Today is Wednesday; 2nd of the Iranian month of Tir 1395 solar hijri; corresponding to 16th of the Islamic month of Ramadhan 1437 lunar hijri; and June 22, 2016, of the Christian Gregorian Calendar.

2233 solar years ago, on this day in 217 BC, the seesaw Battle of Raphia took place in what is now Gaza, Palestine, in which Ptolemy IV Philopator of Egypt defeated Antiochus III the Great of the Seleucid Empire that spanned Iraq, Iran and parts of Turkey. It was fought near modern Rafah as one of the largest battles between the two Hellenistic kingdoms, the successor states of Alexander of Macedon’s short-lived empire, for control of Syria, and hence known as the Syrian Wars of the ancient world. Ptolemy had 70,000 infantry, 5,000 cavalry, and 73 African war elephants, while Antiochus had 62,000 infantry, 6,000 cavalry, and 102 Asian war elephants, This is the only known battle in which African and Asian elephants were used against each other, and Ptolemy's elephants which were from what is now Eritrea could not bear the smell, sound and view of their Indian counterparts as well as their greater size and strength and caused panic in their own ranks, before the Egyptian cavalry moved in to defeat the Seleucids. Ptolemy's victory secured Syria for Egypt, but it was only a respite, since at the Battle of Panium in 198 BC Antiochus defeated the army of Ptolemy's young son, Ptolemy V Epiphanes and recaptured Syria and Judea.

1100 solar years ago, on this day in 916 AD, Amir Saif od-Dowla, the Hamdanid ruler of Aleppo and most of Syria, was born. Named Ali, he was the son of Abu'l-Hayja Abdullah bin Hamdan, and was a staunch follower of the Prophet's Ahl al-Bayt. He was the younger brother of Nasser od-Dowla the Amir of Mosul. He distinguished himself in battles against the Byzantines and could be called the Warden of the Marches of the Islamic frontier of those days by checking the bid by the Christians to plunder Syria. Saif od-Dowla was a man of letters and surrounded himself with prominent intellectual figures, notably the great Arabic poets, al-Mutanabbi and Abu Firas Hamdani, as well as the noted Iranian Islamic philosopher Abu Nasr Farabi. Saif od-Dowla himself was a poet; his delicate short poem on the rainbow shows high artistic ability.

974 lunar years ago, on this day in 463 AH, the eminent theologian and jurisprudent, Mohammad Ibn Hassan Ibn Hamza Abu Ya’la al-Ja`fari, passed away in Baghdad. He was a student and later son-in-law of the celebrated scholar, Shaikh Mufid, and traced his lineage to Ja’far at-Tayyar Ibn Abi Taleb, the elder brother of the Commander of the Faithful, Imam Ali (AS). He later became head of the followers of the School of the Prophet’s Ahl al-Bayt, groomed many scholars and wrote several books. He is not to be confused with his contemporary, the Iranian scholar Abu Ya'la Hamza Ibn Abdullah Sallar Ibn Abdul-Aziz Daylami, who also studied under Shaikh Mufid in Baghdad and passed away ten days earlier on Ramadhan 6 in the same year. It is worth noting that Abu Ya'la is a common “kunya” (agnomen) in Arabic of persons named Hamza.

592 lunar years ago, on this day in 845 AH, the renowned Egyptian Shafe'i scholar and historian, Taqi od-Din Ahmad ibn Ali al-Maqrizi, passed away. Though he lived in the Mamluk era, he was an expert in the history of the Ismaili Fatemid Shi'ite dynasty and its role in Egyptian history. In fact, he regarded himself a descendent of the Fatemid caliph, al-Mo'ez le-Dinillah. Born in Cairo, he traveled widely in the Hejaz and Syria, and for a while worked as a judge in the Egyptian capital. Among his works is a book on Egyptian history titled: “as-Solouk le-Ma'refat ad-Dowal wa'l-Molouk" and “Itte'aaz al-Hunafa be Akhbaar al-A'emmat-al-Fatemiyyeen al-Khulafa” (on the history of the Fatemid state).

