Today is Friday; 8th of the Iranian month of Shahrivar 1398 solar hijri; corresponding to 28th of the Islamic month of Zil-Hijjah 1440 lunar hijri; and August 30, 2019, of the Christian Gregorian Calendar.

1377 lunar years ago, on this day in 63 AH, the Battle of Harrah and the brutal massacre of the people of Medina took place in less than two years after the tragedy of Karbala, when the Godless Yazid dispatched a huge army led by the notoriously immoral Muslim bin Uqbah to sack the city of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA). It happened that after the heartrending martyrdom of the Prophet's grandson, Imam Husain (AS), the people of Medina who had failed to support him, sent a delegation to Damascus to ascertain Yazid's character. The delegation found him completely devoid of all Islamic values, and as a result the people of Medina expelled the Omayyad governor and refused to acknowledge the legitimacy of Yazid's un-Islamic rule. The ungodly tyrant sent a force of 10,000 Syrians who attacked the defenders at Harrah, northeast of Medina. The well-equipped Omayyads after slaughtering a large number of Muslim defenders pursued them into the city and mercilessly butchered the people, including those that had sought refuge in the Prophet's Mosque and the Prophet's shrine. As many as 10,000 people, including 700 prominent persons comprising the Prophet's companions and scholars were massacred in cold-blood. Next, Muslim Ibn Uqbah, who has earned notoriety in Islamic history as the criminal transgressor who violated all bounds of sanctity, ordered his troops to plunder and desecrate the property and womenfolk of Medina for three days, before marching upon Mecca and blasphemously attacking the holy Ka'ba. For generations the heinous crime of Harrah was remembered. Of the women of Medina gang-raped by Yazid's soldiers, over a thousand gave birth to illegitimate children with no clue about their fathers. These are known in history as the “Offspring of the Sedition of Harrah”, and it is said that the schismatic ideas known as Wahhabism today, especially the prohibition on visiting the graves and recitation of Fateha for the dead, could actually be traced to these children of unknown and illegitimate parentage.

1155 lunar years ago, on this day in 285 AH, the Arab grammarian Abu'l-Abbas Mohammad al-Mubarrad died in Baghdad. He is regarded as leader of the Basran grammarians against the Kufan School. He has criticized some points in the grammar of the famous Iranian grammarian of Arabic language, Sibawayh, the greatest writer of his own school. His main work is the grammatical book "al-Kamel". Although a Sunni Muslim, al-Mubarrad has mentioned the account that Princess Shahr-Banu – daughter of Yazdegerd III, the last Sassanid Emperor of Iran – had married Imam Husain (AS) and was the mother of Imam Zayn al-Abedin (AS).

656 solar years ago, on this day in 1363 AD, start of the Battle of Lake Poyang; the forces of two Chinese rebel leaders, Chen Youliang and Zhu Yuanzhang, were pitted against each other in what is one of the largest naval battles in history, during the last decade of the ailing, Mongol-led Yuan Dynasty. Following this victory, Zhu emerged as the strongest of warlords fighting for supremacy in China, and in 1367 he defeated Zhang Shicheng's Kingdom of Dazhou, which granted him authority over the lands north and south of the Yangtze River. The other major warlords surrendered to him and on 20 January 1368, Zhu proclaimed himself the first Emperor of the Ming Dynasty in Nanjing and adopted the title "Hongwu". His dynasty's mission was to drive away the Mongols and restore Han Chinese rule in China. The Hongwu Emperor ruled for 30 years, and although born a Buddhist, he embraced the Confucian doctrine and showed inclination towards Islam. He ordered the construction of several mosques in Nanjing, Yunnan, Guangdong, Xijing and Fujian, and had inscriptions placed in them in praises of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA). He rebuilt the Jinjue Mosque in his capital Nanjing, and large numbers of the Muslim Hui people moved to the city during his rule. He had some ten Muslim generals in his military, including Chang Yuchun, Lan Yu, Ding Dexing, Mu Ying, Feng Sheng and Hu Dahai. He personally wrote the 100-word praise known as ‘baizizan’ on Islam, Allah and the Prophet Mohammad (SAWA).

222 solar years ago, on this day in 1797 AD, Mary Wollstonecraft (Godwin) Shelley, the writer of "Frankenstein," or the Modern Prometheus, was born in London. She took the surname ‘Shelly’ after marrying her paramour, the poet Percy Shelly. In 1818, she anonymously published the novel as an attack on industrialization. This famous tale of a flawed artificial life experiment that produced a monster grew out of a visit at Lord Byron's villa with her husband. There, she shared in a discussion of galvanism, the possibility of reanimating dead matter, and even bringing life to a corpse. Byron suggested writing on the fantasy. Mary completed a full novel. Byron wrote briefly about the vampire legend he had learned about while in the Balkans, expanded by John Polidoni in “The Vampyre” (1819). Two classic horror subjects were thus born together.

206 solar years ago, on this day in 1813 AD, over 500 US troops lost their life in Fort Mims, north of Mobile in what is now Alabama State when Creek Amerindians had no other choice but to defend their land, properties and honour during one of those genocidal battles imposed on the natives by the White rulers.

