asia, Japan was preparing for war. The Imperial General Headquarters plan was to create a large perimeter stretching into the Central Pacific in order to facilitate a defensive war while exploiting the resources of Southeast Asia; to prevent intervention while securing the perimeter it was further planned to neutralize the United States Pacific Fleet on the outset.[65] In preparation, Japan seized military control of southern Indochina in July, 1941; an action the United States, United Kingdom and other western governments responded to by freezing all Japanese assets.[66] On December 7th Japan attacked British, Dutch and American holdings with near simultaneous offensives against Southeast Asia and the Central Pacific, including an attack on the American naval base of Pearl Harbor.[67]

 

These actions prompted the United States, United Kingdom, China, and other Western Allies to declare war on Japan. Italy, Germany, and the other members of the Tripartite Pact responded by declaring war on the United States. In January, the United States, United Kingdom, Soviet Union and China, along with twenty-two smaller or exiled governments, issued the Declaration by United Nations, affirming the Atlantic Charter[68] and formalizing their alliance against the Axis Powers. The Soviet Union did not adhere fully to the declaration though, as they maintained their neutrality agreement with Japan[69] and exempted themselves from the principle of self-determination.[63]

British soldiers surrendering from the Battle of Singapore

British soldiers surrendering from the Battle of Singapore

 

The Axis Powers, however, were able to continue their offensives. Japan had almost fully conquered Southeast Asia with minimal losses by the end of April, 1942, chasing the Allies out of Burma and taking large numbers of prisoners in the Philippines, Malaya, Dutch East Indies and Singapore.[70] They further bombed the Allied naval base at Darwin, Australia and sunk significant Allied warships not only at Pearl Harbor, but also in the South China Sea, Java Sea and Indian Ocean.[71] The only real successes against Japan were a repulsion of their renewed attack on Changsha in early January, 1942,[72] and a psychological strike from a bombing raid on Japan's capital Tokyo in April.[73]

 

Germany was able to regain the initiative as well. Exploiting American inexperience with submarine warfare, the German Navy sunk significant resources near the American Atlantic coast.[74] In the desert, they launched an offensive in January, pushing the British back to positions at the Gazala Line by early February.[75] In the Soviet Union, the Soviet's winter counter-offensive had ended by March.[76] In both the desert and the Soviet Union, there followed a temporary lull in combat which Germany used to prepare for their upcoming offensives.[77][78]

 

The tide turns

American aircraft attacking a Japanese cruiser at Midway

American aircraft attacking a Japanese cruiser at Midway

 

In early May, Japan initiated operations to capture Port Moresby via amphibious assault and thus sever the line of communications between the United States and Australia. The Allies, however, intercepted and turned back Japanese naval forces, preventing the invasion.[79] Japan's next plan, motivated by the earlier bombing on Tokyo, was to seize the Midway Atoll as this would seal a gap in their perimeter defenses, provide a forward base for further operations, and lure American carriers into battle to be eliminated; as a diversion, Japan would also send forces to occupy the Aleutian Islands.[80] In early June, Japan put their operations into action but the Americans, having broken Japanese naval codes in late May, were fully aware of the Japanese plans and force dispositions and used this knowledge to achieve a decisive victory over the Imperial Japanese Navy.[81] With their capacity for amphibious assault greatly diminished as a result of the Midway battle, Japan chose to focus on an overland campaign on the Territory of Papua in another attempt to capture Port Moresby.[82] For the Americans, they planned their next move against Japanese positions in the southern Solomon Islands, primarily against the island of Guadalcanal, as a first step towards capturing Rabaul, the primary Japanese base in Southeast Asia.[83] Both plans started in July, but by mid-September the battle for Guadalcanal took priority for the Japanese, and troops in New Guinea were ordered to withdraw from the Port Moresby area to the northern part of the island.[84] Guadalcanal soon became a focal point for both sides with heavy commitments of troops and ships in a battle of attrition. By the start of 1943, the Japanese were defeated on the island and withdrew their troops.[85]

 

In Burma, Commonwealth forces mounted two operations. The first, an offensive into the Arakan region in late 1942 went disastrously, forcing a retreat back to India by May of 1943.[86] The second was the insertion of irregular forces behind Japanese front-lines in February which, by the end of April, had achieved dubious results.[87]

Soviet soldiers in the Battle of Stalingrad

Soviet soldiers in the Battle of Stalingrad

 

On the German's eastern front, they defeated Soviet offensives in the Kerch Peninsula and at Kharkov[88] and then launched their main summer offensive against southern Russia in June, 1942, to seize the oil fields of the Caucasus. The Soviets decided to make their stand at Stalingrad which was in the path of the advancing German armies and by mid-November the Germans had nearly taken Stalingrad in bitter street fighting when the Soviets began their second winter counter-offensive, starting with an encirclement of German forces at Stalingrad[89] and an assault on the Rzhev salient near Moscow, though the latter failed disastrously.[90] By early February, the German Army had taken tremendous losses; their troops at Stalingrad had been forced to surrender and the front-line had been pushed back beyond its position prior to their summer offensive. In mid-February, after the Soviet push had tapered off, the Germans launched another attack on Kharkov, creating a salient in their front-line around the Russian city of Kursk.[91]

 

In the west, concerns that the Japanese might utilize bases in Vichy-held Madagascar caused the British to invade the island in early May, 1942.[92] This success was off set soon after by an Axis offensive in Libya which pushed the Allies back into Egypt until Axis forces were stopped at El Alamein.[93] On the Continent, Allied commandos had conducted a series of increasingly ambitious raids on strategic targets, culminating in the a disastrous amphibious raid on the German held port of Dieppe.[94] In August the Allies succeeded in repelling a second attack against El Alamein and, at a high cost, managed to get desperately needed supplies to the besieged Malta.[95] A few months later the Allies commenced an attack of their own in Egypt, dislodging the Axis forces and beginning a drive west across Libya.[96] This was followed up shortly after by an Anglo-American invasion of French North Africa which resulted in the region joining the Allies.[97] Hitler responded to the defection by ordering the occupation of Vichy France,[97] though the Vichy Admiralty managed to scuttle their fleet to prevent its capture by German forces.[98] The now pincered Axis forces in Africa withdrew into Tunisia, which was conquered by the Allies by May, 1943.[99]

 

Allies gain momentum

U.S. soldiers in the Solomon Islands

U.S. soldiers in the Solomon Islands

 

Following the Guadalcanal Campaign, the Allies initiated several operations against Japan. In May, 1943, American forces were sent to eliminate Japanese forces from the Aleutians,[100] and soon after began major operations to isolate Rabaul by capturing surrounding islands, and to breach the Japanese Central Pacific perimeter at the Gilbert and Marshall Islands.[101] By the end of March, 1944, the Allies had completed both of these objectives, and additionally neutralized another major Japanese base in the Caroline Islands. In April, the Allies then launched an operation to retake Western New Guinea.[102]

 

In mainland Asia, the Japanese launched two major offensives. The first, started in March, 1944, was against British positions in Assam, India[103] and soon led to Japanese forces besieging Commonwealth positions at Imphal and Kohima;[104] by May however, other Japanese forces were being besieged in Myitkyina by Chinese forces which had invaded Northern Burma in late 1943.[105] The second was in China, with the goal of destroying China's main fighting forces, securing railways between Japanese-held territory, and capturing Allied airfields.[106] By June the Japanese had conquered the province of Henan and begun a renewed attack against Changsha in the Hunan province.[107]

 

In the Mediterranean, Allied forces launched an invasion of Sicily in early July, 1943. The attack on Italian soil, compounded with previous failures, resulted in the ousting and arrest of Mussolini later that month.[108] The Allies soon followed up with an invasion of the Italian mainland in early September, following an armistice with the Allies.[109] When this armistice was made public on September 8th, Germany responded by disarming Italian forces, seizing military control of Italian areas,[110] and setting up a series of defensive lines.[111] On September 12th, German special forces further rescued Mussolini who then soon established a new client state in German occupied Italy.[112] The Allies fought through several lines until reaching the main German defensive line in mid-November.[113] In January, 1944, the Allies launched a series of attacks against the line at Monte Cassino and attempted to outflank it with landings at Anzio. By late May both of these offensives had succeeded and, at the expense of allowing several German divisions to retreat, on June 4th Rome was captured.[114]

A Soviet tank during the Battle of Kursk

A Soviet tank during the Battle of Kursk

 

German operations in the Atlantic also suffered. By May 1943, German submarine losses were so high that the naval campaign was temporarily called to a halt as Allied counter-measures became increasingly effective.[115]

 

In the Soviet Union, the Germans spent the spring and early summer of 1943 making preparations for a large offensive in the region of Kursk; the Soviets anticipated such an action though and spent their time fortifying the area.[116] On July 4th, the Germans launched their attack, though only about a week later Hitler cancelled the operation.[117] The Soviets were then able to mount a massive counter-offensive and, by June 1944, had largely expelled Axis forces from the Soviet Union and made incursions into Romania.[118]

 

In November, 1943, Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill met with Chiang Kai-shek in Cairo and then with Joseph Stalin in Tehran. At the former conference, the post-war return of Japanese territory was determined and in the latter, it was agreed that the Western Allies would invade Europe in 1944 and that the Soviet Union would declare war on Japan within three months of Germany's defeat.

 

Allies close in

Assault landing at Omaha Beach in Normandy

Assault landing at Omaha Beach in Normandy

 

In June, 1944, the Western Allies invaded northern France and in August, after reassigning several Allied divisions in Italy, then invaded southern France;[119] by 25 August the Allies had liberated Paris.[120] During the latter part of the year, the Western Allies continued to push back German forces in western Europe, and in Italy ran into the last major defensive line.

