Today is Saturday; 23rd of the Iranian month of Azar 1398 solar hijri; corresponding to 17th of the Islamic month of Rabi as-Sani 1441 lunar hijri; and December 14, 2019, of the Christian Gregorian Calendar.

1085 lunar years ago, on this day in 356 AH, Moez od-Dowla Abu’l-Hassan Ahmad ibn Buyeh Daylami, the founder of the Buwaiyhid Dynasty of Iran-Iraq-Oman, passed away in Baghdad after a reign of 22 years, and was buried in the graveyard of the Quraish, adjacent to the holy shrine of Imam Musa al-Kazem (AS), the 7th Infallible Successor of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA). After taking Baghdad in 334 and reducing to a mere figurehead al-Mustakfi, the 22nd self-styled caliphs of the usurper Abbasid regime (who a year later was deposed and replaced by al-Muti), he ruled as Amir al-Omara (Chief of the Nobles). For the first time he declared as public holidays the Day of Ghadeer (18th Zilhijja – the Prophet’s proclamation of Imam Ali [AS] as vicegerent on God’s commandment), and the Day of Ashura (10th Moharram – the tragic martyrdom of the Prophet’s grandson, Imam Husain [AS] in Karbala). He also ordered that on the walls of mosques and other main buildings of Iraq and Iran curses should be written against the Omayyad usurper Mu’awiyah ibn Abu Sufyan and other enemies of the Ahl al-Bayt. This practice was emulated in Aleppo and parts of Syria and what is now south-central Turkey by Sayf od-Dowla, the ruler of the Hamdanid Dynasty. Moez od-Dowla’s elder brother Ali who was in control of central and southern Iran was given the title of 'Emad od-Dowla", while the younger brother Hassan, who had gained control of northern Iran, took the title of "Rokn od-Dowla". Buwaiyhid rule lasted over a century in Iran and Iraq and was a period of great cultural revival and emergence of outstanding religious scholars, such as Sheikh Mufid, Seyyed Murtaza, Seyyed Radhi, Shaikh at-Tayefa Tusi, etc.

732 solar years ago, on this day in 1287 AD, as a result of a storm, the Zuiderzee sea wall in the Netherlands collapsed, killing an estimated 80,000 people in the sixth largest flood in recorded history. Much of the land was permanently flooded in what are now the Waddenzee and Jsselmeer.

726 solar years ago, on this day in 1293 AD, al-Ashraf al-Khalil, the eighth Mamluk sultan of Egypt-Syria, was assassinated in his mid-thirties after a brief 3-year reign by a group of his Mamluk emirs led by Baydara, while on a hunting trip near Alexandria. Having succeeded his famous father, Sultan al-Mansur Qalawun – originally a Qipchaq slave from Eurasia who rose to become king and liberated Tripoli in Lebanon from Europe’s Crusader occupiers – Ashraf continued the campaign to liberate Acre, Beirut, Tyre, Sidon, Beirut, Haifa and Tartus, until he had wiped out all Crusader presence from Levant. He was accorded a magnificent welcome for his victories – first in Damascus and then in Cairo.

543 solar years ago, on this day in 1476 AD, the murderous Vlad III, known as the "Impaler" for his inhuman killing of Muslims and Christians as well, died at the age of 45. He was the local ruler of Wallachia (Vallahaiya) in Romania, and had once attempted to assassinate the Ottoman Sultan Mohammad II, the Conqueror of Constantinople. Also known as "Dracula" or Son of Dragon, his sadistic cruelties inspired stories of the bloodsucking Vampire. He is said to have impaled nearly 100,000 Turkish Muslims, although despite claiming to be a defender of Christianity, he impaled and burned tens of thousands of Christians as well, during his 19-year reign of terror that ended with his defeat by his consanguineous brother, Radu, who had embraced Islam and was appointed Pasha of Wallachia by the Ottomans. Vlad, who along with Radu had been sent to the Ottoman court while an adolescent, to learn martial arts, the holy Qur'an as well as the Turkish and Persian languages, developed a deep hatred for his brother because of his being favoured by the young prince Mohammad, the future Sultan. In 1447, on the death of his father he was installed as ruler of his homeland by the Ottomans, but instead of showing gratitude, he turned against them and started the brutal killing of Turkish envoys and traders. In 1462, fed up with his savagery, Sultan Mohammad II led a massive army across the River Danube, with Radu at the head of the famous Jan-Nisari Corps. Vlad fled and during his retreat burned and killed everything in sight. When the Ottoman forces approached, they encountered over 20,000 of their soldiers impaled by the forces of Vlad, creating a "forest" of dead or dying bodies on stakes. This atrocious, gut-wrenching sight was too much to bear and Sultan Mohammad turned back in disgust. Four years later Vlad, who fled to Hungary, was imprisoned for ten years by the local Christian ruler for crimes against humanity. On release in 1476, when he attempted to stir up sedition once again, he was killed by the Ottomans.

