Today is Thursday; 31st of the Iranian month of Mordad 1398 solar hijri, corresponding to 20th of the Islamic month of Zil-Hijjah 1440 lunar hijri; and August 22, 2019, of the Christian Gregorian Calendar.

1374 lunar years ago, on this day in 66 AH, the brave Muslim warrior Ibrahim bin Malek al-Ashtar left Kufa to confront the invasion of Iraq by the Syrian army led by the infamous Obaydollah ibn Ziyad – the main perpetrator of the heartrending tragedy of Karbala and the martyrdom of the Prophet’s grandson Imam Husain (AS), five years earlier. Dispatched by Mokhtar ibn Abu Obaidah, the Avenger of Imam Husain’s blood, Ibrahim faced the enemy forces on the banks of the River Zab near Mosul and thoroughly defeated them, killing Obaydollah along with other notorious criminals such as Haseen bin Numayr and Shurahbil bin Zi’l-Kila. Son of Malek al-Ashtar an-Nakha’i, the celebrated general of Imam Ali (AS) and his governor-designate to Egypt to whom the famous epistle on ideal administration is addressed, Ibrahim and his mostly Iranian army, following victory over the Syrians, liberated the cities of Sinjar, Nasibayn, and Harran in present day Turkey. Ibrahim was in Mosul when the treacherous Abdullah ibn Zubayr sent his brother Mus’ab from Hijaz to attack Kufa and martyr through deceit the valiant Mokhtar in 67 AH. Under pressure from both the Omayyads and the Zubayrids, Ibrahim couldn’t fight on two fronts at the same time and reluctantly sided with Mus’ab, who entrusted him the governorship of Mosul, Upper Mesopotamia, Armenia and Azarbaijan. When Omayyad ruler, Abdul-Malik ibn Marwan attacked Iraq, Ibrahim’s advice to Mus’ab to purge traitors and conspirators from the army and the administration fell on deaf ears. As a result, a day before the major battle, despite his courage and swordsmanship, Ibrahim was killed because of the betrayal by hypocrites. The next day, Abdul-Malik’s army easily defeated and killed Mus’ab and went on to occupy all of Iraq and Iran. The tomb of Ibrahim al-Ashtar is located south of Dujayl, on the old Baghdad-to-Samarrah route. In 2005 Takfiri terrorists, backed by the US and Saudi Arabia, destroyed it.

1312 lunar years ago, on this day in 128 AH, Imam Musa al-Kazem (AS), the 7th Infallible Heir of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA) was born in Abwa between the holy cities of Mecca and Medina. At the age of 20, the mantle of divine leadership came to rest on his shoulders following the martyrdom of his father, Imam Ja’far Sadeq (AS), through poisoning. His period of Imamate was 35 years, during which he was subjected to hardships by the Abbasid tyrants – Mansour, Mahdi, Hadi, and Haroun. His epithet “Kazem” means Restrainer of Anger, and despite frequent bouts of imprisonment he showed profound patience and forbearance, even in the dungeons of Haroun, who martyred him through poisoning in 183 AH in Baghdad. Today, his magnificent gold-plated shrine is the centre of pilgrimage in Kazemayn.

493 solar years ago, on this day in 1526 AD, Sultan Qutb od-Din Bahadur Shah, after returning from exile in Delhi, ascended the throne of Gujarat in western India by removing his youngest brother Mahmoud Shah II, who had been installed as king by the nobles on the murder of the eldest brother, Sikandar Shah, within a few months of the death of his father, Muzaffar Shah II. During his 11-year reign he had to face the menace of the Portuguese who raided the seaports of his realm and seized several islands including what would later be known as Bombay (renamed Mumbai today). He made the fatal mistake of seeking assistance from the Portuguese against the expansion of the Mughals of northern India. While on board a Portuguese ship to sign a treaty, he was treacherously killed by the Portuguese admiral and his body dumped into the sea. The Gujarat kingdom that declared itself independent of the Delhi Sultanate in 1407 by Muzaffar Shah I (son of a Rajput convert to Islam) was a Persianate state and promoted Islamic art, culture and architecture for 166 years until its annexation by the Mughal Emperor, Akbar the Great in 1573.

