Today is Tuesday; 4th of the Iranian month of Khordad 1395 solar hijri; corresponding to 17th of the Islamic month of Sha’ban 1437 lunar hijri; and May 24, 2016, of the Christian Gregorian Calendar.

1079 lunar years ago, on this day in 358 AH, the Egyptian capital Fostat was conquered by the Fatemid Ismaili Shi’ite Muslim general, Jowhar as-Saqali, ending the rule of the Ikhshid Turkic governors of the Abbasid caliphate of Baghdad. Jowhar, who was originally a Greek from the island of Sicily, off the coast of Italy, immediately started the construction of a new capital nearby in Egypt for the planned move of the Fatemid caliph, al-Mu’iz, from Mahdia in what is now Tunisia, the then capital of the Fatemid Empire, which at its peak extended from the northwest African coast of the Atlantic Ocean in present day Morocco to Syria and the Hijaz including the holy cities of Mecca, Medina, and Bayt ol-Moqaddas. It also included several islands in the Mediterranean Sea, especially Sicily. Jowhar named the new capital, “al-Qahera”, or the Victorious. He also built the al-Azhar Mosque and School in honour of the famous epithet “az-Zahra” of Prophet Mohammad’s (SAWA) daughter, Hazrat Fatema (SA). Jowhar and the Fatemids restored the full form of the Azaan or call for the daily prayers, from the minarets of al-Azhar and other mosques, by bearing testimony to the vicegerency of Imam Ali (AS) after the Prophethood of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA). The phrase “hayya ala khayr il-amal” which means “hasten to the best of deeds”, and which was dropped from the Azaan by the second caliph, was also revived. The Fatemids ruled Egypt for two centuries.

665 solar years ago, on this day in 1351 AD, Abu’l-Hassan Ali ibn Othman, the sultan of the Marinid dynasty of Morocco who liberated Gibraltar from the Christian Castilian occupation, died in exile in Fez in the High Atlas Mountains at the age of 54 after a reign of 17 years. In North Africa he extended his rule over Tlemcen and Ifriqiya, which together covered the north of what is now Algeria and Tunisia. Under him the Marinid realms in the Maghreb briefly covered an area that rivaled that of the preceding al-Muwahhidin (Almohad Empire). He was forced to return from Spain due to a revolt of Arab tribes, but was shipwrecked, and lost many of his supporters. His son Abu Inan Faris seized power in Fez.

620 lunar years ago, on this day in 817 AH, the Central Asian Turkic conqueror, Amir Timur died, while on an expedition against China, after conquering all the lands from the Mediterranean coast of Syria to River Ganges in India, and from the Persian Gulf in the south to Moscow in the north. He was of ferocious nature and at times destroyed entire cities and massacred whole populations, but at the same time patronized arts and literature, including the Persian language. He is buried in his capital Samarqand in what is now the Republic of Uzbekistan in a beautiful mausoleum called Gur-e Amir.

473 solar years ago, on this day in 1543 AD, the Polish astronomer, Nicolaus Copernicus, died at the age of 70 years. After learning of scientific facts from the Latin translation of Arabic books written by Islamic scholars, he was the first European to boldly speak of the Earth’s orbit around the Sun.

390 solar years ago, on this day in 1626 AD, the native Amerindians of Manhattan Island, were hoodwinked and deceived by Peter Minuit, the Director of Germany origin of the Dutch colony of New Netherland or what is now New York State, to sell their land for a hotchpotch of European trinkets worth only a paltry amount of 60 guilders or 23 dollars. The original inhabitants of the area were unfamiliar with the European notions and definitions of ownership rights. For the Indians, water, air and land could not be traded. Such exchanges would also be difficult in practical terms because many native groups migrated between their summer and winter quarters. It can be concluded that the Amerindians went home with totally different interpretations of the so-called sales agreement that was nothing but deceit on the part of the white invaders from Europe to deprive them of their ancestral lands.

330 solar years ago, on this day in 1686 AD, German-Dutch physicist and inventor of the thermometer, Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit, was born. He lived in Holland most of his life, and in 1714 invented the mercury thermometer by developing the Fahrenheit temperature scale. For the zero of his scale he used the temperature of an equal ice-salt mixture; 30° for the freezing point of water; and 90° for normal body temperature. Later, he adjusted to 32° for the freezing point of water and 212° for the boiling point of water, the interval between the two being divided into 180 parts.

194 solar years ago, on this day in 1822 AD, Ecuador gained independence from Spanish colonial rule after three centuries, because of the efforts of the famous Venezuelan revolutionary leader, Simon Bolivar. Ecuador covers an area of 283,000 sq km. It is situated northwest of South America and lies on the coastlines of Pacific Ocean. It shares borders with Peru and Columbia.

