Today is Friday; 26th of the Iranian month of Mehr 1398 solar hijri; corresponding to 19th of the Islamic month of Safar 1441 lunar hijri; and October 18, 2019, of the Christian Gregorian Calendar.

1699 solar years ago, on this day in 320 AD, Greek philosopher Pappus of Alexandria, observed an eclipse of the Sun in Egypt and wrote a commentary on “Almagest” or The Great Astronomer, a treatise on the apparent motions of the stars and planetary paths, written by the Greek-Egyptian scientist Claudius Ptolemy.

1270 lunar years ago, on this day in 171 AH, Iranian Islamic astronomer, Abu-Ma'shar Ja'far ibn Mohammad al-Balkhi, was born in the Khorasani city of Balkh (presently in Afghanistan). He spent most of his life in Iraq, especially in Baghdad and died in the city of al-Waset. He used numerous sources written in Pahlavi, Arabic, Sanskrit, Syriac, and Greek. He believed that all sciences have a divine origin, and the signs of God’s revelation are observed in every science. He wrote a a large number of books; the most important of which is “al-Mudkhal al-Kabir”. He wrote a number of practical manuals on astrology that profoundly influenced Muslim intellectual history and, through Latin translations, that of Europe. Of his works used by Roger Bacon and others are "Kitab ad‐Dalalaat ala'l‐Ittesalaat wa‐Qiranaat al‐Kawakeb" (Book of Indications of the Planetary Conjunctions), and "Kitab al‐Milal wa'l-Duwal" (Book on Nations and Dynasties).

899 solar years ago, on this day in 1130 AD, Zhu Xi, Chinese philosopher, politician, and writer of the Song dynasty, was born. He was a Confucian scholar who was the leading figure of the School of Principle and the most influential rationalist Neo-Confucian in China. His contributions to Chinese philosophy including his assigning special significance to the Analects, the Mencius, the Great Learning, and the Doctrine of the Mean (the Four Books), his emphasis on the investigation of things (gewu), and the synthesis of all fundamental Confucian concepts, formed the basis of Chinese bureaucracy and government for over 700 years. He has been called the second most influential thinker in Chinese history, after Confucius himself. He died at the age of 70.

623 solar years ago, on this day in in 1356 AD, the town of Basel, Switzerland, was destroyed in a devastating earthquake in the range of 6 to 7.1 degrees on the Richter scale, resulting in the death of thousands of people. It is the most significant seismological event to have occurred in Central Europe in recorded history.

514 solar years ago, on this day in 505 AD, the Egyptian Sunni scholar Abdur-Rahman Jalal od-Din as-Suyuti, passed away in Cairo at the age of 60. Born in a family of Persian origin that had migrated from Iran during the Mamluk period and settled in Asyut, in Upper Egypt from where it derived the family name as-Suyuti, he was a follower of the Shafe’i School. An expert in jurisprudence, hadith, history, exegesis of the Holy Qur'an, and Arabic grammar and literature, he earned the title Ibn al-Kutub or Son of Books. His books are still taught today in Islamic seminaries. In his exegesis titled "ad-Dur al-Manthour" (Scattered Pearls), he has pointed to the ayahs revealed by God Almighty on the outstanding merits of the Ahl al-Bayt of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA), i.e. Hazrat Fatema Zahra (SA), Imam Ali (AS), Imam Hasan (AS) and Imam Husain (AS). He wrote a separate book on Merits of the Ahl al-Bayt. Suyuti traveled to Syria, Hijaz, Yemen, India and Morocco, and settled down towards the end of his life in his homeland Egypt.

479 solar years ago, on this day in 1540 AD, Spanish invasion forces led by Hernando de Soto destroyed the fortified Amerindian town of Mabila in present-day Alabama, killing Chief Tuskaloosa, massacring men and children, and kidnapping and raping women. The Spaniards, carrying the cross in one hand and the sword in the other, destroyed the centuries-old native civilizations of Central and South America.

454 solar years ago, on this day in 1565 AD, Philippines was occupied by Spain, following the landing of Portuguese sailor, Ferdinand Magellan in 1521 AD. The Spanish forcibly converted the people to Christianity at a time when Islam was enlightening the people of the Philippines. The Spanish plundered the natural resources of the Philippines until the year 1898 AD, when they were defeated by the US, which occupied these islands. In 1946, the Philippines finally gained independence. Philippine consists of over 7,000 Islands. It is situated in Southeast Asia and the Pacific Ocean, covering an area of 300,000 sq km. Over 15 percent of the people are Muslims and mainly settled in the south.

347 solar years ago, on this day in 1672 AD, Poland and Turkey signed the Peace of Buczacz to end hostilities between the two powers in south-central Europe.

159 solar years ago, on this day in 1860 AD, Xianfeng Emperor, the 7^th ruler of the Manchu Dynasty of China was forced to sign the unequal Treaty of Tientsin at the Convention of Peking, thereby formally ending the Second Opium War imposed on China by Britain, France, the US and Russia. These series of unequal treaties were designed to humiliate China and opened more Chinese ports to the foreigners, permitted foreign legations in the Chinese capital Beijing, allowed Christian missionary activity, and legalized the import of opium.