392 solar years ago, on this day in 1627 AD, the last Battle of La Rochelle broke out in western France between the French Catholics and Protestants. This battle started due to provocation by England. The Catholics, under command of Cardinal Richelieu emerged victorious.

380 solar years ago, on this day in 1639 AD, Madras was founded by the British East India Company on a sliver of land bought from local Nayak rulers in the district of Chennaipatnam which was leased from King Abdullah Qutb Shah of the dynasty of Iranian origin of Hyderabad-Deccan. The area was added to the Qutb Shahi dominions by the Iranian statesman and adventurer, Mohammad Sa’eed Ardestani of Isfahan, titled “Mir Jumla”, who later went over to the Mughal court in northern India, was made governor of Bengal with capital in Dhaka (Bangladesh), and died in Khizrpur, Garo Hills, in what is now the Meghalaya-Assam border, while returning from an expedition to Assam. Madras is derived from the Arabic word Madrasah for school, since there were several Islamic schools in the area. Currently it is called Chennai and is the capital of Tamilnadu State.

321 solar years ago, on this day in 1698 AD, a treaty was signed by Russia, Poland, and Denmark against Sweden. The kings of these three countries intended to divide Sweden amongst them by defeating the young Swedish king, Charles XII. Thus, two years later on April 1700 AD, they attacked Sweden, but were defeated. Charles XII concluded peace with Denmark, and attacked and occupied Poland in 1704, but suffered defeat in his war against Russia.

201 solar years ago, on this day in 1818 AD, Warren Hastings, the first Governor-General of the British occupied parts of India, died in England at the age of 86. He rose from low positions to become governor of the British trading post of Qassimbazaar in Bengal, where he learned Urdu and Persian. He was rapidly promoted in view of his administrative abilities as the crafty British started occupying more parts of Bengal from the Najafi dynasty of Iranian origin, becoming the first Governor of the Presidency of Fort William, the head of the Supreme Council of Bengal, and thereby the first de facto Governor-General of British possessions in India from 1772 to 1785. He was accused of corruption and impeached in 1787.

171 solar years ago, on this day in 1848 AD, the US, as part of its expansionist policies, annexed New Mexico. In the 1830s, it had occupied Texas and in 1846 had seized from Mexico the large region of California including what are now the southwestern US states.

170 solar years ago, on this day in 1849 AD, the first air raid in history was launched by Austria through pilotless balloons against the city of Venice.

159 solar years ago, on this day in 1860 AD, one of the inventors of TV, Paul Gottlieb Nipkow, was born in Germany. He conducted extensive research for telecasting of images, and finally invented a device which could emit image waves for 30-meter distance. He died in 1940.

155 solar years ago, on this day in 1864 AD, the Geneva Convention was signed by twelve countries for providing assistance to soldiers wounded on the battlefields. It stipulated that medical personnel and relief workers are impartial and should be immune from any aggression. The initiator of this treaty was the Swiss figure, Henry Dunant.

69 solar years ago, on this day in 1950 AD, Egypt’s Hassan Abdur-Rahim, the first Muslim to swim the English Channel between Britain and France, did it for the 3rd time and won the Daily Mail race. In all, he successfully swam across the English Channel four times – 1948, 1949, 1950, and 1951.

12 solar years ago, on this day in 2007 AD, Iran developed a new 2,000-pound "smart" bomb, the latest in a recent series of new measures to upgrade the weapons systems, for strengthening the defence capabilities of the Islamic Republic.

9 solar years ago, on this day in 2010 AD Iran started mass production of two models of high-speed missile-launching assault boats, as part of efforts to boost security along its large coastlines on the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman.

AS/SS