IF NOT NOW WHEN

Lightning Ridge

Those thousands of years, the annual migration. Breaching. The fabulous architects of song travelling up and down the coast. He could hear them still. 

And in this suburban place, he heard the Watchers on the Watch, the endless changing shifts of those on surveillance contracts, discussing a book he had once written, The Architect of Dreams, long lost. It must have ended up with Special Branch. For who else would know. Most of the players of the time, his friends, the people who he thought were everything, were dead now. Ian Farr. Russel Keifel. Lyn Hapgood. John Bygate. Shrouded in the dead as we were shrouded in the living.

Records, they want to destroy the records, one of the Watchers shrieked. If anyone knew. But someone did know. And when one knew, they all knew.

Old Alex was reading Legacy of Ashes, The History of the CIA. Seven decades scaling the heights of incompetence, coups, murders, manipulation, illegality, thousands, into the millions of lives lost. Sending their own agents to certain death. Sending those naive or desperate enough to cooperate across enemy lines, to certain death.

Now the enemy was everywhere; and they, the enemy within, were as much to blame for the collapse of democracy worldwide as anybody else. Their nefarious schemes, their slipshod work, their laziness, bigotry, simple minded prejudice. Boof-headedness. Oh how they loved to jeer. 

Here in the far reaches of consciousness aka Australia, the malfeasance, the personnel, sometimes kindly, mostly characterised by venal disregard. They tried all their old tricks. Heart attack. Heart attack. Poison Pill. They're coming for you. 

Every dirty, shoddy little scheme. They wanted the world to think, he's gone mad.

And the minute he says he's the sanest of the lot, we've got him.

The brutally infested elites manufactured consent in the broader, deliberately dumbed down broader population, while in his heart Old Alex manufactured kindly father-figures he could talk to, discuss the issues of the day, have a laugh.

The surveillance teams watched. They dreamed of sex. They vented their frustration on friends, colleagues, enemies alike. They were bored. They had never read a book in their lives. They had no concept of what they were watching.

In the wider realm, away from the bureaucratic little grubs who had been so determined to crush him, out there on the wide plains, the savanna grasslands, across the world where evil stalked, here, where evil stalked just as diabolically. 

At the event in the Sydney Town Hall, he saw the succubus which had seized hold of the former Prime Minister John Howard, highly intelligent, utterly malignant, the cold, one-eyed cold. It looked at him, startled someone recognised it, guilty almost, ashamed. This was their journey, their spiritual death, to serve only the dark lords.

Where the Jesuits and the Jihadis met.

The ABC poured forth its anodyne government propaganda, usually involving some minute bureaucratic progression in the endless debate over climate change, a distraction which had served to mop up the natural social justice instincts of the populace for more than 20 years while achieving precisely nothing but ever spreading bureaucratic over-reach, a tamed, distracted, sublimated population.

It was the manipulation, the deliberate creation of widespread ignorance, which incensed Old Alex as much as anything. You had a most precious resource. And you spat on it, ground it into the ground with thug-boot stiletto heels. You treated with contempt your fellow man, your fellow sufferers. You destroyed their potential with every waking breath, an act as despicable as murder. 

And every day, in every way, the country veered closer to a totalitarian state.

A democracy in name only. The manufacture of consent. It had all come to pass.

Australia had become a communist country. The Franklin School had wrought their theories, here on the edge of the great seas spreading down to the Antarctic.

"The world is so beautiful," Buddha is reported to have said on his death bed.

Myth would have it.

"We were there," his disciples said, laughing, even here, even now, more than 2500 years later. Even in this appalling, diabolical situation. 

Where humanity had embraced the dark lords. Where the poison was spreading through the veins of the society. Where he was forced to defend himself against the muggles, the mundanes. And to hide in the ordinary from their tedious, charlatan experts. 

Day followed day. They lived now, all of them, in the consequence not the act. They reaped what they sowed. Their path was crooked. They could barely see. The blizzard ate away at flesh.

At the local garage, the woman who ran the business with her husband and with whom he was on friendly terms, was clearly distressed, almost in tears, as she recounted how she had just had to find $16,000 to feed the tax office.

He told her of one of the latest grants from the Australian Research Council, of how an academic who had edited a book on dating had just been granted $940,000 by the Research Council to research whether or not "time really exists." 


And another Sydney University academic who had been given almost $1 million to another Sydney academic to study “the humanity of man and animal in ancient Greece’’.
It was an abuse of the citizenry beyond measure.

They ripped the money off the working poor and gave it to the elites.

Without conscience. 

Without even the courtesy of returning the calls from the journalist who had done the story.

On the radio they talked of low emission targets, of the coming Armageddon they had seized upon with their bureaucratic mindsets. And lied and lied and lied to the taxpayer. 

As if there was no bigger story afoot. Here between the ice ages. The epochs. 


