Today is Wednesday; 29th of the Iranian month of Esfand 1397 solar hijri; corresponding to 13th of the Islamic month of Rajab 1440 lunar hijri; and March 20, 2019, of the Christian Gregorian Calendar.

As of today, the 13th of Rajab, the three day period of "Ayyam al-Beedh" or White Days, starts, with devout Muslims observing fasts and holding the ritual known as "Etekaf" in mosques to pray, contemplate and recite the holy Qur'an. Such temporary detachment from the hustle and bustle of the material world was recommended by Prophet Mohammad (blessings of God upon him and his progeny) for cleansing and polishing the soul through inculcation of spiritual values, which result in proximity to God and forgiveness of sins. These days of the lunar month are considered white because their nights are bright with the moon reaching its zenith of resplendence.

2062 solar years ago, on this day in 43 BC, Roman poet, Publius Ovidius Naso, was born in Sulmo, east of the city of Rome in Italy. Known as Ovid to English-speakers, he lived during the reign of Augustus Caesar, and was a contemporary of the older poets Virgil and Horace, with whom he is often ranked as one of the three canonical poets of Latin literature. Ovid is best known for the “Metamorphoses”, a 15-volume continuous mythological narrative written in the meter of epic, and for collections of love poetry in elegiac couplets. His poetry was much imitated during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, and greatly influenced Western art and literature. Ovid enjoyed enormous popularity during his lifetime until one of his poem offended Augustus and he was sent into exile to a remote province on the Black Sea, where he remained until his death in 18 AD.

1463 lunar years ago, on this day, 23 years before hijra, the Leader of all True Believers, Amir al-Momineen Imam Ali ibn Abi Taleb (AS) was born in Mecca inside the holy Ka'ba, following his monotheist mother Fatema bint Asad’s entry into it when a section of wall of the symbolic House of the One and Only God, the Unseen but Omnipresent, miraculously parted and closed behind her. As the cousin, ward, son-in-law, and vicegerent of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA), the Imam needs no introduction. To his valour and wisdom, Islam will always remain indebted. We congratulate the auspicious birthday of the Model of Magnanimity, the Paragon of Patience, the Paradigm of Piety, the Epitome of Eloquence, and the Supreme Symbol of Social Justice, who reposes in eternal peace in the golden-domed shrine in Najaf, Iraq, where for over a thousand years, seekers of knowledge from all over the world, have humbly sought guidance for true faith from the person whom the Prophet had hailed as Gateway of the City of Knowledge.

1177 solar years ago, on this day in 842 AD, Alfonso II, King of Asturias in northwestern Spain, died, after a reign of over fifty years, during which he was mostly involved in battles against Spanish Muslims, whose territories he pillaged including Islamic Lisbon – presently the capital of Portugal. His invasion and looting of Muslim lands with the help of Christian mercenaries from other parts of Europe did not go unpunished. Hisham I, of the sultanate of Cordova, launched a series of military campaigns in the eastern Pyrenees and to the north-west. His generals, Abdul-Karim and Abdul-Majid advanced deeper west into Asturias from the west and the east respectively. 

1161 lunar year ago, on this day in 279 AH, renowned Iranian Sunni Muslim hadith authority, Mohammad ibn Eisa Tirmizi, passed away. He was born and died in Bagh, near Tirmiz in Greater Khorasan (now in southern Uzbekistan near Afghan border). He travelled to Kufa, Basra and Hijaz, in pursuit of knowledge. His teachers included Mohammad Bukhari, Muslim Naishaburi and Abu Dawoud Sijistani – all three renowned Iranian Sunni Muslim compilers of hadith. Tirmizi, who became blind in the last two years of his life, is the author of "al-Jame' as-Sahih", popularly called "Sunan at-Tirmizi", one of the six canonical hadith compilations of Sunni Muslims. He has included in his compendium authentic narrations on the unrivalled merits of the Prophet’s blessed household, and has said that the term "Ahl al-Bayt" as used by God in the holy Qur'an (33:33) and by the Prophet in several hadith, is exclusive for Imam, Hazrat Fatema Zahra, Imam Hasan and Imam Husain (peace upon them), and does not include the Prophet's wives, as some allege. Tirmizi's grave is in Sherobad, 60 km north of Tirmiz, where he is popularly called Tirmiz Baba. Tirmiz is the hottest point in Uzbekistan with temperatures as high as 46 degrees centigrade, and the city traces its origin to Alexander's Greeks who called the place "thermos", meaning "hot".

