Today is Sunday; 22nd of the Iranian month of Ordibehesht 1398 solar hijri; corresponding to 6th of the Islamic month of Ramadhan 1440 lunar hijri; and May 12, 2019, of the Christian Gregorian Calendar.

1112 solar years ago, on this day in 907 AD, General Zhu Wen forced Emperor Ai into abdicating the throne, thus ending the Tang Dynasty of China after nearly three hundred years of rule. He established himself as emperor of the Later Liang Dynasty, and ushered in the era of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, since despite his conquest of much of central China, most of Shaanxi, Shanxi, and Hebei remained outside his reach.

1097 solar years ago, on this day in 922 AD, Ahmad bin Fadhlan became the first Muslim envoy to arrive in the lands of the Bulgars and the Vikings, north of the River Volga, from the Abbasid court in Baghdad. His travel account, published in several languages including the original Arabic, provides a description of the Volga Vikings, including an eye-witness account of a ship burial. The day of his arrival is an official holiday in modern republic of Tatarstan in the Russian Federation. Ibn Fadhlan also gives an excellent description of the Russian tribes, who were pagans in those days.

1016 solar years ago, on this day in 1003 AD, Gerbert d'Aurillac of France, who later became Pope Sylvester II and inspired by Latin translations of Islamic scientific works, introduced to Europe  the Arabic numerals of the famous Iranian Islamic scientist, Mohammad ibn Musa Khwarezmi, died. He extensively utilized Islamic scientific works to build for the first time in Europe clocks, the hydraulic organ, astronomical instruments, and the abacus for use in mathematical calculations. It is said that he began to lead Christian Europe out of the Dark Ages, thanks to his study of Islamic sciences.

794 lunar years ago, on this day in 546 AH, the famous Iranian physician, Afzal od-Din Tabib, passed away at the age of 56. He was from Khonj, and in addition to medicine, he was well versed in Islamic sciences, including jurisprudence, and hadith. He wrote several works, including “Kashf al-Asraar an Ghawamedh al-Afkaar”. He also wrote a commentary on “al-Qanoun fi’t-Tibb” (or Canons of Medicine) of the famous Iranian-Islamic polymath, Abu Ali ibn Sina.

774 lunar years ago, on this day in 666 AH, Muslims led by Egypt's Mamluk Turkic Sultan, Rukn od-Din Baibars al-Bunduqdari, liberated the Syrian city of Antioch, which is currently in Turkey, from the Crusaders after 170 years of European occupation. Baibars, who earlier as general, had inflicted devastating defeats on both the Crusaders and Iran-based Ilkhanid Mongols, united Egypt and Syria into a powerful state, and liberated most of areas of Syria and Palestine occupied by the European Crusaders.

509 solar years ago, on this day in 1510 AD, Zhu Zhifan, the Prince of Anhua of Shanxi, began his rebellion during the reign of his great-grand-nephew, Emperor Zhengde of the Ming Dynasty of China, by inviting to a banquet many senior officials and killing them with the intent of declaring himself emperor. On 30 May, his rebellion was put down and he was taken to Beijing where he was executed on orders of Emperor Zhengde, who had invited many Muslims from Iran and Turkestan to serve as advisors at his court. Works of art such as porcelain from his court contained Islamic inscriptions in Arabic and Persian.

377 solar years ago, on this day in 1642 AD, Iran’s 6^th Safavid Emperor, Shah Safi, died at the young age of 31 after a 13-year reign, and was succeeded by his son, Shah Abbas II. Named Sam Mirza at birth, he was the son of Mohammed Baqer Mirza, the eldest son of Shah Abbas I, and his Georgian wife, Dilaram Khanum. In 1629 he succeeded his grandfather, Shah Abbas I. An inefficient ruler, Shah Safi ruthlessly eliminated anyone he regarded as a threat to his power, and paid little attention to the affairs of government. He had no cultural or intellectual interests either, preferring to spend his time in addiction to opium. He, however, abhorred tobacco smoke like his grandfather, going as far as to have those caught smoking tobacco in public, killed. The dominant political figure of Shah Safi's reign was Saru Taqi, appointed grand vizier in 1634. Taqi was incorruptible and highly efficient in raising revenues for the state. Iran's enemies took opportunity to exploit Safi's perceived weakness. The Ottomans made incursions in the west in 1630 and 1634 (briefly occupying Revan and Tabriz) and in 1638 they seized Baghdad from Iran. In 1639, the Treaty of Zuhab ended wars between the Safavids and the Ottomans. Iran was also troubled by the Uzbeks and Turkmens in the northeast, and lost Qandahar in what is now Afghanistan to the Moghal Empire of the Subcontinent in 1638.

