Today is Saturday; 1st of the Iranian month of Dey 1398 solar hijri; corresponding to 25th of the Islamic month of Rabi as-Sani 1441 lunar hijri; and December 22, 2019, of the Christian Gregorian Calendar.

2165 solar years ago, on this day in 146 BC, the third and last of the bloody Punic Wars between Carthage and Rome ended with the victory of the Romans and the end of the Carthaginian Empire. The first Punic War lasted 17 years from 264 to 241 BC and was fought in Sicily and the Mediterranean Sea. The second Punic War also lasted 17 years from 218 to 201 BC, and saw fluctuating fortunes. Initially Carthage was victorious, with its famous general Hannibal leading his North African forces into Spain from whence he crossed the Alps into Italy and besieged Rome with an army of elephants, before the turn of the tide against him, and his fleeing from place to place, until he finally died in Syria. The 3rd Punic War lasted only three years from 149 to 146 BC, and led to the total defeat of Carthage with the Roman Empire emerging as the paramount power in the Mediterranean lands of southern Europe and North Africa.

1775 solar years ago, on this day in 244 AD, Diocletian, an obstinate pagan who on becoming Roman Emperor, mercilessly persecuted monotheists and followers of other religions, was born near Salona in Dalmatia (Solin in modern Croatia) in a family of low status. His father was a freed slave, and according to some accounts he himself was a freed slave. The first forty years of his life are mostly obscure. Of crafty nature, while serving as a commander, he was proclaimed emperor in 284 by his soldiers in Asia Minor on the sudden and suspicious death of Numerian, the son and recently proclaimed 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. During his 21-year rule, Diocletian massacred tens of thousands of monotheist followers of Prophet Jesus (AS) as well as adherents of the sect called Christianity, invented by Paul the Hellenized Jew. He also brutally martyred the devoted Palestinian monotheist, Jirjis, known to the West by his Latinized name, Saint George, for refusing to worship the idols of the Roman pantheon. Diocletian 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. He committed suicide six years after abdicating the throne.

1377 lunar years ago, on this day in 64 AH, Mu’awiyyah II, the son of the tyrant  Yazid, abdicated the caliphate after only a month and eleven days in power as the self-styled caliph of the usurper Omayyad regime following the death by divine wrath of his accursed father, the perpetrator of the heartrending tragedy of Karbala. The 19-year old youth strongly denounced his father Yazid’s crimes against Islam and humanity, especially the tragic martyrdom of Imam Husain (AS), the grandson and 3^rd Infallible Heir of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA). It is said he was never again seen in public and is believed to have died or killed by his own kinsmen. He was replaced by the renegade, Marwan ibn al-Hakam, which meant a shift in the lineage of the Godless Omayyad regime from the offspring of Abu Sufyan to those of Hakam – both of whom grandsons of Omayya and avowed enemies of the Prophet of Islam. After some nine months in power, Marwan was killed by his most recent wife, a widow of the tyrant Yazid, who put a pillow on his face and sat over it till his breath was snuffed out. Some 67 years later, the Marwanids were thrown into the dustbin of history with the rise of the new dynasty of usurper caliphs, the Abbasids.

1163 solar years ago, on this day in 856 AD (242 AH), Damghan in northeastern Iran was rocked by a terrible 7.9 degree earthquake that killed an estimated 200,000 people, with 45,096 fatalities in Damghan alone. It was the sixth deadliest earthquake in recorded history. Also known as the Qumis Earthquake, because of its nearness to the ancient Parthian city of Qumis, which was destroyed, the quake badly affected water supplies in the area, partly due to springs and qanats drying up, but also because of landslides damming streams. Half of Damghan and a third of the town of Bustam were also destroyed. The usurper Abbasid regime was ruling Iran in those days.

Iran lies within the complex zone of continental collision between the Arabian Plate and the Eurasian Plate, which extends from the Bitlis-Zagros belt in the south to the Greater Caucasus mountains, the Apsheron-Balkan Sill and the Kopet Dag mountains in the north.[3] The epicentral area is located in the Alborz mountain range, in which oblique north-south shortening is accommodated by a combination of thrusting and sinistral (left-lateral) strike-slip faulting.

1139 solar years ago, on this day in 880 AD, Luoyang, eastern capital of the Tang Dynasty of China, was captured by rebel leader Huang Chao during the reign of Emperor Xizong. Before his death in 884, Huang Chao captured the Guang Prefecture, where his army killed a large number of Muslims, Jews, Christians, and Zoroastrians. The ethnicity of the killed was Persian, Arab, and Jew. The Tang Dynasty, established in 618, was well past its golden age, already weakened a century earlier by the rebellion of the Iranian-Sogdian general Aan Lushan, during which thousands of Arab and Persian Muslims had been involved.  Within a few decades of the rebellion of Huang Chao, the Chinese empire broke up into competing states of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period.

