Today is Monday; 23rd of the Iranian month of Ordibehesht 1398 solar hijri; corresponding to 7th of the Islamic month of Ramadhan 1440 lunar hijri; and May 13, 2019 of the Christian Gregorian Calendar.

1442 lunar years ago, on this day in the second year prior to Hijra, Abu-Taleb, the father of Imam Ali (AS) and uncle and protector of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA), passed away in Mecca. On the death of his father Abdul-Muttaleb, he and his wife, Fatema bint Asad, had taken charge of the 8-year orphan of Abdullah, his deceased brother, and brought up the future Prophet as their own son. Abu Taleb was a staunch monotheist following the creed of his ancestor, Prophet Abraham, and when God formally appointed his now 40-year old nephew as the Last and Greatest Messenger to mankind, he firmly believed in the message of Islam and protected the Prophet against the taunts and attacks of the pagan Arabs. When the Meccans imposed the social-economic boycott on the Prophet, he took his nephew and the whole neo Muslim community under his protection to the safety of the gorge outside Mecca which is still called “She'b Abi Taleb” in his honour.  His death saddened the Prophet and since earlier in the same year, the Prophet's loyal wife, the Mother of all True Believers (Omm al-Momineen) Hazrat Khadija also passed away, the year is known in Islamic history as "Aam al-Hozn” (Year of Grief).

1216 lunar years ago, on this day in 224 AH Ibrahim bin Mahdi, stepbrother of the Abbasid tyrant Haroun Rashid, died at the age of 62 in Baghdad. Born of an African concubine and known as Ibn Shakla because of his dark complexion, he was proclaimed as caliph in Baghdad in 201 AH by the Abbasids in protest to the seemingly pro-Hashemite policies of the reigning caliph, his nephew Mamoun, in declaring the Prophet’s 8th Infallible Heir, Imam Reza (AS) as Heir Apparent. Two years later in 203 AH, with the Mamoun’s return to Baghdad after martyring Imam Reza through poisoning in Tous, he resigned and spent the rest of his life as a singer and a musician. Ibn Shakla reportedly had a phenomenal vocal range.

1079 lunar years ago, on this day in 361 AH, the grand al-Azhar Mosque and Madrasah was officially opened by Jowhar as-Saqali, the Sicilian general of the Fatemid Ismaili Shi'ite dynasty who completed the grand project three years after conquering Egypt and establishing the city of Cairo, as the new capital of the Empire that now stretched from the Red Sea to the Atlantic Ocean."al-Azhar" is a derivative of "az-Zahra" (or the Radiant), the famous epithet of Hazrat Fatema (SA) the daughter of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA) in whose honour the mosque and the religious school were built. The Fatemids restored the full form of the Azaan or call for the daily prayers, from the minarets of al-Azhar and other mosques, by bearing testimony to the imamate of Imam Ali (AS) after the Prophethood of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA). The phrase "hayya ala khayr il-amal", meaning "hasten to the best of deeds", which was dropped from the Azaan by the second caliph, was also revived. Exactly, a year later on this same date in 362 AH, the Fatemid caliph, al-Mu’iz le-Dinillah arrived in his new capital Cairo, from Mahdia in what is now Tunisia, the then capital of the Fatemid state.

929 lunar years ago, on this day in 511 AH, the famous Imami theologian, Seyyed Abu’l-Makarem Ibn Zuhra, was born in Aleppo, Syria. He studied in Najaf in Iraq under prominent students of the famous scholar Abu Ja’far Shaykh at-Tayefa Tousi, and on return to Syria groomed several scholars. He has left behind several books including "al-Ghunyah" on fiqh. He passed away in 585 AH.

496 lunar years ago, on this day in 944 AH, one of the renowned historians and poets, Seyyed Nizam od-Din Mohammad M’asoum Safai Tirmizi, who wrote under the penname “Naami”, was born in India. His ancestors were from Qandahar in Afghanistan. He and his father served the Sultans of Gujarat in western India. He has left behind valuable books, such as “Tibb-e Naami” on medicine. He passed away in 1019 AH.

