Today is Monday; 12th of the Iranian month of Farvardin 1398 solar hijri; corresponding to 25th of the Islamic month of Rajab 1440 lunar hijri; and April 1, 2019, of the Christian Gregorian Calendar.

1492 solar years ago, on this day in 527 AD, the ailing Byzantine Emperor , Justin I, named his nephew (sister’s son), Justinian I, as co-ruler and successor to the throne. On the death of Justin in August the same year, Justinian became the sole ruler and embarked on a policy of expansionism as he strove to become the emperor of the Western Roman Empire as well, when his generals conquered North Africa, Sicily, southern Spain and most of Italy including Rome from the Ostrogoths. On his eastern borders, however, he had to conclude an ‘Eternal Peace’ in 532 with the new Iranian emperor, Khosrow I Anushirvan by paying 11,000 pounds of gold, a year after the defeat of Roman forces near Callinicum in what is now Turkey by Emperor Qobad. In 540 the ‘Eternal Peace’ was broken because of Justinian’s intrigues in Armenia which made Khosrow Anushirvan capture Beroea and then Antioch in Syria, resulting in the 22-year war that ended in 562 with conclusion of the “Fifty-Year Peace” and payment of 5,000 pounds of gold, plus 500 pounds of gold more each year to the Iranians by the Romans. Khosrow Anoushirvan’s prudent policy thus thwarted Roman designs in Syria, Anatolia, Armenia and Upper Mesopotamia, as he made sure that Rome would never be a threat to Iran by keeping close contacts with the Goths, the Huns, and the Arabs. Justinian during his long reign embellished his capital Constantinople with buildings, including a new Christian basilica – the Hagia Sophia, which is Greek for “Holy Wisdom” – as seat of the Greek Orthodox Church. He also codified the Roman law which serves as the basis of modern law in most European states.

1257 lunar years ago, on this day in 183 AH, Imam Musa al-Kazem (AS), the 7^th Infallible Heir of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA), attained martyrdom at the age of 55 in the prison of Baghdad, three days after being served poisoned dates by the jailor Sindi bin Shahak on the orders of Haroun Rashid, the 5^th self-styled caliph of the usurper Abbasid regime. His period of Imamate was 35 years, during which, as the son and successor of Imam Ja'far as-Sadeq (AS), he guided the seekers of truth in those days of Abbasid tyranny. He groomed a large number of scholars who spread the teachings of the Prophet’s Ahl al-Bayt in different lands, before passing the mantle of divinely-decreed leadership to his son and successor, Imam Reza (AS). We extend our heartfelt condolences to all listeners on this doleful day, and later in our programme will present you a special feature on the life and times of the 7^th Imam, the "Bab al-Hawa'ej" (Gateway of Needs), whose sprawling shrine in Kazemain, north of Baghdad attracts pilgrims from all over the world.

1179 lunar years ago, on this day in 261 AH, the Iranian Sunni scholar and compiler of hadith, Abul-Hussain Muslim ibn Hajjaj al-Qushayri Nayshapuri, the author of “Sahih Muslim”, passed away at the age of 55 years in his hometown Nayshapur in Khorasan, northeastern Iran. He was a student of the other famous Iranian Sunni Muslim hadith compiler, Mohammad bin Ismael Bukhari, and among his students was the third famous Iranian Sunni Muslim compiler of hadith, Mohammad bin Eisa Tirmizi. After travelling throughout Iran, the Arabian Peninsula, Egypt, Iraq and Syria, he settled down in his hometown Nayshapur where he first met Bukhari, with whom he would have a lifelong friendship. Of the thousands of hadith he has collected in his "Sahih", 2000 are common with Bukhari's "Sahih". There are many hadith in “Sahih Muslim” on the merits of the Ahl al-Bayt including the unrivalled position of Imam Ali ibn Abi Taleb (AS) compared to the companions of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA). He has mentioned that the term Ahl al-Bayt as referred to by God Almighty in ayah 33 of Surah Ahazab exclusively pertains to Imam Ali (AS), Hazrat Fatema (SA), Imam Hasan (AS) and Imam Husain (AS) and does not include the Prophet’s wives.

