Today is Monday; 7th of the Iranian month of Mordad 1398 solar hijri; corresponding to 26th of the Islamic month of Zil-Qa’dah 1440 lunar hijri; and July 29, 2019, of the Christian Gregorian Calendar.

1150 solar years ago, on this day in 869 AD, according to the Gregorian solar calendar, is the birthday of the Lord of the Age, the Awaited Redeemer of mankind, Imam Mahdi (AS), the 12^th and Last Infallible Heir of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA). According to the lunar calendar the auspicious day is the 15^th of Sha’ban, a public holiday in Iran and other places. He was born in Samarra in Iraq and raised in secrecy by his father, Imam Hasan al-Askari (AS), so as to be safe from the prying eyes of the tyrannical regime, which aware of the prophecy of his birth and his universal mission, was making every attempt to prevent the birth of a child to the 11^th Imam. His mother was the virtuous Greek lady, Narjis – the Byzantine Emperor’s granddaughter, who was descended through her mother from Simeon, the famous disciple of Prophet Jesus (AS). The 12^th Imam, who is in occultation by the Will of God, will reappear in end times, along with Prophet Jesus as his lieutenant, to cleanse the world of all vestiges of oppression and corruption, by establishing the global government of peace, prosperity, and justice.

1115 solar years ago, on this day in 904 AD, Greek Muslim admiral, Rasheeq al-Wardami, sailing from Syria, took control of Thessalonica, the second largest city of the Byzantium Empire. After a week's stay, during which he seized some 60 ships and forced the Christians to free over 4,000 Muslim prisoners, he sailed back to the Levant. Born as a Christian, and named Leo by his parents, he was an officer in the Byzantine navy, before discovering the truth of Islam and joining the Muslims. Also known as Ghulam Zurafa, three years later in 907, he sailed up the Dardanelles and for a while besieged Constantinople, the capital of the Byzantine Empire. In 912, he and his fellow Greek Muslim admiral, Damian of Tarsus, known by his Muslim name, Ghulam Yazman, decisively defeated the Byzantine admiral, Himerios, off the island of Chios, in retaliation for an attack by Christians on the Arabs of Cyprus.

901 solar years ago, on this day in 1148 AD, the Siege of Damascus ended in a decisive victory for the Muslim defenders resulting in the disintegration of the Second Crusade. European Christian invaders, led by King Louis VII of France and Conrad III of Germany, had started the siege on June 24, but thanks to the stiff resistance of the people of Damascus and the timely arrival of fresh forces led by the Turkic ruler, Noor od-Din Zangi, they were decisively defeated five days later.

718 lunar years ago, on this day in 722 AH, Iranian Sunni Hanafi scholar, Sa'd od-Din Mas'oud ibn Omar Taftazani, was born in Taftazan near Qochan in Khorasan. He studied in Herat, Gulistan, Khwarezm, Samarqand and Sarakhs. He mainly resided in Sarakhs, which today straddles the Iran-Turkmenistan border. He was active during the reign of the Turkic conqueror Amir Timur, and was attached to his court. He died in Samarqand at the age of 70 and was buried in Sarakhs. He wrote books and treaties on grammar, rhetoric, theology, logic, law and the exegesis of the holy Qur'an. His works were used as textbooks for centuries in Ottoman madrasahs. The bulk of his writing is in Arabic, although he wrote a commentary of the Qur'an in his native Persian and translated the poems of the famous Persian poet, Mosleh od-Din Sa'di of Shiraz, into Turkic.

431 solar years ago, on this day in 1588 AD, in the Battle of Gravelines, English naval forces under command of Charles Howard and Francis Drake defeated the Spanish Armada off the coast of France, by setting alight eight fire ships filled with pitch, gunpowder, and tar, and sending them toward the closely-anchored Spanish vessels. The threat of invasion of England by Spain was thus averted. 

325 solar years ago, on this day in 1694 AD, Shah Sulaiman I, the 8^th Emperor of the Safavid Dynasty of Iran, died after a 29-year reign, and was succeeded by his son, Shah Sultan Hussain. Crowned as Shah Safi II on the death of his father, Shah Abbas II, he was brought up in the harem and had little experience of the outside world. He also suffered from poor health. The first year of his reign was markedly unsuccessful. A series of natural disasters, combined with devastating raids by the Cossack Stenka Razin on Iran’s Caspian Sea coast, convinced court astrologers that the coronation had taken place at the wrong time, and the ceremony was repeated on March 20, 1667, with the Shah taking the new name of Sulaiman I. He had little interest in administrative affairs, and left political decision-making to his grand viziers, whose power increased during his long reign. As a result, corruption became widespread and discipline in the army was dangerously lax. The Shah made no attempt to exploit the weakness of Safavid Iran’s traditional rival, the Ottoman Empire after the Turks suffered a serious defeat at the Battle of Vienna in 1683. During his reign, Iran also suffered raids by the Uzbeks and Kalmyks.

