Today is Tuesday 12th of the Iranian month of Azar 1398 solar hijri; corresponding to 6th of the Islamic month of Rabi as-Sani 1441 lunar hijri; and December 3, 2019 of the Christian Gregorian Calendar.

1708 solar years ago, on this day in 311 AD, Roman Emperor Diocletian, an obstinate pagan who mercilessly persecuted monotheists and followers of other religions, committed suicide six years after abdicating the throne, following 21 years of tyrannical rule. Of low birth and cruel and crafty by nature, he was proclaimed 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 II of the Sassanid Persian Empire. Diocletian massacred tens of thousands of monotheist followers of Prophet Jesus as well as adherents of the sect called Christianity, invented by Paul the Hellenized Jew. He destroyed the newly built church in Nicomedia in present day Turkey and burned all scriptures. He ordered the persecution of Manicheans, as a political ploy, compounding religious dissent with international politics, since followers of this creed amongst the Romans were supported by the Sassanid Empire of Iran, which he had managed to defeat with great difficulty in 299 and impose the humiliating Peace of Nisbis in northern Mesopotamia and Armenia on Emperor Narseh.

1316 lunar years ago, on this day in 125 AH, Hisham ibn Abdul-Malik, the 10th self-styled caliph of the usurper Omayyad regime, died after an oppressive rule of 20 years over an empire stretching from Spain and southern France in the west to the borders of China and India in the east. Hisham was the murderer of Imam Mohammad Baqer (AS), the 5th Infallible Heir of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA). He also brutally martyred the 5th Imam's younger brother, Zaid ibn Ali and had the body mutilated after taking it out from the grave. Hisham was notorious for his misery, despite accumulating a vast treasure that his troops brought as loot from different parts of Africa, Europe, and Asia. He was succeeded by his nephew, Waleed, who refused to give him any shroud or burial, saying Hisham has left no legitimate and lawful income, and whatever he had accumulated was through plunder and seizure. Seven years after him, the Omayyad dynasty was thrown into the dustbin of history with the rise of the equally oppressive Abbasid usurpers.

900 lunar years ago, on this day in 541 AH, Imad od-Din Zangi, the Atabeg of Mosul, Aleppo, Hama and Edessa and founder of the Turkic Zangid dynasty that ruled parts of Syria, was killed by his European slave, Yarankesh, shortly after repulsing a joint Byzantine-Crusader army. His father, Aq Sunqur al-Hajeb, was governor of Aleppo under Malik Shah I, the Isfahan-based Seljuq sultan of Iran- Iraq-Syria-Anatolia. Imad Zangi distinguished himself in military exploits against the European Crusaders, and defeated King Fulk of the usurper Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem.

625 lunar years ago, on this day in 816 AH, the Iranian scholar and literary figure, Ali ibn Mohammad al-Hussaini al-Jorjani Astarabadi, known popularly as Mir Seyyed Sharif, passed away in Shiraz. He was a prominent figure of the Timurid era and was a student of the renowned scientist of his day, Qotb od-Din Raazi. He authored several books, including “Risalat-al-Kubra fi'l-Manteq” (The Major Treatise in Logic). Among his students were Seyyed Mohammad Nourbakhsh, the founder of the Nourbakhshiya Sufi order, and Shaikh Abi Jamhour al-Ahsa'i of Arabia.