587 solar years ago, on this day in 1429 AD, the eminent Iranian astronomer and mathematician, Ghiyas od-Din Jamshid Kashani, died under suspicious circumstances in Samarqand at the age of around 50. He was born in Kashan and went to Samarqand at the invitation of the Timurid scientist-ruler, Ologh Beg, to set up the famous observatory. He produced a Zij entitled the “Khaqani Zij”, which was based on Khwaja Naseer od-Din Tusi's “Zij-e Ilkhani”. He also produced tables on transformations between coordinate systems on the celestial sphere, such as the transformation from the ecliptic coordinate system to the equatorial coordinate system. He wrote the book “Sullam as-Sama” on the resolution of difficulties met by predecessors in the determination of distances and sizes of heavenly bodies such as the Earth, the Moon, the Sun and the Stars. He also invented a mechanical planetary computer which he called the Plate of Zones, which could graphically solve a number of planetary problems, including the prediction of the true positions in longitude of the Sun and Moon, and the planets in terms of elliptical orbits; the latitudes of the Sun, Moon, and planets; and the ecliptic of the Sun. In one of his numerical approximations of "P" (pronounced pie), he correctly computed 2 P to 9 sexagesimal digits. This approximation of 2 P is equivalent to 16 decimal places of accuracy. This was far more accurate than the estimates earlier given in Greek mathematics of 3 decimal places by Archimedes, Chinese mathematics of 7 decimal places by Zu Chongzhi and Indian mathematics of 11 decimal places by Madhava of Sangamagrama. The accuracy of Jamshid Kashani's estimate was not surpassed until Ludolph van Ceulen computed 20 decimal places of "P" nearly 200 years later.

423 solar years ago, on this day in 1593 AD, the Battle of Sisak or Kulpa Bozgunu in Turkish, was fought in Croatia on the confluence of the Rivers Sava and Kupa between Ottoman regional forces of Hasan Pasha Predojevic, a notable commander of the Eyalet of Bosnia, and a combined Christian army from the Habsburg lands, mainly the kingdom of Croatia and Austria. Earlier in 1591 and 1592 the Ottomans had two failed attempts of capturing the Sisak fortress, sieging forces on 22 June. The ensuing battle resulted in a defeat for the regional Turkish forces, triggering the Long War between the Ottoman and the Hapsburg Empires that lasted for 13 years.

383 solar years ago, on this day in 1633 AD, Italian astronomer, mathematician, and physicist, Galileo Galilei, was forced to renounce his scientific remarks and beliefs before the Church officials. Influenced by the Latin translations of the Arabic works of Islamic scientists, such as Iran’s Abu Rayhan Berouni, he wrote a book in the year 1632 in rejection of Ptolemy’s beliefs on the solar system, supporting the fact that the Earth orbits around the Sun. A year later, the Pope summoned him to Rome and termed his writings as blasphemous, and gave him the option of denying what he said or death.

211 solar years ago, on this day in 1805 AD, Giuseppe Mazzini, Italian politician and activist for the unification of Italy, was born. His efforts helped bring about an independent and unified Italy in place of the several separate states, many dominated by foreign powers that existed until the 19^th century.

170 lunar years ago, on this day in 1277 AH, the scholar Ayatollah Shaikh Abdur-Rahim Borujerdi, passed away in Mashhad at the age of 85 and was laid to rest in the courtyard of the mausoleum of Imam Reza (AS), the 8^th Infallible Heir of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA). After preliminary studies in his hometown Boroujerd he went to Iraq for higher studies at the famous seminary of holy Najaf, where his teachers included Ayatollah Shaikh Mohammad Hussain Kashef al-Gheta, Ayatollah Shaikh Mohammad Isfahani, and the celebrated jurisprudent Shaikh Mohammad Hassan Najafi – author of “Jawaher al-Kalaam”. On reaching the status of Ijtehad he taught at the seminaries of Najaf and Karbala, before returning to Iran and settling in the capital Tehran, where his classes attracted a large number of students, including Shaikh Mohammad Hussain Mamaqani, and the celebrated Mirza Hussain Tabarsi Muhaddith Noori, who also became his son-in-law. His fame made the academic elite of Mashhad invite him to their city, where he infused new spirit into the seminary and was eventually appointed as custodian of the Holy Shrine of the 8^th Imam (Astan-e Qods Razawi). He authored several books including “Jawame’ al-Kalaam fi Sharh Qawa’ed al-Ahkaam”, and “Hadiyat ar-Razawiyya” on the norms, merits and virtues of pilgrimage to the 8^th Imam’s shrine.

128 lunar years ago, on this day in 1308 AH, the scholar Seyyed Abbas Ibn Seyyed Hussain Taleqani, passed away in holy Najaf, Iraq. He belonged to a family of scholars of the region of Taleqan, northwest of Tehran.