THE BIGGER STORY:




http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/06/iconic-grand-al-nuri-mosque-iraq-mosul-blown-170621193402284.html

The landmark Grand al-Nuri Mosque of Mosul and its leaning minaret have been blown up, with the Iraqi army blaming ISIL for its destruction and the armed group accusing a US-led coalition air raid.

In recent days Iraqi forces have pushed deeper into the last remaining areas held by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) group in the centre of Iraq's second-largest city.

"Our forces were advancing toward their targets deep in the Old City and when they got to within 50 metres of the Nuri mosque, Daesh committed another historical crime by blowing up the Nuri mosque," Staff Lieutenant General Abdulamir Yarallah, the overall commander of the Mosul offensive, said in a statement late Wednesday.

In a statement on its Amaq website, ISIL blamed US aircraft for destroying the mosque.

The US military denied the allegation. "We did not strike in that area," coalition spokesman US Air Force Colonel John Dorrian told Reuters news agency by phone.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-39339373

The Great Mosque of al-Nuri in Mosul has been destroyed during fighting between government forces and the jihadist group Islamic State (IS).

The Iraqi military said militants had blown up the mosque and the leaning al-Hadba minaret, one of the most famous landmarks in the Old City, as troops advanced on it.

But IS accused the US-led coalition of destroying the mosque, which was also of great symbolic importance to both sides of the conflict.

It is where IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi made a rare public appearance in early July 2014 and gave a speech proclaiming the creation of a new "caliphate", only weeks after his fighters seized control of the city.

The Great Mosque was named after Nur al-Din Mahmoud Zangi, a Turkic ruler of Mosul and Aleppo who ordered its construction in 1172, two years before his death.

Nur al-Din is famous for mobilising and unifying Muslim forces to wage jihad, or war in the path of God, against the Christian Crusaders.

During his 28-year rule, Nur al-Din captured Damascus and laid the foundations for the success of Saladin, who served as his commander in Egypt before founding the Ayyubid dynasty and retaking Jerusalem in 1187.

Nur al-Din is also revered by jihadists for his efforts to make Sunni Muslim orthodoxy prevail over Shiism.

Despite its connection to such an illustrious figure, all that remained from the original mosque was the leaning minaret, some columns and the mihrab, a niche indicating the direction of Mecca.

On 4 July, Baghdadi delivered a Friday sermon from the pulpit at the Great Mosque of al-Nuri - his first public appearance in many years.

Dressed in a black robe and black turban - a signal that he claims to be descended from the Prophet Muhammad's Quraysh tribe, a crucial qualification for the office - Baghdadi said he had reluctantly accepted the title of "commander of the faithful".

"God, the Great and Almighty, has bestowed upon your mujahideen brothers the grace of victory and conquest, and has enabled them to do that after long years of waging jihad, showing patience, and fierce fighting against the enemies of God," he added. "They have hurried to declare the caliphate and empower an imam. This is the duty imposed on the Muslims."

Echoing the inaugural address by the first caliph, his namesake Abu Bakr, Baghdadi stressed that he was "not the best among you", adding: "If you see that I am right, help me. However, if you see that I am wrong, advise and guide me."

QUOTE OF THE DAY:

Half the harm that is done in this world Is due to people who want to feel important. They don’t mean to do harm - but the harm does not interest them. Or they do not see it, or they justify it Because they are absorbed in the endless struggle To think well of themselves. T.S. Eliot.

IF NOT NOW WHEN

Lightning Ridge

Those thousands of years, the annual migration. Breaching. The fabulous architects of song travelling up and down the coast. He could hear them still. 

And in this suburban place, he heard the Watchers on the Watch, the endless changing shifts of those on surveillance contracts, discussing a book he had once written, The Architect of Dreams, long lost. It must have ended up with Special Branch. For who else would know. Most of the players of the time, his friends, the people who he thought were everything, were dead now. Ian Farr. Russel Keifel. Lyn Hapgood. John Bygate. Shrouded in the dead as we were shrouded in the living.

Records, they want to destroy the records, one of the Watchers shrieked. If anyone knew. But someone did know. And when one knew, they all knew.

Old Alex was reading Legacy of Ashes, The History of the CIA. Seven decades scaling the heights of incompetence, coups, murders, manipulation, illegality, thousands, into the millions of lives lost. Sending their own agents to certain death. Sending those naive or desperate enough to cooperate across enemy lines, to certain death.

Now the enemy was everywhere; and they, the enemy within, were as much to blame for the collapse of democracy worldwide as anybody else. Their nefarious schemes, their slipshod work, their laziness, bigotry, simple minded prejudice. Boof-headedness. Oh how they loved to jeer. 

Here in the far reaches of consciousness aka Australia, the malfeasance, the personnel, sometimes kindly, mostly characterised by venal disregard. They tried all their old tricks. Heart attack. Heart attack. Poison Pill. They're coming for you. 

Every dirty, shoddy little scheme. They wanted the world to think, he's gone mad.

And the minute he says he's the sanest of the lot, we've got him.

