Today is Wednesday, 1st of the Iranian month of Aban 1398 solar hijri; corresponding to 24th of the Islamic month of Safar 1441 lunar hijri; and October 23, 2019, of the Christian Gregorian Calendar.

1128 solar years ago, on this day in 891 AD, the famous Greek Muslim admiral, Damian of Tarsus, known by his Islamic name of Ghulam Yazman al-Khadim, died during the siege of the Byzantine fortress of Salandu in what is now southwestern Turkey, as a result of a catapult wound. His troops carried him to his seat of power Tarsus, and buried him there. According to the historian al-Mas'udi, his fame was such that he was among the ten illustrious Muslims whose portraits were hung in Byzantine churches in recognition of their valour. For a decade he was a thorn in the Greek side, and won several land and sea battles against the Christians, sometimes in alliance with another valourous Greek convert to Islam, Cleo or Rasheeq al-Wardami, who is famous for besieging the Byzantine capital, Constantinople, and briefly taking over Thessalonica, the second largest city.

1117 solar years ago, on this day in 902 AD, Ibrahim II, the ex Aghlabid Emir of the Abbasid Province of Ifriqiya or what is now Tunisia and parts of Algeria and Libya, died of dysentery in Consenza, southern Italy, at the age of 52, while leading an expedition from Muslim-ruled Sicily to conquer the Italian Peninsula and advance upon Constantinople, the capital of Byzantine or the Eastern Roman Empire. During his 25-year-rule, before his dismissal from power by the caliph in Baghdad and replacement by his son, Abu’l-Abbas Abdullah II, he had earned reputation as a cruel and bloodthirsty ruler, who crushed all opposition, especially the Arab aristocracy of the region with the help of slave armies of black people of Sudan and the white Slavic people of the Balkans, in addition to assistance from the neighbouring Rustamid Persian dynasty of the North African interior. His dictatorial rule had so weakened the century-long Aghlabid hold on Ifriqiya that by 906 his grandson was driven out by the emerging power of the Fatemid Ismaili Dynasty led by their chief missionary Abu Abdullah ash-Shi’a.

1094 lunar years ago, on this day in 347 AH, the Iranian hadith expert and Arabic grammarian, Obaidollah ibn Ja’far ibn al-Marzuban al-Farisi ibn Dorostawaih, passed away at the age of 89. Born in Baghdad, he learned intricacies of the Arabic language from Ali ibn Eisa Rommani and was also an exegete of the holy Qur’an, besides being a transmitter of Hadith masters, such as Abbas ad-Durri. Among the books authored by him are: “al-Kuttab”, “Akhbar an-Nahwiyeen”, “Ma’ani She’r”, and “Ibtaal al-Addaad” (Refuting the Opposites).

1056 lunar years ago, on this day in 385 AH, the famous Iranian statesman and man of letters, Abu’l-Qasem Ismail Ibn Hassan Taleqani, known as Saheb Ibn Abbad, passed away in Isfahan at the age of 58. A staunch follower of the Ahl al-Bayt of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA), he served as the Grand Vizier to the Buwaiyhid Dynasty of Iran-Iraq-Oman for 18 years. He wrote mostly in Arabic on theology, history, grammar, and lexicography, in addition to literary criticism and composing of excellent Arabic poetry. He learnt Hadith from his father and the holy Qur’an from his mother. In Isfahan he studied under such great masters as Ahmad Ibn Farres Raazi and Abdullah Ibn Farres. Saheb Ibn Abbad was a patron of scholars and poets, and respected jurists and theologians. He had a great library in the city of Rayy – a suburb of Tehran today – containing over 100,000 books. He authored over 30 books including one on Imamate, or divinely-decreed leadership to prove the superiority of Imam Ali (AS) over others. His other books include a Diwan of poetry, a book on medicine, the 7-volume work on lexicography titled "al-Moheet", and a treatise on the biography of Seyyed Abdul Azim al-Hasani, the great-great-grandson of Imam Hasan Mojtaba (AS), whose shrine is the main centre of pilgrimage in Tehran.

933 solar years ago, on this day in 1086 AD, at the Battle of az-Zallaqah in Islamic Spain, a Muslim army led by the Almoravid general, Yusuf ibn Tashfin, defeated the Christian forces of Castile's King Alfonso VI, when the latter refused both the offers to avoid bloodshed that is, convert to Islam, or to pay tribute. The reason for the battle was Alfonso's occupying of the Muslim city of Toledo a year earlier followed by his invasion of the emirate of Zaragoza. The Spanish Muslims appealed to Yusuf ibn Tashfin of Morocco for help, and he responded, forcing Alfonso to lift the siege of Zaragoza. The Almoravid ruler returned to North Africa after his decisive victory, which created fear among the Christians for several generations.

