Today is Friday; 10th of the Iranian month of Khordad 1398 solar hijri; corresponding to 25th of the Islamic month of Ramadhan 1440 lunar hijri; and May 31, 2019, of the Christian Gregorian Calendar.

899 lunar years ago, on this day in 541 AH, the renowned Spanish Muslim hadith scholar and exegete of the Holy Qur’an, Abdul-Haqq Ibn Ghaleb Ibn Abdur-Rahman, popular as Ibn Atiyyah, passed away at the age of 60. His father was a well-known scholar of Fiqh and Hadith, who traveled to the eastern parts of the Muslim world to learn under scholars of repute, and on return was appointed judge in Granada. Ibn Atiyyah studied under his father and later under other scholars. He was a meticulous scholar, and did not confine himself to Islamic studies, but read in all fields, feeling that this would give him a better understanding of the holy Qur’an. He traveled to many centers and cities of Islamic Spain, meeting scholars and learning from them. He later became a judge in Muria. Since Muslims in Spain were under attack by Christians, he joined the army and fought in several battles, in addition to writing to rulers and reminding them of their duty to Islam. Ibn Atiyyah wrote several books, including “al-Ansaab”. A short work by him titled “al-Barnamaj” contains biographies of his teachers. He wrote poetry as well, but his main and voluminous work is a commentary on the holy Qur’an, entitled “al-Muharrar Al-Wajeez”, which reflects his knowledge in a variety of disciplines.

895 lunar years ago, on this day in 544 AH, the famous Iranian Sunni Muslim theologian, exegete and polymath, Mohammad ibn Omar ibn Hussain at-Taymi at-Tabaristani, popular as Fakhr od-Din Razi, was born in the city of Rayy – presently a southern suburb of modern Tehran. Descended from the first caliph, Abu Bakr through his son, Mohammad – a staunch devotee of Imam Ali (AS) and his God-given authority – he first studied with his father, and later under Majd al-Jili, who was a student of Ghazali. His commentary on the holy Qur'an titled “Tafsir al-Kabir” is the most varied and many-sided of all extant works of the kind. He has analyzed and admitted the merits of the Ahl al-Bayt or Blessed Household of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA), and has explicitly said, on the basis of authentic hadith concerning ayah 33 of Surah Ahzaab, that the Verse of Purity relates to Hazrat Fatema Zahra (SA), Imam Ali (AS) and their sons Imam Hasan (AS) and Imam Husain (AS), and does not include the wives of the Prophet as some allege. He taught at Rayy, journeyed all over the eastern Islamic world, as far as Khwarezm and the court of Shams od-Din Aibak of northern India. He settled in Herat where he became head of an academy, and passed away in this same city. He wrote on medicine, physics, astrology, literature, history and law. Among his several compilations, mention can be made of the encyclopedic work "Jame' al-Oloum".

796 solar years ago, on this day in 1223 AD, during the Mongol invasion of the lands of the Cumans – a non-Muslim Turkic people whose expansive khanate stretched from the Black Sea to Lake Balkhash in what is now Kazakhstan, the Battle of the Kalka River in Ukraine, ended with a resounding victory for the armies of Genghis Khan led by Subutai the Valiant, who defeated the joint forces of the Russians and Cumans. Subutai had marched north from western Iran through the Caucasus after defeating the local peoples. Khan Koten of the Cumans, convinced the Volga Bulgars and Khazars to join him, but the Mongols managed to persuade him to abandon the alliance by reminding him of the Turkic-Mongol friendship and promising a share of the booty. The Mongols, after routing the joint armies of the Khazars and Bulgars, broke their promise and attacked the Cumans, destroying their armies and executing all the prisoners before sacking Astrakhan. Koten fled to the court of his son-in-law, Prince Mstislav the Bold of Kiev-Rus, who after a year of hesitation assembled an alliance of Russian princes to face the Mongols. After drawing out the Rus armies for nine days in a feigned retreat, the Mongol army turned to face their pursuers along the Kalka River, and defeated the joint Slavic-Turkic forces. The expedition was history's longest cavalry raid, with the Mongols riding 5,500 miles or 8,900 km in three years.

755 lunar years ago, on this day in 685 AH, the Mongols were decisively defeated at the Battle of Ayn Jalout in Palestine by the Egyptian Mamluk Sultan Saif od-Din Qutuz and his able general, Zaheer od-Din Baibars (the next Sultan). This victory over Hulagu Khan's famous Christian Turkic general, Kitbuqa Noyan, ended the threat to Egypt, a few years after the sack of Baghdad and subjugation of Syria.

745 lunar years ago, on this day in 695 AH, the scholar Abu Abdullah Mohammad Ibn Ahmad Ibn Khalil al-Khu’i ash-Shafe’i ad-Dameshqi, the author of “Sharh Fosoul Ibn Ma'at”, passed away.

