Today is Thursday; 20th of the Iranian month of Khordad 1395 solar hijri; corresponding to 3rd of the Islamic month of Ramadhan 1437 lunar hijri; and June 9, 2016, of the Christian Gregorian Calendar.

Over four thousand lunar years ago, on this day, God Almighty revealed the heavenly scripture to Prophet Abraham (AS) for the guidance of the people of his times. God revealed several other heavenly scriptures in the various days of this blessed month of fasting to His prophets, such as the Torah to Prophet Moses (AS),

1948 solar years ago, on this day in 68 AD, the deceitful, cruel and bloodthirsty Roman Emperor, Nero, to evade a Senate-imposed death by flogging, committed suicide at the age of 31 by imploring his secretary Epaphroditos to slit his throat. Thus ended the 14-year reign of terror of Nero during which he tortured to death the monotheistic followers of Prophet Jesus (AS), killed his own mother Agrippina who had secured the throne for him through treachery, and torched the entire city of Rome while sadistically enjoying the sight of its burning from a hill. His widowed mother married her own uncle Emperor Claudius and forced him to adopt Nero as son. Nero poisoned the emperor to death and on seizing the throne got rid through poisoning of the late emperor’s teenaged son Britannicus. He eliminated all possible rivals, killed his wives at pleasure, and ordered the death of his own mother. In foreign policy, unable to face the might of Iran’s Parthian Empire, after  hostilities in Armenia, he concluded peace. His death made the people joyous.

1386 solar years ago, on this day in 630 AD, the victorious Iranian general Farrokhan titled “Shahrbaraz”, who had seized power as the 25^th Sassanid Emperor, was killed. “Shahrbaraz” means Boar of the Empire, since the boar was the animal associated with the Zoroastrian Izad Vahram (epitome of victory). Appointed “Iran Sepahbod” (or Commander of the Army of Iran) by Emperor Khosrow II (Pervez), he swept through Syria taking Damascus and Jerusalem from the Byzantine Empire in 613 and 614 respectively, before marching towards the capital Constantinople. However, when Heraclius assumed power as the new Byzantine Emperor and pushed back the Persians from Anatolia (modern Turkey) in the 620s, mutual suspicion arose between Khosrow and Shahrbaraz. Byzantine agents showed Shahrbaraz letters indicating that Khosrow was planning his execution. This kept one of the main Persian armies and its best general neutral during this crucial period, speeding the end of the long war and Byzantine victory. Following the Persian surrender, Shahrbaraz was heavily involved in the intrigues of the Sassanid court. On April 27, 630, he killed Emperor Ardashir III and seized power. He made peace with Heraclius and returned to him the relics of Jerusalem. In April 630 he failed to deal with the invasion of Armenia by a Khazar-Gokturk force under Chorpan Tarkhan. He was slain by the nobles and replaced by his wife – Khosrow’s daughter – Purandokht, as Empress of the rapidly declining Sassanid Empire, which six years later would be overrun by Arab Muslim armies.

1372 lunar years ago, on this day in 65 AH, Marwan ibn al-Hakam, the fourth caliph of the usurper Omayyad regime died in Damascus at the age of 64, after nine months in power, which was limited mostly to Syria. He was killed by his most recent wife, a widow of the tyrant Yazid ibn Mu'awiyyah, who put a pillow on his face and sat over it till his breath was snuffed out. One of the most criminal characters in Islamic history, Marwan was the son of the hypocrite Hakam bin Aas, who was expelled from Medina by Prophet Mohammad (SAWA) for ridiculing Islam. He was the first cousin of Osman bin Affan, who on becoming caliph recalled him to Medina in violation of the Prophet’s Sunnah, gave his daughter in marriage to him, and entrusted him all affairs of the state. The resulting mismanagement and plunder of the public treasury ended some twelve years later in the killing of Osman by Muslim revolutionaries from Egypt. In the "Battle of Jamal" that the pledge-breakers led by Ayesha – a wife of the Prophet – imposed on the Commander of the Faithful, Imam Ali (AS), near Basra in Iraq, Marwan treacherously killed his own leader, Talhah Ibn Obaidollah, with an arrow shot at the unprotected thigh. When the Omayyads seized the caliphate he served as governor of Medina for intermittent periods, and stayed there after retirement until Abdullah ibn Zubayr rebelled against Yazid and made the mistake of allowing him and his son Abdul-Malik to leave for Damascus. In Syria, following Yazid’s death and abdication by his son Muawiya II, in protest to his father’s crimes against Islam and humanity, including the tragic martyrdom of Imam Husain (AS) in Karbala, Marwan found himself propelled to the caliphate. His ascension pointed to a shift in the lineage of the Omayyad dynasty from descendants of Abu Sufyan to those of Hakam, both of whom were grandsons of Omayya. Some 67 years later, the Marwanids were thrown into the dustbin of history with the rise of the new dynasty of usurper caliphs, the Abbasids.