885 solar years ago, on this day in 1134 AD, Spanish Muslim polymath, Abu’s-Salt al-Andalusi, passed away at the age of 66 in Bejaia, Algeria. Born in Denia in eastern Spain on the Mediterranean coast, and known in Latin as Albuzale, he studied under al-Waqqashi in Toledo, and upon completing his mathematical education in Seville, he set out with his family in 1096 for Egypt. In Cairo he entered the service of the Fatemid Ismaili Shi’a Muslim ruler, Ma’add al-Mustanṣir-Billah, and the vizier al-Afdhal Shahanshah. His service continued until 1108. In 1112, Abu’s-Salt left for Kairouan in Tunisia, where he entered the service of the Zirids of Ifriqiya. He also occasionally traveled to Palermo and worked in the court of Roger I of Sicily as a visiting physician. He also sent poems to the Palermitan poet Abu’l-Dhaw. His works on astronomical instruments were read both in the Islamic world and Europe. He also worked as a teacher of alchemy, and wrote treatises on medicine, philosophy, music, and history. He became well known in Europe through translations of his works made in the Iberian Peninsula and in southern France. He is also credited with introducing Andalusian music to Tunis, which later led to the development of the Tunisian ma'luf. Abu’s-Salt wrote an encyclopedic work of many scientific disciplines titled “Kitab al‐Kafi fī’l‐Uloum”. Among his other works are “Risala fi’ll-Amal bi’l‐Astrulab” (On the Construction and Use of the Astrolabe), “Ṣifat Amal Safiḥa Jame’a Taqawwama bi‐ha Jame al‐Kawakeb as‐Sab’a” (Description of the Construction and Use of a Single Plate with which the totality of the Motions of the Seven Planets), and “Kitab al‐Wajiz fi’l-Ilm al‐Hay’a” (Brief treatise on Cosmology).

785 lunar years ago, on this day in 656 AH, the 12-day long sack of Baghdad by the Buddhist army of the Mongol marauder, Hulagu Khan (grandson of the bloodthirsty Chingiz Khan), came to its end with the capture of the 37th self-styled caliph of the usurper Abbasid regime, al-Musta'sem. The curtain thus came down on 524 lunar years of the Abbasid caliphate founded by Abu'l-Abbas Saffah who had hijacked the sentiments of the Arab and Iranian masses for the Ahl al-Bayt, and thereby deprived once again the Prophet’s progeny of their political right to rule. Ten days later Hulagu had al-Musta'sem wrapped in a carpet and trampled to death under the feet of horses. The grand library of Baghdad, containing countless historical documents and books on subjects ranging from medicine to astronomy, was destroyed. It is said the waters of the Tigris ran black with ink from the enormous quantity of books flung into the river. Death counts vary widely and cannot be easily substantiated, running into an estimated million. The Mongols looted and destroyed mosques, palaces, libraries, hospitals and buildings that had been the work of generations, since the founding of Baghdad five centuries ago, but they desisted from desecrating the sanctity of holy Kazemain and the shrines of the Prophet’s 7^th and 9^th Infallible Heirs, Imam Musa al-Kazem (AS) and Imam Muhammad at-Taqi (AS). The Mongols also did not attack the holy cities of Najaf and Karbala. So terrible was the sack that Baghdad lay desolate for several generations. The incompetent Musta’sem, whose 16-year rule was confined to Iraq and some eastern parts of Syria, had neither raised an army to defend Baghdad nor did he attempt to negotiate with Hulagu, to whom two years earlier, he had supplied troops to conquer the Ismaili Nizari stronghold of Alamout. It seems the Abbasid ruler not just paid the price of assisting infidels against fellow Muslims, but also the far more serious treachery of his great-grandfather, the 34th self-styled caliph, an-Naser-Billah, some 40 years ago, in inviting Chengiz to attack the empire of the Khwarezm Shah, because of personal dispute, some years before the Mongol invasion actually occurred.

202 solar years ago, on this day in 1817 AD, Pierre Larousse, French lexicographer and author was born. After years of study, he compiled the Larousse Lexicon. Pierre Larousse passed away at the age of 58.