442 solar years ago, on this day in 1577 AD, Empress Noor Jahan of the Moghal Empire of the subcontinent was born as a commoner in the border town of Qandahar to the Iranian refugee, Mirza Ghiyas Beg Tehrani, who was fleeing Safavid Persia to India following the fall from grace of his aristocratic family. Named Mehr an-Nisa at birth, she was the fourth child of her father, whose talents were appreciated in India by Emperor Jalal od-Din Akbar who appointed him minister and conferred the title E’temad od-Dowla upon him. Mehr an-Nisa was brought up at the Moghal court and was married to an Iranian émigré, Ali Quli, titled Shir-Afgan for his bravery in grappling with a tiger. Her husband died in a skirmish and the widow returned along with her orphaned daughter to the Moghal court where Emperor Noor od-Din Jahangir enamoured by her beauty proposed marriage to her. He subsequently made her the empress with the official title “Noor Jahan” (Light of the World). She was noted for her wisdom, administrative abilities, and scholarly pursuits. She was the power behind the throne. Although she didn’t bear the emperor any child, she remained loyal to him even after his death, and was later buried in the same mausoleum in Lahore in what is now Pakistan. Her brother Asef Khan rose to become minister, while she arranged for her daughter from her previous marriage, to marry Jahangir`s youngest son, Prince Shahryar, and her niece Arjmand Banu (later Mumtaz Mahal – buried in the famous Taj Mahal) to marry Prince Khurram, (the future Emperor Shah Jahan). A staunch follower of Prophet Mohammad’s (SAWA) Ahl al-Bayt, Noor Jahan, who punished the killers of the great Iranian scholar, Qazi Seyyed Noorollah Shushtari (Shaheed Sallis or the Third Martyr), died on 17 December 1645 at the age of 68.

303 lunar years ago, on this day in 1137 AH, the prominent Iranian Islamic scholar, Baha od-Din Mohammad ibn Taj od-din Hassan Isfahani, popular as Faazel-e Hindi, because he had accompanied his father to India, passed away in his hometown Isfahan. He was a child prodigy, and as a student of the famous Allamah Mohammad Baqer Majlisi, he reached the level of Ijtehad at a relatively young age. He was an authority on theology and philosophy, having summarized the celebrated Iranian-Islamic genius Ibn Sina’s famous philosophical work “ash-Shifa”. After the passing away of Allamah Majlisi and Aqa Jamal Khwansari, he was known as the “Mujtahed”. Faazel-e Hindi groomed a large number of scholars and wrote almost a hundred books and treatises on various topics, including an exegesis of the Holy Qur'an and the work titled “Kashf al-Latham”. His grave in the Takht-e Foulad Cemetery is beside the grave of Mullah Mohammad Fazl, known as Faazel-e Na’ini, and therefore their graves have been commonly called as “Faazelaan” among the people.

210 solar years ago, on this day in 1809 AD, Austrian musician and composer, Joseph Haydn, died at the age of 77. In 1781, his acquaintance with the famous Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart led to improvement of his symphonies. His musical pieces include “The Creation”.

200 solar years ago, on this day in 1819 AD, US Poet Walt Whitman was born in West Hill, New York. He became America’s national poet with vibrant works such as “Leaves of Grass” (1855). His poems included: “When Lilacs Last in the Doorway Bloomed”. Some of his poems were inspired by his Civil War experience as a hospital volunteer in Washington. Although a staunch supporter of the Union cause, Whitman comforted dying soldiers of both sides. He died in 1892.

187 solar years ago, on this day in 1832 AD, French mathematician, Evariste Galois, died at the young age of 21 from wound suffered in duel. Born at Bourg-la-Reine, while still in his teens, he was able to determine a necessary and sufficient condition for a polynomial to be solvable by radicals, thereby solving a problem standing for 350 years. His work laid the foundations for Galois Theory and group theory, two major branches of abstract algebra, and the subfield of Galois Connections.

172 solar years ago, on this day in 1847 AD, following a series of border incidents in the 1830s by the Ottoman Empire against the Iranian port city of Khorramshahr in violation of the 1821 Treaty of Erzurum that pushed the two counties to the brink of war, Britain and Russia mediated the Second Treaty of Erzurum. The Ottomans had attempted to destroy Iranian commercial interests in Khorramshahr at the instigation of the merchants of Basra. A border commission made up of representatives of Iran, the Ottoman government, Britain, and Russia was set up. It sat from 1843 to 1847, and its work culminated in the second Treaty of Erzurum, which was signed on 16 Jamadi al-Akher 1263 AH corresponding to 31 May 1847. The treaty stipulated that Iran would cede the region west of the River Zuhab to the Ottomans in exchange for guaranteed sovereignty over islands and territory near the Persian Gulf. Particularly significant were two provisions in Article 2: First, Iran abandons all claim to the city and province of Suleimaniya (including Naftkhanah), and the Ottoman government formally recognizes the unrestricted sovereignty of Iran over the city and port of Khorramshahr, Khizr Island, the Abadan anchorage, and the land on the eastern bank of the Shatt Al-Arab (Arvandroud), which are in the possession of the tribes, recognized as belonging to Iran. Iran’s right to “navigate freely without let or hindrance on the Shatt Al-Arab from the mouth of the same to the point of contact of the frontiers of the two parties” was also recognized. The Ottomans also promised not to hinder Iran traders and pilgrims visiting the holy shrines in Iraq and Hijaz.

