Today is Tuesday; 23rd of the Iranian month of Mehr 1398 solar hijri; corresponding to 16th of the Islamic month of Safar 1441 lunar hijri; and October 15, 2019, of the Christian Gregorian Calendar.

1127 solar years ago, on this day in 892 AD, Ahmad ibn Ja’far Mo'tamed-Billah, the 15^th self-styled caliph of the usurper Abbasid regime died at the age of about 50 as a result of a surfeit of drink and food, after a reign of 22 years during which he earned lasting damnation by martyring through poison Imam Hasan al-Askari (AS), the 11^th Infallible Heir of Prophet Muhammad (SAWA), in a vain bid to prevent the birth of the Promised Mahdi (AS). Son of Fityan, a concubine of the tyrant Mutawakkel, he had been installed as caliph by the powerful Turkic guard which ousted his cousin al-Muhtadi.

1107 solar years ago, on this day in 912 AD, Abdullah ibn Mohammad, the 7th emir of Muslim Spain died in his capital Cordoba at the age of 68, after a reign of 22 years and was succeeded by his grandson, Abdur-Rahman. Contemporary historians charge him of orchestrating the death of his elder brother, al-Mundhir, whereby he ascended to power. His government was marked by continuous inter-Muslim wars between Arabs, Berbers and Muladi. His power as emir was confined to the area of Cordoba, while the rest of country was seized by rebel families that did not accept his authority. He showed no reluctance to dispose off those he viewed as a threat, even if they were family. Two of his own brothers were executed on his orders, and he commanded one of his sons, al-Mutarrif, to kill his own brother. Mutarrif too was executed for treason a few years later. The most formidable threat for the emir was Omar Ibn Hafsun, who though defeated in 891 conquered back all lost territories, forcing the emir to sign a peace accord in 901.

1094 solar years ago, on this day in 925 AD, the famous Iranian Islamic physician and chemist, Mohammad ibn Zakariyya Razi, passed away at the age of 60. Born in the city of Rayy, he initially followed his father's profession of goldsmith before turning to chemistry, in addition to honing his skills in medicine, geometry, logic, and philosophy. He has compiled almost 250 works in different scientific courses, including “al-Hawi” al-Kabir, on ways of leading a sound and healthy life. This monumental medical encyclopedia in nine volumes is also known as “Jame’ al-Kabir". Razi also wrote “al-Mansouri”, and “Sayrat al-Falsafiyah” on philosophy. He also wrote a home medical (remedial) novel for the general public titled “Man La Yahzuruhu at-Ṭabeeb”, (He Who has no Physician to Attend Him).

1058 solar years ago, on this day in 961 AD, Abdur-Rahman III, the 1^st self-styled Omayyad caliph of Córdoba in Muslim Spain, died at the age of 72 after half-a-century of reign during which he expanded his power and territory by subjugating both the Christian and Muslim principalities. His mother and father’s mother were both Christian concubines. He succeeded his grandfather, Abdullah, and broke all allegiance with the Abbasid caliphate of Baghdad. His legitimacy was under serious question as a result of the bid by the Fatemid Ismaili Shi'a Dynasty of North Africa to expand its sphere of influence in Spain, where Muslims considered the Omayyads as usurpers and the descendants of the Prophet more worthy of governance. In order to check the Fatemids, he signed a treaty with the Christian ruler of Leon, Ordono III, and backed the Maghrawa Berber rebels in Northwest Africa. Instead of confronting the European Christian rebels who were slowly encroaching upon the northern territories of Islamic Spain, he devoted his time and energy to creating inter-Muslim rivalries, as was evident by his support for the Idrisids, which was also a Shi'ite Muslim Dynasty of what is now Morocco. Abdur-Rahman's efforts were brought to naught in 958, after a decisive Fatemid victory that ended Omayyad ambitions in North Africa, thanks to the military genius of the powerful Shi’a Muslim general of Greco-Sicilian descent Jowhar as-Siqilli – who later conquered Egypt and built the city of Cairo, including the al-Azhar Mosque and academy, which derives its name from the famous epithet of Prophet Muhammad’s (SAWA) Immaculate Daughter Hazrat Fatema (SA) “az-Zahra” (The Resplendent).

Abdur-Rahman is credited with the building of the large palace-complex of Medninat-az-Zahra – the well-preserved ruins of which are a major tourist attraction in modern Spain.

