Today is Wednesday; 13th of the Iranian month of Azar 1398 solar hijri; corresponding to 7th of the Islamic month of Rabi as-Sani 1441 lunar hijri; and December 4, 2019, of the Christian Gregorian Calendar.

2549 solar years ago, on this day in 530 BC, Iran’s pre-Islamic monotheist Emperor, Cyrus the Great, the Founder of the Persian Achaemenid Empire, died in battle while fighting the Massagetae tribe along the Syr Darya or River Jaxartes in Central Asia, after a reign of 30 years. Under his rule, the empire embraced all the previous civilized states of Mesopotamia, Asia Minor, and the ancient Levant. He eventually conquered most of Southwest Asia and much of Central Asia and the Caucasus. From the Mediterranean Sea in the west to the Indus River in the east, Cyrus the Great created the largest empire the world had yet seen.

909 solar years ago, on this day in 1110 AD, with the arrival of a 60-ship fleet led by King Sigurd of Norway, the European Crusader invaders who had earlier occupied the holy Islamic city of Bayt al-Moqaddas, brutally sacked the city of Sidon in what is now Lebanon, After a 47-day siege to take the city from the control of the Ismaili Shi’ite Muslim Fatemid Dynasty of Egypt, the Christians massacred the people and looted their property. The attack was led by Baldwin the self-styled king of the usurper Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem, and was assisted by the Venetian fleet, to prevent the Fatemid navy from sending reinforcements. It is worth recalling that Bayt al-Moqaddas and Palestine were seized by the Crusaders from the Fatemids, whose Islamic army made up of Arabs, Iranians, Turks, and Berbers lost mainly because of arrogance and underestimation of the power and intentions of the European invaders.

888 solar years ago, on this day in 1131 AD, the Iranian mathematician, astronomer, and poet, Ghiyas od-Din Omar Ibn Ibrahim Khayyam, passed away in his hometown Naishapour, Khorasan, in northeastern Iran. He studied in Balkh, Samarqand and Bukhara, before joining the court of the Seljuq ruler, Malik Shah, as scientific advisor. In 1070, he wrote the influential “Treatise on Demonstration of Problems of Algebra”, which laid down the principles of algebra that was eventually transmitted to Europe. In 1077, Khayyam wrote “Sharh ma ashkala min Musadarat Kitab Uqlidis” (Explanations of the Difficulties in the Postulates of Euclid). He set up an observatory in his hometown and led work on compiling astronomical tables. To him goes the credit of reforming the solar hijri calendar on the basis of the Spring Equinox, which is still in use in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, and parts of Central Asia, the Caucasus, Iraq, Anatolia, and the Subcontinent. This calendar, known as Jalali, is more perfect than the Gregorian Christian calendar that was imposed on Muslim countries by the colonialists after World War 1. Among Khayyam's works, his book on algebra was until the last century taught as textbook in Iran. In geometry, he reformed the generalities of Euclid and contributed to the theory of parallel lines. His contributions to other fields of science include developing methods for accurate determination of specific gravity. His most important philosophical work is “ar-Risalah fi’l-Wujud” (Treatise on Being"), written in Arabic, which begins with Qur’anic verses and asserts that all things come from God and that there is an order to all things. Khayyam is known to English-speakers for his “Rubaiyyaat” (quatrains), published in 1859 by Edward Fitzgerald, although in the Islamic east he remains the astronomer and mathematician that he was, rather than a poet, since whatever he composed of poetry were casual expressions during his rare leisure hours after strenuous scientific studies and experiments. He was buried in the courtyard of the shrine of Imamzadah Mahruq, a descendant of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA).

807 lunar years ago, on this day in 634 AH, the Iranian polymath Qotb od-Din Mahmoud ibn Zia od-Din Masoud Kazerouni, known as Mullah Qotb Shirazi, was born in Kazeroun, near Shiraz. He studied medicine under his father, who practiced and taught medicine at Shiraz’s Muzaffari Hospital. He studied the “al-Qanoun fi’t-Tibb” (Canon of Medicine) of the Iranian-Islamic genius, Abu Ali Ibn Sina, along with its commentaries. In particular he read the commentary of Fakhr od-Din Razi on this book and raised many objections of his own. This led to his decision to write his own commentary, where he resolved many of the issues of this book, especially in the company of the famous genius of his age, Khwaja Naseer od-Din Tusi – founder of the observatory at Maragha in northwestern Iran. In Maragha, he was taught astronomy by Naseer od-Din Tusi, in addition to Ibn Sina’s masterpiece on remarks and admonitions titled “al-Isharaat wa'l-Tanbihaat”. One of the important scientific projects was completion of the new astronomical table or Zij. Mullah Qotb Shirazi traveled to Khorasan in the company of Naseer od-Din Tusi and for a while studied under Najm od-Din Katebi Qazvini in the town of Juwayn. He then journeyed to Qazvin, Isfahan, Baghdad, and Qonya in Anatolia (modern day Turkey), where he studied the “Jam'e al-Osoul” of Ibn Atheer under Sadr od-Din Qonawi. The governor of Qonya, appointed him as judge of the cities of Sivas and Malatya. It was during this time that he compiled the books “Miftaḥ al-Miftah” on Arabic grammar and rhetoric, and “Ikhtiyaraat al-Muzaffariya” on astronomy. He was sent as envoy by the first Muslim Ilkhanid Mongol ruler of Iran-Iraq, Ahmad Tekudar, to Saif od-Din Qalawun, the Mamluk ruler of Egypt. During his stay in Cairo, Mullah Qotb Shirazi collected various critiques and commentaries on Ibn Sina’s “Qanoun” and used them on his commentary on the “Kolliyaat”. The last part of his active career was teaching in Syria the “Qanoun” and the “Kitab ash-Shefa” the philosophical magnum opus of Ibn Sina. He passed away in Tabriz at the age of 77. A prolific writer in both Arabic and Persian, he authored books on various topics including medicine, astronomy, geography, mathematics, philosophy and religion. Among his works is “Nihayat al-Idraak fi Dirayaat al-Aflaak” on the movement of planets. Mullah Qotb also identified observations by Ibn Sina on the transits of Venus and Mercury, centuries before European scientists.

