Today is Friday; 28th of the Iranian month of Tir 1398 solar hijri; corresponding to 16th of the Islamic month of Zil-Qa’dah 1440 lunar hijri, and July 19, 2019, of the Christian Gregorian Calendar.

1308 solar years ago, on this day in 711 AD, the Muslim forces, led by Tareq Ibn Ziyad won a decisive victory in the Battle of Guadalete by completely routing the Visigoth Christian army of King Roderick and thereby rapidly conquering much of southern Spain. Soon all of Spain and Portugal were liberated by the Muslims, who subsequently crossed the Pyrenees Mountains into France. Tareq had earlier crossed the Mediterranean from the northwestern African coast and landed on the island known ever since in his name as Gibraltar (corruption of the Arabic "Jabal at-Tareq" – Rock or Mount of Tareq). He was governor of Tangiers under Musa Ibn Nusayr, the conqueror and Emir of the Province of Ifriqiya (western Libya, Algeria, Tunisia, and Morocco).Tareq was made governor of Spain by Musa, but was called back to Damascus by the jealous Omayyad caliph, Walid I, who also relieved Musa of the overall charge of northwest Africa, Spain and the islands off the coast of France. There are three different accounts of the origins of Tareq given by Arab historians – he was a Persian from Hamedan; he was an Arab of the Sadf tribe; he was a Berber from North Africa. Musa Ibn Nusayr is also said to be the son of an Iranian Christian, according to the historian Tabari; while others say he belonged to the Lakhmid Arab clan who were Sassanid clients.

1209 solar years ago, on this day in 810 AD, the famous Iranian Sunni Muslim compiler of hadith, Mohammad bin Ismail bin Ibrahim bin Bardizbah bin Bazzabeh Bukhari, was born in the Iranian city of Bukhara in what is now Uzbekistan, in a family which before conversion to Islam was either Zoroastrian or Jewish. He started collecting hadith from anyone who could relate. In his late teens, along with his brother and mother, he travelled to Mecca for pilgrimage. After visiting the centres of learning, exchanging information on hadith from over 1,000 persons, and recording more than 600,000 narrations, he returned to his hometown after a 16-year absence. Here he compiled his "al-Jame' as-Sahih", which is revered as "Sahih Bukhari" by Sunni Muslims, and contains 7,275 hadith selected as per his inclination. Although he has acknowledged some of the unparalleled merits of the Ahl al-Bayt, he did not visit the rightful heirs of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA) or met their disciples for precise information on authentic hadith. It is claimed that it was fear of the wrath of the Abbasid regime that made him omit any hadith related from such an outstanding authority as the Prophet's 6th Infallible Heir, Imam Ja'far Sadeq (AS), but he felt no inhibitions to include in his so-called "Sahih" narrations from dubious persons – even avowed enemies of the Prophet's Household. In 250 AH he settled in Naishapur in Khorasan, following his expulsion from Bukhara for issuing a weird fatwa against the letter and spirit of the shari'ah that persons drinking the milk of the same cow, goat or donkey, are foster siblings and hence ineligible for marriage with each other. He died at the age of 62 while on a visit to Khartank, a village near Samarqand.

1114 lunar years ago, on this day in 326 AH, the famous vizier of the Iranian Buwaiyhid Dynasty of Iran-Iraq-Oman, Abu’l-Qasem Ismail Ibn Hassan Taleqani, known as Saheb Ibn Abbad, was born near Isfahan. He was a follower of the Ahl al-Bayt of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA), and an outstanding writer, linguist, poet and statesman who held the post of prime minister for eighteen years, and whose wisdom is still proverbial today. He wrote mostly in Arabic on theology, history, grammar, lexicography, and literary criticism in addition to composing poetry. He learnt Hadith from his father and the holy Qur’an from his equally pious mother. In Isfahan, he studied under such great masters as Ahmad Ibn Farres ar-Raazi and Abdullah Ibn Farres. Saheb was a patron of scholars and poets, and respected jurists and theologians. He had a great library in the city of Rayy containing over 100,000 books. He wrote over 30 books including one on Imamate, which proves the superiority of the Prophet’s divinely-designated Heir, Imam Ali (AS), over all others. His other books include a Diwan or collection of poetry, a book on medicine, the 7-volume work on lexicography titled “al-Moheet”, and a biography of Seyyed Abdul Azim al-Hasani, the great-great-grandson of Imam Hasan Mujtaba (AS), whose shrine is the main centre of pilgrimage till this day in Rayy – a southern suburb of modern Tehran today.

