Today is Saturday; 5th of the Iranian month of Mordad 1398 solar hijri; corresponding to 24th of the Islamic month of Zil-Qa’dah 1440 lunar hijri; and July 27, 2019, of the Christian Gregorian Calendar.

1240 lunar years ago, on this day in 200 AH, Imam Reza (AS), the 8^th Infallible Heir of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA), started his historic journey from his hometown Medina to Marv in Khorasan, where Mamoun the 7^th self-styled caliph of the usurper Abbasid regime, had forced him to come, in order to isolate him from the followers of the Ahl al-Bayt. The Imam turned this into an opportunity by preaching the genuine message of Islam to the eager masses wherever the caravan stopped in the cities on the route, such as Basra, Ahvaz, Yazd, and especially Naishapur in northeastern Iran, where he narrated to a 20,000-plus gathering the famous “Hadith Silsalat az-Zahab” (Golden Chain of Authority). He quoted his father and forefathers as relating from the Prophet who was informed by Archangel Gabriel of God’s expression: “The phrase ‘there is no god but Allah’ is My strong fortress and whoever enters My strong fortress is immune from My wrath’. When the caravan started to move the Imam protruded his head from the canopied litter atop the camel and told the gathering: “But there are certain conditions, and I am one of these conditions”. He meant to say that only devotion to the Prophet’s Ahl al-Bayt and practical adherence to their path guarantees entry into Allah’s strong fortress in order to be immune from divine wrath. In Marv (presently in Turkmenistan), Mamoun, while greeting the Imam offered to abdicate the caliphate in his favour, but the Prophet’s successor aware of the intricate plot to tarnish the impeccable image of the Ahl al-Bayt, politely turned it down. The crafty caliph then forced him, against his will, to be declared his Heir-Apparent. To the astonishment of the Abbasid regime, the Iranian masses flocked to Imam Reza (AS), showing him reverence throughout the almost three years he was in Khorasan. An exasperated Mamoun stealthily gave a fatal dose of poison, as a result of which Imam Reza (AS) attained martyrdom and was laid to rest in Sanabad near Tous, which soon grew into Mashhad-e Reza or simply Mashhad as it is known till this day.   

1131 lunar years ago, on this day in 309 AH, the Iranian Muslim mystic, Hussein Mansour al-Hallaj, was executed in Baghdad by the Abbasid caliph, Muqtadar-Billah, on charges of heresy for uttering blasphemous remarks such as “there is nothing in my turban and cloak except God" and the phrase “an’al-Haq” (I am the Absolute Truth). He was a student of the two famous Iranian Sufi masters, Sahl Ibn Abdullah at-Tustari and Junayd Baghdadi, and was expelled by both of them for his weird views. Born in Fars province to a cotton-carder, as indicated by his family name “Hallaj”, he memorized the holy Qur’an at a young age and would often join other mystics in study. He was an Ismaili Muslim and performed at least three Hajj pilgrimages to Mecca, where he once stayed for a year, fasting and in total silence. He traveled widely as far as India and Central Asia, and wrote and taught along the way, gaining followers, many of whom accompanied him on his second and third trips to Mecca. He settled in the Abbasid capital Baghdad, where his weird utterances invited trouble. On refusing to renounce his beliefs, he was flogged, amputated, hanged, burnt, and his remains thrown into the River Tigris.

817 solar years ago, on this day in 1202 AD, the Battle of Basian occurred in what is now northeastern Turkey following seizure of Erzerum by Rukn od-Din Suleymanshah II of the Seljuq Sultanate of Roum, resulting in the victory of the Georgians, who though checking the advance of the Turks, failed to take the city.

