Today is Wednesday; 27th of the Iranian month of Azar 1398 solar hijri; corresponding to 21st of the Islamic month of Rabi as-Sani 1441 lunar hijri; and December 18, 2019, of the Christian Gregorian Calendar.

2235 solar years ago, on this day in 218 BC, during the Second Punic War, the Battle of the Trebia in northern Italy was won by Hannibal's Carthaginian forces against the Roman Republic. It was a severe Roman defeat with heavy losses. In this battle Hannibal got the better of the Romans by exercising the careful and innovative planning for which he was famous. Hannibal, who is regarded as one of the world’s greatest generals and strategists, landed in Spain from North Africa and after a series of victories, crossed the Alps into Italy with his huge army that also included African war elephants. He was of Phoenician origin in what is now Lebanon, and was one of the staunchest enemies of Roman imperialism. For generations, even after his death, the Romans used to shudder at the name and thought of Hannibal, who eventually died, through suicide, in what is now Turkey, where after leaving his North African homeland in Tunisia, under pressure from the Romans, was serving as military advisor to the Greek king, Antiochus, in the defence against the Roman expansionism eastwards into Asia.

964 solar years ago, on this day in 1055 AD, the Turkic warlord, Mohammad Toghril Beg, who established the vast Seljuq Empire, occupied Baghdad on the secret invitation of the scheming Abbasid caliph, al-Qa’em-Billah, to end the 110-year rule of the Iranian Buwaihid Dynasty of Iraq-Iran, after conquering territories in northwestern Iran and Anatolia (modern Turkey). To legitimize his rule and expand his empire, he forced the figurehead Abbasid caliph, to give him his daughter in marriage, and to sign decrees for wars against the Byzantine Christian Empire in Anatolia and the Syrian territories of the Fatemid Ismaili Shi’ite Muslim caliphate of Egypt-North Africa. Born in Central Asia in what is now Kazakhstan to Mikail the son of Seljuq – chief of the Oghuz tribe – he strove to unite the Turkic tribes of the vast Eurasian Steppes into a confederacy. He, along with his elder brother, Chaghri Beg, rose to prominence in the service of the Khaqan of the Qara-Khanid Dynasty of Bukhara that had displaced the Iranian Samanid Dynasty in Central Asia. He turned against the Qara-Khanids and in 1040 vanquished the Ghaznavids of Khorasan-Afghanistan at the Battle of Dandanqanan. His hordes gradually swept across the Iranian Plateau before marching into Anatolia and Iraq. In 1058, he lost Baghdad to the Fatemids but recaptured it two years later. On his death in Rey at the age of 73 the childless Toghril was succeeded after a brief struggle between the two sons of his deceased brother, Chaghri, by his surviving nephew Alp Arsalan – perhaps the greatest ruler of the Seljuq Dynasty. The Seljuqs who ruled for over a century-and-a-half, became Persianized and played a vital role in the development and spread of the Persian language and culture in Anatolia, where a branch of them ruled until 1307 as the Seljuq Sultanate of Roum.

901 solar years ago, on this day in 1118 AD, the Spanish Muslim city of Zaragoza and the province of the same name, now called Aragon, was occupied by Alfonso the Battler, thereby ending 414 years of glorious Islamic rule. Founded by the Romans as Caesar-Augusta, the city was captured by the Goths, who lost it to the Muslims in 714, and was called Saraqusta in Arabic. It grew to become the biggest Muslim city of Northern Spain. It became a hotbed of political intrigue. In 774, its governor, Hussain Ibn Yahya al-Ansari declared Hispania to be a province of the Abbasid caliphate, prompting the Omayyads of Cordoba to launch an abortive attack. Hussain resisted till 788 and in the meantime in 777, beat back an attempt by Charlemagne of France to besiege it. The area changed hands several times among the various Muslim factions. In 884 it was sold by Mohammad Ibn Lubb Ibn Qasi to the Christian Raymond of Pallars, but was immediately retaken by the Muslims. In 886 the Banu Tujibi family was appointed to govern it, and after over a century of increasing its economic and military might it declared it as an independent Taifa or emirate. In 1038, Zaragoza was seized by Banu Houd, whose ruler, Abdul-Malik Imad od-Dowla, made the mistake of allying himself with the Castilian Christians against the al-Morawid Muslim dynasty. The treachery proved fatal and in 1118 with the help of mercenaries, Alfonso seized Zaragoza and ended Muslim rule. The magnificent al-Jaferia Palace, built by Ja'far al-Muqtadir, serves as the regional parliament today.