1021 solar years ago, on this day in 998 AD, the Byzantine army was defeated in the Battle of Apamea in northwestern Syria by the Fatemid Ismaili Shi’a Muslim caliphate of Egypt-Syria, and the leading Greek general, Damian Dalassenos was killed. The battle was part of a series of military confrontations between the two powers over control of northern Syria and the Hamdanid Shi’a Muslim Emirate of Aleppo. Dalassenos, had been besieging Apamea, until the arrival of the Fatimed relief army from Damascus, under Jaysh ibn Samsama. The killing of Dalassenos by a Kurdish soldier threw the Byzantine army into panic. The fleeing Byzantines were pursued, with much loss of life, by the Fatemid troops. This defeat forced the Byzantine emperor Basil II to personally take the field the next year, but he was also unsuccessful, and in 1001 he concluded a ten-year truce with the Fatemids.

986 lunar years ago, on this day in 454 AH, the Shafei jurisprudent, Mohammad Ibn Salamah al-Qazai, died. He compiled the book “ash-Shehab” on the aphorisms arranged in alphabetical order, of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA). A commentary titled "Zou ash-Shehab" was written on this valuable work by Imami scholar, Ziya od-Din Fazlollah.

911 lunar years ago, on this day in 529 AH, Mustarshid-Billah, the 29^th self-styled caliph of the usurper Abbasid regime, after a reign of 17 years, was killed by assassins, believed to be hired by the Seljuqid sultan, Mas’oud, who resented the caliph’s bid to assert independence in political affairs. When Mustarshid launched a military campaign against Mas'oud near Hamedan in western Iran, he was deserted by his troops, taken prisoner by the Sultan, but pardoned on promise not to quit the palace. Left in the royal tent, he was found murdered.

686 solar years ago, on this day in 1333 AD, the The Battle of Halidon Hill was fought during the Second War of Scottish Independence. Scottish forces under Archibald Douglas were heavily defeated by the English forces of King Edward III on unfavourable terrain.

202 solar years ago, on this day in 1817 AD, Georg Anton Schäffer, a German in the service of the Russian-American Company, failed in his attempt to conquer the Kingdom of Hawaii in the Pacific, was forced to admit defeat and leave Kauai, thanks to the resistance of the lightly natives. The monarchy of the Hawaii islands was overthrown by resident American and European capitalists and landholders in 1893 and declared republic. On August 12, 1898, the expansionist US annexed it.

155 solar years ago, on this day in 1864 AD, in the Third Battle of Nanking, the Qing Dynasty of China finally defeated the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom set up in 1851 in southeastern China by the self-proclaimed Christian rebel, Hong Xiuquan, who claimed to be the ‘second son’ of god and younger brother of Prophet Jesus (PuH). The Chinese government was supported by the British and French forces, who extracted concessions from the Qing Dynasty for their aid.

131 lunar years ago, on this day in 1309 AH, the prominent Iranian Islamic scholar, Ayatollah Shaikh Zain ol-Abedin Mazandarani, passed away. After preliminary studies in Iran, he left for the famous seminary in holy Najaf, Iraq, for higher studies under prominent ulema such as the celebrated Ayatollah Sheikh Morteza Ansari Dezfuli. He soon attained an elevated spiritual status. He always thought of the poor and the needy and strove to solve their problems. He was very modest in behaviour and was highly respected by the ulema and people. He was instrumental in enlightening a sizeable section of the Nizari Ismaili community of India with the rational beliefs of the Ithna Ashari or Twelver School during discussions in Najaf with a Khoja delegation that had come on pilgrimage. At his behest Mullah Qader Hussain returned to the Subcontinent espousing the Twelver Shi’a Muslim creed. His preaching was instrumental in convincing several more Khoja families to leave Nizari Ismailism and become Twelvers.

126 solar years ago, on this day in 1893 AD, the Russian poet, Vladimir Mayakovsky, was born. His poems served the communist revolution of the Soviet Union in the year 1917 as he believed that literature should be based on the language of masses of people and should focus on their hardships. This type of poetry became popularly known as journalistic poems. He died in 1930.

