Today is Sunday; 6th of the Iranian month of Mordad 1398 solar hijri; corresponding to 25th of the Islamic month of Zil-Qa’dah 1440 lunar hijri; and July 28, 2019, of the Christian Gregorian Calendar.

Several millennium years ago, on this day – the 25^th of Zil-Qa’dah – by God’s commandment the first part of dry land emerged from under the seas on Planet Earth which until then was filled with water without any soil on its surface. This blessed spot is the same place where Adam (AS) built the Symbolic House of God, the Holy Ka’ba, which is the focal point of prayer for Muslims throughout the globe. From here dry land gradually spread around the globe forming continents, land masses, and islands. This day is thus known as “Dahw al-Ardh” or Emergence and Spread of Land. According to narrations, Imam Mahdi (AS) the Saviour of Humanity and the 12^th and Last Successor of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA), will reappear on this day in the end times to cleanse the earth of all vestiges of corruption and oppression, and to establish the global government of peace, prosperity and justice. Special prayers have been recommended on this day as a form of thanksgiving to the Almighty.

Over 4,000 lunar years ago, on the eve of the 25^th of Zil-Qa’dah, Prophet Abraham (AS) was born in Mesopotamia. He needs no introduction; and today all the three monotheistic faiths – Judaism, Christianity, and Islam – regard him as the progenitor. The holy Qur’an calls him “millah” or a nation by himself. Islam considers Abraham (AS) as one the Five Great Prophets – the other four being Noah, Moses, Jesus, and Prophet Mohammad (SAWA).

Some 2072 lunar years ago, on the eve of the 25^th of Zil-Qa’dah, according to a narration, Prophet Jesus (AS) was born to the Virgin Mary (SA) by the Will of God, without the association of a male. The holy Qur’an testifies to his miraculous birth and goes on to refute his alleged crucifixion and the weird concept of Trinity, as well as the allegation that he was the son of God – the Almighty Creator is far too glorious to have such human traits as the need for spouse or children. Prophet Jesus gave tidings of the advent of the Last and Greatest Messenger, Prophet Mohammad (SAWA) – a prophecy found in ayah 6 of Surah Saff of the holy Qur’an, as well as the Gospel of St. John despite the tampering that the Bible has gone through over the past centuries.

1569 solar years ago, on this day in 450 AD, Eastern Roman Emperor, Theodosius II, died at the age of 49 in a riding accident, after a 42-year reign – having succeeded his father as a 7-year-old. He presided over the outbreak of two christological controversies, Nestorianism and Eutychianism, and fought an almost two-year inconclusive war with the Sassanid Empire of Iran.  In 421, Bahram V succeeded his father Yazdegerd I, who shortly before being killed, had started the persecution of Christians as reprisal for attacks against Zoroastrian temples in the Roman Empire. Bahram continued this persecution, and among those killed was his father’s Christian counselor, James Intercisus, who was cut to pieces in Jundishapur. This incident, along with friction in trade ties and border issues, made Theodosius declare war on Persia in 421 AD. The conflict raged across the borders of the two empires, mostly in southeastern Turkey, northern Syria and to some extent in Armenia. In 422, the two sides signed the peace treaty that returned everything to the pre-war situation. Both sides agreed to reject Arab defectors of the other part, as well as to guarantee liberty of religion in their territories.

1430 lunar years ago, on this day in 10 AH, Prophet Mohammad (SAWA) left Medina for Mecca to perform his Farewell Hajj pilgrimage, and was joined by over 100,000 Muslims from various regions. During the pilgrimage he showed the correct performance of the Hajj rituals, and at Mount Mercy on the plain of Arafaat he delivered his famous sermon, saying he was about to depart from the world and was leaving behind for guidance of the Ummah, the Thaqalayn (two invaluable things), that is, the holy Qur'an and his infallible progeny, the Ahl al-Bayt. While returning home from his Farewell Pilgrimage, the Prophet was commanded by God to halt at the pond of Ghadeer in Khom near Juhfa to proclaim his dear cousin and son-in-law, Imam Ali, (AS) as vicegerent.