668 solar years ago, on this day in 1351 AD, Sultan Mohammad Tughluq of India, died in Sindh (in present day Pakistan) on his way to Thatta, after a reign of 26 years, during which he earned the reputation of an eccentric or wise fool for his policies that saw the shifting of the capital from Delhi to Daulatabad (1,400 km away) and back, as well as the failed attempt to reform the coinage. Born in Multan to Ghiyas od-Din Tughlaq the founder of the Turkic dynasty, and his Rajput wife, he was named Jauna Khan, and was a scholar well versed in logic, philosophy, mathematics, astronomy and physical sciences. He had knowledge of medicine and was skillful in dialectics. He was also a calligrapher. He was well versed with several languages like Persian, Arabic, Turkish and Sanskrit. Ibn Battuta, the famous Moroccan traveler, visited India during his reign and was appointed Qazi of Delhi. At times he could be very cruel and flay people for the slightest faults. He dreamt of conquering Iran, Iraq, Central Asia and China, but could not even hold on to the empire he had inherited from his father. During the last years of his reign, he saw various provinces secede from the Delhi Sultanate, especially the Deccan, where his general of Iranian stock, Hassan Gangu Zafar Khan, took the title of Ala od-Din Bahman Shah and founded in 1347 the Bahmani Sultanate which lasted for 180 years, resulting in the birth of a unique Indo-Persian culture, art, architecture, and literature. It is said Mohammad Tughlaq had threatened that on his return to the capital he would punish the famous Mystic, Seyyed Nizam od-Din Auliya for criticizing his eccentric policies. The Mystic on being informed of the threat had smiled and said in Persian "Hanouz Dilli dour ast" (Delhi is still very far), and the Sultan died on his way.

648 lunar years ago, this day in 792 AH, Ottoman Sultan Murad I defeated the Serbian army led by Prince Lazar in the battle of Kosovo, also known as the Battle of Blackbird's Field, about 5 km northwest of modern-day Pristina. In this battle which brought the Balkans under Turkish control both Murad and Lazar lost their life.

404 solar years ago, on this day in 1615 AD, Dara Shukoh, the eldest son and unfortunate heir apparent of Shah Jahan the 5th Grand Mughal Emperor of the northern parts of the Subcontinent, was born in Ajmer to his beloved wife of Iranian origin Arjmand Bano Begum Mumtaz Mahal– whose tomb is the Taj Mahal, one of the 7 Wonders of the World. His name in Persian means "Possessing the Magnificence of Darius". He was 12, when his grandfather, Emperor Jahangir, died and his father succeeded as emperor. In 1642 at the age of 27, he was formally confirmed as heir and promoted to the command of 20,000-foot and 20,000 horse – a matter that made his brothers jealous and some years later led to the breakout of the War of Succession in which he was defeated and killed by his younger brother Prince Mohi od-Din (later the Emperor Aurangzeb). The scholarly Dara, who was well versed in Persian, Arabic and Sanskrit languages, was a follower of the Iranian mystic Sarmad Kashani. He completed the translation of 50 Upanishads from its original Sanskrit into Persian in 1657 and named it “Sirr-e-Akbar” (The Great Mystery). His most famous work is the “Majma’ al-Bahrain” (The Confluence of the Two Seas) – a philosophical work in verse which has been published in Iran. The other books written by him in Persian are “Safinat al-Awliya”, “Sakinat ul-Awliya” and his divan titled “Iksir-e Azam”.

225 solar years ago, on this day in 1794 AD, the 44-year rule of the Zand Dynasty ended in Iran with the defeat, capture, and later tortuous killing of the extremely handsome and gallant ruler, Lotf Ali Khan, who in a recent battle with his mortal enemy, Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar, had almost won the fray and put his opponents to flight, but for a tactical error that proved costly. Founded by Karim Khan, a general of Nader Shah Afshar, the dynasty at one time ruled almost all of Iran, along with Basra and parts of the Caucasus, except for Greater Khorasan. To legitimize his rule, Karim Khan had placed the Safavid prince, Ismail III, as a figurehead, and never took the title of Shah, contenting himself with the honourary epithet “Wakil ar-Re’aya” (Representative of the People). He based his administration on social justice, and to this day he has the reputation as one of the most able rulers in Iranian history. On his death, civil war broke out, and none of his successors were able to rule as effectively as he had – fighting each other, oblivious of the danger posed by the Qajar warlord, who after ending Lotf Ali Khan’s 5-year reign, declared himself king of the new dynasty.

204 solar years ago, on this day in 1815 AD, after escaping from Elba, Napoleon entered Paris with a regular army of 140,000 and a volunteer force of around 200,000, beginning his "Hundred Days" rule, which ended with his final defeat and exile at Waterloo.