The brutally infested elites manufactured consent in the broader, deliberately dumbed down broader population, while in his heart Old Alex manufactured kindly father-figures he could talk to, discuss the issues of the day, have a laugh.

The surveillance teams watched. They dreamed of sex. They vented their frustration on friends, colleagues, enemies alike. They were bored. They had never read a book in their lives. They had no concept of what they were watching.

In the wider realm, away from the bureaucratic little grubs who had been so determined to crush him, out there on the wide plains, the savanna grasslands, across the world where evil stalked, here, where evil stalked just as diabolically. 

At the event in the Sydney Town Hall, he saw the succubus which had seized hold of the former Prime Minister John Howard, highly intelligent, utterly malignant, the cold, one-eyed cold. It looked at him, startled someone recognised it, guilty almost, ashamed. This was their journey, their spiritual death, to serve only the dark lords.

Where the Jesuits and the Jihadis met.

The ABC poured forth its anodyne government propaganda, usually involving some minute bureaucratic progression in the endless debate over climate change, a distraction which had served to mop up the natural social justice instincts of the populace for more than 20 years while achieving precisely nothing but ever spreading bureaucratic over-reach, a tamed, distracted, sublimated population.

It was the manipulation, the deliberate creation of widespread ignorance, which incensed Old Alex as much as anything. You had a most precious resource. And you spat on it, ground it into the ground with thug-boot stiletto heels. You treated with contempt your fellow man, your fellow sufferers. You destroyed their potential with every waking breath, an act as despicable as murder. 

And every day, in every way, the country veered closer to a totalitarian state.

A democracy in name only. The manufacture of consent. It had all come to pass.

Australia had become a communist country. The Franklin School had wrought their theories, here on the edge of the great seas spreading down to the Antarctic.

"The world is so beautiful," Buddha is reported to have said on his death bed.

Myth would have it.

"We were there," his disciples said, laughing, even here, even now, more than 2500 years later. Even in this appalling, diabolical situation. 

Where humanity had embraced the dark lords. Where the poison was spreading through the veins of the society. Where he was forced to defend himself against the muggles, the mundanes. And to hide in the ordinary from their tedious, charlatan experts. 

Day followed day. They lived now, all of them, in the consequence not the act. They reaped what they sowed. Their path was crooked. They could barely see. The blizzard ate away at flesh.

At the local garage, the woman who ran the business with her husband and with whom he was on friendly terms, was clearly distressed, almost in tears, as she recounted how she had just had to find $16,000 to feed the tax office.

He told her of one of the latest grants from the Australian Research Council, of how an academic who had edited a book on dating had just been granted $940,000 by the Research Council to research whether or not "time really exists." 


And another Sydney University academic who had been given almost $1 million to another Sydney academic to study “the humanity of man and animal in ancient Greece’’.
It was an abuse of the citizenry beyond measure.

They ripped the money off the working poor and gave it to the elites.

Without conscience. 

Without even the courtesy of returning the calls from the journalist who had done the story.

On the radio they talked of low emission targets, of the coming Armageddon they had seized upon with their bureaucratic mindsets. And lied and lied and lied to the taxpayer. 

As if there was no bigger story afoot. Here between the ice ages. The epochs. 


THE BIGGER STORY:




http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/06/iconic-grand-al-nuri-mosque-iraq-mosul-blown-170621193402284.html

The landmark Grand al-Nuri Mosque of Mosul and its leaning minaret have been blown up, with the Iraqi army blaming ISIL for its destruction and the armed group accusing a US-led coalition air raid.

In recent days Iraqi forces have pushed deeper into the last remaining areas held by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) group in the centre of Iraq's second-largest city.

"Our forces were advancing toward their targets deep in the Old City and when they got to within 50 metres of the Nuri mosque, Daesh committed another historical crime by blowing up the Nuri mosque," Staff Lieutenant General Abdulamir Yarallah, the overall commander of the Mosul offensive, said in a statement late Wednesday.

In a statement on its Amaq website, ISIL blamed US aircraft for destroying the mosque.

The US military denied the allegation. "We did not strike in that area," coalition spokesman US Air Force Colonel John Dorrian told Reuters news agency by phone.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-39339373

The Great Mosque of al-Nuri in Mosul has been destroyed during fighting between government forces and the jihadist group Islamic State (IS).

The Iraqi military said militants had blown up the mosque and the leaning al-Hadba minaret, one of the most famous landmarks in the Old City, as troops advanced on it.

But IS accused the US-led coalition of destroying the mosque, which was also of great symbolic importance to both sides of the conflict.

It is where IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi made a rare public appearance in early July 2014 and gave a speech proclaiming the creation of a new "caliphate", only weeks after his fighters seized control of the city.

The Great Mosque was named after Nur al-Din Mahmoud Zangi, a Turkic ruler of Mosul and Aleppo who ordered its construction in 1172, two years before his death.

Nur al-Din is famous for mobilising and unifying Muslim forces to wage jihad, or war in the path of God, against the Christian Crusaders.

