Today is Tuesday; 7th of the Iranian month of Ordibehesht 1395 solar hijri; corresponding to 18th of the Islamic month of Rajab 1437 lunar hijri; and April 26, 2016, of the Christian Gregorian Calendar.

1895 solar years ago, on this day in 121 AD, Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius, was born. In 161 AD, he was declared emperor and commenced his 19-year rule that saw his generals emerge as victors of the 5-year long war (161-65) against the Parthian Empire of Iran in Armenia and Mesopotamia (Iraq), following initial Iranian victories in Syria and Anatolia (present day Turkey). The Roman success, however, was short-lived, and despite the sacking of the Iranian-controlled Greek city of Seleucia on the eastern banks of the Tigris and plunder of the Parthian capital, Ctesiphon, on the eastern banks of the same river, the Iranians soon remobilized and reclaimed lost ground, although Armenia was briefly lost. The Parthian Empire was at that time under the long 44-year rule of Balaash, known to the Romans as Vologases IV. Marcus Aurelius was the last of the supposedly 5 good emperors in Roman history.

1430 lunar years ago, on this day in 7 AH, Ibrahim, the infant son of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA), passed away at the age of a year and half. His mother was the virtuous Maria Qibtiyya (Mary the Copt), who was sent to the Prophet by the Byzantine governor of Egypt, Muqawqis, along with other presents, in response to the letter of invitation to Islam. The Prophet wept at his death and personally laid him in the grave in the Baqie Cemetery, addressing the dead child with tearful eyes that this is the Will of God. Earlier in his youth the Prophet had also lost to the cold hands of death his two infant sons by his first and long standing wife, the Mother of all True Believers (Omm al-Momineen), Hazrat Khadija al-Kubra (SA) – Qassim and Abdullah.

1259 solar years ago, on this day in 757 AD, Hisham I, the 2nd Omayyad emir of Muslim Spain was born to Abdur-Rahman I and his wife, Halul, a couple of years after his fugitive father, fleeing the persecution of his clan in Syria and Egypt by the Abbasids, arrived in Andalusia, and was welcomed by Syrian commanders. In 788, he became ruler, and faced with threats from France, sent his general Abdul-Malik ibn Abdul-Wahid ibn Mughith across the Pyrenees mountains to defeat Louis the Pious’ Carolingian mentor William of Orange. Despite this victory, the Muslims did not advance further into France as they had done half-a-century earlier, advancing till Poitiers before their historic defeat in 732. In 794, Ibn Mughith suppressed a Basque rebellion and soundly defeated the Christian principality of Asturias in southern France. Hisham died in 796 at the age of 40 after eight years as ruler.

1011 lunar years ago, on this day in 426 AH, the Spanish Muslim mathematician, astronomer, and physician, Asbagh ibn Mohammad Ibn Samh al-Gharnati, passed away at the age of 56. He wrote his "Kitab az-Zij" in astronomy mainly based on the Iranian Islamic scientist, Mohammad ibn Musa Kharezmi's book "Sindhind". He also wrote a treatise on the construction of the astrolabe and another on its use. He also extensively quotes in his "Kitab al‐Amal" from another Iranian Islamic astronomer, Ahmad ibn Abdullah Habash al‐Haseb al-Mervazi of Merv, Khorasan, which is evident of the profound influence of the Islamic East on Europe.

882 lunar years ago, on this day in 555 AH, Abdullah ibn Yousuf al-Azeed, the last self-styled caliph of the Fatemid Ismaili Shi'ite Muslim dynasty of Egypt, Syria and North Africa, ascended the throne in Cairo at the age of 11. He was a pawn in the hands of his powerful vizier Shawar who frequently changed alliances, ranging from the Zangids of Syria to the Crusader occupiers of Palestine that brought about the doom of the Fatemid state. His eleven-year reign ended with his dethronement by the Kurdish general, Salah od-Din Ayyoubi, whom he had appointed as vizier on the assumption of containing the power of his own courtiers. Salah od-Din, who had entered Egypt as deputy to his uncle, Shirkoh, sent by Noor od-Din Zangi of Aleppo to protect Egypt from the Crusaders, brutally persecuted Shi'ite Muslims, burned entire libraries, and forced the people to become Sunnis, thereby ending over two-and-a-half centuries of Fatemid rule. The Fatemid rulers were buried in the grand mosque of Cairo known as “al Mashhad al Husain” in honour of the Martyr of Karbala, Prophet Mohammad’s (SAWA) grandson, Imam Husain (AS).

411 solar years ago, on this day in 1605 AD, Europe’s first weekly newspaper titled “Relation aller Fürnemmen und gedenckwürdigen Historien” was published in German language by Johann Carolus in the city of Strasbourg, which is currently in France but was then part of Germany’s Holy Roman Empire. It seems the Europeans came up with the idea of a newspaper through their contacts with the Muslim World, especially the Ottoman, Safavid and Mughal Empires, in what is now Turkey, Iran and the Subcontinent, where the Waqia-Navis or Newswriter used to release weekly record of various events in the form of Waqianameh or newsletters to keep the court officials and the elite informed.