1073 lunar years ago, on this day in 368 AH, Spanish Muslim scholar, Yousuf ibn Abdullah, popularly known as “Ibn al-Abdul-Bir”, was born in Qortaba, a city in Spain which is called Cordoba today. A leading Sunni jurist, he initially adhered to the Zaheri School of jurisprudence founded by the Iranian Dawoud ibn Ali az-Zaheri of Isfahan, but later in life became a follower of the Malekite School. In his work, “al-Ist’aab fi Ma’rifat al-Ashaab” or The Comprehensive List of Names of the Companions, he has considered as a ‘companion’ any person who even once in life met Prophet Mohammad (SAWA). Nonetheless, he has acknowledged the unrivalled merits of the Prophet’s Ahl al-Bayt or Blessed Household, especially Imam Ali ibn Abi Taleb (AS). His other works include “al-Aql wa’l-Uqala” or Reason and the People of Wisdom, and “al-Qasd wa’l-Umam fî Nasab al-Arab wa’l-Ajam” or Endeavors and the Nations: Genealogies of the Arabs and Non-Arabs.

1007 solar years ago, on this day in 1012 AD, Baha od-Dowla Daylami, the Iranian Buwaiyhid ruler of Iraq and parts of Iran and Oman, died in Arrajan near Behbahan in southwestern Iran after a reign of 24 years and was succeeded by his son Sultan od-Dowla. He was the third son of the greatest ruler of the dynasty, Adhud od-Dowla, and assumed power on the death of his eldest brother, Sharaf od-Dowla. Another brother, Samsam od-Dowla, prevented him from gaining all of the eldest brother's possessions by taking control of Fars, Kerman and Khuzestan. The brothers, when threatened by their granduncle Fakhr od-Dowla, the ruler of northern Iran, who invaded Khuzestan, made peace, and Samsam od-Dowla recognizing Baha od-Dowla as the ruler of Iraq and Khuzestan, himself kept Arrajan, Fars and Kerman. Both took the title of "king". A couple of years later Baha od-Dowla assumed the title of Shahanshah or emperor and invaded his brother's territory but was defeated by the latter who regained Khuzestan and took control of the Buwaiyhid territories in Oman across the Persian Gulf, by recognizing granduncle Fakhr od-Dowla as the senior Amir. Six years later, Fakhr od-Dowla died and the next year Samsam od-Dowla was killed. Baha od-Dowla now took the opportunity to assert his authority in Fars and after taking Shiraz he did not return to Baghdad but spent the rest of his life in Iran, during which he gained indirect control over northern Iran as well. His last years saw the beginning of the decline of the dynasty, with the Ziyarids of Gorgan and Tabaristan permanently asserting their independence while the Ghaznavid Turks kept putting pressure on Khorasan. The Buwaiyhid confederation, after 110 years of valuable service to Islam and Muslims by patronizing religious scholars and scientists; building public places like hospitals, schools, libraries, bridges, and dams; and renovating the shrines of the Infallible Imams in Najaf, Karbala, Kazemayn and Samarra; was overthrown by Turkic Seljuq invaders from Central Asia, who restored the Abbasid caliphate.

973 lunar years ago, on this day in 478 AH, prominent Iranian Shafe’i scholar, Abdul-Malik bin Abdullah al-Juwaini, passed away at the age of 59 in Neishapour, Khorasan. He was known as Imam al-Haramayn because of his sojourn in the two holy cities of Mecca and Medina, where he was in self-exile due to his jurisprudential and theological differences with the Hanafi School, which the Seljuq Turks were promoting after conquering Iran. After several years in exile, Juwaini was invited back to teach at Neishapour by the Shafe’i vizier, Khwaja Nizam ol-Molk Tousi, the founder of the Madrasa-e Nizamiyya. He was teacher of the famous Iranian Sufi scholar, Abu Hamed Mohammad Ghazali, and wrote several books.

