Today is Tuesday; 1st of the Iranian month of Tir 1395 solar hijri; corresponding to 15th of the Islamic month of Ramadhan 1437 lunar hijri; and June 21, 2016, of the Christian Gregorian Calendar.

2233 solar years ago, the largest and most successful ambushes in military history took place in the Battle of Lake Trasimene in northern Italy as part of the Second Punic War, when the Carthaginians led by general, Hannibal, defeated the Romans under the Consul Gaius Flaminius, who had set out with a huge army to try to avenge the earlier defeat at Trebia. Occupying an ideally concealed position in the hills and forests overlooking the lake, Hannibal skillfully used his army of North Africans and Europeans to annihilate the initial Roman force of about 30,000, of which 15,000 were either killed in battle or drowned while trying to escape into the lake — including Flaminius himself. The others were captured and sold into slavery, while Hannibal suffered only 2,500 casualties. The disaster for Rome did not end there. Within a day or two, a reinforcement force of 4,000 under Gaius Centenius was intercepted and destroyed. The Second Punic War lasted from 218 to 202 BC and involved battles in the western and eastern Mediterranean, with the participation of the Berbers on Carthage's side. The war is marked by Hannibal's landing in Spain with an army of elephants and his overland journey through what is now France, via which he crossed the Alps into Italy. Roman narrowly escaped destruction during his spectacular victories. The term "Punic" comes from the Latin word Punicus or Poenicus, which is a reference to the Carthaginians' ancestry in Phoenicia or modern Lebanon.

1434 lunar years ago, on this day in 3 AH, Imam Hasan Mojtaba (AS), the eldest grandson and 2^nd Infallible Successor to Prophet Mohammad (SAWA), was born in Medina. His name "Hasan", which means the "Most Excellent" was chosen by the Prophet on the commandment of God and is the Arabic equivalent of "Shabar" the name in Hebrew of the first born son of Aaron, the brother and vicegerent of Prophet Moses (AS). Imam Hasan (AS), along with his younger brother, Imam Husain (AS), was hailed by the Prophet as Twin Leaders of the Youths of Paradise. The two brothers along with their parents, Imam Ali (AS) and Hazrat Fatema Zahra (SA), were covered by the Prophet under his cloak as the Ahl al-Bayt on revelation of the Verse of Purity (holy Qur’an 33:33), and this immaculate group also accompanied the Prophet to the decisive debate of Mubahela with the Christians of Najran on revelation of ayah 61 of Surah Nisa in order to prove the truth of Islam. Six months after succeeding to the caliphate, following his father’s martyrdom, Imam Hasan (AS), in view of the widespread sedition and hypocrisy in the society, agreed to relinquish political rule to the charlatan Mu’awiya ibn Abu Sufyan in order to unmask him in his true heathen colours. Thus, his prudence and foresight saved Islam from the disaster of civil war, at a time when the Byzantine Empire was waiting for weakening of Muslim ranks to attack and occupy Syria and Bayt al-Moqaddas.

1054 lunar years ago, on this day in 383 AH, the famous literary figure, Abu Bakr Mohammad Ibn Abbas Khwarezmi, passed away in the northeastern Iranian city of Naishapour. He had a strong memory and was highly talented in memorization of Arabic poems and history. He had inclinations towards the household of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA) and has highlighted in his works the tyranny of the caliphs including the Omayyads and the Abbasids. One of his famous works is “ar-Rasa’el”, which is a masterpiece of Arabic literature. He was the maternal nephew (sister’s son) of the famous Abu Ja’far Mohammad Ibn Rustom Tabari.

1052 lunar years ago, on this day in 385 AH, the famous scholar and Founder of the Islamic Seminary of holy Najaf in Iraq, Abu Ja'far Mohammad Ibn Hassan Tousi, known popularly as Shaikh at-Ta’efah, was born in Tous near holy Mashhad in Khorasan, northeastern Iran. On completing his studies in his homeland, at the age of 23 he left for Baghdad for higher studies under the celebrated scholar Shaikh Mufid, who died five years later in 413 AH. Leadership of the Shi'ite Muslim scholars then fell to the renowned Sharif Murtaza, who remained in this position for 23 years until his death in 436 AH. During this period Shaikh Tousi was closely associated with Sharif Murtaza, and subsequently succeeded him as head of the community. So impressive was Shaikh Tousi's knowledge that the Abbasid caliph, al-Qader, attended his lectures. Eleven years later in 447 AH, when the Iranian Buwayhid dynasty was in the state of decline, the house of Shaikh Tousi in the Karkh locality, along with his library that contained some 90,000 books, was burnt down in sectarian riots. Shaikh Tousi, seeing the danger of remaining in Baghdad, moved to holy Najaf where his arrival made it the leading centre of Islamic scholarship, a role which it has maintained down to the present day. Some 13 years later, he passed away and was succeeded by his son Shaikh Hassan Tousi, who as an outstanding scholar was known as Mufid-e Thani or Second Mufid. He was laid to rest in his home, near the shrine of the Commander of the Faithful, Imam Ali ibn Abi Taleb (AS) – the vicegerent and 1^st Infallible Heir of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA). His house containing his tomb was converted into a mosque and is known today as Jame' at-Tousi. He authored over 50 books on various topics such as jurisprudence, exegesis of the holy Qur’an, hadith, theology, history and biography of narrators. Of the four authoritative resources of hadith amongst the followers of the Prophet's Ahl al-Bayt, two were compiled by Shaikh at-Taifah Tousi. These two basic reference books are: “Tahzeeb al-Ahkaam” and “al-Istibsaar”. His exegesis on the holy Qur'an is titled “at-Tibyaan”. On the Lord of the Age, Imam Mahdi (God hasten his reappearance) he wrote the book “al-Ghayba” (Occultation). His another work is “Mukhtasar Akhbar al-Mukhtar” which is concise history of the uprising of Mukhtar ibn Abu Obaydah Thaqafi to avenge the martyrdom of Imam Husain (AS).