During his 28-year rule, Nur al-Din captured Damascus and laid the foundations for the success of Saladin, who served as his commander in Egypt before founding the Ayyubid dynasty and retaking Jerusalem in 1187.

Nur al-Din is also revered by jihadists for his efforts to make Sunni Muslim orthodoxy prevail over Shiism.

Despite its connection to such an illustrious figure, all that remained from the original mosque was the leaning minaret, some columns and the mihrab, a niche indicating the direction of Mecca.

On 4 July, Baghdadi delivered a Friday sermon from the pulpit at the Great Mosque of al-Nuri - his first public appearance in many years.

Dressed in a black robe and black turban - a signal that he claims to be descended from the Prophet Muhammad's Quraysh tribe, a crucial qualification for the office - Baghdadi said he had reluctantly accepted the title of "commander of the faithful".

"God, the Great and Almighty, has bestowed upon your mujahideen brothers the grace of victory and conquest, and has enabled them to do that after long years of waging jihad, showing patience, and fierce fighting against the enemies of God," he added. "They have hurried to declare the caliphate and empower an imam. This is the duty imposed on the Muslims."

Echoing the inaugural address by the first caliph, his namesake Abu Bakr, Baghdadi stressed that he was "not the best among you", adding: "If you see that I am right, help me. However, if you see that I am wrong, advise and guide me."

QUOTE OF THE DAY:

Half the harm that is done in this world Is due to people who want to feel important. They don’t mean to do harm - but the harm does not interest them. Or they do not see it, or they justify it Because they are absorbed in the endless struggle To think well of themselves. T.S. Eliot.

THE NIGHT OF POWER

Picture of Mosul by World Press Phtographer winner Lauren van der Stockt courtesy of Le Monde

Laylat al-Qadr falls on the last 10 nights of the Islamic month of Ramadan, and it commemorates the night when Allah revealed the Koran to Mohammad.

This year, 2017, it falls on Wednesday 21 June, and is considered by Muslims to be the holiest night of the year.

Sometimes referred to as the ‘Night of Destiny’ or the ‘Night of Power’; many Muslims believe that this was the time when the Koran’s first verses were revealed to the Islamic prophet Muhammad.

On the night of Laylat al-Qadr it is believed that God marks ones fate for the following year, so many Muslims will pray during the night for mercy, forgiveness and salvation.

It is believed to be the most appropriate time of the year to pray for salvation and blessings, and if a Muslim prays through the ‘Night of Destiny’ their sins will be forgiven.

Source: Metro.



It was the Night of Power. By one of those uncanny instances, a clairvoyant, luminescent intelligence there to help, it was also Old Alex's 65th Birthday, as well as being the longest night and the shortest day.

Born lovers, he quipped at the early morning Table of Knowledge at the local cafe in Shellharbour.

The silver streams of those who had died in flight and fright transgressed across the border into sight, flickering along the skyline, through startled air. 

The visual plane was fluxing, as if itself in a panic. 

The apostates could say whatever they liked. 

Around him, through the seabed ether, as if underwater, he heard them talking, or dreaming, of traffic, trains, weddings, overseas holidays, and frequently, no wonder the species was so fecund, of sex, tactics, strategies, covert meetings; but in the midst of it all, having already blown their cover, a thing which should not have mattered here in the famous End of Days,  an urgent messaging. 

Jackboots echoed through empty streets. Power cars, police vehicles bristling with new technology, circled constantly.

The government's answer to all dissent had been to crack down further and further. The freedom loving, rambunctious country was no more. 

Old Alex laughed at his evening Table of Knowledge, as if in some retirement village of the soul, but these familiar, pleasant characters, voices, faces, were remnants of a once vibrant scene. And soon, even they would not dare to venture out, in this unprecedented pont in history.

Politics, it was all about politics. And the politicians had stood back and watched it all happen, fruitlessly blind or entirely complicit.

As the Jesuits and Jihadits in politics and bureaucracy clasped hands behind the back fence, destroyed the country in order, as they saw it, to save it, reinstituted the God of the Early Church, the same god as the god of Islamic State, and brought the country to its knees: all in the name of Allah. The Most Merciful. 

God, in his infinite wisdom...

Their God, their Allah, were one and the same. 

It was not wisdom. It was a blatant quest for power across the physical and spiritual planes; as brutal, more brutal than any Khan on the Mongolian steppes.

For it involved the greatest of all deceptions, foisted onto the earnest lives of millions.

The remnants continued to fight, those who were naive enough to believe the propaganda of democracy, open-mindedness, willingness, tolerance, diversity, appreciation of others.

The truth lay elsewhere.

In the increasingly totalitarian, increasingly oppressed, distressed streets, what were they fighting for?

It wasn't a free press. The government either owned, controlled, manipulated or had its sticky little totalitarian fingers through almost every media outlet in the country.

It wasn't freedom of association. That did not exist.

It wasn't freedom of speech. That did not exist.

