Today is Wednesday; 16thof the Iranian month of Tir 1395 solar hijri; corresponding to 1stof the Islamic month of Shawwal 1437 lunar hijri; and July 6, 2016, of the Christian Gregorian Calendar.

Today is Eid-e Fitr, one of the major Islamic festivals. After the month-long fasting of Ramadhan, Muslims celebrate this day as thanksgiving to the Almighty Lord. The day starts with the special congregational Eid Prayer, which is indeed a glorious sight with rows upon rows of believers bowing and prostrating in unison. In order to further purify hearts and souls, each individual sets aside for the poor and needy of the society, three kilograms of one of the main forms of diets, such as wheat, barley, rice or dates, or its equivalent in money as the Zakat-e Fitr. The Eid is celebrated with exchange of visits among families and friends.

1394 lunar years ago, on this day in 43 AH, the Omayyad governor of Egypt, Amr Ibn al-Aas, died at the age of 93 in acute mental agony while admitting his crimes against Islam, including how he had tried to cheat Imam Ali (AS) of the caliphate by declaring Mu'awiyyaibn Abu Sufyan as the caliph.He felt as if MountRedhwawas hanging upon his neck and he was being dragged through the eye of a needle. Born out of wedlock in Mecca to a morally-loose bondwoman, named Layla bintHarmalah and called "Nabigha", his paternity was open to doubt in the freewheeling Jahiliyyadays because of his mother’s promiscuous affair with at least five persons at the same time, including Abu Sufyan and Aasibn Wa'el. Although Amr greatly resembled the stingy miser Abu Sufyan in appearance, his mother by citing the issue of maintenance claimed that the rather generous Aas had fathered her child. With the advent of Islam, Amr showed bitter hostility toward Prophet Mohammad (SAWA), and when the latter migrated to Medina, he was involved in almost all the battles imposed upon Muslims by the pagan Arabs of Mecca. Earlier, when a group of persecuted Muslims led by the Prophet's cousin, Ja'far Ibn Abu Taleb, sought asylum in Abyssinia he led an unsuccessful mission to the court of the Christian king, Negus, for the handover of the refugees. In 8 AH, two years before the passing away of the Prophet and on the eve of the surrender of Mecca to the Muslims, Amr, sensing the end of paganism, came to Medina, along with that other avowed enemy of Islam, Khaled ibn Waleed, claiming conversion to Islam, though none of his deeds ever supports his claim to be a Muslim. After the Prophet, when the neo-Muslim Arab armies swept across Syria and Palestine, he led the attack on the Roman province of Egypt. When Mu'awiyyah built his power base in Syria, he joined him as advisor in Damascus and was the evil mind in most of the plots against Imam Ali (AS) including the raising of copies of the holy Qur'an on spear-points during the War of Siffeen in order to deceive Muslims and avoid a definite defeat. Earlier during the battle, to escape certain death from the flashing blade of Imam Ali (AS), Amr while fleeing, shamelessly disrobed himself, making the Imam turn away from an abhorred sight. In 38 AH he again attacked Egypt and martyred its legal governor, Mohammad Ibn Abu Bakr.

1376 solar years ago, on this day in 640 AD, the Muslim army defeated the Byzantine forces near Heliopolis or Ayn Shams in Egypt. Though there were several major skirmishes after this battle, it effectively ended Byzantine or Eastern Roman rule in Egypt, opening the door for the Muslim conquest of North Africa.

1181 lunar years ago, on this day in 256 AH, the famous Iranian Sunni Muslim compiler of hadith, Mohammad Ibn Ismail ibn Ibrahim ibn BardizbahBukhari, passed away at the age of 62 while on a visit to Khartank, a village near Samarqand in what is now Uzbekistan. Born in Bukhara in a family which before conversion to Islam was either Zoroastrian or Jewish, he started collecting hadith from anyone who could relate. In his late teens, along with his brother and mother, he travelled to Mecca for pilgrimage. After visiting the centres of learning, exchanging information on hadith from over 1,000 persons, and recording more than 600,000 narrations, he returned to his hometown after a 16-year absence. Here he compiled his "al-Jame' as-Sahih", which is revered as "SahihBukhari" by Sunni Muslims, and contains 7,275 hadith selected as per his inclination. Although he has acknowledged some of the unparalleled merits of the Ahl al-Bayt, he did not visit the rightful heirs of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA) or met their disciples for precise information on authentic hadith. It is claimed that it was fear of the wrath of the Abbasid regime that made him omit any hadith related from such an outstanding authority as the Prophet's 6th Infallible Heir, Imam Ja'farSadeq (AS), but he felt no inhibitions to include in his so-called "Sahih" narrations from dubious persons – even avowed enemies of the Prophet's Household. In 250 AH he settled in Naishapur in Khorasan, following his expulsion from Bukhara for issuing a weird fatwa against the letter and spirit of the shari'ah that persons drinking the milk of the same cow, goat or donkey, are foster siblings and hence ineligible for marriage with each other. Here he met another Iranian with Sunni inclinations, named Muslim Ibn Hajjaj, who became his student, and eventually collector of a separate book on hadith, known as "Sahih Muslim".