572 solar years ago, on this day in 1447 AD, the 8th Ottoman Sultan, Bayezid II, was born to Mohammad II, the conqueror of Constantinople. He ascended the throne in 1481 and during his 31-year rule which ended in 1512 with his overthrow by his son, Selim I, and death a few months later, he consolidated the Empire. Though he defeated a joint army of Croatia and Hungary at the Battle of Krbava in 1393, and in 1501 conquered the whole of Peloponnese Peninsula from the Venetians, he has earned lasting notoriety for betraying the aspirations of the Muslims of Spain, starting inter-Muslim warfare with the Mamluk Dynasty of Egypt-Syria, and picking up a quarrel with the Safavid Empire of Iran by ordering massacre of followers of the Ahl al-Bayt of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA). In 1485, he invaded Mamluk-controlled southern Anatolia instead of concentrating on European campaigns, much to the relief of Spanish Christians besieging the Emirate of Granada, the last stronghold of Muslims in Iberia or Andalus, which fell in 1492 and whose ruler had appealed to the Mamluks for help. The 6-year Ottoman-Mamluk War ended in 1491 with the boundaries remaining unchanged, following two heavy defeats suffered by Bayezid’s forces. In 1492, Bayezid sent his navy under Admiral Kemal Reis to evacuate Jews from Spain and resettle them throughout the Ottoman Empire. He issued a farman to the provincial governors to give them a friendly reception, threatening with death all those who treated the Jews harshly or refused them admission. On the advice of Moses Capsali, a Jewish friend, Bayezid imposed a tax upon the rich to ransom Jews from persecution in Europe. Under his rule, Jews enjoyed a cultural flourishing, with the presence of such scholars as the Talmudist Mordecai Comtino and the liturgical poet Menahem Tamar. In his last year in power, he opened up hostilities with the local Qizilbash Turks of Anatolia as a provocation against the rising power of Shah Ismael of Iran.

147 solar years ago, on this date in 1872 AD, a translation from cuneiform tablets of the ancient Chaldean account of the Great Deluge, discovered in Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq) was read by George Smith before the Society of Biblical Archaeology in London, causing sensation, since this predated the Jewish account of the Great Flood by several centuries. Smith had pieced together fragments of tablets at the British Museum brought from Ninevah. This is now known as the eleventh tablet of the Gilgamesh epic. The most reliable account of the Great Deluge or Flood that occurred in the days of Prophet Noah, is given in the holy Qur'an – God's Final Revelation to mankind. According to historical evidence, Kufa in Iraq was Noah's hometown with the exact location of his house being what is now the Grand Mosque of Kufa – the 3rd holiest site in Islam after Mecca and Medina – from where the flood waters started. The sinners drowned, while Noah and the faithful aboard the Ark were saved. It is interesting to note that an ancient plaque found on Mount Ararat in the Caucasus where Noah's Ark came to rest, is being kept at the Moscow Museum in Russia. Written in a now extinct Semitic language, its contents have been deciphered by scholars who say it is a supplication to the One and Only God invoking the names of five holy personages – Hmda, Eiliya, Batoula, Shabara, and Shubayra, which Islamic scholars point out are a reference to Prophet Mohammad (SAWA), Imam Ali (AS), Hazrat Fatema Zahra (SA), Imam Hasan (AS) and Imam Husain (AS), whose names, as the Chosen Ones of God, were invoked by all Prophets since Adam, including Moses and Jesus (peace upon them).

135 solar years ago, on this day in 1884 AD, India’s first president, Dr. Rajendra Prasad, was born in Siwan district of Bihar State. His father was a scholar of both the Persian and Sanskrit languages, and despite being a Hindu, placed his five-year-old son under the tutelage of an accomplished Muslim scholar to learn the Urdu and Persian languages, as well as arithmetic. After obtaining MA in economics, he joined the Indian National Congress in 1911 for struggle against British colonial rule, and was soon elected chairman of the party. Following India’s independence in 1947 and establishment of republican system in 1950, he was elected as the country’s first president, a post which he retained for 12 years until his death in office.

125 solar years ago, on this day in 1894 AD, Scottish writer, Robert Louis Stevenson, died in Samoa in the Pacific Ocean at the age of 44. He was the author of such works as “Treasure Island”, “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde”, “The Master of Ballantrae”, and “Kidnapped”.

114 lunar years ago, on this day in 1327 AH, the 6th Qajarid king of Iran, Mohammad Ali Shah, was forced by the constitutionalists to revive the Majlis (parliament), which he had dissolved two years earlier, shortly after succeeding his father, Mozaffar od-Din Shah, to the Peacock Throne. A repressive and inefficient ruler, he had earlier bombarded the parliament building with the help of the British and Russian forces. He was soon deposed by the constitutionalists, and on being replaced by his 11-year old son, Ahmad Shah, he fled to Russian-ruled Odessa (present day Ukraine), from where he plotted his return to power. Two years later he landed at Astarabad on the Caspian Sea coast of northern Iran, but his forces were defeated. Mohammad Ali Shah again fled to Russia, then to Istanbul and later to San Remo, Italy, where he died on 5th April 1925, the same year the 140-year rule of the Qajarid Dynasty ended when the British formally declared their agent, Reza Khan Pahlavi as the new king, while Ahmad Shah was on an extended, almost 2-year long visit, to Europe. Every shah of Iran since Mohammad Ali Shah has died in exile.

