Today is Friday; 25th of the Iranian month of Mordad 1398 solar hijri; corresponding to 14th of the Islamic month of Zil-Hijjah 1440 lunar hijri; and August 16, 2019, of the Christian Gregorian Calendar.

Over 1444 lunar years ago, on the eve of this day, the full moon miraculously split in two as Prophet Mohammad (SAWA) prayed to God and pointed his finger towards the sky, when some pagan Arabs led by Abu Jahl along with a group of Israelites demanded that if he is really the Messenger of God he should make the moon split. The first two ayahs of Surah al-Qamar refer to this fact as follows:

"The Hour has drawn near and the moon is split.

"If they see a sign, they turn away, and say, ‘An incessant magic!"

As is clear from the ayahs, the Arab pagans tried to deny this manifest miracle that was produced on their demand, by calling it magic or sorcery, while the Jew immediately accepted Islam, since he had read in the Torah how God made the sun and the moon stand still for Prophet Joshua the successor of Prophet Moses (peace upon them). According to eyewitness accounts, before rejoining, the two parts of the split moon were clearly seen on the horizon on either side of Mount Noor in Mecca. This miracle is supported by documented evidence from India, where the King of the Malabar region in the south, Chakrawati Farmas also known as Cheraman Perumel, witnessed this strange sight of the moon splitting in the sky, and on learning that the Last Prophet had appeared in the Arabian Peninsula, he made a journey to Mecca and became a Muslim. A scientific proof of this miracle is the deep scar or rift discovered on the Moon and photographed by NASA astronomers in the US which is further proof of such a phenomenon occurring in the past. The Indian king’s sighting of the miracle is mentioned in an ancient manuscript currently in London’s India Office Library, where other details of the journey are recorded including the king’s death in Yemen on his way back to India.

1084 lunar years ago, on this day in 356 AH, Abu’l-Faraj Isfahani, the master of Arabic prose, historian with sociological interests, poet, and musicologist, passed away in Baghdad at the age of 73. Born in Isfahan, and named Ali by his father Hussain Ibn Mohammad, he spent most of his life in Baghdad where he settled after visiting different lands. He is best known for his encyclopedic 25-volume work “Kitab al-Aghani” that took him fifty years to compile, and which contains valuable information on poets, poetry, philology, rhythms, instruments, Arabic literature and genealogy, from the ancient times till his own days. He travelled to Aleppo, Syria to present this book to the Hamdanid Shi’a Muslim ruler, Saif od-Dowla. In Rayy, the famous Iranian statesman and scholar, Saheb Ibn Abbad Ismail Taleqani, greatly valued this book. Although a direct descendent of the last Omayyad caliph, Marwan II, he was a follower of the Ahl al-Bayt of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA) and a strong critic of his own Godless ancestors. He thus wrote the valuable work “Maqatel at-Talibiyeen”, comprising short biographies of the descendants of Imam Ali (AS) – mostly the Prophet’s progeny – martyred by the Omayyad and Abbasid caliphs till the year 313 AH.

1056 solar years ago, on this day in 963 AD, Nikephoros II Phokas seized the Byzantine throne in Constantinople and crowned himself emperor, ignoring the rights of the young sons of the deceased emperor, Romano – the future emperors, Basil II Constantine VIII – and then, despite the opposition of the patriarch, he  married their mother, the regent Empress Theophano. A notorious enemy of Muslims, Nikephoros Phokas, during his 6-year reign and before that as an army commander, had seized the Muslim emirate of the island of Crete, and led frequent raids into Syria against Sayf od-Dowla of the Hamdanid Shi’a Muslim dynasty of Aleppo. Several times he was beaten back with heavy losses. On the western front, after renouncing his payments of tribute to the Shi’a Muslim Fatemid dynasty of North Africa, he attacked Sicily, but was forced by defeats on land and sea to evacuate the island completely. In 967 he had to make peace with the Fatemids. In 969, he was assassinated by his wife Theophano and her new lover – his own nephew (i.e. sister’s son), John I Tzimiskes, who now styled himself emperor.