1295 solar years ago, on this day in 721 AD, the Arab army suffered a setback at the Battle of Toulouse in southern France against Odo of Aquitaine. Faulty planning by the Omayyad governor of Spain, Samh ibn Malik al-Khawlani, made the huge Muslim force immobile against the lightly armed Christians. However, this did not end the Muslim march into Europe that continued as far as north-western France for another decade until the decisive defeat at the Battle of Tours.

1024 lunar years ago, on this day in 413 AH, the famous theologian, Mohammad Ibn Mohammad ibn N’uman al-Ukbari, known popularly as “Sheikh Mufid”, passed away in Baghdad at the age of 77 and was laid to rest in Kazemain in the shrine of Imam Musa al-Kazem (AS), the 7^th Infallible Heir of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA). Over a hundred thousand people, both Shi'ites and Sunnis attended his funeral, the largest ever in Baghdad. The funeral prayer was led by his worthy student and scholastic successor, Seyyed Murtaza Alam al-Huda. He has left behind numerous works in almost all branches of Islamic sciences, some of which are: “al-Irshaad”, “Ahkaam an-Nisa”, “Aqsaam al-Mowla”, “al-Ifsah fi'l-Imamah Amir al-Mu'minin”, and “Tashih E`teqadaat al-Imamiyah” – the last named is a critical and edited version of his one-time teacher, Ibn Babawaih Shaikh Sadouq's “al-E'teqad”. Here it would not be out of context to relate how he acquired the epithet “Shaikh al-Mufid” or the Most Beneficial Scholar. It happened that his tutor suggested that he attend the lessons in theology of the Mu’tazalite scholar, Ali Ibn Eisa ar-Rummani. To quote his own words: I entered his class, and was impressed by the great number of students. So I sat at the end of the crowd, managing to creep forward as members of the assembly left. Then I saw a person enter, saying there is someone at the door from Basra who insists on being admitted. On ar-Rummani’s permission the man entered, and after a long conversation, asked him: "How do you view the event of “Ghadeer” (the day the Prophet, on God’s commandment, proclaimed Imam Ali [AS] as his vicegerent on 18th Zilhijja, 10 AH while returning from the Farewell Hajj pilgrimage) and the report of the “Ghar” (the incident of the cave in which Abu Bakr accompanied the Prophet on the night of Hijrah)?" Ar-Rummani replied that "the report of “Ghar” was a recognised event, while “Ghadeer” was just a narrative; and a narrative is not as mandatory as a recognised event." The man from Basra then left without making any reply. Then I came forward and said: "I have a question," and being permitted, I asked him: "What do you say about the one who fights a Just Imam?" Ar-Rummani said: "Such a person would be an infidel." Then, after a pause, he rectified himself and said: "He would be a transgressor." I asked: "What do you say about the Commander of the Faithful, Ali Ibn Abi Taleb (AS)?” He said: "I believe he was an Imam." So I asked: "Then what do you say about the Day of Jamal and about Talha and Zubair?" Ar-Rummani retorted that both of them had repented. I said: "The Battle of Jamal is a recognised event, while their repentance is a mere narrative." Upon hearing this, he said: "Were you present when the man from Basra put his question?" I said "yes." Then he asked: "What is your name and who is your tutor?" I said: "I am known as Ibn al-Mu’allem, and my tutor is Abu-Abdullah al-Jual." He said: Stay where you are. “Then he entered his room and came out with a letter, instructing me to hand it over to my tutor. When I gave the letter to my tutor, he read it and laughed, saying: What transpired between you in his class? He has asked me to confer upon you the title of “al-Mufid”