 

On the Germans eastern front, the Soviets launched a series of powerful offensives. Starting in early June the Soviets launched massive assaults against Finland, Belarus, Ukraine and Eastern Poland, Romania, and Hungary.[121] These operations resulted in great successes, with Bulgaria, Romania and Finland signing armistices with the Soviet Union,[122] and prompted Polish resistance forces to initiate several uprisings in Poland, though the largest of these, in Warsaw, was conducted without Soviet assistance and put down by German forces.[123]

 

By the start of July, Commonwealth forces in Southeast Asia had repelled the Japanese sieges in Assam, pushing the Japanese back to the Chindwin River[124] while the Chinese captured Myitkyina. In China, the Japanese were having greater successes, having finally captured Changsha in mid-June and the city of Hengyang by early August.[125] Soon after, they further invaded the province of Guangxi, winning major engagements against Chinese forces at Guilin and Liuzhou by the end of November[126] and successfully linking up their forces in China and Indochina by the middle of December.[127]

 

In the Pacific, American forces continued to press back the Japanese perimeter. In the middle of June, 1944, they began their offensive against the Mariana and Palau islands, scoring a decisive victory against Japanese forces in the Philippine Sea within a few days. In late October, American forces invaded the Filipino island of Leyte; soon after, Allied naval forces scored another large victory against the Japanese in the Leyte Gulf.[128]

 

Axis collapse, Allied victory

Soviet Victory Banner being raised over the German Reichstag building

Soviet Victory Banner being raised over the German Reichstag building

 

On December 16, 1944, German forces counterattacked in the Ardennes against the Western Allies. It took six weeks for the Allies to repulse the attack. The Soviets attacked through Hungary, while the Germans abandoned Greece and Yugoslavia. In Italy, the Western Allies remained stalemated at the German defensive line.

 

In mid-January 1945, the Soviets attacked in Poland, pushing from the Vistula to the Oder river in Germany, and overran East Prussia.[129]

 

On February 4, U.S., British, and Soviet leaders met in Yalta. They agreed on the occupation of post-war Germany,[130] and when the Soviet Union would join the war against Japan.[131]

 

In February, Western Allied forces entered Germany and closed to the Rhine river, while the Soviets invaded Pomerania and Silesia. In March, the Western Allies crossed the Rhine north and south of the Ruhr, encircling a large number of German troops, while the Soviets advanced to Vienna. In early April the Western Allies finally pushed forward in Italy and swept across western Germany, while in late April Soviet forces stormed Berlin; the two forces linked up in Germany on April 26.[citation needed]

 

On April 12, U.S. President Roosevelt died; he was succeeded by Harry Truman. Mussolini was killed by Italian partisans on April 28th[132] and two days later Hitler shot himself.[133]

 

German forces surrendered in Italy on April 29th and Germany itself surrendered on May 7.[134]

 

In the Pacific theater, American forces advanced in the Philippines, clearing Leyte by the end of 1944. They landed on Luzon in January 1945 and Mindanao in March.[135] British and Chinese forces defeated the Japanese in northern Burma from October to March, then the British pushed on to Rangoon by May 3.[136]

Nuclear explosion at Nagasaki

Nuclear explosion at Nagasaki

 

American forces also moved toward Japan, taking Iwo Jima by March, and Okinawa by June.[137] American bombers destroyed Japanese cities, and American submarines cut off Japanese imports.[138] But Japanese leaders decided to fight on, hoping for a bloody defeat of Allied invasion and then a negotiated peace.[citation needed]

 

On July 11, the Allied leaders met in Potsdam, Germany. They confirmed earlier agreements about Germany,[139] and reiterated the demand for unconditional surrender by Japan, specifically stating that "the alternative for Japan is prompt and utter destruction".[140] During this conference the United Kingdom held its general election and Clement Attlee replaced Churchill as Prime Minister.

 

Japan rejected the Potsdam terms; the United States then dropped atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima (August 6) and Nagasaki (August 9). On August 8, the Soviets invaded Japanese-held Manchuria, as agreed at Yalta. On August 15, 1945, Japan surrendered, ending the war.[134]

 

Aftermath

 

Main article: Aftermath of World War II

 

In an effort to maintain international peace,[141] the Allies formed the United Nations, which officially came into existence on 24 October, 1945.[142]

 

Regardless of this though, the alliance between the Western Allies and the Soviet Union had begun to deteriorate even before the war was over,[143] and the two powers each quickly established their own spheres of influence.[144] In Europe, the continent was essentially divided between Western and Soviet spheres by the so-called Iron Curtain which ran through and partitioned Allied occupied Germany and occupied Austria. In Asia, the United States occupied Japan and administrated Japan's former islands in the Western Pacific while the Soviets annexed Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands; the former Japanese governed Korea was divided and occupied between the two powers. Mounting tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union soon evolved into the formation of the American-led NATO and the Soviet-led Warsaw Pact military alliances and the start of the Cold War between them.[145]

 

In many parts of the world, conflict picked up again within a short time of World War II ending. In China, nationalist and communist forces quickly resumed their civil war. Communist forces were eventually victorious and established the People's Republic of China on the mainland while nationalist forces ended up retreating to the reclaimed island of Taiwan. In Greece, civil war broke out between Anglo-American supported royalist forces and communist forces, with the royalist forces victorious. Soon after these conflicts ended, war broke out in Korea between South Korea, which was backed by the western powers, and North Korea, which was backed by the Soviet Union and China; the war resulted in essentially a stalemate and ceasefire.

 

Following the end of the war, a rapid period of decolonization also took place within the holdings of the various European colonial powers. These primarily occurred due to shifts in ideology, the economic exhaustion from the war and increased demand by indigenous people for self-determination. For the most part, these transitions happened relatively peacefully, though notable exceptions occurred in countries such as Indochina, Madagascar, Indonesia and Algeria.[146] In many regions, divisions, usually for ethnic or religious reasons, occurred following European withdrawal; this was seen prominently in the Mandate of Palestine, leading to the creation of Israel and Palestine, and in India, resulting in the creation of the Dominion of India and the Dominion of Pakistan.

 

Economic recovery following the war was varied in differing parts of the world, though in general it was quite positive. In Europe, West Germany recovered quickly and doubled production from its pre-war levels by the 1950s.[147] Italy came out of the war in poor economic condition,[148] but by 1950s, the Italian economy was marked by stability and high growth.[149] The United Kingdom was in a state of economic ruin after the war,[150] and continued to experience relative economic decline for decades to follow.[151] France rebounded quite quickly, and enjoyed rapid economic growth and modernization.[152] The Soviet Union also experienced a rapid increase in production in the immediate post-war era.[153] In Asia, Japan experienced incredibly rapid economic growth, and led to Japan becoming one of the most powerful economies in the world by the 1980s.[154] China, following the conclusion of its civil war, was essentially a bankrupt nation.[155] By 1953, economic restoration seemed fairly successful as production had resumed pre-war levels.[156] This growth rate mostly persisted, though it was briefly interrupted by the disastrous Great Leap Forward economic experiment. At the end of the war, the United States produced roughly half of the worlds industrial output; by the 1970s though, this dominance had lessened significantly.[157]

 

Casualties, civilian impact, and atrocities

Chart showing World War II deaths by country in millions as well as by percentage of population, and piechart with percentage of military and civilian deaths for the Allied and the Axis Powers.

Chart showing World War II deaths by country in millions as well as by percentage of population, and piechart with percentage of military and civilian deaths for the Allied and the Axis Powers.

 

See also: World War II casualties, War crimes during World War II, and Consequences of German Nazism

 

Estimates for the total casualties of the war vary, but most suggest that some 60 million people died in the war, including about 20 million soldiers and 40 million civilians.[158][159][160] Many civilians died because of disease, starvation, massacres, genocide. The Soviet Union lost around 27 million people during the war, about half of all World War II casualties.[161] Of the total deaths in World War II, approximately 85% were on the Allied side (mostly Soviet and Chinese) and 15% on the Axis side. One estimate is that 12 million civilians died in Holocaust camps, 1.5 million by bombs, 7 million in Europe from other causes, and 7.5 million in China from other causes.[162] Figures on the amount of total casualties vary to a wide extent because the majority of deaths were not documented.

 

From 9 to 11 million of these civilian casualties, including around six million Jews, were systematically killed in the Holocaust.[163] Likewise, Japanese military murdered from nearly 3,000,000 to over 10,000,000 civilians, mostly Chinese during the war.[164]

 

Concentration camps and slave work

Victims of the Holocaust.

Victims of the Holocaust.

 

The Holocaust was the killing of approximately six million European Jews, as well as six million others who were deemed "unworthy of life" (including the disabled and mentally ill, Soviet POWs, homosexuals, Freemasons, Jehovah's Witnesses, and the Roma) as part of a program of deliberate extermination planned and executed by the National Socialist government in Germany led by Adolf Hitler. About 12 million forced laborers, most of whom were Eastern Europeans, were employed in the German war economy inside the Nazi Germany.[165]

 

In addition to the Nazi concentration camps, the Soviet Gulag, or labor camps, led to the death of citizens of occupied countries such as Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia, as well as German prisoners of war (POW) and even Soviet citizens themselves who had been or were thought to be supporters of the Nazis.[166] Sixty percent of Soviet POWs died during the war.[167] Vadim Erlikman estimates the number at 2.6 million Soviet POWs that died in German Captivity.[168] Richard Overy gives the number of 5.7 million Soviet POWs. Of those, 57% died or were killed, a total of 3.6 million.[169] The survivors on their return to the USSR were treated as traitors (see Order No. 270).[170]

Body disposal at Unit 731, the infamous Japanese biological warfare research unit.