It wasn't a booming economy which supported the best efforts of the citizenry. It was a dive to the bottom, the ultimate goal, all citizens either dependent on, registered or closely monitored by government achieved.

It wasn't decency and independence in foreign policy. 

In lockstep, pouring tens of billions into more than 400 active military contracts at any one time, Australia had followed America blindly into two wars, the American and Vietnam Wars, based on false evidence concocted by the CIA.

And into numerous other counterproductive quagmires, most particularly America, and Australia's longest war, Afghanistan.

Billions ripped off ordinary working people to feed the military industrial complex.

They did not have the courtesy, dared not have the courage, to show their faces and explain to the people what they were doing with their money.

And so it was, step by terrible step.

Shivers up the spine.

A truly existential threat.

Civilisation, Western civilisation, the human journey, contracting as we speak. The ancient gods truly awake.

The Night of Power.





THE BIGGER STORY:





http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4619894/ISIS-strike-Australia-Ramadan-s-Night-Power.html

Counter-terror forces in Australia are on high alert with fears Islamic State is set to launch a series of attacks around the world on Wednesday, a key date of Ramadan.

'Night of Power', which falls on the 27th day of Ramadan, has been a notorious target for ISIS terrorists, who slaughtered 20 people in a Bangladesh restaurant last year.

And now, in the wake of last month's Manchester attack and Monday's incident at a London mosque, there are fears ISIS could be set to again ramp up attacks, forcing Australian authorities to be extra vigilant, Nine News reports.

A major date on the Ramadan calendar, 'Night of Power' or Laylat al-Qadr, is the day when Muslims believe Mohammed first revealed the verses of the Quran.

Last year's attack at Dhaka, in Bangladesh, saw nine Italians, seven Japanese, two Indians and an American killed when ISIS soldiers burst into the eatery with knives.

And in the wake of a number of recent attacks in the UK, authorities in Australia are expected to be out in force and on the lookout for suspicious activity.



http://www.pulse.ng/religion/ramadan-day-24-signs-of-the-night-of-power-id6861786.html

The exact night is unknown but Prophet Muhammad enjoined us to seek it in the last 10 days of the holy month. In one of his traditions, the Prophet encouraged us to search for the night of decree in the odd numbers of the latter part of Ramadan.

However, the prophet in one or two traditions mentioned the signs of the night of majesty.

Jaabir ibn Abdullah (RA) who said: the Messenger (SAW) said: “Indeed I was shown Lailatul Qadr then I was made to forget it. It is in the last ten nights of (Ramadan) and it is a bright night, neither hot or cold. In the version of Az Zayaadee it mentions concerning the brightness of the night: “..as though there is in it the type of moon that overpowers the stars (in brightness)..” then in both versions the messenger said: “Devils on that night will not be able to come out until fajr.”

It was also reported that when Ubay ibn Ka’b was asked on another occasion ‘what are its signs’ he responded by saying “its signs are the signs that the messengers (SAW) informed us of. That the sun will rise the following morning having no rays”





http://www.9news.com.au/world/2017/06/19/14/50/war-is-starting-in-your-streets-islamic-state-stoke-fear-ahead-of-night-of-power#MbDikKJ6x8LfFixg.99

Pro-Islamic State propaganda channels have seized upon the deadly van attack on Muslim worshippers outside a London mosque and urged ISIS supporters to "wake up" for war on the streets.

There are unconfirmed suggestions the driver of the white van who mowed down pedestrians causing one confirmed death and a number of casualties was not Muslim.

The incident in London, a city still reeling from the June 3 London Bridge attack, will further stoke fears ahead of a significant day looming in the Ramadan calendar known as the "Night of Power".


If bloody events in 2016 are an indicator, Islamic State will look to double down its campaign of terror on Laylat al-Qadr, also known as Night of Power, which is set to fall on June 21.

Michael S. Smith II, a US counter-terror analyst, has observed activity on pro-Islamic State channels today urging a violent response to the ugly van attack on innocent Muslim worshipers.

Pro-Islamic State propaganda channels have seized upon the deadly van attack on Muslim worshippers outside a London mosque and urged ISIS supporters to "wake up" for war on the streets.

There are unconfirmed suggestions the driver of the white van who mowed down pedestrians causing one confirmed death and a number of casualties was not Muslim.

The incident in London, a city still reeling from the June 3 London Bridge attack, will further stoke fears ahead of a significant day looming in the Ramadan calendar known as the "Night of Power".


If bloody events in 2016 are an indicator, Islamic State will look to double down its campaign of terror on Laylat al-Qadr, also known as Night of Power, which is set to fall on June 21.

Michael S. Smith II, a US counter-terror analyst, has observed activity on pro-Islamic State channels today urging a violent response to the ugly van attack on innocent Muslim worshipers.

One suspect was arrested at the scene in Finsbury Park, north London, after being wrestled to the ground by members of the public, according to early witness reports.

