Today is Monday; 30th of the Iranian month of Ordibehesht 1398 solar hijri; corresponding to 14th of the Islamic month of Ramadhan 1440 lunar hijri; and May 20, 2019, of the Christian Gregorian Calendar.

1493 solar years ago, on this day in 526 AD, some 300,000 people were killed when a devastating earthquake hit the sin-infested Byzantine city of Antioch in Syria (Antakya, presently in Turkey). Founded by Seleucus I Nicator, the Greek general of Alexander the Macedonian marauder, it was the capital of Syria from 300 to 64 BC. A centre of vices, it was the epicenter of frequent earthquakes during the Greek and Roman periods. In the Byzantine era, it was the centre of Hellenistic Jews and later of Christianity. Some years after this destructive earthquake when development was in progress, it was completely devastated by Iran’s Sassanid Emperor, Khosrow Anushirvan. In 1939 French colonialists detached Antioch, Iskenderun and adjoining regions from Syria and gave it to Turkey, a move the government of Syria has refused to recognize, and considers Hatay Province as Syrian territory, calling it Liwa al-Iskenderun (Iskendurun Province).

1373 lunar years ago, on this day in 67 AH, Mukhtar Ibn Abi Obaidah Thaqafi, the Avenger of the Innocent Blood of Prophet Mohammad’s (SAWA) younger grandson and 3^rd Infallible Heir, Imam Husain (AS), achieved martyrdom in Kufa at the hands of Mus’ab Ibn Zubayr at the age of 66. Born in Ta’ef in Hijaz, to Abi Obaidah (a commander of the Muslim conquest of Iraq from the Sassanids), he was a devout follower of the Commander of the Faithful, Imam Ali (AS) – the Prophet’s First Infallible Heir. He was imprisoned by the usurper Omayyad regime on the threshold of the arrival of Imam Husain (AS) in Iraq. After the Imam’s tragic martyrdom in Karbala, he was released and returned to his homeland Hijaz. Following the tyrant Yazid’s death, he came back to Iraq, where he had the support of Arab tribes loyal to the Prophet’s Ahl al-Bayt and the “Mawali” (as Iranians were known), in his campaign to bring to justice the killers of Imam Husain (AS). He took the city of Kufa and brought vast tracts of Iraq and Iran under his control, at a time when the Omayyad usurpers and Abdullah Ibn Zubayr – who had established as ruler of Hijaz – were battling for power of the Islamic state that belonged to neither of them. Mukhtar repulsed the attacks of the Omayyad army from Syria, and in heroic combat, along with Ibrahim Ibn Malik Ashtar, killed the principal perpetrators of the heartrending tragedy of Karbala, such as Obaidollah Ibn Ziyad, Haseen Ibn Numayr and others. So strong was his sense of justice that he even did not spare the life of his own brother-in-law (sister’s husband), Omar Ibn Sa’d Ibn Abi Waqqas, who had commanded the Omayyad forces against Imam Husain (AS) and then imprisoned the Prophet’s family. Mukhtar and his companions, including Iranians and Arabs, meted out justice to such bloodthirsty murderers as Shemr Ziljowshan, Khouli, Harmala etc. After a rule of a year-and-a-half, he attained martyrdom because of the treachery of the Kufans during battle with the forces of Mus’ab Ibn Zubayr. His tomb is in the mausoleum of Imam Husain’s (AS) cousin, Muslim Ibn Aqeel, beside the Grand Mosque of Kufa.

