Today is Tuesday; 16th of the Iranian month of Mehr 1398 solar hijri; corresponding to 9th of the Islamic month of Safar 1441 lunar hijri; and October 8, 2019, of the Christian Gregorian Calendar.

2338 solar years ago, on this day in 319 BC, Pyrrhus Greek general and statesman of the Hellenistic period, was born. He was king of the Greek tribe of Molossians, of the royal Aeacid house (from 297 BC), and later he became king of Epirus (306–302, 297–272 BC) and Macedon (288–284, 273–272 BC). He was one of the strongest opponents of early Rome. Some of his battles, though successful, caused him heavy losses, from which the term “Pyrrhic Victory” was coined.

1404 lunar years ago, on this day in 37 AH, Ammar Yasser, one of the close disciples of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA), attained martyrdom at the age of 93 during a battle in the War of Siffin, in defence of Islam, while fighting hypocrisy and sedition, in the company of Prophet’s First Infallible Heir, Imam Ali (AS). He was killed in a cowardly manner from behind by a commander of the Omayyad rebel, Mu’awiyah ibn Abu Sufyan, and thus the Prophet’s prediction that Ammar will be martyred by a heretical group came true. His parents, Yaser and Somayyah, were the first martyrs of Islam. They were tortured to death by the pagan Arabs of Mecca, such as Abu Sufyan. Ammar stood firm against the persecutions of disbelievers and on several occasions accompanied the Prophet in the expeditions against the pagan Arabs. After the Prophet, he stood firmly beside Imam Ali (AS) and refused to accept the regime in Medina for usurping political power through the coup at Saqifa Bani Sa'da. Ammar’s mausoleum situated in Reqqa, Syria, at the site of his martyrdom, has been desecrated by Takfiri terrorists.

1403 lunar years ago, on this day in 38 AH, the Commander of the Faithful, Imam Ali ibn Abi Taleb (AS), decisively defeated at Nahrawan in Iraq, an army of some 2000 Khawarej or renegades who had turned away from Islam to start armed rebellion against Prophet Mohammad’s (SAWA) divinely-designated Heir. Initially, part of the Imam’s forces at the inconclusive War of Siffeen against the rebel, Mu’awiyah ibn Abu Sufyan, these misled people, duped by the Omayyad stratagem in raising copies of the holy Qur’an on spear-points, had forced the Imam to stop the battle on the verge of victory, imposed upon him the weak-willed Abu Musa Ash’ari for the arbitration, rejected its outcome, and then broke away from the Islamic army by claiming the sword should have decided the conflict, when they themselves were the cause of the stalemate. They numbered 12,000 and the next year when Imam Ali (AS) called upon them to join his fresh campaign against Mu’awiyah, they now not only refused but gathered in warlike manner at Nahrawan, where they butchered the governor Abdullah ibn Khabbab ibn al-Arath, and four women including a pregnant maid, whose womb they inhumanly tore to kill the fetus. At this the Imam sent Hareth ibn Murrah al-Abdi to investigate but he too was killed by the Khawarej, who now seemed intent on attacking Kufa in the Imam’s absence. The Imam who had already set out for Syria, decided to curb this new sedition before dealing with Mu’awiyah and sent Sa'sa' ibn Sauhan, Ziyad ibn Nazr al-Harethi, and Abdullah ibn Abbas, to urge them to repent and return to the fold of Islam. He then personally came and explained to them their misinterpretation of events, demanding the handing over of the killers of innocent people, and offering them amnesty through the Prophet’s companion, Abu Ayyub al-Ansari, who hoisted a banner for all those willing to break ranks with the Khawarej. As many as 10,000 people came over, leaving some 2000 hardcore hypocrites led by Abdullah ibn Wahhab to oppose the Imam. The Imam had exhausted all efforts to avoid bloodshed and when these misguided elements attacked the forces of Islam they were all annihilated except for 9 who fled the battlefield towards Basra. On Imam Ali’s (AS) side only 8 persons were killed.