754 solar years ago, on this day in 1265 AD, Temür Oljeytu Khan, or Emperor Chengzong of the Yuan Mongol Dynasty of China was born to Zhenjin the son and crown prince of Kublai Khan. At the age of 21 he succeeded his grandfather as the 6th Great Khan and ruled for 13 years from 1294 to February 10, 1307. Many high posts of his empire were filled with people of different origin, including Muslims. Mongol statesmen were assisted by Chinese administrators and Muslim financers. The most prominent Muslim statesman was Bayan, a great-grandson of the migrant Iranian scholar and statesman, Seyyed Ajal Shams od-Din, who was in charge of the Finance Ministry. He banned sales and distillation of alcohol in 1297.

490 solar years ago, on this day in 1529 AD, the Siege of Vienna ended as Suleiman, the 10th Ottoman Sultan and 2nd self-styled Turkish caliph, ordered retreat of his forces to the safety of Belgrade in the face of harsh weather and harassment by the Christian defenders that had gathered from various parts of Christendom and who viewed it as a key battle of world history, fearing a Christian defeat would lead to Muslim domination of the rest of Europe. The siege of Vienna signaled the peak of Ottoman expansion in Central Europe, as the Turks settled in Buda on the left bank of the River Danube. Thereafter, 150 years of bitter military tension and reciprocal attacks ensued, culminating in the Battle of Vienna of 1683, which marked the start of the 15-year-long Great Turkish War and the subsequent Ottoman decline. Suleiman's main objective in 1529 was to assert Ottoman control over the whole of Hungary, the western part of which was under Habsburg control. The Vienna siege is viewed as an opportunistic maneuver after Suleiman’s decisive victory in Hungary, and not any serious attempt to take the city and march beyond, since the Turks were stretched thin. Moreover, Suleiman was worried of the real danger to the Ottomans from the Safavid Empire of Iran in the east, following defections of the Turcoman governors of some regions in Anatolia to Shah Tahmasp. Therefore, after a second failed attempt on Vienna in 1532, with his European frontier secured, he hastened east to invade Iraq and occupy Baghdad, while the Safavids, reluctant to shed the blood of fellow Muslims withdrew without a fight and for the next two decades followed a scorched earth policy in northwestern Iran that frustrated the Ottomans and forced Suleiman to sign a durable peace accord with Shah Tahmasp.

437 solar years ago, on this day in 1582 AD, was the first day of the Gregorian calendar under the decree of Pope Gregory XIII in the Catholic countries of Italy, Spain, Portugal and Poland, which realigned the calendar with the equinoxes. The rest of the Christian world was still using the Julian calendar, and recognized the day as 5 Oct 1582.

MUSIC

255 solar years ago, on this day in 1764 AD, British scholar and member of parliament, Edward Gibbon, observed a group of Christian priests shamelessly singing in the ruined Temple of Jupiter in Rome, which made him to write his monumental work “The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire” – noted for its prose, use of primary sources, and open criticism of Judaism and Christianity. He traced the spread of Islam and the Mongol invasion from the height of the Roman Empire to the fall of Byzantium. He says about Prophet Mohammad (SAWA):

“He breathed among the faithful a spirit of charity and friendship; recommended the practice of social virtues; and checked ... the thirst of revenge, and the oppression of widows and orphans."

Gibbon notes the remarkable preservation of the holy Qur’an in its original form, from the time of the Prophet till this day, in contrast to the scriptures of the Jews and Christians that have constantly undergone changes. He says:

“It is not the propagation but the permanency of his religion that deserves our wonder, the same pure and perfect impression which he engraved at Mecca and Medina is preserved after the revolutions of twelve centuries by the Indian, the African and the Turkish proselytes of the Qur’an.”

About Imam Ali (AS), Gibbon writes:

“The zeal and virtue of Ali were never outstripped by any recent proselyte. He united the qualifications of a poet, a soldier, and a saint; his wisdom still breathes in a collection of moral and religious sayings; and every antagonist, in the combats of the tongue or of the sword, was subdued by his eloquence and valour. From the first hour of his mission to the last rites of his funeral, the Apostle was never forsaken by a generous friend, whom he delighted to name his brother, his vicegerent, and the faithful Aaron of a second Moses.”

About the heartrending tragedy of Karbala, Gibbon writes:

“In a distant age and climate the tragic scene of the death of Husain will awaken the sympathy of the coldest reader.”

Gibbon was highly critical of the Christian Church and has written:

"If Paganism was conquered by Christianity, it is equally true that Christianity was corrupted by Paganism.”

About the Israelites, he is even more frank and forthright, writing:

“Humanity is shocked at the recital of the horrid cruelties which they (Jews) committed in the cities of Egypt, of Cyprus, and of Cyrene, where they dwelt in treacherous friendship with the unsuspecting natives;”

In his footnote Gibbon adds:

“In Cyrene, [the Jews] massacred 220,000 Greeks; in Cyprus, 240,000; in Egypt, a very great multitude... The victorious Jews devoured the flesh, licked up the blood, and twisted the entrails like a girdle around their bodies.”

