Today is Wednesday; 22nd of the Iranian month of Esfand 1397 solar hijri; corresponding to 6th of the Islamic month of Rajab 1440 lunar hijri; and March 13, 2019, of the Christian Gregorian Calendar.

1395 solar years ago, on this day in 624 AD, the pagan Arabs of Mecca lost the Battle of Badr, which they had imposed as the first armed encounter upon Prophet Mohammad (SAWA). With God’s help the poorly armed Muslim defenders, numbering only 313, emerged victorious against the more than a thousand fully armed Arab aggressors. The hero of the battle was the Prophet’s dearest first cousin, Imam Ali ibn Abi Taleb (AS), who subsequently became his son-in-law, and was later proclaimed by him as vicegerent on the express commandment of God Almighty at the historic gathering of Ghadeer-Khom.

957 lunar years ago, on this day in 483 AH, the strategically located castle of Alamut near Qazvin in Iran was taken over without bloodshed (perhaps bought) by the Ismaili Nizari missionary, Hassan Sabbah, two years after he had identified it and infiltrated it through the growing number of converts to his creed. The almost inaccessible fort stood guard over a valley that was about fifty kilometers long and five kilometers wide. For the next 35 years until his death in 518 AH, the fort served as headquarters for spread of Ismaili teachings in the Seljuqid Empire from Iran till Syria by Hassan Sabbah, who was born in Qom and after coming under the influence of missionaries of the Fatemid caliphate of Egypt – sent by Caliph al-Mustansir’s Chief Missionary [Bab al-Abwab], the Iranian Hibatullah Mu'ayyad fi'd-Din Shirazi – had travelled to Cairo, where he stayed for three years to become a full-fledged missionary. Hassan Sabbah had to return to Iran after being imprisoned and expelled for supporting Nizar, the elder son of Mustansir, as the next Imam rather than Ahmad Musta’l the younger son – resulting in the split of the Ismaili creed into Nizari and Musta’li sects. Several years later, following Nizar’s death in prison, his son Hadi came to Alamut and was recognized by Hassan Sabbah as the 20^th Ismaili Imam (dynastic rule that ended in 654 AH when the fortress fell to the Mongol invader Hulagu Khan). In a major departure from tradition, Hassan Sabbah declared Persian to be the language of holy literature for Nizaris, a decision that resulted in all the Nizari Ismaili literature from Iran, Syria, Afghanistan and Central Asia to be transcribed in Persian for several centuries. From this point on, his community and its branches spread throughout Iran and Syria and came to be called Hashshashin or Assassins. The present self-styled Imam of the Nizaris (known as Khojas), is the Europe-based Karim Agha Khan.

924 lunar years ago, on this day in 516 AH, the famous Arabic literary figure, Mohammad al-Qasim ibn Ali al-Hariri, passed away. Born in Basra in Iraq, which was then part of the Iran-based Seljuqid Empire, he is best known for writing “Maqamat al-Hariri” (Assemblies of al-Hariri), consisting of 50 anecdotes written in stylized prose, which was once memorized by heart by scholars. He wrote this masterpiece of Arabic literature for Amid od-Dowla, who although a Shi’a Muslim, served for a time as Abbasid vizier and was son-in-law of the celebrated Iranian statesman and Seljuqid prime minister, Khwaja Nezam ol-Molk Tousi.

658 lunar years ago, on this day in 782 AH, al-Ashraf Sayf od-Din Qaytbay assumed power in Cairo as the eighteenth Borji Mamluk Sultan of Egypt and Syria. A Circassian by birth from the Caucasus, he was purchased by the 9th Borji ruler Sultan Barsbay (also a freed Circassian slave), before being manumitted by the 11^th ruler, Sultan Jaqmaq, who appointed him executive secretary. Under the Sultans, Inal, Khushqadam, and Yilbay, he was promoted through the Mamluk military hierarchy, eventually becoming commander of a thousand troops. Under Sultan Timurbugha, he was appointed “Atabak”, or field marshal of the entire army. When Timurbugha was dethroned in a palace coup, the Mamluk council chose Qaitbay as Sultan. During his 29-year rule, he stabilized the Mamluk state and economy, consolidated the northern boundaries of the Sultanate on the Syrian-Anatolian border with the rising Ottoman Empire, engaged in trade with other contemporaneous polities, and emerged as a great patron of art and architecture. In fact, although he fought sixteen military campaigns, he is best remembered for his charity and the spectacular building projects that he sponsored in the holy cities of Mecca, Medina, and Bayt al-Moqaddas, as well as Damascus, Aleppo, Alexandria, and throughout Cairo. During his Hajj pilgrimage, appalled by the pecuniary condition of the people of the two holy cities, Qaytbay initiated public welfare schemes, in addition to carrying out extensive renovation projects, including the rebuilding of Holy Shrine and Mosque of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA). 

The position of Mamluk in Islam should not be confused with the oppressed state of slaves and bonded labour in the Christian West or other non-Muslim cultures. According to the dynamic laws of Islam, as was evident in the different lands the Muslims ruled and the societies they formed, purchases of human beings were made for emancipating them from oppression, and providing them education and training in various vocations. The Mamluk were viewed as adopted children, even eligible for marriage with the offspring of the person who purchased them, and this explains for their rise as governors and even kings.