641 solar years ago, on this day in 1378 AD, the 4th emperor of the Ming Dynasty of China was born as Zhu Gaochi during the reign of his grandfather and founder of the dynasty, the Hongwu Emperor. In 1424, he succeeded his father, the Yongle Emperor, and took the title Hongxi Emperor, which means "Vastly Bright". During his brief reign of less than a year, he carried out wide-ranging reforms that made lasting improvements in China, such as reducing taxes to increase agriculture, moving the capital back to Nanking from Beijing, and halting the costly overseas voyages of the famous Muslim Admiral of Iranian origin, Shams od-Din, known in China as Zheng He – great-great-great-grandson of Seyyed Ajjal Shams od-Din, a Persian from Bukhara who served the Mongol Empire and was the Governor of Yunnan. Zheng He’s voyages were, however, resumed under the next emperor.

635 solar years ago, on this day in 1384 AD, the Hongwu Emperor of Ming China, Emperor Dong, heard a case of a couple who tore paper money bills during a quarrel – a case considered equal to the act of destroying stamped government documents, which by law necessitated one hundred floggings by a bamboo rod. The emperor, however, decided to pardon them, since their intention was not to tear up the money. Paper currency first developed in Tang Dynasty China during the 7th century (618–907), as merchants and wholesalers desired to avoid the heavy bulk of copper coinage in large commercial transactions. True paper money appeared in China in the 11^th century during the Song Dynasty. The usage of paper currency later spread throughout the Mongol Empire – including Iran. Paper banknotes were introduced for the first time in Europe by France’s Napoleon Bonaparte in the early 1800s.

207 solar years ago, on this day in 1812 AD, US General William Hull, despite having a larger number of troops, surrendered Detroit without a fight to the British Major General Isaac Brock and his native Amerindian allies under the Shawnee leader, Tecumseh. Many Amerindian people in the Northwest Territory were inspired to take arms against US outposts and settlers. The British held Detroit for more than a year before their small fleet on Lake Erie was defeated, which forced them to abandon the western frontier of Upper Canada.

150 solar years ago, on this day in 1869 AD, the Battle of Acosta Nu occurred in which a Paraguayan battalion of 6,000 children was massacred by the Brazilian Army during the Paraguayan War. In Paraguay, Children's Day is celebrated on August 16. It is a national holiday to commemorate the memory of the children who lost their lives in the Battle of Acosta Nu/Campo Grande.

131 solar years ago, on this day in 1888 AD, notorious British intelligence operative, Thomas Edward Lawrence, was born out of wedlock to a baron – the result of illicit relations with his daughter’s governess. He joined the army and was trained as a spy. Known as "Lawrence of Arabia", his job was to befriend, deceive and destroy Muslim rulers in Arabia. During the years 1910 to 1914, under guise as a member of an archeological delegation in Iraq, Syria, and Palestine, he sowed the seeds of sedition between the Arabs and Turks as part of the British policy to disintegrate the Ottoman Empire. It was through his designs that the artificial country called Jordan was created for Abdullah, the son of the British agent, Sharif Hussain of Hejaz; while another son, Faisal, was first made king of Syria, and four months later when driven out from Damascus, was installed as king of Iraq in order to crush the aspirations of the Shi'ite Muslim majority. Next, when Sharif Hussain was driven out from the Hijaz by the Wahhabi desert brigand from Najd, Abdul-Aziz Aal-e Saud, another artificial state called Saudi Arabia was created, on condition that no objection would be raised to the British plan to create for European Zionists an illegal entity called Israel in Palestine. Lawrence has shamelessly referred to part of these plots during World War I in his book titled: “Seven Pillars of Wisdom”. He died in an accident at the age of 47.

113 solar years ago, on this day in 1906 AD, an 8.6 magnitude earthquake in Valparaiso, Chile, left an estimated 20,000 people dead.

