Today is Tuesday; 11th of the Iranian month of Tir 1398 solar hijri; corresponding to 28th of the Islamic month of Shawwal 1440 lunar hijri; and July 2, 2019, of the Christian Gregorian Calendar.

1120 lunar years ago, on this day in 320 AH, the 34-year old Abu Mansur Mohammad was installed as the 19^th caliph of the usurper Abbasid regime in Baghdad with the title “al-Qaher-Billah” by the Turkic slave-guards, who a day earlier had killed his step-brother, Muqtadir-Billah, after a depraved 25-year reign spent in wine, women, music, and singing. He turned out to be more inefficient and cruel than his predecessor. He had his young nephew (a son of Muqtadir) walled up alive, and tortured to death his own step-mother (mother of Muqtadir) in such a cruel manner that she was hanged from her legs with her urine dripping on her face. His tyranny made the Turkic guards remove him after a reign of a year-and-a-half. At night when the caliph was as usual heavily drunk with wine, they burst into his chamber, and when he refused to abdicate, they blinded him, threw him into prison, and set up his nephew, Raadhi (son of Muqtadir) as the new caliph. Eleven years later and after two more caliphs were deposed, he was freed, and till his death 8 years later at the age of 54, he was seen in rags and wooden sandals begging for alms on the streets of Baghdad.

1056 solar years ago, on this day in 963 AD, the Byzantine army proclaimed Nikephorus Phocas II as Emperor on the plains outside Cappadocia in what is now central Turkey, some three months after the death of Emperor Romonos II, after secret negotiations with the widowed Empress Theophano, who bypassed her own young sons and married the new emperor. A notorious enemy of Muslims, during his 6-year reign and before that as an army commander, Nikephorus Phocas had seized the Muslim emirate of the island of Crete, and led frequent raids into Syria against Sayf od-Dowla, the ruler of the Hamdanid Shi’ite Muslim dynasty of Aleppo. Several times he was beaten with heavy losses. In Crete he pillaged the flourishing cities, destroying mosques, libraries, bathhouses, bazaars, and irrigation canals. The capital Rabz al-Khandaq, where currently the city of Heraklion stands, was totally destroyed. Cretan Muslims were either killed or carried off into slavery, while the emir, Abdul-Aziz ibn Shu’ayb, and his son Nu’man were taken captive to Constantinople and forced to become Christians. On the western front, after renouncing his payments of tribute to the Shi’ite Muslim Fatemid dynasty of North Africa, he attacked, but was forced by defeats on land and sea to evacuate the island completely. In 967 he had to make peace with the Fatemids. In 969, he was assassinated by his wife, Empress Theophano and her new her lover – his own nephew (sister’s son), John I Tzimiskes, who now styled himself emperor.

967 lunar years ago, on this day in 473 AH, the renowned Persian poet and mystic, Majd od-Din ibn Adam Sana'i Ghaznavi, was born in Ghazni in what is now Afghanistan. He was connected with the court of the Ghaznavid king, Bahram Shah, who ruled for 35 years. When accompanying the king on a military campaign to India, Sana'i met the Sufi teacher Lai-Khur, and immediately quit royal service as a court poet even though he was promised wealth and the king's daughter in marriage. He started serving the people and criticized the unjust and corrupt rulers in his poems. He was a trend-setter in the style of Persian poetry. His most important work is “Hadiqat-al-Haqiqah” (Walled Garden of Truth), which is in the form of odes, reflecting his ethical and Gnostic thoughts. Among his other works, one can mention “Ilahi Namah” and “Tareeq at-Tahqeeq”. He has written some excellent panegyrics in praise of the Commander of the Faithful, Imam Ali ibn Abi Taleb (AS), the First Infallible Successor of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA). For the past nine centuries Sana'i has had a tremendous influence on Persian literature, and along with Shaikh Fareed od-Din Attar, was regarded by Mowlana Jalal od-Din Rumi as an inspiration.

