Today is Monday; 13th of the Iranian month of Khordad 1398 solar hijri; corresponding to 28th of the month of Ramadhan 1440 lunar hijri; and June 3, 2019, of the Christian Gregorian Calendar.

1168 lunar years ago, on this day in 272 AH, the prominent Iranian-Islamic astronomer, philosopher and hadith scholar, Abu Mash’ar Ja'far ibn Mohammad al-Balkhi, passed away in Waset, Iraq, at the ripe old age of 102. Born in Khorasan in the city of Balkh, which is presently in Afghanistan, he flourished at the Abbasid court in Baghdad as the greatest astronomer of the era and the subsequent centuries. He wrote a number of practical manuals on astrology that profoundly influenced Muslim intellectual history, and through Latin translations of his works, left a profound impact on Western Europe and Byzantium. He was well versed in Persian, Arabic, Greek and Sanskrit languages, and according to the famous Persian poet of the subcontinent, Amir Khosro Dehlavi, he came to Benares in India to study astronomy. Abu Ma'shar, who was Latinized by medieval Europe as Albumasar, Albusar, or Albuxar, wrote several books including "Kitab al-Mudkhal al-Kabir ila Ilm Ahkaam an-Nujjum", "Kitāb al‐Milal wa’l-Duwal" and "Kitāb Taḥawil Sini al‐Mawālīd” (Book of the Revolutions of the Years of Nativities). These and other works were translated into Latin and Greek and had profound effect on western philosophers and scientists such as Albert, Roger Bacon, Pierre d'Ailly, and Pico Della Mirandola.

1252 solar years ago, on this day in 767 AD, the Iranian Sunni Muslim Jurisprudent, Noman ibn Sabet ibn Zuta ibn Marzuban, known as Abu Hanifa, passed away in Baghdad at the age of 68 in the prison of the 2nd self-styled Abbasid caliph, Mansour Dawaniqi. Born in Kufa in a family of Zoroastrian origin from Kabul, he learned the holy Qur’an and hadith, and after only two years of incomplete study under Imam Ja’far Sadeq (AS), the 6th Infallible Heir of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA), he founded a jurisprudential school of his own, known as Hanafi. In contrary to the clear definition of Ijtihad, based on the holy Qur’an and the genuine hadith of the Prophet, Abu Hanifa resorted to "qiyas" (analogy or speculation) regarding legal issues, despite warnings from Imam Sadeq (AS) that the first one to indulge in "qiyas" was Iblis the Satan.

517 solar years ago, on this day in 1502 AD, the Portuguese navigator, Vasco da Gama, massacred people in the port of Calicut, southern India. Calicut, which is now called Kozhikode, was the first location occupied by Vasco da Gama in 1498, after he discovered the sea route to India via the southern coast of Africa, with the help of Muslim Arab navigators, whom this treacherous Portuguese killed. Vasco da Gama was a murderous person, and on one occasion, when 800 Arab merchants landed on the southern Indian coast for buying rice, he seized them; tortured them to death by cutting their hands, ears, and noses, and burned their ships.

362 solar years ago, on this day in 1657 AD, English physician, William Harvey, who by studying the translations of Islamic scientists, became the first European to discover the true nature of the circulation of the blood and of the function of the heart as a pump, died at the age of 79. Harvey's methods were to set the pattern for research in biology and other sciences for succeeding generations.

352 solar years ago, on this day in 1667 AD, the first human blood transfusion in the history of medicine and surgery was performed by French physician, Jean-Baptiste-Denys. In his first experiment, he injected the blood of a lamb to a patient. Later on human blood was injected to patients.

162 solar years ago, on this day in 1857 AD, French geologist, archeologist, and orientalist, Jean-Jacques de Morgan, who carried out extensive excavation works in Egypt, Iran and other lands, was born. On graduating in mineral engineering with interest in entomology and prehistory in 1882, he was appointed to head a survey expedition to Scandinavia and subsequently conducted surveys in Britain's Stonehenge, Germany, Austria, Turkey, India, and as far away as the kingdom of Perak in what is now West Malaysia. He next went to the Caucasus, visiting Armenia and Georgia, and his interest in the eastern origins of civilization eventually led him to Iran, where he focused on the significance of Shush (ancient Susa), the capital of the Elamite Empire, to retrace the routes of the Assyrian campaigns. Entrusted by France with his first official mission to Iran, on his way he paused to explore the necropolis at Telovan near Tbilisi, then went on to Tehran, whence he paid visits to Mazandaran, Gilan, and Talesh, for study of dialects. He then traveled south across Kurdistan and Luristan, combining both geological and archeological investigations. He was the first to recognize at Qasr-e Shirin the presence of oil in the vast fold system of the Zagros mountain chain, but neither France nor Iran showed any interest in this important discovery. He published his “Mission Scientifique en Perse”, with four volumes of geological studies; two volumes of archaeological studies on tombs and other monuments; one volume dedicated to Kurdish dialects and the languages of northern Iran; one volume of Mandaean texts; and two volumes of geographical studies. From 1892 to 1897, he was assigned to Egypt, where he saved the temple of Kom Ombo from destruction; set up the museum of Greco-Roman antiquities at Alexandria; undertook publication of a general catalogue of the monuments and inscriptions of ancient Egypt; and laid the cornerstone for the Cairo Museum of Ancient Egyptian Antiquities. His exploration of the pyramids of Memphis and Dashur brought to light the royal treasures of the Middle Kingdom. He was back again in Shush in Iran and his important finds included the famous Stele of Naram-Sin, brought as war booty by the Elamite king Shutruk-Nahhunte, as well as masterpieces of Babylonian civilization, captured by the Elamites, intermingled with masterpieces of Elamite metalwork and sculpture. The discoveries were crowned by the appearance of the stele bearing the law code of Hammurabi. These were published, starting in 1900, in “Mémoires de la Délégation en Perse”. Unfortunately, in 1900, the inefficient Iranian king, Mozaffar od-Din Shah Qajar, signed a treaty granting to France all the antiquities discovered at Shush. In 1902 De Morgan declared: “In the Nile valley I developed the conviction that the first civilizations, from which the Egyptian empire arose, came from Chaldea (in Iraq) and that the Mesopotamian plains had therefore been the cradle of human progress.”

