Today is Wednesday; 24th of the Iranian month of Mehr 1398 solar hijri; corresponding to 17th of the Islamic month of Safar 1441 lunar hijri; and October 16, 2019, of the Christian Gregorian Calendar.

1238 lunar years ago, on this day in 203 AH, according to a narration, Imam Reza (AS), the 8th Infallible Successor of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA), was martyred through poisoning in the city of Tous in Khorasan, northeastern Iran, by the crafty Abbasid caliph, Mamoun. In Iran, the martyrdom anniversary of Imam Reza (AS) is commemorated on the last day of the month of Safar with a public holiday and official mourning ceremonies throughout the country, especially in the holy city of Mashhad, where the 8th Imam reposes in eternal peace.

1043 solar years ago, on this day in 976 AD, Hakam II, the 2^nd self-styled Omayyad caliph of Cordoba (al-Andalus or Muslim Spain), died at the age of 61 after a 15-year reign, during which he established Muslim supremacy over the Christian states of Navarre, Castile and León and utilized the peace to develop agriculture, irrigation works, urban development scholarly pursuits to the extent that books were procured from Damascus, Baghdad, Basra, Constantinople, Cairo, Mecca, Medina, Rayy, and Bukhara. His status as a patron of knowledge brought him fame across the Muslim world to the point that even books written in Iran, which was under Abbasid control, were dedicated to him. He undertook a massive translation effort and many books were translated from Latin and Greek into Arabic. He formed a joint committee of Muladi Muslims and Mozarab Catholics for this task. His personal library was of enormous proportions. Of special importance to him was history, and he himself wrote a history of Islamic Spain. The mathematician Lubna of Córdoba was employed as his private secretary and the famous physician, surgeon and scientist, Abu’-Qasim az-Zahrawi (Abulcasis) flourished at his court.

545 lunar years ago, on this day in 896 AH, the Sunni Muslim jurisprudent and exegete of the Holy Qur’an, Abu Sa'ood Mohammad Mustafa Imadi, was born in the village of Modarres in the vicinity of Istanbul. He was of Kurdish origin, and served as judge in Bursa, Istanbul and Rumelia, where he brought local laws into conformity with the Islamic Shari’a. In the reign of Sultan Suleiman the “Lawgiver” he was promoted as Grand Mufti (Supreme Judge), an office he held until his death. He issued judicial opinions that legitimized Suleiman's persecution of the heretical Yazidi sect. Imadi reorganized Ottoman jurisprudence and brought it under tighter governmental control. He was fluent in Persian and Arabic and composed poems in these two languages. Among his works is the exegesis of the holy Qur’an titled “Tafsir al-Irshad al-Aql” in which, citing the cause of revelation of ayahs 1-to-3 of Surah al-Ma’arej (70), he has mentioned that when a certain Hareth Ibn Nu'man al-Fahri approached Prophet Mohammad (SAWA), following the historic event of Ghadeer-Khom, saying:

"You commanded us to testify that there is no deity but Allah and that you are the Messenger of Allah. We obeyed you. You ordered us to perform the prayers five times a day and we obeyed. You ordered us to observe fasts during the month of Ramadhan and we obeyed. You commanded us to offer pilgrimage to Mecca and we obeyed. But you are not satisfied with all this and you raised your cousin by your hand and imposed him upon us as our master by saying ‘Ali is the Mowla for whomever I am Mowla.’ Is this imposition from Allah or from you?"

The Prophet said: "By Allah who is the Only God! This is from Allah, the Mighty and the Glorious."

On hearing this Hareth turned back and proceeded towards his she-camel saying: "O Allah! If what Mohammad has said is correct then fling on us a stone from the sky and subject us to severe pain and torture."

He had not yet reached his mount when a stone fell on his head from above, penetrated his body and passed out through his lower part, leaving him dead.

289 solar years ago, on this day in 1730 AD, Ottoman Grand Vizier, Nevshehirli Damad Ibrahim Pasha, after twelve years of service during which he successfully demarcated the border in the Caucasus with the advancing Russian Empire, was sacrificed to the fury of the public and troops in Istanbul by Sultan Ahmed III in order to save himself from his failure in the war in Anatolia against Shah Tahmasp II of the Safavid Empire of Iran. The Grand Vizier, who was married to the sultan’s sister, had earlier received a letter from Moghal Emperor Farrukhsiyar, apprising the Ottomans of the victories of (kingmaker) Seyyed Hassan Ali Khan of Barha against the Rajput and Maratha rebellions.

261 solar years ago, on this day in 1758 AD, American lexicographer, textbook pioneer, English spelling reformer, political writer, editor, and prolific author, Noah Webster was born. He has been called the "Father of American Scholarship and Education." His blue-backed speller books taught five generations of American children how to spell and read. His name became synonymous with "dictionary," especially the modern Merriam-Webster dictionary that was first published in 1828 as An American Dictionary of the English Language. In 1806, Webster published his first dictionary, titled "A Compendious Dictionary of the English Language". In 1807 he began compiling an expanded and fully comprehensive dictionary, titled "An American Dictionary of the English Language"; it took eighteen years to complete. To evaluate the etymology of words, Webster learned twenty-six languages, including Old English (Anglo-Saxon), German, Greek, Latin, Italian, Spanish, French, Hebrew, Arabic, and Sanskrit. He hoped to standardize American speech, since Americans in different parts of the country used different languages. They also spelled, pronounced, and used English words differently. His book contained seventy thousand words, of which twelve thousand had never appeared in a published dictionary before.

226 solar years ago, on this day in 1793 AD, during the French Revolution, Queen Marie Antoinette was beheaded. Prosecutors claimed she had financially abused the French Monarchy. Her husband, Louis XVI had been guillotined the previous January. At the time of her execution, she was clad in rags, with her once-dazzling locks shorn by the executioner's assistant.