870 lunar years ago, on this day in 567 AH, the Hanbali hadith scholar and Arabic grammarian, Abdullah Ibn Ahmad al-Khashshab, passed away in Baghdad at the age of 75. He authored “Tarikh Mawaleed al Ai’mmah wa Wafaatehim”.He should not be confused with the Imami scholar Ibn al-Khashshab of Aleppo, Syria, who wrote a 4-volume annotated commentary on "al-Muqtassid" (a grammar manual by Ibn Hubayrah), and was martyred by Malik as-Saleh (son of Sultan Salah od-Din Ayyoubi) after writing a commentary on the famous sermon of Imam Ali ibn Abi Taleb (AS) titled "ash-Sheqsheqiyya" (Roar of a Camel).

344 solar years ago, on this day in 1672 AD, Tsar Peter the Great of Russia was born to Tsar Alexis. He was crowned at the age of 10, but was soon dethroned by his half-sister Sophia and banished to a village in the vicinity of Moscow. After a while, he gathered a large number of troops and confronted his sister, winning the battle as well as the crown. He was an expansionist and waged wars on neighbouring states to enlarge the Russian Empire. To the south, he sought an outlet to the Black Sea which was controlled by the Ottoman Empire. Peter entered into an agreement with Poland to acquire Kiev in Ukraine, so as to use it as a base for launching attacks on the Tartar Muslims of the Crimean Peninsula on the Black Sea. Peter's primary objective became the capture of the Ottoman fortress of Azov, near the Don River. In the summer of 1695 he organized the Azov campaigns to take the fortress, but his attempts ended in failure. Peter returned to Moscow in November of that year and began building a large navy. He launched about thirty ships against the Ottomans in 1696, capturing Azov in July of that year. He soon realized that he cannot defeat the Ottomans alone, and travelled to Europe to seek alliances against the Turks, but to his dismay, found France and Austria, reluctant to start hostilities with the Ottomans. In the end he made peace with the Ottomans to keep control of Azov, and died in 1725 without succeeding in his expansionist goals of pushing into the Caucasus against the Turkish and Iranian territories. In 1703 he founded the city of Saint Petersburg on the estuary of Neva River flowing into the Baltic Sea, a fortnight after he had captured during the Great Northern War what was then the Swedish fortress of Nyenskans in the land called Ingermanland inhabited by the Finnic tribe of Ingrians. Peter moved the capital from Moscow to St Petersburg in 1712. Between 1713-to-1728 and from 1732-to-1918, St Petersburg was capital of Russia, until Vladimir Lenin replaced it with Moscow.

242 solar years ago, on this day in 1774 AD, Austrian orientalist, Joseph von Hammer-Purgstall, was born in Graz. He mastered Arabic, Persian and Turkish, and on entering the diplomatic service in 1796, was appointed in 1799 to a position in the Austrian embassy in Constantinople. For fifty years Hammer-Purgstall wrote prolifically on the most diverse subjects and published numerous texts and translations of Arabic, Persian and Turkish authors. By traversing so large a field, he laid himself open to the criticism of specialists, and he was severely handled by Friedrich Christian Diez who, in his “Unfug und Betrug” (1815), devoted to him nearly 600 pages of abuse. He also came into conflict on the subject of the origin of “The Thousand and One Nights” with his English contemporary Edward William Lane. The Austrian Oriental Society, founded in 1959 to foster cultural relations with the Near East, is formally named “Österreichische Orient-Gesellschaft Hammer-Purgstall” in recognition of Joseph von Hammer-Purgstall's accomplishments. He wrote several books including an English language translation (1834) of the first two volumes of Ottoman scholar Avliya Chelebi's travelogue titled “Siyahat-Nameh”.

