Today is Thursday; 30th of the Iranian month of Ordibehesht 1395 solar hijri; corresponding to 12th of the Islamic month of Sha'ban 1437 lunar hijri; and May 19, 2016, of the Christian Gregorian Calendar.

939 lunar years ago, on this day in 498 AH, the famous Spanish Muslim hadith scholar and physician, Hassan ibn Hafez al-Ghassani al-Andalusi, passed away. He was a prominent scholar of Arabic literature, and among his works, mention could be made of a biography of prominent figures of his era.

699 lunar years ago, on this day in 738 AH, the Sarbedaran movement was launched in Khorasan by Imami religious scholar, Sheikh Khalifa Mazandarani, against the repressive rule of the Ilkhanid Mongols, especially the local governor Togha Timur, who was notorious for his cruelty and high taxation of the people. The movement, which was mostly made up of the downtrodden masses was centered in Sarbedaran from where it spread to neighboring cities. Its charismatic leaders included Hassan Juri and later Ali Mu’ayyad, all of whom revived the teachings of the Ahl al-Bayt of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA). For the next 50 years, the Sarbedaran (a Persian term which means, heads bound on gallows, to signify their readiness for martyrdom), ruled most of Khorasan, although not on dynastic basis. They regarded as their spiritual leader, Shaikh Mohammad Jamal od-Din al-Makki al-Ameli of what is now Lebanon, who was subsequently martyred in his homeland by the enemies of the Prophet’s Ahl al-Bayt, and earned immortality as Shaheed al-Awwal (First Martyr). When Amir Timur swept from Central Asia across Iran ending the Ilkhanid Dynasty, he respected the Sarbedaran and appointed many Sabzevaris to high posts in Iraq and Iran.

590 lunar years ago, on this day in 847 AH, Abdur-Razzaq Samarqandi, the Iranian ambassador to the Deccan (southern India) ended his year-long stay in Hampi at the court of the Raja of Vijaynagar, Deva Raya II. He was sent from the then Iranian capital, Herat (presently in Afghanistan), by the ruler Shahrukh (son and successor of the fearsome Turkic conqueror Amir Timur), on a three-year mission, mostly to the court of the Zamorin of Calicut (Kozikhode in Kerala). The major Muslim power in the Deccan at that time was the Bahmani Empire founded by a family of Iranian origin. Abdur-Razzaq wrote an account of his mission and travels in the famous Persian book “Matla us-Sa’dain wa Majma’ ul-Bahrain”. The book details the culture of southern India and the influence of Persian on the people and their different arts, as well as the presence of tens of thousands of Iranians in the various kingdoms of the Deccan, including Muslim and Hindu.

479 lunar years ago, on this day in 958 AH, the Ottoman fleet under the command of Turgut Ra’ees freed the Libyan sea port of Tripoli from the 21-year occupation of the Christian Knights. He was subsequently named the Pasha (governor) of Tripolitania by Sultan Sulaiman. Born into a Greek family, Turgut Ra’ees had converted to Islam at an early age, and grew up into an expert gunner and sailor, whose services were utilized by the Ottomans during the conquest of Mamluk Egypt. He subsequently served as admiral in the Mediterranean Sea, and for over forty years subjugated and captured many islands and the coastal areas of the Italian kingdoms and Spain, never allowing the Genoese, the Venetians, and the Spanish fleets to dominate the region or setting foot on the north African coast. He built Tunis and made it into a leading trade centre, before being appointed the Beglarbeigi of Algeria. He died during the Ottoman siege of Malta.

379 solar years ago, on this day in 1637 AD, Mughal Prince Mohi od-Din Mohammad (later Emperor Alamgir Aurangzeb) married Princess Dilras-Banu Begum, the daughter of Prince Mirza Badi az-Zaman Safavi titled Shahnawaz Khan, a great great-grandson of Shah Ismail 1, the Founder of the Safavid Empire of Iran. As her husband’s chief consort, she wielded considerable influence over him during twenty years of marriage that produced five children, including heir apparent, Mohammad Azam, and the couple’s firstborn – daughter Zeb un-Nisa, who grew into an accomplished poet. Dilras was amongst the highest ranked figures at the Mughal court unlike her husband's secondary wives, and died a year before his seizure of the empire from his ailing father, Shah Jahan. Aurangzeb always had great respect and admiration for her, commissioning the beautiful mausoleum in Indo-Persian style at Aurangabad over her tomb, known Maqbara-e Bibi (Mausoleum of the Venerable Lady). Aurangzeb never raised monumental edifices during his half-a-century reign, except for the mausoleum of his wife, which in the last years of his life (almost half-a-century after her death), he extensively repaired. He gave her the posthumous title of "Rabia od-Dowrani", and her mausoleum bears a striking resemblance to the famous Taj Mahal, which his father had built in Agra for his mother, Empress Mumtaz Mahal – also of Iranian origin and Shi’ite Muslim.

367 solar years ago, on this day in 1649 AD, an Act of Parliament declared England a Commonwealth under Oliver Cromwell as Lord Protector who abolished the monarchy and executed King Charles I on charges of treason. For the next eleven years, England was a republic.

