Today is Wednesday; 9th of the Iranian month of Tir 1394 solar hijri, corresponding to 23rd of the Islamic month of Ramadhan 1437 lunar hijri; and June 29, 2016, of the Christian Gregorian Calendar.

5139 solar years ago, on this day in 3123 BC, a Sumerian astronomer in what is now Iraq saw a devastating asteroid, perhaps a half-mile wide, according to an interpretation of a clay tablet deciphered by researchers in 2008. The ancient date was indicated by a computer recreation of the night sky using symbols on the tablet recording the positions of constellations “The Planiform” found by Henry Layard at Nineveh in Iraq – likely a 700 BC copy of the astronomer's notes, described in cuneiform a "white stone bowl approaching" that "vigorously swept along." The asteroid probably crashed into the Austrian Alps, leaving a swath of cataclysmic damage such as, for example, destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah in the Levant.

1949 solar years ago, on this day in 67 AD, the Hellenized Jew, Saul of Tarsus –Latinized as Paulus or Paul – who synthesized Judaism, Greek Gnosticism, and Roman paganism to create Christianity, died in Rome. He is said to have been executed by Roman emperor, Nero, but there is no documented evidence in this regard. A fierce opponent of Prophet Jesus (PuH), he suddenly claimed to be his follower after the end of the virgin-born Messiah’s mission on earth, following an alleged vision on the way to Damascus – a claim rejected by scholars as false propaganda. It was Paul who coined the weird belief of the godly nature of Prophet Jesus, calling him son of god, circulating the myth of crucifixion, and inventing the concept of Trinity to suit Roman pagan beliefs. As a result, he was rejected by both the Jews and the monotheist followers of Jesus, including the renowned disciples. It is interesting to note that among the critics of Paul was American Founding Father and US President, Thomas Jefferson, who wrote that Paul was the “first corrupter of the doctrines of Jesus.” Paul’s deceit could be gleaned from verse 22 of Chapter of the Acts of the Apostles in the New Testament, which says:

“At once he began to preach in the synagogues that Jesus is the son of God. All those who heard him were astonished and asked: ‘Isn't he the man who raised havoc in Jerusalem among those who call on this name? And hasn't he come here to take them as prisoners to the chief priests?’”

Paul, who was present at the trial of Jesus’ loyal disciple St. Stephen by the Jews and approved his stoning to death, later publicly confronted St. Peter, another loyal disciple of Jesus, in a dispute known as the "Incident at Antioch" over distortion of the sacred laws. Paul admits that St. Barnabas – who mentions Jesus’ tidings of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA) – sided with Peter, and parted ways with him after a heated argument. The scholar, L. Michael White, in his analytical work “From Jesus to Christianity” writes: “The blowup with Peter was a total failure of political bravado, and Paul soon left Antioch as persona non grata, never again to return.”  In order to win converts amongst the Gentiles or (non-Jews), Paul opposed circumcision, prohibition on pork and wine, and almost all monotheistic teachings, thus inventing the creed known as Christianity, which has no relation with Jesus.

Nearly a millennium-and-a-half lunar years ago, on the eve of this day, God Almighty sent down the Holy Qur’an on the heart of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA) from the Preserved Tablet or the “Lowh al-Mahfouz”, as the final heavenly scripture for all mankind with the universal message of Islam, as is evident by the ayah: “Indeed, We sent it down on the Grand Night (Laylat-al-Qadr).” This was the first stage of the revelation, although over the next 23 years of the Prophet’s mission, the entire text of the Holy Qur’an was gradually revealed to mankind.

