Today is Saturday; 6th of the Iranian month of Mehr 1398 solar hijri; corresponding to 28th of the Islamic month of Muharram 1441 lunar hijri; and September 28, 2019, of the Christian Gregorian Calendar.

2067 solar years ago, on this day in 48 BC, on landing in Egypt, Roman general and politician Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus or Pompey the Great, was murdered by his own confidante, Septimius, on the orders of King Ptolemy of Egypt at the age of 58. In the mid-60 BC, he joined Marcus Licinius Crassus and Gaius Julius Caesar for the rule of the Roman Republic, in the military-political alliance known as the First Triumvirate, which Pompey's marriage to Caesar's daughter Julia helped secure. After the deaths of Julia and Crassus, Pompey sided with the conservative faction of the Roman Senate. Pompey and Caesar then contended for leadership of the Roman state, leading to a civil war. When Pompey was defeated at the Battle of Pharsalus, he sought refuge in Egypt, where he was assassinated. His career and defeat are significant in Rome's subsequent transformation from Republic to Principate and Empire.

1405 lunar years ago, on this day in 36 AH, Hudhayfa ibn Yaman, the loyal companion of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA), passed away in Mada’en, Iraq, where he was serving as governor. Born in Mecca, he was from the Abs tribe of Yemen, and embraced the truth of Islam shortly after the Prophet declared his universal mission. He migrated to Medina after the Prophet and was considered both a Muhajer (migrant from Mecca) and Ansar (helper from Medina), since he was allied to a clan in Medina. The Prophet gave him the option to count himself in either of the two groups, and he chose to be known as one of the Ansar. The Prophet confirmed his choice and made a pact of brotherhood between him and the other loyal companion Ammar ibn Yasser – a migrant from Mecca. Hudhayfa participated in the Battle of Ohad, along with his father, whom certain Muslims suspiciously killed and claimed it was an accident. During the Battle of Khandaq, he was asked by the Prophet to obtain information about the enemy's camp, and he successfully did. He was trusted by the Prophet and informed him of many future events and seditions, including the true characteristics of some people, especially the hypocrites amongst his companions. When a group of hypocrites from among the Muslims lay in ambush to assassinate the Prophet while he was as returning during night from the expedition to Tabuk, a streak of lightning illuminated the sky and stayed for a while instead of a brief flash, thereby exposing the conspirators and revealing their identity to the Prophet and Hudhayfa. Since Hudhayfa was told by the Prophet the names of all the hypocrites, he is called him “Saheb as-Sirr” (close confidant of the Prophet). He is considered as one of the four prominent companions of Imam Ali (AS. The biographer al-Kashshi has cited a hadith in which Hudhayfa is considered one of the seven people because of whom God bestows His blessings and bounties on people. These seven people attended the funeral of the Noblest-ever lady, the Prophet’s daughter Hazrat Fatema az-Zahra (SA), who annoyed with the hypocrites willed to her husband, Imam Ali (AS) to bury her in the dead of night, without any person connected to the ruling regime attending her funeral. Hudhayfa narrated hadiths regarding the virtues of Imam Ali (AS) and the Ahl al-Bayt. He also narrated a hadith from the Prophet of Twelve Imams after him. Al-Mas'udi reported that Hudhayfa's two sons, Safwan and Sa'd, accompanied Imam Ali (AS) in the Battle of Siffin and attained martyrdom, while at-Tabari writes that Sa’d was alive during the rise of the Tawwabin (Penitents) to avenge the blood of the Martyr of Karbala Imam Husain (AS) and assisted them.

1403 solar years ago, on this day in 616 AD, Javanshir Arran-Shah, the king of the Iranian land of Arran in what is today the Caucasus Republic of Azerbaijan was born in the Gardman region of Armenia. He reigned from 637 to 680 and was either of Parthian or Persian origin, as his family, the Mihranids, claimed descent from the Sassanid Persians. He was placed on the throne by the Sassanid Emperor in place of his father, Varaz Grigor, who had converted to Christianity from Zoroastrianism. Javanshir, who also converted secretly to Christianity, sided with the Sassanid Dynasty during the Arab invasion of Persia and was personally rewarded by Emperor Yazdegerd III two golden spears, two golden shields and a flag, probably the Derafsh Kaviani. In 636, he and his forces, alongside the Armenian prince Musel III Mamikonian, took part in the famous Battle of al-Qadisiyyah in Iraq between the Persian and Arab armies. The Sassanid defeat made Javanshir lose hope and he fled to his kingdom, from where he wrote a letter to Emperor Constans II and became ally of the Byzantine Empire. After his alliance with the Byzantines, he joined forces with the Iberian king Adarnase I to attack garrisons of the declining Sassanid Empire in the Caucasus, expanding his dominion from Derbend in Daghestan to Aras River on what is today Iran’s northwestern border. Soon, faced with the advancing armies of the Muslims from the south and the Khazar offensive on the north, Javanshir recognized the suzerainty of the caliph, a move that facilitated the spread of Islam in his homeland. Javanshir was assassinated in 680 at the age of 64.

