The Holy Prophet( peace be upon him) said: He who believes in Allah and the Last Day should honor his guest according to his rights. He was asked: What are his rights ? The Holy Prophet( peace be upon him) answered: A day and night of generous treatment and hospitality of three days. That which you may offer beyond this will be regarded as charity. (Bukhari and Muslim)

Entertaining a guest is an important feature of Islam which signifies the respect and concern of a host towards his guest. It is obligatory upon every Muslim to welcome his guest whether rich or poor, Muslim or non-Muslim with a cheerful countenance with out least expression of unpleasantness. When the angels of Allah arrived at Prophet Abraham's house in the garb of guests, he immediately served them a roasted calf.

Hospitality is prescribed for three days during which a host is bound to serve the best food in his capacity and take care of the needs and requirements of his guest. But, if he stays for a longer duration, the usual food may be served to him. The Holy Prophet( peace be upon him) said: it is not permissible for a Muslim to stay with one of his brother so long as to put host in to sin. He was asked: How could he put him in to sin? He answered: By staying so long that the host has nothing left to offer. Some people stay at the house of their host for a very long period unnecessarily with out caring for his difficulties and causing him much affliction and loss to his money and time. Such people will be reckoned for making their host uneasy on the retribution day.

There are numerous examples of hospitality in the history of Islam including that of Hazrat Abu Talha Zaid bin Sahl Ansari who was a devoted companion of Prophet Muhammed ( peace be upon him). One evening, while the Holy Prophet( peace be upon him) was sitting with his companions a hungry traveler came to him in a bewildered state and asked his help. Unfortunately, there was nothing to eat in the Prophet's (peace be upon him) house that day. He asked his companions if anybody could take the traveler to his house as guest. Hearing this, Hazrat Abu Talha agreed and took him to his house. He inquired his wife about food at which she told him that there was only a little bit of food to feed the children. Hazrat Abu Talha told her not to bother and some how manage to make the children sleep with out food and seemingly trying to set the lamp right should put it off at the time of dinner. By this trick, the guest would take the meal to his satisfaction, with out any hesitation in the darkness and they would move their mouth in a way as if they too were eating. The next morning when this unique host came to the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) he smiled and told him that Allah liked the way of his hospitality very much.

The host should consider the honor of his guest as his own and defend it with all his might if some body tries to injure it. Such was the case of prophet Lut (peace be upon him). When the Angels of Allah arrived at his house in the form of handsome boys, his licentious people tried to attack their honor, he firmly stood in his defense at the cost of his life.

It is a part of Sunnah that a man should go with his guest up to the door of his home.(Ibn Majah). Hospitality is the right of a guest upon his host and he does him no favor in it because its reward is with Allah. The host should adopt a humble and pride-free attitude towards his guest and do not reveal his unpleasantness and boredom in any case till the time of his departure. If he does so, all his pains and efforts in his hospitality will go in vain.

But today, with the decline in the moral values, hospitality is fast vanishing and is its lowest ebb. Earlier, people used to consider the arrival of a guest as his good luck and take care of his needs and requirements by all means in their power. But, today it adds to the uneasiness and unpleasantness of the people belonging to the elite modern society who consider the money and time spent in the entertainment of guest as wasteful and profitless. As a result, hospitality, for which the Muslim Ummah is famous, is fast disappearing. Good conduct and moral values have lost their importance and instead materialism has gained much weight in their eyes thereby converting them in to mere money hoarding machines with no humane feeling of affection, concern and care for their fellow beings. The Muslims should have perfect faith in Allah and His verdicts and consider all His commandments beneficial to the mankind. They should not behave like the hypocrites and leave the rest which does not comply with their wishes. Only then they can hope to attain peace in the world.

The Phoenicians were famous in antiquity for her artwork in more jewelry as well as ivory, glass, clay, wood, stone, and weaving. Skilled seafarers and traders, the Phoenicians managed to "borrow" the art and cooking processes of many people with whom they had contact in their trade routes.

Craftsmen Phoenicians were concerned more with the visual part than stylistic. The art produced was not only commercial purposes, but also religious and, in addition to visual impact, sought to convey ideas and concepts.

