Today is Wednesday; 26th of the Iranian month of Khordad 1395 solar hijri; corresponding to 9th of the Islamic month of Ramadhan 1437 lunar hijri; and June 15, 2016, of the Christian Gregorian Calendar.

2779 solar years ago, on this day in 763 BC, the Assyrians recorded a solar eclipse that was later used to fix the chronology of Mesopotamian history in today’s Iraq and the neighbouring lands

984 solar years ago, on this day in 1038 AD, Salar Masoud Ghazi, a descendent of the Prophet’s vicegerent, Imam Ali ibn Abi Taleb (AS), through Mohammad al-Hanafiya, attained martyrdom in the town of Bahraich, 125 km northeast of Lucknow in what is now Uttar Pradesh state of India. He was a pious person, and after arriving in India with the armies of the Turkic conqueror, Sultan Mahmoud Ghaznavi, he penetrated the interior of India to propagate Islam. Revered till this day as Ghazi Miyan by both Muslims and Hindus, his tomb is the site of pilgrimage in India.

801 solar years ago, on this day in 1215 AD, the Magna Carta (Great Charter) was adopted and sealed by King John of England at Runnymede, granting his barons more liberty. The British claim that it asserted the supremacy of the law over the king.

617 solar years ago, on this day in 1389 AD, the Ottomans triumphed in the Battle of Kosovo against the Serbs, but Sultan Murad I lost his life, as a result of a surprise attack by a lone Serb warrior, while reviewing his success after the battle. Son of Orhan Bey and grandson of Osman, the Central Asian Turk who founded the Ottoman principality in what is now western Turkey, Murad through his conquests transformed the family fiefdom into a sultanate that subsequently became a vast empire straddling southwest Europe, west Asia and northern Africa.

584 lunar years ago, on this day in 853 AH, the prominent astronomer-king of the Timurid dynasty, Mirza Mohammad Taraghay Ulugh Beg, was killed by his rebellious son, Abdul-Latif "Pidarkush" (killer of his own father), while on his way to Mecca for pilgrimage after being deposed. Born in Soltaniyeh near Zanjan in northwestern Iran, his father was Amir Shahroukh, the son and successor of the fearsome Turkic conqueror, Amir Timur, while his mother was the cultured and religious Iranian lady, Gowharshad, the builder of the famous mosque in Mashhad adjacent to the shrine of Prophet Mohammad’s 8th Infallible Successor, Imam Reza (AS). His seat of government was Samarqand (currently in Uzbekistan), where he built the great Observatory with the assistance of the famous Iranian astronomer, Ghiyas od-Din Jamshid Kashani. He also built the Ulugh Beg Madrasahs in Samarqand and Bukhara, transforming the cities into cultural centres of learning. He ruled for almost half-a-century the present-day countries of Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, and the southern parts of Kazakhstan – and for a while parts of Khorasan. Ulugh Beg determined the length of the sidereal year as 365.2570370, making it more accurate than Copernicus' estimate. He also determined the Earth's axial tilt as 23.52 degrees, which remained the most accurate measurement for hundreds of years. In mathematics, he wrote accurate trigonometric tables of sine and tangent values correct to at least eight decimal places. The crater “Ulugh Beg”, on the Moon, is named after him.

349 solar years ago, on this day in 1667 AD, the first recorded blood transfusion was administered by Dr. Jean-Baptiste Denys from an animal to human. He successfully transfused a few ounces of blood from a lamb into a-15-year old boy. Another experimental transfusion later in the same year resulted in the patient’s death and Denys was charged with murder.

308 solar years ago, on this day in 1708 AD, the uprising of Scottish independence seekers for liberation of their homeland from the yoke of the English was brutally suppressed. Scottish people have a history of resentment against British colonial rule, and have staged uprisings in various period of history. In 1999, London was forced to agree to the formation of a separate parliament in Scotland.

264 solar years ago, on this day in 1752 AD, Benjamin Franklin's kite-flying experiment proved lightning and electricity were related while flying a kite with a key attached. He equipped his house with a lightning rod, connecting it to bells that ring when the rod is electrified. He explained how to perform a kite experiment in the 19^th October 1752 issue of the Pennsylvania Gazette. He had earlier proposed use of lightning rods to protect houses. He next devised an experiment involving a sentry-box with a pointed rod on its roof, to be erected on hilltop or in church steeple, with rod attached to a Leyden jar which would collect the electrical charge, and thus prove lightning to be a form of electricity.

120 solar years ago, on this day in 1896 AD, the deadliest tsunami in Japan's history killed more than 22,000 people

118 solar years ago, on this day in 1898 AD, an expansionist US, through a bill in the House of Representatives approved annexation of the kingdom of Hawaii, despite the opposition of the natives, five years after Queen Liliuokalani was forced to abdicate her throne by a group of US businessmen and sugar planters. She was the last reigning queen of the Hawaiian Islands in the Pacific Ocean, having ascended the throne in 1891 upon the death of her brother, King Kalakaua. In 1895, following her failed attempt to regain the throne, she was forced to renounce her royal status and shipped to the US, where her petition to seek compensation for the loss of her property was rejected. The Hawaiians signed what they called the "Monster Petition" which Queen Liliuokalani personally delivered to the US government, but this was also ignored. Hawaii thus became US territory against the wishes of the Hawaiian people and in 1959 was declared as the 50th state.