520 solar years ago, on this day in 1499 AD, the Alpujarras uprising flared up in the Christian-occupied Muslim emirate of Granada in southern Spain on the forced conversion of the population in violation of the 1491 Treaty guaranteeing full recognition for the followers of Islam who in that region numbered over 300,000. Francisco Jiménez de Cisneros, the archbishop of Toledo, arrived in the city of Granada and began sending Muslims, especially the noblemen, to prison, where they were treated harshly until they agreed to convert. Emboldened by his forced conversion of three thousand Muslims in a single day, the Catholic archbishop intensified his devilish designs, though the church council warned him that these methods breached the 1491 Treaty. The December 18 uprising was put down in the city of Granada but it spread to the nearby mountainous area of the Alpujarra (corruption of the Arabic al-Basharaat), which was exclusively Muslim and whose leaders annihilated the Christian army sent to crush them. By 1501 King Ferdinand brutally crushed these uprisings and forced the entire Muslim population of the area to convert to Catholicism or be expelled by giving large sums of money to the Christian occupiers of their homeland. Violent episodes were carried out. In Laujar de Andarax, the Catholic forces under Louis de Beaumont took 3,000 Muslim men prisoner and then slaughtered them. Over six hundred women and children who took refuge in a local mosque were blown up with gunpowder. During the capture of Velefique, all the men were killed and the women enslaved. At Nijar and Güéjar Sierra, the whole population was enslaved except children who were kidnapped in order to be brought up as Christians. These brutal measures turned mosques into churches, but in their private life the Spanish Muslims continued to practice the tenets of Islam in their homes until the infamous Pragmatica of Philip II on 1^st January 1567 that ordered the Moriscos or Muslim converts to abandon their customs, clothing and language, triggering the 1568-1571 uprising that was also brutally crushed, although Spanish Muslims survived in secrecy till the first half of the 18^th century.

397 solar years ago, on this day in 1622 AD, the Portuguese, as part of the plot to expand their dominions in sub-Saharan Africa, invaded the already Christianized Kingdom of Kongo and defeated the indigenous African people at the Battle of Mbumbi in present-day Angola, with the help of the Imbangala cannibals. The Portuguese took as slaves thousands of the newly converted black Christians for sale in the Americas, while their Imbangala allies, as was their custom, cannibalized many of the wounded prisoners including the bodies of the duke of Mbamba and the marquis of Pemba.

245 solar years ago, on this day in 1774 AD, Prussian Empress Maria Theresa expelled Jews from Prague, Bohemia and Moravia, for their anti-social activities, involvement in usury, and sacrilege of the fundamental beliefs of Christianity, especially the slandering of Prophet Jesus and his mother, the Virgin Mary (peace upon them).

141 solar years ago, on this day in 1878, Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili, known as Joseph Stalin, was born in the town of Gori in the Tiflis Governorate of Georgia, some half-a-century after this Caucasus land was seized from Iran by the Russians. He was involved in the communist struggle against the Czarist rulers, for which he was deported to Siberia in 1913 and remained in exile until the victory of Russian revolution in 1917. He rose in ranks during the rule of Vladimir Lenin, and following the latter’s death in 1927, he staged a coup with the help of Leo Kamenov and Grigori Zinoviev in order to prevent Leon Trotsky from succeeding Lenin. Stalin gradually eliminated his partners and became autocratic ruler. He ruthlessly continued the purging of opponents inside and outside the Communist Party, and during World War II, assumed the posts of premier and commander-in-chief of the Soviet army. Until his death, he ruled with an iron fist, and killed over six million people, besides ordering mass deportation of millions of others from their ancestral homes and hearths. For instance, in 1944, he ordered the mass deportation of Caucasian Muslim nations. Chechens and Ingush were deported to Kazakhstan for resisting Soviet rule on the allegations of abetting the Germans. Around a million persons were evicted and loaded onto special railway cars. More than a third of the population died on the way. Also deported were the Karachays, Balkars, and Meskhetian Turks.

131 solar years ago, on this day in 1888 AD, the Cliff Palace at Mesa Verde, Colorado, was discovered by rancher Richard Wetherill, while searching for missing cattle, along the north side of the Mancos River, He came across the ancient Amerindian site that he later named the Cliff Palace. These ruins of the largest and most famous cliff dwelling in North America are now preserved in Mesa Verde National Park. In the 1200s, the Anasazi, an ancient pueblo people, built 150 rooms and 23 large, round kivas (used for rituals) within a large rock shelter, high on a cliff. Rooms, about 2×2.5 meters were made of sandstone blocks, with mortar made from soil, water and ash.

