Today is Wednesday; 29th of the Iranian month of Aban 1398 solar hijri; corresponding to 22nd of the Islamic month of Rabi al-Awwal 1441 lunar hijri; and November 20, 2019, of the Christian Gregorian Calendar.

1735 solar years ago, on this day in 284 AD, Diocletian was proclaimed Roman Emperor by his soldiers in Asia Minor on the sudden and suspicious death of Numerian, the son and successor of Emperor Carus, who days earlier had died of wounds in Mesopotamia during the war against Emperor Bahram of the Sassanid Persian Empire. Of low birth and a hardcore pagan, he was cruel and crafty by nature, and during his 27-year rule, earned notoriety for his massacre of tens of thousands of monotheist followers of Prophet Jesus as well as members of the creed called Christianity. In 299, taking advantage of the chaotic situation of Rome’s traditional enemy, the Iranian Empire that was gripped in a power struggle for the throne, he penetrated Iraq and sacked the Sassanid capital, Ctesiphon, forcing the ruler Narseh (son of Shapur) – who a couple of years earlier had invaded Roman Syria – to accept peace on humiliating terms. Diocletian brutally exterminated Manichaeans from Roman territories, since this creed was supported by Persia, thereby compounding religious dissent with international politics.

1437 lunar years ago, on this day in 4 AH, the Muslims started the campaign against the Israelite tribe of Bani Nadheer around Medina by besieging their forts when the Jews, in alliance with the Arab infidels and hypocrites, refused to leave, despite their breach of the covenant of Medina for peaceful co-existence. They had incited Meccan polytheists to attack Prophet Mohammad (SAWA), in addition to their own attempts on his life. God Almighty revealed the ayahs of Surah Hashr, allowing the Prophet to take action. The Prophet entrusted the standard to his cousin and vicegerent, Imam Ali (AS), to launch the campaign. In a few days, the rebellious Israelites sued for peace, and were allowed to leave on 600 camels along with their women, children, livestock and riches. Some settled in Khaybar while others left for Syria. Centuries earlier, Israelite tribes had migrated to Hijaz from Palestine to await the advent among the Arabs of the Last and Greatest Messenger foretold by God in the Torah and other heavenly scriptures. But when Prophet Mohammad (SAWA) proclaimed his mission, the Israelites denied him, even though they recognized him as the one prophesied by Moses and other prophets. The Prophet, as per divine commandment, offered peace and truce to the Jews, as the People of the Book, but despite their pledges the Israelites never kept their words and always plotted against Islam and the Prophet.

1357 solar years ago, on this day in 762 AD, Khaqan Bogu Khan of the Uyghur Turks, conquered Lo-Yang, capital of the Chinese Empire. During his reign the Uyghur Khaqanate reached the height of its power. Bogu met with Manichaean priests from Iran while on campaign and was converted to this creed, adopting it as the official religion of the Uyghur Empire in 763. One effect of this conversion was the increased influence of Iranian Sogdians in the Uyghur court. The Uyghur Turks created a highly civilised empire with clear Iranian influences, especially in administrative areas. A century-and-a-half later in 934, Satuq Bughra Khan converted to Islam under influence of Iranian Muslim missionaries, and made Kashghar his capital. Today Uyghur Muslims are concentrated in what is now Xingjian Province of China.

1052 solar years ago, on this day in 967 AD, Abu’l-Faraj Isfahani, the famous master of Arabic prose, historian, sociologist, poet, and musicologist, passed away in Baghdad at the age of 71. Born in Isfahan and named Ali by his father Hussain Ibn Mohammad, he spent most of his life in Baghdad where he settled after visiting different lands. He is best known for his encyclopedic 25-volume work “Kitab al-Aghani” that took him fifty years to compile, and which contains valuable information on poets, poetry, philology, rhythms, instruments, Arabic literature and genealogy, from the ancient times till his own days. He travelled to Aleppo, Syria to present this book to the Hamdanid Shi’ite Muslim ruler, Saif od-Dowla. In Rey, the famous Iranian statesman and scholar, Saheb Ibn Abbad Ismail Taleqani, greatly valued this book. Although a direct descendent of the last Omayyad caliph, Marwan II, he was a strong critic of his own Godless ancestors. He was a follower of the Ahl al-Bayt of Prophet Mohammad (blessings of God upon him and his progeny). He wrote the valuable work “Maqatel at-Talibiyeen”, comprising short biographies of the descendants of Imam Ali (AS) martyred by the Omayyad and Abbasid caliphs till the year 313 AH.