961 lunar years ago, on this day in 479 AH, Sultan Mo'iz od-Din Ahmad Sanjar, the last great ruler of the Iran-based Seljuq Empire that included Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan and parts of Turkey and Central Asia, was born. As son of Malik Shah I, he ruled for 36 years, initially as sultan of Khorasan until he gained the rest of the territory upon the death of his brother Mohammad I. His capital was Nayshapur, and in addition to internal revolts, he faced external invasions from beyond the River Jaxartes in Central Asia, especially from the Sultan of Kashghar in what is now China, and the Qara Khitai Turks against whom he suffered a devastating defeat near Samarqand and lost all territory east of the Jaxartes. Oghuz Turks from Khuttal and Tukharistan captured Sanjar and held him prisoner for three years. A year after release he died in the Khorasani city of Merv which is presently in Turkmenistan and was buried there.

737 solar years ago, on this day in 1282 AD, Abaqa Khan, the son and successor of Hulagu Khan, the founder of the Ilkhanid Dynasty of Iran-Iraq, died at Hamedan in a state of delirium tremens induced by a bout of heavy drinking, to which, like the majority of Mongol rulers, he was prone. The Iranian vizier, Shams od-Din Juwaini was accused of poisoning him. The historian Rasheed od-Din Fazlollah in his famous “Jawame’ at-Tarikh” says Abaqa had gone out to answer a call of nature and was disturbed by an apparition in the form of a large black bird. He called out to his attendants to shoot arrows at it, but they saw nothing, whereupon he suddenly collapsed and died. He was buried, like his father, on Shahi Island in Lake Oroumiyeh. Both his two sons, Arghun and Gaikhatu were later to ascend the throne in turn, but his immediate successor was his brother Tekuder, who had adopted Islam and assumed the name of Ahmad. Much of Abaqa’s 17-year reign was consumed with civil wars in the Mongol Empire, such as those between the Ilkhanate and the northern khanate of the Golden Horde. Abaqa also engaged in unsuccessful attempts at military invasion of Syria, including the Second Battle of Homs, where he was defeated by the Mamluks of Egypt.

610 lunar years ago, on this day in 830 AH, the famous mystic and Arabic-Persian poet, Shah Ne’matullah Vali, passed away in Mahan, Kerman, at the age of 105. He was laid to rest in the same town where a shrine built by his devotee, Ahmad Shah of the Bahmani kingdom of Iranian origin of the Deccan (southern India), stands as a site of pilgrimage. Born in Aleppo, Syria, he traced his descent from Imam Musa al-Kazem (AS), the 7^th Infallible Heir of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA). Ne’matullah travelled widely through the Muslim world, learning the philosophies of many masters. He studied the works of the great Spanish Gnostic philosopher, Sheikh Mohy od-Din Ibn Arabi. In Mecca, he met Abdullah Yafe’i and became his disciple, studying for seven years. Spiritually transformed, he was set out on a second round of travels. Ne’matullah took up temporary residence near Samarqand, along the Central Asian Silk Road, where he met the fearsome Turkic conqueror, Amir Timur, but in order to avoid conflict with the worldly ruler, soon left for Kerman. From here, his fame spread far and wide, throughout Iran and the Subcontinent, winning him thousands of adherents. He was invited to the Deccan by Ahmad Shah Bahmani, but citing old age, sent his grandson, who was warmly welcomed in the capital Bidar. Ne’matullah has left behind treatises and a bulky divan of Persian poetry that contains prophecies on the end of monarchy in Iran, emergence of rule of the deputy of the Imam of the Age, the eventual reappearance of the Prophet’s 12th and Last Successor, Imam Mahdi (AS), and establishment of the global government of peace, prosperity and justice. On his death, his son and spiritual successor, Shah Khalilullah shifted the headquarters of the Ne’matullahi Sufi Order from Mahan to Bidar in the Deccan, and over a century later on the rise of the Safavids in Iran, the Order openly declared adherence to the School of the Prophet’s Ahl al-Bayt. In 1194 AH, after over three-and-a-half centuries in the Deccan, during the reign of Nizam Ali Khan of the Asaf-Jahi Dynasty, the Ne’matullahi Order was relocated to Shiraz, Iran, by Reza Ali Shah Deccani in the last decade of the Zand Dynasty. Around 80 years ago, with the passing away in Mashhad of the religious scholar Shahsavar Ali Shah (lineal and spiritual heir of Shah Ne’matullah) and the subsequent Gowharshad massacre by the British agent Reza Khan Pahlavi, his son, the religious scholar Shah Abbas Mansouri, migrated to Haiderabad Deccan where he lived till the end of his life (well after the victory of the Islamic Revolution), while his brothers returned to Iran. A deviant group claiming to be the Ne’matullahi Order which colonial agents set up in Gonabad during the Pahlavi regime and which has now shifted to the US, has no connection with the teachings of Shah Ne’matullah Vali and has been denounced by his lineal and spiritual descendants.