117 solar years ago, on this day in 1902 AD, the world’s first radio station was founded by the Italian inventor, Guglielmo Marconi, in Glace Bay, thereby paving the ground for transatlantic conversations between the US and Europe. At the time, radio was not used as an educational and entertaining device but as a telecommunications apparatus.

105 solar years ago, on this day in 1914 AD, during World War 1, Britain took control of Egypt and declared it as its protectorate, by severing the centuries-old connection between Cairo and Istanbul, on the pretext that the Ottoman Empire had aligned with Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire against the Allied Powers. The Egyptian people’s struggles against colonial rule forced Britain to recognize Egypt's independence in 1922.

81 solar years ago, on this day in 1938 AD, the Atomic Age started with the fission of the atom’s nucleus by the German Chemist, Otto Hahn, leading to release of a huge amount of energy, which was later misused by the US to build bombs and weapons of mass destruction. Otto Hahn was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1944 and died in 1968. The US is the only country to have criminally used atomic bombs to devastate cities and population centres, as is clear by its unprovoked bombing of the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and massacre of hundreds of thousands of innocent men, women, and children in 1945.

70 lunar years ago, on this day in 1371 AH, Ayatollah Mohammad Nahavandi passed away. Born in holy Najaf, Iraq, to Ayatollah Abdur-Rahim Nahavandi, he followed in his father’s footsteps to master various branches of Islamic sciences. His notable work is the book “Nafahat ar-Rahman” on the exegesis of the holy Qur’an, which he wrote in both Arabic and Persian in four volumes.

48 solar years ago, on this day in 1971 AD, the combatant religious scholar, Ayatollah Mohammad Taqi Amoli, who was an outspoken critic of the British-installed and US-backed repressive Pahlavi regime, passed away at the age of 84 in Tehran. After completing his studies under his scholarly father and other ulema, he left for Iraq at the age of 34 for higher studies at the famous seminary of holy Najaf, where he stayed for thirteen years and reached the status of Ijtehad. On return to Iran he busied himself in teaching and writing books. His works include “Ithbaat-e Towhid” (Proving Monotheism), “Proof of the Creator from Materialism to Idealism”, and “Misbah al-Huda” (Lamp of Guidance).

46 solar years ago, on this day in 1973 AD, the religious scholar, philosopher, poet and outstanding orator of the subcontinent, Allamah Rasheed Turabi passed away in Karachi, Pakistan, at the age of 65. Born in Hyderabad-Deccan (southern India), after obtaining BA from Osmania University and MA in Philosophy from Allahabad University, he learned religious sciences, and mastered Urdu, Persian and Arabic literature. His Persian teachers were Mohsin Shirazi, Ali Hyder Nazm Tabatabai, and Mohammed Kirmani, while his Arabic language teachers were Tahir bin Mohammad, and Mawlana Sadeq Hussain Majjan. On the political side, he started his career as a member of the working committee of the Hyderabad Legislative Assembly. Later on, he was nominated by the founder of Pakistan, Mohammed Ali Jinnah, as a member of the working committee of All India Muslim League. In 1949, following the fall of Hyderabad-Deccan to Indian forces in 1948, a year after independence from British rule, he migrated to Pakistan, where he left active politics, and devoted himself to religious erudition, especially discourses on Imam Husain (AS) and the tragedy of Karbala. His great knowledge of hadith, jurisprudence, and exegesis of the holy Qur’an enabled him to deliver more than 5,000 religious lectures and speeches over a period of 57 years in the service of Prophet Mohammad’s (SAWA) Ahl al-Bayt. It also brought him Ijaza (permission to relate hadith) from Ayatollah Shaikh Mohammed Mohsin Tehrani, Grand Ayatollah Seyyed Mohsin al-Hakeem Tabatabai, Ayatollah Seyyed Hibbatuddin Shahristani, Grand Ayatollah Seyyed Hadi Milani, and Grand Ayatollah Seyyed Hussain Borujerdi. The most sought after Urdu public speaker of his times, he was indeed a persuasive and brilliant orator, who introduced many dimensions to the art of oratory. He was a prolific author as well, and among his works is the book, “Tibb-e Ma’soomeen” which is a composition of antidotes from Prophet Mohammad (SAWA) and the 12 Infallible Imams. He also wrote the 2-volume book "The Forests of Hyderabad" on the jungles of the Deccan. Another of his work is the idiomatic translation of Imam Ali’s (AS) famous Letter of Instructions to his governor of the then Christian-majority Egypt, Malik Ashtar. This epistle is a guiding light for just and fair governance. Turabi’s masterpiece on “Ilm Rijal” or biographical evaluation of narrators of hadith, which he titled "Wasl-e Qowl" was published after his death in Karachi.