Most objects Phoenicians who came to our days, as well as other civilizations have disappeared, archaeological sites belonging to a funerary context, as tombs, temples and cemeteries. In the ancient Phoenician tombs ever discovered were found in gold jewelry, silver and gems, scarabs and other symbolic or religious objects made of glass or clay bowls, metal (gold, silver and bronze) and also in terra-cotta, beautiful boxes decorated in ivory, cosmetics and other items that denote social status of the occupant of the tomb. A huge amount of these objects have small size. Objects decorated wooden or woven items are very rare in archaeological sites Phoenicians, being, however documented in many writings that were discovered, they were about trade between Phoenician traders and other people.

The trade was the major factor expansion of Phoenician art. Around 1000 BC, Phoenician goods could be found in various and distant parts of the Mediterranean Sea and influenced cultures like the Greek, Etruscan, the Assyrian people and those from North Africa and the Iberian Peninsula.

Few archaeological sites of ancient Phoenician (now part of Lebanon) have been properly excavated, such as Sarafand. The most significant archaeological finds came from Phoenician colonies or trading posts located in Spain, Sardinia, Sicily and Tunisia. Most of these objects date between II and VII centuries BC, but were also found parts located between the ninth and VIII AC.

The Phoenician art was conservative by nature. Thus, designs and motifs were repeated for centuries. It can be assumed that eclecticism is the very hallmark of Phoenician art, as agreed, so unusual, various decorative patterns and designs from different cultures, without regard to religious symbols, for example.

Craftsmen Phoenicians used with skill elements Egyptians, Greeks, Assyrians and others in their artistic designs, colors and designs chosen for the combination of styles and decorative motifs. Sometimes simply copied styles from other cultures without changing them, which in some archaeological finds was hard to recognize what was authentic in a particular culture that was "backed" Phoenician.

French queen of Italian origin, Catherine was born in Florence on April 13, 1519, daughter of Lorenzo de 'Medici, Duke of Urbino and Madeleine de France La Tour D'Auvergne. Following an agreement between Pope Clement VII and King Francis I of France, married 14 years to Henry, second son of the French king. During the first years of marriage has been neglected, being the daughter of a "family of Italian merchants and for failing to conceive, but had a total of 10 children with her husband, who took the throne of France as Henry II.

Caught throughout their married life a silent struggle with her husband's mistress, Diane de Poitiers. With the death of Henry II and his eldest son, Francis II, Catherine Diana finally got that returned the crown jewels, with which it had been presented by her lover (which, for this was named the "Keeper of the Crown Jewels of France" ), to withdraw from the Court and replace the beautiful castle of Chenonceau by much less beautiful castle of Chaumont-sur-Loire. With the rise to the French throne son Charles XI, even minor, in 1560, Catherine became regent of France.

He tried to contain the religious conflicts that divided France, trying to remain impartial to the Protestants (Huguenots), led by Admiral Gaspar de Coligny, and the Catholics, led by the powerful Guise. The civil war in France ended with the violent St. Bartholomew on August 24, 1572, when Coligny was performed and the Guise of troops killed 300 thousand Huguenots.

During the time he spent in power (until 1574), and even before, was a passionate patron of the arts and among its main achievements include the expansion of the Louvre palace, then residence of French kings, the construction of the palace and the Tuileries increase the library collection in Paris. Catherine died at Blois on January 5, 1589.

The jewelry, the dress and the accessories they use this painting Catarina (author unknown) are very representative of the French Renaissance: the black velvet dress queen is entirely covered with a trellis made of embroidered pearls, sapphires and diamonds containing framed in gold at each intersection and the spaces being filled by a drawing done in gold thread. The top of the dress, corseted, contains a low-cut half moon covered on both sides by a thin gauze edge of pearls and sapphires. The turtleneck dress in gauze is also adorned with embroidery on the edges and let the shows only the front of the neck. A large brooch in gold, diamonds, sapphires and pearls adorning the top of the dress, and it hangs a string of pearls, diamonds and sapphires. In the neck the Queen wearing a necklace with the same gems that decorate their clothes: pearls, diamonds and sapphires. Earrings of pearls and diamonds adorn her ears.