125 solar years ago, on this day in 1894 AD, Sir Khwaja Nazem od-Din, one of the notable Bengali Founding Fathers of Pakistan was born in Dhaka in what is now Bangladesh, into the family of the Nawabs of Dhaka of Kashmiri origin. He was a product of Aligarh Muslim University and Cambridge University of Britain, and on his return to undivided India joined the Muslim League. On the birth of Pakistan, he became a career statesman from what was then East Pakistan. Following the death of Governor-General Mohammad Ali Jinnah, he served as the second Governor-General of Pakistan from 1948 until the assassination of Prime Minister Liaqat Ali Khan in 1951. Nazem od-Din now became the Second Prime Minister of Pakistan and the first Bengali premier of that still undivided country. His government lasted only two years. On April 17, 1953, he was dismissed and conceded his defeat in the 1954 general elections to another Bengali statesman Mohammad Ali Bogra, who now became the Prime Minister of Pakistan. After a long illness, Nazem od-Din died in 1964 at the age of 70; was given a state funeral and buried in his hometown of Dhaka.

82 solar years ago, on this day in 1937 AD, George Safford Parker, the American inventor of the fountain pen “Parker’, died at the age of 73. He began in a teaching career which introduced him to the unreliability of existing fountain pens used by his students. Through selling and repairing them, he learned of their construction. He ceased teaching in 1888 to experiment with his own design. On 8 March 1892, he founded the Parker Pen Company, whose products became famous worldwide.

65 solar years ago, on this day in 1954 AD, the renowned Islamic scholar and literary figure of Iraq, Ayatollah Mohammad Hussain Kashef al-Gheta, passed away. Born in a virtuous academic family in the holy city of Najaf, he learned preliminary Islamic sciences at a young age and soon attained high scholarly status by attending the classes of prominent ulema, such as Akhound Khorasani. Ayatollah Kashef al-Gheta groomed many students and wrote several books. He also visited a number of Muslim states to promote Islamic teachings, delivering memorable speeches at the universities and scientific centers of Iran, Egypt, and Palestine. He considered presence of Muslims in political affairs as a must, and played a vital role in the Islamic movement of the Iraqi people against the British, who exiled him to Iran after crushing the 1920 revolution and martyring Ayatollah Mirza Mohammad Taqi Shirazi. Among his books, mention can be made of a diwan of poems and the book “as-Siyasat al-Husainiyyah” on the philosophy behind the epoch-making uprising of the Martyr of Karbala, Imam Husain (AS), the younger grandson of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA).

40 solar years ago, on this day in 1979 AD, the revolution of the people of Nicaragua triumphed against the US-backed repressive regime of Anastasio Somoza Garcia, who fled the country on the collapse of his 12-year dictatorial rule that had led to the killing of 40,000 people and the homelessness of 200,000 others. The US, instead of respecting the will of the Nicaraguan people and the Sandinistas – as the revolutionaries were known – funded anti-revolutionary elements to cause subversion and terrorize the masses, but eventually failed. Nicaragua covers an area of 130700 square km, and its capital is Managua. It is situated in Central American and has coastlines on both the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, sharing borders with Honduras and Costa Rica.

40 solar years ago, on this day in 1979 AD, two supertankers collided off Tobago and spilled 260,000 tons of oil. It was the worst oil spill to date with 88 million gallons spewed.

39 solar years ago, on this day in 1980 AD, the renowned Islamic scholar and literary figure, Jalal od-Din Homai, passed away. Born in Isfahan in a virtuous family, he started learning under his father, and after attending the seminaries, attained the status of Ijtehad. He was a polymath in literature, philosophy, jurisprudence, theology, and astronomy. He groomed numerous students, and was a prolific writer. Among his books is “The History of Iran’s Literature”. He also prepared school and university textbooks on literature and Islamic teachings.

33 solar years ago, on this day in 1986 AD, the Iranian researcher, Seyyed Mohammad Taqi Modarris Razavi, passed away at the age of 91. He studied religious sciences, literature and modern humanities. On establishment of Tehran University, he became head of the college of rational and traditional sciences, as well as the college of literature and humanities. He researched and edited several classical Persian works such as “Tarikh-e Bukhara” and “Mojmal at-Tawarikh”.

8 solar years ago, on this day in 2011 AD, Iran shot down an unmanned US spy plane that was trying to gather information on the underground Fordo uranium enrichment site.

7 solar years ago, on this day in 2012 AD, Iranian meteorologist and academic, Mohammad Hassan Ganji, passed away in Tehran at the age of 100. Born in Birjand, in southern Khorasan, he is called the father of modern geography in Iran. Ganji established the Iran Meteorological Organization in 1955 and served as the head of Iran's Department General of Meteorology from 1956 to 1968.

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