96 solar years ago, on this day in 1883 AD, Franz Kafka, a prominent German-language writer of novels and short stories, died at the age of 40 in Klosterneuburg, Austria. Given that he had a tough childhood, Kafka, who was born in a Jewish family in Prague, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, had a pessimistic view of life. He was a nihilist, which is evident in his books, which include, "The Trial", "Contemplation", and "A Country Doctor". He was uneasy about his Jewish heritage and opposed Zionism.

88 lunar years ago, on this day in 1352 AH, the scholar Seyyed Mohammad Sharif Taqavi Vanaki, passed away at the age of 82, and was laid to rest in the Chehl Akhtaran Cemetery of holy Qom in the mausoleum of Imamzadah Musa al-Mubaraqqa – son of Imam Mohammad at-Taqi al-Jawad (AS), the 9^th Infallible Heir of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA). Born in Vanak near Tehran, he initially studied under his scholarly father, before leaving for Isfahan at the age of 12, to pursue higher religious studies at what was then Iran’s prominent seminary. At the age of 17, he went to holy Najaf in Iraq, where he stayed for twelve years mastering different branches of Islamic sciences under prominent ulema, such as Ayatollah Shaikh Zayn al-Abedin Mazandarani, Ayatollah Fazel-e Irvani, Ayatollah Mirza Hassan Shirazi (famous for his fatwa against tobacco to save Iranian economy from British manipulation). On his return to Iran as a fully qualified mujtahed, he settled in Shiraz to teach at the Fars Seminary. He was active in the Constitutional Movement for end of Qajarid despotism, but following its infiltration by British agents and the martyrdom of Ayatollah Fazlollah Noori, he boldly campaigned for the implementation of Islamic laws, and wrote the famous book “Kashf al-Maraam fi Qanoun al-Islam”. When pressure mounted, he moved to holy Najaf where he briefed the prominent ulema about the deviation of the Constitutional Movement. Because of failing health, he returned to Iran and stayed in Isfahan for ten years. In Tehran, while on his way to holy Mashhad for pilgrimage to the shrine of the Prophet’s 8^th Infallible Heir, Imam Reza (AS), he breathed his last.

56 solar years ago, on this day in 1963 AD, famous Turkish poet, Nazim Hikmet Ran, died at the age of 61. He started writing poems at the age of 12. Because of his leftist inclinations he went to Moscow for higher studies, and on returning to his homeland, wrote revolutionary and anti-capitalist poems, slamming the westernized and suppressive system imposed on Turkey by Mustafa Kamal Ataturk. His poems were warmly welcomed by the people as well as the Turkish army, frightening the officials, and leading to his incarceration. After serving twelve years in jail, this famous Turkish poet was released, and because of danger to his life, went to the Soviet Union. On revocation of his nationality by the Turkish government, he remained in the Soviet Union until his death. Nazim Hikmet is the founder of a new style in Turkish contemporary poetry.

56 solar years ago, on this day in 1963 AD, the Father of the Islamic Revolution, Imam Khomeini (RA), while commemorating in holy Qom the anniversary of Ashura or 10^th Moharram, marking the tragic martyrdom of Imam Husain (AS) in Karbala, castigated the British-installed and US-backed Shah for his anti-Islamic policies. In his address to a large gathering of people, students and religious scholars, he exposed the treason of the Pahlavi regime and pointed out: “They are against the foundations of the divine religion of Islam and the ulema and aim to destroy Islam and the ulema. People; you should know that our Islam and country are threatened. We are deeply concerned about the situation of Iran and the state of the Shah’s despotic regime.”

41 lunar years ago, on this day in 1399 AH, Qods International Day rallies were held for the first time throughout Iran on the Last Friday of the fasting month of Ramadhan, following the decision taken four days earlier by the Father of the Islamic Revolution, Imam Khomeini (RA), for mobilizing world Muslims for liberation of Bayt al-Moqaddas and Palestine. Since then, every year, millions of people in Iran and world countries stage rallies calling for the end of the illegal Zionist entity.

33 solar years ago, on this day in 1984 AD, the Indian government launched the military offensive “Operation Blue Star” at famous Golden Temple, the holiest shrine for Sikhs in Amritsar, to flush out militants of the Khalistan separatist movement of Indian Punjab. The operation continued until June 6, with casualties, most of them civilians, in excess of 5,000. Later, on October 31 the same year, two Sikh bodyguards of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi assassinated her in revenge for desecration of their sacred temple.

3 solar years ago, on this day in 2016 AD, World Heavyweight Boxing Champion, Muhammad Ali, died at the age of 74 in Scottsdale, Arizona and was buried at the Cave Hill Cemetery, in his hometown Louisville, Kentucky. 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. He was illegally stripped of his title under pressure from the US regime 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. He is widely regarded as one of the most significant and celebrated sports figures of the 20th century.

AS/SS