Today is Friday; 24th of the Iranian month of Ordibehesht 1395 solar hijri; corresponding to 6th of the Islamic month of Sha’ban 1437 lunar hijri; and May 13, 2016, of the Christian Gregorian Calendar.

557 lunar years ago, on this day 892 AH, Shah Ismail I, the Founder of the Safavid dynasty, was born in Ardabil, northwestern Iran. His father Haidar was head of the Safaviyya Sufi order established by his venerable ancestor Safi od-Din Ardebeli. His mother, Martha, was the daughter of the Aq Qoyonlu king, Uzun Hasan by his Greek wife Theodora, better known as Despina Khatoun, the daughter of King John IV of Trebizond. Ismail was only one year old when his father was martyred in what is now Daghestan, and at the age of 7 he succeeded his elder brother Sultan Ali, who was also martyred. He went into hiding along with his loyal followers before emerging at the age of 12 years to set up rule in Azerbaijan. Soon he was joined by thousands of devotees of the Safavid order and gradually took control of all of today's Iran, as well as Iraq, the Caucasus, parts of Central Asia, and western Afghanistan. He declared the School of the Prophet's Ahl al-Bayt as the state religion of the Safavid Empire, and to Shah Ismail and his successors, who ruled for 235 years, goes the credit of giving Iran its present religious, cultural, lingual and national identity and unity.

368 solar years ago, on this day in 1648 AD, construction of the Red Fort at Delhi was completed by the 5th Mughal emperor, Shah Jahan, exactly ten years on the date its construction work had started. The residence of the Mughal emperors of India for over 200 years, until 1857, it was designed by the architect Ahmad Lahori. It has an area of 254.67 acres, enclosed by 2.41 km of defensive walls, punctuated by turrets and bastions and varying in height from 18 meters on the river side to 33 meters on the city side. The marble, floral decorations and double domes in the fort's buildings exemplify later Mughal architecture. It showcases a high level of ornamentation, and the fort's artwork synthesizes Persian and Indian art. With the end of Mughal rule, the British sanctioned the systematic plunder of valuables from the fort's palaces. All furniture was removed or destroyed; the harem apartments, servants' quarters and gardens were destroyed. Only the marble buildings on the east side at the imperial enclosure escaped complete destruction, but were looted and damaged. While the defensive walls and towers were relatively unharmed, more than two-thirds of the inner structures were destroyed by the British. Earlier, before the British seizure, the silver ceiling of the Diwan-e Khas was looted by the Maratha marauders. On 15 August 1947, the first Prime Minister of India Jawaharlal Nehru raised the Indian national flag above the Lahore Gate. Ever since, on Independence Day, the prime minister raises the flag and gives a speech that is broadcast nationally.

303 solar years ago, on this day in 1713 AD, Alexis Claude Clairaut, the French mathematician, astronomer, and geophysicist, was born in Paris. He was a child prodigy, and at the age of twelve he wrote a memoir on four geometrical curves. Clairaut took part in an expedition to Lapland for estimating a degree of meridian arc. He wrote his theory on the shape of the Earth, and subsequently wrote various papers on the orbit of the Moon, and on the motion of comets as affected by the perturbation of the planets. Misled by his fame and his liking for the perishing pleasures of life, he adopted a wayward lifestyle and was a spent force, when he died at the age of only 52 years.

263 solar years ago, on this day in 1753 AD, the French politician, general and mathematician, Lazar Carnot, was born. As an engineer and military strategist, he was one of the leaders of the French Revolution against the monarchy, and was subsequently named Minister of War.

170 solar years ago, on this day in 1846 AD, the US, as part of its expansionist policy declared war on Mexico, and occupied large areas which today form most of the southern states including New Mexico, most of Texas, and California.

125 solar years ago, on this day in 1891 AD, the great scholar, Grand Ayatollah Mirza Hassan Shirazi, issued the historic Fatwa against the 50-year tobacco concession given to a British company by King Nasser od-Din Shah Qajar of Iran. Following the Fatwa of Mirza Shirazi issued from his base in Samarra, Iraq, the Iranian people, including Qajarid courtiers and the wife of the Shah, refrained from purchase, sales and usage of tobacco, forcing the government to cancel the concession. This development once again proved the strength of the Muslim Iranian people led by the ulema.

112 lunar years ago, on this day in1325 AH, Allamah Ibrahim Khoiee attained martyrdom at the hands of agents of the Qajarid king, Mohammad Ali Shah. He was a student of the celebrated Ayatollah Sheikh Morteza Ansari, and on return to Iran from holy Najaf, was involved in the constitutional movement.