503 solar years ago, on this day in 1566 AD, French apothecary, astrologer and supposed seer, Michel de Nostredame, known by his Latin name "Nostradamus" died at the age of 63. He published collections of so-called prophecies that have since become famous. The first edition appeared in his lifetime in 1555. He has since attracted a following that credits him with predicting many major world events. Academic sources maintain that the associations made between world events and Nostradamus' quatrains are largely the result of misinterpretations or mistranslations (sometimes deliberate) or else are so tenuous as to render them useless as evidence of any genuine predictive power. Nevertheless, many have used a process of free interpretation and determined 'twisting' of his words to predict an apparently imminent event. For example, in 1867, three years before it happened, Le Pelletier did so to anticipate either the triumph or the defeat of Napoleon III in a war that, in the event, begged to be identified as the Franco-Prussian war, while admitting that he could not specify either which or when. There have also been several well-known Internet hoaxes, where quatrains in the style of Nostradamus have been circulated by e-mail as the real thing. The best-known examples concern the collapse of the World Trade Center on 11 September 2001 that led to hoaxes and to reinterpretations by enthusiasts of several quatrains as supposed prophecies. With the advent of 2012 Nostradamus's alleged prophecies started to be co-opted as evidence suggesting that the end of the world is imminent, notwithstanding the fact that his book never mentions the end of the world, let alone the year 2012.

474 solar years ago, on this day in 1555 AD, the Ottoman Admiral Turgut Ra’ees, who was Greek Christian before conversion to Islam, sacked the Italian city of Paola in retaliation for the Christian raids on Turkish Muslim possessions in the Mediterranean Sea.

241 solar years ago, on this day in 1778 AD, French author and thinker, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, died. Born in Geneva, Switzerland, he joined social discussions as of the age of 40 and started publishing his viewpoints which later became well-known. His ideological, political, and social works profoundly influenced the French people and some thinkers believe that his views were among the reasons that shaped the French revolution. Among his books, are “The Social Contract”, “Emile”, and “The Confessions”.

130 solar years ago, on this day in 1889 AD, Portuguese rule ended in Brazil with the final defeat of the monarchists in the province of Bahia. The Portuguese royal family had shifted to Brazil following the occupation of Portugal by Napoleon. With the end of the Napoleonic wars, King Joaop VI moved back to Portugal leaving his son as regent, who later declared himself Pedro I as independent ruler of Brazil. When monarchial rule ended in Brazil Pedro II was the emperor, whose reforms such as abolishment of slavery in 1888, angered plantation owners. A year later, the republicans toppled the monarchy and Brazil became a republic.

94 solar years ago, on this day in 1925 AD, Congo’s independence leader, Patrice Lumumba, was born. He struggled against Belgian rule, and after independence was instated as the premier and the minister of defense. His downfall was brought about by the US which backed the military rebellion in Katanga Province and had him dismissed from his post by the Congo president. In 1961, this freedom fighter was murdered after suffering barbaric tortures at the hand of mercenaries of the US and Belgium. With the publication of the reports on his death, a wave of popular protests swept across Congo and other African states. Lumumba has left behind several books including “Congo My Country”.

82 lunar years ago, on this day in 1358 AH, the jurisprudent/philosopher, Ayatollah Seyyed Hassan Badkoubei, passed away in holy Najaf at the age of 65. Born in the Russian occupied Iranian city of Baku (capital of the current Republic of Azerbaijan), after initial studies under his scholarly father, he came to Tehran, where he stayed for seven years learning jurisprudence and philosophy. He then went to holy Najaf in Iraq, where for four fruitful decades, he groomed scholars and wrote books.

58 solar years ago, on this day in 1961 AD, the American author, Ernest Hemingway, died at the age of 62. For a while, he worked as a reporter in England and France. He was the innovator of short stories in simple language. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1954. Among his books, are “The Old Man and the Sea”, “A Farewell to Arms”, and “For Whom the Bell Tolls”.

