Today is Sunday; 24th of the Iranian month of Azar 1398 solar hijri; corresponding to 18th of the Islamic month of Rabi as-Sani 1441 lunar hijri; and December 15, 2019, of the Christian Gregorian Calendar.

994 solar years ago, on this day in 1025 AD, the Byzantine Emperor, Basil II, died at the age of 67 after an almost 50-year reign, during which he somewhat extended the shrinking borders of the Eastern Roman Empire by crushing the Bulgars, taking control of southern Italy and regaining from the Abbasid caliphate some of the territories lost in Anatolia and northern Syria. He, however, came into conflict with the Fatemid Ismaili Shi’ite Dynasty of Egypt-North Africa-Hijaz-Syria, resulting in inconclusive wars in Syria that led to a 7-year truce, followed by a ten-year truce. The terms of the truce were exchange of prisoners, the recognition of the Byzantine emperor as protector of the Christians in lands under Fatemid rule, and the recognition of the Fatemid Caliph as protector of the Muslims living in lands under Byzantine control, as well as the replacement of the Abbasid Caliph's name by that of the Fatemid Caliph in the Friday prayer in the mosque of Constantinople. It is not known whether the Azaan  or call to the daily ritual prayer at the mosque of Constantinople replaced the Baghdad version with the version of Cairo, where the Fatemids had restored the phrase of the Prophet’s days “hayya ala khayr-il-amal” (that is, hasten to the best of deeds), in addition to bearing testimony to the God-given wilyah or authority of Imam Ali (AS), after testifying the monotheism of the One and Only God and the mission of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA).

947 solar years ago, on this day in 1072 AD, Alp Arslan, the third and perhaps the greatest Sultan of the Iran-based Turkic Seljuq dynasty, died at the age of 43 after a 9-year reign, four days after being stabbed by Yusuf al-Khwarazmi, the governor of a fortress in the ancient Iranian land of Khwarazm (divided today between the Central Asian republics of Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan). Named Mohammad, he was son of Dawoud Chaghri, the brother of Toghril Beg, the founder of the Seljuq Empire. He took part in his uncle’s campaigns in Levant and on return to Khorasan, his father who was governor introduced him to the able Iranian administrator Nizam al-Mulk Tousi, one of the most eminent statesmen in Muslim history and the future Seljuq vizier. In 1059 on his father’s death, he succeeded him as governor of Khorasan, and four years later when the issueless Toghril died, he contested the succession with his another uncle Kutalmish and after defeating him in the Battle of Damghan, took over the throne as the Great Seljuq sultan, thus becoming sole monarch of Persia from the River Oxus to the River Tigris. He rapidly expanded the empire all over Iraq, parts of Syria, Anatolia and the Caucasus, thereby obtaining the title “Alp Arslan”, which in Turkish means “Heroic Lion”. His decisive victory over the Byzantine Empire and capture of Emperor Romanov IV at the Battle of Manzikert in 1071, ushered in the Turkish settlement of Anatolia, paving way for turkification of the land which for centuries was colonized by the Persians and Greeks and which consequently came to be known as Turkey. With the administration of the empire in the able hands of his Iranian vizier Nizam ul-Mulk, he now turned towards Central Asia to conquer Turkestan, the original home of his ancestors. After forcing surrender of a stoutly defended fortress in Khwarazm beyond the Oxus, when he condemned to death the captured governor Yusuf al-Khwarazmi, the latter in desperation drew his dagger and rushed upon the sultan. Alp Arslan, who took great pride in his prowess as an archer, motioning his guards not to interfere, drew his bow to shoot, but his foot slipped and the arrow glanced aside, while the assassin's dagger fatally pierced his breast. He was buried beside his father in the Khorasani city of Marv.

943 lunar years ago, on this day in 498 AH, Abu'l-Muzaffar Rukn ud-Dn Barkyaruq, the Seljuq sultan of Iran-Iraq-Anatolia and parts of Syria, died in Boroujerd, southwestern Iran. He was a son of Malik Shah I and participated in the succession wars against his three brothers, Mahmoud I, Ahmad Sanjar, and Mohammad I. He ascended to the throne young, and his detractors thought him too inexperienced and accused him of being a drunkard. He waged war to regain control of the core Seljuqid lands that included Iran, Iraq, Syria, Turkey, Central Asia and parts of Afghanistan. His rule coincided with the Crusader European invasion of Palestine. It is said his body was brought to Isfahan, the Seljuqid capital for burial. However, a tomb exists in his name 5 km from Boroujerd, at a place called Zawwarian.

