Today is Thursday; 13th of the Iranian month of Tir 1398 solar hijri; corresponding to 1St of the Islamic month of Zilqa’dah 1440 lunar hijri; and July 4, 2019, of the Christian Gregorian Calendar.

1267 lunar years ago, on this day in 173 AH, Hazrat Fatema al-Ma’sumah (SA), the venerable daughter of Imam Musa al-Kazem (SA), the 7^th Infallible Heir of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA), was born in Medina. She was a child prodigy and acquired higher status of knowledge while less than 8 years of age, to the extent she could provide satisfactory answers to some of the most complicated issues for which grey-bearded scholars had no clue. She grew up into a paragon of piety, and till she passed away in Iran at the age of 29 years she remained a spinster since no man of her times was worthy of her hand. The reason that she journeyed to Iran was to visit her dear brother, Imam Reza (AS), who was forcibly brought to Khorasan by the crafty Abbasid caliph, Mamoun, fearful of the popularity of the Ahl al-Bayt among the ummah. Near Saveh, southwest of present-day Tehran, her caravan was attacked by Abbasid agents, making her seek the safety of the nearby city of Qom, which was a sanctuary for the Prophet’s blessed household. After seventeen days of sojourn, her soul departed for the ethereal heavens from this city, where today her grand golden-domed mausoleum stands for pilgrims from all over the globe, while Qom has been transformed into the world’s spiritual capital with students coming from the four corners of the Planet to acquire Islamic knowledge.

1263 lunar years ago, on this day in 177 AH, Shurraiy Ibn Abdullah Ibn Sinan an-Nakha’i, the hadith scholar who ended up a turncoat and betrayed his profession of a judge, died at the age of 82. Born into an Arab family of Yemeni origin in the Iranian city of Bukhara in what is now the Central Asian republic of Uzbekistan, he used to be a follower of the Prophet’s Ahl al-Bayt, until he made the fatal mistake of contaminating his body and soul by agreeing to eat the rich food prepared through foul and unlawful means at the table of Mahdi al-Abbasi, the 3^rd self-styled caliph of the usurper Abbasid regime. Thereafter he was made a judge in Kufa, and used to give dubious verdicts, in addition to forging hadith.

965 solar years ago, on this day in 1054 AD, Islamic astronomers in Fatemid Egypt and the Iranian Buwayhid dominions of Iraq-Iran, as well as the Chinese, recorded the seeing of a supernova -- a violently exploding star that was visible in daylight for 23 days and at night for almost 2 years. It is believed the Crab Nebula in the constellation Taurus is the remnant of this supernova. Rock paintings in North America suggest that Amerindians in Arizona and New Mexico also saw it. There are no European records of the event, since Christianity had plunged Europe into centuries of darkness. Some 48 years earlier in 1006, Islamic astronomers had recorded a supernova and given descriptions of how light varied and was visible for almost a year. This was history's brightest "new star" ever recorded, at first seen to be brighter than the planet Venus. It occurred in our Milky Way galaxy, appearing in the southern constellation Lupus, near the star Beta Lupi.

924 solar years ago, on this day in 1095 AD, the statesman, warrior and literary figure, Majd od-Din Osama ibn Murshid ibn Ali ibn Munqidh al-Kinani, titled Moayyed od-Dowlah, was born in Shaizar near Hama in Syria. His life coincided with the rise and fall of several Muslim dynasties, as well as the invasion by the First Crusade and setting up of the illegal crusader states by the European invaders. A colourful figure and a brave hunter, who fought heroically in many battles, he was a nephew of the emir of Shaizar. Circumstances made him a courtier to the Zengids and Ayyubids in Damascus, serving Noor od-Din Zengi, and later Salah od-Din Ayyubi. He also served the Fatemid court in Cairo. He often meddled in the politics and was exiled from both Damascus and Cairo. He wrote many poetry anthologies, such as the "Kitab al-Asa" (Book of the Staff), "Lubab al-Adab" (Kernels of Literature), and "al-Manazil wa'd-Diyar" (Dwellings and Abodes). For modern readers, however, he is most well-known for his "Kitab al-I'bar", which contains lengthy descriptions of the crusaders, whom he visited on many occasions, and some of whom he considered friends, although he generally saw them as European barbarians. It is sometimes assumed that Osama was a Shi'a Muslim, because he often writes about and praises Imam Ali (AS). His family cooperated with the Fatemids and other Shi'ia Muslim dynasties, and he himself served the Fatemids in Egypt. Researchers are divided, and some think that he had a "secret sympathy" with the Shi'a Muslims, while others believe he was probably Sunni with Shi'a tendencies. Still others think that his family members were Twelver Shi'as. He died in Damascus at the age of 96, a year after the liberation of Bayt ol-Moqaddas from the crusaders after 88 years of occupation.

