Today is Sunday; 8th of the Iranian month of Dey 1398 solar hijri; corresponding to 2nd of the Islamic month of Jamadi al-Awwal 1441 lunar hijri; and December 29, 2019, of the Christian Gregorian Calendar.

1841 solar years ago, on this day in 178 AD, the Roman city of Izmir on the Aegean Sea coast of Asia Minor, in what is now Turkey, was flattened due to a major quake. This quake killed almost half of the city’s pagan population, while making numerous others homeless. Izmir was later rebuilt by Roman Emperor, Marcus Aurelius.

1254 solar years ago, on this day in 765 AD (as per the Gregorian calendar) is the birth anniversary of Imam Reza (AS), the 8^th Infallible Heir of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA). Born in Medina on the 11^th of Zilqa’dah 148 AH, he was 35 years old when the divinely-decreed mantle of Imamate came to rest on his shoulders following the martyrdom in Baghdad of his infallible father, Imam Musa Kazem (AS), as a result of poisoned food in the dungeon of Haroun Rashid, the 5^th self-styled caliph of the usurper Abbasid regime. For the next 20 years he ably guided the ummah and as a result his popularity spread throughout the Muslim World and beyond. This alarmed Mamoun, the 7^th self-styled Abbasid caliph, who forced the Imam to leave Medina and come to distant Khorasan where the city of Merv was his capital. Here the Prophet's Heir was declared against his will the Heir Apparent of Mamoun. The plan was to confine the Imam to the court and thereby drive a wedge between him and the ummah. However, to the bewilderment of the caliph, when the Imam held memorable debates with the scholars of other religions and philosophical schools of thoughts to convince them of the truth of Islam, his popularity increased. Mamoun treacherously martyred the Imam through a fatal dose of poison at the age of 55. Imam Reza (AS) was laid to rest in the suburbs of the city of Tous, which soon grew into Mashhad-ar-Reza or the Martyrdom Place of Imam Reza (AS), and is a world famous centre of pilgrimage today in Khorasan, northeastern Iran.

1050 lunar years ago, on this day in 391 AH, the Iranian poet, Abu Ishaq Kesa-i Marvazi, passed away at the age of 41 in his hometown, the Khorasani city of Marv, which was seized by Russia in 1884 and is now in the present day republic of Turkmenistan. His life was concurrent with the waning years of the Iranian Samanid Dynasty of Bukhara and the rise of the Turkic Ghaznavid Dynasty of Ghazna. Hence he has written poems in praise of the rulers of these two dynasties, before embracing the truth of the school of the school of the Ahl al-Bayt. Thereafter he devoted his life to writing poetry on the merits of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA) and his First Infallible Heir, Imam Ali (AS). He has left a Divan of poems.

1018 lunar years ago, on this day in 423 AH, the famous calligrapher Abu’l-Hassan Ali ibn Hilal Ibn al-Bawwab, passed away in Baghdad. He invented the cursive “Rayhani” and “Muhaqqaq” scripts. He refined several of the calligraphic styles invented a century earlier by the famous Ibn Muqlah, including the “Naskhi” and “Tawqi” scripts, and collected and preserved for his students numerous original manuscripts of that master. “Ibn al-Bawwab”, which means “son of the doorkeeper”, was from a poor family, but he received a thorough education in law and memorized the holy Qur’an. His interest in calligraphy was inspired by Mohammad ibn Asad and was developed under Mohammad ibn Samsamani, both of whom were students of Ibn Muqlah. In all, Ibn al-Bawwab produced 64 handwritten copies of the Qur’an. One of the most beautiful in the “Rayhani” script is in the Laleli Mosque in Istanbul. Ibn al-Bawwab was recognized as a master in his own time; his school of calligraphy lasted until Baghdad fell to the Mongol invaders more than two centuries after his death.

511 solar years ago, on this day in 1508 AD, Portuguese naval commander, Francisco de Almeida, attacked the port of Dabhol on the Konkan coast of India, and massacred its inhabitants, both Muslims and Hindus, to avenge the death of his marauding son, Lorenzo de Almeida, who was killed earlier in the year in the Battle of Chaul, which was won by a joint Egyptian-Indian naval force, led by Mir Hussain Kurdi, the admiral of the Mamluk Dynasty, and the Zamorin of Kerala's Muslim ambassador, Mayimama Marakkar. Dabhol (also known as Dabul) was the main Arabian Sea port of the Bahmani Empire of Iranian origin of the Deccan, and later fell under the jurisdiction of the Adel-Shahi kingdom of Bijapur – also of Iranian origin.