Body disposal at Unit 731, the infamous Japanese biological warfare research unit.

 

Japanese POW camps also had high death rates, many were used as labour camps. According to the findings of the Tokyo tribunal, the death rate of Western prisoners was 27.1% (American POWs died at a rate of 37%),[171] seven times that of POW's under the Germans and Italians[172] The death rate of Chinese was much larger as, according to the directive ratified on 5 August 1937 by Hirohito, the constraints of international law were removed on those prisoners.[173] Thus, if 37,583 prisoners from the UK, 28,500 from Netherlands and 14,473 from USA were released after the surrender of Japan, the number for the Chinese was only 56.[174]

 

According to a joint study of historians featuring Zhifen Ju, Mark Peattie, Toru Kubo, and Mitsuyoshi Himeta, more than 10 million Chinese were mobilized by the Japanese army and enslaved by the Kōa-in for slave labor in Manchukuo and north China.[175] The U.S. Library of Congress estimates that in Java, between 4 and 10 million romusha (Japanese: "manual laborer"), were forced to work by the Japanese military. About 270,000 of these Javanese laborers were sent to other Japanese-held areas in South East Asia. Only 52,000 were repatriated to Java, meaning that there was a death rate of 80%.[176] According to Mitsuyoshi Himeta, at least 2.7 million died during the Sankō Sakusen implemented in Heipei and Shantung by General Yasuji Okamura.

Mistreated and starved prisoners in the Mauthausen camp, Austria, 1945.

Mistreated and starved prisoners in the Mauthausen camp, Austria, 1945.

 

On February 19, 1942, Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, interning thousands of Japanese, Italians, German Americans, and some emigrants from Hawaii who fled after the bombing of Pearl Harbor for the duration of the war. 150,000 Japanese-Americans were interned by the U.S. and Canadian governments, as well as nearly 11,000 German and Italian residents of the U.S.

 

Allied use of slave labor occurred mainly in the east, such as in Poland[2], but more than a million was also put to work in the west. By December 1945 it was estimated by French authorities that 2,000 German prisoners were being killed or maimed each month in mine-clearing accidents.[177]

 

Chemical and bacteriological weapons

 

Despite the international treaties and a resolution adopted by the League of Nations on 14 May 1938 condemning the use of toxic gas by Japan, the Imperial Japanese Army frequently used chemical weapons. Because of fears of retaliation, however, those weapons were never used against Westerners but only against other Asians judged "inferior" by the imperial propaganda. According to historians Yoshiaki Yoshimi and Seiya Matsuno, the authorization for the use of chemical weapons was given by specific orders (rinsanmei) issued by Hirohito himself. For example, the Emperor authorized the use of toxic gas on 375 separate occasions during the invasion of Wuhan, from August to October 1938.[178]

 

The biological weapons were experimented on human beings by many units incorporated in the Japanese army, such as the infamous Unit 731, integrated by Imperial decree in the Kwantung army in 1936. Those weapons were mainly used in China and, according to some Japanese veterans, against Mongolians and Soviet soldiers in 1939 during the Nomonhan incident.[179] According to documents found in the Australian national archives in 2004 by Yoshimi and Yuki Tanaka, cyanide gas was tested on Australian and Dutch prisoners in November 1944 in the Kai islands.[180]

 

Bombings

 

Massive aerial bombing by both Axis and Allied air forces took the lives of hundreds of thousands of civilians. Anglo-American bombing of German cities claimed up to 600,000 civilian lives,[181] most notably, the bombing of Dresden. The city of London was heavily bombed by the German Luftwaffe from September, 1940 to May, 1941 during their blitz of Britain; at one point the city was bombed for 57 straight nights. For the first, and so far only, time, nuclear weapons were used in combat: two atomic bombs released by the United States over Japan devastated Hiroshima and, three days later, Nagasaki. The number of total casualties in these bombings has been estimated at 200,000.[182]

 

War trials

 

From 1945 to 1951, German and Japanese officials and personnel were prosecuted for war crimes. Charges included crimes against peace, crimes against humanity, waging wars of aggression, and other crimes. The most senior German officials were tried at the Nuremberg Trials, and many Japanese officials at the Tokyo War Crime Trial and other war crimes trials in the Asia-Pacific region. Many other minor officials were convicted in minor trials, including subsequent trials by the Nuremberg Tribunal, the Dachau Trials, and the Khabarovsk War Crime Trials. No significant trials were held against Allied violations of international law (notably the Soviet Invasion of Poland in 1939), or against Allied war crimes, such as the Allied terror bombings of Axis cities or Soviet atrocities in Eastern Europe.

  

I have been playing with my Aus Jena 50mm F1.8 Pancolar lens for a couple of days already. At $120, this piece of glass is giving my other Sony Zeiss 55mm F1.8 Sonnar a run for the money. Based on the serial number, I believe this Pancolar was produced in the early 70s. Back then the West German Carl Zeiss Opton had won a legal dispute against the East German Carl Zeiss Jena for the use of the "Carl Zeiss" trademark in the West. As a result, the East German Carl Zeiss Jena could no longer export its lenses to the West using the name, Carl Zeiss. Instead it had been replaced with "Aus Jena" label. Nevertheless, after the unification of Germany, they became one company again. Today, Carl Zeiss only produces the Otus series and cinematic lenses in Germany. Its other lenses for still photography have been subcontracted to Cosina in Japan, who owns and produces Voigtlander glass as well.

 

Lens: Aus Jena DDR 50mm F1.8 Pancolar

Adapter: TechArt Pro

Designer unknown (佚名)

1977, June

We certainly will complete the liberation of Taiwan and the holy cause of unification with the motherland

Women yiding yao wancheng jiefang Taiwan tongyi zuguode shensheng shiye (我们一定要完成解放台湾统一祖国的神圣事业)

Call nr.: BG E16/194 (IISH collection)

 

More? See: chineseposters.net

1. The spiritual entity Qalb

  

Prophecy and knowledge relating to this was granted to the Prophet Adam

  

In the Urdu language the fleshy meat, (the heart) is known as dil, and in Arabic it is called fawad. The spiritual entity that is next to the heart is the Qalb and according to a Prophetic statement the heart and the Qalb are two separate entities.

  

Our solar system is the physical human sphere. There are other realms and spheres, for example the realm of the angels, the realm of the throne of God, the realm of the soul, the realm of the secrets, the realm of unification and the realm of the essence of God. These spheres and life forms inhabiting these spheres have existed before the eruption of the ball of fire, our Sun, which created our solar system. Ordinary angels were created alongside the creation of the souls when God commanded "Be" but the Archangels and the spiritual entities (which are placed inside the human body at birth) have existed in these realms before the formation of our solar system.

  

Many planets in our solar system were inhabited but subsequently these life forms became extinct. The remaining planets and their inhabitants are awaiting their destruction. The Archangels and the spiritual entities (of the human body) were created seventy thousand years before the command "Be."

  

Of these spiritual entities God placed the Qalb in the realm of love. It is with this that a human being is able to become connected with God. The Qalb acts like a telephone operator between God and the human being. A human being receives guidance and inspiration through it. Whereas the worship and the meditation done by the spiritual entities themselves can reach the highest realm, the Throne of God, with the aid of the Qalb. The Qalb itself, however cannot travel beyond the realm of the angels, as its place of origin is the Khuld, the lowest heaven in the realm of the angels.

  

The Qalb’s meditation is from within and its vibrating rosary is within the human skeleton (the heartbeat). People that failed to achieve this meditation of the Qalb in this lifetime will be regretful, even though they may be in paradise. As God has stated regarding those who will go to paradise, that do they, the inhabitants of paradise think that they will be equal to those who are elevated (reached higher realms by practicing the spiritual disciplines and becoming illuminated). As those that have achieved the meditation of the Qalb, they will enjoy its pleasures even in paradise when their Qalb will be vibrating with the Name of God.

After death physical worship ceases to exist and the people whose Qalb and spiritual entities are not strengthened and illuminated with the light of God are afflicted and distressed in their graves and their spiritual entities waste away. Whereas the illuminated and strengthened spiritual entities will go to the realm where the righteous will wait before the final judgement.

After the day of judgement a second body will be given, the illuminated spiritual entities along with the human soul will enter that body. The people that taught their spiritual entities, meditation, whereby the entities chanted the Name of God Allah in this life time will find that the spiritual entities will continue with this meditation even in the hereafter. Such people will continue to be elevated and exalted in the hereafter.

  

Those that were “blind of heart” (not illuminated) in this life time will be in darkness in that realm also, as this world was the place of action and effort. Those in the latter category will become quiescent.

Besides the Christians and the Jews the Hindu faith also holds a belief in these spiritual entities. The Hindu faith refers to them as Shaktian and the Muslims know them as Lata’if.

The Qalb is two inches, to the left of the heart. This spiritual entity is yellow in colour. When it is illuminated in a person, that person sees the colour yellow in their eyes. Not only this but there are many practitioners of alternative medicine who use the colours of these spiritual entities to heal people.

Most people regard their heart’s word, “inner feeling” to be truthful. If the hearts of people were indeed truthful, then why are all the people of the heart not united?

The Qalb of an ordinary person is in the sleeping or unconscious state and it does not possess any appreciation or awareness. Due to the dominance of the spirit of the self, the ego, and the Khannas, or due to the individual’s own simple- mindedness the heart can make judgements in error. Placing trust in a sleeping Qalb is foolish.