1217 lunar years ago, on this day in 223 AH, Seyyed Hassan, known as Jalal od-Din Ashraf, the youngest son of Prophet Mohammad’s (SAWA) 7^th Infallible Heir, Imam Musa Kazem (AS), achieved martyrdom at the age of 53 in Gilan, northern Iran, and was laid to rest in the village of Kouchan, which soon grew into a site of pilgrimage as the bustling city of Astan-e Ashrafiyeh (Threshold of Ashraf). Born in Medina in 180 AH, shortly after his father was taken to Iraq as prisoner by the Abbasid tyrant, Haroun Rashid, he grew up under the guidance of his elder brother, Imam Reza (AS), on whose forced journey to Marv in distant Khorasan on the orders of the self-styled caliph, Mamoun, he was a youth of 21 years. Brave, pious, and prudent, he soon shifted to Baghdad but in 204 when Mamoun shifted his capital to this city after martyring Imam Reza (AS) in Tous, Khorasan, he moved to Qom. Two years later he was invited to Gilan by the people to confront remnants of the ousted Omayyad regime in the northern parts of Iran on the southern coast of the Caspian Sea. In 211 AH (828 AD), he established the first ever state in Iran by a member of the Prophet’s family. Twelve years later, on being severely injured in battle against the Abbasid forces at Lyalman (5 km from Lahijan), he trekked toward the mountains so that his body does not fall into enemy hands, and breathed his last some 9 km from Roudbar in the house of Shaikh Mufid od-Din. According to his will, his body was put in a coffin and floated down the Sefidroud River until it reached Kouchan where the people recognizing him laid him to rest amid lamentation. Soon a mausoleum was built over his grave and became known as Aastan-e Ashrafiyeh in his honour. It is worth noting that the rice grown in the paddy fields around the city and known as the “Astaneh” brand is famous for its aroma, which is believed to be among the blessings of the burial of the Prophet’s venerable descendant in this soil.

898 lunar years ago, on this day in 542 AH, the Malekite hadith scholar, Mohammad Ibn Ali Ibn Mohammad al-Jullabi al-Maghazeli, passed away at the age of 95 in Baghdad. He was the son of Ali Ibn Mohammad al-Jullabi al-Maghazeli, the author of the famous book "Manaqeb (Imam) Ali Ibn Abi Taleb (AS)", which he used to teach and explain to students.

641 solar years ago, on this day in 1378 AD, Dawoud Shah, who over a month earlier had usurped the throne of the Bahmani Dynasty of Iranian origin of the Deccan (Southern India) by treacherously assassinating his nephew Mujahid Shah, was killed on the orders of his niece Rooh-Parwar Agha (sister of the deceased Mujahid Shah) and replaced by her younger brother, Mohammad Shah II. The court language of the Bahmanis, who traced their origin to the pre-Islamic Iranian hero Bahman, was Persian, and they promoted Iranian culture, art and architecture.

598 solar years ago, on this day in 1421 AD, Khizr Khan, who governed Delhi, Punjab and parts of northern India, as viceroy of the Turkic conqueror, Amir Timur, and after him of his son, Shahrukh, died in Delhi. He was succeeded by his son, Mubarak Shah, in whose reign the Persian history “Tarikh-e Mubarak Shahi” was written.

513 solar years ago, on this day in 1506 AD, Italian navigator, Christopher Columbus, died in Valladolid in Spain at the age of 55 in the state of poverty, still believing he had discovered the coast of Asia. Born near Genoa in Italy, he took up service with King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain, after years of unsuccessful lobbying with the Italian republics of Genoa and Venice and the kingdom of Portugal, for finding a western sea route to Asia through the Atlantic, since the growing power of Ottoman Turks in southwestern Europe had blocked the land route to India and China. In 1492, following the fall of Granada (Gharnata), the last Muslim kingdom in Spain, Ferdinand and Isabella provided him ships and personnel, including Muslim navigators familiar with the sea routes of the Atlantic for the voyage. Columbus was acquainted with “Tabula Rogeriana” the Latin translation of the Muslim geographer al-Idrisi’s “Nuzhat al-Mushtaaq fi-Ikhteraaq al-Afaaq” – a description of the world and the first world map ever drawn in Europe. He landed on the eastern coast of Cuba, and thought that he had reached an island off the coast of India; hence the use of such terms as “Indies” and “Indians” by him for the American natives. In all, he made four voyages to the New World, and mercilessly slaughtered the native people in his quest for gold and riches, which did not avail him in his last days. Columbus was initially interred in a monastery in Valladolid – corruption of the Arabic word “Balad al-Waleed” or City of Waleed, founded by Muslims. Three years later, his remains were moved to a monastery in La Cartuja near Seville. In 1537, Maria de Rojas y Toledo, widow of Columbus' son Diego, sent the bones of her husband and his father to the cathedral in Santo Domingo on the Caribbean island of Hispaniola for burial. There they lay until 1795, when Spain ceded Hispaniola to France, and dug up from behind the main altar in the newly built cathedral, what it thought were Columbus’ remains and shipped them to a cathedral in Havana, Cuba, where they remained until the US-Spanish War in 1898. Spain then brought them back to Seville. In 1877 workers digging at the Santo Domingo cathedral unearthed a leaden box containing 13 large bone fragments and 28 small ones. It was inscribed "Illustrious and distinguished male, don Cristobal Colon." The Dominicans said these were the real remains of Columbus and the Spaniards had taken the wrong ones in 1795.