The sleeves of her dress, half of the arm to the middle of the forearm are covered with ermine. The sleeves that cover the arms to the hands give the impression that part of the clothing worn underneath the black dress, but they are false, as indeed are tailored to the ermine. The same color and fabric, silk rose - clear, are decorated using the same design pattern of the dress, but they are also edge with silver wires that form a second pattern of design and feature buttons, gold and diamond set in white satin stands of the sleeves. The skirt clothing less follows the same pattern design of the sleeves false.

The waist of the French queen is adorned with a belt made of long strands of pearls, sapphires and gold and the tip of which hangs a cross made of gold and decorated with diamonds, sapphires and pearls. The headdress, known as "French hood", is decorated with the same gems that adorn the robes of the Queen and embroidered with gold and silver.

Natural mined diamonds have been under a lot of heat lately. The award-winning journalist Cecil Adams sums it up best in a recent article: the? Diamonds are a scam, pure and simple? Most people in the new millennium understand that between the diamond cartel DeBeers, the introduction of child labor in the diamond processing operations in the third world, and diamonds? Blood? Used to finance oppression and genocide in Africa's third world, not to mention your local jeweler snooty and pretentious, diamonds are just not worth the hassle, guilt, and let's not forget thousands and thousands of dollars questionably spent.

Lately, new synthetic diamonds came on the market that have all the beauty of the look, appeal, and shine of natural diamonds, but without the baggage, and at a fraction of the cost.

Since moissanite burst upon the scene in the late 90s, has created quite a stir. Moissanite is silicon carbide of gem-quality. The production of moissanite is a proprietary process and is available only from C3 Inc, a division of Cree Research.

When moissanite was first introduced to the market created much publicity. This was due to the fact that moissanite often fool a jeweler into thinking it was a natural diamond. the 20/20 TV news shows and made the new segments featuring hidden cameras showing jewelers fooled and embarrassed by moissanite. What was really happening though was not quite so simple.

Jewelers usually rely on something called "thermal-probe? to detect a fake diamond. The thermal probes work well with cubic zirconia, for example. Moissanite, however, has a thermal conductivity that is very close to the diamond. Could fool probes thermal older. The fact of the matter is though, moissanite really just does not look that good as the diamond. The two substances have radically different optical properties. These differences are clearly visible to the naked eye. It was obvious in the new segment on 20/20 that jewelers were clearly confused. They kept looking at the stone and then testing in and saying things like? Well, I guess it must be real? What were they really are? Well, I guess it must be real, but it sure is a weird looking diamond?

Problems with Moissanite as a stimulant diamond

Unlike natural diamonds, or some of the synthetic diamonds of better quality like those available from diamond, moissanite have a optical quality known as the "hexagonal polytypic.? What this means is that moissanite is doubly-doubly-refractive. And because of this creates a strong visual effect known as "birefringence.? This is visually seen as bending the facets of the stone back that creates a? Drunk-vision checked?

Dispersion

Moissanite has a dispersive power nearly 2.5 times greater than that of diamond. This creates what is known as a "hard-ball? effect. Some think that this fire is extra nice, others think they look cheap and fake.

Color

It is impossible to produce a pure white moissanite. The stones have a quality known as the "fluorescence? this causes them to appear slightly green or gray. This effect is a natural light than much bigger. In the jewelry store a moissanite dealer will always show the stones under a pink tinged light pink, as this tends to cancel out the fluorescence. Many people said they loved their moissanite ring until they got it in the sunlight.

Cost

Due to its manufacturing process relatively extensive and the fact that it is only available from one source, moissanite tends to be (though still cheap compared to diamonds) quite expensive stones moissanite good quality run around $ 520 per caret .

Best Alternative Synthetic Diamond

The last two years there have been almost miraculous breakthroughs in the science of creating synthetic diamond. There are several new processes that create gemstones that are virtually indistinguishable from natural diamonds. One of the best I have found are the gemstones available. I recently did independent research for several synthetic diamond companies and found their products to be among the best.

Cut glass gemstones are the factors of brilliance, dispersion and the radiance that is very close to the diamond mines, and best of all, because they are new on the market of E. U., are priced at a incredible $ 79 per caret. This is a business that probably will not last.