548 lunar years ago, on this day 892 AH, Shah Ismael I, the Founder of the Safavid dynasty, was born in Ardebil, northwestern Iran. His father Haidar was head of the Safaviyya Sufi order established by his venerable ancestor Safi od-Din Ardebeli. His mother, Martha, was daughter of the Aq Qoyonlu king, Uzun Hasan by his Greek wife Theodora, known as Despina Khatoun – daughter of King John IV of Trebizond. Ismail was only one year old when his father was martyred in what is now Daghestan, and at the age of 7 he succeeded his elder brother Sultan Ali, who was also martyred. He went into hiding along with his loyal followers before emerging at the age of 12 to set up rule in Azarbaijan. Soon he was joined by thousands of devotees of the Safavid order and gradually took control of all of today's Iran, as well as Iraq, the Caucasus, parts of Anatolia, Central Asia, and western Afghanistan. During his 24-year rule, he declared as state religion the School of the Ahl al-Bayt of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA). To Shah Ismail and his successors, who ruled for 235 years, goes the credit of giving Iran its present religious, cultural, lingual and national identity and unity. Shah Ismail wielded spiritual influence outside Iran as well in Iraq, Syria, Anatolia (modern Turkey), the Caucasus, Central Asia and the Deccan Plateau of India. The Timurid prince, Babar, who later founded the Moghal Empire in northern India, regarded him as his suzerain, and so did the Deccan Sultanates of Yusuf Adel Shah of Bijapur and Sultan Qoli Qotb Shah of Golconda.

441 solar years ago, on this day in 1578 AD, the physician and father of modern physiology, William Harvey, was born in England. He improved upon the writings of Islamic scientists to determine the true nature of the circulation of the blood and of the function of the heart as a pump. He died in the year 1657.

204 solar years ago, on this day in 1815 AD, Prussian statesman and 1^st Chancellor of unified Germany, Otto von Bismarck, was born in Schonhausen, west of Berlin to a wealthy estate owner and named Otto Eduard Leopold.  Educated and trained as a lawyer, he entered politics at the age of 32, and became a skillful politician, dominating German and European affairs from the 1860s until 1898. In 1862, following his appointment by King Wilhelm I as Minister President of Prussia, he engineered a series of wars against Denmark, Austria and archenemy France that unified the German-speaking states (excluding Austria) into a powerful German Empire under Prussian leadership. With that accomplished by 1871 he skillfully used balance of power diplomacy to preserve German hegemony in Europe. He remained undisputed world champion at the game of multilateral diplomatic chess for almost twenty years. His diplomacy of realpolitik and powerful rule at home gained him the nickname of "Iron Chancellor". German unification and its rapid economic growth were indebted to his policies. 1890, Bismarck was dismissed by the German Emperor, Wilhelm II. After his dismissal he started writing his political testament, in which he highly criticized the emperor.