485 solar years ago, on this day in 1534 AD, Baghdad was seized from Iran by Sultan Sulaiman, two years after start of the 23-year long intermittent Ottoman-Safavid War. Following invasion of southeastern Anatolia and Iraq by the Turks, the Iranian army withdrew since Shah Tahmasp I, who believed in peace and negotiations, did not want unnecessary spilling of Muslim blood. The Ottomans, however, continued to push forward by seizing Basra and invading the Caucasus and Azarbaijan in the north, prompting Shah Tahmasp to adopt a scorched-earth policy that blunted the Turkish invasion and forced Sultan Sulaiman to sign the 30-year Peace Treaty of Amasya, after three massive but unsuccessful invasions in the course of 22 years. The frontier of the two empires was delineated through Anatolia, Iraq, and the Caucasus, with Georgia being divided between the Ottomans and the Safavids. The Ottomans, in return for their annexation of Baghdad and most of Iraq, allowed Iranian pilgrims to continue visits to Najaf and Karbala, as well as to Mecca and Medina for Hajj. Over the next two centuries, whenever Iran became powerful, it liberated Baghdad, Karbala, and Najaf.

340 solar years ago, on this day in 1679 AD, English philosopher Thomas Hobbes died at the age of 91. He believed that human beings by nature are selfish and power-hungry with the tendency to dominate. He thus advocated establishment of a powerful government to provide peace and security for the vulnerable people. His important book is “Leviathan”, in which he argues that the only way to secure civil society is through submission to the absolute authority of a sovereign.

291 lunar years ago, on this day in 1150 AH, the Ottoman army led by Hekimoghlu Ali Pasha, defeated the Holy Roman Empire near the Bosnian town of Banja Luka. This was a crushing blow by the Muslims of Europe to the ambitions of the Germans and the Austrians in the Balkans.

224 solar years ago, on this day in 1795 AD, Scottish essayist, historian and orientalist, Thomas Carlyle was born. He mastered German and Arabic languages, and later taught Arabic at Cambridge University. During trips to Muslim lands, he became familiar with Islamic culture and civilization, and was highly influenced by the divine religion of Islam. On the Holy Qur’an, he calls it a direct voice from the heart of the universe for mankind. He has hailed Prophet Mohammad (SAWA) as a person of deep and a great spirit, far from worldly ambitions, saying:

“It is a great shame for anyone to listen to the accusation that Islam is a lie and that Mohammad was a fabricator and a deceiver. We saw that he remained steadfast upon his principles, with firm determination; kind and generous, compassionate, pious, virtuous, with real manhood, hardworking and sincere. Besides all these qualities, he was lenient with others, tolerant, kind, cheerful and praiseworthy and perhaps he would joke and tease his companions. He was just, truthful, smart, pure, magnanimous and present-minded; his face was radiant as if he had lights within him to illuminate the darkest of nights; he was a great man by nature who was not educated in a school nor nurtured by a teacher as he was not in need of any of this.”

On the Prophet’s divinely-decreed vicegerent Imam Ali ibn Abi Taleb (AS), Carlyle wrote:

"As for this young Ali, one cannot but like him. A noble minded creature, as he shows himself, now and always afterwards, full of affection, of fiery daring something chivalrous in him, brave as a lion, yet with a grace, truth and affection… He died by assassination in the mosque at Kufa, death occasioned by his own generous fairness, confidence in the fairness of others. He said: if the wound proved not unto death, they must pardon the assassin, but if it did, they must slay him straightaway, so that the two of them in the same our might appear before God, and see which side of that quarrel was the just one."

On the martyrdom of Imam Husain (AS), he has written:

"The best lesson which we get from the tragedy of Karbala is that Husain and his companions were the steadfast believers of God. They illustrated that numerical superiority does not count when it comes to truth and falsehood. The victory of Husain despite his minority marvels me!"

Carlyle, who died at the age of 86, authored several books, including “The French Revolution”, “Past and Present”, and “On Heroes and Hero Worship and the Heroic in History.”

