Today is Thursday; 9th of the Iranian month of Ordibehesht 1395 solar hijri; corresponding to 20th of the Islamic month of Rajab 1437 lunar hijri; and April 28, 2016, of the Christian Gregorian Calendar.

1794 solar years ago, on this day in 242 AD, Ardashir I (Artaxerxes), the Founder of the Sassanid Persian Empire, died after a reign of 18 years, and was succeeded by his son, Shapur I. Son of Babak (Papak) and maternal grandson of Sassan, he was the ruler of Estakhr since 206, Darabgerd, and subsequently Pars Province since 222, as a vassal of the Parthian Emperor. He began conquering other vassals of the Parthian Empire. This expansion came to the attention of Emperor Ardavan V (Artabanus), who ordered the ruler of Khuzestan to confront him. But Ardashir emerged victorious in battle, conquered Khuzestan, and soon had Kerman under his grasp. He then invaded the province of Maishan, killing its ruler. In 224, Emperor Ardavan personally marched to Fars to defeat the rebellious Ardashir, who won the first battle, but with heavy losses on both sides. In the second battle, the Parthians suffered a greater loss and Ardashir was again deemed the victor. Their armies clashed once again in a final battle at Hormizdeghan, near the modern city of Bandar Abbas. During the battle, the Parthian army was completely defeated, and Emperor Ardavan V killed, thus bringing down the curtain on the 471-year long rule of the Parthian Empire, and starting the rule of the Sassanid Empire that would last four more centuries before the Islamic conquest. Ardashir now subjugated the remaining provinces and in 226 entered the Parthian capital Ctesiphon (Mada’en near Baghdad in Iraq), where he officially crowned himself Shahanshah (king of kings). Over the next few years, he further expanded his new empire to the east and northwest, forcing the ruler of Khorasan, to acknowledge his authority, and conquering the provinces of Sistan, Gorgan, Margiana (modern Turkmenistan), Balkh, Chorasmia (Central Asia), Mosul, and the Persian Gulf island of Bahrain. Furthermore, the kings of Kushan, Turan, Makran, Hatra and Armenia, recognized Ardashir as their overlord. In the latter years of his reign, Ardashir I engaged in a series of armed conflicts with Iran’s principal rival to the west—the Roman Empire. He defeated the Romans in several battles in what is now Turkey and Syria, forcing Emperor Alexander Severus to withdraw to Europe after unsuccessful efforts to invade Mesopotamia.

1424 lunar years ago, on this day in 13 AH, the Battle of Yarmouk broke out between the Arab army and the forces of Byzantine or the Eastern Roman Empire, ending six days later in a decisive victory for Muslims. The battle consisted of a series of seesaw engagements near Yarmouk River, along what is today the border between Syria and Jordan, south-east of the Sea of Galilee, 65 km from the Golan Heights. It is regarded as one of the most decisive battles in military history, and it marked the first great wave of Muslim conquests, ending the long sway of the then superpowers – the Romans and the Persians. In order to check the Muslim advance, Emperor Heraclius had entered into an alliance with Emperor Yazdegird III of Sassanid Iran, and sent a massive army made up of Slavs, Greeks, Franks, Georgians, Armenians and Christian Arabs. The Muslim tactic by sending a separate force to Iraq to confront the Sassanids, thwarted this alliance against Islam from taking practical shape. Thus the total defeat of the numerically superior Roman army by the lightly armed Muslims saw the fall of Damascus as well, and a year later led to the liberation of Bayt al-Moqaddas without bloodshed by the Muslims, who also rapidly took over Egypt and Libya. The emergence of Muslims on the world scene came only six years after Heraclius had succeeded in reclaiming Egypt and the Levant from the Persians, in a series of see-saw battles fought for over two decades throughout West Asia, North Africa and Eastern Europe, including Mesopotamia, the Caucasus, Anatolia, and even before the walls of Constantinople itself. The advent of Islam completely changed the world map with the entire Sassanid Empire and more than half of the whole Roman Empire disappearing forever. An important point to note is that the Commander of the Faithful, Imam Ali (AS), who led the Muslims to victory in almost all the battles imposed upon Prophet Mohammad (SAWA) by the Arab and Israelite unbelievers, did not participate in the Roman and Persian campaigns, which were led by the neo Muslim and hitherto pagan Arabs, like Khalid bin Waleed, who were subdued by his flashing scimitar, the “Dhu’l-Feqar”. Two decades later when these same arrogant victors of the wars against the Romans and the Persians, like Zubayr ibn Awam, Amr ibn Aas, Mu’awiyya ibn Abu Sufyan and others, tried to stir up sedition amongst Muslims in Iraq and Syria (the former Sassanid and Byzantine heartlands), Imam Ali (AS) personally assumed command and once again unsheathed the “Dhu’l-Feqar” to decisively defeat them. For instance, Amr ibn Aas, who used to boast of conquering Egypt, ignominiously denuded himself in Siffeen while fleeing, in order to escape certain death at the hands of the Prophet’s righteous heir.