1217 lunar years ago, on this day in 220 AH, the founder of the short-lived Tulunid Dynasty of Egypt and later Syria, Ahmad Ibn Tulun, was born in Baghdad. His father, Tulun, was a Turkic slave, sent as part of tribute from the governor of Bukhara to the Abbasid caliph, Ma'mun. The Abbasids used to recruit Turkic slaves to serve as military officers. Ahmad Ibn Tulun received his military training in Samarra, the new Abbasid capital, where he was appointed commander of the special forces of the tyrannical caliph, Mutawakkil. After serving in military campaigns against the Byzantine Empire in Tarsus, he gained the favour of the caliph, Musta'in, and in the reign of the next caliph, Mu'taz, he was sent as governor to Egypt. Since, the existing capital of Egypt, al-Fustat, was too small to accommodate his armies, he founded a new city nearby called Madinat-al-Qatta'i (or Quartered City), to serve as his capital. It was laid out in the style of grand cities of Iran, including a large public square, a palace, and a large ceremonial mosque, which was named after Ibn Tulun. This city was razed in 905 AD on the fall of the Tulunid Dynasty, and only the mosque has survived. Ibn Tulun soon asserted his independence from the Baghdad caliphate by minting coins in his name and seizing control of large parts of Syria. He defeated an Abbasid army sent against him. He died after 17 years in power, but two decades later, the inefficient rule of his son and grandsons brought about the collapse of the dynasty and re-imposition of Abbasid rule on Egypt.

867 solar years ago, on this day in 1149 AD, Raymond of Poitiers, the European Crusader occupier of the Syrian city of Antioch (presently in Turkey), was defeated and killed in the Battle of Inab by the Turkic ruler of Syria, Nour od-Din Zangi, who subsequently rode out to the Mediterranean coast and bathed in the sea as a symbol of his victory. Although his goal was liberation of Palestine and the parts of Syria occupied by the Crusaders, Zangi repressed the followers of the Prophet's Ahl al-Bayt and expelled thousands of Shi'ite Muslims from Aleppo.

496 solar years ago, on this day in 1520 AD, the Aztec Emperor, Moctezuma II, was treacherously killed by the Spanish Christian invaders of Mexico, after a reign of 18 years. The first contact between indigenous civilizations of Mesoamerica and Europeans took place during his reign, and he was killed when Conquistador Hernan Cortes and his men fought to escape from the Aztec capital Tenochtitlan. During his reign the Aztec Empire reached its maximal size.

254 solar years ago, on this day in 1757 AD, the British proclaimed Mir Mohammad Ja’far Ali Khan Najafi as Nawab of Bengal, Bihar, and Orissa, for his treason against Nawab-Nazem Siraj od-Dowla at the Battle of Plassey six days earlier. His installation is widely considered the start of British domination of the Subcontinent. His lust to become Nawab led him to make a secret pact with Robert Clive and acquiesce to the slaughter of the Army of Bengal by withholding his division from the fighting. For this act, the word “Mir Ja’far” is now synonymous with “traitor” in the Subcontinent and he has been infamously called “Ghaddaar-e Abraar” (or Betrayer of the true Faith). Also a decade earlier in 1747 when the Marathas led by Raghoji I Bhonsle raided and pillaged Orissa, Mir Ja’far who was governor, withdrew all his forces instead of confronting the marauders. This enraged Nawab-Nazem Alivardi Khan (Siraj od-Dowla’s grandfather), who personally led his forces to defeat the Maratha marauders at the Battle of Burdwan (Bardhaman). He then dismissed the shamed Mir Ja’far. Both Mir Ja’far and Siraj od-Dowla were of Iranian origin and Persian-speakers.

209 solar years ago, on this day in 1807 AD, during the Russo-Turkish War, Admiral Dmitry Senyavin, destroyed a third of the Ottoman fleet in the Battle of Athos. Fought a month after the Battle of the Dardanelles that lifted the Russian blockade of marine supplies to Istanbul, this battle was triggered by Senyavin's retreat from the Dardanelles towards the Russian naval base at Tenedos. The Ottoman commander, Kapudan Pasha Seyyed-Ali, ventured with 9 battleships, 5 frigates and 5 other vessels out of the strait into the Aegean Sea. Thereupon Senyavin returned to cut off his retreat and fell upon the Ottoman fleet halfway between Mount Athos and Lemnos. During the battle three Ottoman battleships and four frigates - around one third of the Turkish fleet - were either sunk or forced aground. On the way they scuttled another battleship and a frigate near Thasos. Of the 20 Turkish ships in Dardanelles, only 12 returned. As a result of the battle, the Ottoman Empire lost a combat-capable fleet for more than a decade and was forced to sign an armistice with Russia on 12 August.