Only when the Name of God Allah, does vibrate in the heart does an appreciation of right and wrong and wisdom follow. At this stage the Qalb is known as the awakened Qalb. Thereafter due to the increase in the meditation by the Qalb, of the Name of God Allah, it is then known as the God-seeking Qalb. At this stage the heart is capable of preventing the person from doing wrong but it is still incapable of making a right or just decision. Thereafter and only when the Light and the rays of the Grace of God (theophany) start to descend upon that heart, is it known as the purified and illuminated Qalb that stands in the presence of God (witnessing Qalb).

  

A Prophetic statement:

“The mercy of God descends upon a broken heart and an afflicted grave.”

  

Thereafter when the heart reaches this stage then one must accept whatever it dictates, quietly without question because due to the rays of the Light and the Grace of God the spirit of the self, (ego) becomes completely illuminated, purified and at peace. God is then closer to that individual than that person’s jugular vein.

God then says, “I become his tongue with which he speaks and I become his hands with which he holds.”

     

2. The Human Soul

  

Prophecy and knowledge relating to this was granted to the Prophet Abraham

  

This is on the right side of the chest. This is awakened and illuminated by the meditation and one-pointed concentration on it. Once it becomes illuminated, a vibration similar to the heartbeat is felt on the right side of the chest. Then the Name of God, Ya Allah is matched with the vibrating pulse. The meditation of the soul is done in this way. At this point, there are now two spiritual entities meditating inside the human body, this is an advancement in rank and status and is better than the Qalb. The soul is a light red in colour and when it is awakened, it is able to travel to the realm of the souls (the station of the Archangel Gabriel). Anger and rage are attached to it that burn and turn into majesty.

  

3. The spiritual entity Sirri

  

Prophecy and knowledge relating to this was granted to the Prophet Moses

  

This spiritual entity is to the left of the centre of the chest. This is also awakened and illuminated by the meditation and one-pointed concentration on it with the Name of God, Ya Hayy, Ya Qayyum. Its colour is white and in the dream state or by spiritual separation from the physical body “transcendental meditation” it can journey to the realm of the secrets. Now there are three spiritual entities meditating within a person and its status is higher than the other two.

     

4. The spiritual entity Khaffi

  

Prophecy and knowledge relating to this was granted to the Prophet Jesus

  

This is to the right of the centre of the chest. It too is taught the Name of God Ya Wahid by meditation. It is green in colour and it can reach the realm of unification. Due to the meditation of four entities one's status is further increased.

  

5. The spiritual entity Akhfa

  

Prophecy and knowledge relating to this was granted to the Prophet Mohammed

  

This is situated at the centre of the chest. It is awakened by meditating on the Name of God, Ya Ahad. It is purple in colour and it too, is connected to that veil in the realm of unification behind which is the throne of God.

  

The hidden spiritual knowledge relating to these five spiritual entities was granted to the Prophets, one by one and half of the knowledge of every spiritual entity was granted from the Prophets to the Saints of their time. In this way there became ten parts of this knowledge. The Saints in turn passed this knowledge on to the spiritually favoured (Godly) who then had the benefit of the sacred knowledge.

  

The apparent knowledge of the seen is connected to the physical body, the spoken word, the human realm and the spirit of the self, this is for the ordinary mortals. This knowledge is contained in a book that has thirty parts. Spiritual knowledge was also given to the Prophets by revelation brought by Gabriel and for this reason it is known as the spiritual Holy Scripture.

  

Many of the verses of the Qur’an would sometimes be abolished, since the Prophet Mohammed would sometimes mention matters relating to this “hidden spiritual knowledge” before ordinary people, which was only meant for the special and Godly. Later this knowledge passed on spiritually from the chest of one Saint to another, and now it has become widespread by its publication in books.

  

6. The spiritual entity Anna

  

This spiritual entity is inside the head and is colourless. It is by the meditation on the Name of God Ya Hu that this spiritual entity reaches its pinnacle. It is this spiritual entity that when it becomes illuminated and powerful it can stand in the Presence of God, face to face, and communicate with God unobstructed. Only the extreme lovers of God reach this realm and station. Besides this there are a few and extremely exalted people who are granted additional spiritual entities, for example the spiritual entity Tifl-e-Nuri or a spiritual entity of the Godhead, Jussa-e-Tofiq-e-Ilahi, the spiritual status of such people is beyond understanding.

  

With the spiritual entity, Anna, God is seen in the dream state.

  

With the spiritual entity of the Godhead, God is seen in the “physical meditating state” when the spiritual entity itself leaves the human body and transcends to the essence of God.

  

Those possessing the spiritual entity, the Tifl-e-Nuri, see God whilst they are fully conscious.

  

It is these people who are the majesty and power of God in the world. They can either occupy the people by prescribing worship and austerities or by their spiritual grace send a person straight to the realm of God’s love. In their sight, concerning dispensing spiritual grace the believers and the non-believers, the dead and the living are all the same. Just as a thief became a Saint, in an instant, by the passing glimpse of the Saint Sheikh Abdul-Qadir al-Jilani, similarly, Abu-Bakr Havari and Manga the thief, became instant Saints by the passing glimpses of such Saints.

  

The five major Messengers were given knowledge of the five spiritual entities separately and in order of their appearance, as a result of which spirituality continued to prosper. With whichever spiritual entity you practice meditation you will be connected to the corresponding Messenger and become worthy of receiving spiritual grace (from that Messenger).

  

Whichever spiritual entity receives the rays of the Grace of God (favour), the Sainthood granted to that spiritual entity will be connected to the corresponding Prophet’s spiritual grace.

  

Access to seven realms and gaining elevated spiritual status in the seven heavens is obtained through these spiritual entities.

The functions of the spiritual entities inside the human body

  

Akhfa: Due to the spiritual entity, Akhfa a person is able to speak. In its absence a person may have a normal tongue but will be dumb. The difference between human beings and animals lies in the presence or the absence of these spiritual entities. At birth, if the entity, Akhfa was unable to enter the body for whatever reason, then a Prophet appointed for the rectification of this ailment would be called to treat the condition as a result of which the dumb would start to speak.

  

Sirri: A person is able to see due to the spiritual entity, Sirri. If it does not enter the body the person is blind from birth. An appointed Prophet had the duty to find and place the spiritual entity into the body, as a result of which the blind would start to see again.

Qalb: Without the spiritual entity of the Qalb, in the body, a person is like the animals, unacquainted, far from God, miserable and without purpose. Returning this entity into the body was the task of the Prophets also.

The miracles of the Prophets were also granted to the saints, in the form marvels and mystical wonders as a result of which even the impious and liberal became close to God. When a spiritual entity is returned by any allocated Saint or Prophet, the deaf, dumb and the blind are healed.

Anna: When the spiritual entity, Anna, fails to enter the body, a person is regarded as insane even though the brain may be functioning normally.

Khaffi: In the absence of the spiritual entity, Khafi, a person is deaf, even if the ears are opened wide.

These conditions can be caused by other defects in the body, and can be treated. There is no cure in the case, where the defect is caused by the absence of the associated spiritual entity except where a Prophet or a Saint intervenes and cures the defect.

Nafs, self: As a result of the spiritual entity of the self (ego) a persons mind is occupied with the material world and it is because of the spiritual entity Qalb that a persons direction turns towards God. For more detail visit www.goharshahi.org or visit asipk.com and for videos visit HH rags

 

38th years celebration firework show - Pháo hoa kỉ niệm 38 năm giải phóng miền Nam, thống nhất 2 miền Nam và Bắc Việt Nam

DISCLAIMER

Nothing you see here is real, even though the conversion or the presented background story might be based on historical facts. BEWARE!

  

Some background:

The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21 (Russian: Микоян и Гуревич МиГ-21; NATO reporting name: Fishbed) is a supersonic jet fighter aircraft, designed by the Mikoyan-Gurevich Design Bureau in the Soviet Union. Some 50 countries over four continents have flown the MiG-21, and it still serves many nations a half-century after its maiden flight.

 

The MiG-21 also served with the Armed Forcess of the German Democratic Republic (Nationale Volksarmee, NVA; Air Force: Luftstreitkräfte, LSK). When Germany’s unification came about, the air forces of both formerly independent states were merged in October 1990 under the West German Bundesluftwaffe. Many aircraft from the GDR’s forces (the LSK/NVA) were tested and evaluated for future use, but only a few types were kept or even introduced to further service. One such example were 28 MiG-29s which were converted to Western standards as MiG-29G and actively flown, but these aircraft were eventually sold to Poland in 2004.

 

Another Soviet type which saw active use in the Bundesluftwaffe’s arsenal – even though only in very limited numbers – was the MiG-21bis. With the Eurofighter (formerly Jäger 90, now Typhoon) and its development lagging more and more in time, the Luftwaffe was only (and still) left with F-4F fighters in the QRA role.

 

Even though a modernization program for the German F-4F fleet was launched in the 90ies (KWS = Kampfwertsteigerung), which was to upgrade radar and electronics and introduce the AIM-120 AMRAAM air-to-air missile, the “heritage” of light MiG-21bis fighters with low mileage in 1990 was a welcome addition. Simple, light, cheap to maintain and having a professional pilot pool at hand that would need no training on a hew aircraft type, the decision was made to revamp former GDR aircraft. The alternative would have been to lease an interim type, like the F-16 as Italy did when the F-104S was phased out, and also had no Eurofighter at hand to replace them. But this solution was considered to be too complex and simply have a longer preparation time, including pilot training.

 

Consequential, the MiG-21bis was to be modernized with NATO-compatible avionics and armament as well as a domestic engine. Operationally, these aircraft were to be added to the Jagdstaffeln in northern Germany as a support for the ageing F-4Fs.