825 solar years ago, on this day in 1194 AD, Palermo, the capital of Sicily was conquered by Emperor Henry VI of the German Hohenstaufen dynasty, who styled himself as Holy Roman Emperor. He expelled tens of thousands of Muslims and turned mosques in Sicily into churches.

705 lunar years ago, on this day in 736 AH, the great scholar and founder of the Sarbadaran Movement, Shaikh Khalifa Mazandarani, was martyred in Sabzevar, Khorasan. Born in Amol in Mazandaran near the Caspian Sea, after mastering various branches of Islamic sciences, he came to Khorasan where in Sabzevar he launched the Sarbadar Movement against the repressive rule of the Ilkhanid Mongols, especially the local governor Togha Timur, who was notorious for his cruelty and high taxation of the people. The movement, which was mostly made up of the downtrodden, spread to neighboring cities. Its charismatic leaders included Shaikh Khalifa’s successor, Hassan Juri, and later Ali Mu’ayyad, all of whom revived the teachings of the Ahl al-Bayt of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA). For the next 50 years, the Sarbadar – a Persian term which means, heads bound on gallows, to signify their readiness for martyrdom – ruled most of Khorasan, although not on dynastic basis. They regarded as their spiritual leader, Shaikh Mohammad Jamal od-Din al-Makki al-Ameli of what is now Lebanon, who was later martyred in his homeland by the enemies of the Ahl al-Bayt, and earned immortality as Shaheed al-Awwal (or First Martyr).

324 solar years ago, on this day in 1695 AD, Zumbi dos Palmares, the last of the kings of Angola Janga (Little Angola), a state established in Brazil by African people who had liberated themselves from enslavement, was killed and decapitated by the Portuguese at the age of 40, thus ending the 90-year long independence of the African kingdom in what is now Brazil’s Alagoas state. Of royal central African descent, his mother was granddaughter of the King of Kongo. Following the Battle of Mbwila in Angola in which the treacherous Portuguese in violation of trade treaties, massacred 5,000 men, including the king, and captured his two sons, two nephews, four governors, various court officials, 95 title holders and 400 other nobles, along with Sabina and her family who were put on ships and sold as slaves in the Americas. Zumbi was born free in Little Angola which was established in 1605 and to which his family had escaped from forced slavery. At the age of six he was kidnapped by the Portuguese but on reaching 15 he escaped from slavery and returned to Little Angola, where his courage and tactics in fighting off invasions, earned him reputation as a brave warrior, who was eventually made king in 1687 on the death of his maternal uncle, Ganga Zumba. Zumbi today is revered in Afro-Brazilian culture as a powerful symbol of anti-slave and anti-colonial resistance. November 20 is celebrated in Brazil, as a day of Afro-Brazilian consciousness.

269 solar years ago, on this day in 1750 AD, the Muslim king of Mysore, Fath Ali Khan, known as Tipu Sultan, was born in Devanahili, near Bangalore in southern India. Son and successor of Hyder Ali Khan, the founder of the Muslim kingdom of Mysore, like his father, Tipu was a staunch opponent of the British, and tried to form alliances with local rulers for driving them out. He also appealed for help from the rulers of Iran, Afghanistan, the Ottoman Empire and even France, to break the British hegemony. He was in personal contact with Napoleon Bonaparte, and following the latter's conquest of Egypt, the British fearing Napoleon may sail to India, attacked Mysore in violation of the peace treaties. The result was the 4th Anglo-Mysore War in which during the Battle of Seringapatnam, Tipu Sultan was martyred while defending his capital on 4th May 1799 at the age of 49. He was an enlightened ruler and patronized Arabic and Persian literature. He experimented with the manufacture of artillery rockets, which greatly alarmed the British. Among the history books of the Muslim Dynasty of Mysore is “Nishan-e Hyderi” in Persian, written by the migrant Iranian scholar, Mir Hussain Ali Khan Kirmani.

