Today is Tuesday; 30th of the Iranian month of Mehr 1398 solar hijri; corresponding to 23rd of the Islamic month of Safar 1441 lunar hijri; and October 22, 2019, of the Christian Gregorian Calendar.

1278 solar years ago, on this day in 741 AD, Charles Martel, the Frankish statesman and military leader who, as Duke of the Franks, was de facto ruler of Francia, died after 23 years in power. An illegitimate son of the German chief, Pepin, he was notorious for his barbaric nature as marauder of the frontiers of the Roman Empire. He took advantage of the infighting amongst the Muslims to lead the Christians to victory in the Battle of Tours, near Poitiers in France, southwest of Paris, where in 732 the Omayyad forces were defeated and their commander, Abdur-Rahman al-Ghafiqi, killed. In 737, he again crushed an Omayyad army at Arles in southern France. He then took the city by a direct and brutal frontal attack, and burned it to the ground. He then moved swiftly and defeated a mighty host outside of Narbonnea at the River Berre, but failed to take the city. Many historians, including Edward Creasy, believe that had Martel failed at Tours, the Muslims would probably have overrun Gaul, and perhaps the remainder of Western Europe. The British historian, Edward Gibbon believed that the Muslim armies would have conquered up to the River Rhine, and even England, had Martel not prevailed.

1113 solar years ago, on this day in 906 AD, Ahmad ibn Kayghalagh, a Turkic general of the Abbasid regime, joined by the governor of Tarsus, the Iranian Rustam ibn Baradu al-Farghani, led a deep raid into the Byzantine Empire, defeating Eastern Roman armies as far as Halys River (Qızılırmak in what is now Turkey), and seizing large booty, including some 5,000 prisoners. Some of the local Greek commanders surrendered to the Muslims and embraced Islam. Rustam al-Farghani on several occasions supervised the exchange of prisoners with the Byzantines. Ahmad ibn Kayghalagh, who was appointed governor of Syria and of Egypt, on being deposed and defeated by the Abbasid regime in 935, defected to the rising empire of the Fatemid Shi’a Ismaili Muslim Dynasty of North Africa and Sicily that would soon conquer Egypt, Syria and Hijaz. 

641 lunar years ago, on this day in 800 AH, Taj od-Din Ferouz Shah ascended the Turquoise Throne in Gulbarga, as the 8th ruler of the Bahmani Dynasty of Iranian origin of the Deccan in South India by deposing the boy-king Shams ud-Din Daud Shah II, installed five months earlier as the puppet ruler by the Turkic slave-commander Tughalchin, who had blinded and dethroned the elder brother, Ghiyas od-Din Tahmatan Shah, only two months after the 17-year old had succeeded his father Mahmoud Shah. Ferouz, the son-in-law of Mahmoud Shah and a grandson of Ala od-Din Bahman Shah, the founder of the kingdom, ruled for 25 years. He was the most learned and cultured ruler, and besides his native Persian, was well versed in the Arabic, Turkic, Telugu, Kanada and Marathi languages. A poet, mathematician, and calligrapher, writing under the pennames "Uruji" and "Ferouzi", he patronized art and literature and kept the company of scholars and religious figures. Among the public works undertaken by him was an observatory on the chain of hills near Dowlatabad. His prime minister was the Iranian migrant scholar-statesman Mir Fazlullah Inju of Shiraz, who earlier in the reign of Mahmoud Shah had invited the renowned Iranian poet, Khwaja Hafez Shirazi to the Deccan. Ferouz was inclined towards the school of the Ahl al-Bayt or Blessed Household of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA).

525 solar years ago, on this day in 1494 AD, the second expedition of the Italian sailor, Christopher Columbus, started from Spain with the assistance of Spanish Muslims, who very well knew the sea routes of the Atlantic Ocean including what the Europeans later called the American continent. Columbus landed on the Antilles islands in the Caribbean Sea. Two years earlier in 1492, he had made his first expedition to this new world, which he thought was India, and hence the Spanish called the indigenous American people, Red Indians.

385 solar years ago, on this day in 1634 AD, in the Battle of Southern Fujian Sea, the Ming dynasty of China defeated the Dutch East India Company.

312 solar years ago, on this day in 1707 AD, the Scilly naval disaster occurred as four warships of a British fleet sank near the Isles of Scilly off the southwestern tip of the Cornish peninsula of Britain, in severe weather, resulting in the death of 1,550 sailors, along with Admiral Cloudesley Shovell. It was one of the worst maritime disasters, as a result of the navigators' miscalculation.

229 solar years ago, on this day in 1790 AD, Warriors of the Miami tribe under Chief Little Turtle defeated US troops under General Josiah Harmar at the site of present-day Fort Wayne, Indiana, in the Northwest Indian War. The next year, the Amerindians again defeated a US army at St. Clair, killing about 1,000 soldiers. After St. Clair's disaster, President George Washington ordered General "Mad" Anthony Wayne to attack the natives, and in 1794 at the Battle of Fallen Timbers, he brutally massacred a large number of natives and forced the tribal leaders to cede extensive territory, including much of present-day Ohio, as per the Treaty of Greenville in 1795. The US has since unleashed genocide to eliminate the race and culture of the native Amerindian people.