858 solar years ago, on this day in 1161 AD, during the Jin–Song wars in China, military officers conspired against Emperor Hailing of the Jin dynasty after a defeat at the Battle of Caishi, and assassinated him at his camp.

839 lunar years ago, on this day in 602 AH, the scholar Najmoddin Abu’l-Qasem Ja'far Ibn al-Hassan, famous as “Muhaqqiq al-Hilli”, was born in Hilla in Iraq. His legal manual “Shara'i al-Islam”, is regarded as a masterpiece of theology and more than thirty commentaries have been written by scholars upon it. Among Muhaqqiq's prominent students was his nephew, the celebrated “Allamah Hilli”. Another of his important works is “Ma'arij al-Usoul” on jurisprudential methodology, in which he stresses centrality of the Mujtahid’s role during the 12^th Imam’s Occultation, in deriving a proper understanding of the Shari'ah from the holy Qur'an, Hadith and statements of the Twelve Infallible Imams. His books include “an-Naafe’. He passed away in 676 AH at age 74.

763 solar years ago, on this day in 1256 AD, Hulagu Khan captured and destroyed the Hashshashin stronghold of the Ismaili Nizari sect at Alamout, some 200 km west of Tehran. The almost impregnable fortress surrendered without a fight, by accepting a deal that spared the lives of the people. Among those freed was the prominent Iranian theologian and scientist, Khwaja Naseer od-Din Tousi, who was held against his will at the court of the Ismail ruler, Da’i an-Nasser, and for whom he had to dedicate the famous book "Akhlaq-e Nasseri" on ethics and scientific issues. The Nizari-Musta’li split had occurred in Fatemid Egypt in 1095, following the death of Ma'ad al-Mustansir-Billah and the installation of his younger son al-Musta’li as successor by the vizier al-Afzal Shahanshah who by-passed the claim of the elder son Nizar. After the defeat of Nizar’s revolt, his followers fled east towards Syria and Iran, where his close confidante, the Cairo-trained Iranian Ismaili missionary, Hassan Sabbah, chose the inaccessible fortress of Alamout as the Nizari headquarters. The present leader of the Nizaris (or Khojas), is the Europe-based Karim Agha Khan, while the chief of the Musta’lis, (known as Bohras), was until recently the Mumbai-based Da’i Sayf od-Din.

676 solar years ago, on this day in 1343 AD, Hassan Kuchek, the founder of the short-lived Chopanid dynasty of northwestern Iran, and parts of what is now southeastern Turkey, during the events leading to the collapse of the Ilkhanate Empire, died at the young age of 24 when poisoned by his traitorous wife. Hassan Kuchek twice defeated the attempts of the Jalayarid ruler of Iraq, Hassan Buzurg, and also warded off the threat of invasion of Azarbaijan by Togha Timur the Mongol claimant to the Ilkhanid throne from Khorasan.

503 solar years ago, on this day in 1516 AD, the Spanish invaders seized the coastal areas of Argentina in South America. Spain's colonial rule over Argentina ended in the year 1916. Argentina is currently a republic, and covers an area of 2780000 sq km. It lies on the coastlines of Atlantic Ocean and shares borders with Chile, Uruguay, Brazil, Paraguay, and Bolivia.

337 solar years ago, on this day in 1672 AD, Ali Adel Shah II of the Bijapur kingdom of Iranian origin of the Deccan (or southern India), was struck with paralysis and died a few days later after a reign of 16 years. The regent Khawas Khan, in violation of the deceased king’s will, placed on the throne the 4-year-old Sikandar, who fourteen years later was defeated and captured by Aurangzeb the Mughal Emperor. The curtain thus came down on 190 years of the rule of the dynasty founded by the Iranian adventurer, Yusuf Adel Khan of Saveh. The reign of Ali II is marked by developments in Persian and Deccani literature and fine arts, and some good works of history were also produced under his patronage.