924 solar years ago, on this day in 1095 AD, King Roger II of Sicily was born at Mileto, Calabria, in what is known as the “Toe of the Italian Peninsula’. At the age of 35, he became king, after having been Count of Calabria during the rule of his father, Roger I – a Norman adventurer from Normandy in northern France who had seized Sicily from the Fatemid Shi’ite Muslim Empire after over three centuries of glorious Islamic rule. For 24 years till his death Roger II ruled Sicily, and influenced by the rich culture and civilization of Islam, he drew around him distinguished Muslim scientists, architects, statesmen, and even soldiers. The famous Islamic geographer Seyyed Mohammad al-Hassani al-Idrisi and the Spanish Muslim polymath Abu Salt al-Andalusi – who had formerly served the Fatemids in Egypt – were among the dignitaries at the Norman court in Palermo. Idrisi – a descendent of Imam Hasan (AS), the elder grandson and 2nd Infallible Heir of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA) – wrote for Roger the book “Nuzhat al-Mushtaaq fi-Ikhteraaq al-Afaaq”. Known in Latin as “Tabula Rogeriana”, it is a description of the world and the first world map ever drawn in Europe that later enabled navigators like Christopher Columbus, Amerigo Vespucci, Ferdinand Magellan and others to rediscover the Americas. It took Idrisi fifteen years to write this monumental work which contains commentaries and illustrations as well as the first perfect map of the Eurasian continent including its link to North Africa. Roger II also hired many Muslims who were trained in long-established traditions of centralized government. These included Abdur-Rahman an-Nasrani, a Greek convert whose name was Latinized as Christodulus and who served as the Emir of Palermo with the title “Ammiratus-Ammiratorum” (a corruption of “Amir al-Omara”), and later Amir al-Bahr (navy commander), which gave rise to the English word Admiral.

763 lunar years ago, on this day in 638 AH, the first Muslim queen of India, Razia Sultan, was killed while fleeing along with her husband, Altunia by Jat brigands, a day after the two were defeated in battler by her younger brother, Bahram, who had seized the Delhi sultanate through a plot. Razia, was designated heir-apparent and subsequently ruler by her father, Shams od-Din Iltutmish, the Turkic slave-sultan of India, following the death of her elder brother. She had exceptional administrative and military qualities, and established schools, academies, research centers, and public libraries that included the works of ancient philosophers along with the teaching of the holy Qur'an and the Prophet’s hadith. Pre-Islamic Sanskrit works on philosophy, astronomy, and literature were reportedly translated and studied in the schools and colleges she had established. Razia called herself “sultan” and refused to be addressed as Sultana because it meant "wife or mistress of a sultan"

416 solar years ago, on this day in 1603 AD, Mohammad III, the 13th Sultan and 5th self-styled caliph of the Ottoman Dynasty, died of gluttony and drinking at the age of 37 after a reign of 8 years during which he was mostly embroiled in wars in Europe against the Hapsburgs against whom he won a decisive victory in the Battle of Keresztes (known in Turkish as the Battle of Hajova) in Hungary in 1602. He is notorious even in Ottoman history for having nineteen of his brothers and half-brothers executed to secure power. They were all strangled by his deaf-mutes.

380 solar years ago, on this day in 1639 AD, the French poet and playwright, Jean Racine, was born. He catapulted to fame at a young age upon writing the tragedy "Andromaque". For a while, he was the official chronicler at the French court. Among his works mention can be made of "Iphigenie". Racine died in 1699.

326 solar years ago, on this day in 1693 AD, a major earthquake jolted the Mediterranean island of Sicily, flattening the three main cities including the capital Palermo. This quake is considered as the worst in the history of Italy, and it claimed more than 80,000 lives.

250 solar years ago, on this day in 1769 AD, the Sino-Burmese War of 1765–69 ended with an uneasy truce between the Qing dynasty of China and the Konbaung dynasty of Burma (Myanmar). China under the Qianlong Emperor launched four invasions of Burma between 1765 and 1769, which were considered as one of his Ten Great Campaigns. The war, which claimed the lives of over 70,000 Chinese soldiers, is considered "the most disastrous frontier war that the Qing dynasty had ever waged", and one that "assured Burmese independence". Burma's successful defense resulted in the present-day boundary between the two countries.

229 solar years ago, on this day in 1790 AD, the Ottoman fortress of Izmail (Ismail and Hajidar in Turkish) on the River Danube in what is now southwestern Ukraine was stormed and captured by Russian General, Alexander Suvorov, who in three days massacred 40,000 Muslim men, women and children. He unabashedly wrote to Moscow boasting about his crime against humanity, saying he ordered his forces to go from house-to-house and room-to-room to kill all Muslims, and when the massacre was over, he wept that there no more Turks left to be killed. It was the end of almost four centuries of Muslim culture in this part of Eastern Europe, although the Turks later took the city and the surrounding region briefly, before losing it to the Russians in 1809. The defeat was seen as a catastrophe in the Ottoman Empire, while in Russia it was glorified in the country's first national anthem, with the words: Let the thunder of victory sound! The Russians destroyed all mosques and traces of Islamic culture, replacing the city with churches and cathedrals.