 

24 airframes with little mileage were chosen from the former NVA’s 14 MiG-21bis izdeliye 75A (Fishbed L) and 32 izdeliye 75B (Fishbed N) aircraft, which had all served with LSK’s JG8 at Marxwalde. Starting in April 1991 the MiG-21bis were transferred to Deutsche Aerospace AG (DASA) in Hamburg for modification to MiG-21G (for Germany) standard.

 

This program included:

·Replacement of the original Tumanskiy R25-300 engine with a slightly more powerful but much more modern, reliable and fuel-economic Turbo-Union RB199-34R Mk 103 afterburning turbofan

Modified rear fuselage through the much shorter RB-199 engine, including an elongated afterburner nozzle, an additional air intake at the fin root and an additional fuel cell in the rear fuselage

·Replacement of the original Soviet RP-21M radar with an Emerson AN/APQ-159 planar array radar with a range of 20 nmi

·Addition of a passive AN/ALR-23 infrared sensor under the air intake

·Adaptation of the armament to Western/German standards, including the replacement of the internal GSh-23-2 gun with a single BK-27 27mm Mauser cannon, avionics for AIM-9L Sidewinder missiles and conformal chaff/flare dispensers at the base of the fin

·German/English stencils and change of gauges to feet, knots and nautic miles

·Air superiority paint scheme according to current ‘Norm 81’ standard

 

The MiG-21G was optimized for the short-range interception role. The AN/APQ-159 provided sufficient all-weather capability, even though only two AIM-9 would be carried. Alternatively, in a secondary ground attack role, the MiG-21G could carry up to four BL-755 cluster bombs, iron bombs of up to 1.000 lb calibre or Matra pods with unguided missiles. The under-fuselage and outer wing pylons were wet to carry drop tanks, which were frequently carried due to the low range of the MiG-21, despite the new engine and the added fuel cell in the rear fuselage section.

 

The first modernized MiG-21 became available in March 1992 and the aircraft were allocated to Jagdgeschwader 71 ‘Richthofen’ at Wittmund and Jagdgeschwader 73 ‘Steinhoff’ at Laage, the latter also operated the MiG-29G during that time. Tactical code numbers were kept from the preliminary registrations under which most of the MiG-21's from NVA/LSK had been taken over but written off. As a consequence, all MiG-21G had codes in in the 24 xx range but in inconsecutive order – an uncommon practice in the Luftwaffe arsenal!

 

JG71 actively used the MiG-21G in the QRA interception role over the North Sea, while JG73 focused more on dissimilar training for NATO partners with Soviet types - the aircraft were, together with the MiG-29G, frequently transferred to Decimonmannu Air Base on Sardinia for NATO air combat training, wher they were even pitted against Israeli F-15 fighters. All aircraft were piloted by former NVA pilots who already flown the type before, so that no special trainer was necessary and the former NVA’s MiG-21UMs could be sold or scrapped. It was not planned to introduce new German pilots to the MiG-21G, since the aircraft was only seen as a stop-gap solution for the pending Typhoon.

 

The MiG-21G modernization program was completed in August 1993 and an operational success, even though the program costs exploded, performance was not as good as expected and the aircraft only filled a very specialized gap within German boundaries. With upgraded F-4F KWS gradually being introduced in the mid-90ies, the MiG-21Gs were concentrated at JG71.

 

A total of three aircraft were lost during service. Finally in 2004, with the much delayed introduction of the Eurofighter Typhoon imminent, the decision was taken to retire the MiG-21G as quick as possible. JG 71's aircraft were withdrawn in August 2004, all airframes were scrapped.

  

General characteristics

Crew: 1

Length: 15.0m with pitot (49 ft 2.5 in)

Wingspan: 7.154 m (23 ft 5.66 in)

Height: 4.125 m (13 ft 6.41 in)

Wing area: 23.0 m2 (247.3 ft2)

Empty weight: 5.560 kg (12.246 lb)

Gross weight: 9.350 kg (20.594 lb)

 

Powerplant

1 × Turbo-Union RB199-34R Mk 103 afterburning turbofan with 43.8 kN (9.850 lbf) dry thrust and 76.8 kN (17.270 lbf) with afterburner

 

Performance

Maximum speed: 2.090 km/h (1.300 mph)

Maximum speed: Mach 2.1

Range: (internal fuel only) 1.400 km (870 ml)

Service ceiling: 17.600 m (58.500 ft)

Rate of climb: 225 m/s (44.280 ft/min)

 

Armament

1x internal 27 mm (1.063 in) Mauser BK-27 revolver cannon with 150 rounds

A total of max. 2.000 kg (4.405 lbs) of external ordnance on five hardpoints, including up to 4x AIM-9L Sidewinder AAMs (typically only two carried on the inner wing pylons), drop tanks (490l under the outer wings or max. 800l under the fuselage) and unguided bombs or missiles of up to 500kg (1.100 lbs) each.

   

The kit and its assembly:

Just in case you are in doubt: the German Luftwaffe never operated the MiG-21 actively, and the MiG-21G version is just a (maybe good?) story. The MiG-21s you might see with the Iron Cross were all written off, only used for tests. Officially they have never been with the active forces like the MiG-29, which were only operated at a basic level.

 

Anyway, the gap between the F-4Fs’ retirement and the much delayed Eurofighter was a true fact, and the timing was right to come up with a “westernized” MiG-21bis, the most modern version which had been operated by the NVA/LSK before Germany’s re-unification.

 

24 17 is a real registration number: this truly was a NVA/LSK MiG-21bis (a Fishbed N), formerly carrying the tactical code "837 red" (C/n 75051347), but this aircraft was withdrawn on 3rd of October 1990, as almost any other former NVA aircraft, and scrapped in Dresden on 2nd of February 1993.

 

The kit is a Mastercraft MiG-21, one of the many clones of the vintage Kovozavody Prostejov (a.k.a. KP) kit with some mods, including engraved panel lines. It is a good basis for such a conversion since almost no part fits to another. Especially funny is the nicely depicted KM-1M ejection seat in the building instructions, with a detailed description and painting instructions - but the kit just includes a crude, L-shaped "thing" with a blob as a head rest...

 

Additions include a new engine exhaust nozzle (a shortened piece from an Italeri F-15), the new gun blister under the fuselage, the IR sensor under the nose, a RHAWS pod on top of the fin and the extra air scoop at its base, the blow-in doors under the wing roots were opened, chaff/flare dispensers added from scratch, a pair of AIM-9Ls with respective launch rails and a different drop tank (from an Academy MiG-23).

A new seat was added, from an Italeri Tornado, as well as a Matchbox pilot figure. Landing flaps and the rear fuselage air brake were opened for a more ‘lively’ look. Changes should only be visible at second glance and in superficial details, but still set this fantasy variant apart from the real thing - much like an IAI Kfir from a Mirage V.

  

Painting and markings:

This whif rather draws from its livery, even if it is subtle, too. For the MiG-21G I tried to transfer the German F-4F’s so-called ‘Norm 81A’ paint scheme, which is appropriate for the model’s time frame, even though rather late: Norm 90J was next, which was introduced with the F-4F KWS.

 

Norm 81 is REALLY complex. There are two basic patterns, comprising alone four(!) grey tones for the upper sides, one light grey tone for the sides and then, additionally, a two-tone scheme for the lower sides! Huh!

 

Since these colors are all RAL tones, I had to approximate them:

 

Upper sides:

RAL 7009 Grüngrau à Revell 67 (authentic)

RAL 7012 Basaltgrau à Revell 77 (authentic)

RAL 7037 Staubgrau à Humbrol 106

RAL 7039 Quarzgrau à Humbrol 92 (not available anymore, used Revell 47)

 

Fuselage sides/fin:

RAL 7030 Steingrau à Revell 75 (authentic, but used Humbrol 64)

 

Lower sides:

RAL 7001 Silbergrau à Humbrol 127(used Humbrol 166)

RAL 7035 Lichtgrau à Humbrol 196 (used Humbrol 147, which is a tad darker)

 

You get authentic RAL tones (e .g. from Revell), but emulating them is not a true problem since the Norm 81 scheme quickly deteriorated and lightened up in real life, so much that you can hardly tell one color from another. Besides, you rarely see a ‘clean’ German F-4F in Norm 81 livery. Hence, the model received a double wash with very thin black ink and also a treatment with very fine sand paper, which helps blend color edges and creates pretty realistically 'worn' areas and flaws. This was further enhanced through dry-brushing with shades of grey.

 

Other external color mods are the di-electric panels, e .g. the shock cone in dark grey or the fin cap in medium grey instead of the typical bright green of Russian origin. I mixed Humbrol’s 32 with 168, for an unidentifiable tone which was later dry-brushed with light grey for a worn and ‘plastic-like’ look.

 

The markings were puzzled together from various sources: national insignia, the tactical codes and the JG71 emblems come from TL Modellbau aftermarket sheets. Stencils and other small markings from a German MiG-21 and other appropriate scrapbox findings. Another nice detail are the formation light strips - it adds some color to the grey-in-grey aircraft. Another 'copied' detail are the four thin white stripes on the radome - an idea I took from German Tornado fighter bombers.

 

Since Revell enamels do not go well with Humbrol matt varnish (which I prefer), I tried Revell's acryllic matt varnish - and the expeiment was a real success. Good stuff!

  

So, a small project with little effort – done in just four days from sprues to varnish. Painting the model kit was the most complex task. But even though the MiG-21G looks a bit ‘grey in grey’, the result is pretty plausible, even elegant. Nice whif!

His name is Herbert. He's working on a grand unification theory.

Albrecht Theodor Emil Graf von Roon (1803–1879) was a prominent Prussian soldier, statesman, and reformer, best known for his role in modernizing the Prussian army and helping to pave the way for German unification under Otto von Bismarck.