188 lunar years ago, on this day in 1253 AH, the Treaty of Tafna was forced by the French occupiers on Algerian leader, Seyyed Abdul-Qader al-Hassani al-Jaza'eri, resulting in the occupation of a third of this country including Oran and Algiers. Two years later, the French breached the clauses of their own imposed treaty and gradually occupied the whole of Algeria. Abdul-Qader was taken prisoner and sent to Paris. Years later he was released, but not allowed to go back to Algeria. He went to Syria and stayed there till he died. Algeria in 1961 became independent after the French had killed at least a million Algerian Muslims.

140 lunar years ago, on this day in 1301 AH, the prominent Iranian religious scholar, Shaikh Mohammad Baqer Aqa Najafi Isfahani, passed away at the age of 67. After preliminary studies in Isfahan, he went to Iraq for higher studies at the famous seminary of the holy city of Najaf. On returning to Iran, he taught at the Isfahan seminary, grooming students and writing books. He wielded wide social influence and attached paramount importance to promotion of virtue and prevention of vice. His books include “Lobb al-Fiqh”, and “Lobb al-Osoul”.

123 solar years ago, on this day in 1896 AD, American biochemist, Charles Glen King, who discovered vitamin C, was born. After five years of painstaking research extracting components from lemon juice, in 1932, he isolated vitamin C. Its structure was quickly determined and it was synthesized by scientists such as Haworth and Reichstein in 1933. Also known as ascorbic acid, (a- = not, without; scorbus = scurvy), vitamin C is a colourless crystalline water-soluble vitamin found especially in citrus fruits and green vegetables. Most organisms synthesize it from glucose but man and other primates and various other species must obtain it from their diet. It is required for the maintenance of healthy connective tissue; deficiency leads to scurvy. Vitamin C is readily destroyed by heat and light.

108 solar years ago, on this day in 191l AD, in a blatant act of violation of Iran’s sovereignty, the British set up a joint force of English and Indian troops to police the southern parts of Iran and provide to security to colonial trade, at the expense of the weak Qajarid government of Iran, which had already succumbed to the pressure of Tsarist Russia to set up a similar force of Qazzaqs in the northern parts. Even the parliament voted against the British measures, it was powerless in the face of the domineering colonialist powers. 

108 solar years ago, on this day in 1911 AD, the prominent scholar, Ayatollah Mullah Ali Zanjani passed away. A student of Shaikh Mohammad Taqi (author of “Hidayat-ol-Mustarshidin”), and contemporary of the celebrated Ayatollah Shaikh Morteza Ansari Dezfuli, he in turn groomed outstanding ulema such as Mirza Habibollah Rashti. He strove to solve the problems of people and was a prolific author as well. Among his books, mention could be made of an exegesis of the holy Qur’an, and “Jawame’ al-Usoul”.

67 solar years ago, on this day in 1952 AD, Iranian foreign minister, Dr. Hussein Fatemi, announced severance of political ties with Britain. This decision was made by Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddeq after a vote from the parliament. Dr Fatemi summoned the British Charge D' Affaires and pointed out that the reason behind the severance of ties with Britain has been the indifference of the British regime toward the Iranian nation's demands for fulfillment of the people's rights in relation to nationalization of Iran's oil industry.

101 solar years ago, on this day in 1918 AD, the last phase of World War I started with the attacks of the allied forces in northwestern Europe. The German forces initially strongly resisted the offensive, but the Allied forces eventually prevailed, thus ending World War I in November 1918 after four years of war.

63 solar years ago, on this day in 1956 AD, the premiers of France, Britain, and the Zionist regime of Israel, in a meeting behind closed doors in France, hatched the plot to attack Egypt. After the Egyptian President, Jamal Abdun-Nasser, announced the nationalization of Suez Canal in the year 1956, France and Britain were intent on occupying this Canal due to losing their illegitimate interests in the region. Moreover, the illegal Zionist entity called Israel, which considered Egypt as its main enemy, intended to use this opportunity to deal a major blow against this leading Arab country. A week after the secret meeting of French, British, and Israeli regime premiers, the armies of these states attacked Egypt. But, during this offensive, the invaders failed to reach their goals.

44 solar years ago, on this day in 1975 AD, British historian, Arnold Toynbee, died at the age of 86. His 12-volume analysis of the rise and fall of civilizations, titled “A Study of History”, took 27 years to complete, and is a synthesis of world history, based on universal rhythms of rise, flowering and decline, which examined history from a global perspective. After initially supporting the Zionist movement at the turn of the 20th century, he gradually changed his outlook and by 1950, two years after the illegitimate birth of Israel, was a strong opponent of the Zionist entity, and supported the Arab cause.

40 solar years ago, on this day in 1979 AD, the US regime, despite warnings from the provisional revolutionary government of Iran, allowed the deposed Shah to come to New York – on the excuse of medical treatment – a provocative move by the Americans that led revolutionary students to take over the US embassy in Tehran, which was violating diplomatic norm by serving as an espionage den for Washington in the region.

AS/SS