1314 solar years ago, on this day in 705 AD, the 5^th self-styled caliph of the usurper Omayyad regime, Abdul-Malik Ibn Marwan, died in Damascus at the age of 59 after a reign of 20 tyrannical years during which among a spate of crimes against Islam and humanity, he ordered his Godless general, Hajjaj Thaqafi, to defile the sanctity of the holy Ka’ba with fire and brimstone in order to kill the rival caliph, Abdullah Ibn Zubayr. Born in Mecca to the despicable Marwan, who along with his pagan father Hakam, was expelled by Prophet Mohammad (SAWA) for ridiculing Islam, he grew up in Medina, where his father as the cousin and son-in-law of Caliph Othman Ibn Affan manipulated all state affairs and was the actual cause of the latter’s murder. When Mu’awiyyah Ibn Abu Sufyan seized the caliphate from the Prophet’s elder grandson Imam Hasan al-Mujtaba (AS), Marwan was appointed governor of Medina, and years later in 63 AH, along with his son Abdul-Malik, was lucky to be allowed to leave for Syria on the seizure of Arabia by Abdullah ibn Zubayr. In 64 AH, he found himself propelled to the truncated caliphate following the horribly mysterious death of the tyrant Yazid – perpetrator of the tragedy of Karbala – abdication of the latter’s son Mu’awiyya II a few months later, and his own father Marwan’s rise as caliph and death in the harem nine months later. He faced an uncertain future with the Omayyad caliphate shrunken to Damascus and its environs as Mokhtar Ibn Abu Obaidah, the Avenger of the Martyrs of Karbala, was all set to wipe out the Omayyads with his string of victories against the killers of the Prophet’s younger grandson, Imam Husain (AS). At this crucial juncture, Abdullah Ibn Zubayr, again blundered and refusing to join forces with Mokhtar for obliterating the Omayyads, he instead he sent his brother Mus’ab to attack and kill Mokhtar, thereby giving breathing space to Abdul-Malik and in fact allowing him to regroup and attack the divided armies of Iraq and Hijaz. What followed was the revival of Omayyad tyranny and suppression of Muslims, especially the Prophet’s progeny and their followers. Abdul-Malik initiated brazenly racist and chauvinistic polices against the letter and spirit of Islam that made Arabs the dominant class, hand-in-hand with rabid Arabization that deprived Syrians, Egyptians, and North Africans of their native languages and rich cultural heritage. In the eastern parts of the empire, however, these apartheid policies failed to erode the Persian language and culture of the Iranians and other Muslim peoples, who in accordance with the message of the holy Qur'an, mastered Arabic language, literature and grammar, as well as hadith and Islamic sciences, while preserving for posterity the positive aspects of the legacies of the past.

1020 lunar years ago, on this day in 421 AH, the prominent Iranian Islamic scientist, historian, and thinker, Abu Ali Ahmad ibn Mohammad ibn Yaqoub Ibn Miskawaiyh, passed away at the age of 101. Born in the city of Rayy (a southern suburb of modern Tehran today), he was an accomplished scholar in all the sciences of his era. He conducted studies and researches in medicine, chemistry, history and philosophy. Ibn Miskawaiyh, through combination of these teachings based on his bright insight, created valuable works in the domains of history, philosophy, and ethics. He was a follower of the school of the Ahl al-Bayt (Blessed Household) of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA). He authored several books in Arabic, including "Tahzib al-Akhlaaq", which was translated into Persian over two centuries after his death by the prominent scientist, Khwaja Naseer od-Din Tusi. His other famous book is the voluminous "Tajareb al-Umam", which states the important events until 372 AH, and is considered as one of the authentic historical books. Devoted to literature and an accomplished poet, his collection of poems shows his thoughts, and mastery over the language, as is evident by the book he wrote in his native Persian “Javidan-e Kherad” on literature and poetry.

