Today is Tuesday; 25th of the Iranian month of Khordad 1395 solar hijri; corresponding to 8th of the Islamic month of Ramadhan 1437 lunar hijri; and June 14, 2016, of the Christian Gregorian Calendar.

1249 solar years ago, on this day in 767 AD, the Iranian Sunni Muslim Jurisprudent, Noman ibn Sabet ibn Zuta ibn Marzuban, known as Abu Hanifa, passed away in Baghdad at the age of 68 in the prison of the 2nd self-styled Abbasid caliph, Mansour Dawaniqi. Born in Kufa in a family of Zoroastrian origin from Kabul, he learned the holy Qur’an and hadith, and after only two years of incomplete study under Imam Ja’far Sadeq (AS), the 6th Infallible Heir of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA), he founded a jurisprudential school of his own, known as Hanafi. In contrary to the clear definition of Ijtihad, based on the holy Qur’an and the genuine hadith of the Prophet, Abu Hanifa resorted to "qiyas" (analogy) regarding legal issues, despite warnings from Imam Sadeq (AS) that the first one to indulge in "qiyas" was Iblis the Satan.

1006 lunar years ago, on this day in 431 AH, Mohammad Ibn Mikaeel Ibn Seljuq, known as Toghril Beg, won the Battle of Dandanaqan, and seized Khorasan from the Ghaznavid Empire, thereby heralding the rise of the Seljuq Turks of Central Asia as a new power in Iran, and eventually Anatolia (Turkey), Syria, Iraq, and the Persian Gulf coastline of the Arabian Peninsula. Highly Persianized in culture and language, the Seljuqs who ruled for over a century-and-a-half, played an important role in the development of the Turko-Persian tradition, even exporting Persian culture to Anatolia.

982 lunar years ago, on this day in 455 AH, the Seljuqid ruler, Mohammad ibn Mikaeel ibn Seljuq, popularly known as Toghril Beg, died in Rayy, south of Tehran, where his grave in a conical mausoleum still stands. He established the vast Seljuqid Empire, by occupying Baghdad on the secret invitation of the scheming Abbasid caliph, al-Qa’em-Billah, to end the 110-year rule of the Iranian Buwaihid Dynasty of Iraq-Iran, after conquering territories in northwestern Iran and Anatolia (modern Turkey). To legitimize his rule and expand his empire, he forced the figurehead Abbasid caliph to give him his daughter in marriage, and to sign decrees for wars against the Byzantine Christian Empire in Anatolia and the Syrian territories of the Fatemid Ismaili Shi’ite Muslim caliphate of Egypt-North Africa. Born in Central Asia in what is now Kazakhstan to the chief of the Oghuz, he strove to unite the Turkic tribes of the vast Eurasian Steppes into a confederacy. Along with his elder brother, Chaghri Beg, he rose to prominence in the service of the Khaqan of the Qara-Khanid Dynasty of Bukhara that had displaced the Iranian Samanid Dynasty in Central Asia. He turned against the Qara-Khanids and in 1040 defeated the Ghaznavids of Khorasan-Afghanistan at the Battle of Dandanqanan. His hordes gradually swept across the Iranian Plateau before marching into Anatolia and Iraq. In 1058, he lost Baghdad to the Fatemids but recaptured it two years later. On his death in Rayy at the age of 73 the childless Toghril was succeeded after a brief struggle between the two sons of his deceased brother, Chaghri, by his surviving nephew Alp Arsalan – perhaps the greatest ruler of the Seljuq Dynasty. The Seljuqs who ruled for over a century-and-a-half, became Persianized and played a vital role in the development and spread of the Persian language and culture in Anatolia, where a branch of them ruled until 1307 as the Seljuq Sultanate of Roum.