236 solar years ago, on this day in 1783 AD, Frenchman Jean-Francois Pilatre de Rozier, made a tethered balloon ascent, in the gardens of La Muette. The Montgolfier-made balloon, Aerostat Reveillon, carrying Pilatre – the first man in air – rose to the end of its 250-ft tether. It stayed aloft for15 minutes, then landed safely nearby. On 15 Jun 1785, Pilâtre attempted the first east-to-west crossing of the English Channel with a hybrid balloon combining lift from both hydrogen and hot air. Within minutes, the craft exploded, and plunged to the rocks on the coast of Wimereux. Neither Pilâtre nor his co-pilot, Romain, survived the crash.

213 solar years ago, on this day in 1806 AD, French and the German Prussian troops fought each other, following the victory of Napoleon Bonaparte in the six-day war. The French forces entered the Prussian Capital, Berlin, in triumph.

189 solar years ago, on this day in 1830 AD, Helen Maria Hunt Jackson, writer and poet, was born in Amherst, Massachusetts. In 1881 four years before her death she wrote the highly researched book "A Century of Dishonor",  that drew attention to the worsening plight of Native Americans – the victims of the genocide unleashed by the White Europeans.

181 lunar years ago, on this day in 1260 AH, Amir Abdul-Qader of Algeria was finally detained after fifteen years of struggle against the French occupiers. One of the reasons behind his failure was the treason of the pro-French rulers of Morocco who did not allow him to use the border areas for the independence struggle. Incarcerated in a French jail for nine years, he was later released on condition of not returning to Algeria. He died in 1883 in Damascus, Syria. His full name was Seyyed Abdul-Qader bin Mohieddin al-Hassani, al-Jaza'eri, and he was born in a family claiming descent from Imam Hasan Mojtaba (AS), the elder grandson of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA). Abdul-Qader, who returned to Algeria, a few months before the Turks lost it to the French invaders in 1830 AD, had during his 5-year journey to Egypt, Arabia, and Syria, met with, and was highly impressed by Imam Shamil of Daghestan – the leader of the struggle against Russian expansion in the Caucasus which recently had been seized by the Czar from the Qajarid rulers of Iran.

175 solar years ago, on this day in 1844 AD, German philosopher, Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche, was born. He was an agnostic and did not believe in ethical principles. He was unable to grasp facts and realities. His idea of a perfect person is the one that is devoid of the concept of good and evil. He lost his mental balance in the waning years of his life and died in 1900 AD.

139 solar years ago, on this day in 1880 AD, Mexican soldiers killed Victorio, one of the greatest Apache military strategists.

127 solar years ago, on this day in 1892 AD, the US regime forced the Crow Amerindians to give up 1.8 million acres of their reservation (in the mountainous area of western Montana) for only 50 cents per acre in order to open this land to white settlers, as part of the repressive policies of Washington against the natives.

125 solar years ago, on this day in 1894 AD, the trial of the French Jewish officer, Alfred Dreyfus, started in Paris, as one of the most controversial events of 19th century Europe. He was stripped of his military rank and was slapped with a life imprisonment under the charge of treason and presentation of French military secrets to Germany. Later he was released and his suspicious acquittal provided the Zionists with a pretext to launch propaganda across Europe about the supposed discrimination against Jews.

90 solar years ago, on this day in 1929 AD, Nader Khan seized the throne of Afghanistan after a 3-way power struggle and styled himself Nader Shah. His tribal Waziri army looted government buildings and houses of wealthy citizens because the treasury was empty. Habibullah Kalakani, along with his supporters, and a few supporters of the ousted ruler Amanullah Khan were killed by Nadir, who himself was assassinated four years later in 1933. With the ouster of Nader Khan his son and successor, Zahir Shah in a military coup by Daud Khan in 1973, monarchy ended in Afghanistan – a mountainous land which had no independent existence before 1747 when Ahmad Shah Abdali taking advantage of the political chaos resulting in Iran following the murder of Nader Shah Afshar set up the Durrani kingdom.

37 solar years ago, on this day in 1982 AD, the representative of the Father of the Islamic Revolution, Imam Khomeini (RA), and the Friday Prayer Leader of the western city of Kermanshah, Ayatollah Ataollah Ashrafi Isfahani, was martyred by MKO terrorists while leading the Friday Prayer. Ayatollah Ashrafi Isfahani had led the people of Kermanshah in their struggle against Shah's despotic regime and was detained and incarcerated on several occasions. Imam Khomeini paid glowing tributes to him, recalling the long period of acquaintance, and his calm, peaceful, and assuring spirit, as well as vast knowledge.

AS/SS