407 lunar years ago, on this day in 1034 AH, the prominent scholar-statesman of Iran and Deccan (southern India), Mir Mohammad Momin Astarabadi, passed away in Haiderabad and was laid to rest in the vast graveyard he had laid out by mixing shipload of soil from holy Karbala, and which is known till this day as Daer-e Mir Momin. Born in Astarabad (Gorgan near the Caspian Sea in today's Golestan Province), he was appointed tutor to Prince Haidar Mirza, the chosen successor of Shah Tahmasp I, the 2nd emperor of the Safavid Dynasty of Iran. On Haider’s murder following the death of Shah Tahmasp, he realized the gravity of situation under the fratricidal Ismail II (notorious as 'murtad' or apostate), and left Iran for pilgrimage to the holy shrines in Iraq. Then he sailed to southern India to join the court of Sultan Ibrahim Qotb Shah of the Golkandeh Sultanate of Iranian Turkic origin. He rose to prominence in the reign of the next king, Mohammad Quli Qotb Shah, becoming Peshwa (prime minister). A promoter of the teachings of the Prophet of Islam and his Infallible Ahl al-Bayt, on his advice and under his supervision, the city of Haiderabad was built with the imposing structure of Charminar as its centre. He wrote several books and trained a large number of scholars in various fields. Mir Momin's name is alive in Haiderabad and the Deccan, and his grave is a site of pilgrimage.

206 solar years ago, on this day in 1813 AD, British soldiers burned Buffalo, the second largest city in New York State, during the War of 1812.

184 solar years ago, on this day in 1835 AD, the Treaty of New Echota was imposed on Amerindians by the white Anglo-Saxon government in Washington that forced the Cherokees to cede all the lands east of the Mississippi River to the United States of America. The US has a bleak, black and bloody history of genocide against the natives, who were almost exterminated and their homelands seized.

174 solar years ago, on this day in 1845 AD, the United States annexed the Republic of Texas, which had been independent since the Texas Revolution of 1836, and thereupon made it the 28^th state. Texas was a Spanish and consequently Mexican state in which the US first instigated a rebellion to set up an independent republic and then annexed it as part of its expansionist policies.

129 solar years ago, on this day in 1890 AD, the Wounded Knee Massacre, the last major conflict of the Amerindian War, occurred on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, resulting in the cold-blooded massacre of over 300 men, women, and children of the Lakota tribe of the Sioux Nation by the 7^th Cavalry Regiment of the US commanded by Major Samuel M. Whitside. To pour salt on the wounds of the natives, the US army awarded twenty Medals of Honor, its highest commendation, to officers of the 7^th Cavalry – similar to the Medal of Honor given to Captain Will Rogers of the Vincennes for his cowardly shooting down of the Iranian passenger plane with some 300 men, women and children on board. In 2001, the National Congress of Amerindians passed two resolutions condemning the awards and calling them “Medals of Dishonor”. It has demanded that the US government withdraw these medals.

128 lunar years ago, on this day in 1313 AH, the religious scholar Mullah Mohammad Baqer Va’ez Tehrani passed away at the age of 58. He has left behind a large number of books, including “Jannat an-Na’eem”, on the life of the Prophet of Islam’s venerable descendant, Hazrat Abdul-Azim al-Hasani (AS), whose shrine in Rayy is centre of pilgrimage.

116 lunar years ago, on this day in 1325 AH, the scholar Mirza Yahya Bidabadi Isfahani passed away at the age of 75. A student of Ayatollah Sheikh Morteza Ansari, he wrote several books, including “Tafzil al-A’imma ala'l-Malaeka” on the superiority of the Infallible Imams of the household of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA) over the other prophets and angels.

113 solar years ago, on this day in 1906 AD, Iran's first Constitution, drafted by the newly formed parliament, was signed by the Qajarid king, Mozaffar od-Din Shah. It initially contained 51 articles, and later 107 more articles were added to it. The constitution was tampered with and changed constantly, especially during the despotic rule of the British-installed and American-backed Pahlavi regime. Passages pertaining to people's rule and the Islamic shari'ah were eliminated, while clauses were added to spread corruption and depravity in society for weakening the people's cultural values in order to strengthen the repressive rule of the Pahlavis. Following the triumph of the Islamic Revolution in 1979 that ended domestic despotism and foreign hegemony, the Iranian people voted for a popularly drafted constitution to replace the obsolete one.