516 solar years ago, on this day in 1503 AD, French apothecary, astrologer and supposed seer, Michel de Nostredame, known by his Latin name "Nostradamus" was born in Provence. He published collections of so-called prophecies that have since become famous. The first edition appeared in his lifetime in 1555. He has since attracted a following that credits him with predicting many major world events. Academic sources maintain that the associations made between world events and Nostradamus' quatrains are largely the result of misinterpretations or mistranslations (sometimes deliberate) or else are so tenuous as to render them useless as evidence of any genuine predictive power. Nevertheless, many have used a process of free interpretation and determined 'twisting' of his words to predict an apparently imminent event. For example, in 1867, three years before it happened, Le Pelletier did so to anticipate either the triumph or the defeat of Napoleon III in a war that, in the event, begged to be identified as the Franco-Prussian war, while admitting that he could not specify either which or when. There have also been several well-known Internet hoaxes, where quatrains in the style of Nostradamus have been circulated by e-mail as the real thing. The best-known examples concern the collapse of the World Trade Center on 11 September 2001 that led to hoaxes and to reinterpretations by enthusiasts of several quatrains as supposed prophecies. With the advent of 2012 Nostradamus's alleged prophecies started to be co-opted as evidence suggesting that the end of the world is imminent, notwithstanding the fact that his book never mentions the end of the world, let alone the year 2012. He died in 1566.

494 lunar years ago, on this day in 947 AH, India’s Persian language historian, Mullah Abdul-Qader Bada'uni, was born. He was a court chronicler and translator from Sanskrit into Persian for the Mughal Emperor, Jalal od-Din Akbar Shah. He translated the Hindu epics, “Ramayana” and “Mahabharata”, into Persian from Sanskrit. His famous work is the history in Persian titled “Muntakhab at-Tawarikh”.

473 solar years ago, on this day in 1546 AD, Danish astronomer and mathematician, Tycho Brahe, was born in Scania, which was then under Denmark, but is now part of Sweden. He studied for a while in Germany, and later was helped by the Danish ruler to set up an observatory on Hven Island. Influenced by the discoveries of Muslim scientists, centuries earlier, he embarked on wide scale observations of the skies and discovered a supernova. He died in 1601.

331 lunar years ago, on this day in 1110 AH, the Ottoman Turkish fleet defeated the Venetian fleet in a sea battle in the Mediterranean, near Italy, thus establishing Muslim supremacy over the sea routes.

220 solar years ago, on this day in 1799 AD, American military leader and the first president of the United States of America, George Washington, died at the age of 67. He started as an expert land surveyor in the British colonial army and fought against the French during the North American Wars. On outbreak of the rebellion in the 13 New England colonies, he sided with the rebels, assumed the overall military command and led them to victory in the war, after which he was elected as president. The US capital, Washington, was built in his honour on River Potomac.

214 solar years ago, on this day in 1805 AD, the British Blacksmith, George Branklon, discovered coal’s thermal power, while accidentally burning what was regarded as mere construction material. The first coal mine became operational in the port city of Plymouth.

116 solar years ago, on this day in 1903 AD, the renowned Iranian physician and researcher, Dr. Mahmoud Najmabadi, was born. In addition to his medical practice, he was a university lecturer, keenly interested in Islamic-Iranian medicine. He wrote several books to introduce the well-known physicians of Iran and the Islamic World, such as Mohammad ibn Zakariya Razi, and translated some of their books. He published 45 books and journals, including “A Glance at Islamic Medicine”; “History of Medicine in Iran”; and “Mohammad Zakariya Razi: Iranian Physician, Chemist and Philosopher.”