187 solar years ago, on this day in 1832 AD, French engineer, Gustave Eiffel, who specialized in metal structures, known especially for the Eiffel Tower in Paris, was born. He built his first of his iron bridges at Bordeaux (in 1858) and was among the first engineers to build bridge foundations using compressed-air caissons. His work includes designing the rotatable dome for Nice Observatory on the summit of Mont Gros (in 1886), and the framework for the Statue of Liberty now in New York Harbour. After building the Eiffel Tower (in 1887-9), which he used for scientific research on meteorology, aerodynamics and radio telegraphy, he also built the first aerodynamic laboratory at Auteuil, outside Paris.

167 solar years ago, on this day in 1852 AD, French physicist and discoverer, Henri Becquerel, was born in Paris. Following the discovery of X-ray by German Physicist, Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen, he tried to discover objects that emit X-rays. In 1896, he succeeded in determining elements which are radioactive and produce X-rays. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1902 and died in 1908.

160 solar years ago, on this day in 1859 AD, the Polish physician, and linguist, Dr. Ludwig Lazarus Zamenhof, was born. He thought of finding a common international language in order to bridge the gaps amongst world nations. The result was Esperanto, which means Hope, and in which words and sentences are written as pronounced by different speakers, without any grammatical rules or concern for spelling. It fell far short of the ambitions of Dr. Zamenhof, who died in 1917.

129 solar years ago, on this day in 1890 AD, US forces, cold-bloodedly killed Amerindian leader of Hunkpapa Lakota tribe, Sitting Bull, on Standing Rock Indian Reservation, leading to the Wounded Knee Massacre, during which over 250 Amerindian men, women, and children were massacred.

112 solar years ago, on this day in 1907 AD, Mohammad Ali Shah Qajar of Iran through his military officers removed Prime Minister Naseer ol-Molk and imprisoned him, but a popular uprising of the people and the ulema forced the Shah to restore Naseer ol-Molk soon after. During his brief 2-year rule, Mohammad Ali Shah was against the constitution which his father Mozaffar od-Din Shah had reluctantly ratified. He dissolved the elected Majlis, and bombarded the parliament with the help of Russian troops and British political support, before he was deposed and replaced by his 11-year son, Ahmad Shah.

102 solar years ago, on this day in 1917 AD, notable Urdu poet, journalist, broadcaster, translator, researcher, linguist and lexicographer, Shan ul-Haq Haqqee, was born in Delhi. He obtained a Master's in English literature from St. Stephen's College, Delhi, wrote short stories, and translated from Persian into Urdu the Divan of the famous Iranian poet, Hafez Shirazi with the title “Tarjuman ul-Ghaib”. He also compiled an Urdu lexicon.

86 lunar years ago, on this day in 1355 AH, Grand Ayatollah Mirza Ali Shirazi, passed away in holy Najaf, Iraq at the age of 68. A student of Ayatollah Fesharaki Isfahani and Ayatollah Mirza Mohammad Taqi Shirazi, he attained the status of ijtehad at the young age of 22 years. He was an authority in theology, jurisprudence, philosophy, medicine, history, and literature.

69 solar years ago, on this day in 1950 AD, the famous preacher Hojjat al-Islam Mahdi Va’ez Khorasani, passed away in Mashhad at the age of 82 and was laid to rest in the holy mausoleum of Imam Reza (AS), the 8th Infallible Heir of Prophet Mohammad (blessings of God upon him and his progeny). For seventy years he promoted the teachings of the Prophet’s Ahl al-Bayt to eager audiences in Tehran, Qom, Mashhad, Najaf, Karbala and other towns and cities, including in the holy shrines of the Infallible Imams.

53 solar years ago, on this day in 1966 AD, American showman, animator and producer of children’s cinema and cartoons, Walt Disney, died at the age of 65. He was of Irish origin, and held a PhD in Arts from Harvard University. He created world famous cartoons such as Mickey Mouse, and on several occasions won academy awards. Disney had an aversion towards the racist ideology of Zionism. In view of this, pro-Israeli Jewish groups tried to accuse him of anti-Semitism, despite the fact that the overwhelming majority of Semites are Arabs and not the Jews of European origin, who are ethnic Khazars – a Turkic people converted to Judaism and with no connection to the soil of Palestine, where the illegal entity Israel has been set up.