108 solar years ago, on this day in 1908 AD, Iran’s first parliament following the victory of the Constitutional Movement, was attacked by the Qajarid king, Mohammad Ali Shah and closed down. On the Shah’s orders, the Cossack brigade, led by Russian Colonel Vladimir Liakhov, besieged the parliament resulting in a confrontation with the constitutionalists. Several Iranian freedom fighters were martyred, while many others were incarcerated or sent into exile. Among those hanged by the king were the prominent preacher Malik ul-Motakallemin and Mirza Jahangir Khan Shirazi, the editor of the daily “Soor-e Israfeel”.

76 solar years ago, on this day in 1940 AD, France formally surrendered to Nazi German leader, Adolf Hitler, by signing a treaty, according to which Marshal Henri Petain was instated as the premier of France with Germany’s support. But, General Charles de Gaulle, with the support of French troops overseas, formed the French government in exile to continue the struggle for liberation of France.

75 solar years ago, on this day in 1941 AD, during World War II, Germany launched Operation Barbarossa against the Soviet Union, after occupying several east European countries. German troops advanced till the outskirts of Moscow, but were bogged down with the arrival of the winter. The Soviets also resolutely resisted and gradually forced the German troops to retreat.

71 solar years ago, on this day in 1945 AD, the World War II battle for Okinawa officially ended. It was the bloodiest battle of the Pacific War Theater resulting in the death of 12,520 Americans and 90,000 Japanese soldiers, plus 130,000 civilians killed in the 81-day campaign.

54 lunar years ago, on this day in 1383 AH, Shaikh Mohammad Reza al-Muzaffar passed away at the age of 61 in his hometown holy Najaf, Iraq. A scion of Iraq’s scholarly Aal-e Muzaffar family, after initial studies under his elder brother Shaikh Mohammad Hassan Muzaffar, he attended the classes of such leading scholars of the Najaf seminary, as Ayatollah Mohammad Hussain Na’ini, Ayatollah Ziya od-Din Iraqi, the famous gnostic, Allamah Seyyed Ali Qazi Tabataba'i, Ayatollah Mirza Abdul-Hadi Shirazi, and Ayatollah Shaikh Mohammad Isfahani. He mastered Arabic literature, jurisprudence, logic, philosophy, gnosis, and other subjects. In turn he groomed several scholars such as the famous Arabic orator, Shaikh Ahmad Wa’eli, Ayatollah Seyyed Mohammad Sadr, Seyyed Mohammad Bahr al-Oloum, Seyyed Abdul-Karim Qazvini, Ayatollah Mohammad Mahdi Asefi, and Ayatollah Mohammad Ali Taskhiri – the current Head of Iran’s Islamic Culture and Communications Organization. A prolific writer who presented many complicated jurisprudential issues in simplified form to the readers, he authored several books on various subjects, such as “Principles of Jurisprudence”, “The Imamiyyah Creed”, “Philosophy of Imam Ali (AS)”, “History of Islam”, “Biography of Mullah Sadra Shirazi”, and “al-Mantaq” or Logics, which is still taught at seminaries in Iran, Iraq and other places. Shaikh Muzaffar founded several scholarly and cultural institutes, and took important measures for promoting proximity between Shi’a and Sunni Muslims. Following his successful establishment of an elementary school in Najaf for teaching modern courses on the basis of religious culture, he set up a network of such schools in several cities. In 1376 AH (1957), he founded the College of Jurisprudence in Najaf, recognized by the Iraqi Ministry of Culture, for teaching Imamiyya fiqh, comparative jurisprudence, exegesis of the holy Qur’an, hadith, Islamic history, philosophy, Arabic literature, and foreign languages, in addition to modern sciences. He was politically active as well, opposing the Britain’s planting of the illegal Zionist entity in Palestine, supporting the Algerian people’s struggle for independence from France, and condemning the Pahlavi regime of Iran for its anti-Islamic policies, including the exile of the Father of the Islamic Revolution, Imam Khomeini (God bless him).

23 lunar years ago, on this day in 1414 AH, Ayatollah Seyyed Mahmoud Mojtahed Sistani, passed away at the age of 61 in his hometown Mashhad, Khorasan, and was laid to rest in the courtyard of the holy mausoleum of Imam Reza (AS), the 8^th Infallible Heir of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA). Son of Allamah Mohammad Baqer Sistani, he was the younger brother of Grand Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Sistani, who is based in holy Najaf, Iraq. He used to lead the congregational prayers at the Vali Asr Mosque, and for nearly three decades held classes on the exegesis of the holy Qur’an and the merits of the Ahl al-Bayt.

AS/ME