762 lunar years ago, on this day in 675 AH, Najm od-Din Ali Dabiraan Qazvini al-Katebi, the prominent Iranian astronomer, philosopher, logician, theologian and chemist, passed away. He was part of the scientific team assembled by his teacher, Iranian-Islamic genius Khwaja Nasir od-Din Tousi, at the famous observatory of Maragha, and wrote numerous books on various topics, including “Jame’ ad-Daqa’eq”. His work on logic, titled “ar-Risala ash-Shamsiyya”, was commonly used as the first major text on logic in madrasahs, until the twentieth century and is perhaps the most studied logic textbook of all time. His logic was largely inspired by the formal Avicennian system of temporal modal logic of the famous Iranian-Islamic polymath Abu Ali Ibn Sina, but is more elaborate and departs from it in several ways. While Ibn Sina considered ten modalities and examined six of them, Katebi considers many more modalized propositions and examines thirteen which he considers 'customary to investigate'.  Great scholars such as Allamah Hilli and Qotb od- Din Mahmoud Shirazi studied in his presence.

280 solar years ago, on this day in 1736 AD, French physicist, Charles-Augustin de Coulomb, was born. He wrote mainly on the electric and magnetism fields. In addition to teaching, he conducted research and drafted laws in physics which were subsequently named after him. He died at the age of 70.

240 solar years ago, on this day in 1775 AD, American rebels of the 13 New England colonies set up what they called the Continental Army to fight the British, marking the birth of the United States Army.

205 solar years ago, on this day in 1811 AD, American author and activist, Harriet Beecher Stowe, was born in Litchfield, Connecticut in a religious family. She is best known for her novel “Uncle Tom's Cabin” written in 1852 depicting the harsh life of black Africans enslaved in the US. It reached millions as a novel and play, and became influential in the US, energizing anti-slavery forces in the northern states, while provoking widespread anger in the southern states. She wrote 30 books; including novels, three travel memoirs, and collections of articles and letters. She was influential for both her writings and her public stands on social issues of the day. She died in 1896.

196 solar years ago, on this day in 1820 AD, Egyptian troops attacked Sudan and occupied its northern regions, while the British invaded Sudan from the south. The next year on this same day Badi VII, the King of Sennar, surrendered his throne and realm to Isma'il Pasha, the Egyptian general of the Ottoman Empire, ending the existence of that Sudanese kingdom. The Muslim people of Sudan resented foreign domination and in 1881, led by al-Mahdi, they started their struggles for independence. In 1885, al-Mahdi defeated a joint Anglo-Egyptian army and liberated a vast region of the country. In 1898, however, al-Mahdi was defeated. It was not until January 1956 that Sudan gained full independence.

186 solar years ago, on this day in 1830 AD, the French forces landed at Sidi Fredj, 27 km west of Algiers, marking the start of military operations for seizure of Algeria, at a time when the rapidly declining Ottoman Empire had lost control of North Africa. The resistance was led by Amir Seyyed Abdul-Qader Jazayeri al-Hassani, who was finally subjugated in 1847. In 1910, Algeria was declared as an extension of France. The struggles of Algerians against colonial rule reached their peak after the end of World War II. In 1962, French president, General Charles de Gaulle, was forced to grant Algeria full independence, but not until France had killed more than a million Algerian Muslim people.

160 solar years ago, on this day in 1856 AD, the reformer Ahmad Reza Khan was born to the scholar Naqi Ali Khani in Bareilly, India, in what is now Uttar Pradesh State in a Pashtun family originally from Qandahar, Afghanistan. He founded the Barelvi School of Hanafi theology in order to counter the deviations among fellow Sunni groups, especially the Deobandis, whose beliefs had drifted away from many fundamental tenets of Islam, including the concept of Celestial Light possessed by Prophet Mohammad (SAWA), predating creation. He wrote on numerous topics, including jurisprudence, religion, philosophy and the sciences. Ahmed Reza Khan compiled rational refutations of the beliefs of the Qadianis, the Deobandis, and Wahhabis, whom he regarded as heretics. Today, large number of Sunni Muslims in India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, adhere to the Barelvi School.