44 solar years ago, on this day in 1975 AD, the Spanish occupiers left Western Sahara which they had seized in 1884. The cause was the guerrilla warfare launched by the Muslim revolutionary groups operating under the Polisario Front. A few days after the complete withdrawal of Spanish forces, Polisario announced formation of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR), but Morocco invaded it by laying claims to the region. Unfortunately, the UN, under pressure from the US and the West, has failed to hold the referendum it had promised for determining the fate of this northwest African land that has a long coastline on the Atlantic Ocean. Morocco continues to occupy over 70 percent of this Arab-Muslim land that covers an area of 284,000 sq km and shares borders with Morocco, Mauritania, and Algeria.

40 solar years ago, on this day in 1979 AD, Mohammad Reza, the fugitive Pahlavi potentate of Iran, was forced to leave the US for Panama, as the Jimmy Carter Administration came under pressure from the Islamic Republic of Iran for extradition of the British-installed Shah to try him for his treason against the Iranian nation and crimes against Islam. His stay on the Isla Contadora, resulted in mass demonstrations by Panamanians who objected to his presence in their country. The Islamic Republic of Iran dispatched an envoy to Panama, carrying a 450-page extradition request which listed his crimes. This official appeal alarmed both the Shah and his advisors, and fearing extradition he fled Panama in March 1980 for Egypt – his initial destination on fleeing Iran on January 16, 1979. His host was the Egyptian president, Anwaar Saadaat, notorious for his treason against Islam and the Palestinian cause. On 27 July 1980, the 60-year old Mohammad Reza who had ruled Iran under Anglo-American tutelage from 11 September 1941 to mid-January 1979, died in Cairo and was buried there besides his equally treacherous father, the British agent Reza Khan, whose bones he had dug up and taken to Egypt when he fled Iran.

11 solar years ago, on this day in 2008 AD, thousands of Iraqis took to the streets to demand the release of the journalist Muntazar Zaidi, who threw his shoes at US President George W. Bush at a news conference in Baghdad the previous day, and was arrested. People across the Muslim World hailed Zaidi as a hero and praised his action as a proper send-off to the unpopular and bloodthirsty US president.

9 solar years ago, on this day in 2010 AD, two terrorists triggered bomb attacks at the entrance of the Imam Husain (AS) Mosque on Tasua 9th Moharram, in the southeastern Iranian city of Chabahar, martyring 39 people and wounding more than 100 during a commemoration ceremony for the Martyrs of Karbala. Terrorists on the payroll of the CIA, Saudi Arabia and the Zionist entity carry out such cowardly attacks in Iran’s southeastern province of Sistan-Baluchistan in a vain bid to plunge the country into a security crisis.

8 solar years ago, on this day in 2011 AD, security forces of Bahrain’s repressive Aal-e Khalifa minority regime, used tear gas and stun grenades to try to disperse thousands of peaceful protesters marching along a highway leading to Manama, the capital. The regime arrested prominent human rights blogger Zainab al-Khwaja, who was later released. As the daughter of noted Bahraini human rights activist, Abdullah al-Khwaja, who is languishing in prison, she has intermittent bouts of imprisonment, and is currently serving a long term prison sentence for refusing to yield to the regime’s tyranny. Her sister Maryam is also a prominent human rights activist.  

7 solar years ago, on this day in 2012 AD, Iran successfully sent a monkey into space for a second time, as part of an advanced programme aimed at manned space flight. Iran has taken giant strides in the aeronautics and space technology.

6 solar years ago, on this day in 2013 AD, prominent Pakistani Shi’a Muslim preacher, Allamah Nasser Abbas, was shot dead in Lahore by Taliban terrorists. The 42-yeard old martyr was the leader of Tehreek Nifaz Fiqh-e Jafaria, or movement for implementation of the Ja’fari school of jurisprudence.

AS/SS