846 lunar years ago, on this day in 595 AH, the famous Spanish Muslim philosopher and polymath, Mohammad Ibn Ahmad Ibn Rushd, known to Medieval Europe as “Averroes”, passed away at the age of 72, while on a visit to Marakesh, from where his body was brought back to Spain and buried in his birthplace Cordoba. He was an expert in the sciences of the day, including medicine, astronomy, jurisprudence, Qur’an and hadith, at a time when the Christian World was living in ignorance and darkness. At the age of 25, he conducted astronomical observations in Morocco, discovering a previously unobserved star. He gave one of the first descriptions on sunspots. Ibn Rushd made remarkable contributions to medicine. His well-known book in this field is “Kitab al-Kulliyaat fi’t-Tibb”, whose Latin translation known as “Colliget” aroused much interest in medieval Europe. He has thrown light on various aspects of medicine, including the diagnoses, cure and prevention of diseases. He was called “the jurisprudent philosopher” and as a follower of the Maliki School, he compiled a summary of edicts (fatwa) of previous jurists. His works include interpretation of Qur’anic concepts. Ibn Rushd’s important original philosophical work is “Tahafut at-Tahafut” (Incoherence of the Incoherence), which is a refutation of the Iranian Shafei theologian, Ghazali’s “Tahafut al-Falasefa” (Incoherence of the Philosophers). Ghazali had criticized as self-contradictory and an affront to Islamic teachings, the presentation of Aristotle’s thoughts by the famous Iranian Islamic genius, Abu Ali Ibn Sina. Ibn Rushd proved Ghazali's arguments as mistaken.

539 solar years ago, on this day in 1480 AD, the Great Standoff on either side of the Ugra River in Russia between the forces of Ahmad Khan, the ruler of the Great Horde, and Grand Duke Ivan III of Russia, resulted in the withdrawal of both the adversaries and an odd celebration of victory by both of them. In 1476 Ivan III stopped paying the annual tribute to the Tatar-Mongol Muslims, which they had been collecting for the past two centuries. At the time, Ahmad Khan was busy with his struggle against fellow Muslim Tartars of the Crimean Khanate, and this led to formation of strange alliances. On one side was Christian Russia and Muslim Crimea, while on the other side was the Muslim Great Horde aligned with the Christian Poland-Lithuania union of King Casimir IV. After a brief battle, Ahmad drew back and decided to wait for Casimir's army. Ivan III also withdrew and decided against crossing the river. Ahmad Khan chose not to attack until the Lithuanians show up but they didn't because of Crimean raid on their territories. With the winter fast approaching Ahmad turned south, while Ivan returned to Moscow. As Nikolai Karamzin writes in his "History of the Russian State": "It should be an odd image: two armies ran away from each other, not pursued by anyone", and then celebrated it as victory. It is worth recalling that Russia was subjugated by Genghiz Khan's son Batu Khan in 1255, and the Golden Horde that he founded continued for a full century until 1359, reaching its peak during the 30-year reign of Uzbeg Khan who converted to Islam. The territory of the Golden Horde at its peak included most of Eastern Europe from the Urals to the right banks of the Danube River, extending east into Siberia. In the south its lands bordered on the Black Sea and the Caucasus Mountains up to the frontiers of the Mongol Ilkhanate Dynasty of Iran. The 1396 invasion of Tamerlane broke the Golden Horde into smaller khanates and by 1433 it was simply referred to as the Great Horde that controlled Russia.

495 lunar years ago, on this day in 946 AH, the second Mughal emperor, Humayun Shah, retreating for Agra from Mongir, was intercepted and defeated by the Afghan chieftain, Sher Shah Suri, at Chapar Ghat near Baksar. Humayun fled to Iran from where he returned with assistance from Shah Tahmasp Safavi to regain the throne of Delhi on the death of Sher Shah.

485 solar years ago, on this day in 1534 AD, the English Parliament on the orders of King Henry VIII severed its ties with the Roman Catholic Church when Pope Clement VII refused to annul his marriage with his first wife, Catherine of Spain. The Anglican Church now replaced the Catholic Church in England, with the Archbishop of Canterbury taking on the duties of the Pope.