572 solar years ago, on this day in 1447 AD, Shah Rukh Mirza, the ruler of Iran, Central Asia and what is now Afghanistan and parts of Pakistan and northwestern India, died during a journey to Rayy (near modern Tehran) at the age of 70 after a reign of 42 years. He was the son and successor of the fearsome Turkic conqueror, Amir Timur, and in contrast to his father, was a peace-loving ruler. His mother was a Tajik or a Persian-speaking lady. Although he lost Iraq to the Qara Quyunlu Turks, he hotly contested for control of Anatolia (modern Turkey) with the Ottomans, who were decisively crushed by his father. His capital was Herat in Khorasan – currently in Afghanistan. He was a great patron of arts and sciences, especially Persian architecture and literature, as well as works in Chaghatay and Arabic languages. Shah Rukh commissioned a number of historical and geographic works by the Iranian scholar Hafez-e Abru. Among them is “Tariḵh-e Shah Rukh” – a history of his reign that was later incorporated by its author into the larger "universal history" compilations “Majmu’a-e Ḥafeẓ-e Abru” (a universal history work) and “Majma’ at-Tawariḵh as-Solṭani” (section “Zobdat at-Tawarikh-e Baysonqori”). His wife, the highly refined Iranian lady, Gowhar Shad, funded the construction of two outstanding mosques and theological colleges in Mashhad and Herat. The Grand Gowhar-Shad-Mosque adjacent to the shrine of Imam Reza (AS) – the 8th Infallible Successor of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA) – was finished in 1418. He was succeeded in Transoxiana by his elder son, Ulugh Beg who was an accomplished astronomer and scholar, while almost all other sons had predeceased him including the famous calligrapher Baysonqor Mirza. Shah Rukh maintained diplomatic relations with the Mamluk rulers of Egypt-Syria, the Venetian Empire of the Mediterranean, China and the Muslim and Hindu rulers of the Deccan (South India). In fact, two of his ambassadors have left detailed account of their missions. The first is the detailed diary of Ghiyas od-Din Naqqash who was sent to the court of the Ming Emperor of China, and the second is the book “Matla us-Sa’dain wa Majma’ ul-Bahrain” by Abdur-Razzaq Samarqandi, the Iranian ambassador to the court of the Zamorin of Calicut (Kozikhode in Kerala), who during his 3-year stay (1442-45) in the Deccan also visited the Vijaynagar capital Hampi.

428 solar years ago, on this day in 1591 AD, Moroccan forces of the Sa’di Dynasty led by their general of Spanish origin, Judar Pasha, won Battle of Tondibi in Mali against the numerically superior forces of the Songhai Empire. In the subsequent battles the Moroccans conquered almost all major cities including Timbuktu. Founded in southern Morocco in 1509, the Sa’di Dynasty, which claimed descent from Prophet Mohammad (SAWA) through his elder grandson, Imam Hasan Mujtaba (AS), controlled all of Morocco by 1554 until its collapse in 1659. The most famous sultan was Ahmad al-Mansur (1578–1603), the builder of the famous al-Badi Palace in Marakesh. One of the most important achievements of the Sa’di Dynasty was the decisive defeat it inflicted on the Portuguese at the Battle of Qasr al-Kabir on 4 August 1578.

286 solar years ago, on this day in 1733 AD, the English chemist and physicist, Joseph Priestley, was born in the city of Fieldhead. He is supposed to be the discoverer of oxygen and nitrogen gases, and died in 1804. He is considered the first European to discover sulfur dioxide, ammonia, nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide and silicon fluoride, which had been determined centuries earlier by Muslim scientists. His political opinions and support of the French Revolution were unpopular. After his home and laboratory were set afire in 1791 in England, he sailed for the US where he spent the rest of his life.

177 solar years ago, on this day in 1842 AD, Henry Shrapnel, English soldier and inventor of the Shrapnel shell, a spherical case designed to explode in midair, spreading its content of small lead musket balls to injure and kill people over a wide area, died at the age of 81 in Southampton, Britain. On joining the army, he spent his life in service during which time he devised and refined his shell, invented a percussion lock for small arms (patented 1834) and other improvements in fuses, ammunition and small arms. He also prepared important artillery range tables and originated the brass tangent slide to improve the sighting of guns.

71 solar years ago, on this day in 1948 AD, armed Zionists of the terrorist outfit, Haganah, attacked the Palestinian village of “Husseiniyeh”, razing Muslim homes to the ground and massacring sixty Palestinian villagers. In a separate terrorist attack the same day, Zionists also blew up the homes of Palestinians in a district of Bayt al-Moqaddas, martyring and wounding several people. The carnage of Palestinian Muslims was a prelude to the illegitimate birth of Israel, following the withdrawal of British forces from Palestine, which took place two months after the massacre at Husseiniyeh Village.

39 solar years ago, on this day in 1980 AD, the Father of the Islamic Revolution, Imam Khomeini (RA), issued a decree for establishment of the Foundation of Martyrs to take care of the families of those who had achieved martyrdom in the struggle against the Shah's despotic regime. His message partly read: “We all know that the Islamic Movement and victory of Iran’s Islamic Revolution is indebted to selflessness of different strata of people. First of all, the martyrs of the Islamic Revolution, and those, who have been disabled on this righteous path should be praised. Hence, taking care of the affairs of families of martyrs and the disabled is very essential and these families should be respected in the best possible manner.”

34 solar years ago, on this day in 1985 AD, the Iranian author, translator and musician, Dr. Hussain Gol-e Golab, passed away at the age of 89. Son of the prominent Qajarid era painter and photographer, Mirza Mahdi Khan Mosawir ol-Molk, he was born in Tehran and after graduation taught natural sciences at the famous Dar al-Fonoun Academy for almost a decade. He wrote 12 books on natural sciences and became principal of the College of Literature and Sciences. He later served as Chief Editor of the newly established Farhangistan or Academy of Persian Language and Culture. Dr. Gol-e Golab also translated several works into Persian and was skilled in music, composing a number of musical notes.

AS/SS