185 solar years ago, on this day in 1834 AD, Fath-Ali Shah, the second king of the Qajarid Dynasty of Iran, died, and was succeeded by his grandson, Mohammad Shah, the son of the deceased crown prince, Abbas Mirza, who had died a year earlier. Son of Hussain Qoli Khan, the brother of Agha Mohammad Khan, the founder of the dynasty, Fath-Ali Shah was governor of Fars before succeeding his childless uncle. Much of his 37-year long reign that saw the gradual loss of vast areas of Iran in the Caucasus, Khorasan, Sistan-Baluchestan, Central Asia and the Persian Gulf, was marked by the resurgence of Persian arts and painting, as well as a deeply elaborate court culture. He led a life of luxury oblivious of the poverty of the people and the political humiliation to Iran’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, as a result of the Russian-imposed Golestan and Turkmanchai Treaties, coupled with growing British pressures and encroachments. His successor, Mohammad Shah ruled for 14 years and died in 1848 at the age of 40, leaving his 13-year minor son, Nasser od-Din Shah, as the next king.

169 lunar years ago, on this day in 1272 AH, the prominent religious scholar, Mullah Mohammad Taqi Astarabadi, passed away while on a visit to Tehran. Son of the noted religious scholar, Mullah Mohammad Ismail, he was a student of Mohammad Taqi bin Mohammad Rahim od-Din Tehrani-Isfahani, the author of “Hidayat al-Mustarshedin”, and attained the status of Ijtehad. He spent fourteen years in Iraq attending the classes of the famous scholars of the holy cities of Najaf and Karbala.

107 solar years ago, on this day in 1912 AD, the Battle of Kumanovo, which resulted in a victory of Serb rebels over the Ottoman army in the Kosovo Vilayet, occurred shortly after start of the First Balkan War. After this defeat, the Turkish army abandoned the major part of the region, suffering heavy losses in manpower (mostly due to desertions) and in war material.

87 lunar years ago, on this day in 1354 AH, the Urdu poet and playwright, Agha Mohammad Shah, known as "Hashr Kashmiri", passed away in India at the age of 60. He was born in the city of Benares, and in addition to being a memorizer of the Holy Qur’an was an accomplished scholar in Arabic, Persian, and Urdu languages. He composed poems and wrote a total number of 36 plays. His writings were in simple, fluent language, in which he depicted the problems of daily life in an impressive manner.

77 solar years ago, on this day in 1942 AD, during World War II, the Battle of al-Alamein, in the city of the same name in northern Egypt, occurred between the British and German troops. The British were led by Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery and the Germans by Field Marshal Erwin Rommel. The Germans were defeated, but war between the two countries continued in other regions of North Africa until the final Nazi defeat.

63 solar years ago, on this day in 1956 AD, the uprising in Hungry against the domination by the Soviet Union commenced three years after dissolution of the Hungarian Communist Party by nationalist Premier, Imre Nagy, who tried to make his country independent of Moscow. The Soviets crushed the uprising by arming and financially assisting the communists, who along with the Red Army slaughtered a large number of people. Most of Hungary was part of the Ottoman Empire from the decisive Muslim victory in 1526 at the Battle of Mohacs till 1718, when the Turks withdrew.

42 solar years ago, on this day in 1977 AD, Ayatollah Seyyed Mostafa Khomeini, the elder son of the Father of the Islamic Revolution, Imam Khomeini (RA), was martyred in the holy city of Najaf in Iraq by agents of Iran's Pahlavi regime, at the age of 47. He was born in the holy city of Qom, where he mastered Islamic sciences and reached the level of Ijtehad at the young age of 27. For ten years he lectured at the Najaf Islamic Seminary, and was always alongside his father in the struggle against the despotic Shah’s regime. His martyrdom accelerated the pace of struggles of the Iranian people and led to the victory of the Islamic Revolution a year and four months later.

36 solar years ago, on this day in 1983 AD, in an anti-terrorist operation by martyrdom-seeking Lebanese Muslims against occupation forces in Beirut, 241 American and 58 French soldiers were killed. The US, French, British, and Italian occupation forces had entered Beirut to tilt the balance in favour of the Christian Phalangist militia in the Lebanese civil war, as well as to support the occupation of parts of Lebanon by the illegal Zionist entity, Israel. This heroic act forced the occupiers to pull out troops from Lebanon.

22 lunar years ago, on this day in 1419 AH, Ayatollah Ali Gharavi Tabrizi was martyred at the age of 70 along with his companions, while returning to holy Najaf from pilgrimage to the holy shrine of Imam Husain (AS) in Karbala. He was gunned down by agents of the repressive Ba’th minority regime, which two months earlier had martyred another prominent scholar of the Najaf seminary, Ayatollah Morteza Boroujerdi. Born in the northwestern Iranian city of Tabriz, after initial studies at holy Qom, Ayatollah Gharavi had left for Najaf at the age of 19 for higher studies. On attaining the status of Ijtehad was involved in grooming students and writing books.

AS/SS