A pro-IS message on encrypted app Telegram contrasted the arrest at Finsbury Park against the 50 rounds fired by police to kill the three ISIS jihadists who carried out the London Bridge attack.

"When your brothers took revenge on the Crusader nationals for the slaughter they are carrying out on the Muslims they were shot on site (sic) by the British Police," the message read.

"Then how come the police never shot a Kafir (derogatory word for non-Muslim)," the post continued, referencing today's arrest.

"You need to wake up the war is starting now in your own streets outside your own Masajids (mosques).

"Your elders could be killed, your sisters could be attacked."

THE NIGHT OF POWER

Picture of Mosul by World Press Phtographer winner Lauren van der Stockt courtesy of Le Monde

Laylat al-Qadr falls on the last 10 nights of the Islamic month of Ramadan, and it commemorates the night when Allah revealed the Koran to Mohammad.

This year, 2017, it falls on Wednesday 21 June, and is considered by Muslims to be the holiest night of the year.

Sometimes referred to as the ‘Night of Destiny’ or the ‘Night of Power’; many Muslims believe that this was the time when the Koran’s first verses were revealed to the Islamic prophet Muhammad.

On the night of Laylat al-Qadr it is believed that God marks ones fate for the following year, so many Muslims will pray during the night for mercy, forgiveness and salvation.

It is believed to be the most appropriate time of the year to pray for salvation and blessings, and if a Muslim prays through the ‘Night of Destiny’ their sins will be forgiven.

Source: Metro.



It was the Night of Power. By one of those uncanny instances, a clairvoyant, luminescent intelligence there to help, it was also Old Alex's 65th Birthday, as well as being the longest night and the shortest day.

Born lovers, he quipped at the early morning Table of Knowledge at the local cafe in Shellharbour.

The silver streams of those who had died in flight and fright transgressed across the border into sight, flickering along the skyline, through startled air. 

The visual plane was fluxing, as if itself in a panic. 

The apostates could say whatever they liked. 

Around him, through the seabed ether, as if underwater, he heard them talking, or dreaming, of traffic, trains, weddings, overseas holidays, and frequently, no wonder the species was so fecund, of sex, tactics, strategies, covert meetings; but in the midst of it all, having already blown their cover, a thing which should not have mattered here in the famous End of Days,  an urgent messaging. 

Jackboots echoed through empty streets. Power cars, police vehicles bristling with new technology, circled constantly.

The government's answer to all dissent had been to crack down further and further. The freedom loving, rambunctious country was no more. 

Old Alex laughed at his evening Table of Knowledge, as if in some retirement village of the soul, but these familiar, pleasant characters, voices, faces, were remnants of a once vibrant scene. And soon, even they would not dare to venture out, in this unprecedented pont in history.

Politics, it was all about politics. And the politicians had stood back and watched it all happen, fruitlessly blind or entirely complicit.

As the Jesuits and Jihadits in politics and bureaucracy clasped hands behind the back fence, destroyed the country in order, as they saw it, to save it, reinstituted the God of the Early Church, the same god as the god of Islamic State, and brought the country to its knees: all in the name of Allah. The Most Merciful. 

God, in his infinite wisdom...

Their God, their Allah, were one and the same. 

It was not wisdom. It was a blatant quest for power across the physical and spiritual planes; as brutal, more brutal than any Khan on the Mongolian steppes.

For it involved the greatest of all deceptions, foisted onto the earnest lives of millions.

The remnants continued to fight, those who were naive enough to believe the propaganda of democracy, open-mindedness, willingness, tolerance, diversity, appreciation of others.

The truth lay elsewhere.

In the increasingly totalitarian, increasingly oppressed, distressed streets, what were they fighting for?

It wasn't a free press. The government either owned, controlled, manipulated or had its sticky little totalitarian fingers through almost every media outlet in the country.

It wasn't freedom of association. That did not exist.

It wasn't freedom of speech. That did not exist.

It wasn't a booming economy which supported the best efforts of the citizenry. It was a dive to the bottom, the ultimate goal, all citizens either dependent on, registered or closely monitored by government achieved.

It wasn't decency and independence in foreign policy. 

In lockstep, pouring tens of billions into more than 400 active military contracts at any one time, Australia had followed America blindly into two wars, the American and Vietnam Wars, based on false evidence concocted by the CIA.

And into numerous other counterproductive quagmires, most particularly America, and Australia's longest war, Afghanistan.

Billions ripped off ordinary working people to feed the military industrial complex.

They did not have the courtesy, dared not have the courage, to show their faces and explain to the people what they were doing with their money.

And so it was, step by terrible step.

Shivers up the spine.

A truly existential threat.

Civilisation, Western civilisation, the human journey, contracting as we speak. The ancient gods truly awake.

The Night of Power.





THE BIGGER STORY:





http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4619894/ISIS-strike-Australia-Ramadan-s-Night-Power.html

Counter-terror forces in Australia are on high alert with fears Islamic State is set to launch a series of attacks around the world on Wednesday, a key date of Ramadan.