113 lunar years ago, on this day in 1327 AH, Ayatollah Shaikh Fazollah Noori was martyred through hanging by deviationists who derailed the Constitutional Movement from its course. He refused to endorse the unnatural separation between religion and politics, and gladly courted martyrdom by branding the so-called constitutionalists in the parliament as apostates and Godless elements. Born in Mazandaran, he was a product of the seminary of holy Najaf in Iraq, where he had studied under the celebrated Ayatollah Mirza Hassan Shirazi – who had saved Iran’s economy from the British by issuing the anti-Tobacco fatwa. On returning to Iran, Fazlollah Noori involved himself in the Constitutional Movement, along with Grand Ayatollah Seyyed Abdullah Behbahani, to limit the powers of the Qajar dynasty. He believed that Iran needs an Islamic parliament based on the holy Qur’an and the Shari’ah. He staged sit-in to protest against removal of religiosity in the constitution. Fazlollah Noori played a prominent role in the victory of Constitutional movement, but on seeing its deviation he began to oppose the westernized trend. He was after a religiously legitimate constitution founded on Islamic rules and rejected imitation of European colonialism. He warned of colonial conspiracy to replace Islam with secularism and strove to prevent spread of western immorality and licentiousness in the society under name of democracy and freedom.

85 solar years ago, on this day in 1934 AD, the religious scholar, poet, journalist and political activist of the Constitutional Movement of Iran, Seyyed Ashraf od-Din Hussaini, passed away in Tehran at the age of 62. Born in Qazvin, he grew up in poverty following the early death of his father, but nonetheless went to the holy cities of Karbala for religious studies. On his return to Iran, he continued his religious studies in Tabriz. He then went to Rasht in Gilan Province, where his interaction with activists of the Constitutional Movement resulted in his publishing of the newspaper “Nasim-e Shomal”, through which his satirical poems on Iran’s political and social situation made the paper highly popular for its defence of the people’s rights. Following the fall of Tehran to the Constitutionalists in 1911, he brought out “Nasim-e Shomal” from the capital as a widely circulated paper. The paper was subjected to bouts of closure by the regime, since Seyyed Ashraf od-Din’s sharp pen used to target the enemies of Islam and the traitors serving the interests of colonialists. On the desecration and demolition of the sacred cemetery of Baqie in holy Medina, he sharply attacked the Wahhabi heretics through his paper and poems, and campaigned for rebuilding of the destroyed shines of Imam Hasan Mojtaba (AS), Imam Zain al-Abedin (AS), Imam Mohammad Baqer (AS), and Imam Ja’far Sadeq (AS) in the Baqie Cemetery. 

63 solar years ago, on this day in 1956 AD, Tunisia gained independence from French colonial rule. As of the early 10th century, Tunisia was the seat of the Fatimid caliphs, who were Ismaili Shi’ite Muslims and brought the whole of North Africa including Egypt under their control. In 1574 AD, the Ottoman Empire seized control of Tunisia. In 1705, the Cretan Muslim, Hussain ibn Ali, who was earlier appointed governor by the Ottomans, founded the Hussainid Dynasty that ruled Tunisia for the two-and-a-half centuries till 1957, even under French colonial rule that had started 1881. After independence, the anti-Islamic Habib Bourquiba, seized power and ruled Tunisia with an iron fist for almost three decades. After him, in 1987, Zain al-Abidin bin Ali started his despotic rule, until he was ousted in January 2011 in a popular uprising, which has seen the coming to power of the Islamic party, an-Nahdha, led by Rashed Ghannoushi. Tunisia covers an area of more than 163,000 sq km. it shares borders with Algeria and Libya and is situated south of the Mediterranean Sea.

35 solar years ago, on this day in 1984 AD, prominent Iranian poet, Mohammad Ali Riyazi, passed away at the age of 72. He was a devotee of the Ahl al-Bayt of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA). His excellent poems on the merits of the Infallible Imams adorn mosques, husseiniyahs, and tombs of the Prophet’s descendants, including the holy shrine of Hazrat Fatema al-Ma’souma (peace upon her) in Qom.

16 solar years ago, on this day in 2003 AD, the US and Britain attacked Iraq under the pretext of finding weapons of mass destruction, which turned out to be a great lie, as no WMD was ever discovered. World opinion and the majority of countries considered the US-British invasion as illegal and in line with the illegitimate interests of controlling oil-rich Iraq. Over a million innocent Iraqis were killed over the past 8 years, and the only positive point was the ouster, trial and execution of Saddam, the tyrannical dictator of the Ba’th minority regime.

13 solar years ago, on this day in 2006 AD, millions of pilgrims, some of them flogging themselves with chains and the rest beating their chests in grief, gathered in the holy city of Karbala, in Iraq, to commemorate the anniversary of the traditional Arba’een or 40th day of mourning after the tragic martyrdom of Imam Husain (AS), the grandson of Prophet Mohammad (blessings of God upon him and his progeny). Since then, the number of pilgrims to Karbala has greatly increased, and last year (20th Safar 1439 AH), at least 25 million mourners from all over the world had assembled at the shrine of the Chief of Martyrs.

4 solar years ago, on this day in 2015 AD, in one of the rare phenomena of nature, a Solar Eclipse, Equinox, and a Supermoon, all occurred on the same day.

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