1380 lunar years ago, on this day in 61 AH, 18 days after the heartrending tragedy of Karbala and the martyrdom of Imam Husain (AS), the captive children and womenfolk of the Household of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA), along with the heads of martyrs, mounted on spear-points, entered Ba’lbek in what is now Lebanon on their way to Damascus, the capital of the Godless Yazid, the self-styled caliph of the Omayyad regime. The noble captives were taken through a circuitous route passing through Mosul in Iraq, Nusaybin in what is now Turkey and Aleppo in Syria, where there are sacred places related to Imam Husain (AS), so that people on the normal straight route to the Syrian capital do not become aware of the tragedy of Karbala and rise up against Yazid. 

785 lunar years ago, on this day in 656 AH, Baghdad was sacked by the Buddhist army of the Mongol marauder, Hulagu Khan (grandson of the bloodthirsty Chingiz Khan), who had the 37th and last self-styled caliph of the usurper Abbasid regime, al-Musta'sem, rolled in a carpet and trampled to death under the feet of horses. The grand library of Baghdad, containing countless historical documents and books on subjects ranging from medicine to astronomy, was destroyed. It is said the waters of the Tigris ran black with ink from the enormous quantity of books flung into the river. Death counts vary widely and cannot be easily substantiated, running into estimates ranging from 200,000 to a million. The Mongols looted and destroyed mosques, palaces, libraries, hospitals and buildings that had been the work of generations, since the founding of Baghdad five centuries ago. So terrible was the sack that Baghdad lay desolate for several generations. The incompetent Musta’sem, whose 16-year rule was confined to Iraq and some eastern parts of Syria, had neither raised an army to defend Baghdad nor did he attempt to negotiate with Hulagu, to whom two years earlier, he had supplied troops to conquer the Ismaili Nizari stronghold of Alamout (200 km west of modern Tehran). It seems the Abbasid ruler not just paid the price of assisting infidels against fellow Muslims, but also the far more serious treachery of his great-grandfather, the 34^th self-styled caliph, an-Naser-Billah, some 40 years ago, in inviting Chingiz to attack the empire of the Khwarezm Shah, because of personal dispute, some years before the Mongol invasion actually occurred. The curtain thus came down on 524 lunar years of the Abbasid caliphate founded by Abu'l-Abbas Saffah by hijacking the sentiments of the Arab and Iranian masses for the Ahl al-Bayt, thereby depriving once again the progeny of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA) of their political right to rule the Islamic realm. The Abbasids exercised actual authority for only some 150 years, after which they became mere puppets in the hands of the Iranian and Turkic emirs, while independent dynasties cropped up in all the provinces, except for the heartland Iraq. The Abbasids never ruled Islamic Spain, where remnants of the Omayyads held power, while the Maghreb (Morocco) was lost during the early days of Haroun Rashid to Idris, a great-grandson of the Prophet's elder grandson, Imam Hasan Mojtaba (AS). Over a century later, all of North Africa, followed by Syria and the Hejaz, were taken over by the Fatemids, who also claimed descent from the Prophet.

781 solar years ago, on this day in 1238 AD, the Muslim emirate of Valencia in Spain was forced to surrender to the besieging King James I of Aragon, on certain conditions that were never kept by the Christians who persecuted Muslims and converted mosques into churches, beside expelling over 50,000 of the people of this land, which for five hundred years had nurtured many great Islamic scholars and poets. Known as "Balansia" to Muslims and also called "Madinat-at-Turab" (or City of Sands), its keys were delivered to King James by the Muslim king, Zayan, with the words: "In the city of Valencia live Muslims, the nobles of my people, along with Christians and Jews. I hope you continue to govern in the same harmony, all working and living together in this noble land. Here, during my reign, Easter processions went out and Christians professed their religion freely, as our Qur'an recognizes Christ and the Virgin. I hope you bestow the same treatment to the Muslims of Valencia."

Poets such as Ibn al-Abbar and Ibn Amira, have mourned their exile from this beloved Islamic city in their poems. The Christians broke their promise and gradually obliterated all traces of Islam and Muslims.

481 solar years ago, on this day in 1538 AD, during the Ottoman-Venetian War, the Turkish navy led by Khayr od-Din Pasha (Barbarossa or Red-beard to the Europeans), scored a decisive victory over a so-called Holy League fleet assembled by Christian powers in the Battle of Preveza off the western coast of the Province of Yunanistan (modern day Greece). The cause of the battle was capture the year before by Khayr od-Din Pasha of a number of Aegean and Ionian islands under control of the Republic of Venice, namely Syros, Aegina, Ios, Paros, Tinos, Karpathos, Kasos and Naxos. The Ottomans also annexed the Duchy of Naxos, besieged the Venetian stronghold of Corfu, and ravaged the Spanish-held Calabrian coast in southern Italy, ringing alarm bells in Rome and making Pope Paul III to assemble the Christian Alliance, which suffered a resounding defeat. At the end of the Battle of Preveza, the Muslim Turks sank 10 ships, burned 3, and captured 36 others, besides taking about 3,000 Christian prisoners. The Ottoman navy did not lose any ship. This day is a Turkish Navy National Holiday. The next year in 1539, Khayr od-Din Pasha returned and captured almost all the remaining Christian outposts in the Ionian and Aegean Seas.

