Today is Monday; 27th of the Iranian month of Esfand 1397 solar hijri; corresponding to 11th of the Islamic month of Rajab 1440 lunar hijri; and March 18, 2019, of the Christian Gregorian Calendar.

1169 lunar years ago, on this day in 271 AH, the lexicographer, and exegete of Holy Qur’an, Mohammad Ibn Qassim al-Anbari was born in Baghdad. He had a powerful and photographic memory and was very modest in teaching. In his book "al-Musahef" he has mentioned the "tawatur" (continuously unbroken chain of narration) of the famous "Hadith Thaqalayn" in which Prophet Mohammad (SAWA) has explicitly stated: "I am leaving behind among you Two Weighty Things; the Book of Allah (Qur'an) and my progeny, the Ahl al-Bayt. Hold fast to them and you will never go astray, for the two never part with each other even when they return to me at the Fountain (of Kowsar in the Hereafter)." Among his other works, mention can be made of “Adaab al-Kateb”. He passed away in 328 AH.

944 solar years ago, on this day in 1075 AD, Iranian Sunni Muslim exegete of the holy Qur'an, narrator of hadith, and linguist, Abu'l-Qasim Mohammad Ibn Omar Zamakhshari, was born in the village of Zamakhshar in the ancient Iranian land of Khwarezm in Central Asia. He studied in Samarqand and Bukhara. He later lived in Baghdad for some years. He followed the Mu'tazali’ite doctrine and was known as “Jarallah” (Neighbour of God), since he stayed for several years in the city of Mecca, spending his time at the holy Ka'ba, the symbolic House of God Almighty. He wrote both in Persian and Arabic, and is best known for “al-Kashshaaf”, a commentary on the holy Qur'an, which is famous for its deep linguistic analysis of the ayahs. Another of his famous books is “Rabi al-Abraar”, a voluminous reference work in which he has exposed the dubious parentage of Mu’awiya ibn Abu Sufyan. He has recorded many of the God-given merits of the Ahl al-Bayt of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA) and their superiority over all Muslims. Zamakhshari died at the age of 72 in the city of Gurganj in the ancient Iranian land of Khwarezm, which today is divided between the Central Asian republics of Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan.

951 solar years ago, on this day in 1068 AD, a devastating earthquake struck the Levant and parts of Arabia, leaving up to 20,000 dead, and many more injured.

869 lunar years ago, on this day in 571 AH, the prominent historian and hadith scholar, Hafez Ali ibn al-Hassan ibn Hebatollah, known popularly as Ibn Asaker, was born in Damascus. After mastering Islamic sciences in his hometown, he travelled widely to acquire further knowledge and benefitted from the scientific centers of the cities of Baghdad, Kufa, Mosul, Naishapour, Marv, Isfahan, and Hamedan. He has left behind 134 books, among which mention can be made of the voluminous “Tarikh Madinat ad-Dameshq”. He was follower of the Shafei school of Sunni jurisprudence, and has mentioned at least 400 ayahs of the holy Qur’an revealed by God on the unrivalled merits of the Commander of the Faithful, Imam Ali ibn Abi Taleb (AS).

852 solar years ago, on this day in 1167 AD, the Battle of al-Babein took place during the double invasion of Fatemid Egypt by Crusaders and the Turkic rulers of Syria, ending in a tactical draw between the two. King Amalric I of the usurper Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem was met by an army sent by Noor od-Din Zengi under command of his Kurdish general, Shirkuh, whose nephew, Salah od-Din Ayyoubi (Saladin), served as his uncle’s highest-ranking officer in the battle. The two opposing armies were in Egypt because of conspiracy by Vizier Shawar, who solicited the support of Noor od-Din’s generals to gain control of the state. Shawar turned to Shirkuh for assistance. After Shawar found out Shirkuh’s price for fighting for him was higher than he was willing to pay, he turned to Amalric. Shirkuh was almost ready to establish territory of his own in Egypt when Amalric I invaded. After several months of campaigning, Shrikuh was forced to withdraw. The fate of Fatemid Egypt was, however, sealed. In the next couple of years, Salah od-Din, who schemed to become the vizier of the Fatemid caliph, backstabbed his master to seize power, overthrow the Fatemid Dynasty, burn the libraries and persecute Shi’ite Muslims.

778 solar years ago, on this day in 1241 AD, Mongols overwhelmed Polish armies in Krakow in the Battle of Chmielnik and sacked the city. The Mongols, led by Baidar, the son of Chaghtai and grandson of the fearsome Chengiz Khan, had invaded Poland in early 1240 as well and defeated the Poles in the Battle of Tursko. With the defeat of the Polish army, panic spread throughout Europe, but the Mongols did not advance.

509 solar years ago, on this day in 1510 AD, the region called Columbia in South America was seized by the Spanish invaders, who till the 18^th century plundered this land and enslaved its people. In the early 19^th century with the weakening of Spain as a result of Napoleonic wars, the Columbian people led by the famous South American freedom fighter, Simon Bolivar, ended Spanish colonial rule and established an independent republic.

375 solar years ago, on this day in 1644 AD, the third and last Anglo-Powhatan War began in Virginia in what is now the US as part of British encroachment on the territories of the Amerindians. The 2-year war ended with the capture and treacherous killing of Opechancanough by the white men. The first war had lasted from 1610 to 1614, while the second war lasted from 1622 to 1626.