49 solar years ago, on this day in 1970 AD, Allamah Abdul-Hussain Amini, the renowned Islamic scholar and theologian, and compiler of the valuable book “al-Ghadeer”, passed away at the age of 68 in the holy city of Najaf in Iraq. He was born in the city of Tabriz, in north-western Iran, in a religious family, and after completion of preliminary studies, left for holy Najaf, where he attended the classes of prominent ulema, such as Shaikh Abdul-Karim Haeri and Mirza Mohammad Hussein Na’ini. Soon he attained the status of Ijtehad at a relatively young age, and started writing books. His most valuable work is the 11-volume book titled “al-Ghadeer fi’l-Kitab wa’s-Sunna wa’l-Adab”, in which he refers to the ayahs of the holy Qur’an, the Prophet’s hadith and Arabic literature, regarding the historical event of Ghadeer-Khom on the 18th of Zilhijja 10 AH, when Prophet Mohammad (SAWA) while returning from his Farewell Hajj Pilgrimage was commanded by God Almighty to proclaim Imam Ali ibn Abi Taleb (AS) as his vicegerent. While writing this monumental book Allamah Amini bore the hardships of travel to several countries, including India, Turkey, Syria, Egypt and Iraq to study different sources. He gathered from Sunni sources the narrations of at least 110 Sahaba or the Prophet’s companions about the event of Ghadeer, and then recorded the Hadiths narrated in this regard by 360 reliable narrators. He also wrote several other books including an exegesis of the Holy Qur’an. He founded a large library in the holy city of Najaf, which stands to this day and is still used by scholars.

37 solar years ago, on this day in 1982 AD, the prominent Islamic scholar, Ayatollah Mohammad Saduqi, was martyred by MKO terrorists while leading the Friday Prayer in Yazd city. A student of such prominent ulema as Ayatollah Khwansari and Grand Ayatollah Boroujerdi, he was a firm supporter of the Father of the Islamic Revolution, Imam Khomeini (RA), and struggled against the Shah’s despotic regime. Following the victory of the Islamic Revolution, he was elected to the Assembly of Experts, and played a valuable role in preparation of Islamic Iran’s Constitution. As a representative of Imam Khomeini, and the Friday Prayer leader of Yazd, he spared no efforts to develop the region.

31 lunar years ago, on this day in 1409 AH, the Father of Islamic Revolution, Imam Khomeini (RA) passed away at the age of 87, plunging in grief Iranians, world Muslims and conscientious people throughout the globe. (According to Iranian solar calendar the day was 14^th Khordad, corresponding to June 4 of the Gregorian calendar). He had transformed Iran into a powerful independent country, after inspiring the people to overthrow the British-installed and American-supported Pahlavi regime, thereby shattering big power equations in Iran and the region. A mujtahid and a Gnostic of the highest order, he was exiled for some 14 years for opposing the despotic Shah, before returning home to an unprecedented welcome, to lead the people to victory in February 1979. For the next ten years he ably guided the Islamic Republic of Iran, defeating the conspiracies hatched by Global Arrogance, including the 8-year war the US imposed on Iran through its agent, Saddam of Iraq’s repressive Ba’th minority regime. In addition to grooming prominent scholars, Imam Khomeini has left behind many valuable compilations, including “Tahrir al-Wasilah”, “Mesbah al-Hedaayah” and “Islamic Government”. He gave to the world the dynamic system of “Velayat-e Faqih” or rule of the Supreme Jurisprudent in the absence of the Infallible Imam, pointing out the absurdity of rule by unprincipled and immoral persons, even if democratically elected. His thoughts continue to guide the people of Iran and all conscientious people around the world.

29 solar years ago, on this day in 1990 AD, prominent Iranian painter and calligrapher, Mohammad Ali Zavieh, passed away at the age of 78. He attended the “Kamal ul-Molk” School of Art at a young age and soon created his own style.  He has left behind more than 2,000 works during his sixty years of hard work. His first work won the major prize of Brussels painting exhibition. Some of his works are kept at the National Arts Museum of Iran’s Cultural Heritage Organization.

29 solar years ago, on this day in 1990 AD, Some 1402 Hajj pilgrims were killed in a stampede inside a tunnel leading to Mecca from Mena, because of the mismanagement of traffic police and security officials of the Wahhabi regime of Saudi Arabia. It was one of the worst tragedies during the annual Hajj, until it was surpassed in 2015 when thousands of pilgrims, many of them from the Islamic Republic of Iran were trampled to death because of the closing of the main highway in Mena through which Mohammad bin Salman the son of the Saudi ruler, Salman bin Abdul-Aziz, drove in a reckless manner, indifferent to the plight of the pilgrims.

12 solar years ago, on this day in 2007 AD, the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting launched the English-language satellite television channel Press TV to counter the Western media's distorted presentation of news, and to convey to the English-speaking people worldwide facts and realities.

AS/SS