Today is Monday, 29th of the Iranian month of Mehr 1398 solar hijri; corresponding to 22nd of the Islamic month of Safar 1441 lunar hijri; and October 21, 2019, of the Christian Gregorian Calendar.

1683 solar years ago, on this day in 335 AD, Roman Emperor Constantine I, following his conversion to Christianity – the cult invented by Paul the Hellenized Jew and falsely attributed to Prophet Jesus (AS) – enacted rules against Jews. One of the laws stated that if a Jew buys and circumcises a Christian slave (or of any other sect), he shall on no account retain the circumcised in slavery, but he who suffered this shall acquire the privileges of liberty. It is forbidden for a Jew to harass or attack on anyone who converts to Christianity from Judaism. The insult should be punished according to the nature of the crime committed.

1089 lunar years ago, on this day in 352 AH, the Arabic poet, Abu'l-Qassem Ali ibn Ishaq al-Baghdadi, passed away at the age of 42. Incidentally, he was born on this same day of 20th of Safar. Most of his poetry is on the unrivalled merits of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA) and the Infallible Imams. He lived for some time at the court of Amir Saif ad-Dowlah Hamdani in Aleppo and has praised this gallant ruler for his love of the Ahl al-Bayt, as well as his exploits against the Byzantines.

923 solar years ago, on this day in 1096 AD, Sultan Qilij Arsalan of the Seljuq Sultanate of Roum (in Asia Minor), soundly defeated the first attempt by a large army of Christians of Western Europe to invade Muslim lands in the east. Known as the People's Crusade or the Peasants Crusade, a 40,000 strong force of thugs, robbers and killers from France, Germany, Italy and other lands marched overland towards and through the Byzantine territories, pillaging, killing, and robbing towns that lay in their path. The main reason for this military march of the marauders, calling themselves ‘pilgrims to Palestine’ was drought, famine, and plague afflicting France and Germany for many years, and most of them seemed to have envisioned the crusade as an escape from these hardships. The trek to the east started in April 1096 and the first victims of these killers were the Jews that had ventured out of the safety of Muslim lands to settle among Christians. Some 4,000 Jewish men, women and children were slaughtered, while the remaining were driven to suicide or forced to convert to Christianity. Then they killed 4,000 Hungarian Christians living under the jurisdiction of the Byzantine Empire, a crime that brought swift wrath upon them from the emperor’s forces who massacred 10,000 of these marauding crusaders. The Byzantines then thought of a plan to use them against the Turks and transported the remaining 30,000 Germans, French, and Italians to Asia Minor. Here, near the village of Dracon, in what is now southwestern Turkey, these crusaders were completely routed by the Muslim defenders, and of those captured and wished to remain alive, Sultan Qilij Arsalan spared their life on condition of becoming Muslims and sent them to Khorasan in northeastern Iran.

922 solar years ago, on this day in 1097 AD, the first organized Crusade made up of Christian knights and experienced warriors under the joint command of Godfrey of Bouillon, Bohemund of Taranto, and Raymond IV of Toulouse, began the siege of the Syrian city of Antioch, which is now in Turkey. This military expedition led by Catholic Europe was organized by Pope Urban II with the goal of responding to an appeal from Byzantine Emperor Alexios I Komnenos, who requested that west European Christians come to his aid to fight the Seljuq Sultanate of Asia Minor. The organized force caught the Muslims by surprise and besieged Antioch, which fell to them some 8 months later, because of the over-confidence of the Turkish defenders, who viewed this batch of experienced warriors as another of the Peasants’ Army that they had defeated a year earlier. In brief, the Crusader invaders marched south along the coast, occupying several cities, and in 1099 seized the Islamic holy city of Bayt al-Moqaddas from the Ismaili Shi’ite Fatemid Dynasty of Egypt-North Africa, massacring some 70,000 Muslim men, women and children, including local Christians and Jews.

812 lunar years ago, on this day in 629 AH, the Sunni Hanbali narrator of hadith, Abu Bakr Ibn Noqtah, died in Baghdad. He travelled widely over Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Egypt to gather hadith, and is the author of the book “at-Taqyeed”. Among his students is the well-known religious scholar and historian, Ibn Asaker, the author of the voluminous book History of Damascus, who has recorded in his work the details of 400 ayahs of the holy Qur'an that God revealed to Prophet Mohammad (SAWA) on the merits of his vicegerent, Imam Ali ibn Abi Taleb (AS).

691 solar years ago, on this day in 1328 AD was born in a peasant family, Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang, who in 1368 established the Ming Dynasty and went on to liberate China from the rule of the Mongol Yuan Dynasty. Known as Hongwu, he rose to command the forces that seized the Mongol capital Khanbaliq (modern Beijing). During his 30-year rule, he transformed China into a major power, and although born a Buddhist, he embraced the Confucian doctrine, and showed inclination towards Islam. He ordered construction of several mosques in Nanjing, Yunnan, Guangdong, Xijing and Fujian, and had inscriptions praising the Prophet of Islam placed in them. He rebuilt the Jinjue Mosque in his capital Nanjing, and large numbers of the Muslim Hui people moved to the city during his rule. He had some ten Muslim generals in his military, including Chang Yuchun, Lan Yu, Ding Dexing, Mu Ying, Feng Sheng and Hu Dahai. He personally wrote a 100-word praise (called baizizan) on Islam, Allah and Prophet Mohammad (SAWA).