139 solar years ago, on this day in 1880, English writer Mary Ann Evans, who wrote under the masculine penname “George Eliot”, died at the age of 61 at Chelsea. Her books included “The Mill on the Floss”, “Silas Marner” and “Middlemarch”. She was driven out of England with her companion, George Henry Lewes, for a while for living an adulterous life without being married.

80 solar years ago, on this day in 1939 AD, Indian Muslims observed a "Day of Deliverance" from Congress to celebrate the resignations of members of the Indian National Congress following Britain's decision to involve India in World War II. In 1938 and 1939, the Muslim League had tried to bring to light the grievances of Muslims in Indian states run by Congress governments. These efforts led to documents like the 1938 Pirpur Report, proving pro-Hindu and anti-Muslim bias in Congress-ruled areas. The All-India Muslim League President, Mohammad Ali Jinnah (later the Founder of Pakistan) said in his nationwide address: “I wish the Musalmans all over India to observe Friday the 22nd December as the “Day of Deliverance” and thanksgiving as a mark of relief that the Congress regime has at last ceased to function. I hope that the provincial, district and primary Muslim Leagues all over India will hold public meetings and pass the resolution with such modification as they may be advised, and after Jum'a prayers offer prayers by way of thanksgiving for being delivered from the unjust Congress regime. I trust that public meetings will be conducted in an orderly manner and with all due sense of humility, and nothing should be done which will cause offence to any other community, because it is the High Command of the Congress that is primarily responsible for the wrongs that have been done to the Musalmans and other minorities.”

The Day of Deliverance was celebrated throughout India by non-Muslim Congress opponents, including Christians, Zoroastrians, Anglo-Indians, and especially the All-India Depressed Classes Association, led by Dalit Leader B. R. Ambedkar.

63 solar years ago, on this day in 1956 AD, Britain and France ended the 50-day occupation of the city of Port Sa’eed in Egypt, and withdrew their forces that had entered the Suez War along with the illegal Zionist entity on the invasion of the Sinai Peninsula. The joint air raids destroyed a large number of Egyptian installations in and around the Suez Canal. The cause of the war was nationalization of the Canal by President Jamal Abdun-Naser of Egypt that ended the illegal control of the British and the French on this vital waterway.

30 solar years ago, on this day in 1989 AD, Romania’s president and leader of the Romanian communist party, Nicolae Ceausescu, was ousted. Three days later he was executed along with his politically active wife and some senior members of the pro-Soviet dictatorial regime. His totalitarian policies had destroyed Romania’s economy and the whole infrastructure.

27 solar years ago, on this day in 1992 AD, the “Terror Archives” were accidentally discovered by Paraguay’s lawyer and human-rights activist Dr. Martin Almada, and judge Jose Agustin Fernandez, in a police station in a suburb of Asuncion (Lambare), capital of Paraguay. Fernandez was looking for files on a former prisoner. Instead, he found archives describing the fate of thousands of Latin Americans who had been secretly kidnapped, tortured, and killed by the security services of Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, and Chile. This was known as Operation Condor. The “Terror Archives” listed 50,000 people murdered, 30,000 people disappeared and 400,000 people imprisoned. They also revealed that other countries such as Colombia, Peru, and Venezuela cooperated, to various degrees, by providing intelligence information that had been requested by the security services of the Southern Cone countries. Some of these countries have used portions of the archives, now in Asuncion's Palace of Justice, to prosecute former military officers. Much of the case built against Chile’s notorious General Augusto Pinochet by Spanish judge Baltasar Garzon was made using those archives. Almada, is himself a victim of Condor. He has called these documents “a mountain of ignominy, of lies, which Alfredo Stroessner [Paraguay's dictator until 1989] used for 40 years to blackmail the Paraguayan people.” Almada has urged the UNESCO to list the “Terror Archives” as an international cultural site.

14 solar years ago, on this day in 2005 AD, Mohammed Mahdi Akef, the leader of Egypt's main Islamic opposition group, joined the world’s growing number of conscientious people and researchers in publicly calling the alleged Holocaust of Jews in Europe during World War 2 as a “myth”. He slammed Western regimes for criticizing disclaimers of the Holocaust that allegedly occurred in Europe during World War 2, as claimed by the Zionists to justify the illegal existence of Israel on the soil of Palestine. The West, which on the pretext of freedom of expression allows insulting of Islamic sanctities, has passed laws to prevent any research by historians and academicians on the number of Jews throughout Europe before World War 2 and the supposed Nazi gas chambers. The Islamic Republic of Iran was the first country to officially call the alleged Holocaust as myth and has held international conferences in this regard.

AS/SS