152 solar years ago, on this day 1867 AD, the British forced the Sultan of Johor to cede Singapore and the surrounding 62 islands, which were later permanently separated from Muslim Malaysia and declared an independent country.

95 solar years ago, on this day in 1924 AD, German Nazi leader, Adolf Hitler, was sentenced to five years in jail for his participation in the "Beer Hall Putsch" that his party had planned for seizure of political power. However, he spent only nine months in jail, during which he wrote “Mein Kampf” (My Story), and soon shot to fame, winning the elections and becoming chancellor in 1933.

83 solar years ago, on this day in 1936 AD, Pakistani physicist, chemist, and nuclear engineer, Abdul-Qadeer Khan, was born in Bhopal in undivided India. In 1952, 16-year old Abdul-Qadeer, along with his parents migrated to Pakistan and settled in Karachi, where he earned a degree in metallurgy. In 1961, he went to Germany for higher studies and in 1965 enrolled at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands, where he obtained his MS. In 1967, he joined the Catholic University of Leuven for his doctoral studies, obtaining PhD in metallurgical engineering in 1972. His doctoral thesis dealt and contained fundamental work on martensite, and its extended industrial applications to the field of morphology— a field that studies the shape, size, texture and phase distribution of physical objects. In 1972, he worked at a Dutch plant where he gained knowledge on uranium enrichment technology. On 17 Sep 1974, he offered Pakistan’s prime minister, his help to build an atomic bomb. He returned to Pakistan, was involved in the uranium enrichment project, and participated in the successful weapons-grade nuclear field tests on 28 May 1998, a week after neighbouring India detonated nuclear blasts.

74 solar years ago, on this day in 1945 AD, the US forces’ major aggression on Japan’s Okinawa Island started. This offensive which took place in the waning days of World War II, is considered as the last and largest naval and ground confrontation between the US and Japan. During this 83-day attack, 1300 US warships and almost 10,000 US warplanes were deployed. But, the Japanese strongly defended their soil, destroying 36 US warships and damaging 389 others, mainly through Kamikaze or suicide aerial attacks. The US also lost a total 763 warplanes during these battles. The Japanese paid a heavy price for defending Okinawa Island, losing to death and injury 110,000 of the 120,000 troops deployed on the island. The Japanese also lost 16 ships and 7830 warplanes. Although the US forces ultimately occupied Okinawa Island, the resistance of the Japanese prevented the Americans from invading mainland Japan. Instead, the US officials, in an inhuman act, and in order to force Japan into submission, ordered the nuclear bombardment of the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Currently the US main base in Japan is located in the Okinawa Island and the people of this Island have long demanded the closure of this US base.

73 solar years ago, on this day in 1946 AD, the Malayan Union was formed with its capital at Kuala Lumpur. The sultans of the various British-ruled Malay states agreed to its formation despite the loss of their political power. The Union ceased to exist in January, 1948 and was replaced by the Federation of Malaya, and in 1963 was joined by Sabah and Sarawak.

59 solar years ago, on this day in 1960 AD, the first weather observation satellite, Tiros I, was launched from Cape Kennedy in the US and made the first television picture from space. TIROS stands for Television Infrared Observation Satellite, and the goal was to improve satellite applications for Earth-bound decisions, such as "should we evacuate the coast because of the hurricane?" It became extremely successful for weather forecasting.