252 lunar years ago, on this day in 1188 AH, Jalal od-Din Haidar Shuja od-Dowla, the Nawab Wazir of the Moghal Empire and ruler of the Naishapuri dynasty of Iranian origin of the State of Awadh, died in his capital Faizabad after ruling for 21 years. He was succeeded by his son Asaf-od-Dowla. Son of Muqim Ali Khan Safdar Jung the Prime Minister of the Moghal Empire, who was a Seyyed from Naishapur in Khorasan, Shuja od-Dowla was an experienced military commander and an able administrator. He played key roles in two definitive battles in Indian history. The first was the Third Battle of Panipat during which his decision to join Ahmad Shah Durrani of Afghanistan ended the Maratha domination of the northern regions of the Mughal Empire. He next overthrew the Maratha installed usurper of the Mughal Throne, Shah Jahan III, and reaffirmed Shah Alam II as the rightful emperor in Delhi. Shuja od-Dowla also assisted on several occasions Ali-Vardi Khan the Nawab Nazem of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa, when the latter’s territories were ravaged by the Marathas. Known for his opposition to British expansionism, he played a key role in the Battle of Buxar, along with the forces of Emperor Shah Alam II and Nawab Mir Qasim Ali Khan of Bengal – although the battle was lost. He is buried in the beautiful Golbari mausoleum in Faizabad which he developed into a full- fledged city, with gardens, palaces, markets, roads and other infrastructure. He was a patron of Persian literature.

136 solar years ago, on this day in 1883 AD, Italian politician, dictator and founder of the Fascist Party, Benito Mussolini, was born in a middle-class family. He started as a journalist and rapidly rose to political power in the ranks of Italy’s Fascist Party. As the totalitarian Prime Minister of Italy, he aligned himself with Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler of Germany in World War II. Following defeats at the hands of the Allied powers, he was removed from power in 1943 by his own party, and two years later, while trying to flee Italy, he was captured and summarily executed.

129 solar years ago, on this day in 1890 AD, the Dutch painter, Vincent Van Gogh, died at the age of 37 two days after a self inflicted wound. He initiated a new style in painting and has left behind several masterpieces such as “Sunflowers”, and “A Self-Portrait: With Bandaged Ear”.

69 solar years ago, on this day in 1950 AD, during the war imposed on Korea by the US, after four days, the No Gun Ri Massacre of over 300 Korean men, women and children by the American troops ended when the US Army 7^th Cavalry Regiment was withdrawn.

62 solar years ago, on this day in 1957 AD, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) was set up by the United Nations for supervision to guarantee the peaceful usage of nuclear energy and to prevent its usage for military purposes or production of weapons of mass destruction. Based in the Austrian capital, Vienna, the IAEA has come under the influence of world powers, especially the US, and is being used as a tool to pressure independent states by doctoring and politicizing reports of inspection. The self-imposed permanent members of the UN Security Council (US, Britain, France, Russia and China), unfortunately, remain outside its supervision. The IAEA has turned a blind eye to the possession of nuclear weapons by the illegal Zionist entity called Israel, subjecting NPT-signatory, Iran, to unjustified obstructions regarding peaceful use of nuclear energy.

39 solar years ago, on this day in 1980 AD, Iran adopted a new flag, as a reflection of the changes brought about by the victory of the Islamic Revolution over a year earlier. Its field is a tricolour comprising equal horizontal bands of green, white, and red. Green symbolizes growth, happiness, unity, and vitality. White stands for peace. Red stands for martyrdom, since this colour symbolizes bravery, fire, life, love, warmth, and sophistication in Iranian culture. The Iranian parliament, as per the 1980 constitution, changed the flag and seal of state, replacing the Lion and Sun emblem in the centre with the Word “Allah” (the Almighty Creator). Designed by Hamid Nadimi, and officially approved by the Father of the Islamic Revolution, Imam Khomeini (RA), this Emblem is a highly stylized composite of various Islamic elements: a geometrically symmetric form of the Word Allah and overlapping parts of the phrase “la ilaha il-Allah” (there is no deity but God), forming a monogram in the form of a tulip it consists of four crescents and a line. The four crescents read from right to left – as per the Perso-Arabic alphabet. The first crescent is the letter “Alif” (A), the second crescent is the first “Laam” (L); the vertical line is another “Laam”, and the third and fourth crescents together form the “heh” (H). Above the central stroke is a “tashdid” (a diacritical mark indicating gemination) that resembles "w". The tulip shape of the emblem as a whole memorializes those who have given their life for Iran and symbolizes the values of patriotism and self-sacrifice, building on a legend that red tulips grow from the shed blood of martyrs.