254 solar years ago, on this day in 1762 AD, the German philosopher, Johann Gottlieb Fichte, was born in a poor family. He was one of the forerunners of the School of Idealism and was highly influenced by his contemporary, Immanuel Kant. He died in 1814.

239 lunar years ago, on this day in 1197 AH, the Ottoman marines succeeded in dispersing 75 Spanish warships which were trying to land forces at Algerian ports as a step for occupying it.

168 solar years ago, on this day in 1848 AD, the US war on Mexico ended with imposition of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo that forced the defeated Mexicans to cede California, Nevada, Utah and parts of four other states that form the US today. The United States of America, which was the name taken by the 13 New England colonies that rebelled against British rule to declare independence, has pursued a policy of wars, expansionism, massacres and genocide of Amerindians to grow to its present size from the Atlantic coast to the Pacific coast of the central region of North America. The US is considered one of history’s most repressive entities which pursues a policy of aggression all over the world, and like all other oppressive empires of the past, is not expected to last much longer before its final collapse and disintegration.

152 solar years ago, on this day in 1864 AD, American novelist and short story writer, Nathaniel Hawthorne, died at the age of 60. Among his renowned works is “The House of Seven Gables” and “The Scarlet Letter”.

135 solar years ago, on this day in 1881 AD, Ottoman military officer and 1st President of the Republic of Turkey, Mustafa Kemal, who styled himself ‘Ataturk’ (Father of Turks), was reportedly born in Selanik (Salonica or Thessalonica, currently capital of Greek Macedonia, but then part of the Ottoman Empire), in a Domne family, or converts to Islam from Judaism. He did not know the exact day or month of his birth, but favored May 19, since it was the start in 1919 of the war for independence. He joined the military, saw service in Syria, Libya, the Balkans, and Palestine (during First World War), rising to the post of commander-in-chief. He was secretly involved in anti-monarchist cells, was elected to parliament, and played a pivotal role in the transformation of the Ottoman Empire to a republic in 1923, with the capital shifted from Istanbul to Ankara. As president, he abolished the caliphate on March 3, 1924 and then launched a feverish attack on Islamic laws and institutions, forcing the Turkish Muslim people to change their centuries-old writing of the Turkish language from the Arabic-Persian alphabet to the Latin script. The goal was to deprive Turkey and the Turks of their Islamic identity and make them culturally subordinate to Europe. Mustafa Kemal, in addition to forcibly replacing the traditional dress of the Turkish people with the European style of dressing, banned the recitation of the Azan or the Call to Prayer from the mosques. Although these laic measures harmed Turkish Muslims and for several decades made them subservient to the West, they failed to undermine their strong faith in Islam. Before his death in 1938, he conspired with the French occupiers of Syria to annex the Syrian province of Hatay including the cities of Antakya (Antioch) and Iskenderun (Alexandretta).

126 solar years ago, on this day in 1890 AD, Ho Chi Minh, communist politician and 1st President of Vietnam, was born and given the name Nguyen Sinh Cung. After mastering Chinese language, which was a prerequisite to the study of Confucianism, he studied French and departed for France to enroll at the French Colonial Administrative School, but was rejected. He decided to travel around the world by working on ships and visited many countries from 1911 to 1917, including the US, where he worked for some years, before returning to France after First World War. From 1919-to-1923 he stayed in Paris, where he joined a group of Vietnamese nationalists, whose petition for recognition of the civil rights of the Vietnamese people in French Indochina to the Western powers at the Versailles Peace Talks, was ignored. The group, citing the language and spirit of the US Declaration of Independence, expected US President Woodrow Wilson to help end French colonial rule in Vietnam and ensure the formation of a nationalist government, but were given a cold shoulder. This rejection radicalized Nguyen, while making him a symbol of the anti-colonial movement at home in Vietnam, and forcing him to travel to Moscow where he joined the communists. He made frequent trips to China, forging ties with the communists, travelling to Hong Kong, Thailand, and India, before returning to Moscow. In 1940, he took the name Ho Chi Minh, meaning “He Who has been enlightened”, and the next year returned to Vietnam to lead the Viet Minh independence movement. His guerrilla forces saw many successful military actions against the French and against the Japanese occupation of Vietnam during World War II. Following the August Revolution (1945) organized by the Viet Minh, Ho Chi Minh became Premier of the provisional government and issued declaration for independence of Vietnam. Although he convinced Vietnamese Emperor Bao Dai to abdicate, and petitioned US President Harry S. Truman to support Vietnam’s bid for independence, citing the Atlantic Charter, he was ignored. He resolved to fight France’s bid to re-impose colonial rule, and following the decisive defeat of the French at the Battle of Dien Bien Phu, the Geneva Conference on July 21, 1954, made a provisional division of Vietnam at the 17th parallel, with control of the north given to the Viet Minh as the Democratic Republic of Vietnam under Ho Chi Minh, and the south becoming the State of Vietnam under Emperor Bao Dai, who was soon ousted. The refusal of the South to enter into negotiations with the North Vietnam about holding nationwide elections in 1956, as had been stipulated by the Geneva Conference, eventually led to war breaking out again in 1959. This time, the US intervened and started the catastrophic Vietnam War, in which hundreds of thousands of innocent people were massacred by the Americans, who had to finally withdraw in humiliation in 1975, as the two parts of Vietnam became united once again into a single country. Ho Chi Minh died on 2 September 1969 from heart failure at his home in Hanoi, at the age of 79, in the midst of the war, and after liberation Saigon was renamed Ho Chi Minh City in his honour.

