Today is Saturday; 25th of the Iranian month of Ordibehesht 1395 solar hijri; corresponding to 7th of the Islamic month of Sha’ban 1437 lunar hijri; and May 14, 2016, of the Christian Gregorian Calendar.

1390 lunar years ago, on this day in 47 AH, Qasim was born to Imam Hasan Mojtaba (AS) – the elder grandson and 2nd Infallible Heir of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA). His mother was the noble lady Omm Farwa, and he was in his 14th year when he attained martyrdom in Karbala during heartrending tragedy of the Day of Ashura (Moharram 10). His uncle, Imam Husain (AS) was reluctant to give him permission to go to the battlefield because of his young age, but on repeated insistence, he agreed. Of handsome stature, Qasim displayed extraordinary skills in swordsmanship against the bloodthirsty Omayyad hordes of Yazid, dispatching several of them to the bowels of hell, including the Syrian stalwart Azraq ash-Shami. Qasim was struck from behind and fell from his horse, but before Imam Husain (AS) could come to his help, he was martyred. Devotees commemorate Qasim’s martyrdom every year with special insignias in his honour.

441 solar years ago, on this day in 1575 AD, the Portuguese occupied Angola in southwest Africa which was part of the African Empire of Guinea. For four centuries the Portuguese looted the natural resources and oppressed the black people, until the independence movement forced them to leave this land in 1975. Angola covers an area of more than 1.2 million square km, and shares borders with the Democratic Republic of Congo, Zambia, and Namibia. Its capital is Luanda.

435 solar years ago, on this day in 1576, Haidar Ali Mirza, declared himself the 3rd emperor of the Safavid Dynasty of Iran in Qazvin, immediately after his father Shah Tahmasp I died after a reign of 54 years. He was, however, killed during the same day killed because of dissension among the powerful Qizilbash clans, some of whom favoured his imprisoned brother Ismail Mirza as the next Shah. Born in 1554, he was attached to his father and had the support of the Ustalju and Shaykhavand clans, as well as the Georgians, since his mother was a Georgian lady. The Rumlu, Afshar, and Qajar clans, however, favored Ismail Mirza, who twenty years earlier had been incarcerated in the Qahqaheh fortress for plotting to seize the throne from his father. Ismail was brought out and declared the Shah. It was a fatal mistake for which his supporters paid dearly, since Ismail II, known in Iranian history as “murtad” or the apostate, indulged in fratricide and killing of the Qizilbash chiefs, until he was killed himself after only 15-months as ruler and replaced by his ailing brother Khodabandah – the father of Shah Abbas the Great. Haydar’s tutor was the great scholar, Mir Mohammad Momin Astarabadi who sensing the gravity of the situation left Iran for the holy cities of Iraq and thence to the Deccan in southern India, where he became Prime Minister of the Qotb-Shahi Dynasty of Iranian origin of Golkandah and helped found the city of Haiderabad.

220 solar years ago, on this day in 1796 AD, Edward Jenner administered the first smallpox inoculation to the eight-year-old James Phipps, the son of his gardener, with material from the sores of dairymaid Sarah Nelmes who had a mild case of cowpox. A few weeks later, on July 1, he subsequently tested the boy's resistance, and fortunately, the immunization was successful. This tested a conventional wisdom he had heard that those who had survived cowpox seemed to be immune to the deadly smallpox disease. By 1798 he had 23 cases, which he recorded in “An Inquiry into the Causes and Effects of the Variolae Vaccinae”. Jenner's work was rapidly taken up in Europe and America.

205 solar years ago, on this day in 1811 AD, Paraguay in South America gained independence from Spanish colonial rule and became a republic. Ever since it has seen autocratic regimes rise and fall in coups and countercoups. In 1989, for the first time free presidential elections were held. Landlocked Paraguay shares borders with Bolivia, Brazil, and Argentina. Its capital is Asuncion.

149 solar years ago, on this day in 1867 AD, the French orientalist, Joseph Reinaud, died at the age of 74. He was an expert in Arabic language and literature, and used to lecture on this subject. He wrote a valuable research on the Muslim Arab invasions of France, in addition to the history of the crusades. He also edited and in part translated the History of Abu’l-Fida into French. To him goes the credit of a useful edition of the interesting records of early Arab interaction with China following the advent of Islam.

137 solar years ago, in 1879 AD, the first group of 463 Indian indentured labourers arrived in Fiji. Today Indians comprise around 38 percent of this Pacific Archipelago's population of around 900,000, of whom some 10 percent are Muslims. The indentured labour system started in 1826 and continued till 1920, with tens of thousands of Indians transported to various colonies of European powers to provide cheap labour for the plantations in diverse places such as the French Indian Ocean islands of Reunion and Mauritius, the British colonies of West Indies in the Caribbean Sea, South Africa, and Dutch-controlled Surinam. The contract was for five years, renewable for further five year terms, with pay of eight rupees per month and rations provided. This was actually bonded labour and the Indians were seldom repatriated as per the contracts, whose terms were rarely met by the greedy colonialists. They settled in the lands where they went for work, and this explains the millions of people of ethnic Indian origin living in the countries of the Caribbean Basin, Fiji, South Africa, and other places.

109 solar years ago, on this day 1907 AD, Ayub Khan, the second president of Pakistan was born in British India, in the village of Rehana in the Hazara region of the North-West Frontier Province (now Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa). An ethnic Pashtun of the Tareen tribe, from 1958 to 1959, he was the first of a long line of military dictators of Pakistan. A graduate of Britain's Sandhurst military academy, he saw action during World War 2 and after independence became a general in the Pakistan army. After seizure of power he styled himself field marshal. He died in 1974.

68 solar years ago, on this day in 1948 AD, the most scandalous event of the 20thcentury occurred with the illegitimate birth in Palestine of the Zionist entity called Israel. Prior to seizing power, the illegal Zionist migrants of Europe had resorted to all sorts of racist and terrorist acts against the sons of the soil, and with British connivance drove into exile some 700,000 Palestinian Muslims and Christians on this day. Since then, the Zionist entity has imposed several wars on Arab states and seized their territory, in addition to terrorizing Palestinians and denying them their birthrights. With the help of the US, Britain, France and certain other countries, Israel has acquired a nuclear arsenal of around 400 atomic warheads, and indulges in almost daily threats of attacking the Islamic Republic of Iran. Today, Palestinians and Muslims throughout the world hold rallies to show their determination for liberation of their homeland from the clutches of the European Jews and the eventual end of Israel.

61 solar years ago, on this day in 1955 AD, the Warsaw Pact was signed by eight East European communist countries in the Polish Capital, Warsaw, as part of the strategy to counter the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, (NATO). The signatories were Poland, Albania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, the Soviet Union, East Germany, and Romania. These countries pledged to refrain from threats and force in their relations and to defend any member state in case of attack. With the end of Cold War, the Warsaw Pact was dissolved in 1991 after 36 years of activity, but unfortunately the US and West European powers have not only not disbanded NATO but have expanded it as part of their hegemonic policy to terrorize the free world.

Ordibehesht 25 is commemorated every year in the Islamic Republic of Iran as Ferdowsi National Day, in honour of the great Iranian poet, Abu’l-Qasim Hassan Firdowsi, whose “Shahnamah” remains to this day as the finest example of Persian epic poetry.

AS/ME