720 solar years ago, on this day in 1299 AD, the invasion of Nicomedia by Osman Bey is considered by historians to be the date of foundation of the Ottoman state.  Osman’s father Ertugrul, was an Oghuz Turk, who fleeing the Mongol invasion of Muslim lands in Central Asia, came to Anatolia (modern Turkey) from Marv in Khorasan with 400 horsemen to serve the Seljuqs of Roum against the Byzantines. The collapse of the Seljuq Sultanate of Roum saw Anatolia divided into a patchwork of independent, mostly Turkic states, the so-called Ghazi emirates. One of the emirates was led by Osman Bey (1258–1326), from whom the name Ottoman is derived. He extended the frontiers of Turkic settlements toward the edge of the Byzantine Empire. In the century after the death of Osman, Ottoman rule began to extend over the Eastern Mediterranean and the Balkans at the expense of the Byzantines, who went into oblivion with the capture of their capital Constantinople in 1453 by the Turks and its renaming as Istanbul as the new capital. The Ottoman Empire reached its zenith in the 16^th century, overlapping the three continents of Asia, Africa and Europe, and turning of the Mediterranean Sea into the Turkish Lake. In the east, Ottoman expansion was first checked by the fearsome Central Asian conqueror Amir Timur at the beginning of the 15^th century, and in the subsequent centuries by the powerful Persian Empire of the Safavids of Iran. The decline set in towards the end of the 17^th century and the beginning of the 18^th century and continued until its final defeat in First World War. In 1923 the Ottoman Empire was dissolved and replaced by the Republic of Turkey.

743 solar years ago, on this day in 1276 AD, James I of Aragon, died at the age of 68. An avowed enemy of Muslims, during his long 63-year reign, he occupied the prosperous Spanish Muslim Ta'efa of Valencia (Arabic Balansiya), through treachery, granting asylum to its deposed ruler, the apostate Zayd Abu Zayd, who adopted the Christian name Vicente Bellvis, married a Christian woman, and betrayed the Muslims. The Siege of Burriana in 1233 and the Battle of the Puig in 1237 launched by James were bravely resisted by Zayyan ibn Mardanish of Valencia, who was overpowered in 1238, thereby ending over five centuries of glorious Muslim rule over this region on Spain’s eastern coast. James next attacked and occupied the Muslim-ruled Balearic Islands in the Mediterranean Sea, exterminating the local Spanish Muslim population and settling Christian Catalans in their place. In 1856, when his body was exhumed, his deformed skull was found to have the crack he suffered as a result of an arrow shot by a Muslim archer that pierced him above his left eyebrow.

717 solar years ago, on this day in 1302 AD, the Battle of Bapheus occurred, resulting in a decisive victory for the rising principality of the Ottoman Turks over the Byzantine Empire, and opening up of all of Asia Minor for the Muslim conquest. The Ottomans achieved characteristics and qualities of state after this battle near what is now Yalova in Turkey. Osman I, who served the Seljuq sultans of Roum or Anatolia, took over leadership of his clan in 1282, and over the next two decades launched a series of ever-deeper raids into Byzantine territories. By 1301, the Ottomans were besieging Nicaea, the former imperial capital. In the spring of 1302, Emperor Michael IX launched a campaign, but the Turks avoided open battle and carried on hit-and-run raids that weakened and isolated the Byzantine army, forcing the emperor to retreat by the sea, followed by waves of refugees. At this Michael's co-emperor Andronikos II Palaiologos sent another army across the Bosporus which was routed by the Turks at Bapheus – the first major victory for the nascent Ottoman emirate. The Byzantine defeat sparked a massive exodus of the Christian Greek population from the area into the European parts of the Empire. In the next one-and-a-half centuries, the Ottomans were to complete the conquest of the Byzantine Empire by capturing its capital Constantinople in 1453 and renaming it Islambol (Istanbul).

433 solar years ago, on this day in 1586 AD, potatoes were introduced from the Americas to Britain by Thomas Harriot and cultivated by Walter Raleigh in his estate in Ireland. The origin of the potato is not definitively known, and there are other accounts of its being brought to Europe by the Spanish much earlier.