204 solar years ago, on this day in 1815 AD, with the merger of Geneva canton, Switzerland took its current shape and form. Switzerland consists of 25 cantons administered in the form of a confederation. The Paris Conference, after the defeat of Napoleon, ruled that Switzerland should be neutral and not join any alliance, a status maintained till this day. Located in Central Europe it covers an area of 41,000 sq km.

161 solar years ago, on this day in 1858 AD, German inventor, Rudolf Diesel, was born. He conducted research on the driving force of engines and in 1893 managed to invent a device without electricity that uses the heat of compression to initiate ignition to burn the fuel, which is then injected into the combustion chamber. This is in contrast to spark-ignition engines such as a petrol engine, which uses a spark plug to ignite an air-fuel mixture. The diesel engine has the highest thermal efficiency of any regular internal or external combustion engine due to its very high compression ratio.

97 solar years ago, on this day in 1922 AD, leader of India’s independence movement, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, was arrested and sentenced to 6-year imprisonment by the British. He was, however, released after two years. By launching the non-violent movement, which he said, he learned after studying the exemplary life of the Martyr of Karbala, Imam Husain (AS), the grandson of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA), he succeeded in gaining independence for India.

79 solar years ago, on this day in 1940 AD, during the initial years of World War 2, Germany’s Adolf Hitler and Italy’s Benito Mussolini met at the Brenner Pass in the Alps and agreed to form an alliance of Axis powers against France and Britain.

57 solar years ago, on this day in 1962 AD, struggles of the Algerian Muslim people for independence from France bore fruit after eight years of intense fighting that saw one million people killed by the French occupiers. Based on an agreement reached at the Evian-les-Bains Conference, France recognized Algeria’s independence and withdrew its forces. Nonetheless, the terrorist operations of French secret army continued in Algeria for a while.

54 solar years ago, on this day in 1965 AD, the first spacewalk was achieved when Soviet Cosmonaut Aleksey Leonov performed an Extra Vehicular Activity on exiting the Voskhod 2 spacecraft in orbit. The ability to work outside a space capsule was an important step. The walk was not without problems. After ten minutes Leonov's space suit became over-pressured and basically became a non-functioning balloon. He had to greatly reduce pressure in the suit before he could re-enter the capsule.

54 solar years ago, on this day in 1965 AD, Farouq, the last king of the Khedive Dynasty of Egypt, died in exile in Rome, Italy, at the age of 45 years, 13 years after his overthrow in the military coup carried out by General Mohammad Najib and Colonel Jamal Abdun-Nasser. Crowned king of Egypt and Sudan in 1936 on the death of his father, King Fouad 1, the 16-year old, who on his coronation made a public radio address to the nation – the first time by an Egyptian king – gave himself up to a life of pleasure and luxury. Despite owning thousands of acres of land, dozens of palaces and hundreds of cars, he often travelled to Europe for grand shopping sprees, earning the ire of his subjects. A glutton to the very core, he used to eat 600 oysters a week, and he died in the “Ile de France Restaurant in Rome”, collapsing at the dinner table following a characteristically heavy meal, although some claim he was poisoned by Egyptian Intelligence. Farouq was condemned for his corrupt and ineffectual governance, the continued British occupation of Egypt, and the Egyptian army's failure in the 1948 war on the illegitimate birth of the Zionist entity, Israel. On 23 July 1952, the Free Officers staged a military coup and forced him to abdicate. His baby son, Ahmad Fouad, was proclaimed king, but power was in the hands of Najib and Nasser, who within a year on 18 June 1953, formally abolished the monarchy, ending 150 years of the dynasty founded by the Ottoman Empire’s Albanian governor Mohammad Ali Pasha. One of Farouq’s sisters, Princess Fawzia was the first wife and queen-consort of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the British-installed king of Iran, who after nine years of marriage divorced her in 1948.

23 solar years ago, on this day in 1996 AD, Ayatollah Abu’l-Qasim Rahmani Khalili, passed away at the age of 72. Born in a village near Behshahr, Mazandaran, he completed his studies at the famous seminary of holy Najaf, where he stayed for thirteen years. On return to Iran, he taught and preached for ten years in Behshahr, where he built a mosque, a seminary and a hussainiyah. He then moved to Tehran and for fourteen years taught Islamic courses, before shifting to holy Qom, where he spent the rest of his life, teaching higher Islamic sciences. He wrote many books, including an exegesis of Surah al-Hamd –opening surah of the holy Qur’an.

17 solar years ago, on this day in 2002 AD, Ayatollah Mohammad Mozaffari Qazvini passed away at the age of 76. Born in Qazvin, he was a product of the seminaries of holy Qom and holy Najaf. On his return to Iran he took up residence in his hometown, teaching students and writing books for the next 28 years of his remaining life. Among his works is “Islam and the Medical System”.

8 solar years ago, on this day in 2011 AD, the Islamic Republic of Iran sent into orbit the country’s first space capsule that is able to sustain life, as a test for a future mission that may carry a live animal. Two years later in 2013, Iran sent its first monkey into space, which came back alive.

7 solar years ago, on this day in 2012 AD, Pakistani academic, social worker and religious vocalist, Seyyed Sibt-e Ja’far Zaidi, was martyred at the age of 55 by sectarian terrorists in Karachi. Gifted with a commanding voice, he was a master reciter of elegies for the martyrs of Karbala and has trained a large number of students in the art of Sooz-Khani.

AS/SS