480 lunar years ago, on this day in 960 AH, Ottoman admiral Turgut Raees took control of the Mediterranean island of Corsica and the city of Catania in Malta, to free some seven thousand Muslim captives. He gave Corsica to the French, who soon lost it to the Spanish.

371 solar years ago, on this day in 1648 AD, construction of the Red Fort at Delhi was completed by the 5^th Moghal emperor, Shah Jahan, exactly ten years on the date its construction work had started. The residence of the Moghal emperors of India for over 200 years, until 1857, it was designed by the architect Ahmad Lahori. It has an area of 254.67 acres, enclosed by 2.41 km of defensive walls, punctuated by turrets and bastions and varying in height from 18 meters on the river side to 33 meters on the city side. The marble, floral decorations and double domes in the fort's buildings exemplify later Moghal architecture. It showcases a high level of ornamentation, and the fort's artwork synthesizes Persian and Indian art. With the end of Moghal rule, the British sanctioned the systematic plunder of valuables from the fort's palaces. All furniture was removed or destroyed; the harem apartments, servants' quarters and gardens were destroyed. Only the marble buildings on the east side at the imperial enclosure escaped complete destruction, but were looted and damaged. While the defensive walls and towers were relatively unharmed, more than two-thirds of the inner structures were destroyed by the British. Earlier, before the British seizure, the silver ceiling of the Diwan-e Khas was looted by the Maratha marauders. On 15 August 1947, the first Prime Minister of India Jawaharlal Nehru raised the Indian national flag above the Lahore Gate. Ever since, on Independence Day, the prime minister raises the flag and gives a speech that is broadcast nationally.

306 solar years ago, on this day in 1713 AD, Alexis Claude Clairaut, the French mathematician, astronomer, and geophysicist, was born in Paris. He was a child prodigy, and at the age of twelve he wrote a memoir on four geometrical curves. Clairaut took part in an expedition to Lapland for estimating a degree of meridian arc. He wrote his theory on the shape of the Earth, and subsequently wrote various papers on the orbit of the Moon, and on the motion of comets as affected by the perturbation of the planets. Misled by his fame and his liking for the perishing pleasures of life, he adopted a wayward lifestyle and was a spent force, when he died at the age of only 52 years.

266 solar years ago, on this day in 1753 AD, the French politician, general and mathematician, Lazar Carnot, was born. As an engineer and military strategist, he was one of the leaders of the French Revolution against the monarchy, and was subsequently named Minister of War.

173 solar years ago, on this day in 1846 AD, the US, as part of its expansionist policy declared war on Mexico, and occupied large areas which today form most of the southern states including New Mexico, most of Texas, and California.

128 solar years ago, on this day in 1891 AD, the great scholar, Grand Ayatollah Mirza Hassan Shirazi, issued the historic Fatwa against the 50-year tobacco concession given to a British company by King Nasser od-Din Shah Qajar of Iran. Following the Fatwa of Mirza Shirazi issued from his base in Samarra, Iraq, the Iranian people, including Qajarid courtiers and the wife of the Shah, refrained from purchase, sales and usage of tobacco, forcing the government to cancel the concession. This development once again proved the strength of the Muslim Iranian people led by the ulema.