Key Facts:

•Full Name: Albrecht Theodor Emil Graf von Roon

•Born: April 30, 1803, Pleushagen (now in Poland)

•Died: February 23, 1879, Berlin, German Empire

•Titles: Graf (Count), Prussian Minister of War, Minister of the Navy, and briefly Prime Minister of Prussia

________________________________________

Military Career:

•Roon was a career officer in the Prussian army, educated at the Berlin Military Academy.

•He served in various military and teaching positions, gaining a reputation for discipline and strategic insight.

•He became a general and military theorist, with a focus on logistics, training, and mobilization.

________________________________________

Political and Administrative Role:

•In 1859, he was appointed Prussian Minister of War by King Wilhelm I.

•Roon worked closely with Otto von Bismarck (Chancellor) and Helmuth von Moltke (Chief of Staff).

•He was the chief architect of Prussia’s military reforms, transforming it into a modern and effective force.

________________________________________

Achievements:

•Military Reforms (1860s):

oReorganized conscription and reserve systems

oImproved training, discipline, and mobilization efficiency

oStrengthened the officer corps and army structure

•Wars of German Unification:

oPlayed a crucial administrative and logistical role in:

The Second Schleswig War (1864) against Denmark

The Austro-Prussian War (1866)

The Franco-Prussian War (1870–1871)

•These victories helped lead to the unification of Germany in 1871, with Prussia at its core.

________________________________________

Later Life and Legacy:

•Briefly served as Prime Minister of Prussia in 1873 after Bismarck became Chancellor of the German Empire.

•Resigned due to health issues and withdrew from public life.

•Remembered as a key member of the “Iron Triangle” of German unification: Bismarck, Moltke, and Roon.

•Though less known than Bismarck, his organizational skills were vital to Prussia’s military dominance.

  

The Altare della Patria ("Altar of the Fatherland"), also known as the Monumento Nazionale a Vittorio Emanuele II ("National Monument to Victor Emmanuel II") or Il Vittoriano, is a monument built in honor of Victor Emmanuel, the first king of a unified Italy, located in Rome, Italy. It occupies a site between the Piazza Venezia and the Capitoline Hill.

The eclectic structure was designed by Giuseppe Sacconi in 1885; sculpture for it was parceled out to established sculptors all over Italy, such as Leonardo Bistolfi and Angelo Zanelli. It was inaugurated in 1911 and completed in 1925.

The Vittoriano features stairways, Corinthian columns, fountains, an equestrian sculpture of Victor Emmanuel and two statues of the goddess Victoria riding on quadrigas. The structure is 135 m (443 ft) wide and 70 m (230 ft) high. If the quadrigae and winged victories are included, the height reaches 81 m (266 ft).[2] It has a total area of 17,000 square metres.

The base of the structure houses the museum of Italian Unification. In 2007, a panoramic lift was added to the structure, allowing visitors to ride up to the roof for 360-degree views of Rome.

 

-

Photograph taken by

Jos van der Heiden (2016)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

Deutsches Eck (German: [ˈdɔʏtʃəs ˈʔɛk], "German Corner") is the name of a headland in Koblenz, Germany, where the Mosel river joins the Rhine. Named after a local commandry of the Teutonic Order (Deutscher Orden), it became known for a monumental equestrian statue of William I, first German Emperor, erected in 1897 in appreciation for his role in the unification of Germany. One of many Emperor William monuments raised in the Prussian Rhine Province, it was destroyed in World War II and only the plinth was preserved as a memorial. Following German reunification, a replica of the statue was erected on the pedestal after controversial discussions in 1993. It is today a Koblenz landmark and a popular tourist destination.

 

The Teutonic Knights were called to Koblenz by the Trier archbishop Theoderich von Wied in 1216 and vested with the estates around the Basilica of St. Castor located directly at the confluence of Mosel and Rhine. Serving mainly in nursing care, the knights soon after established a commandry (Deutschordenskommende) here, which became the administrative seat of the Koblenz bailiwick directly subordinate to the Grand Master. The premises centred around the Deutschherrenhaus building were erected from 1279 onwards and became known as Deutsches Eck.

 

About 1600, the Koblenz commander relocated his seat down the Rhine to Cologne. In 1794 the Left Bank of the Rhine was conquered by French revolutionary troops and the ecclesiastical estates secularised from 1802 onwards. The Order's premises were refurbished as part of the Prussian Koblenz Fortress. Later in the 19th century, the area was linked by a pier with a downstream sandbank creating the present-day headland.

Imperial iconography

 

After the death of Emperor William I in 1888, his grandson William II wished to spark a nationalist cult around the "founder of the German Reich". In the following years the privately funded Kyffhäuser Monument was erected and an Emperor William Monument was inaugurated in Porta Westfalica, both designed by the Leipzig architect Bruno Schmitz. Several other cities had also applied as installation sites and in 1891 William II decided upon the confluence of the

 

After further landfills at the site and a large-scale collection campaign, the official "Emperor William Monument of the Rhine Province" was erected and solemnly inaugurated in the presence of the emperor on 31 August 1897. Bruno Schmitz again had drawn up the plans for a giant, over 37 metres (121 ft) high monument installed at the tip of the Deutsches Eck, bearing an inscription quoting a verse by the Koblenz poet Max von Schenkendorf: Nimmer wird das Reich zerstöret, wenn ihr einig seid und treu ("Never will the Empire be destroyed, so long as you are united and loyal"). Another inscription could be found at the statue dedicating it to Wilhelm der Große ("William the Great"). The equestrian statue itself, 14 m (46 ft) in height, presented William I in a general's uniform, reminiscent of the Prussian victories in the "German Wars of Unification". His horse is roped by a winged female genius bearing a laurel wreath and the Imperial Crown.

 

After World War I under the terms of the Treaty of Versailles, the Rhine Province was occupied by Allied forces. When in November 1929 the area was finally cleared according to the Young Plan, tens of thousands gathered at the Deutsches Eck to celebrate the "liberation of the Rhineland". On 22 July 1930 Reich President Paul von Hindenburg celebrated the completion of his triumphal journey through the Rhenish lands here with a festive banquet and a firework display. Later in the same evening, 38 people were killed when a pontoon bridge across the Mosel collapsed under the weight of the crowds.

Demolition

Destroyed statue in 1945

 

While the inner city of Koblenz was hit hard by Allied strategic bombing during World War II, the Deutsches Eck remained largely unscathed. On 16 March 1945, however, the statue was badly damaged by an American artillery shell. The Third US Army 87th Artillery unit led by Sergeant Loyd Watson fired upon it after the forward observer saw a German soldier depart from it. They assumed it was a base of operations and it was hit after three attempts. Soon afterwards it was completely taken down. The French military government planned to replace the old memorial with a monument for peace and understanding among nations, but that concept was never realized.

 

After the formation of the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic in 1949, the country was divided into a capitalist west and a communist east. In order to express the deep wish for a united Germany[citation needed], President Theodor Heuss turned the German Corner into a monument to German unity. As a result, the coats of arms of all German Länder (states), including those of former German territories such as Silesia, East Prussia and Pomerania, were installed. Replacing the destroyed equestrian statue, a German flag flew over the plaza.

 

After the Berlin Wall came down in November 1989, three concrete parts of the actual wall were installed next to the monument. On 3 October 1990, the emblems of the new federal states were added.

 

With German Reunification in 1990, the German Corner no longer served as a symbol of the aspiration for a united Germany. Thus, a discussion arose regarding a remodelling of the plaza. Critics considered the reinstallation of the equestrian statue of Wilhelm I as anachronistic and improper, whereas promoters saw the opportunity for tourist benefits. As the owner of the site, any decision to reinstall a statue of Wilhelm I rested with the government of the Rhineland-Palatinate. However, the state government transferred its rights to the city of Koblenz. When Werner Theisen, a former newspaper publisher from Koblenz, and his wife Anneliese, announced that they would bear all costs for a reconstruction of the statue, the decision was made to proceed.

 

The Düsseldorf sculptor, Raymond Kittl, was commissioned to produce a replica of the original sculpture and the remodelled statue was created from durable bronze cast unlike the original which had been made from copper plates. In May 1992, the parts of the statue were brought to Koblenz on board the MS Futura. The assembly work was completed at the port and on 2 September 1993 a mobile lattice boom crane lifted the statue onto the base. The installation took place on Sedan Day, which although no longer officially recognized, was the day on which the German victory in the Battle of Sedan was commemorated. On 25 September 1993, the new statue was inaugurated.

 

Today, a big national flag and the flags of the 16 Länder are flying at the German Corner as a reminder of German unity. In addition the flag of the United States of America is displayed as a sign of support for the victims of the September 11 attacks. The three parts of the Berlin Wall are now dedicated to the "victims of the division".

Lens: ZEISS Milvus 2/100 at f/2.0.

Nepal (English: /nɪˈpɔːl/; Nepali: नेपाल [nepal]), officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal (Nepali: सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mainly situated in the Himalayas, but also includes parts of the Indo-Gangetic Plain, bordering Tibet of China to the north, and India in the south, east, and west, while it is narrowly separated from Bangladesh by the Siliguri Corridor, and from Bhutan by the Indian state of Sikkim. Nepal has a diverse geography, including fertile plains, subalpine forested hills, and eight of the world's ten tallest mountains, including Mount Everest, the highest point on Earth. Nepal is a multi-ethnic, multi-lingual, multi-religious and multi-cultural state, with Nepali as the official language. Kathmandu is the nation's capital and the largest city.