219 lunar years ago, on this day in 1221 AH, the Ottoman state issued a decree confirming the Albanian general, Mohammed Ali Pasha, as governor of Egypt, a few years after his successful ending of the political and administrative crisis in the Land of the Nile. Later, following the sacrilegious Wahhabi attack on the shrine of Imam Husain (AS) in Karbala, Iraq, and the desecration of the holy cities of Mecca and Medina by Godless elements from the Najd, the Ottoman Sultan tasked Mohammad Ali to end the sedition. He successfully accomplished the mission by restoring order to the Hijaz and sending his sons to pursue the Wahhabis right into their heartland Najd, where he ordered the destruction of their capital, Diriyya, and sent the Wahhabi chieftain, Abdullah ibn Saud, in chains to Istanbul for execution for his unpardonable crimes. The dynasty founded by Mohammad Ali was known as "Khedive" from the Persian word for prince or ruler and ruled Egypt for over a century and a half, till 1952.

207 solar years ago, on this day in 1812 AD, Edward Lear, English artist of nature and landscape works, who is better known as writer of limericks and nonsense poetry, was born. As a draughtsman he illustrated birds and animals, and during his journeys used to make coloured drawings, which he reworked later, sometimes as plates for his travel books. He was hired as an illustrator by the London Zoological Society, and his precise and vivid drawings of parrots were published in 1832 in the book “The Family of the Psittacidae”. As an author, he is known principally for his popular nonsense collections of poems, songs, short stories, botanical drawings, recipes, and alphabets. In 1846 he composed “A Book of Nonsense” for the grandchildren of his patron, the Earl of Derby.

204 lunar years ago, on this day in 1236 AH, prominent Islamic scholar, Mullah Ali Aliyari Tabrizi, was born in the city of Tabriz, northwestern Iran. He was an expert in theology, hadith, poetry, and literature, as well as in medicine, mathematics, and astronomy. At the holy Najaf Seminary in Iraq, he studied under such prominent figures as Ayatollah Sheikh Morteza Ansari, and Mirza Hassan Shirazi. On returning to Iran, he groomed numerous students. In addition to Islamic sciences, he also taught mathematics and astronomy. He compiled several books on theology and Islamic topics of importance.

199 solar years ago, on this day in 1820 AD, British social reformer, Florence Nightingale, who founded the modern nursing practice, was born in Florence, Italy, to English parents, and was named after the city of her birth. The family returned to England the next year. Her contributions to public health were crucial. Her mission began from experience during the Crimean War as a nurse at the British hospital in Turkey, where she saw the appalling conditions of the sick: overcrowding, poor sanitation, lack of basic supplies, and even malnutrition. By the war's end in 1856, she increased efficiency and reduced the death toll. Inspired by Unitarian religious ideals she devoted her life to serving others, and continued to advocate reform in the military medical system, that included advice on hospital planning and organization.

138 solar years ago, on this day in 1881 AD, France occupied Tunisia, thereby ending the sovereign rule of the Hussainid Dynasty as nominal representatives of the Ottoman Sultan. Thereafter the Hussainids, who were descendants of Hussain Ibn Ali, the Muslim general of Greek origin from the island of Crete, continued to merely reign in name until 1957, when Tunisia gained independence from France and the dictatorial regime of Habib Bourqiba ended monarchic rule. Islam had entered Tunisia in the 2^nd half of the 7^th century AD and in 670 the Great Mosque of Qairouan was founded. Two-and-a-half-centuries later Tunisia became the seat of power of the Fatemid Ismaili Shi’a Muslim Empire with the founding of the city of Mahdia in 921. In 1534, it was taken over by the Ottoman Turks to thwart Spain’s bid to occupy it. On 14 January 2011, the Islamic Awakening ended the 54-year rule of the anti-Islamic regime, and in the first-ever popular elections that followed, an Islamic oriented-government was formed.