489 solar years ago, on this day in 1527 AD, Italian historian and philosopher, Niccolo Machiavelli, died in his hometown Florence. Regarded as a founder of modern unprincipled political science, he was a diplomat, playwright, and a civil servant of the Florentine Republic, serving as secretary to the Second Chancery from 1498 to 1512, when the Medici family were out of power. He wrote his political theory titled “The Prince” after the Medici had recovered power and he no longer held a position of responsibility. He believed that there is no harm in acquiring power and maintain it through any means possible including deceit and oppression, without regard for ethical principles or moral and religious values. Machiavelli died in 1527.

472 lunar years ago, on this day in 965 AH, the famous jurisprudent Shaikh Zayn od-Din al-Juba'i al-Ameli, known as “Shaheed Thani” (Second Martyr), was martyred at the age of 54. Born in Juba in the Jabal Amel region of what is now Lebanon, he is believed to have some connection with Tous in Khorasan, because he occasionally signed his surname as "at-Tousi ash-Shami" – the second part pertaining to Greater Syria since Lebanon like Palestine and Jordan is actually a part of Syria. After initial study under his father, he was groomed for some 8 years by the celebrated Shaikh Ali bin Hussain bin Abd al-Aali Muhaqqaq Karki, and by the age of 33 became a Mujtahed. He had also studied in Damascus under Sunni ulema, and became an authority on such texts as “Sahih Bukhari” and “Sahih Muslim”. He visited Egypt to study medicine, geometry, prosody and logic from different teachers. He performed the Hajj pilgrimage and visited Bayt al-Moqaddas, in addition to travelling to Iraq for the pilgrimage to the shrines of the Imams of the Ahl al-Bayt. During a visit to Istanbul had a lively discussion with the Chief Qazi of the state, Mohammad bin Mohammad Qazizadah ar-Roumi, to whom he presented a treatise titled “Ten Knowledges” that greatly impressed the latter. He was permitted to teach at the Nooriyah Islamic School in Ba’lbek, where he taught the five schools of Islamic jurisprudence, that is, Ja'fari, Hanafi, Shafei, Maliki and Hanbali. Apart from proficiency in jurisprudence, he was well versed in theology, philosophy, Gnosis, medicine and astronomy. He was a man of piety, known for his austere way of life. His students have recorded in his biography that he maintained his family by selling wood that he cut during the nights, and then sat to teach during the day. Some pseudo ulema, adverse to Islamic unity, conspired against him, labeled false accusations, and complained to the Ottoman Sultan. He was taken to Istanbul, but on the way to see the Sultan, he was brutally beheaded and his body thrown into the sea. His assassin was killed on the Sultan's orders. Later, a shrine was built by Turkmens at the site of his martyrdom when they realised his lofty stature. He authored several books, and his masterpiece is the commentary on the jurisprudential manual "Lum'at-ad-Dimashqiyya" (The Damascene Glitter) of the First Martyr, Mohammad Jamal od-Din al-Makki al-Ameli, titled "ar-Rawdhat-al-Bahiyah ft Sharh al-Lum'at-ad- Dimashqiyya" (The Beautiful Garden in Interpreting the Damascene Glitter).

192 solar years ago, on this day in 1824 AD, Egyptian forces, dispatched by Mohammad Ali Pasha to quell the West European-backed Greek sedition against Ottoman rule, recaptured Psara Island in the Aegean Sea from the rebels.

111 solar years ago, on this day in 1905 AD, the French philosopher and author, Jean-Paul Sartre, was born in Paris. He was among the pioneers of the weird school of thought known as Existentialism. He refused to accept the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1964. Among his books, mention can be made of “The Flies” and “Being and Nothingness”. He died in 1980. It is worth noting that Sartre’s philosophy was debated and disproved by two of Iran’s leading Islamic philosophers who were contemporary with him – Allamah Seyyed Mohammad Hussain Tabataba’i, and Allamah Mohammad Taqi Ja’fari.