1295 lunar years ago, on this day in 145 AH Ibrahim Ibn Abdullah Ibn al-Hassan al-Muthanna, was martyred near Kufa in a battle with the forces of Mansour Dawaniqi, the 2^nd self-styled caliph of the usurper Abbasid regime, shortly after the martyrdom of his brother Mohammad Nafs Zakiyya in an uprising in Hijaz. He was a great grandson of Prophet Mohammad’s (SAWA) elder grandson and 2nd Infallible Heir, Imam Hasan Mujtaba (AS), while his grandmother, Fatema (SA) was the daughter of the Prophet's 3rd Infallible Heir, Imam Husain (AS) the Martyr of Karbala. He launched his uprising in Ramadhan in Basra in coordination with his brother’s uprising in Hijaz, and within two months had liberated the whole of southern Iraq and Iran from the Abbasids, while Nafs Zakiyya liberated Arabia and Yemen, thus cornering Mansour in his capital Hirah in central Iraq (Baghdad was not yet built). It is worth noting that years earlier during the repressive rule of the Godless Omayyads, the Prophet's clan, the Hashemites, had held an assembly at Abwa where Abu’l-Abbas as-Saffah and Mansour Dawaniqi (the future usurpers of the caliphate) had sworn allegiance to Nafs Zakiyya. But with the toppling of the Omayyads, the Abbasid brothers indulged in propaganda to hijack the rule of the realm by breaking their promise to handover the caliphate to the Prophet's progeny. Imam Ja'far Sadeq (AS), as the Prophet’s 6^th Infallible Heir, sensed the plot and stayed away from the political tussle. He spurned the offer of caliphate by burning the sealed envelope sent by a victorious commander of the anti-Omayyad uprising, since his right was God-given and beyond the power of politicians. Among the offspring of Imam Hasan (AS), however, Nafs Zakiyya aspired for political power and challenged the Abbasids for breaching their promise. Thus, as a result of the uprising of the two brothers, when Mansour was on the verge of defeat, news arrived of the martyrdom in Medina of Nafs Zakiyya. This emboldened the Abbasids and in the battle near Kufa, an arrow pierced Ibrahim’s neck and he was unhorsed and decapitated by Hamid Ibn Qahtaba. Mansour, who three years later martyred Imam Sadeq (AS) through poisoning, is notorious for shedding the blood of the Prophet's progeny, especially Imam Hasan's (AS) offspring.

1053 lunar years ago, on this day in 387 AH, the esteemed Egyptian legist and historian Abu’l Hassan Ibn Ibrahim Ibn Zulaq, passed away. Among his works is the book "Kitab Sirat al-Mu‘iz" on the life of the Fatemid Ismaili Shi'ite Caliph, al-Mu'iz, who shifted his seat of power to Egypt from what is now Tunisia in North Africa, after his general, Jowhar as-Siqili, conquered the Land of the Nile and built the city of Cairo including the famous al-Azhar Academy. Ibn Zulaq is considered a reliable authority on Fatemid history.

269 solar years ago, on this day in 1750 AD, the German musician and composer, Johann Sebastian Bach, died at the age of 65. Many of his songs are religious, and he also played a pivotal role in the progress and perfection of German music. Later in life he went blind. He composed numerous works, including a number of carols.

225 solar years ago, on this day in 1794 AD, with the execution of Maximilien Robespierre and a group of his supporters, the year long Reign of Terror in France ended. It had started when on the orders of the parliament following victory of the French Revolution a court was formed to counter the anti-revolutionaries. Robespierre, who was one of the main leaders of the revolution, intended to gain absolute authority in France, and executed many of his opponents, to this end. During the Reign of Terror, more than 120,000 summary executions took place, and many prominent persons were killed such as the chemist, Antoine-Laurent Lavoisier, and poet, Andre Marie Chenier.

203 lunar years ago, on this day in 1237 AH, the prominent Iranian literary and political figure of the Qajarid era, Mirza Bozorg Farahani, passed away in Tabriz. He initiated effective reforms for the progress and development of the country. Among the books and treatises written by him, mention can be made of "Ahkam al-Jihad va Asbab ar-Reshad", in Persian about different types of strivings in the way of God for the progress of the society.

198 solar years ago, on this day in 1821 AD, Peru gained independence from Spain. Home to the Inca Empire and Civilization that dominated northwest South America from the 12th to the 16th centuries, Peru and its rich culture were destroyed by the Spanish invaders, who ruthlessly massacred the indigenous people. Finally, thanks to the struggles of South American revolutionaries, such as Jose de San Martin and Simon Bolivar, Peru was liberated. The country covers an area of 1,285,216 sq km, with a long coastline on the Pacific Ocean, and shares borders with Ecuador, Colombia, Chile, Brazil, and Bolivia.

161 solar years ago, on this day in 1858, fingerprints were used as a means of identification for the first time.