 

The name "Nepal" is first recorded in texts from the Vedic period of the Indian subcontinent, the era in ancient Nepal when Hinduism was founded, the predominant religion of the country. In the middle of the first millennium BC, Gautama Buddha, the founder of Buddhism, was born in Lumbini in southern Nepal. Parts of northern Nepal were intertwined with the culture of Tibet. The centrally located Kathmandu Valley is intertwined with the culture of Indo-Aryans, and was the seat of the prosperous Newar confederacy known as Nepal Mandala. The Himalayan branch of the ancient Silk Road was dominated by the valley's traders. The cosmopolitan region developed distinct traditional art and architecture. By the 18th century, the Gorkha Kingdom achieved the unification of Nepal. The Shah dynasty established the Kingdom of Nepal and later formed an alliance with the British Empire, under its Rana dynasty of premiers. The country was never colonised but served as a buffer state between Imperial China and British India. Parliamentary democracy was introduced in 1951 but was twice suspended by Nepalese monarchs, in 1960 and 2005. The Nepalese Civil War in the 1990s and early 2000s resulted in the establishment of a secular republic in 2008, ending the world's last Hindu monarchy.

 

The Constitution of Nepal, adopted in 2015, affirms the country as a secular federal parliamentary republic divided into seven provinces. Nepal was admitted to the United Nations in 1955, and friendship treaties were signed with India in 1950 and China in 1960. Nepal hosts the permanent secretariat of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), of which it is a founding member. Nepal is also a member of the Non-Aligned Movement and the Bay of Bengal Initiative. The Nepalese Armed Forces are the fifth-largest in South Asia; and are notable for their Gurkha history, particularly during the world wars, and has been a significant contributor to United Nations peacekeeping operations.

 

ETYMOLOGY

Before the unification of Nepal, the Kathmandu Valley was known as Nepal.[a] The precise origin of the term Nepāl is uncertain. Nepal appears in ancient Indian literary texts dated as far back as the fourth century BC. However, an absolute chronology can not be established, as even the oldest texts may contain anonymous contributions dating as late as the early modern period. Academic attempts to provide a plausible theory are hindered by the lack of a complete picture of history and insufficient understanding of linguistics or relevant Indo-European and Tibeto-Burman languages.

 

According to Hindu mythology, Nepal derives its name from an ancient Hindu sage called Ne, referred to variously as Ne Muni or Nemi. According to Pashupati Purāna, as a place protected by Ne, the country in the heart of the Himalayas came to be known as Nepāl.[b] According to Nepāl Mahātmya,[c] Nemi was charged with protection of the country by Pashupati. According to Buddhist mythology, Manjushri Bodhisattva drained a primordial lake of serpents to create the Nepal valley and proclaimed that Adi-Buddha Ne would take care of the community that would settle it. As the cherished of Ne, the valley would be called Nepāl. According to Gopalarājvamshāvali, the genealogy of ancient Gopala dynasty compiled c. 1380s, Nepal is named after Nepa the cowherd, the founder of the Nepali scion of the Abhiras. In this account, the cow that issued milk to the spot, at which Nepa discovered the Jyotirlinga of Pashupatināth upon investigation, was also named Ne.

 

Norwegian indologist Christian Lassen had proposed that Nepāla was a compound of Nipa (foot of a mountain) and -ala (short suffix for alaya meaning abode), and so Nepāla meant "abode at the foot of the mountain". He considered Ne Muni to be a fabrication. Indologist Sylvain Levi found Lassen's theory untenable but had no theories of his own, only suggesting that either Newara is a vulgarism of sanskritic Nepala, or Nepala is Sanskritisation of the local ethnic; his view has found some support though it does not answer the question of etymology. It has also been proposed that Nepa is a Tibeto-Burman stem consisting of Ne (cattle) and Pa (keeper), reflecting the fact that early inhabitants of the valley were Gopalas (cowherds) and Mahispalas (buffalo-herds). Suniti Kumar Chatterji believed Nepal originated from Tibeto-Burman roots – Ne, of uncertain meaning (as multiple possibilities exist), and pala or bal, whose meaning is lost entirely.

 

HISTORY

ANCIENT NEPAL

By 55,000 years ago, the first modern humans had arrived on the Indian subcontinent from Africa, where they had earlier evolved. The earliest known modern human remains in South Asia date to about 30,000 years ago. The oldest discovered archaeological evidence of human settlements in Nepal dates to around the same time.

 

After 6500 BC, evidence for the domestication of food crops and animals, construction of permanent structures, and storage of agricultural surplus appeared in Mehrgarh and other sites in what is now Balochistan. These gradually developed into the Indus Valley Civilisation, the first urban culture in South Asia. Prehistoric sites of palaeolithic, mesolithic and neolithic origins have been discovered in the Siwalik hills of Dang district. The earliest inhabitants of modern Nepal and adjoining areas are believed to be people from the Indus Valley Civilisation. It is possible that the Dravidian people whose history predates the onset of the Bronze Age in the Indian subcontinent (around 6300 BC) inhabited the area before the arrival of other ethnic groups like the Tibeto-Burmans and Indo-Aryans from across the border. By 4000 BC, the Tibeto-Burmese people had reached Nepal either directly across the Himalayas from Tibet or via Myanmar and north-east India or both. Another possibility for the first people to have inhabited Nepal are the Kusunda people. According to Hogdson (1847), the earliest inhabitants of Nepal were perhaps the Kusunda people, probably of proto-Australoid origin. Stella Kramrisch (1964) mentions a substratum of a race of pre-Dravidians and Dravidians, who were in Nepal even before the Newars, who formed the majority of the ancient inhabitants of the valley of Kathmandu.

 

By the late Vedic period, Nepal was being mentioned in various Hindu texts, such as the late Vedic Atharvaveda Pariśiṣṭa and in the post-Vedic Atharvashirsha Upanishad. The Gopal Bansa was the oldest dynasty to be mentioned in various texts as the earliest rulers of the central Himalayan kingdom known by the name 'Nepal'. The Gopalas were followed by Kiratas who ruled for over 16 centuries by some accounts. According to the Mahabharata, the then Kirata king went to take part in the Battle of Kurukshetra. In the south-eastern region, Janakpurdham was the capital of the prosperous kingdom of Videha or Mithila, that extended down to the Ganges, and home to King Janaka and his daughter, Sita.

 

Around 600 BC, small kingdoms and confederations of clans arose in the southern regions of Nepal. From one of these, the Shakya polity, arose a prince who later renounced his status to lead an ascetic life, founded Buddhism, and came to be known as Gautama Buddha (traditionally dated 563–483 BC) Nepal came to be established as a land of spirituality and refuge in the intervening centuries, played an important role in transmitting Buddhism to East Asia via Tibet, and helped preserve Hindu and Buddhist manuscripts.

 

By 250 BC, the southern regions had come under the influence of the Maurya Empire. Emperor Ashoka made a pilgrimage to Lumbini and erected a pillar at Buddha's birthplace, the inscriptions on which mark the starting point for properly recorded history of Nepal. Ashoka also visited the Kathmandu valley and built monuments commemorating Gautama Buddha's visit there. By the 4th century AD, much of Nepal was under the influence of the Gupta Empire.[d]

 

In the Kathmandu valley, the Kiratas were pushed eastward by the Lichchhavis, and the Lichchhavi dynasty came into power c. 400 AD. The Lichchhavis built monuments and left a series of inscriptions; Nepal's history of the period is pieced together almost entirely from them. In 641, Songtsen Gampo of the Tibetan Empire sends Narendradeva back to Licchavi with an army and subjugates Nepal. Parts of Nepal and Licchavi was later under the direct influences of the Tibetan empire. The Licchavi dynasty went into decline in the late 8th century and was followed by a Thakuri rule. Thakuri kings ruled over the country up to the middle of the 11th century AD; not much is known of this period that is often called the dark period.

 

MEDIEVAL NEPAL

In the 11th century, a powerful empire of Khas people emerged in western Nepal whose territory at its highest peak included much of western Nepal as well as parts of western Tibet and Uttarakhand of India. By the 14th century, the empire had splintered into loosely associated Baise rajyas, literally 22 states as they were counted. The rich culture and language of the Khas people spread throughout Nepal and as far as Indo-China in the intervening centuries; their language, later renamed the Nepali language, became the lingua franca of Nepal as well as much of North-east India.

 

In south-eastern Nepal, Simraungarh annexed Mithila around 1100 AD, and the unified Tirhut stood as a powerful kingdom for more than 200 years, even ruling over Kathmandu for a time. After another 300 years of Muslim rule, Tirhut came under the control of the Sens of Makawanpur. In the eastern hills, a confederation of Kirat principalities ruled the area between Kathmandu and Bengal.

 

In the Kathmandu valley, the Mallas, who make several appearances in Nepalese history since ancient times, had established themselves in Kathmandu and Patan by the middle of the 14th century. The Mallas ruled the valley first under the suzerainty of Tirhut but established independent reign by late 14th century as Tirhut went into decline. In the late 14th century, Jayasthiti Malla introduced widespread socio-economic reforms, principal of which was the caste system. By dividing the indigenous non-Aryan Buddhist population into castes modelled after the four Varna system of Hinduism, he provided an influential model for the Sanskritisation and Hinduisation of the indigenous non-Hindu tribal populations in all principalities throughout Nepal. By the middle of the 15th century, Kathmandu had become a powerful empire which, according to Kirkpatrick, extended from Digarchi or Sigatse in Tibet to Tirhut and Gaya in India. In the late 15th century, Malla princes divided their kingdom in four – Kathmandu, Patan and Bhaktapur in the valley and Banepa to the east. The competition for prestige among these brotherly kingdoms saw the flourishing of art and architecture in central Nepal, and the building of famous Kathmandu, Patan and Bhaktapur Durbar Squares; their division and mistrust led to their fall in the late 18th century, and ultimately, the unification of Nepal into a modern state.