295 solar years ago, on this day in 1721 AD, a massive earthquake devastated the northwestern Iranian city of Tabriz in eastern Azarbaijan Province, killing more than 80,000 people and destroying buildings, including many historical structures. The quake was interpreted as an omen of misfortune, or a demonstration of divine wrath, resulting in economic difficulties at a time when political chaos had gripped the border areas of the Safavid Empire, with Bahrain invaded by Oman, Lizgis in revolt in the Caucasus, and Ghilzai Afghans in rebellion in Qandahar – all due to gross mismanagement from the capital Isfahan. As the Safavid Dynasty collapsed the next year after two centuries and over two decades of glorious rule, the Ottomans invaded and occupied quake devastated Tabriz, while Russia seized Daghestan and advanced into Azarbaijan.

217 lunar years ago, on this day in 1220 AH, the prominent Islamic scholar, Hojjat al-Islam Mullah Mohammad Ashrafi, was born in northern Iran. He left for the seminary of holy Najaf in Iraq for higher studies, and soon became an authority on hadith, exegesis of the holy Qur'an, and philosophy. He passed away in 1315 AH. One of his books is "Asrar ash-Shahada" (Secrets of Martyrdom).

211 solar years ago, on this day in 1805 AD, a regiment of US led a band of Greek and Arab mercenaries against forces of Tripoli to attack and occupy Derne, the capital of the North African province of Cyrenaica, during the First Barbary War which it imposed on the Ottoman lands of Libya, Tunisia, and Algeria. It was the first military expedition of the US abroad and met with mixed results as the Muslims regrouped and defeated the American fleet in the Mediterranean Sea.

116 solar years ago, on this day in 1900 AD, American seismologist, Charles Francis Richter, was born. He devised the Richter Scale that measures earthquake magnitudes which he developed with his colleague, Beno Gutenberg, in the early 1930s. The scale assigns numerical ratings to the energy released by earthquakes. Richter used a seismograph to record actual earth motion during an earthquake. That is an instrument generally consisting of a constantly unwinding roll of paper, anchored to a fixed place, and a pendulum or magnet suspended with a marking device above the roll. The scale takes into account the instrument's distance from the epicenter. Gutenberg suggested that the scale be logarithmic so, for example, a quake of magnitude 7 would be ten times stronger than a 6.

83 solar years ago, on this day in 1933 AD, the dreaded Gestapo organization was formed in Germany by Nazi Field Marshal, Hermann Goering, one of the senior aides of Adolf Hitler. The term Gestapo means state secret police. The goal was identification, detention, and execution of those who were against Nazism and Hitler. The most infamous head of Gestapo was Heinrich Himmler.

52 solar years ago, on this day in 1964 AD, with the forced union of the Muslim populated Zanzibar Island with Tanganyika on the African mainland, following the overthrow of the Sultanate of Zanzibar and Pemba, the Republic of Tanzania was formed. Earlier in 1961 and 1963, the two countries of Zanzibar and Tanganyika had respectively gained independence from British colonial rule. Julius Nyerere who engineered the overthrow and annexation of Zanzibar is called the father of Tanzania, which is a federal republic. It covers an area of almost 950,000 sq km in eastern Africa and lies on the coastlines of the Indian Ocean. It shares borders with Kenya, Kongo, Uganda, Rwanda, Brunei, Zambia, Malawi, and Mozambique. Some 50 percent of the people of Tanzania are Muslims, with many following the school of the Prophet’s Ahl al-Bayt.

31 solar years ago, on this day in 1985 AD, the UN Security Council condemned Iraq’s use of internationally banned chemical weapons against Iran during the war imposed by the US through Saddam, although it did not issue any resolution in this regard, because of pressure of western, eastern and Arab states. The condemnation was made possible in view of Iran’s sending the chemical victims to hospitals in Europe for treatment.

30 solar years ago, on this day in 1986 AD, in Pripyat in the Soviet Union on the borders of Ukraine and Belarus, one of the four reactors at the Chernobyl nuclear plant exploded in the world's worst civil nuclear catastrophe. It sent a cloud of radioactive dust over Europe. The cause was an experiment that went wrong, causing the fourth reactor to explode and melt down. Thirty-one people, mostly firemen, were killed immediately after the explosion, and several thousand more - those involved in the clean-up and children - have since died from radiation-related illnesses. Ukraine says the health of millions of its people have been affected by the disaster. The final shutdown of the undamaged last reactor on the site took place ceremoniously on 15 Dec 2000.

27 solar years ago, on this day in 1989 AD, the deadliest tornado in world history struck Central Bangladesh, killing upwards of 1,300, injuring 12,000, and leaving as many as 80,000 homeless.

20 solar years ago, on this day in 1996 AD, the 16-day aggression of the Zionist entity on southern Lebanon, codenamed Grapes of Wrath, ended. During its savage attack from land, air, and sea, Israel destroyed most of the infrastructure of Lebanon as far as Beirut, martyring 180 men, women, and children, and wounding hundreds of others. The goal was to try to demoralize people and weaken the Islamic Resistance. Israel, however, failed miserably and was forced to withdraw on the basis of UN Security Council Resolution 425. Four years later, the Zionists and their surrogate forces, the South Lebanese Army, were humiliated by the legendary anti-terrorist movement, Hezbollah, and forced to retreat from the Litani River and almost all of south Lebanon.

AS/ME