163 solar years ago, on this day in 1856 AD, the Second Opium War between several western powers and China begins with the “Arrow Incident” on the Pearl River when Chinese police boarded the British vessel Arrow, arrested 12 Chinese crewmen on suspicion of piracy and lowered the British flag. The France, the US, and Russia, soon joined the British in subjecting China to a multipronged offense that ended in 1860 after the deliberate burning of the Summer Palaces by the western armies to humiliate the Chinese.  "Opium War" refers to one of the British tactical objectives: legalising the opium trade, expanding coolie trade, opening all of China to British merchants, and exempting foreign imports from internal transit duties.

138 solar years ago, on this day in 1881 AD, Vietnam was hit by a massive storm that destroyed houses and farms, claiming the lives of nearly 300,000 people, mostly in the south.

122 lunar years ago, on this day in 1319 AH, the concession for drilling of Iran’s oil was given to the British investor, William Knox D’Arcy, by the weak Qajarid ruler, Mozaffar od-Din Shah, without considering the grave consequences to Iran's national interests. Three decades after the Constitutional Movement, D’Arcy’s contract was annulled in view of its unjust nature.

107 solar years ago, on this day in 1912 AD, the First Balkan War began with tiny Montenegro declaring war on the Ottoman Empire, with the support of major west European powers. The Balkan Wars were two conflicts that took place in the Balkan Peninsula in south-eastern Europe in 1912 and 1913. By the early 20^th century, Bulgaria, Greece, Montenegro and Serbia had seceded from the Ottoman Empire. In 1912, these countries formed the Balkan League. The First Balkan War broke out when the League attacked the Ottoman Empire on 8 October and was ended seven months later by the Treaty of London. After five centuries, the Ottoman Empire lost virtually all of its possessions in the Balkans, and large number of European Muslims began to be persecuted in these regions.

91 solar years ago, on this day in 1928 AD, troops stormed the house of prominent leader of Iran's Constitutional Movement, Ayatollah Seyyed Hassan Modarres, and arrested him along with his family and friends on the orders of the British-installed dictator, Reza Khan Pahlavi. The Ayatollah, who in 1925 had unsuccessfully opposed the dissolution of the Qajarid dynasty by the Pahlavi upstart, was exiled to Khaf and then to Kashmar in southern Khorasan, where in 1937 he was poisoned on the orders of Reza Khan and attained martyrdom.

83 solar years ago, on this day in 1936 AD, Munshi Premchand, famous for his modern Urdu-Hindi literature, died in Lucknow at the age of 56. Born near Benares in northern India, he learnt Urdu and Persian in childhood, and years later taught himself English. After his mother's death, he sought solace in fiction, and developed a fascination for books, especially after hearing stories from the Persian-language fantasy epic "Tilism-e Hoshruba". His writings prominently featured realism, describing the problems of the poor and the urban middle-class. He used literature for the purpose of arousing public awareness about national and social issues and often wrote on topics related to corruption, child widowhood, prostitution, feudal system, poverty, colonialism and the freedom movement. Among his works mention could be made of “Soz-e Watan”, “Jalwa-e Isaar”, “Bazaar-e Hosn”, and “Maidan-e Amal”.