201 solar years ago, on this day in 1815 AD, the Vienna Congress, attended by European kings and ministers, drew to its close. Commenced in September 1814, following the defeat of Napoleon Bonaparte, it restored to power the dynasties overthrown by the French Emperor. It redrew the new political map of Europe that saw Belgium annexed by the Netherlands and Norway annexed by Sweden, while Poland was divided among Russia, Prussia, and Austria. Prussia also annexed many of the German states, while Italy remained divided into several small states. Several French colonies abroad were handed to Britain.

146 solar years ago, on this day in 1870 AD, the English author and novelist, Charles Dickens, died at the age of 58. He was the founder of Realism Style in English literature. His books include "Oliver Twist" and "David Copperfield" which brought him world fame. Among his other famous novels, mention can be made of "Great Expectations" and "The Tale of Two Cities". Dickens who was editor of “Bentley’s Miscellany” a general interest monthly magazine, from January 1837 to 1839, paid tribute to the Martyr of Karbala in it, by writing:

“If Husain had fought to quench his worldly desires…then I do not understand why his sister, wife, and children accompanied him. It stands to reason therefore, that he sacrificed purely for Islam.”

132 solar years ago, on this day in 1884 AD, Germany forced Togo in West Africa to become its protectorate by signing a treaty with King Mlapa III. In 1905, this former slave trade centre for European merchants was declared the German colony of Togoland. During World War I it was invaded by British troops from the neighbouring Gold Coast or today’s Ghana and French troops from Dahomey, which is now the republic of Benin. As a result, Togoland was separated into two League of Nations mandates administered by Britain and France. After World War II, these mandates became UN Trust Territories. In 1957, the residents of British Togoland voted to join the Gold Coast as part of the new independent nation of Ghana in 1957, while in 1959, French Togoland became an autonomous republic within the French Union. The next year it was declared the Togolese Republic. It has a coastline on the Gulf of Guinea and shares borders with Benin, Ghana, and Burkina Faso. Some 25 percent of its people are Muslims.

54 solar years ago, on this day in 1962 AD, the University of Algiers in the Algerian capital was set ablaze by French agents, as a result of which 500,000 volumes of valuable books were destroyed. The majority of burnt books were important and unique reference works.

49 solar years ago, on this day in 1967 AD, during the 6-day war, the usurper state of Israel seized the Golan Heights from Syria, and later illegally annexed it. Despite several UN Security Council Resolutions, the illegal Zionist entity, with the backing of the US, has refused to withdraw from occupied Syrian territory.

46 solar years ago, on this day in 1970 AD, Ayatollah Mohammad Reza Saeedi, attained martyrdom in the Shah's dungeons as a result of torture, at the age of 41. A student of Grand Ayatollah Seyyed Hussain Boroujerdi and the Father of the Islamic Revolution, Imam Khomeini (God bless him), he was active in the 15th of Khordad Uprising (of June 5, 1963). He believed that mosques are bastions for enlightening people, especially youths, and in his speeches exposed the crimes of the Zionists in Palestine. As a result, he was detained and tortured by the Shah's regime on several occasions. He wrote many books including "Ittehad al-Islam".

40 solar years ago, Iranian Taekwondo champion, Hadi Sa’ei was born in Rayy, the southern suburb of Tehran. He became the most successful Iranian athlete in Olympic history after winning gold in the 2008 Summer Olympics. He competed in the Men's 68 kg (featherweight) at the 2004 Summer Olympics and won the gold medal. In addition, he competed in the Men's 80 kg at the 2008 Summer Olympics and won his second Olympic gold. Earlier in his career and in the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Sa’ei had won the bronze medal. He was elected as member of City Council of Tehran in the 2006 local election.

5 solar years ago, on this day in 2011, the famous Indian artist and painter Maqboul Fida Hussain, died in self-exile in Qatar at the age of 96. Born into a family of Bohras of the Sulaymani Ismaili Shi'ite sect, he is considered the Picasso of India and was forced to leave his homeland because of threats against his life by Hindu extremists.

AS/ME