112 lunar years ago, on this day in 1325 AH, Ayatollah Shaikh Mohammad Bahari Hamedani passed away. A product of the famous Islamic seminary of Najaf, he was known for his piety, and among his books is “Tazaaker al-Muttaqin”.

103 solar years ago, on this day in 1913 AD, the Battle of Bud Bagsak ended in the southern Philippines resulting in the crushing of the 14-year resistance of Filipino Muslims by the American occupiers, who killed their leader Datu Amil and his force of 500 in the 4-day battle. In all, some 20,000 Filipino men, women, and children were slaughtered by the US forces in addition to scores of thousands wounded. The US seized Spanish-controlled Philippines in 1898 at the start of the 4-year war against Spain, and the next year, in violation of all international rules claimed jurisdiction over the independent Muslim ruled archipelago of the Sultanate of Sulu in the south – a provocative move that led to the 14-year war. The Muslims of Philippines, which for five centuries were the dominant power in the south and had thwarted Spanish attempts to subjugate them, became the victims of American expansionism and forcibly made part of the administration in Manila. General John ‘Black Jack’ Pershing, who led the US forces in the battle for Mount Bagsak, later wrote to his wife in the US: "The fighting was the fiercest I have ever seen... They (the Muslims) are absolutely fearless, and once committed to combat they count death as a mere incident." The US went on to occupy Mindanao, Sulu, and Palawan, reduced the Sultan of Sulu to a mere figurehead religious leader, and illegally incorporated the Muslim “Moroland” into the Philippines. The word "Moro" is a term for ethnic Muslims used by the Spanish who used to refer to the Muslims of Iberia (Spain and Portugal) as “Moor”. The American occupiers even ignored the Treaty of Peace between Filipino Muslims and the Spanish signed on July 22, 1878.

97 solar years ago, on this day in 1919 AD, Ayatollah Mirza Mustafa Mujtahed Tabrizi passed away at the relatively young age of 40 years in his hometown Tabriz, and his body was taken to holy Najaf in Iraq for burial. A product of the Najaf seminary, in addition to jurisprudence, theology, and hadith, he mastered mathematics and astronomy, and was an accomplished poet in Arabic and Persian. Among his works mention could be made of the “Hashiya” (Annotation) he wrote separately on the books “Kifayat al-Usoul” and “Lisan al-Khawas”.

89 solar years ago, on this day in 1927 AD, famous Urdu poet, humourist, travelogue writer and columnist, Sher Mohammad Khan, known popularly by his penname “Ibn-e Insha”, was born in Phillaur, Punjab, in a family that hailed from Rajasthan. On the partition of the Subcontinent the family moved to Pakistan, and he lived most of his life in Karachi, working for various governmental services including Radio Pakistan, the Ministry of Culture and the National Book Centre. He also served the UN for some time and this enabled him to visit many places – including Iran – all of which served to inspire the travelogues he would then pen.

51 solar years ago, on this day in 1965 AD, four members of the Islamic Coalition Group, namely Mohammad Bukharai, Sadeq Amani, Saffar Harandi, and Morteza Niknejad, were martyred by the British-installed and US-backed Shah, for protesting against his anti-Islamic policies. The Islamic Coalition was formed in the aftermath of the exile of the Father of the Islamic Revolution, Imam Khomeini (RA) following the 15th of Khordad Uprising (June 5, 1963). This combatant group had earlier carried out the revolutionary execution of the then Iranian premier, Hassan Ali Mansour, the implementer of the scandalous Capitulation Law, which granted judicial immunity to Americans in Iran. More than hundred members of the Islamic Coalition Group were arrested, tortured and imprisoned after unfair trials.

22 solar years ago, on this day in 1994 AD, Vatican, the seat of the Catholic sect of Christianity, shocked devout Christians by establishing full and formal diplomatic relations with the illegal Zionist entity, Israel, under pressure of the US. The Zionists ridicule the most fundamental beliefs of Christianity by slandering Prophet Jesus (AS) and his Virgin Mother, Mary (SA).  

15 solar years ago, on this day in 2001 AD, the Leaders of China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan formed the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation in the city of the same name. It is a political and economic organisation, and the Islamic Republic of Iran, along with India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Mongolia, enjoys observer status at it.

9 solar years ago, on this day in 2007 AD, the Source of Emulation, Grand Ayatollah Mohammad Fazel Lankarani, passed away in his hometown Qom at the age of 76 years. He was a student of both Grand Ayatollah Seyyed Hussain Boroujerdi and the Father of the Islamic Revolution, Imam Khomeini (RA). He was active in the 15th Khordad uprising, for which he was detained and tortured on several occasions by the Shah. He fully supported the victory of Islamic Revolution and founding of the Islamic Republic, and groomed numerous students.

5 solar years ago, on this day in 2011 AD, the Islamic Republic of Iran launched another satellite into the earth’s orbit as part of its peaceful aeronautics programme to gather metrological data.