206 solar years ago, on this day in 1810 AD, Shah Shuja Durrani, who seven years earlier had seized the throne of Kabul from his brother, Mahmoud Shah, was defeated by the latter at Nimla and forced to seek refuge in India, where he was imprisoned in the Punjab. He procured his release by handing over to the Sikh ruler, Maharaja Ranjit Singh, the famous diamond Koh-e Noor (Mountain of Light) which he had inherited from the founder of Afghanistan, Ahmad Shah Durrani, who as a general of Iranian emperor Nader Shah Afshar had taken this priceless jewel (brought from India) on the latter’s assassination in Mashhad. Exactly 180 years ago, on this same day (June 29), Shah Shuja’s attempt to reclaim Afghanistan with Sikh help on promise of ceding Peshawar was totally defeated at Abbasabad by Amir Dost Mohammad Khan Barakzai. Ranjit Singh seized Peshawar while Shah Shuja fled to Kalat, and thence to Sindh. In 1838, with British support, Shah Shuja again invaded Afghanistan triggering the First Anglo-Afghan War (1838–1842). He was restored to the throne by the British on August 7, 1839, almost 30 years after his deposition, but did not remain in power when the British left. He was assassinated by Shuja od-Dowa on April 5, 1842.

183 lunar years ago, on this day in 1254 AH, the writing of the jurisprudential encyclopedia, “Jawaher al-Kalaam”, was completed in 44 volumes after 27 years of research by the prominent scholar Shaikh Mohammad Hassan an-Najafi in holy Najaf Iraq by the morning of the Grand Night of Qadr. It is a comprehensive and discursive work in Imamiyya fiqh, and is an extended exposition of “Shara'e al-Islam” written some centuries earlier by Muhaqqiq al-Hilli. It is taught till this day at seminaries in Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, and elsewhere.

135 solar years ago, on this day in 1881 AD, Mohammad Ahmad, the leader of the Samaniyya Sufi Order of Sudan, wrongly declared himself to be Mahdi, during a period of widespread resentment among the Sudanese people because of the oppressive policies of the Turko-Egyptian rulers. The Mahdiyya, as his movement was called, was influenced by earlier messianic trends in West Africa in reaction to the growing military and economic dominance of European powers. Until his sudden death at the age of 40 years on 22nd June 1885, nearly six months after his capture of Khartoum, he led a successful military campaign against the British-commanded Turko-Egyptian government of the Sudan. He traced his descent to a family of descendants of the Prophet Mohammad (SAWA) through the line of his elder grandson, Imam Hasan al-Mojtaba (AS). Mohammed Ahmad's posthumous son, Abdur-Rahman al-Mahdi, became leader of the neo-Mahdist movement in the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan and later the Ummah Party, which was supported by the crafty British, who however, foiled his ambition to become King of Sudan when the country gained independence in 1956. In modern-day Sudan, Mohammad Ahmad is sometimes seen as a precursor of Sudanese nationalism. The present leader of the Ummah Party, former Sudanese prime minister, Sadeq al-Mahdi, is his great great-grandson as well as the self-styled Imam of the religious order, Ansar.