832 solar years ago, on this day in 1187 AD, a united Muslim army of Kurds, Turks, Iranians and Arabs, broke the back of the Crusader usurpers of Palestine by inflicting a shattering defeat in the Battle of Hattin near Tiberias in what is now the Zionist usurped land of Palestine, thereby paving the way for liberation of Bayt al-Moqaddas some three months later that ended the 88-year illegal existence of the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem. The Muslims were led by the Kurdish general Salah od-Din Ayyoubi, who in 1169 after his surprised appointment as vizier of Egypt by the Fatemid Ismaili Shi'ite caliph, had turned on his benefactor to seize the country and style himself sultan, and then expand his power in Syria, Palestine and as far as his birthplace, Mosul, in Iraq.

796 lunar years ago, on this day in 644 AH, Sultan Naseer od-Din Mahmoud Shah of the Slave Dynasty of Northern India, crossed the Ravi River, a branch of the Indus River in Punjab, while his minister Ghiyas od-Din Balban, separating from the main army, led an expedition into the Joud Hills against the Rana who had guided the Mongol invaders in the previous year to ravage parts of the Sultanate. The Rana was duly chastised. Balban, who later married the Sultan’s daughter and succeeded him to the throne, ruling ably for twenty years, introduced the Persian etiquette at his court to control the turbulent Turkic Amirs.

573 solar years ago, the famous Ottoman naval commander, Khair od-Din Pasha, known to the Europeans as Barbarossa because of his red beard, died at the age of 68 in Istanbul. Born on the island of Lesbos, to a Turkish father and a Greek mother, he was named Khizr. He grew up to be a thorn in the side of European powers, defeating their navies in several battles, and finally liberating from Spain Algiers and adjoining lands, which were merged in the Ottoman Empire, with Khair od-Din as Pasha (governor).

536 solar years ago, on this day in 1483 AD, “Tabulae Alphonsinae” or the “Alphonsine Tables” were published by German printer Erhard Ratdolt in Venice. Among the earliest mathematical tables to be printed, these were a Latin translation made between 1262 to 1272 at the behest of King Alfonso X of Castile and Leon, of the Arabic Tables of the Muslim mathematician and astronomer, Abu Ishaq Ibrahim ibn Ishaq az-Zarqali (Arzachel to medieval Europe), who lived in Toledo, al-Andalus (Islamic Spain). Born in 1029 to a family of Christian Visigoths who converted to Islam, his works inspired a generation of Muslim astronomers in Islamic Spain including Ibn Bajjah (Avempace), Ibn Tufail (Abubacer), Ibn Rushd (Averroes), Ibn al-Kammad, Ibn al‐Ha’im al‐Ishbili and Nour od-Din al-Betruqi (Alpetragius). Zarqali invented several astronomical instruments including an equatorium for computing the position of the planets. He corrected geographical data from the Greek astronomer Ptolemy and the Iranian astronomer al-Khwarezmi, specifically Ptolemy’s estimate of the length of the Mediterranean Sea from 62 degrees to the correct value of 42 degrees. He also invented a perfected kind of astrolabe known as “as-Safiha az-Zarqaliyya”, which was famous in Europe under the name Saphaea. At a time when Christian Europe was immersed in the dark ages, he built a water clock, capable of determining the hours of the day and night and indicating the days of the lunar months at a time. Nicolaus Copernicus, who greatly benefitted from the works of Islamic scientists, has extensively quoted Zarqali and al-Battani. In 1085 Toledo was occupied by Alfonso VI of Castile and his Christian mercenaries, prompting Zarqali and his colleagues, such as al‐Waqqashi (1017–1095) to flee. It is not known whether the aged Zarqali moved to Cordoba, which he often used to visit, or died in a refugee camp. The crater Arzachel on the Moon is named after him.

473 solar years ago, on this day in 1546 AD, Murad III, the 12th Ottoman Sultan and the 4th self-styled Turkish caliph, was born to Sultan Salim II the “Drunkard” and his Jewish concubine, Rachel (Noorbanu). In 1574 on ascending the throne, he launched fratricide by strangling to death five of his brothers. During his 21-year reign he earned notoriety for massacre of fellow Muslims and ending the long Peace of Amasya with Iran’s Safavid Empire that resulted in the 12-year Ottoman-Persian War (1578-90) in the Caucasus and the institutional decline of the Ottoman Empire. As a result of the growing inclination of the Turkish tribes of Anatolia towards the school of the Prophet's Ahl al-Bayt, he made a pact with France, stopped the Ottoman push into Europe, and massacred thousands of Shi'ite Muslims. As a result, his armies suffered defeats in Europe as well, at the hands of the Austrian Hapsburg Empire.

265 solar years ago, on this day in 1754 AD, During the French-Amerindian War against the British, Colonel George Washington surrendered Fort Necessity in Pennsylvania to French Captain Louis Coulon de Villiers. Two decades later, Washington joined the American rebels against the British crown, and after victory became the first president of the United States of America.

243 solar years ago, on this day in 1776 AD, the thirteen New England colonies banded together to sign in Philadelphia the Declaration of Independence from British rule of what they called the United States of America (US). Battles were fought between the revolutionaries and the monarchists for the next several years, and it was not until 1812 that Britain recognized the independence of USA. Since then the USA, after brutally exterminating the original Amerindians or Red Skins, and forcing the black people of Africa into slavery, has terrorized the world with its crimes against humanity.