1387 lunar years ago, on this day around 50 AH, Hazrat Sakina (SA), the second daughter of Imam Husain (AS) – the younger grandson and 3rd Infallible Heir of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA) – was born in Medina. Her mother was Rabab, the daughter of Imru al-Qays, who was the chief of the clan of Bakr bin Wa’el. She was present in Karbala during the tragedy that befell the Prophet's Household, resulting in the martyrdom of her father, her brothers, cousins, and her uncles, including the valiant standard-bearer, Hazrat Abbas (AS), to whom she was deeply attached. In the aftermath of the tragedy, Sakina (SA), along with other members of the Ahl al-Bayt, including her two sisters – Hazrat Fatema (SA) and the 4-year-old Hazrat Ruqayya (SA) who attained martyrdom in Damascus – had to suffer imprisonment for a while. Upon return to Medina, she devoted her life to prayer, fasting and worship of God, refusing to marry anyone, saying that no one was worthy of her hand. She was an authority on hadith and the holy Qur’an. She passed away in 117 AH during the imamate of Imam Ja’far Sadeq (AS) and was laid to rest in the Baqie Cemetery.

824 solar years ago, on this day in1192 AD, Conrad of Montferrat (Conrad I), the self-styled king of the Latin Kingdom Jerusalem that had ceased to exist in 1187, was executed in Tyre, southern Lebanon, by the Ismaili Muslim Hashshashin (corrupted to Assassin in English), possibly on the orders of King Richard of England, who was his bitter enemy. Born in the northern Italian town of Montferrat near Piedmont, he was one of the main participants of the Third Crusade launched by European Christians on Palestine and Syria in a vain bid to retake the recently liberated city of Bait ol-Moqaddas. An opportunist without any principles, he made enemies both amongst his fellow Europeans and the Muslim defenders. He claimed title to the Kingdom of Jerusalem by marriage to Isabela. The contemporary Muslim historian Ibn al-Athir calls him “devil incarnate”, and on the news of his death wrote: “The ruler of Tyre, and the greatest devil of all the Franks, Conrad of Montferrat – God damn him – was killed.”

781 lunar years ago, on this day in 656 AH, the renowned Mu’tazalite Sunni scholar, Izz od-Din Abdul-Hamid ibn Hibbatollah, known as Ibn Abi’l-Hadeed, passed away at the age of 70. Captured by the Mongols during the offensive on Baghdad, he was released upon the mediation by prominent figures. His most important book is a voluminous commentary on the “Nahj al-Balaghah”, the collection of the eloquent sermons, letters and maxims of Imam Ali ibn Abi Taleb (AS), the First Infallible Successor of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA). His famous remarks on the Commander of the Faithful read: “The world cannot quote an example other than that of (Imam) Ali of a first class warrior and a marshal who is also a philosopher, a moralist and a great teacher of religious principles and theology. A study of his life shows that his sword was the only help that Islam received during its early days of struggle in its wars of self-defence. For Islam he was the first and the last line of defence… The other facet of his character is reflected in his sermons, orders, letters and sayings. What high values of morality they teach, what ethics’ they preach, what intricate problems of Unitarianism they elucidate, how rich they are in philosophy; how they imbibe the spirit of righteousness and teach rulers to become kind, good, benevolent and God-fearing rulers, and subjects to be faithful, sincere and law abiding, how they persuade men to be warriors who can fight only for God, truth and justice, and not mercenaries murdering and plundering for wealth and riches; and how they instruct teachers to teach nothing injurious and harmful to mankind. These are but indisputable proofs of his greatness and spiritual superiority. Has history ever produced a more splendid personality incorporating such variegated characteristics of mind and heart?”