152 solar years ago, on this day in 1867 AD, the US took formal possession of Alaska after purchasing it from Russia for $7.2 million on June 30 of the same year. The day is marked annually in the state as Alaska Day. Russia sold the rich land of Alaska, situated northeast of Canada and on the coastlines of Pacific Ocean and near the Arctic circle, due to its financial needs. Alaska covers an area of over 1.5 million square km. It is now the 49th US state and is rich in natural resources, especially oil and gold, in addition to fishing. The deal was conducted by US Secretary of State, William Seward for about 2 cent per acre, and was long derided by Americans as Seward’s Folly for Alaska’s remoteness.

148 solar years ago, on this day in 1871 AD, Charles Babbage, English mathematician and inventor of a calculating machine, died at the age of 79. Considered a "father of the computer", he is credited with inventing the first mechanical computer that eventually led to more complex designs.

107 solar years ago, on this day in 1912 AD, Italy forced the tottering Ottoman Empire to sign a treaty by which it occupied Libya. A year earlier the Italian troops had invaded Libya. The people of Libya resisted against the Italian occupiers for years, and in 1951 won independence, five years following Italy’s defeat in World War 2 and occupation of the country by a joint British-French force.

97 solar years ago, on this day in 1922 AD, the BBC Radio Station was founded in England. Initially it was a private radio station but it came under the supervision of British government and became a state-run English radio in 1927. BBC Network started to air its TV programs as of 1936. The budget of BBC radio station, which broadcasts programs in different languages across the world, is allocated by the British regime. Although BBC claims to be impartial, it has worked as the propagandist and mouthpiece of the British regime and has set the stage for London's interference in the domestic affairs of different countries. Moreover, BBC has always aired biased reports and news, justifying the colonial policies of the West, especially Britain, in Third World countries.

88 solar years ago, on this day in 1931 AD, Thomas Alva Edison, the American inventor who held a world record 1,093 patents (including those held jointly) and created the world's first industrial research laboratory, died at the age of 88. He showed an early curiosity for explanations of how everything worked and was especially interested in chemistry. He began selling newspapers on the railroad at age 12, and learned how to operate a telegraph. In 1868, his first invention was an electric vote-recording machine. In 1869, he made improvements on the stock-ticker. In 1876 he moved his laboratory to Menlo Park, N.J., where he invented his phonograph (1877) and the first prototype of a commercially practical incandescent electric light bulb (1879). Other inventions included storage batteries, a dictaphone, and a mimeograph. By the late 1880s he made motion pictures, and by 1912 was experimenting with talking pictures.

80 solar years ago, on this day in 1939 AD, Iranian poet, journalist and patriotic politician, Mirza Mohammad Farrokhi Yazdi, was martyred under torture in prison at the age of 50 by the British-installed Pahlavi regime. Born in Yazd, he was expelled from school at the age of 16 during the Constitutional Movement for writing poetry against despotism of the Qajarid Dynasty. He became politically active and was imprisoned because of writing material in opposition to the infamous 1919 Anglo-Persian Agreement. In prison, he protested that “He whose only offense is love of the motherland / No creed would condemn to a dark cell.” In 1921, he published the political newspaper “Toufan” (storm), winning fame for his poetry and constant attacks in his editorials against the British agent, Reza Khan, who was installed as Shah of Iran in 1925. In 1939, he was arrested, sentenced to prison at Tehran's Qasr prison, and killed by air injection. Among his poems is a lampooning of British politician, Lord Curzon for his meddling in Iranian affairs during the waning years of the Qajarid era:

Lord Curzon has gotten angry

He is going to write a lament;

We don't exchange dignity with abasement

We don't obey the British embassy;

O' Curzon, leave us

You can't exploit the country of Jamshid;”

58 lunar years ago, on this day in 1383 AH, the Source of Emulation, Grand Ayatollah Seyyed Morteza Langeroodi, passed away at the age of 77. He was born near the city of Langerood on the Caspian Sea coast of Gilan Province in northern Iran. After studying in Qazvin and benefitting later from the classes of senior ulema, such as Ayatollah Tonekaboni, he went to Iraq for higher studies at the famous seminary of holy Najaf, where he attended the classes of Ayatollah Mirza Hussain Na'ini for several years, until he attained the status of Ijtehad. He taught for some time in Najaf before returning to Iran to teach for long years at the seminary in the holy city of Qom. He authored several books.

32 solar years ago, on this day in 1987 AD, in a blatant act of state terrorism, the US, using 6 warships and 3 aircraft attacked and destroyed the two Iranian oil platforms of “Reshadat” and “Risalat” off Rostum Island in the Persian Gulf, to show its support for Saddam of Iraq’s repressive Ba’th minority regime whose forces were suffering defeats on the battlefronts of the 8-year imposed war.

AS/SS