115 solar years ago, on this day in 1904 AD, several ulema and freedom-seekers of Tehran decided to leave the Iranian capital en masse in protest to the injustices of the Qajarid king, Mohammad Ali Shah. Ayatollah Seyyed Abdullah Bahbahani, and Ayatollah Seyyed Mohammad Tabatabai, the pioneers of Iran’s Constitutional Movement, migrated to the holy city of Qom, along with several of their followers. The condition set for their return was implementation of Islamic rules and regulations across Iran and establishment of the Ministry of Justice.

108 solar years ago, on this day in 1911 AD, Antarctica was discovered as several explorers raced each other to set foot on this frozen continent. Norwegian Captain Roald Amundsen beat his closest rival, Britain's Captain Robert Falcon Scott, in hoisting the flag on the South Pole.

107 lunar years ago, on this day in 1334 AH, the renowned Islamic scholar, Grand Ayatollah Sheikh Mohammad Ali Nakhchivani, passed away in the holy city of Karbala in Iraq. He was from the Iranian region of Nakhchivan – which is presently in Republic of Azerbaijan – and was a student of Ayatollah Fazel Iravani, who was also from the Caucasus. Nakhchivani soon became a Source of Emulation for Muslims of the Caucasus and Azarbaijan. A master of logic and Arabic literature, he authored several books, including “Ijtema al-Amr”.

87 solar years ago, on this day in 1932 AD, the Source of Emulation, Ayatollah Shaikh Abdullah Mamaqani, passed away at the age of 59. Born in holy Najaf to the great scholar Ayatollah Mohammad Hassan Mamaqani, who personally groomed him, he in turn groomed many scholars and wrote several books, including the 3-volume “Tanqih al-Maqal fi Ilm ar-Rijal”, “Miqyas al-Hidaya fi Ilm ad-Daraya”, and “al-Fawa’ed at-Tibbiyya”. His famous Will to his sons has been translated into several languages, including English. It contains important points on the Five Fundamentals of Faith (Usoul Din), as well as the benefits of “Ziyarah” to the shrines of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA) and the Infallible Imams of the Ahl al-Bayt, and the importance of “Azadari” or mourning ceremonies for the Martyr of Karbala, Imam Husain (AS).

38 solar years ago, on this day in 1981 AD, Syria's Zionist occupied region of Golan Heights was illegally declared part of Israel. Occupied in the 1967 war, the annexation statement led to wide scale protests worldwide. Syria has vowed to retake its territories and refused to enter into any deceptive talks with the Zionist entity.

24 solar years ago, on this day in 1995 AD, the Bosnian peace agreement, called the Dayton Accord, was ratified at the Paris meeting, following its signing on November 21 in Dayton, US, by the Bosnian, Serb, and Croat presidents. The only outcome of the Dayton Accord for Muslims was that it spelled an end to the barbaric bouts of massacre by the Serbs, which had claimed 250,000 lives till that date. Despite the relative majority of Muslims, the Republic was divided into two parts, namely the Muslim-Croat Federation and the Bosnian Serb Republic, with both of them under the supervision of a weak central government in the capital, Sarajevo. Meanwhile, despite the passage of years since the ethnic cleansing of Bosnian Muslims, issues related to the return of 1.2 million Muslim refugees to their homes and hearths have remained unsolved.

11 solar years ago, on this day in 2008 AD, Iraqi journalist, Muntadhar az-Zaidi, threw his shoes at the then US President George W. Bush during a press conference in Baghdad, becoming a hero in the eyes of the oppressed people of the world. Born in Sadr City, Baghdad, in a family adhering to the school of the Ahl al-Bayt of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA), he was resentful of the US occupation of his country and the killing of the Iraqi Muslim people. While throwing his first shoe at George Bush, who was flanked by Iraqi Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maleki, he shouted: "This is a farewell kiss from the Iraqi people, you dog". As Bush ducked to avoid being hit in the face, az-Zaidi threw his other shoe at him, shouting: "This is for the widows and orphans and all those killed in Iraq." Again, a badly shaken Bush barely evaded a direct hit on the face. The heroic Iraqi journalist was immediately pulled to the ground, as security guards kicked, beat and dragged him outside the conference hall, with blood dripping from his body. He was jailed, tortured, interrogated, put on trial, defended his action as the natural response to the killing of over a million Iraqis by the American occupiers, and sentenced to a year in prison. Nine months later, he was released for good conduct, and worked for a Lebanese TV channel.

AS/SS