280 solar years ago, on this day in 1726 AD, English merchant and politician, Thomas Pitt, died at the age of 73. In 1674, he went with the East India Company to India, where he soon began trading for himself as an 'interloper' and earned a fortune that later gained him a seat in the House of Commons and subsequently earldom for his descendants. In 1698, as governor of the British possession of Madras, he proved a skillful politician, and in view of his familiarity with Persian language, negotiated with Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb for ending hostilities. In 1701, he purchased a 410 carat (82 g) uncut diamond from an Indian merchant, who had bought it from an English sea captain, who had in fact stolen it from a servant of Abu'l-Hassan Qotb Shah, the last king of the Persianate Qotb-Shahi Dynasty of Golkandah-Haiderabad of Iranian origin, whom Aurangzeb had defeated and imprisoned in 1687. Pitt sent the diamond to London in 1702 and the jeweller Harris laboured in London to hew a 141 carat (28.2 g) cushion brilliant from the rough stone. Several secondary stones were produced from the cut that were sold for a handsome price to Peter the Great of Russia. In 1717, Pitt sold to the French regent, Philippe II, Duke of Orleans, for a very large sum, the brilliant diamond that became a crown jewel of France. Today, "Le Regent", as it is known, remains in the French Royal Treasury at the Louvre, where it has been on display since 1887. Thomas Pitt's elder grandson William Pitt, Earl of Chatham, called "Pitt the Elder", was twice Prime Minister of Britain, while the latter's son, William "Pitt the Younger", also went on to become Prime Minister twice.

96 solar years ago, on this day in 1920 AD, the Russian-occupied northern part of the Iranian land of Azerbaijan, including Arran, which had broken free of Moscow’s control on the collapse of Czarist rule in 1917, was seized by the communist army of the Soviet Union after heavy fighting and massacre of at least twenty thousand Azeri Muslims. Known today as the Republic of Azerbaijan, this region should have been returned to Iran, as per the terms of the Treaties of Golestan (1813) and Turkmanchai (1828). “Azar" is Old Persian for fire, while “Baijan” is the Arabic corruption of the Persian word "Payegaan" meaning guardian or land – since the letters “P” and “G” have no equivalent in Arabic they were replaced by “B” and “J”. Thus, Azerbaijan means “Land of Fire”, probably because of the oil wells around what is now Baku that at times spewed fire, as recorded by ancient texts, including the travels of Marco Polo. From pre-historic times this region has been the home of different Iranic tribes, such as the Scythians (Sakas). Azerbaijan has been an integral part of Iran before the emergence of the Median Empire followed by the Achaemenid, Parthians, and Sassanid Dynasties, after which it became part of the Islamic world. With the weakening of the Abbasid caliphate, the Arab governors of this region took the ancient title Shirvanshah, and became thoroughly Persianized in language and culture, promoting such poets, as the famous Nizami Ganjavi. Although nomadic Turkic tribes fleeing the Mongol invasion of Central Asia had settled in the pasturelands, it was only with the influx of large numbers of Turkic Shi’ite Muslims from Anatolia as supporters of the Safavid Dynasty that the Old Iranian Azari dialect of the region began to be replaced with what is now called Azeri Turkic. After the Safavids, the Afsharid, Zandi and the Qajarid dynasties of Iran held sway over this area until its seizure by the Russians in the first half of the 19th century. After the collapse of the Russian Empire during World War I, northern Azerbaijan, together with Armenia and Georgia set up the short-lived Trans-Caucasian Democratic Federative Republic. When the republic dissolved in May 1918, northern Azerbaijan declared independence as the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic. It was obvious the Soviet Union would attack this land, since Vladimir Lenin said the invasion was justified as Moscow could not survive without Baku's oil. While the Azeri army was engaged in putting down an Armenian revolt in Qarabagh, the Soviets invaded and occupied this land.