40 solar years ago, on this day in 1979 AD, the Iranian religious scholar, Dr. Mohammad Mofatteh, attained martyrdom at the hands of terrorists at the age of 51. He studied at the Islamic seminary in holy Qom, while continuing his academic studies at Tehran University, from where he obtained PhD in philosophy. He later lectured at Tehran University, and was active against the Shah’s despotic regime. Following the victory of the Islamic Revolution, he was appointed as Dean of the Faculty of Theology at Tehran University. Martyr Mofatteh was one of the pioneers of unity between the seminaries and universities. Hence, his day of martyrdom in Iran has been named as “The Day of Unity between Seminaries and Universities.”

23 solar years ago, on this day in 1996 AD, the prominent Iranian researcher and bibliographer, Mohammad Taqi Daneshpazhuh, passed away at the age of 85. Born in Amol in Mazandaran, after initial studies under his scholarly father, he enrolled at the seminary of holy Qom to benefit from the knowledge of the leading ulema. Simultaneously he graduated in Islamic studies from Tehran University, where he later became a lecturer at the College of Divinities. At various times, he served as head of some important university libraries, where he diligently catalogued old books, especially manuscripts, compiling valuable lists. As part of his work, he visited several countries to trace manuscripts relating to Iran, Persian literature, and Islamic eschatology. He served for decades as deputy librarian at Tehran University before joining the Department of History of the Faculty of Theology. In addition to editing and publishing works of others, he authored a number of articles of his own.

21 solar years ago, on this day in 1998 AD, the famous preacher Hojjat al-Islam Mohammad Taqi Falsafi passed away at the age of 90 in his hometown Tehran. After initial studies under his father, Ayatollah Mohammad Reza Tonekabouni, he enrolled at the seminary where he mastered different branches of Islamic knowledge, specializing in philosophy and logics. An outstanding orator, his speeches from the pulpits of mosques and hussainiyas, attracted wide audiences, as a result of which, he was banned from preaching on several occasions by the repressive Pahlavi regime. A firm supporter of the Father of the Islamic Revolution, Imam Khomeini (God bless him), he continued his discourses after establishment of the Islamic Republic. He authored several books, including “Commentary on the Du’a Makarem al-Akhlaq”, “The Youth from the View of Intellect and Emotions”, and “Resurrection on the Basis of Soul and Body”.

16 solar years ago, on this day in 2003 AD, Dragan Nikolic, the Serb prison camp commander who allowed his troops to rape, torture and murder his Muslim prisoners, was sentenced to 23 years in jail at the UN war crimes tribunal in the Hague.

13 solar years ago, on this day in 2006 AD, Bahrain’s prominent religious scholar, Ayatollah Shaikh Abdul-Ameer al-Jamri, passed away at the age of 67 due to heart and kidney failure, while under house arrest. An outstanding preacher, who was a product of the famous seminary of holy Najaf in Iraq, he was an opponent of the repressive Aal-e Khalifa minority regime. He served in Bahrain's first parliament (1973-75), which was dissolved by the repressive ruler. Al-Jamri is most notable for his role during the 1990s uprising in Bahrain. As the leading figure, he succeeded in bringing Islamists, liberals and leftists together against the repressive regime. Due to his civil rights activity, he was imprisoned between April and September 1995, before being arrested again in January 1996 and imprisoned until July 1999, which was followed by a year and a half of house arrest by the regime. He wrote several books including “Women in Islam”, “Islamic Duties”, and “The story of my Life”.

8 solar years ago, on this day in 2011 AD, the last US occupation soldiers rolled out of Iraq across the border into neighbouring Kuwait at daybreak, after eight years of state terrorism that claimed the life of over 1.2 million Iraqis, either directly or indirectly. The US says it lost 4,500 soldiers and claims a burden of $800 billion incurred by the US Treasury during this period, but facts speak otherwise. The Americans lost more than double that number of soldiers because of resistance by the Iraqi Muslim people after the fall of the repressive Ba’th minority regime, while the US fleeced Iraq of trillions of dollars of the oil money in addition to destroying the infrastructure of the country and making millions of people homeless.

AS/SS