90 solar years ago, on this day in 1926 AD, Iraqi Islamogist and philosopher, Muhsin Seyyed Mahdi, was born in the holy city of Karbala. After finishing studies in Baghdad, he was awarded a government scholarship to study at the American University of Beirut. He taught for a year at the University of Baghdad before going to the US in 1948, where he obtained an M.A. and Ph.D at the University of Chicago. He wrote his dissertation on Ibn Khaldun, and after spending two years in Baghdad, returned to Chicago, where he taught at the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations. At Harvard University (from 1969 until his retirement in 1996), as Professor of Arabic, he served as director of the Center for Middle Eastern Studies and also as Chairman of the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations. He was well versed in medieval Arabic, ancient Greek, medieval Jewish and Christian philosophy as well as modern Western political philosophy. Grounded in the methods of critical editions of manuscripts, he tried to establish the same standards in the fields of Arabic philology and philosophy. He devoted much of his career to searching for manuscripts wherever his travels took him. He is especially known for the recovery, edition, translation and interpretation of many of the works of the renowned Islamic philosopher, Abu Nasr al-Farabi. Among his books is “Alfarabi and the Foundation of Islamic Political Philosophy”. He also researched, edited, and published “The Thousand and One Nights.”

63 solar years ago, on this day in 1953 AD, Benazir Bhutto, who served as Pakistan's prime minister for two terms – from 1988 until 1990 and 1993 until 1996 – was born in Karachi in a Sindhi Muslim family. She was the daughter of Prime Minister Zulfeqar Ali Bhutto, who was deposed and executed by coup leader General Zia ul-Haq. Her mother Nosrat Isfahani was of Iranian origin. Benazir was assassinated under suspicious conditions during a public rally on 27 December 2007 during General Pervez Musharraf’s rule, when it seemed that due to her immense popularity, she was all set to win the parliamentary elections.

57 solar years ago, on this day in 1959 AD, Martyr Shaikh Nimr Baqer an-Nimr was born in Awwamiyya in the eastern oil-rich part of the Arabian Peninsula, that is currently under occupation of the Wahhabi Aal-e Saudi regime, which brutally martyred on 2^nd January 2016 in a move that shocked the civilized world and led to protests around the globe. After preliminary education, he studied higher religious sciences in the Islamic Republic of Iran and later Syria, before returning to his homeland, where his popularity, especially the youth, alarmed the repressive Aal-e Saud regime. His call for fair and free elections unnerved the regime, and led to his arrest in 2006. Upon release, he continued his criticism of the regime, calling for restoration of the suppressed rights of the Shi’a Muslims, warning that failure to meet the popular demands would lead to eventual declaration of independence by the oil-rich eastern region that the Saudi had occupied in the late 1920s. The regime responded by arresting him and 35 others. During the 2011-12 peaceful protests, Shaikh Nimr called for protestors to resist police bullets using "the roar of the word" rather than violence, and predicted the collapse of the pseudo country called Saudi Arabia which the British had set up in 1932 by naming their agent, the desert brigand Abdul-Aziz Aal-e Saud as king.  On 8 July 2012, regime forces shot him in the leg and imprisoned him. Despite torture, he refused to give up the demands for the denied rights of the long-suppressed Shi’a Muslim majority of the eastern region as well as support for people in the neighbouring Persian Gulf island state of Bahrain where the Aal-e Khalifa minority regime is indulging in all sorts of crimes against the nation. He was sentenced to death by a kangaroo court in 2014 and martyred without prior notice in the prison.

46 solar years ago, on this day in 1970 AD, the Leader of Indonesia’s independence from Dutch colonial rule, Ahmed Sukarno, died at the age of 69. He was elected as president of Indonesia in 1949, and was in power for 15 years when General Suharto staged a coup and seized power. In 1967, he was forced to resign.

35 solar years ago, on this day in 1981, the Father of the Islamic Revolution, Imam Khomeini (God bless him), formally dismissed Abol-Hassan Bani Sadr from the president’s post, a day after the Majlis (parliament) impeached him for his political incompetency and dalliance with anti-revolutionary groups, with 177 affirmative votes, 12 abstentions, and 1 negative vote. Earlier on June 10, the Imam had relieved him of the post of Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces because of his failure to check the advance of the Ba’thist forces. The Iranian nation hailed the move. Upon Bani Sadr’s deposal, his friends, the MKO terrorists, stepped up subversive activities, including the terrorist explosions of 27 June that led to the martyrdom of Chief Justice Ayatollah Seyyed Mohammad Hussaini Beheshti and 72 officials. On July 29, Bani Sadr, with his mustache shaved off and disguised as a chador-wearing woman, fled the country for France, along with MKO terrorist ringleader, Masoud Rajavi, aboard an aircraft piloted by an anti-revolutionary.

35 solar years ago, on this day in 1981 AD, on the instructions of the Father of the Islamic Revolution, Imam Khomeini (God bless his soul), the Islamic Propagation Organisation was established for enlightening people at home and abroad with the dynamism of Islam, through preaching, publishing of books, holding of seminars, and related ideological and cultural work to strengthen the beliefs of the people.

AS/ME