79 solar years ago, on this day in 1937 AD, Saddam, the future brutal dictator of the repressive Ba’th minority regime of Iraq, was born, of doubtful paternity, in the village of al-Owja near Tikrit. As a teenage thug he was involved in social crimes including murder. At the age of 29, he joined the Ba’th Party. After the coup staged by the Ba’thists in 1968 under command of General Ahmad Hassan al-Bakr, he was instated as deputy president. In July 1979, a few months after the triumph of the Islamic Revolution in Iran, the US and Britain replaced Bakr with Saddam, in order to use his savage nature to brutally suppress the Iraqi Muslim people from following the footsteps of Iran to determine the fate of their country. After massacring thousands of members of Iraq’s Shi’ite Arab majority, including the leading ulema such as Ayatollah Seyyed Baqer as-Sadr, and after expelling tens of thousands of Iraqis, Saddam, at the behest of his masters in the West, invaded the Islamic Republic of Iran to try to topple the government. He utterly failed and the war dragged on for eight years during which he was supplied with internationally banned chemical weapons by the West for use against both the Iranian and Iraqi peoples. Two years after the end of his 8-year war, Saddam occupied Kuwait, his own former benefactor. This led to an international coalition against him, and following the retreat of Iraqi forces from Kuwait, he was allowed by the US to again massacre Iraqi Shi’ite Muslims by hundreds of thousands, and to desecrate the holy shrines of the Imams of Prophet Mohammad’s (SAWA) Household in Karbala and Najaf. Finally, in 2003 when his own godfathers, the Americans and the British, launched an attack to remove him, he fled and hid, until he was caught and jailed. The bloodthirsty Saddam was responsible for the death of several million people, including Iraqis and Iranians. He was executed by hanging at the age of 69 for his crimes against humanity.

72 solar years ago, on this day in 1944 AD, Mohammad Alem Khan, the last ruler of the Persianized Manghit dynasty of the Emirate of Bukhara in what is now Uzbekistan, died in exile in Afghanistan. He traced his descent to the savage Mongol conqueror, Chingiz Khan, and reigned from 1911 to 30 August 1920 over an area between the Amu Darya and Syr Darya Rivers. Its core territory was the land along the lower Zarafshan River, while its urban centres were the ancient Iranian cities of Samarqand and Bukhara. Formerly part of successive Iranian empires, following the death of Nader Shah Afshar of Iran in 1747, the Manghits rebelled and replaced the Iranian governors, and in 1785 officially established the Emirate of Bukhara. In 1868, the emirate lost a war against Czarist Russia, which annexed much of the territory, including the important city of Samarqand. In 1873 the remainder of the emirate became a Russian protectorate. In 1917, with the collapse of Czarist rule, Alem Khan asserted his independence. In March 1920, the Soviet Union attacked the emirate but its communist army was defeated. In late August the same year, a well-equipped army sent from Moscow defeated Alem Khan, who sought refuge in Afghanistan. Bukhara has a rich history of Persian art, architecture and literature.

71 solar years ago, on this day in 1945 AD, Italy’s Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini and his mistress, Clara Petacci, were executed by Italian partisans as they attempted to flee the country, following the surrender of his forces to the Allied armies. He had teamed up with Germany’s Nazi dictator, Adolf Hitler, and Imperialist Japan during World War 2 to form the Axis Powers for dominating Europe, Africa, and Asia.