209 lunar years ago, on this day in 1232 AH, Moroccan exegete of the Holy Qur’an and literary figure, Abul-Fayz Hamdoun ibn Abdur-Rahman al-Faasi, passed away at the age of 58. Born in Fez (as his surname al-Faasi suggests), during the Hajj pilgrimage to holy Mecca, he met and conferred with prominent Shi’ite Muslim scholars such as the celebrated Ayatollah Sheikh Morteza Ansari Dezfuli. He authored several books on theology, Qur’anic sciences, logic, etc.

190 solar years ago, on this day in 1829 AD British Governor-General of India, William Bentinck, issued a regulation declaring that anyone who abets “sati” or the Hindu custom of burning a widow on her husband’s pyre, is guilty of culpable homicide.

184 solar years ago, on this day in 1835 AD, British writer and painter, Samuel Butler, was born. Two of his most famous pieces are the satire “Erewhon” and a semi-autobiographical novel published posthumously, “The Way of All Flesh”. He is also known for examining Christian orthodoxy, studies of Italian art, and works of literary history and criticism. Butler made prose translations of the ancient Greek classics “Iliad” and “Odyssey”, which remain in use to this day.

163 solar years ago, on this day in 1856 AD, a month after Iran’s liberation of its northeastern city of Herat in Khorasan on 1st of November 1856, Britain declared war on Iran as its fleet sent from Bombay to the Persian Gulf, attacked Khark Island and Bushehr. By the start of January 1857, the British led battalions of “sepoys” (corruption for the Persian word "sipahi" for Indian soldiers), after occupying Khark and Bushehr, pushed inland towards Kerman in the southeast and Khorramshahr in the southwest of Iran. An alarmed Nasser od-Din Shah Qajar sent an envoy to France for mediation, and the result was imposition of the Treaty of Paris on Iran, which was forced to drop all claims to this historical city and most of eastern Khorasan, which is now part of Afghanistan today, on condition of British withdrawal from Khark, Bushehr and Khorramshahr. Herat, the then capital of Khorasan, had been part of Iran from time immemorial till 1856 when its rebellious governor placed the area under British protection. It is worth noting that earlier in February1856, these Indian sepoy battalions had been used by the British to overthrow Wajed Ali Shah of the Naishapuri Dynasty of Iranian origin of Awadh in northern India, and would be mobilized again in the middle of 1857 to crush the uprising of the Indian people and end the Mughal Dynasty of Delhi by exiling to Burma its last ruler, Bahadur Shah Zafar.

120 solar years ago, on this day in 1899 AD, vaccine to prevent the typhoid fever was used for the first time. It was developed by British pathologist, bacteriologist, and immunologist, Edward Wright.

67 solar years ago, on this day in 1952 AD, the US, Britain, and France held a trilateral conference in the Bermuda islands in the Caribbean Sea to plot against the USSR’s influence in the German city of Berlin. At the time, the western region of Berlin was under the control of the US, Britain, and France, while the eastern section was controlled by the Soviet Union. The escalating disputes over terms of administration of Berlin finally led to construction of the Berlin Wall by the Soviet Union and the then East Germany in 1961.

36 solar years ago, on this day in 1983 AD, when the US, in yet another act of state terrorism, attempted an air strike on Syrian positions in Lebanon, two of its aircraft were downed and a pilot captured. The Syrians then shelled the positions of the American intruders and killed eight Marines.

29 solar years ago, on this day in 1990 AD, the prominent Iranian researcher, author and member of the academic board of the UNESCO International Studies Department, Dr. Mohammad Hussein Mashayekh Faridouni, passed away at the age of 76. He received his PhD in Persian language and literature and conducted numerous studies in the domains of Islamology, Iranology, and the cultural relations of Islamic lands, publishing all these studies in the form of highly valuable compilations. He has also written an excellent work titled "Nawa-e Sha'er-e Farda" (Voice of the Poet of the Future) on the Persian works of the famous Poet and Philosopher of the East, Allamah Mohammad Iqbal Lahori of the Indo-Pakistan Subcontinent.

29 solar years ago, on this day in 1990 AD, the First Islamic conference on solidarity with the Intefadha of the Palestinian people was held in Tehran. Thinkers from several countries reviewed the chronic crisis of the usurpation of Palestine by the Zionists of Europe and the growing influence of the Islamic Revolution on the Palestinian people. Iran is a firm supporter of the Palestinian cause and believes that Israel has no right to exist in Palestine, which should be returned in its entirety to the Palestinian people.

8 solar years ago, on this day in 2011 AD, Iranian defence experts brought down intact in eastern Iran through cyber control, a US spy drone RQ-170, which violated Iranian airspace from American-occupied Afghanistan. Among the most modern types of pilotless aircraft, these drones are designed to evade radars. These are equipped with an automatic pilot system designed to make them automatically explode in case of severance of links with their base operator. By gaining control of this radar-evasive drone, the Islamic Republic of Iran showed its ability in cyber warfare to the confusion of US military experts and officials. Iranian experts by decoding the advanced drone gained access to confidential data and technology behind its production.

AS/SS