105 solar years ago, on this day in 1914 AD, famous Bengali painter, Zain ul-Abedin, was born in Kishoreganj in what is now Bangladesh. Much of his childhood was spent near the scenic banks of the Brahmaputra River, which would later appear in many of his paintings as a source of inspiration all throughout his career. He shot into prominence in 1938 winning the gold medal while studying art in Calcutta, and got the breakthrough in 1944 with his Famine Series paintings of 1943 on the great famine that afflicted Bengal. On the partition of the subcontinent, his hometown Kishoreganj became part of East Pakistan, which in 1971 became Bangladesh. An artist of exceptional talent and international repute, he is rightly considered the Father of Bangladeshi Art. He passed away at the age of 62.

89 solar years ago, on this day in 1930 AD, the famous poet-philosopher of the Subcontinent, Mohammad Iqbal Lahori, in his address in Allahabad as President of the Muslim League, outlined a vision for the creation of Pakistan, by joining together the overwhelmingly Muslim majority northwestern parts of the Subcontinent. He said: "I would like to see the Punjab, North-West Frontier Province, Sind and Baluchistan (all overwhelmingly Muslim regions) amalgamated into a single state... the formation of a consolidated Northwest Indian Muslim state appears to me to be the final destiny of the Muslims (of these areas).” Iqbal also considered Kashmir to be part of his vision of Pakistan, although he did not make any specific comment on the other Muslim majority areas of India like Bengal and parts of United Provinces (Uttar Pradesh). He rejected secularism and nationalism, and was also critical of his Muslim League colleague, Mohammad Ali Jinnah (the future Founder of Pakistan), for politicizing the issue of the rights of Muslims throughout India.

82 solar years ago, on this day in 1937 AD, the accord for independence of the Irish Republic from British occupation was signed. However, on the pretext of outbreak of World War II two years later in 1939, the British regime did not implement the accord. In 1949, four years after the end of World War II, the Irish Republic officially announced its independence from Britain. The independence was the result of eight centuries-long struggle of the Irish people against Britain, which continues to occupy the six northern counties of Ireland on the pretext that the Protestant sect of Christianity has a relative majority in these areas. Catholics, however, have refused to acknowledge British rule, and continue their struggle for the exit of British forces and nationals.

72 lunar years ago, on this day in 1369 AH, the great scholar Ayatollah Sheikh Ali Akbar Nahavandi passed away at the age of 91 in Mashhad, Khorasan, and was laid to rest in the holy mausoleum of Imam Reza (AS). Born in a scholarly family in Nahavand, near Hamedan in western Iran, after preliminary studies in Borujerd, he studied under Ayatollah Mirza Hassan Ashtiyani in Tehran, before leaving for holy Najaf in Iraq to benefit from the classes of Ayatollah Mirza Habibollah Rashti and Grand Ayatollah Sheikh ash-Shari’ah Isfahani. In turn he was the teacher of Grand Ayatollah Seyyed Shahab od-Din Mar’ashi Najafi. On his return to Iran he settled in Mashhad and was involved in teaching and writing books. Some of his works are: “Khazinat-al-Jawaher”, “Jannatan-e- Mudhamatan”, “Bunyan-e-Rafi’ fi’l-Ahwal-e-Khwaja Rabi’”, “Jawaher-al-Kalaam”, and “Anwaar-al-Mawaheb”.

47 solar years ago, on this day in 1972 AD, Operation Linebacker II ended after the most intensive US bombing campaign of the entire Vietnam War with over 100,000 bombs dropped on Hanoi and Haiphong. Fifteen of the 121 B-52s participating in the air raid were shot down by the North Vietnamese defenders. Some 1318 men, women, and children were killed by the US bombing that failed to dent the resolve of the defenders who eventually triumphed in the long drawn war. 

11 solar years ago, on this day in 2008 AD, a day after the Zionist army launched its 22-day holocaust on the besieged Gaza Strip, the Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, issued a fatwa (religious decree) saying that anyone killed while defending Palestinians in Gaza would be considered a martyr. Despite the brutality of its attack that resulted in the death of almost 1,500 men, women, and children, and destruction of the infrastructure, in addition to several thousand wounded, the illegal Zionist entity failed to topple the popularly elected Hamas-led Palestinian government.

AS/SS