'Night of Power', which falls on the 27th day of Ramadan, has been a notorious target for ISIS terrorists, who slaughtered 20 people in a Bangladesh restaurant last year.

And now, in the wake of last month's Manchester attack and Monday's incident at a London mosque, there are fears ISIS could be set to again ramp up attacks, forcing Australian authorities to be extra vigilant, Nine News reports.

A major date on the Ramadan calendar, 'Night of Power' or Laylat al-Qadr, is the day when Muslims believe Mohammed first revealed the verses of the Quran.

Last year's attack at Dhaka, in Bangladesh, saw nine Italians, seven Japanese, two Indians and an American killed when ISIS soldiers burst into the eatery with knives.

And in the wake of a number of recent attacks in the UK, authorities in Australia are expected to be out in force and on the lookout for suspicious activity.



http://www.pulse.ng/religion/ramadan-day-24-signs-of-the-night-of-power-id6861786.html

The exact night is unknown but Prophet Muhammad enjoined us to seek it in the last 10 days of the holy month. In one of his traditions, the Prophet encouraged us to search for the night of decree in the odd numbers of the latter part of Ramadan.

However, the prophet in one or two traditions mentioned the signs of the night of majesty.

Jaabir ibn Abdullah (RA) who said: the Messenger (SAW) said: “Indeed I was shown Lailatul Qadr then I was made to forget it. It is in the last ten nights of (Ramadan) and it is a bright night, neither hot or cold. In the version of Az Zayaadee it mentions concerning the brightness of the night: “..as though there is in it the type of moon that overpowers the stars (in brightness)..” then in both versions the messenger said: “Devils on that night will not be able to come out until fajr.”

It was also reported that when Ubay ibn Ka’b was asked on another occasion ‘what are its signs’ he responded by saying “its signs are the signs that the messengers (SAW) informed us of. That the sun will rise the following morning having no rays”





http://www.9news.com.au/world/2017/06/19/14/50/war-is-starting-in-your-streets-islamic-state-stoke-fear-ahead-of-night-of-power#MbDikKJ6x8LfFixg.99

Pro-Islamic State propaganda channels have seized upon the deadly van attack on Muslim worshippers outside a London mosque and urged ISIS supporters to "wake up" for war on the streets.

There are unconfirmed suggestions the driver of the white van who mowed down pedestrians causing one confirmed death and a number of casualties was not Muslim.

The incident in London, a city still reeling from the June 3 London Bridge attack, will further stoke fears ahead of a significant day looming in the Ramadan calendar known as the "Night of Power".


If bloody events in 2016 are an indicator, Islamic State will look to double down its campaign of terror on Laylat al-Qadr, also known as Night of Power, which is set to fall on June 21.

Michael S. Smith II, a US counter-terror analyst, has observed activity on pro-Islamic State channels today urging a violent response to the ugly van attack on innocent Muslim worshipers.

Pro-Islamic State propaganda channels have seized upon the deadly van attack on Muslim worshippers outside a London mosque and urged ISIS supporters to "wake up" for war on the streets.

There are unconfirmed suggestions the driver of the white van who mowed down pedestrians causing one confirmed death and a number of casualties was not Muslim.

The incident in London, a city still reeling from the June 3 London Bridge attack, will further stoke fears ahead of a significant day looming in the Ramadan calendar known as the "Night of Power".


If bloody events in 2016 are an indicator, Islamic State will look to double down its campaign of terror on Laylat al-Qadr, also known as Night of Power, which is set to fall on June 21.

Michael S. Smith II, a US counter-terror analyst, has observed activity on pro-Islamic State channels today urging a violent response to the ugly van attack on innocent Muslim worshipers.

One suspect was arrested at the scene in Finsbury Park, north London, after being wrestled to the ground by members of the public, according to early witness reports.

A pro-IS message on encrypted app Telegram contrasted the arrest at Finsbury Park against the 50 rounds fired by police to kill the three ISIS jihadists who carried out the London Bridge attack.

"When your brothers took revenge on the Crusader nationals for the slaughter they are carrying out on the Muslims they were shot on site (sic) by the British Police," the message read.

"Then how come the police never shot a Kafir (derogatory word for non-Muslim)," the post continued, referencing today's arrest.

"You need to wake up the war is starting now in your own streets outside your own Masajids (mosques).

"Your elders could be killed, your sisters could be attacked."

SUBVERSION, CONCENTRATION, CONDESCENSION, DETENTION AND UNIVERSAL PARALLELS

Lightning Ridge, NSW, Australia.

When we reached behind the sleeve, the cuff, the surface of things, when we saw where everything was heading, foreboding.... It was David Kilcullen, a highly intelligent man who liked everyone to know the fact, who said words to the effect: "The West has to decide, what is left worth preserving? What are we fighting for?"

And it was the Chinese who always said: "When two truths collide, the most courageous one wins."