116 solar years ago, on this day in 1900 AD, the Nobel Foundation was set up as a private organisation to manage the finances and administration of the Nobel Prizes, four years after the death of Swedish inventor, Alfred Bernhard Nobel, the inventor of dynamite for quarrying mines, who shocked at the misuse of his invention for war purposes and killing of fellow humans, decided to give a handsome cash prize every year for a person who strives most for global peace and security – prizes for physics, chemistry, medicine, and literature were added later. In accordance with Alfred Nobel's will, the primary task of the Foundation is to manage the fortune he left. His brothers Robert and Ludvig Nobel were involved in the oil business in Russian occupied Azerbaijan (Republic of Azerbaijan) and, according to Swedish historian E. Bargengren, who accessed the Nobel family archives it was this "decision to allow withdrawal of Alfred's money from Baku that became the decisive factor that enabled the Nobel Prizes to be established". Another important task of the Nobel Foundation is to market the prizes internationally, although it is not involved in the process of selecting the Nobel laureates – a selection that has become highly politicized with undeserving persons getting the prize. In many ways, the Nobel Foundation is similar to an investment company, in that it invests Nobel's money to create a solid funding base for the prizes and the administrative activities. The Nobel Foundation is exempt from all taxes in Sweden (since 1946) and from investment taxes in the United States (since 1953). Since the 1980s, the Foundation's investments have become more profitable and as of 31 December 2007, the assets controlled by the Nobel Foundation amounted to 3.628 billion Swedish kronor (US$560 million). Because of US hegemony, these prizes, especially the ‘peace prize’, have lost their meaning, and are awarded to mass murderers and agents of the West in Muslim and other countries

103 solar years ago, on this day in 1913 AD, the Second Balkan War broke out against the tottering Ottoman Empire by an alliance of its former provinces of Bulgaria, Serbia, Greece, Monte Negro, and Romania, resulting in the loss of almost 80% of the remaining Turkish territories in Europe. The Balkan Wars set the stage for World War I in 1914, in which the Ottomans allied with Germany and Austria-Hungary, tried to regain their lost glory, but lost their West Asian territories of Arabia, Syria, Palestine, and Iraq, becoming confined to Anatolia present day Turkey.

45 lunar years ago, on this day in 1392 AH, the famous exegesis of the holy Qur’an titled “Tafsir al-Mizan” was completed in the dawn hours of the Grand Night of Qadr by Allamah Seyyed Mohammad Hussain Tabatabaie of Iran in Arabic in 20 volumes, after 18 years of research and scholastic study. This unique exegesis focuses on various topics such as philosophical, academic, historical, social and ethical – wherever the need arises in explaining the meanings of God’s Revealed Words in the light of authentic sayings from Prophet Mohammad (SAWA) and the Infallible Imams of his household.

40 solar years ago, on this day in 1976 AD, the Seychelles became independent from British occupation. It is an archipelago nation of 115 islands in the Indian Ocean, whose capital is Victoria. It lies 1,500 kilometers east of mainland East Africa. Other nearby island countries and territories include Zanzibar to the west and Comoros, Mayotte, Madagascar, Reunion and Mauritius to the south. Seychelles, which is a member of the African Union, has only 90,024 residents, the smallest population of any African state. As the islands, which in the heyday of the Islamic civilization were frequently visited by Muslim seafarers (before the French and the English came), have no indigenous population, the current Seychellois are composed of people who have immigrated. The largest ethnic groups are those of African, French, Indian, and Chinese descent. French and English are official languages along with Seychellois Creole. Muslims constitute 2 percent of the population. The islands are home to the Aldabra Giant Tortoise.

30 solar years ago, on this day in 1986 AD, Operations Karbala-1 was launched by Iran’s Muslim combatants for liberation of the western border town of Mehran and its surroundings from the occupation of Saddam’s Ba’th minority regime. Mehran had fallen to the Ba’thists in the early stages of their unprovoked invasion of the Islamic Republic of Iran in September 1980, and was liberated two years later. In May 1980, the Ba’thists again occupied it but were forced to retreat a month and a half later during this victorious operation.

25 solar years ago, on this day in 1991 AD, , following collapse of the Soviet Union, the Eastern Bloc’s Economic Cooperation Council, “COMECON” was dissolved in a gathering of member states in Bucharest, Hungary. It was founded in 1949 to standardize the economies of Eastern bloc countries, under the leadership of the Soviet Union. Its member states were Poland, Romania, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, Vietnam, Cuba, Mongolia, and the Soviet Union.

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