229 solar years ago, on this day in 1790 AD, Welsh military engineer and geodesist, George Everest, in whose honour the world’s tallest peak was renamed as “Mount Everest”, was born. He worked on the trigonometrical survey of India during the years 1818-43, providing the accurate mapping of the Subcontinent, and for more than twenty-five years, surveyed the longest arc of the meridian ever accomplished at the time. Everest made countless adaptations to the surveying equipment, methods, and mathematics in order to minimize problems specific to the Great Survey, such as the immense size and scope, the terrain, weather conditions, and the desired accuracy. Mount Everest in Himalayas, formerly called Peak XV by the British, was renamed in his honour in 1865, a year before his death, although he never set foot on it. The 8,800-meter high summit overlaps Tibet and Nepal. Tibetans call it "Chomolungma", while the Nepalis call it “Sagarmatha”. In 2005, a mountaineering team from the Islamic Republic of Iran succeeded in climbing Mount Everest.

215 solar years ago, on this day in 1804 AD, American novelist and short-story writer, Nathaniel Hawthorne, was born in Marblehead [Salem] Massachusetts. One of his ancestors, a judge in the Salem witchcraft trials, became the model for the accursed founder of the famous novel “The House of the Seven Gables” that he wrote. Hawthorne would often wonder whether the decline of his family’s fortune was a punishment for the sins of his "sable-cloaked steeple-crowned progenitors”. Marblehead is also the location of the house in his novel. He also wrote "The Scarlet Letter" and the “The Marble Faun”.

212 solar years ago, on this day in 1807 AD, Italian adventurer, Giuseppe Garibaldi, who unified Italy as one single kingdom under King Emmanuel II of Sardinia, was born in Nice, which in those days had been annexed by France’s Napoleon Bonaparte before being restored to the kingdom of Sardinia in 1814 by the Congress of Vienna. In his youth he was involved in military enterprises in Brazil, Uruguay and some parts of Europe, and had served as General of the Roman Republic in 1849. In 1860, he set sail from Genoa to conquer the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies – Kingdom of Sicily and Kingdom of Naples – that had been set up in 1816. He is considered as one of the three “Fathers of the Fatherland”, along with Count Camillo Cavour, King Victor Emmanuel II for unifying Italy. He died in 1882.

73 solar years ago, on this day in 1946 AD, the Philippines archipelago became independent from US rule. Occupied by the Spanish in the 16th century at a time when Islam was fast spreading in Southeast Asia, the Filipinos were forced to become Christians. In 1898, the US seized the Philippines, which consists of 7107 Islands and covers an area of 300,000 sq km. Muslims today are found in Mindanao and other southern islands, and complain of discrimination and persecution, and are struggling to regain their birthrights.

48 solar years ago, on this day in 1971 AD, Iran’s renowned Persian literary figure and lexicographer, Dr. Mohammad Moin, passed away at the age of 57. Born in a religious family in the northern Iranian city of Rasht, he learned Arabic at a young age, and following the completion of his studies at Tehran's Dar al-Fonoun Academy, he went on obtained a PhD in Persian Language and Literature. As of 1942, he began lecturing and researching at Tehran University. As of the year 1946, with the start of publication of the famous Persian lexicon “Lughat-Nameh Dehkhoda” by Allamah Ali Akbar Dehkhoda, he started cooperation with him, and was awarded by several world universities and academic-literary foundations. His valuable works include the 6-volume “Persian Lexicon”, and “Iran’s Culture”.

37 solar years ago, on this day in 1982 AD, three Iranian diplomats along with the IRNA reporter and their Lebanese driver were kidnapped in Beirut by the Phalangist Christian militia, while returning to the Iranian Embassy in the Lebanese capital. The Iranians, who today remain the world's longest-held hostages, include Charge d’Affaires, Seyyed Mohsen Musavi, Ahmad Motavasellian, Mohammad Taqi Rastegar Moqaddam, and Kazem Akhawan. Reports indicate their transfer to the dungeons of the illegal Zionist entity.

16 solar years ago, on this day in 2003 AD, in Quetta, Pakistan, terrorists backed by the US and Saudi Arabia desecrated the sanctity of a mosque by opening fire on worshippers, resulting in the martyrdom of over 50 Shi’a Muslims and injury to over a hundred others.

9 solar years ago, on this day in 2010 AD, the prominent Islamic scholar and Source of Emulation in Lebanon, Grand Ayatollah Seyyed Mohammad Hussain Fazlollah, passed away at the age of 77. Born in the holy Iraqi city of Najaf, in Iraq in a Lebanese religious family, he studied under prominent ulema, including Grand Ayatollah Seyyed Mohsin al-Hakeem, Grand Ayatollah Seyyed Abu’l-Qasem Khoi, and Ayatollah Sadra Baad-Koubaee. He spent six years writing articles and compiling books and played a major role in reclaiming the denied rights of Shi'ite Muslims in Lebanon. He was a firm supporter of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Islamic Resistance Movement of Lebanon against Israeli occupation. He was the target of several assassination attempts by the Americans. He has left behind valuable books, including a 25-volume Exegesis of the Holy Qur'an.

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