106 lunar years ago, on this day in 1334 AH, Ayatollah Morteza Ha’eri Yazdi was born in Arak to the famous Reviver of the Islamic seminary of holy Qom, Grand Ayatollah Abdul-Karim Ha’eri Yazdi. After initial studies under his father, he attended the classes of Grand Ayatollah Seyyed Hussain Boroujerdi, Grand Ayatollah Seyyed Mohammad-Reza Golpaygani, Seyyed Mohammad Mohaqqeq Damad, and the Father of the Islamic Revolution, Imam Khomeini (RA). He was the teacher in turn of the prominent scholar and hadith researcher, Ayatollah Mohammad Reyshahri. He passed away in Jamadi al-Akher 1406 in Qom and was laid to rest in the mausoleum of Hazrat Ma’soumah (SA).

105 solar years ago, on this day in 1914 AD, revolutionary leader, Emiliano Zapata, overran Mexico. Zapata, who remains an iconic figure in Mexico, as a nationalist symbol and symbol of the neo-Zapatista movement, was killed in 1919.

80 lunar years ago, on this day in 1360 AH, Ayatollah Sheikh Fayyaz Zanjani, passed away at the age of 75. Born near the city of Zanjan, he was an erudite scholar who wrote several books, including “Zakha’er al-Ummah”.

66 years ago, on this day in 1953 AD, Mohammad Reza Shah of the British-installed Pahlavi regime fled Iran for Baghdad and later Rome, when the first phase of an Anglo-American coup against Iran’s elected Prime Minister, Mohammad Mosaddeq, failed. A day earlier, as instructed by the CIA the Shah had sent Col. Ne’matollah Naseeri to Mosaddeq with a dismissal order, which the prime minster rejected saying the Shah had no constitutional authority, since executive powers rest with the parliament. Mosaddeq had Naseeri arrested, but when the terrified Shah fled the country, the prime minister erred, assuming that the CIA coup had failed, and asked his supporters to return to their homes and to continue with their lives as normal. In the meantime, British and American agents secretly hatched the next phase of the coup by distributing dollars among the people of Tehran, and carrying out the plot successfully on August 19 through General Fazlollah Zahedi to oust Mosaddeq and restore the fugitive Shah to power. Finally on January 16, 1979, after a quarter century more of oppression, the Shah fled Iran to die in exile as the tidal wave of Islamic Revolution, under the leadership of Imam Khomeini (RA), swept across the country, ending the Pahlavi regime and throwing into the dustbin of history the monarchic system by establishing the Islamic Republic based on people’s aspirations.

59 solar years ago, on this day in 1960 AD, the Island of Cyprus gained its independence from British rule as per the Zürich and London Agreement between Britain, Greece and Turkey, with quotas on ethnic basis for government posts and public offices, which were violated by the Greek majority. The present division of the island occurred in 1974, following the massacre of over 125 Muslims in Cyprus and the plot to merge it with Greece, prompting the Turkish government to dispatch troops to seize the northern part of the island, which since then is known as the Turkish Democratic Republic of Cyprus. Arabs and Greeks had fought for over 300 years over Cyprus, which was occupied in 1191 by King Richard of England who a year later sold the island to the Knights Templar, who in turn sold it to Guy of Lusignan. His brother and successor Amalric was recognized as King of Cyprus by the Holy Roman Emperor. Following the death in 1473 of James II, the last Lusignan king, the Republic of Venice assumed control of the island, and formally annexed Cyprus in 1489. The Ottoman Turks started their bid to drive out the Venetians and in 1539 almost succeeded before withdrawing. In 1570, the island finally became part of the Ottoman Empire and remained so for the next three centuries, until it was leased to the British in 1878 on condition of protecting the decaying Turkish Empire from Russian attacks. In 1923, after the Ottomans had been pressured to give up all of their European territories, except Istanbul, Britain forced the truncated state of Turkey to relinquish all claims to Cyprus, and in 1925 declared it as a crown colony.