499 solar years ago, on this day in 1520 AD, the Spanish conquerors of Mexico brutally massacred the Aztec people while celebrations were taking place at the Festival of Tocatl in the city of Tenochtitlan. The Europeans are notorious for their genocide of the native populations of the Americas and plundering of their resources.

397 solar years ago, on this day in 1622 AD, Osman II, the 16th Ottoman Sultan and the 8th self-styled Turkish caliph, was strangled to death by his vizier, Qara Davoud Pasha, at the age of 18, after a 4-year reign. He was replaced by his deposed uncle, Mustafa I, who a year later was again deposed in favour of his 11-year old nephew Murad IV. Osman II was son of Sultan Ahmad and his Greek wife Maria – renamed Mah-Firuzeh Khadija. He ascended the throne at the age of 14, as a result of a palace coup against his uncle Mustafa I. His killing was due to his plans to reorganize the army and the administrative system following the treaty imposed on humiliating terms in the Moldavian Wars when he personally led the Turkish forces into Poland, after securing the eastern borders with Safavid Iran by the Treaty of Serav with Shah Abbas I. He was fluent in Arabic, Persian, Greek, Latin and Italian.

388 solar years ago, on this day in 1631 AD, the city of Magdeburg in Germany was seized by forces of the Holy Roman Empire and most of its inhabitants massacred, in one of the bloodiest incidents of the Thirty-Year-War. Johann Tserclaes, Count of Tilly, who led the imperial forces, stormed the city and massacred about 20,000 inhabitants before burning down Magdeburg.

374 solar years ago, on this day in 1645 AD, in China the Manchurian Qing forces, led by Prince Dodo occupied the city of Yangzhou and for 10 days massacred almost the entire 800,000 population for supporting the Ming loyalist government.

217 solar years ago, on this day in 1802 AD, Napoleon Bonaparte reinstated slavery in the French colonies, revoking its abolition by the French Revolution, thus depriving a sizeable number of fellow humans of their rights of liberty and freedom.

213 solar years ago, on this day in 1806 AD, English philosopher and economist, John Stuart Mill, was born. He learned logic and economics from his father, and worked as a journalist and a writer. He was elected as the representative of the House of Commons for a single term. He followed the views of the French philosopher Auguste Comte, and believed in the originality of experience. In economics, he supported profiteering coupled with some vague concept of social justice. The books he wrote include “Principles of Political Economy”. He died in 1873.

192 lunar years ago, on this day in 1248 AH, the Iranian scholar, Shams od-Din Behbahani, passed away. A student of the famous researcher, Mohaqqeq Behbahani, in addition to his mastery over theology and jurisprudence, he was a pious mystic who spent most of his life compiling books. He has written a detailed annotation on “Ma’alem al-Osoul”, and treatises on the principles of religion.

151 lunar years ago, on this day in 1289 AH, prominent religious scholar of India, Seyyed Mohammad Taqi, popular as Mumtaz ul-Ulema, passed away in the city of Lucknow. His library is famous in India, and he authored several books such as “Irshad al-Momineen”, “Hadiqat al-Wa’ezeen”, and “Zaheer ash-Shi’a”.

117 solar years ago, on this day in 1902 AD, Cuba became independent on the withdrawal of US occupation forces, which had seized the country during the 4-year war against Spain, fought from 1898-to-1902. Before withdrawing, the US installed Tomas Estrada Palma as president, and imposed a constitution on Cuba that allowed Washington to interfere in its domestic affairs. This caused resentment among the people, and led to the victory of the Cuban Revolution in 1959 under Fidel Castro.