151 lunar years ago, on this day in 1289 AH, the great Iranian theologian and philosopher, Mullah Hadi Sabzevari, passed away at the age of 78. He was born in Sabzevar in Khorasan in a wealthy family, but lived a life of piety and asceticism, spending whatever he had for the poor and the needy. He studied, first in holy Mashhad and then in Isfahan for several years, and was an authority in the exegesis of the Holy Qur'an, logic, mathematics, literature, and medicine. He used to lecture both in Mashhad and his hometown Sabzevar, and trained a large number of students from Iran, Iraq, Bahrain, Turkey, Caucasus, Afghanistan and the Subcontinent. He was a great exponent of the Transcendent Philosophy of Mullah Sadra, and has written 52 books in Arabic and Persian, including the famous versified “Manzoumah” and its commentary, which, along with another of his famous work, "Asrar al-Hekam", are taught till this day in Iran and other countries. The poet-philosopher of the Subcontinent, Allamah Iqbal Lahori, has paid glowing tributes to Mullah Hadi Sabzevari as one of the most prominent Islamic thinkers.

112 solar years ago, on this day in 1907, following triumph of the constitutional movement in Iran, the country became target of a fresh colonial plot when Britain and Russia, without informing the weak Qajarid Dynasty, chalked up their spheres of influence, with the Russians taking control of the north and some western parts, and the British taking control of the south, while Tehran and the remaining parts were left under the rule of the central government. The Majlis strongly protested this move, but was helpless. The Bolshevik Revolution of 1917 made the Russians withdraw from Iran leaving the entire country to British influence.    

97 solar years ago, on this day in 1922 AD, the final battle of the 4-year Greek War against Turkey was fought at Dumlupinar, resulting in a victory for the Turks and end of ambitions of British-backed Greece to occupy Asia Minor and seize Istanbul – on the flimsy claims of ancient Greek rule over the areas.

77 solar years ago, on this day in 1942 AD, the great gnostic scholar, Ayatollah Shaikh Hassan Ali Nokhoudaki Isfahani, passed away in holy Mashhad and was laid to rest in the mausoleum of Imam Reza (AS). A pious person since his youth, after completion of preliminary studies in Isfahan under such scholars as Mullah Mohammad Kashi and Jahangir Khan Qashqai, he left for Iraq for higher studies at the famous seminary in holy Najaf. Among his teachers were Seyyed Mohammad Fesharaki, Seyyed Morteza Kashmiri, and Mullah Ismail Qaradaghi. On return to Iran, he settled in Mashhad, where in addition to research and teaching, he was engaged in charitable activities for the poor. Ayatollah Nokhoudaki’s asceticism resulted in his acquiring of certain extraordinary spiritual powers which he used for the benefit of the downtrodden people, without letting anybody know it. These anecdotes have been mentioned in the book “Nishan az Binishanha” (Traces of the Untraceable).  

38 solar years ago, on this day in 1981 AD, Iranian President Mohammad Ali Rajai, and Prime Minister Hojjat al-Islam Mohammad Javad Bahonar, were martyred in a bomb blast carried out by the MKO terrorist outfit at the premier’s office in Tehran. Rajai, a teacher by profession, was imprisoned and tortured on several occasions by the Shah’s regime for his Islamic political activities. Following the victory of the Islamic Revolution in 1979, he was elected to the parliament, was named minister of education, became prime minister, and finally chosen as president in the nationwide elections. He named courageous and committed religious scholar Dr. Mohammad Javad Bahonar, as the premier. In view of the impeccable credentials of these two faithful and modest persons, who were committed to the lofty ideals of the Islamic Revolution, the MKO terrorist outfit martyred them this day on the orders of Global Arrogance.

28 solar years ago, on this day in 1991 AD, the Republic of Azerbaijan declared its independence from the Soviet Union. This land has been integral part of Iran since pre-history, and was occupied by the Russians in the early 19th century. Following the Russian revolution, Azerbaijan became independent as a republic in 1918. But, this independence was short-lived and only lasted for two years. In late 1980s, on the verge of Soviet Union’s collapse, Azerbaijan Republic formally became independent.

20 solar years ago, on this day in 1999 AD, the people of East Timor, in Southeast Asia, in a referendum, voted for independence from Indonesia. The East Timor Island, in addition to other Indonesian Islands was occupied by Portugal, in 1511 AD. However, after the domination of Indonesia by Holland in mid-19th Century, only East Timor remained under the rule of Portugal. Indonesia gained its independence in the year 1945. But, Portugal continued to occupy East Timor till 1976. In this year, the Indonesian troops replaced Portuguese forces and East Timor came under the rule of Indonesia. Following the fall of General Suharto in the year 1998, and emergence of a political crisis in Indonesia, the independence-seeking movement in East Timor developed and this territory became independent with the support of the UN and Western governments.

5 solar years ago, on this day in 2014 AD, Iraqi security forces, along with the popular forces of Shi’a Muslims and Kurdish fighters, and with timely military help provided by the Islamic Republic of Iran, launched a major operation to break the more than two-month siege of Amerli, a Turkmen-majority town in northern Iraq, which was surrounded by the Godless Takfiri terrorists. The next day the siege was completely broken as Takfiri terrorists fled after suffering heavy losses. Thousands of men, women, and children trapped for more than two months with dwindling food and water supplies were liberated and offered prayers of gratitude to God Almighty.

AS/SS