111 solar years ago, on this day in 1908 AD, the prominent religious scholar, Seyyed Jamal od-din Isfahani, was martyred at the age of 46 on the orders of the Qajarid king, Mohammad Ali Shah. He was a popular preacher and writer, and one of the founders of the Constitutional Movement in Isfahan in 1890s. He wrote for the reformist newspapers, especially for “al-Jamal”. He wrote mostly about the economy and the financial autonomy of Persia, which he compared it to jihad. He emphasized such Islamic concepts, as Justice and Oppression in his sermons which attracted a large number of tradesmen and the common people. This made the Qajar king consider him among the most dangerous of his enemies. He was the father of the famous Iranian writer Mohammad Ali Jamalzadeh.

109 solar years ago, on this day in 1910 AD, Russian Author, Leo Tolstoy, died at the age of 82. He lost both his parents while still a boy and was brought up by his elder siblings. His trips to Europe and his keen observations of the social injustices, made him loathe the West’s materialistic culture. Tolstoy attached paramount importance to educating children, and actively assisted the underprivileged and vulnerable sections of the society. He has left behind numerous books, including the two famous masterpieces, titled "War and Peace"; and "Anna Karenina".

99 solar years ago, on this day in 1920 AD, the uprising of Iraq's long-oppressed Shi’a Muslim majority was crushed, and this time by the new colonial rulers, the British, who had replaced the Ottoman Turks in Mesopotamia, following the end of World War I. The uprising had started on June 30, 1920, under the leadership of senior ulema, such as Mirza Mohammad Taqi Shirazi and Sheikh Kashef al-Gheta, for establishment of an independent ruling system, based on Islamic rules and regulations. The British martyred Mirza Mohammad Taqi Shirazi by poisoning his food and exiled Kashef al-Gheta, before massacring a large number of Iraqi people and installing their agent, Faisal bin Hussain of Mecca, as king in Baghdad.

84 solar years ago, on this day in 1935 AD, prominent Iranian politician and prime minister of the Qajar era, Hassan Pirnia, died at the age of 63 in Tehran. He held a total of twenty-four posts during his political career, serving four times as Prime Minister of Iran to Ahmad Shah Qajar. Born to Mirza Nasrollah Khan Moshir od-Dowlah – the first prime minister of Iran after the Constitutional Revolution – he was one of the drafters of the constitution, a historian, and co-founder of the Society for the National Heritage of Iran. Hassan Pirnia became Iran's Minister to the Russian Court before returning to Iran, where he founded the Tehran School of Political Science in 1899. On his father’s death, he inherited the title Moshir od-Dowlah, and from 1907 to 1908, served as Minister of Foreign Affairs, during which time he declared the Anglo-Russian Entente, which would divide Iran into zones of imperial influence, as null and void. He later became Minister of Justice before becoming Prime Minister for the first time in 1918. He would re-assume the office later that same year, and again in 1922 and 1923. One of Pirnia's key actions during his time as Prime Minister saw him prevent the introduction of the Anglo-Persian Agreement of 1919. Following the seizure of power by Reza Khan Pahlavi, he retired from public life and published a three-volume history of pre-Islamic Iran, entitled “Tarikh-e Iran-e Bastan”. An abridged version of the same titled “Tarikh-e Mukhtasar Iran-e Qadeem”, published in 1928, became a standard textbook for students.