Thomas Jefferson: "When people fear their government there is tyranny. When government fears the people, there is liberty."

He was reading Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA, watching CIA whistle blower clips on YouTube, entranced, now, by the flood of information, a new advent, a new change, every single day. He had been cowed, and then risen. The world was a tinderbox. Or to quote a book title, Dirty Wars: The World is a Battlefield. It was becoming more frightening, instantly more frightening, year by year, step by step, Ramadan, the Season of Feasting and Fighting. God, God was everywhere in these battles for the soul. They bowed in their millions. The darkest of temples, the darkest of heavens, entreated them to follow.

There are many heavens, the Falun Gong preach, a heaven for the Christians, a heaven for the Muslims. There is room for everybody, or once there was. What was most disturbing about the present moment was the bleeding of dark power across worlds; a kind of psychotic break across the heavens.

The followers bowed in subjugation.

But why would a god want to be worshiped?

Frightening, very frightening. The world disturbed in a violent, clandestine, clairvoyant way, the weeping of the unjust behind every veil, creeping, the suburban cult followers, the Universal Church, they conjured their beasts and worshipers at large, but they did not know, oh Lord forgive them they did not know, what they did, which dark forces they were messing with.

London was a tinderbox, increasingly, and the platitudes flew thick and fast from every high wall, every high tower. He had been there so long ago, a different place, a different time. And those who had set out to change the world were succeeding at dramatic pace.

Here in Australia, in this far off place, with a disillusioned, supplanted, subjected, dispirited population, with evil having already taken the reins of government, the succubus, the conspiracy of power at the highest level, ably assisted by armadas of useful fools. A heavily manipulated population were indoctrinated to care about chimera, emasculated, a passing conscience, fads, look over here while we screw you; and if anyone raised a voice, why did so few raise a voice; the government had praised the media, razed it to the ground, planted their spies and subordinates everywhere, in what would ultimately prove a fruitless effort to control the flow of information.

Shut it down, shut everything down. That way there will be no revolt.

But they were military officers, or had the mental makeup of military officers. They had no understanding of civilians, of the messy, character filled lives of ordinary people. They did not hear the orders. They marched to a different drummer. Old Alex, too, marched to a different drummer and implored them to take heed. The world grew colder, more brittle by the day. And the Australia that was gone in a whisper of a once warm, body warm, body odour whiff, gone before it had even been breathed. The Balkanisation of the country was accompanied by a Balkanisation of the soul. And they stayed very very quite. Put simply: they were frightened. Scared the bejesus out of me, mumbled a Watcher on the Watch, he, too, caught mercilessly in the fabric of thing, as they, too, disappeared in fright.

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http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-06-19/london-building-fire-dead-and-missing-rises-to-79/8632514

London police say the number of people dead or missing after last week's high-rise apartment building fire has risen to 79.

Key points:
Five people reported as missing have now been found.
Investigations continue as to how the fire began.
Families turn to social media in order to find missing persons.

Police Commander Stuart Cundy gave the new figure during a statement outside Scotland Yard on Monday. The previous figure given was 58.

Commander Cundy said the new number may change as the investigation into the incident continues, but not as much as it had in recent days.

Although grave fears remain for those missing, five people have now been found safe and well.

Commander Cundy said the search and recovery operation in the 24-storey Grenfell Tower was ongoing, and it had been incredibly distressing for families.

"It's hard to describe the devastation the fire has caused," he said.

One man has been confirmed dead after a van was driven into a crowd of worshippers near a London mosque, in what police are treating as a terrorist attack and the British Prime Minister has described as an "attack on Muslims".

Key points:

• A van was driven into a crowd outside the Muslim Welfare House in Finsbury Park
• One person was killed and 10 others injured, while the attacker was arrested at the scene
• The man who died was receiving first aid prior to the attack, it is unclear if his death was caused by the attack

A white van was driven into the crowd near the Finsbury Park Mosque in North London just after midnight, as worshippers were leaving following Ramadan prayers.

The 48-year-old driver of the van was detained by members of the public and arrested by police.

The Metropolitan Police's counter-terrorism command is leading the investigation.

Counter-terrorism coordinator Neil Basu said the attack had "all the hallmarks of a terrorism incident".

Media player: "Space" to play, "M" to mute, "left" and "right" to seek.

http://www.news.com.au/world/europe/finsbury-park-mosque-links-to-radical-islamic-terrorism/news-story/a568aac3ccd955868bca1f1a8c792812

FINSBURY PARK Mosque, which has a history of links to terrorism worldwide, has tried in recent years to change its image to the outside world under new management.

The mosque, which is housed in a five-storey building next to Finsbury Park tube station in the London borough of Islington in north London, was opened in 1994 in a ceremony attended by Prince Charles.

The mosque became notorious when Abu Hamza al-Masri became the imam in 1997. Hamza, who had one eye and no hands and used hook devices, lied that the injuries were suffered when he fought for al-Qaeda against Russian forces in Afghanistan.