109 solar years ago, on this day in 1910 AD, Japan announced annexation of the Korean Peninsula and renamed it Joseon, after having occupied three years earlier by defeating Russia and China. The Korean people revolted against Japan during World War II, but after Japan’s defeat, became target of the US which divided Korea ino North and South at the 38^th Parallel. The US brutally bombarded North Korea in the 1950s, and still has thousands of occupation forces in South Korea, in violation of international laws. Washington periodically resorts to hooliganism, and is currently holding provocative military exercises to thwart any bid for unity of the two Koreas by keeping tensions high.

92 solar years ago, on this day in 1927 AD, the British, as per the Treaty of Jeddah, handed over to the desert brigand Abdul-Aziz ibn Saud, the historical land of Hijaz and its religious and commercial centres, such as the holy cities of Mecca and Medina, the seaport of Jeddah and the agriculture-rich resort of Ta’ef. A couple of years earlier, the Wahhabi heretics had occupied Hijaz by driving out the other British agent, Sharif Hussain, and slaughtering over a hundred thousand Muslims, in addition to desecrating the holy shrines of the sacred cemeteries of Jannat al-Baqie in Medina and Jannat al-Mu’alla in Mecca. Five years later in 1932, Hijaz was joined with Najd to create the spurious entity called Saudi Arabia, which annexed the oil-rich eastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula on the Persian Gulf against the wishes of the local people, and then seized from Yemen the provinces of Najran, Jizan, and Asir.

85 solar years ago, on this day in 1934 AD, the one-sided Treaty of Ta’ef was imposed on Imam Yahya of Yemen by Abdul-Aziz ibn Saud, ruler of British created Saudi Arabia, according to which the regions of Najran, Jeezan, and Asir were occupied for a period of 40 years. In 1974 and again on its unification in 1990, Yemen demanded return of these vast territories, but Riyadh, backed by the US, has refused to return them in violation of the Treaty of Ta’ef. Currently, Saudi Arabia has unleashed state terrorism on Yemen, and has been criminally bombarding it, killing so far 20,000 men, women and children.

59 solar years ago, on this day in 1960 AD, Cameroon became a republic following independence from joint British-French rule. Located in West Africa with a coastline on the Atlantic Ocean, it covers an area of 475,000 sq km and shares borders with Nigeria, Chad, Central Africa, Congo, Gabon, and Tropical Guinea. Muslims account for a fourth of the population, and are majority in the north and west.

37 solar years ago, on this day in 1982 AD, on suggestion of the then Speaker of the Majlis (parliament), Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, the Islamic Azad University (IAU), was established in Tehran. With branches throughout Iran and also in some countries abroad, it is one of the largest comprehensive systems of universities, colleges, and community colleges in the world. Over the years, IAU has promoted “higher education for all” as its key objective. Currently it has an enrollment of 1.7 million students. It has university branches in UAE, Britain, Lebanon and Afghanistan.

26 lunar years ago, on this day in 1414 AH, American-Zionist soldier of German Jewish parentage, Baruch Goldstein, opened fire on rows of Palestinian Muslims praying in congregation at the shrine of Prophet Abraham (AS) in the city of al-Khalil in the West Bank of River Jordan in the blessed fasting month of Ramadhan. As a result of this cowardly act of terrorism 29 people were martyred and scores of others wounded. This act of terrorism led to the anger of the civilized world. As a result, the Arab compromisers had no other choice but to postpone their dubious negotiations with the illegal Zionist entity.

17 solar years ago, on this day in 2002 AD, East Timor, with a population of about 800,000, celebrated independence from Indonesia, but a legal battle loomed with Australia over the Greater Sunrise natural gas field in the Timor Sea. The field lies 95 miles south of East Timor and 250 miles north of Australia.

12 solar years ago, on this day in 2007 AD, Nigeria's largest state, Niger, sued US drug firm Pfizer for using 200 children as "guinea pigs" for a drug test in 1996 that led to deaths and deformities. In 2010 a WikiLeaks cable said Pfizer hired investigators to unearth evidence of corruption against Nigeria’s former Attorney-General Michael Aondoakaa to pressure him to drop legal action over its experimental antibiotic, Trovan.

AS/SS