 

Apart from one destructive sacking of Kathmandu in the early 13th century, Nepal remains largely untouched by the Muslim invasion of India that began in the 11th century. However, the Mughal period saw an influx of high-caste Hindus from India into Nepal. They soon intermingled with the Khas people and by the 16th century, there were about 50 Rajput-ruled principalities in Nepal, including the 22 (Baisi) states and, to their east in west-central Nepal, 24 Chaubisi states. There emerged a view that Nepal remained the true bastion of unadulterated Hinduism at a time when Indian culture had been influenced by centuries of Mughal, followed by British rule. Gorkha, one of the Baisi states, emerged as an influential and ambitious kingdom with a reputation for justice, after it codified the first Hinduism-based laws in the Nepalese hills.

Unification, expansion and consolidation (1768–1951)

 

In the mid-18th century, Prithvi Narayan Shah, a Gorkha king, set out to put together what would become present-day Nepal. He embarked on his mission by securing the neutrality of the bordering mountain kingdoms. After several bloody battles and sieges, notably the Battle of Kirtipur, he managed to conquer the Kathmandu Valley in 1769.

 

The Gorkha control reached its height when the Kumaon and Garhwal Kingdoms in the west to Sikkim in the east came under Nepalese control. A dispute with Tibet over the control of mountain passes and inner Tingri valleys of Tibet prompted the Qing Emperor of China to start the Sino-Nepali War compelling the Nepali to retreat to their own borders in the north. The rivalry between the Kingdom of Nepal and the East India Company over the control of states bordering Nepal eventually led to the Anglo-Nepali War (1815–16). At first, the British underestimated the Nepali and were soundly defeated until committing more military resources than they had anticipated needing. Thus began the reputation of Gurkhas as fierce and ruthless soldiers. The war ended in the Sugauli Treaty, under which Nepal ceded recently captured lands.

 

Factionalism inside the royal family led to a period of instability. In 1846, a plot was discovered revealing that the reigning queen had planned to overthrow Jung Bahadur Kunwar, a fast-rising military leader. This led to the Kot massacre; armed clashes between military personnel and administrators loyal to the queen led to the execution of several hundred princes and chieftains around the country. Bir Narsingh Kunwar emerged victoriously and founded the Rana dynasty, and came to be known as Jung Bahadur Rana. The king was made a titular figure, and the post of Prime Minister was made powerful and hereditary. The Ranas were staunchly pro-British and assisted them during the Indian Rebellion of 1857 (and later in both World Wars). In 1860 some parts of the western Terai region were gifted to Nepal by the British as a friendly gesture because of her military help to sustain British control in India during the rebellion (known as Naya Muluk, new country). In 1923, the United Kingdom and Nepal formally signed an agreement of friendship that superseded the Sugauli Treaty of 1816.

 

The Hindu practice of Sati, in which a widow sacrificed herself in the funeral pyre of her husband, was banned in 1919, and slavery was officially abolished in 1924. Rana rule was marked by tyranny, debauchery, economic exploitation and religious persecution.

 

CONTEMPORARY HISTORY

In the late 1940s, newly emerging pro-democracy movements and political parties in Nepal were critical of the Rana autocracy. Following the success of Indian Independence Movement which Nepalese activists had taken part in, with India's support and cooperation of King Tribhuvan, Nepali Congress was successful in toppling the Rana regime, establishing a parliamentary democracy. After a decade of power wrangling between the king and the government, King Mahendra (ruled 1955–1972) scrapped the democratic experiment in 1960, and a "partyless" Panchayat system was made to govern Nepal. The political parties were banned and politicians imprisoned or exiled. The Panchayat rule modernised the country, introducing reforms and developing infrastructure, but curtailed liberties and imposed heavy censorship. In 1990, the People's Movement forced King Birendra (ruled 1972–2001) to accept constitutional reforms and to establish a multiparty democracy.

 

In 1996, the Maoist Party started a violent bid to replace the royal parliamentary system with a people's republic. This led to the long Nepali Civil War and more than 16,000 deaths. With the death of both the King and the Crown Prince in a massacre in the royal palace, King Birendra's brother Gyanendra inherited the throne in 2001 and subsequently assumed full executive powers aiming to quash the Maoist insurgency himself.

 

The Maoist Party joined mainstream politics following the success of the peaceful democratic revolution of 2006; Nepal became a secular state, and on 28 May 2008, it was declared a Federal Republic, ending its time-honoured status as the world's only Hindu Kingdom. After a decade of instability and internal strife which saw two constituent assembly elections, the new constitution was promulgated on 20 September 2015, making Nepal a federal democratic republic divided into seven provinces.

 

GEOGRAPHY

Nepal is of roughly trapezoidal shape, about 800 kilometres long and 200 kilometres wide, with an area of 147,516 km2. It lies between latitudes 26° and 31°N, and longitudes 80° and 89°E. Nepal's defining geological processes began 75 million years ago when the Indian plate, then part of the southern supercontinent Gondwana, began a north-eastward drift caused by seafloor spreading to its south-west, and later, south and south-east. Simultaneously, the vast Tethyn oceanic crust, to its northeast, began to subduct under the Eurasian plate. These dual processes, driven by convection in the Earth's mantle, both created the Indian Ocean and caused the Indian continental crust eventually to under-thrust Eurasia and to uplift the Himalayas. The rising barriers blocked the paths of rivers creating large lakes, which only broke through as late as 100,000 years ago, creating fertile valleys in the middle hills like the Kathmandu Valley. In the western region, rivers which were too strong to be hampered, cut some of the world's deepest gorges. Immediately south of the emerging Himalayas, plate movement created a vast trough that rapidly filled with river-borne sediment and now constitutes the Indo-Gangetic Plain. Nepal lies almost completely within this collision zone, occupying the central sector of the Himalayan arc, nearly one-third of the 2,400 km long Himalayas, with a small strip of southernmost Nepal stretching into the Indo-Gangetic plain and two districts in the northwest stretching up to the Tibetan plateau.Nepal is divided into three principal physiographic belts known as Himal–Pahad–Terai.[e] Himal is the mountain region containing snow and situated in the Great Himalayan Range; it makes up the northern part of Nepal. It contains the highest elevations in the world including 8,848.86 metres height Mount Everest (Sagarmāthā in Nepali) on the border with China. Seven other of the world's "eight-thousanders" are in Nepal or on its border with Tibet: Lhotse, Makalu, Cho Oyu, Kangchenjunga, Dhaulagiri, Annapurna and Manaslu. Pahad is the mountain region that does not generally contain snow. The mountains vary from 800 to 4,000 metres in altitude, with progression from subtropical climates below 1,200 metres to alpine climates above 3,600 metres. The Lower Himalayan Range, reaching 1,500 to 3,000 metres, is the southern limit of this region, with subtropical river valleys and "hills" alternating to the north of this range. Population density is high in valleys but notably less above 2,000 metres and very low above 2,500 metres, where snow occasionally falls in winter. The southern lowland plains or Terai bordering India are part of the northern rim of the Indo-Gangetic Plain. Terai is the lowland region containing some hill ranges. The plains were formed and are fed by three major Himalayan rivers: the Koshi, the Narayani, and the Karnali as well as smaller rivers rising below the permanent snowline. This region has a subtropical to tropical climate. The outermost range of the foothills called Sivalik Hills or Churia Range, cresting at 700 to 1,000 metres, marks the limits of the Gangetic Plain; however broad, low valleys called Inner Terai Valleys (Bhitri Tarai Upatyaka) lie north of these foothills in several places.

 

The Indian plate continues to move north relative to Asia at about 50 mm per year. This makes Nepal an earthquake prone-zone, and periodic earthquakes that have devastating consequences present a significant hurdle to development. Erosion of the Himalayas is a very important source of sediment, which flows to the Indian Ocean. Saptakoshi, in particular, carries a huge amount of silt out of Nepal but sees extreme drop in Gradient in Bihar, causing severe floods and course changes, and is, therefore, known as the sorrow of Bihar. Severe flooding and landslides cause deaths and disease, destroy farmlands and cripple the transport infrastructure of the country, during the monsoon season each year.

 

Nepal has five climatic zones, broadly corresponding to the altitudes. The tropical and subtropical zones lie below 1,200 metres, the temperate zone 1,200 to 2,400 metres, the cold zone 2,400 to 3,600 metres, the subarctic zone 3,600 to 4,400 metres, and the Arctic zone above 4,400 metres. Nepal experiences five seasons: summer, monsoon, autumn, winter and spring. The Himalayas block cold winds from Central Asia in the winter and form the northern limits of the monsoon wind patterns.

 

from WIKIPEDIA

Il Giro d´Italia, dedicato all’Unità d’Italia, che compie 150 anni, oggi di nuovo a Torino.

Sabato 28 maggio, i ciclisti, dopo aver pedalato per circa 135 chilometri sul percorso da Verbania a Sestriere, hanno attraversato la zona nord della città transitando in strada San Mauro e sul ponte Amedeo VIII e proseguito poi per strada Settimo, piazza Sofia, via Botticelli, le piazze Derna e Rebaudengo, corso Grosseto, via Sansovino, piazza Cirene e via Pianezza fino a raggiungere la statale 24.

The 2011 Giro d'Italia is the 94th edition of the Giro d'Italia, one of cycling's Grand Tours. The Giro started on 7 May with a team time trial in Turin to celebrate the 150th anniversary of Italian unification, when the city served as the first capital of the single state.