117 solar years ago, on this day in 1902 AD, the Boer War ended with the British victory over the Dutch of South Africa and signing of the Treaty of Vereeniging, ending the 3-year uprising by the Afrikaners, led by Louis Botha, the commandant general of the Transvaal forces. The combination of superior fire power and a brutal war of attrition launched by Lord Kitchener forced the Boers to give in. The British burned the farms of Africans and Boers alike and collected as many as a 100,000 women and children in carelessly run and unhygienic concentration camps on the open veldt. Britain annexed Transvaal.

109 solar years ago, on this day in 1910 AD, South Africa was formed with the merger of two British colonies. In the mid-17^th century, the Dutch, and two centuries later, the British, seized large parts of this land and oppressed the local black people. In 1899, Boers, who were the Dutch immigrants in South Africa, revolted against British domination, but were defeated. In 1931, the Union of South Africa gained independence from Britain and came under white minority racist rule, known as Apartheid that denied the indigenous black people and all other non-white people, basic rights. In 1991, as a result of the struggle of the black people, Apartheid fell apart, and representative rule of the majority was established. South Africa covers an area of more than 1.2 million square km and shares borders with Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Namibia, Lesotho, and Swaziland. Of South Africa’s 52 million population Muslims account for almost 3 percent and although made up of South Asians, are rapidly winning converts from both the black and white people.

92 lunar years ago, on this day in 1348 AH, the prominent scholar Seyyed Mohammad Taqi Musavi Isfahani, popular as Faqih Ahmadabadi, passed away in his hometown Isfahan at the age of 47. A brilliant orator and poet, he studied under the leading ulema of his time, and in turn groomed many students. He had the honour of meeting the Lord of the Age, Imam Mahdi (AS), the Prophet of Islam’s 12th and Last Infallible Heir, who will reappear in the end times to establish the global government of peace, prosperity and justice. He wrote several books including the famous one titled “Mikyaal al-Makarem fi Fawa’ed ad-Du’a lil-Qa’em” which has been printed many times in Iran, and contains supplications from Imam Mahdi (AS)

85 solar years ago, on this day in 1935 AD, in Quetta in what is now capital of Pakistan’s Baluchistan State, a magnitude 7.7 degree earthquake killed some 50,000 people.

49 solar years ago, on this day in 1970 AD, the Ancash earthquake caused a landslide that buried the town of Yungay in Peru, resulting in the death of more than 47,000 people.

32 solar years ago, on this day in 1987 AD, the World Health Organisation (WHO) designated May 31 as World No Tobacco Day (WNTD) which is observed worldwide every year. It is intended to encourage a 24-hour period of abstinence from all forms of tobacco consumption around the globe. The day is further intended to draw attention to the widespread prevalence of tobacco use and to negative health effects, which currently lead to nearly 7 million deaths each year worldwide, including 600,000 of which are because of non-smokers being exposed to second-hand smoke.

27 solar years ago, on this day in 1992 AD, the researcher and lecturer of Tehran’s Sharif University of Science and Technology, Dr. Jalal Samimi, following twenty years of study, discovered the five sources of Gama Rays at the centre of the Milky Way Galaxy. Born in the city of Zabul, southeastern Iran in 1940, he obtained PhD in Physics, and conducted several experiments in regard to nuclear emulsion.

24 solar years ago, on this day in 1995 AD, Ayatollah Sheikh Azizollah Khosrowi Zanjani passed away at the age of 87. A student of the Father of the Islamic Revolution, Imam Khomeini (RA), he followed the footsteps of his teacher in the struggles against the despotic Pahlavi regime. After establishment of the Islamic Republic, he strove to serve the goals of the system of government in Iran.

12 solar years ago, on this day in 2007 AD, in southern Thailand Buddhist terrorists sprayed gunfire into a mosque, killing 7 Muslim worshippers. Black-clad raiders roared into Kolomudo, a Muslim village, firing assault rifles and hurling grenades from a pickup truck at a group of teenagers relaxing near the mosque. When the attack was over, five of the youths lay martyred. A roadside bomb killed 11 paramilitary troops almost simultaneously, while a 12th soldier died the next day.

11 solar years ago, on this day in 2008 AD, Chinese authorities evacuated nearly 200,000 people and warned more than 1 million others to be ready to leave quickly as a lake formed by a devastating earthquake that occurred on May 12 threatened to breach its dam. The confirmed death toll from the earthquake, reached nearly 69,000, with another 18,000 still missing.

9 solar years ago, on this day in 2010 AD, the illegal Zionist entity indulged in a terrorist act of piracy in international waters by hijacking the Gaza-bound Freedom Flotilla carrying humanitarian relief for the Palestinian population of this impoverished enclave. The flotilla consisted of six ships with food and medicine, along with 663 activists from 37 countries. Zionist soldiers boarded it and brutally attacked the unarmed activists, martyring at least nine Turkish citizens and injuring over fifty others. This gruesome and barbaric raid drew worldwide condemnation and reinforced the resolve of activists and aid convoys to break the siege of Gaza Strip. Unfortunately, the US has continued to support the barbarism of Israel.

AS/SS