407 solar years ago, on this day in 1612 AD, Murad IV, the 17th Ottoman Sultan and the 9th self-styled Turkic caliph, was born in Istanbul to Kosem or Mahpeykar Sultan, the Greek concubine of Ahmed 1. Brought to power by a palace conspiracy in 1623 against his uncle Mustafa I, at the age of 11, he immediately ordered the killing of four of his own brothers. His 17-year reign was marked by the 16-year long war against the Safavid Empire of Iran, the outcome of which was partition of the Caucasus between the two powers for around two centuries. In 1635, a year after his disastrous war with Poland, taking advantage of the weakness of Shah Safi in Isfahan, he intensified the intermittent war raging with the Safavids since 1623 by marching into Azarbaijan and seizing Tabriz before invading Iran-ruled Iraq. In 1638, he occupied Baghdad through a ruse after a 40-day siege, following heavy losses inflicted by the Iranian defenders on his troops including the death of Grand Vizier Mohammad Tayyar on the final day. Murad then had the bulk of the population of Baghdad butchered despite the promises he had made to spare them on surrender. His generals arranged a sort of tableau, in which the heads were struck off one thousand captives by one thousand headsmen at the same moment, while Murad enjoyed the gruesome sight. He sadistically remarked: "Trying to conquer Baghdad was more beautiful than Baghdad itself." Met with fierce Iranian resistance, Murad IV had to end the protracted war through conclusion of the Qasr-e Shirin Treaty in 1639 which returned Tabriz and Azarbaijan to Iran, but Baghdad remained under the Ottomans, while the Caucasus was divided between the two powers, in which eastern Armenia, eastern Georgia, and Daghestan stayed Persian, and western Georgia and western Armenia came under Ottoman rule. Of dubious nature, in his domestic policies Murad IV banned alcohol in Istanbul and ruthlessly killed all those found drinking wine, but was a habitual drinker himself. This self-styled Turkic caliph has admitted to this fact in his couplets: "Even if the rivers became wine, they wouldn't fill my glass." In another poem he has said: "The wine is such a devil that I have to protect my people from it by drinking all of it". He died in Istanbul at the age of 28. His order on his deathbed to kill his only surviving but mentally unsound brother was not carried out, and thus the Ottoman line was saved from extinction, with Ibrahim Deli (the Deranged) succeeding him. Murad IV has earned lasting notoriety for his treacherous and brutal nature.

261 lunar years ago, on this day in 1179 AH, Najm od-Dowla, the Nawab Nazim of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa, died of fever within a year of succeeding his father, Mir Ja’far Najafi – known in Indian history as “traitor” for betraying the legitimate ruler, Nawab Siraj od-Dowla, to the British during the Battle of Plassey. He was succeeded to the nominal office under British protection by his brother, Sayf od-Dowla. Of Iranian origin, the Nawabs of Bengal promoted Persian language in their realm in what is now Bangladesh, and India’s Bengal and Bihar states.

247 solar years ago, on this day in 1772 AD, a treaty was signed by European powers for division of Poland among Russia, Austria, and Prussia. Poland thus ceased to exist until its rebirth in 1918 after the end of World War I.

194 lunar years ago, on this day in 1246 AH, the scholar “Sharif ol-Ulema” Mohammad Sharif Amoli Mazandarani, passed away at the age of 41 in his hometown, the holy city of Karbala. Born in a scholarly Iranian family residing in Iraq, he studied under prominent ulema such as Seyyed Mohammad Mujahid. In turn, before his untimely death during a plague, he taught many budding scholars, including the celebrated Ayatollah Shaikh Morteza Ansari Dezfuli.

184 solar years ago, on this day in 1835 AD, Italian poet, Giosue Alessandro Giuseppe Carducci, was born. He is regarded as the national poet of modern Italy. In 1906 he became the first Italian to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature.

178 solar years ago, on this day in 1841 AD, Russian Romantic writer, poet and painter, Mikhail Yuryevich Lermontov, was killed in a duel at the young age of 27. The most important Russian poet after Alexander Pushkin's death in 1837, and the greatest figure in Russian Romanticism, his influence on later Russian literature is still felt in modern times, not only through his poetry, but also through his prose, which founded the tradition of the Russian psychological novel. His works include the short stories “A Hero of our Time”, and “Ashiq-e Gharib” (the Turkish fairytale “Stranger Lover”), and the poem “Death of the Poet”.

175 solar years ago, on this day in 1844 AD, British scientist, John Dalton, died at the age of 78. He conducted extensive research and made several discoveries in the fields of physics, chemistry, and natural sciences. He set the principles for combination of gases and discovered the positive and negative impacts of disintegration and combination of colors.

139 solar years ago, on this day in 1880 AD, during the Second Anglo-Afghan War, Afghan forces led by Shir Ali’s son Ayub Khan defeated the British Army in a battle near Maiwand.