109 solar years ago, on this day in 1910 AD, British biochemist and discoverer of important molecules, Dorothy Mary Crowfoot Hodgkin, died at the age of 84. Born in Cairo, Egypt, she developed into an X-ray crystallographer, who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1964 for her discoveries of the structure of biologically important molecules, including penicillin (in 1946), vitamin B-12 (in 1956), and the protein hormone insulin (in 1969).

75 lunar years ago, on this day in 1365 AH, Ayatollah Shaikh Mohammad Taqi Bafqi passed away at the age of 73 in Qom, and was laid to rest in the holy mausoleum of Hazrat Fatema al-Ma’soumah (SA), the daughter of Imam Musa al-Kazem (AS) – the 7th Infallible Heir of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA). Born in Bafq in Yazd Province, he completed his higher studies at the seminary of holy Najaf in Iraq under such eminent scholars as Akhound Khorasani and Ayatollah Seyyed Mohammad Kazem Yazdi. On his return to Iran nineteen years later, he settled in Qom to assist Ayatollah Sheikh Abdul-Karim Ha’eri in reviving the seminary. He was a staunch defender of the Shar’ia. In 1347 AH (1928) when the British-installed Pahlavi potentate, Reza Khan, tried to insult Islamic sanctities by entering the holy shrine of Ma’soumah (SA), along with unveiled women, he rebuked the dictator, who whipped him in public and exiled him to Rayy near Tehran. While in Rayy, Ayatollah Bafqi was shocked at the forced unveiling of Iranian women on the orders of the Pahlavi dictator. In 1354 AH (1935), he suffered a stroke and was partly paralyzed on learning of the desecration of the Gowharshad Mosque in Mashhad, adjacent to the holy shrine of the Prophet’s 8th Infallible Heir, Imam Reza (AS), and the massacre of pilgrims by the regime. He returned to Qom when Reza Khan was removed from the throne by his British masters and taken out of Iran.

16 solar years ago, on this day in 2003 AD, Prince Sadr od-Din Agha Khan, the French-American diplomat and art collector of Iranian origin, died at the age of 70 of cancer in Boston, and his body was conveyed to Switzerland, as per his wish, for burial with full diplomatic honours. Born in Neuilly-sur-Seine, France, to a French mother, he was the second son of the self-styled Imam of the Ismaili Nizari sect, Sultan Shah Mohammad Agha Khan, whose mother was a granddaughter of Fath Ali Shah the Qajarid king of Iran. Sadr od-Din used to describe Iran as the cradle of his family, though he never lived in Iran. He held French, Iranian, and Swiss citizenship, and was fluent in French, English, German and Italian, while also speaking some Persian and Arabic. He travelled widely with his father, and started a long international diplomatic career by joining the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) and retiring as Chief of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). His bid for election to the UN Secretary General’s post was thwarted by the US, because in his trips to Iran and Iraq during the 8-year imposed war, for finding solution to the issue of war refugees, he had become greatly impressed by the dynamic personality of the Father of the Islamic Revolution, Imam Khomeini (RA). Sadr od-Din assembled one of the finest private collections of Islamic art in the world, including a priceless collection of paintings, drawings, manuscripts and miniatures. His collection is vast and diverse, and includes Arabic, Persian, Turkish, and Indian pieces dating from the 10th century onwards. An example is a 1,000-year old Qur’anic page of North African origin, written with gold lettering in the Kufic script. His full collection is to be housed at a new museum being built by his nephew, Karim Agha Khan, in Toronto, Canada.

11 solar years ago, on this day in 2008, a 7.9-magnitude earthquake jolted southwestern China, claiming nearly 87,000 lives and injuring 380,000 others. This natural disaster also made millions of Chinese homeless.

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