116 solar years ago, on this day in 1900 AD, during the Second Boer War, Britain annexed to its colony of South Africa the Orange Free State, which was an independent Boer sovereign republic in southern Africa. Its name derives partly from the Orange River, which in turn was named in honour of the Dutch ruling royal family, the House of Orange, by the Dutch settlers under Robert Jacob Gordon. The official language in the Orange Free State was Dutch.

95 solar years ago, on this day in 1921 AD, the 93-day “black cabinet” of Premier Seyyed Zia od-Din Tabatabaie was dissolved on the orders of the last Qajarid king of Iran, Ahmad Shah. Born in Shiraz in 1888, Zia od-Din developed close relations with the British colonialists, becoming editor of the newspaper “Ra’d” (Thunder) that was closed down by the government after which he started a new daily called “Barq” (Lightning). He imposed himself as prime minister on Ahmad Shah through a coup staged by the Cossack Brigade Chief Reza Khan Mirpanj – who would carry out the final coup d’etat in 1925 to install himself as the first Pahlavi king on the orders of the British. After his political career ended in Iran, Zia od-Din was sent into exile in British occupied Palestine, and later with British backing was hired as a senior consultant by the government of Afghanistan, but was unable to take up the post. He died at the age of 80 in Tehran. After his death, the ownership of his house was transferred to the Pahlavi regime’s dreaded espionage and torture agency “SAVAK”, and was converted into Evin Prison.

86 solar years ago, on this day in 1930 AD, the name "Pluto" was chosen and announced by Roger Lowell Putnam, trustee of Lowell Observatory, Flagstaff, Arizona, for the newly-discovered ninth planet of the solar system called Planet X by its discoverer Clyde Tombaugh on 13 March the same year.

76 lunar years ago, on this day in 1361 AH, the Gnostic Islamic scholar, Ayatollah Shaikh Hassan-Ali Isfahani, passed away at the age of 82. He was a product of the famous Islamic seminary of holy Najaf in Iraq, and on completing his studies took up residence in holy Mashhad in northeastern Iran for the rest of his life. He was an expert in mathematics, astronomy, and medicine, but his fame is mainly due to his ethical virtues and spiritual powers, some of which have been cited in a book, compiled by his son.

25 solar years ago, on this day in 1991 AD, the Zionist entity illegally settled 14,400 Ethiopian Jews in occupied Palestine. But, these black Jews are faced with numerous economic and social discriminations in Israel, and merely treated as cheap labour.

24 solar years ago, on this day in 1992 AD, Serbian forces confined over 3,000 Bosnian Muslims and Croats in inhuman conditions at the Keraterm prison camp. Damir Dosen served as a shift commander at the Keraterm prison camp in northwestern Bosnia. Detainees were killed, sexually assaulted and beaten. In 1999 Dragan Kulundzija, a former shift commander at Keraterm, was arrested on charges of killing and torturing prisoners. In 1999 Dosen was arrested for war crimes and flown to Hague for trial.

23 solar years ago, on this day in 1993 AD, Eritrea in Northeastern Africa, gained its independence from Ethiopia. Between the two World Wars it was briefly occupied by Italy. Eritrea lies on the coastlines of Red Sea. It covers an area of almost 117,000 sq km, and shares borders with Ethiopia, Sudan, and Djibouti.

16 solar years ago, on this day in the year 2000 AD, Zionist troops were forced to retreat from southern Lebanon due to the resistance and steadfastness of Lebanese people, led by the legendry anti-terrorist movement, Hezbollah. It was the first defeat of Israel in its confrontation with popular and Islamic forces, which were inspired by the Islamic Revolution of Iran.

5 solar years ago, on this day in 2011 AD, in India representatives of eight countries with large wild elephant populations pledged to eradicate poaching of the animals and smuggling of ivory to ensure their survival for future generations. The "Elephant 8 Ministerial Meet" included officials from Thailand, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, India, Botswana, Congo, Kenya and Tanzania. The elephant which is the largest living quadruped on earth is often the target of poachers for its tusks claimed to have aphrodisiac qualities, besides the prized ivory from which handicrafts are carved. In ancient times, elephants were used as war machines to intimidate and frighten rival armies. Today in many countries, the elephant, beside its use as a beast of burden, is trained as a riding animal on which processions are taken out, including religious, such as the famous Ashura mourning procession on the 10th of Moharram in Hyderabad, India, where the "alam" or banner of Imam Husain (AS) is carried on an elephant, behind which rows upon rows of mourners march, beating their chests in grief for the tragic martyrdom of the grandson of Prophet Mohammad (blessings of God upon him and his progeny).

Khordad 4, is designated as Day of Resistance of Dezful, in view of the steadfastness of the people of this southwestern border city against the constant barrage of missiles and artillery shelling by the invading army of the repressive Ba’th minority regime of Saddam throughout the 8 years of the war imposed by the US. In the initial months of the Ba’thist aggression alone, the city was targeted with 200 missiles and shelled by artillery as many as 20,000 times, but the people continued their normal life, and became model of resistance for the Iranian nation.

AS/ME