73 solar years ago, on this day in 1946 AD, American writer of novels, poetry and plays Gertrude Stein, died at the age of 72 in France, where she had settled. A literary innovator and pioneer of Modernist Literature, her works included the murder mystery "Blood on the Dining-Room Floor" and “The Biography of Alice B. Toklas”.

40 solar years ago, on this day in 1979 AD, the first Friday Prayer was held in Tehran, and was led by Ayatollah Seyyed Mahmoud Taleqani at Tehran University, on the instructions of the Founder of Islamic Republic, Imam Khomeini (God bless him). Friday Prayers were not usually held during the repressive rule of the Pahlavi regime. Following the victory of Islamic Revolution, this major religious-social-political ceremony was revived, and every week Friday Prayers are held all over Iran drawing large multitudes.

39 solar years ago, on this day in 1980 AD, the fugitive dictator of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, died in the Egyptian capital, Cairo at the age of 61. He was placed on the Peacock Throne in 1941 by the British who deposed his father, Reza Khan, for his pro German policies despite the fact that he owed his rule to Britain. Mohammad Reza loyally served the British and the Americans, who restored him to power in 1953 through a CIA coup following his ouster by the people's uprising during the movement for nationalization of Iran’s oil industry. The US wantonly plundered Iran’s wealth, while Mohammad Reza, acting as their agent, brutally suppressed the Iranian people. In February 1979, with the triumph of the Islamic Revolution under the enlightened leadership of Imam Khomeini (RA), the Pahlavi regime was thrown into the dustbin of history after some 54 years of illegal rule by father and son. In January Mohammad Reza fled Iran, initially to Egypt and thereafter to several other countries. But, these countries did not allow his residence. So he returned to Egypt and died over there.

32 solar years ago, on this day in 1987 AD, Indian ornithologist, Salim Ali, known as the “Birdman of India” died. Born into an Ismaili Shi’ite family, his love of birds started at age 10, when he began writing his observations. Eventually he undertook professional education in ornithology. In 1930 he began a bird survey of Hyderabad State. By 1976, he had published several popular regional field guides of Indian birds for which he is famous. These surveys were based on extensive travels throughout India and Pakistan. The title of his autobiography “The Fall of a Sparrow” recalls the first sparrow that drew his interest as a boy.

31 solar years ago, on this day in 1988 AD, Mersad Operations started in western Iran to crush the MKO terrorists, who launched a wide scale military attack from their bases in Ba'thist Iraq. Equipped with heavy weapons and backed by Saddam, they made a desperate bid to establish a foothold inside Iran through terror tactics, following Iran's acceptance of UN Resolution 598 for ceasefire in the 8-year war imposed by the US. The MKO terrorists’ attack was unrealistic. They imagined they could even reach Tehran. But, the Iranian forces, supported by the people, surrounded the MKO army and crushed these foreign-funded terrorists.

12 solar years ago, on this day in 2007, US occupation troops attacked Muslims in the holy city of Karbala, martyring scores of people. Simultaneously, US-backed terrorists exploded a truck bomb in Baghdad’s Shi’a Muslim neighbourhood of Karradah martyring at least 105 people and injuring 193 others. A year earlier on this same day, US-backed terrorists had fired a rocket and mortar barrage, followed by a car bomb in Baghdad, martyring 32 Shi’a Muslims and wounding 153 others.

11 solar years ago, on this day in 2008 AD, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announced that Iran now has 6,000 centrifuges for enriching uranium to its minimum level for peaceful use of nuclear energy, and proposed to the big powers to end their intransigence by resolving the dispute as per NPT and IAEA rules. But his offer was rejected and more illegal sanctions imposed on the Islamic Republic. After years of more lawless measures against Iran, including assassination of Iranian nuclear scientists and failure to ruin the economy, the 5+1 group finally acknowledged the Islamic Republic’s right to have a peaceful nuclear programme by agreeing to 6,500 centrifuges.

7 solar years ago, on this day in 2012 AD, the Saudi Arabian regime, as part of its repressive policy against the Shi’a Muslims, detained a number of peaceful protesters in the restive eastern region and opened fire on them in Qatif, wounding several as hundreds marched to demand the release of detainees.

AS/SS