41 solar years ago, on this day in 1978 AD, the jurisprudent and exegete of the holy Qur’an, Ayatollah Mirza Abu’l-Fazl Zahedi, passed away in his hometown Qom and was laid to rest in the Shaykhaan Cemetery opposite the holy shrine of Hazrat Fatema al-Ma’soumah (SA). Born in a scholarly family, he was a student of such prominent scholars as Grand Ayatollah Sheikh Abdul-Karim Ha’eri Yazdi, Ayatollah Mirza Abu’l-Qasim Kabir-e Qomi, and Ayatollah Ali Akbar Modarres Yazdi. He was among the scholars who helped Grand Ayatollah Ha’eri Yazdi revive the Qom seminary. When Grand Ayatollah Seyyed Hussain Boroujerdi shifted to Qom, Ayatollah Abu’l-Fazl Zahedi, attended his classes and became one of his close associates. An outstanding preacher with authority on religious texts, his opinion was sought by scholars. He authored several books including “The Logic of Imam Husain (AS)” and “The Objective of Imam Husain (AS)”. Ayatollah Zahedi participated in the Iranian people’s grassroots movement against the British-installed and US-backed Pahlavi regime, and was considered by the Father of the Islamic Revolution, Imam Khomeini (RA) as “Shaikh at-Ta’efa” or “Elder of the Community”.

40 solar years ago, on this day in 1979 AD, the Iranian nation, in less than two months after the victory of Islamic Revolution, held a 2-day referendum and voted for establishment of the Islamic Republic System, with 98.2% yes votes. The 12th of Farvardin is thus marked as the Islamic Republic Day with a public holiday. Although the Iranian Muslims had on several occasions during the course of the Islamic Revolution demanded establishment of the Islamic system of government, the Father of Islamic Revolution, Imam Khomeini (RA) emphasized on holding a nationwide referendum as a mark of respect for the people's aspirations and their participation in the political, economic, cultural and all spheres of the society. In his message, on the manifestation of people's vote for the Islamic System, he said: Congratulations on the day on which, following the martyrdom of courageous youths and after numerous hardships, you defeated the enemy once again, and opted for the just, divine ruling system with your resolute votes. In the holy Islamic system, all people are considered as equals based on the principle of divine justice, under the shade of the blessings of the holy Qur'an and the Sunnah of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA).

29 solar years ago, on this day in 1990 AD, the prominent researcher and religious scholar, Professor Hussain Emadzadeh Isfahani, passed away at the age of 85. Son of Hojjat al-Islam Ahmad Emad al-Va’ezeen, he was born in Isfahan and studied at the city’s seminary, where his teachers included Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Najafabadi, Ayatollah Ali Va’ez Shirazi, Ayatollah Mohammad Kazem Kalbasi, and Ayatollah Seyyed Sadr od-Din Kohpaye. He later acquired permission to relate hadith from the leading authorities of the seminary of holy Najaf, such as Grand Ayatollah Seyyed Abu’l-Hassan Isfahani, Ayatollah Sheikh Aqa Bozorg Tehrani, and Ayatollah Mohammad Muzaffar. He taught at the universities, and as a prolific writer, contributed articles to newspapers and journals. A keen researcher, books authored by him include “Islamic World and Islam in the World”, “Translation and Exegesis of the Holy Qur’an”, “Commentary on Prophet’s Ghadeer Sermon”, “Hazrat Fatema Zahra (SA)”, “History of Ashura” and “Life of the Fourteen Infallibles”.

17 solar years ago, on this day in 1992 AD, the Serbs started the Bosnian War, as part of their genocide of Europe’s native Muslims. The almost 4-year long war saw the coldblooded massacre of Bosnian Muslims, especially in Srebrenica and Markale, while the western world and the UN turned a blind eye. Over 100,000 Muslims were slaughtered in addition to an estimated 50,000 women raped, and over 2.2 million people displaced, making it the most devastating conflict in Europe since the end of World War II. When the Bosnian defenders, with help from Muslim countries were about to turn the tide of the war against the Serb aggressors, the US intervened to stop the conflict by imposing the Dayton Accord. Till this day, mass graves are being found in various parts of Bosnia.

8 solar years ago, on this day in 2011 AD, Bahrain human rights organization and opposition groups said at least 20 people have been killed in total, since protests began February 14 and hundreds of activists have been either detained or questioned since martial law was imposed by the repressive Aal-e Khalifa minority regime on the overwhelming population of the Persian Gulf island state in mid-March.

AS/SS