156 solar years ago, on this day in 1863 AD, Tsarist Russia’s senior-most Muslim general, Husain Khan Nakhchivanski, was born in Nakhchivan City to Major-General Kalb-e Ali Khan – son of Ehsan Khan Kangarlu, the last ruler of the Nakhchivan Khanate, which the Russians seized from Qajarid Iran through the Khan’s treachery during the 1828 war. His mother was Khurshid Qajar-Iravani, member of the ruling family of the Erivan Khanate – also abolished by Russia in 1828 on its seizure from Iran. He was the only Muslim to serve as General-Adjutant of the Tsar’s retinue. He distinguished himself in the Russo-Japanese War and received 7 medals for his bravery. Tsar Nicholas II personally decorated him and made him Deputy Commander of the Caucasus Army during World War I, before promoting him as General of the Cavalry. After the end of World War I, Hussain Khan Nakhchivanski remained in the capital Petrograd (St. Petersburg) and refused to side with the revolutionaries. He sent to the Tsar a telegram (later found undelivered) to use his forces to crush them. In October 1917, when the Bolsheviks under Lenin hijacked the revolution and seized power, Hussain Khan Nakhchivanski along with other prominent citizens was taken hostage, and executed in 1919 at the age of 55. His nephews, Jamshid Khan and Kalb-e Ali Khan (sons of Ja’far Khan Nakhchivanski), who served under him, joined the Azerbaijan Democratic Army, inflicted defeats on the Soviet Red Army, and played prominent roles in the short-lived Azerbaijan Republic, before the communists took over. Kalb-e Ali fled to Iran where he joined the Iranian Army and was secretly murdered by Reza Khan Pahlavi in 1934, while Jamshid after brief imprisonment, reluctantly switched sides to the Soviet Union, but during the 1937-1938 repressions he was arrested, charged with anti-communist activities and killed by a firing squad.  

141 solar years ago, on this day in 1878 AD, the Treaty of Berlin was signed by representatives of Russia, France, Britain, and Austria as well as other German speaking states, at the end of the Berlin Congress called by German chancellor, Otto von Bismarck, to determine the national identity of Germany.

105 solar years ago, on this day in 1914 AD, the Austria-Hungary Empire declared war on Serbia on rejection of conditions of an ultimatum of July 23 following assassination of crown prince, Archduke Francis Ferdinand. World War I thus began with the Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman Empires on one side, and the Russian and British Empires on the other side in alliance with Serbia and France.

76 solar years ago, on this day in 1943 AD during World War II, the savage Operation Gomorrah launched by the British air force on Hamburg caused a firestorm that killed 42,000 German civilians.

43 solar years ago, on this day in 1976 AD, a major earthquake shook the East Chinese city of Tangshan, killing 242,769 people and injuring 164,851 others. Over a million people were made homeless. This 7.8 degree trembler was the second major earthquake that jolted China in the 20th Century.

30 solar years ago, on this day in 1989 AD, the overwhelming majority of the Iranian people, in a referendum, approved amendments to the Islamic Republic of Iran’s Constitution, as per the instructions of the Late Founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Imam Khomeini (RA). The amendments included enhancement of the presidential powers and elimination of the post of prime minister.

30 solar years ago, on this day in 1989 AD, in an act of terrorism, Zionist commandos abducted Shi’a Muslim religious leader, Sheikh Abdul-Karim Obeid, from his home in the village of Jibshit, south Lebanon. Danny Abdalla, a notorious Lebanese criminal based in Denmark, who in 1984 was involved in the martyrdom of Lebanese religious leader, Sheikh Ragheb Harb, on behalf of the Israelis, was part of the 25-member Zionist commando team that kidnapped Sheikh Obeid. For several years, Sheikh Obeid was held prisoner in the Zionist occupied strip of southern Lebanon, and later transferred to the Ashmoret concentration camp, near Kfar Yona, north of Tel Aviv. He was released 15 years later in January 2004 along with twenty other Lebanese prisoners, 400 Palestinian prisoners and a number of other nationals, in exchange for Zionist soldiers and spies captured by Lebanon’s legendry anti-terrorist movement, the Hezbollah.

12 solar years ago, on this day 2007 AD, Takfiri terrorists backed by the US and the Saudi regime triggered an explosion of truck bomb in Baghdad’s Shi’a Muslim neighborhood of Karrada, resulting in the martyrdom of around 150 men, women and children, and injury to over two hundred others.

12 solar years ago, on this day in 2007 AD, over 4,000 Hazaras, a Shi’a Muslim ethnic group concentrated in Afghanistan’s central highlands, was displaced from Behsood district, Wardak Province, over the last 2 months by bands of Kuchi nomads. Some 200 ethnic Pushtun and Sunni Muslims, along with their families and livestock, emptied about 65 Hazara villages and martyred a dozen people.

10 solar years ago, on this day in 2009 AD, prominent Iranian film director and producer, Saifollah Dad, passed away at the age of 52. He turned out some of the outstanding hits such as “From Karkheh to Rhine”, “The Satan”, “Children of Divorce,” and ‘The Survivor”. The last named is a historical film on the brutal expulsion of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians by Zionist terrorists at the illegal birth of Israel in 1948.

7 solar years ago, on this day in 2012 AD, Iran published the results of its 2011 census. It gave Iran's total population as 75.2 million, 99.4 percent of whom are Muslim. 55 percent were under 30 years of age.

AS/SS