121 lunar years ago, on this day in 1316 AH, the acclaimed Iranian Islamic scholar, theologian, and physician, Seyyed ol-Atibba Tabrizi, passed away. He was born in the northwestern Iranian city of Tabriz, and learned sciences in his hometown by attending the classes of renowned ulema. He honed his skills in medicine as well and became a leading physician. He has left behind numerous books, including “Tarikh-e Tabriz” (History of Tabriz).

110 solar years ago, on this day in 1904 AD, the prominent Indian industrialist of Iranian Zoroastrian origin, Jamshedji Tata, died at the age of 65 in Nauheim, Germany, and was buried in the Parsi Cemetery in Woking, England. Born in Nasvari, Gujarat, in western India, he founded the Tata Group – India's biggest conglomerate company – and is known as the Father of Indian Industry. The Tata Group of companies today is among the largest private sector firms in the world. Jamshedpur in the Indian state of Jharkhand is named after him.

91 solar years ago, on this day in 1925 AD, US civil rights activist, Malcolm X was born as Malcolm Little, and after conversion to Islam, became known as al-Haj Malik ash-Shabazz. A staunch advocate for the rights of African- Americans, he criticized white America in the harshest terms for its crimes against black Americans. He has been called one of the greatest and most influential Afro-Americans in history. Malcolm X became a member of the Nation of Islam in 1952 and quickly rose to become one of its leaders. For a dozen years he was the public face of this controversial group, but disillusionment with its chief, Elijah Muhammad, led him to leave it in March 1964. After a period of travel in Africa and West Asia, where he performed the Hajj pilgrimage to holy Mecca, he returned to the US, and founded "Muslim Mosque, Inc." and the "Organization of Afro-American Unity." On 21st February 1965, he was assassinated by FBI agents as he prepared to address the Organization of Afro-American Unity in Manhattan's Audubon Ballroom. A man seated in the front row rushed forward and shot him once in the chest with a double-barreled sawed-off shotgun. Two other men charged the stage and fired semi-automatic handguns, hitting him several times. According to the autopsy report, Malcolm X's body had 21 gunshot wounds to his chest, left shoulder, and both arms and legs, many of them fatal; ten of the wounds were buckshot to his left chest and shoulder from the initial shotgun blasts. Recently his maternal grandson, also named Malcolm Shabazz, was brutally killed in Mexico by US agents for being a dedicated Muslim.

81 solar years ago, on this day in 1935 AD, the British politician and intelligence operative, Thomas Edward Lawrence, died in a driving accident at the age of 47. Born out of wedlock to a baron, and known as "Lawrence of Arabia", he was a notorious spy whose job was to befriend, deceive and destroy Muslim rulers in Arabia. During the years 1910 to 1914, under guise as a member of an archeological delegation in the countries of Iraq, Syria, and Palestine, he sowed the seeds of sedition among the Arabs and Turks as part of the British policy to disintegrate the Ottoman Empire. It was through his efforts that the artificial country called Jordan was created for Abdullah, the son of the British agent, Sharif Hussain of Hejaz; while another son, Faisal, was first made king of Syria, and four months later when driven out from Damascus, was installed as king of Iraq in order to crush the aspirations of the Shia Muslim majority. Next, when Sharif Hussain was driven out from the Hijaz by the Wahhabi desert brigand from Najd, Abdul-Aziz Aal-e Saud, another artificial state called Saudi Arabia was created, on condition that no objection would be raised to the British plan to create for European Zionists an illegal entity called Israel in Palestine. Lawrence has shamelessly referred to part of these plots during World War I in his book titled: “Seven Pillars of Wisdom”.

80 solar years ago, on this day in 1936 AD, radar was made by the British inventor, Robert Watson-Watt, and was for the first time installed at a British airport. In World War II, radar was considered as an important warning device. Currently radar has numerous applications, both civilian and military.

34 solar years ago, on this day in 1982 AD, as per the suggestion of the then Chief of the Iranian Legislature (Majlis), Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, the Daneshgah-e Azad-e Islami or Islamic Azad University (IAU), was established in Tehran. With branches throughout Iran and also in some countries abroad, it is one of the largest comprehensive systems of universities, colleges, and community colleges in the world. Over the years, IAU has promoted “higher education for all” as its key objective. Currently it has an enrollment of 1.7 million students. It has university branches in UAE, Britain, Lebanon and Afghanistan.

3 solar years ago, on this day in 2013 AD, a Russian capsule carrying mice, lizards and other small animals returned to Earth after spending a month in space for what scientists said was the longest experiment of its kind. Fewer than half of the 53 mice and other rodents who blasted off on April 19 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome survived the flight.

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