84 solar years ago, on this day in 1935 AD, the Muslim revolutionary, Sheikh Mohammad Izz od-Din al-Qassaam, attained martyrdom near Haifa in Palestine at the age of 53. Born in Jableh in the Latakia Governorate of the Ottoman Province of Syria, he was a follower of the Qaderi Sufi order. After studying at Egypt’s al-Azhar Academy he returned home to become prayer leader and teacher at a mosque. After Italy's seizure of Libya from the Turks in 1911, he recruited dozens of volunteers, but Turkish officials prevented him from going to Libya. He joined the Ottoman army when World War I broke out, and served as a chaplain. After the war, he organized a local defense force to fight the French occupation of Syria, but internecine fighting forced him to take refuge in the mountains to plan guerrilla warfare. He was a key figure in the 1921 Syrian uprising against the French when Faisal, a son of the British agent, Sharif Hussain, was brought from Hejaz and installed king in Damascus. Al-Qassaam was sentenced to death after the failure of the revolt. When the French occupiers besieged the city, he fled via Beirut to Haifa in British occupied Palestine. Already in his forties, he concentrated his activities on mobilizing Islamic resistance against the colonialists. His followers were mainly the landless farmers drifting in to Haifa from Upper Galilee, where land purchases by the illegal Zionist migrants from Europe was creating a crisis. He joined the Istiqlal or Independence Party and in 1929 was appointed the marriage registrar in Mufti Amin al-Hussaini's Supreme Muslim Council Sharia Court in Haifa, a role that allowed him to tour the northern villages, whose inhabitants he encouraged to set up agricultural cooperatives. In 1930 he established ‘Black Hand’, a combatant organization for fighting the British occupiers as well as the illegal Zionist migrants. He arranged military training for peasants and by 1935 had enlisted nearly 800 men. In November 1935, fearing arrest after a British constable was killed in a skirmish with some of his followers he fled with his men to the hills between Jenin and Nablus. The British cornered al-Qassaam in a cave near Ya'bad, and in the ensuing battle he was martyred. The manner of his last stand assumed legendary proportions in Palestinian and other Arab circles as the symbol of resistance. The al-Qassaam Brigades of the Palestinian Islamic Resistance were named after him for the struggle to liberate their homeland from the Zionist usurpers

69 solar years ago, on this day in 1950 AD, the US and China almost went to direct war with each other in the Korean Peninsula, because of their support for the southern and northern parts of that divided land respectively. UN mediation averted the war, but due to American intransigence, Korea remains divided at the 38th Parallel.

59 solar years ago, on this day in 1960 AD, the plan for establishment of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) was ratified in Stockholm, Sweden. The members of this Association were Austria, Finland, Norway, and Sweden which despite being geographically located in west Europe, did not want to join the European common market.

35 solar years ago, on this day in 1984 AD, the famous Urdu poet of the subcontinent, Faiz Ahmed Faiz, passed away in Lahore, Pakistan, at the age of 73. He was born in Karachi in undivided India and was named Faiz Ahmad Farooq. He was also politically active both before and after the founding of Pakistan. He opposed the dictatorial rule of General Zia ul-Haq and was imprisoned and exiled for his views, which he expressed through poetry and novels. Among his important works are "Naqsh-e Faryadi", "Dast-e Saba", and "Zindan-Namah". 

30 solar years ago, on this day in 1989 AD, stone relief, dating back 5,000 years, was discovered in the vicinity of the western Iranian city of Hamedan. Ruins of town along with skeletons, and primitive tools of the 2nd and 3rd millennium BC were unearthed. The region was called Hegmataneh in ancient times, which the Greek invaders corrupted to Ekbatan.

30 solar years ago, on this day in 1989 AD, on the 30th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Children’s Rights, the UN General Assembly passed the Convention on Rights of the Child, signed by 140 countries. This day was thus designated as Day of Children’s Rights. Presently 194 countries have officially ratified the Universal Declaration of Children’s Rights, except for a handful of countries, including the US, which although a signatory has refused to ratify it.

AS/SS