247 solar years ago, on this day in 1772 AD, English poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge was born. He and his friend William Wordsworth were among the founders of the Romantic Movement in England and later identified, along with Robert Southey, as the Lake School of poets. Coleridge’s work included "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner", "Frost at Midnight" and "Kubla Khan". In his later life he authored the "Bibliographia Literaria", a work of literary theory.

229 solar years ago, on this day in 1790 AD, French poet, Alphonse de Lamartine, was born. He is famous in regard to poetic delicacy and his major book is “Poetic Imaginations”. He traveled to the east and stayed a while in Beirut, and later penned a book titled Eastern Journey. He died in 1869.

215 lunar years ago, on this day in 1226 AH, the scholar Mirza Baqer Khwansari was born in Khwansar near Isfahan to the prominent religious leader Mirza Zayn al-Abedin Khwansari. He became a leading jurisprudent, hadith expert, litterateur, and researcher of his time. As head of the Isfahan seminary, his classes were attended by such scholars of repute as Shaikh ash-Shari’ah Isfahani, Seyyed Abu Turab Khwansari, Seyyed Mohammad Kazem Yazdi and others. He authored several books including “Qurrat-al-Ayn” and “Rowdhaat al-Jannat fi Ahwal al-Ulema wa’s-Sadaat” – the latter being a biographical encyclopedia of scholars in several volumes.

214 solar years ago, on this day in 1805 AD, the Battle of Trafalgar took place near the Strait of Gibraltar, in which the British fleet, commanded by Horatio Nelson, defeated the combined French-Spanish fleet off the coast of Spain under Admiral Villeneuve. It signaled the end of French maritime power and left Britain's navy unchallenged until the 20th century. Though Nelson died in the battle, this was the first major defeat for French Emperor, Napoleon Bonaparte.

186 solar years ago, on this day in 1833 AD, Swedish chemist and inventor of dynamite, Alfred Nobel, was born. He invented dynamite for the purpose of exploration. Contrary to his expectations, when European powers used dynamite in wars, which led to the massacre of a large number of people, Nobel resented the misuse of his invention and allocated all his wealth to a peace prize. He intended to hand over this prize to those who render valuable services in literary and scientific domains, and promote global peace. But, in violation of his wishes, today the Nobel Peace Prize has been politicized and turned into a means for promotion of the West’s domineering, divisive, exploitative and murderous policies.

140 solar years ago, on this day in 1879 AD, Thomas A. Edison successfully demonstrated the first durable and commercially practical electric light bulb at his laboratory in Menlo Park, New Jersey. This model lasted 40 hours before burning out. The idea of electric lighting was not new; several people, including Joseph Swan, had worked on and even developed forms of electric lighting. However, nothing durable had been developed that was practical for home use. The difficulty was finding a suitable material for the filament. Edison tested over 6,000 vegetable growths (baywood, boxwood, hickory, cedar, flax, bamboo) as filament material. After one and a half years of work, after spending $40,000, and performing 1,200 experiments, success was achieved when an incandescent lamp with a filament of carbonized sewing thread was made.

137 lunar years ago, on this day in 1303 AH, prominent Iranian Islamic scholar, Sheikh Ja’far Shushtari, passed away. His power of speech, piety, and strong memory was known to all. He was an accomplished jurisprudent and spent all his life, guiding people and carrying out religious duties. He groomed several students and authored numerous books, including “Usoul ad-Din” (Fundamentals of Religion)

41 solar years ago, on this day in 1978 AD, workers and personnel of Iran’s oil industry went on a nationwide strike against the Shah’s despotic regime. As a result, Iran’s oil exports came to a halt, depriving the regime of its most important revenues. Moreover, the severance of Iran’s oil exports led to sharp oil price hikes. The Shah’s regime through its scaremongering policies, tried to force the oil industry workers to return to their jobs, but they refused to do so. The strike of Iran’s oil industry personnel continued until the ouster of the British-installed and US-backed Shah, thanks to the people’s revolutionary zeal and their tolerance of oil shortages.

33 solar years ago, on this day in 1986 AD, commander of Palestine’s naval units, Brigadier General Mundhir Abu-Ghazalah, was assassinated by agents of the Zionist spying agency, Mossad, through a car bomb blast in Athens, Greece.

32 solar years ago, on this day in 1987 AD, Indian ‘Peace-keeping Forces’ attacked Jaffna Hospital in Sri Lanka, massacring 70 ethnic Tamil patients, doctors and nurses.

23 solar years ago, on this day in 1995 AD, Iranian poet and scholar, Javad Qawwampour, passed away at the age of 77. Born in Semnan, he learned Islamic eschatology and has left a 2-volume collection of poems, titled “Nida-e Dil” (Voice of the Heart).

5 solar years ago, on this day in 2014 AD, Head of Iran’s Assembly of Experts, Ayatollah Mohammad Reza Mahdavi Kani passed away at the age of 83. As a disciple of the Father of the Islamic Revolution, Imam Khomeini (RA), he strove against the despotic regime of the Shah, and after establishment of the Islamic Republic, he served as Acting Prime Minister from 2 September until 29 October 1981. Before that, he was Minister of Interior and Minister of Justice in the cabinets of Mohammad-Ali Rajai and Mohammad-Javad Bahonar. He was the leader of Combatant Ulema Association and founder and president of Imam Sadeq (AS) University.

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