102 solar years ago, on this day in 1917 AD, three children in the town of Fatima in Portugal reportedly saw an apparition of what they called "Our Lady of Fatima" and "Our Lady of the Rosary". They spoke of seeing a lady "more radiant than the sun, shedding rays of light clearer and stronger than a crystal ball filled with the most sparkling water and pierced by the rays of the sun." The three were immediately jailed by the local Christian authorities of the Catholic sect and threatened with painful death. They were reportedly released, although it cannot be confirmed whether or not they were the same children. Their names were given as Lucia Santos, and her cousins Jacinta and Francisco Martoin. Of the three, two died soon afterwards, while Lucia Santos was confined to convents as a nun until she died in 2005 at the age of 97. The Vatican acted as her spokesman by releasing what it called the "Three Secrets of Fatima", although scholars suspect deliberate distortion of the whole event, and what was actually predicted or told to the children. First and foremost, nowhere in Christian texts, has the Virgin Mary been ever called Fatima, or was associated with the rosary (prayer beads). As researchers point out, the name of the town in Portugal, "Fatima" is Arabic, and it was founded by the Muslim rulers of the Iberian Peninsula. The name "Fatema" is popular and venerated throughout the Islamic World because of it being the name of the daughter of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA), who is also called "az-Zahra" or the Most Radiant. Another interesting fact that scholars note is the association of the Prophet's daughter with the rosary or prayer beads, which she first made out of clay, and which subsequently became famous as "Tasbih Fatema" when her father taught her the glorification of the Lord Most High on the prayer beads. Hence Hazrat Fatema (SA) is known as the “Lady of the Rosary”. The most important factor to note is that in 1571 AD, Pope Pius V held a feast of what he called "Our Lady of Victory" in honour of the Virgin Mary, after the Christians had managed to hold back Turkish Muslim armies from overrunning Western Europe; but in the subsequent years, following fresh Turkish victories, Pope Gregory XIII changed the name of the feast to "Our Lady of Rosary" since victory was not possible against the Turks. It is not known what prompted the Pope to associate the word Rosary with Mary for the first time ever in history, or whether it was part of the Catholic propaganda to counter the trend among the growing number of Muslims in southeastern Europe to recite the Rosary of Hazrat Fatema (SA). Thus, the most likely answer for the apparition that the three children saw this day in 1917 was that it was of the Prophet's daughter – perhaps prophesying the conversion of Europe to Islam.

52 solar years ago, on this day in 1967 AD, Dr. Zaker Hussain became the third President of India and the first Muslim President of the Indian Union. He held this position until August 24, 1969 when he died in office. He was born in Hyderabad-Deccan in an Afridi Pashtu family which later migrated to northern India. He was a cultured person and well versed in English, Urdu, and Persian languages.

41 solar years ago, on this day in 1978 AD, Iranian weightlifter Hussein Reza Zadeh, was born in Ardabil. He is a former world and double Olympic champion in Olympic weightlifting. He is also a world record holder in the clean and jerk and considered as one of the greatest weightlifters of all time.

40 solar years ago, on this day in 1979 AD, following the victory of the Islamic Revolution, Iran annulled forever the “Capitulation Bill” that was imposed by the US on the Pahlavi regime on immunity of American nationals. In 1964, the British-installed Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, had entered into a humiliating capitulation treaty with the US by granting American citizens all immunity against crimes they commit in Iran – a measure that was strongly denounced by the Father of the Islamic Revolution, Imam Khomeini (RA) that led to his exile from Iran. Capitulation was enforced as a law subsequent to the Russo-Iran Wars of the first half of the 19^th century. It was first imposed on Iran by Tsarist Russia through the humiliating Golestan and Turkmenchay Treaties. Thereafter, Britain and other European powers compelled Iran to grant them special rights and privileges. In 1921, a day prior to the coup in Iran against Ahmad Shah Qajar, the Soviet Union had unilaterally cancelled the Tsarist colonial institution of capitulation treaties, including the 99-year treaty with Iran. Six years later in 1927, in order to mislead the Iranian people, who loathed him for his anti-Islamic policies, Reza Khan passed a spurious decree on supposed revocation of the capitulation treaty period, mainly pertaining to the Russian treaties that had already expired, but immediately sent letters of assurances to the British, German, American, and French embassies in Tehran, acknowledging their capitulation rights over Iran and the Iranian people.

14 solar years ago, on this day in 2005 AD, the Andijan massacre occurred in the city of the same name in Uzbekistan, where government forces massacred over a thousand men, women, and children, who were protesting the poor economic conditions, in addition to their political grievances.

AS/SS