99 solar years ago, on this day in 1917 AD, three children in the town of Fatima in Portugal reportedly saw an apparition of what they called "Our Lady of Fatima" and "Our Lady of the Rosary". They spoke of seeing a lady "more radiant than the sun, shedding rays of light clearer and stronger than a crystal ball filled with the most sparkling water and pierced by the rays of the sun." The three were immediately jailed by the local Christian authorities of the Catholic sect and threatened with painful death. They were reportedly released, although it cannot be confirmed whether or not they were the same children. Their names were given as Lucia Santos, and her cousins Jacinta and Francisco Martoin. Of the three, two died soon afterwards, while Lucia Santos was confined to convents as a nun until she died in 2005 at the age of 97. The Vatican acted as her spokesman by releasing what it called the "Three Secrets of Fatima", although scholars suspect deliberate distortion of the whole event, and what was actually predicted or told to the children. First and foremost, nowhere in Christian texts, has the Virgin Mary been ever called Fatima, or was associated with the rosary (prayer beads). As researchers point out, the name of the town in Portugal, "Fatima" is Arabic, and it was founded by the Muslim rulers of the Iberian Peninsula. The name "Fatema" is popular and venerated throughout the Islamic World because of it being the name of the daughter of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA), who is also called "az-Zahra" or the Most Radiant. Another interesting fact that scholars note is the association of the Prophet's daughter with the rosary or prayer beads, which she first made out of clay, and which subsequently became famous as "Tasbih Fatema" when her father taught her the glorification of the Lord Most High on the prayer beads. Hence Hazrat Fatema is known as the Lady of the Rosary. The most important factor to note is that in 1571 AD, Pope Pius V held a feast of what he called "Our Lady of Victory" in honour of the Virgin Mary, after the Christians had managed to hold back Turkish Muslim armies from overrunning Western Europe; but in the subsequent years, following fresh Turkish victories, Pope Gregory XIII changed the name of the feast to "Our Lady of Rosary" since victory was not possible against the Turks. It is not known what prompted the Pope to associate the word Rosary with Mary for the first time ever in history, or whether it was part of the Catholic propaganda to counter the trend among the growing number of Muslims in southeastern Europe to recite the Rosary of Hazrat Fatema (SA). Thus, the most likely answer for the apparition that the three children saw this day in 1917 was that it was of the Prophet's daughter – perhaps prophesying the conversion of Europe to Islam.

87 lunar years ago, on this day in 1350 AH, the Iranian poet and scholar, Mirza Lotf Ali Naseeri, known as Sadr ol-Afazel, passed away at the age of 82 in Tehran. Born in Shiraz, he came to Tehran in his childhood with his scholarly father, Mohammad Kazem. He became an expert in jurisprudence, hadith and exegesis of the holy Qur’an in addition to Persian and Arabic literature. As a poet, he used the penname “Fani”. Among the books written by him, mention could be made of “Asatir”, and “Dastour al-Balaghah”.

49 solar years ago, on this day in 1967 AD, Dr. Zaker Hussain became the third President of India and the first Muslim President of the Indian Union. He held this position until August 24, 1969 when he died in office. He was born in Hyderabad-Deccan in an Afridi Pashtu family which later migrated to northern India. He was a cultured person and well versed in English, Urdu, and Persian languages.

43 solar years ago, on this day in 1973 AD, the scholar and poet, Hakim Ilahi Qomshahi, passed away at the age of 72. A student of leading ulema of the Isfahan seminary, he became an expert in the field of jurisprudence, philosophy, literature, and logic. He lectured at Tehran University where he completed his doctorate by writing the thesis “Towhid-e Hoshmandan”, or Monotheism of the Intellectuals. He was a master of Persian prose and a style, interspersed with the verses of classical Persian poets that conveyed philosophical and religious texts for the common man in a fluent and easy-to-understand language. He translated the holy Qur’an into modern Persian, and undertook a free translation of the prayer manual “Mafatih al-Jenaan” and the “Sahifat-as-Sajjadiyah”– the collection of supplications of Imam Zain al-Abedin (AS). He has also left behind a divan of Persian poetry.

32 solar years ago, on this day in 1984 AD, the contemporary Iranian researcher, poet, and author, HabibYaghmaai, passed away at the age of 83. He was an authority on Persian Literature and Islamic studies. He published the magazine “Yaghma” as of 1948 for a period of 31 years. He was a poet as well, and has left behind a large number of books, including commentaries on the works of the celebrated Persian poet, Shaikh Sa’di of Shiraz.

31 solar years ago, on this day in 1985 AD, Seyyed Ali Naqi Faiz ol-Islam passed away at the age of 80. He translated into modern Persian the famous collection of Imam Ali’s (AS) Letters, Sermons, and Aphorisms, the “Nahj al-Balagha”, with valuable notes and explanations.

20 solar years ago, on this day in 1996 AD, the Mashhad-Sarakhs-Tajan railway was launched, as part of the historical Silk Road, connecting the landlocked Central Asian countries with the outside world, through Iran, thereby giving a boost to the region's economy.

11 solar years ago, on this day in 2005 AD, the Andijan massacre occurred in the city of the same name in Uzbekistan, where government forces massacred over a thousand men, women, and children, who were protesting the poor economic conditions, in addition to their political grievances.