204 solar years ago, on this day in 1815 AD, the second and final exile of French Emperor, Napoleon Bonaparte, started with his arrival as a British captive on Saint Helena Island, off the coast of South Africa, following his defeat at the Battle of Waterloo. Napoleon died in exile in May 1821 AD.

186 lunar years ago, on this day in 1255 AH, the prominent scholar and reciter of Holy Qur’an, Sheikh Abdur-Rahim Tabrizi, who earned fame as “Sultan ol-Qurra” (Chief of Qur’an Reciters), was born in the city of Tabriz, in northwestern Iran. He learned the recitation of Holy Qur’an from his father, and became a master in this field as his title suggests. He became familiar with the prominent Islamic freedom fighter of the Caucasus against Russian colonial rule, Shaikh Shamil Daghestani. When Sheikh Shamil was gathering an army to launch an uprising against the Russians who had occupied what was then the Iranian province of Daghestan, Sultan ol-Qurra Tabrizi joined the campaign. He later returned to Tabriz and organized classes for proper recitation of the Holy Qur’an. He passed away in 1336 AH at the age of 81, and has left behind a large number of valuable books.

74 solar years ago, on this day in 1945 AD, FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization) was set up by the United Nations in Quebec City, Canada, before being moved to Washington, US. It leads international efforts to defeat hunger. In 1951 it was shifted to its permanent headquarters in Rome, Italy. It serves both developed and developing countries and helps them modernize and improve agriculture, forestry and fisheries, in order to ensure good nutrition and food security for all. As of 8 August 2013, FAO has 194 member states, along with the European Union (a "member organization"), and the Faroe Islands and Tokelau, which are associate members. Every year on October 16 it organizes World Food Day in member countries. 

72 solar years ago, on this day in 1946 AD, the Nuremburg Tribunal handed death sentences to nine senior German Nazi officials as war criminals, including air force commander, Hermann Goering, who committed suicide a few hours prior to his execution. The Nuremburg Tribunal also slapped long term prison terms on nine other senior Nazi officials and acquitted three others. The representatives of the victorious countries, that is, the US, Soviet Union, Britain, and France, presided over the trial, which started on September 30, 1946.

68 solar years ago, on this day in 1951 AD, Pakistan’s first Prime Minister, Liaqat Ali Khan, died at the age of 56, after being shot twice in the chest by an assassin at a public meeting in Rawalpindi. Born in an aristocratic family in Karnal, East Punjab of undivided India (presently in Haryana), he claimed descent from Iran’s pre-Islamic Sassanid emperor Nousherwan. He was educated at the Aligarh Muslim University and at the Oxford University in Britain. Trained as lawyer, on his return to India, he rose to prominence as an influential member of the Muslim League led by Mohammad Ali Jinnah. On the birth of Pakistan in 1947, he became the prime minister.

67 solar years ago, on this day in 1952 AD, the famous Indo-Pakistani lawyer, political activist, poet and literary figure, Ghulam Mohi od-Din Bhik Nairang, passed away in Lahore at the age of 76. Born in Ambala in a family that had migrated to India from Tirmiz in Greater Khorasan, he studied law and joined the All-India Muslim League. He was a close friend of the Philosopher-Poet of the East, Allamah Mohammad Iqbal Lahori, and was active in the political and social fields. On the creation of Pakistan he settled in Lahore. In addition to his poetical composition "Kalaam-e Nairang" he was a regular contributor to prestigious Urdu magazines such as "Zamana", “Makhzan”, “Humayun”, “Aligarh Old Boys”, and his own “Tableegh”. His articles on political, national and literary topics also appeared in the prominent newspapers of those.

55 solar years ago, on this day in 1964 AD, China detonated its first atomic bomb, and became the fifth country with nuclear arms after the United States (1945), Great Britain (1953), the Soviet Union (1961), and France. It was exploded in the vicinity of Lop Nor, a lake in a remote area of Central Asia. The Chinese Government stated "This is a major achievement of the Chinese people in their struggle to increase their national defence capability and oppose the US imperialist policy of nuclear blackmail and nuclear threats."

44 solar years ago, on this day in 1975 AD, Rahima Banu, a two-year old girl from the village of Kuralia in Bangladesh, became the last known person to be infected with naturally occurring smallpox. An estimated 300-to-500 million deaths occurred during the 20th century because of smallpox. As recently as 1967, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimated that 15 million people contracted the disease and that two million died in that year. After vaccination campaigns throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, the WHO certified the eradication of smallpox in 1979.

41 solar years ago, on this day in 1978 AD, while the people of Kerman in southeastern Iran were commemorating at the city's Jame' Masjid or Main Mosque, the traditional 40th day of the martyrs of the Tehran uprising against the despotic regime of the Shah, Pahlavi agents attacked the mourners, martyring and injuring scores of them. This led to development of a new wave of protests against the British-installed and American-backed regime, resulting in chain demonstrations throughout the country that eventually led to the victory of the Islamic Revolution under the guidance of Imam Khomeini (RA).

30 solar years ago, on this day in 1989 AD, the prominent Iranian musician, Morteza Hananeh, passed away at the age of 67. He was one of the founders of Tehran Symphonic Orchestra. He also produced movie scores and compiled several books, including: "How to Make a Melody"

24 solar years ago, on this day in 1995 AD, the million-man-march was staged in Washington in front of the White House, by the oppressed Afro-American community, in coordination with the Nation of Islam, in protest to the inhuman policies of US administrations. For the first time, the cry of Allah-o Akbar echoed on the streets of the US, as the various speakers, urged the people to unite in self-help and self-defense against economic and social ills plaguing the Afro-American community.

AS/SS