51 solar years ago, on this day in 1965 AD, the US administration, under the pretext of supporting its nationals, attacked the Dominican Republic, actually to quell the uprising of the people that had succeeded in overthrowing the US-backed military dictatorship. The revolutionary people, however, stood steadfast against the 40,000-strong US occupation troops and forced them to withdraw. The Dominican Republic along with Haiti shares the large Hispaniola Island in the Caribbean Sea.

49 solar years ago, on this day in 1967 AD, World Heavyweight Boxing Champion, Muhammad Ali, was illegally stripped of his title under pressure from the US government for refusing to be inducted into the army during the unjust American war in Vietnam. He openly said the Vietnamese had done nothing against him or the other American people, and Islam forbids Muslims from getting involved in unnecessary wars and bloodshed. His actions as a conscientious objector to the war made him an icon worldwide. Born into an Afro-American family and named Cassius Clay, he embraced the truth of Islam, and remains the only three-time lineal World Heavyweight Champion; he won the title in 1964, 1974, and 1978.

38 solar years ago, on this day in 1978 AD, President Mohammed Dawoud Khan of Afghanistan was found dead a day after the coup by General Abdul-Qader that overthrew his government and installed communist leader, Noor Mohammad Taraki, as the new president. A member of the ruling family, Dawoud, who had served as Prime Minister from 1953 to 1963 to his cousin, Zaher Shah, had ousted the king in 1973 to seize power as president. The cycle of violence has since continued in Afghanistan, which is presently under US occupation, after passing through the 10-year Soviet occupation (1979-to-1989), and the barbaric rule of the Taliban terrorists (from 1996-to-2001).

28 solar years ago, on this day in 1988 AD, the Wahhabi regime of Saudi Arabia, unilaterally severed diplomatic relations with the Islamic Republic of Iran following the nose-diving of ties between the two counties in the aftermath of the July 31, 1987 massacre of over 400 mostly Iranian pilgrims in the holy city of Mecca during the annual Hajj, when even the killing of an insect is religiously forbidden. For three years Iran did not send any pilgrims to the House of God until the restoration of diplomatic ties in 1991.

25 solar years ago, on this day in 1991 AD, the Iranian lecturer, researcher, and sociologist, Dr. Gholam-Hussein Seddiqi, passed away at the age of 78. He studied both at Islamic seminaries and at the Dar ul-Fonoun Academy in Tehran, before leaving for France, where he obtained PhD in Philosophy and Sociology. On returning to Iran, he started lecturing on the history of philosophy and sociology at Tehran University. He also played a pivotal role in foundation of National Works Association and The Institution for Social Studies. He was a member of UNESCO's National Commission for a while. He has left behind numerous compilations including his travel book on India.

24 solar years ago, on this day in 1992 AD, Afghan Muslim combatants, after 13 years of struggle against the Soviet army and later its client communist regime in Kabul, achieved victory by ousting General Mohammad Najibollah, who sought asylum in the UN mission on the fall of Kabul to the Mujahideen. Najib, an ethnic Pashtun, refused the offer of the Tajik-dominated government of President Burhan od-Din Rabbani and Ahmad Shah Masoud to leave the country, on the assumption that his life would be spared by fellow Pashtuns, the Taleban, who, however, stormed the UN compound, and brutally tortured him and his brother to death.

17 solar years ago, on this day in 1999 AD, the first ever session of the Islamic Urban and Rural Councils was held in Iran and the day was named “Councils’ Day” following nationwide polls to elect representatives to this body, as envisaged by Article 7 of the constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Islam calls for consultation, and in line with the dynamic teachings of Islam, Iran’s constitution guarantees people’s participation at all levels of the society, ranging from the urban and rural councils to the election of parliament members and the president. Even the Leader of the Islamic Revolution is named by the Assembly of Experts which is a body of scholars and jurisprudents, elected through the people’s direct vote, as per the unique system of popular religious rule in Iran, which is more people-oriented than the so-called democracies of the West.

AS/ME