226 solar years ago, on this day in 1793 AD, Mubarak od-Dowla, the Nawab Nazem of Bengal, Bihar, and Orissa, died after a 23-year reign, and was succeeded by his son, Babr Jang, Wazir od-Dowla. He belonged to the Persianate Najafi Seyyed family of Mir Ja’far Ali Khan, who was installed as ruler in 1757 after the Battle of Plassey, betraying his suzerain, Nawab Siraj od-Dowla of the dynasty of Iranian origin.  

179 solar years ago, on this day in 1838 AD, Akbar Shah II, the titular emperor of the great Moghal Empire died and was succeeded on the throne of Delhi by his son, Mohammad Bahadur Shah II Zafar. In 1857, the curtain came down on the empire founded in 1525 by the Central Asian adventurer, Zaheer od-Din Babar (protégé of Shah Ismail Safavi of Iran), as Bahadur Shah Zafar, in whose name the people of northern India rose against the British, was dethroned, humiliated and exiled in 1858 by the colonialists to Yangon (Rangoon) in Burma, where he died in 1862. Zafar was an accomplished poet in both Urdu and Persian.

161 lunar years ago, on this day in 1280 AH, the scholar, Mirza Mohammad Taher Tonekabouni, was born in Kelardasht, Mazandaran Province. He came to Tehran for higher religious and later joined the Madrasa-e Sepah-Salar as lecturer. He entered in politics and was elected to the 1^st and later 4^th Majlis, He passed away in Tehran at the age of 80 and was laid to rest in the mausoleum of the famous theologian, Shaikh Sadouq in Rayy.

128 solar years ago, on this day in 1891 AD, US author, Herman Melville, died at the age of 72. A sailor by profession, when his ship sank in one of his voyages, he was marooned on an island inhabited by primitive people. Melville wrote about this adventure and his escape from what he alleges cannibals in a book titled "Typee" which made him famous. His most important novel is “Moby-Dick”.

124 solar years ago, on this day in 1895 AD, French physician and chemist, Louis Pasteur, died at the age of 73. He presented new theories on contagious diseases such as rabies, and made major discoveries in this field. His innovative methods in treatment of infectious ailments and identification of microbes revolutionized the principles of hygiene. He created and tested vaccines for diphtheria, cholera, yellow fever, plague, rabies, anthrax, and tuberculosis.

49 solar years ago, on this day in 1970 AD, Egyptian president, Col. Jamal Abdun-Nasser, died at the age of 54. He participated in the first war imposed by the illegal Zionist entity on Arab states in 1948. In 1952, along with Gen. Mohammad Najib, he staged a coup against King Farouq to end the monarchy and two years later after ousting Najib, he became president. He was a staunch anti-colonialist and in 1956 he nationalized the Suez Canal, a measure that prompted France, Britain and the Zionist entity to attack Egypt. In the 1967 war against the usurper state of Israel, he suffered a shattering defeat and lost the Sinai Peninsula, mainly because of his miscalculation in committing as many as 70,000 Egyptian troops to the civil war in Yemen.

42 solar years ago, on this day in 1977 AD, Iranian composer and trombone player, Hussain Nassehi, passed away at the age of 52. Born in Tehran he studied music at the Tehran Conservatory, where he later taught. Among his pupils were Hussain Dehlavi, Ahmad Pejhman and Parviz Mansouri. Most of Nassehi's works because of his political activities were never performed in Iran during the repressive Pahlavi era.

28 solar years ago, on this day in 1991 AD, Iranian author, translator, and political activist, Behzad Bashi, passed away. Fluent in English and well versed in Music, for thirty years he was active in the various sections of the Persian media – wire agencies, newspapers, radio, and TV – and because of his bold views against despotism, was subjected to bouts of imprisonment and banishment to the remote parts of the country by the Pahlavi regime. He translated into Persian “Feudal Society” as well as “Greater America and Human Rights”. During the last ten years of his life, following the victory of the Islamic Revolution, he wrote “History of Music in the Orient” and “The Comprehensive History of Music”.

23 solar years ago, on this day in 1996 AD, The UN Security Council issued a resolution, calling for end to excavation of a tunnel underneath the courtyard of the al-Aqsa Mosque by the illegal Zionist entity. The US, however, lobbied for removal of this clause from the resolution. The excavation at al-Aqsa triggered bloody confrontations between the Zionists and Palestinians, resulting in the martyrdom of hundreds of Palestinians and wounding of thousands. Israel, because of US support, continues its excavations in the surroundings of this sacred mosque.

19 solar years ago, on this day in 2000 AD, the al-Aqsa Intefadha of the Palestinian people started following desecration of this sacred mosque by Ariel Sharon, the ringleader of the Likud party and the mass murderer of Palestinians in the Sabra and Shatilla refugee camps of southern Lebanon. Sharon, who had entered the sanctified Muslim place of worship with his boots on, died in 2914 after lying in coma for eight long years, which is a sign of divine wrath.

AS/SS