152 solar years ago, on this day in 1864 AD German psychiatrist, Alois Alzheimer, who recognized the disease that was subsequently named after him, was born in Marktbreit, Bavaria. In November 1901, a 51-year old female patient with signs of dementia had been admitted to the Frankfurt hospital where Dr. Alzheimer was working. At a meeting of German psychiatrists in November 1906 he reported on this patient. The title of his lecture was “On a Peculiar Disorder of the Cerebral Cortex”. Years later, at the suggestion of Emil Kraepelin, presenile dementia was designated “Alzheimer's Disease”. This disease is a progressive, degenerative disorder that affects the brain. The first symptoms are loss of memory, inability to think and understand and gradual behaviour changes that may last as long as 20 years.

133 solar years ago, on this day in 1883 AD, English author and poet, Edward Fitzgerald, died at the age of 74. He specialized in eastern languages, especially Persian, and translated into English the quatrains of the renowned Iranian scientist-poet, Khayyam Naishapuri, and the poems of Abdur-Rahman Jami.

98 solar years ago, on this day in 1918 AD, Ayatollah Seyyed Mustafa Mujtahedi Kashani passed away. After preliminary studies in his hometown Kashan and later in Isfahan, he attained the status of Ijtihad at the Islamic seminary of holy Najaf. In addition to being an accomplished poet in both Arabic and Persian, he was active in the struggle against despotism and foreign hegemony, as was evident by his support for the Constitutional Movement in Iran against the Qajarid Dynasty and British encroachment in the region. He was among the ulema, who issued the fatwa for jihad against the British occupation of Iraq, and was personally present at the scenes of confrontation against the foreign forces. His son was the famous Ayatollah Seyyed Abu’l-Qassim Kashani, who led the Iranian people during the oil nationalization campaign in the 1950s.

92 solar years ago, on this day in 1924 AD, French geologist, archeologist, and orientalist, Jean-Jacques de Morgan, who carried out extensive excavation works in Egypt, Iran and other lands, died at the age of 67. On graduating in mineral engineering with interests in entomology and prehistory in 1882, he was appointed to head a survey expedition to Scandinavia and subsequently conducted surveys in Stonehenge (Britain), Germany, Austria, Turkey, India, and as far away as the kingdom of Perak in what is now West Malaysia. He next went to the Caucasus, visiting Armenia and Georgia, and his interest in the eastern origins of civilization eventually led him to Iran (Persia), where he focused on the significance of Shush (ancient Susa), the capital of the Elamite Empire, to retrace the routes of the Assyrian campaigns. Entrusted by France with his first official mission to Iran, en route he paused to explore the necropolis at Telovan near Tbilisi, then went on to Tehran, whence he paid visits to Mazandaran, Gilan, and Talesh, in order to study dialects. He then traveled south across Kurdistan and Luristan, combining both geological and archeological investigations. He was the first to recognize at Qasr-e Shirin the presence of oil in the vast fold system of the Zagros mountain chain, but neither France nor Iran showed any interest in this important discovery. He published his “Mission Scientifique en Perse”, with four volumes of geological studies; two volumes of archaeological studies on tombs and other monuments; one volume dedicated to Kurdish dialects and the languages of northern Iran; one volume of Mandaean texts; and two volumes of geographical studies. From 1892 to 1897, he was assigned to Egypt, where he saved the temple of Kom Ombo from destruction; set up the museum of Greco-Roman antiquities at Alexandria; undertook publication of a general catalogue of the monuments and inscriptions of ancient Egypt; and, laid the cornerstone for the Cairo Museum of Ancient Egyptian Antiquities. His exploration of the pyramids of Memhis and Dashur brought to light the royal treasures of the Middle Kingdom. He was back again in Shush in Iran and his important finds included the famous Stele of Naram-Sin, brought as war booty by the Elamite king Shutruk-Nahhunte, as well as masterpieces of Babylonian civilization, captured by the Elamites, intermingled with masterpieces of Elamite metalwork and sculpture. The discoveries were crowned by the appearance of the stele bearing the law code of Hammurabi. These were published, starting in 1900, in “Mémoires de la Délégation en Perse”. Unfortunately, in 1900, the inefficient Iranian king, Mozaffar od-Din Shah Qajar, signed a treaty granting to France all the antiquities discovered at Shush. In 1902 De Morgan declared: “In the Nile valley I developed the conviction that the first civilizations, from which the Egyptian empire arose, came from Chaldea (in Iraq) and that the Mesopotamian plains had therefore been the cradle of human progress.”