58 solar years ago, on this day in 1961 AD, the prominent Muslim scholar and linguist of the subcontinent, Maulavi Abdul Haq, passed away in Karachi, Pakistan at the age of 91. Born in Hapur near Ghaziabad in northern India, he is regarded as “Baba-e Urdu” (Father of Urdu), because of his untiring efforts to make it the lingua franca of the Subcontinent. He was also well-versed in Persian, Arabic, English and the Deccani Urdu dialect of southern India. A product of Aligarh Muslim University, he went to Hyderabad-Deccan, where his activities included teaching and translating, since he viewed Urdu as the cultural and political identity of Muslims of the subcontinent. Following establishment of Osmania University in Hyderabad in 1917 by the ruler, Asef Jah VII, under Abdul-Haq's influence all subjects at the university, including medicine, science and technology were taught in Urdu and the institution became a patron of Urdu and Persian literature and the linguistic heritage. He published numerous works of Urdu poetry, as well as treatises on linguistics, Islam, history, politics and philosophy. After his retirement in 1930, he compiled and edited a comprehensive and authoritative English-Urdu dictionary. He strongly protested the campaign by India's Hindu nationalists to promote the use of Hindi as the national language of British India. Abdul-Haq became a fierce critic of Mohandas Gandhi and the Indian National Congress, and joined the All India Muslim League led by Mohammad Ali Jinnah. In November 1947, he migrated to Pakistan, where he launched journals, set up libraries and schools, and published a large number of books. Abdul- Haq's work, especially helped preserve the distinct Deccani or "Old Urdu" linguistic and literary traditions of Hyderabad and southern India.

29 solar years ago, on this day in 1990 AD, the Islamic Republic of Iran received an official letter from Saddam, the head of Iraq's repressive Ba'th minority regime, to reaffirm the 1975 Iran-Iraq Accord on border delineation, which Saddam himself had signed in Algiers the capital of Algeria, but five years later in 1980 arrogantly tore it in front of TV cameras on the eve of his 8-year war. Saddam had to eat the humble pie following the shattering of his US-inspired dream to overthrow the Islamic Republic and seize Iran's border provinces, thanks to the heroic defence of Iran by the Muslim combatants. The letter was addressed to the then Iranian president, Hojjat ol-Islam Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani  

26 solar years ago, on this day in 1993 AD, Grand Ayatollah Seyyed Abdul-A'la Musavi Sabzevari, passed away in holy Najaf, Iraq, at the age of 83. Born in the northeastern Iranian city of Sabzevar, Khorasan, he learned Islamic sciences in his hometown until the age of 14 before moving to holy Mashhad, the provincial capital, to continue his studies. After completing his basic studies, he left for Iraq to pursue higher studies at the famous Islamic seminary of holy Najaf, where he studied philosophy and jurisprudence under the prominent scholar, Grand Ayatollah Mohammad Hussain Na’ini of Iran. He soon attained the status of Ijtehad and for almost 50 years taught at the seminary. He was a firm supporter of the Father of the Islamic Revolution, Imam Khomeini (RA), and in 1992 following the passing away of Grand Ayatollah Seyyed Abu'l-Qassim Khoyi, he became Chief of the Najaf Seminary. He has left behind several compilations, including the two-volume book: “Tahzib al-Osoul”, and the 21-volume exegesis of the holy Qur'an: “Mawaheb ar-Rahman fi Tafsir al-Qur'an”.

25 solar years ago, on this day in 1994 AD, Iranian philosopher, Seyyed Ahmad Fardid, passed away at the age of 84. Born in Yazd, he came to Tehran as a 16-year old for higher studies and mastered Arabic and French. He left for Europe to study philosophy at France’s Sorbonne University and later at Germany’s University of Heidelberg. Influenced by German philosopher Martin Heidegger, he endeavoured to synthesize the results of his studies of Eastern civilizations with the Western philosophy. A staunch supporter of the grassroots Islamic movement against the British-installed and US-supported Pahlavi potentate who was trying to destroy Iranian culture and religious values by imposing the depraved western culture, he coined the concept of "Westoxication" which was then popularized by Jalal Aal-e Ahmad in his widely read book “Gharbzadegi”. Fardid exposed the flaws in the West’s concept of Human Rights, and taught his disciples, many of whom later became prominent officials of the Islamic Republic system, to disregard such "westoxicated" concepts as democracy, and secularism by returning to their "authentic Oriental self". His influence is evident in the work of many philosophers in modern Iran. Fardid’s books include “Futohaat Akher az-Zamaan” (Victories of the End-times) and “Persian equivalents of Philosophical Terms”.

AS/SS