109 solar years ago, on this day in 1910 AD, modern neon lighting was first demonstrated by Georges Claude at the Paris Motor Show.

108 solar years ago, on this day in 1911 AD, the Iraq-based ulema of Iran decided to migrate to Tehran to save the country from colonialist plots, following a Russian ultimatum to the elected Majlis to dismiss American lawyer William Morgan Shuster, from his post as Treasurer-General, or face war. Following triumph of the Constitutional Movement, Shuster, as a representative of an independent and emerging country, was appointed by the Majlis to improve Iran’s financial position which the weak Qajarid monarchy had mortgaged to the two colonialist powers, Britain and Russia. When the Majlis, encouraged by the support of the ulema, rejected the Russian ultimatum, Russia invaded and occupied the northern parts of Iran. Meanwhile, Shaikh Abdullah Mazandarani, who along with Ayatollah Akhound Khorasani and others, was all set to travel to Iran, suddenly died under suspicious conditions in Iraq (believed to be poisoning by colonialist agents), thereby disrupting the planned migration to Tehran. Under Russian and British pressure, and against the will of the Majlis, Shuster was dismissed. On returning to the US, he wrote a scathing indictment of Russian and British meddling in the affairs of Iran, titled “The Strangling of Persia”.

100 solar years ago, on this day in 1919 AD, acclaimed French painter, Auguste Renoir, passed away at the age of 78. He was one of the pioneers of the Impressionist Movement in painting.

48 solar years ago, on this day in 1971 AD, India and Pakistan fought their 3rd and last war that ended 13 days later with the surrender of Pakistani forces to the Indian army on the eastern frontier in East Pakistan, which became the new country of Bangladesh.

40 solar years ago, on this day in 1979 AD, the Islamic Republic of Iran’s Constitution was ratified following overwhelming majority of votes, cast by the people. The Constitution determines the principal policies of the country based on Islamic teachings and values, social justice, and human rights. In 1989, an amendment to the Constitution took place following its ratification by the Guardian Council and vote of approval by the people.

35 solar years ago, on this day in 1984 AD, a major catastrophe occurred in the central Indian city of Bhopal following leakage of chemical gases from the US-run Union Carbide factory, resulting in the immediate death of some 4,000 people, mostly Muslims, and injuries to some 600,000 others, of which some 6,000 later died from their injuries in one of the worst industrial disasters in history. Over 40 tons of highly poisonous MIC gas leaked out of the pesticide factory around midnight, enveloping an area of 40 sq km, and causing acute breathlessness, pain in the eyes and vomiting to the people. Poison clouds hung close to the ground for more than four hours. To date the victims have not been adequately compensated, although the US says it paid money to India in 1989. Many believe the leakage was deliberate to see how many people would be affected and to what degrees.

33 solar years ago, on this day in 1986 AD, following the call of the Father of the Islamic Revolution, Imam Khomeini (RA), for bolstering of defence forces on the frontlines of the war imposed by the US through Saddam of Iraq’s repressive Ba’th minority regime, tens of thousands of volunteers registered nationwide, vowing their resolve for jihad and martyrdom for protection of the Islamic Republic. The result was formation of the elite “Mohammad Rasoulollah Corps” which created panic in the hearts of the enemies of Islamic Iran.

32 solar years ago, on this day in 1987 AD, Iran test-fired its first ballistic surface-to-surface missile during the US-imposed war on the Islamic Republic of Iran through Saddam’s repressive Ba’th minority regime. It was a major stride for the defence industries following years of sanctions on purchase of weapons from abroad during the 8-year unequal war, in which the Islamic Republic was fighting virtually the whole world – the Capitalist West and the Communist East. Soon, Iran started mass producing ballistic missiles, and now has an arsenal of highly advanced missiles of various categories– surface, air, marine – far longer in range, faster in speed, and accurate on targets.

AS/SS