88 solar years ago, on this day in 1928 AD, Argentinian physician, author, military theorist and prominent Latin American guerrilla leader, Ernesto Che Guevara, was born of mixed Basque and Irish descent in a well-to-do household. He learned chess from his father and began participating in local tournaments by age 12. During adolescence and throughout his life he was passionate about poetry, especially that of Pablo Neruda, John Keats, Antonio Machado, Federico Garcia Lorca, Gabriela Mistral, Cesar Vallejo, and Walt Whitman. He could also recite Rudyard Kipling's works and Jose Hernandez's from memory. The Guevara home contained more than 3,000 books, which made him a voracious reader interested in the works of Karl Marx, William Faulkner, Andre Gide, Emilio Salgari and Jules Verne. He also read the works of Jawaharlal Nehru, Franz Kafka, Albert Camus, Vladimir Lenin, and Jean-Paul Sartre; as well as Anatole France, Friedrich Engels, H. G. Wells, and Robert Frost. He kept notebooks of concepts, definitions, and philosophies of influential intellectuals, which included composing analytical sketches of Buddha and Aristotle, along with examining Bertrand Russell on love and patriotism, Jack London on society, and Nietzsche on the idea of death. Sigmund Freud's ideas also fascinated him topics such as dreams and narcissism. As a medical student, Guevara traveled throughout South America and was shocked by the poverty, hunger, and disease he witnessed. His burgeoning desire to help overturn the capitalist exploitation of Latin America by the US prompted his involvement in Guatemala's social reforms under President Jacobo Arbenz, whose eventual CIA-assisted overthrow solidified his political ideology. Following his meeting in Mexico with Cuban leader, Fidel Castro in the 1950s, the two teamed up to lead the Cuban revolution to victory in 1959 by overthrowing US-backed dictator Fulgencio Batista. He was a prolific writer and diarist, composing a seminal manual on guerrilla warfare, along with a best-selling memoir about his youthful continental motorcycle journey. His experiences and studying of Marxism–Leninism led him to posit that the Third World's underdevelopment and dependence was an intrinsic result of imperialism, neocolonialism, and monopoly capitalism. 1959, Castro sent Guevara on a three-month tour of 14 mostly Bandung Pact countries (Morocco, Sudan, Egypt, Syria, Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka, Burma, Thailand, Indonesia, Japan, Yugoslavia, Greece) and the cities of Singapore and Hong Kong. He also visited China, the Soviet Union, and Palestine. In 1965, Guevara left Cuba to plan revolution abroad, first in Congo-Kinshasa and later in Bolivia to form a guerrilla group to bring down US-installed regime. He was cornered by the CIA, imprisoned and executed in 1967 at the age of 39.

30 solar years ago, on this day in 1986 AD, the prominent Latin American author, Jorge Luis Borges, died at the age of 87. Born in Argentina, on completion of his studies, he started writing and gradually turned into one of the famous Latin American satirists. Due to blindness, he failed to complete his novels and the majority of works remaining from him are poems.

3 solar years ago, on this day in 2013 AD, the Syrian government dismissed US charges that it used chemical weapons as "full of lies," charging President Barak Obama with resorting to fabrications to justify his decision to arm Syrian rebels.

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