38 solar years ago, on this day in 1981 AD, Iran’s impeached president, Abu’l-Hassan Bani Sadr, with his mustache shaved off and disguised as a chador-wearing woman, fled for France, along with MKO terrorist ringleader, Masoud Rajavi, aboard an aircraft piloted by an anti-revolutionary. On June 22, he was formally dismissed from the president’s post by the Father of the Islamic Revolution, Imam Khomeini (RA), a day after the Majlis (parliament) impeached him for his political incompetency and dalliance with anti-revolutionary groups, with 177 affirmative votes, 12 abstentions, and 1 negative vote. Earlier on June 10, the Imam had relieved him of the post of Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces because of his failure to check the advance of the invading Ba’thist forces of Saddam. Upon Bani Sadr’s deposal, his friends, the MKO terrorists, stepped up subversive activities, including the terrorist explosions of 27 June that led to the martyrdom of Chief Justice Ayatollah Seyyed Mohammad Hussaini Beheshti and 72 officials.

26 solar years ago, on this day in 1993 AD, famous Iranian actor, Hadi Islami, passed away at the age of 54. He was known for such films as “Bus” (1986), “Courtship” (1989) and “Ashianeye Mehr” (1987).

23 solar years ago, on this day in 1996 AD, famous Iranian calligrapher, Abdullah Foradi passed away at the age of 69 in Tehran. Regarded as a master of the “Nasta’liq” style, he produced a large number of works including anthologies of poets, and copies of “Nahj al-Balagha”, the collection of Imam Ali’s (AS) sermons, letters, and maxims.

14 solar years ago, on this day in 2005 AD, the Iranian Gnostic, Ayatollah Mohammad Taqi Gonabadi, known as “Sheikh Bahlol” passed away at the age of 105. Born in Gonabad, Khorasan, he was the son of a mujtahid, and memorised the holy Qur'an at the tender age of 8. He finished his preliminary Islamic studies under his father, and then for higher studies enrolled at the seminary in holy Qom, where his teachers were the Grand Ayatollah Akhund Khorasani, Mullah Ali Ma’sumi and Grand Ayatollah Seyyed Shehab od-Din Mar’ashi Najafi. Later he studied in the holy city of Najaf, Iraq, under Grand Ayatollah Abu’l Hasan Isfahani. This last illustrious teacher told him to use his talents to participate in the resistance movement against the anti-Islamic policies of the British-installed Pahlavi potentate Reza Khan. On return to Iran, he became a powerful voice against anti-Islamic policies of the regime. An unusually gifted scholar and a famous orator, behind his small stature, simple dress and modest manners, there was a talented, eloquent and pious individual, who never hesitated in speaking the truth as well as defending it. In 1935, during the Gowharshad Mosque Uprising of the people of Mashhad in protest to “Kashf-e Hijab” or the forced unveiling of Muslim women, he led the movement. The regime’s forces desecrated the holy precincts of the mosque by martyring and wounding some 5,000 people, besides arresting a large number of others. He spent 13 long years of his life in prison, and was released in a miraculous way. After his release, he travelled to Egypt and Syria, and spent some years there, before returning to Iran. He was very active in the run up to the Islamic Revolution. Sheikh Bahlol was a poet as well, and composed over 200,000 couplets in Persian and Arabic.

14 solar years ago, on this day in 2005 AD, scientists reported that a 10^th planet, bigger than Pluto, is the farthest-known object in the solar system. It was currently 9 billion miles away from the sun, or about three times Pluto's current distance from the Sun and orbited the Sun once every 560 years. It was temporarily named 2003 UB313 (Xena). With orbits significantly inclined to the others, the status as a planet of either or even Pluto, is a subject for debate. They are in a region of numerous frozen comet-like objects beyond Neptune - the Kuiper Belt.

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