48 solar years ago, on this day in 1971 AD, prominent researcher, writer and preacher, Seyyed Mohammad Musawi Shirazi, son of Sultan al-Va’ezin Ali Akbar Shirazi, passed away at the age of 75. Born in Tehran, he left for Iraq with his father at the age of 12 and in the holy city of Karbala completed his studies. On his return to Iran, he resided for a time in Kermanshah, before embarking on research and scholarly tours abroad that took him to Iraq, Syria, Jordan, Palestine, Egypt and the Subcontinent. During these trips he held dialogues and debates with Sunni Muslims as well as followers of other creeds, such as Jews, Christians, and Hindus. In India, in 1927, he had a marathon 8-hour long discussion with the Leader of the independence movement against the British, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, which was widely reflected in the Indian press. His most famous debate, however, was in Peshawar in what is now Pakistan in 1927 that lasted for ten days (beginning on January 27), with two prominent Sunni religious scholars of Afghanistan – Hafiz Muhammad Rashid, and Sheikh Abdu's-Salaam; both of whom from Kabul. A condition of the dialogue was that only sources acceptable to both sects would be cited. The dialogue was held in Persian, common to both parties, while four reporters recorded its details in the presence of approximately 200 people (both Shi’as and Sunnis).  The dialogues were a model of mutual respect and in spite of the seriousness of the subject, there was no breach of decorum. The transcript of the dialogue was first published in the newspapers each day the following morning. Later it was published in book form titled “Shabha-e Peshawar” (translated into English as Peshawar Nights) that became a classic authority in the Islamic World. He also authored the book titled “Sad Maqala-e Sultani” (100 Essays on Refutation of Judaism and Christianity) as well as the 2-volume “Grouh-e Rastaragaan” also known as “Firqa’e Najiyya” – reference to the famous hadith of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA): After me the Ummah will split into 72 sects of which only one will attain salvation and enter paradise.

32 solar years ago, on this day in 1987 AD, Saddam of Baghdad’s repressive Ba’th minority regime ordered chemical bombardment of Sumaar near Qasr-e Shirin in western Iran, resulting in the martyrdom of several civilians. During the 8-year war he imposed on Iran on the orders of the US, Saddam, who was supplied these internationally banned weapons by the West, especially Germany, used them on numerous occasions, resulting in the martyrdom and injury of around a hundred thousand Muslim combatants and civilians. Many of the chemically-scarred Iranians are still leading a painful life three decades after having fallen victim to toxic weapons, while the West, despite its claim to prohibition of use of weapons of mass destruction, including chemical weapons, has ignored the plight of the world’s prime victim of unconventional warfare and terrorism – the Islamic Republic of Iran. 

32 solar years ago, on this day in 1987 AD, US helicopter gunships in the Persian Gulf, in a blatant act of state terrorism and open support for Saddam of Baghdad’s repressive Ba’th minority regime, whose armies were losing on the war fronts, in an unprovoked attack, sank three Iranian patrol boats.

29 solar years ago, on this day in 1990 AD, Zionist troops attacked Palestinian worshippers at the al-Aqsa Mosque, martyring 20 and wounding scores of others. The blind US support for Israel's crimes against humanity, prevented the passing of any UN resolution against the illegal Zionist entity.

25 lunar years ago, on this day in 1416 AH, the jurisprudent and prominent researcher, Ayatollah Seyyed Mohammad Hussain Hussaini Tehrani, passed away in his hometown Tehran at the age of 69. After studying in holy Qom under Grand Ayatollah Seyyed Hussain Boroujerdi, and the famous exegete of the holy Qur’an, Allamah Seyyed Mohamnmad Hussain Tabatabai, he left for Iraq to study at the seminary in Holy Najaf, were he studied under Grand Ayatollah Seyyed Abu’l-Qassem Khoie, and Ayatollah Seyyed Mahmood Shahroudi. On his return to Iran he was engaged in grooming students and writing books in Persian, including the 18-volume “Imam-Shinasi” (Cognizance of the Imam), the 10-volume “Ma’ad-Shinasi” (Understanding Resurrection), the 4-volume “Noor-e Malakout-e Qur’an” and “Rooh-e Mojarrad” (The Detached Soul) on Gnosis. In this last named book, he has mentioned in detail his meeting with the reclusive Gnostic Seyyed Hashem Haddad and how his spiritual guidance totally transformed him, taking him to higher levels of spirituality.

14 solar years ago, on this day in 2005 AD, a 7.6-magnitude quake hit Kashmir killing thousands of people in parts of Pakistan, India and Afghanistan. The epicenter was Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistani-controlled Kashmir. As many as 90,000 people were killed in the border regions of the three countries while 3.3 million people lost their homes and hearths.

AS/SS