1044 lunar years ago, on this day in 393 AH  at-Ta'i-Lillah, the 24th caliph of the usurper Abbasid regime, died twelve years after he was deposed and replaced by his cousin, al-Qader-Billah, by the Iranian Buwayhid ruler, Baha od-DowlahDaylami. The Buwayhids had installed him as caliph on the death of his father, al-Muti-Lillah, who also owed his caliphate to this powerful dynasty ruling Iraq and Iran. During the caliphate of at-Ta’i, the Abbasid dominions further shrunk in size, with the Hijaz and over half of Syria falling to the Fatemid Shi’ite Ismaili Dynasty of Egypt, while the Turkic chieftains vied for power in the rest of Syria.

868 lunar years ago, on this day in 569 AH, the exegete of the Holy Qur'an, Arabic grammarian and poet, Sa'eed Ibn Mubarak Ibn Dahhan, passed away in Mosul at the age of 74 during a visit to the vizier, Jamal od-Din Isfahani, shortly after losing his eyesight, while trying chemical experiments to preserve some of his books from his flooded library in Baghdad after the Tigris overflowed its banks. His remaining works include"Fosoul" on the art of prosody, and one "Qasida".

605 solar years ago, on this day in 1411 AD, Admiral Zheng He of China’s Ming Dynasty, whose real name was Mahmoud Shams od-Din, returned to Nanjing after his second voyage and presented the captured Sinhalese kingto the Yongle Emperor. In 1405 AD, he set sail to explore the world on the first of his seven voyages that took him to Southeast Asia, the Subcontinent, Arabia, Iran, and Africa. He was the great-great-great-grandson of SeyyedAjal Shams od-Din, the Iranian statesman who served in the administration of the Mongol Empire, and was appointed governor of Yunnan by the Yuan Dynasty. Born in 1371, his father and grandfather had performed pilgrimage to holy Mecca. As a 10-year boy, Mahmoud was captured by the Ming, who castrated him and gave him the Chinese name of Zheng He. Nonetheless, his indomitable spirit made him to overcome his physical handicap to rise as a general, diplomat, courtier and admiral. He commanded a flotilla of several hundred galleys, including huge five-decked ships, on each of his voyages in the span of 28 years. In addition to demonstrating the might of China through presents to the rulers of lands he visited, he brought back exotic things and animals including zebras, giraffes and ostriches. During his last journey in 1433, at the age of 62, he died off the coast of Kozhikode, India, and was buried at sea.

482 solar years ago, on this day in 1535 AD, Thomas More, English lawyer, social philosopher, author, and statesman, who coined the word "Utopia" in the novel of the same name, was beheaded at the age of 57 after being tried for treason and convicted on perjured testimony, following imprisonment a year earlier for his refusal to endorse King Henry VIII’s separation from the Catholic Church and declaration as Supreme Head of the Church of England. Born in London to the lawyer and judge, John More, and highly educated, in 1516 he published Utopia– a name he gave to an ideal and imaginary island nation, the political system of which contrasts the contentious social life of European states with the perfectly orderly, reasonable social arrangements. In Utopia, with communal ownership of land, private property does not exist; men and women are educated alike; and there is almost complete religious toleration. Utopia tolerates different religious practices but does not tolerate atheists, since Thomas More believed that if a person did not believe in God or in afterlife he/she could never be trusted. He coined the English phrase "grasp at straws" to mean "desperately trying even useless things", in his book "Dialogue of Comfort against Tribulation”. He caught the king’s attention and served as Councilor to Henry VIII, before being promoted to Lord Chancellor from 1529 to 1532. A bitter opponent of the Protestant Movement, he ridiculed German Church reformer, Martin Luther, as a heretic in the book "Responsio ad Lutherum", in which he also opposed the English monarch's separation from the Catholic Church and refused to accept the king as Supreme Head of the Church of England, a factor that led to his downfall.

282 lunar years ago, on this day in 1155 AH, the prominent gnostic and source of emulation (marja’), Seyyed Mohammad Mahdi Tabatabaie Bahr al-Uloum, was born in the holy city of Karbala, before the dawn of Eid al-Fitr, in a family related to the celebrated AllamahMajlisi. Initially taught by his scholarly father SeyyedMorteza ibn Mohammad Boroujerdi, he later studied under Shaikh YousufBahrani (writer of the book of “Hada’eq an-Nasera”), before enrolling at the famous seminary of holy Najaf, where he studied under the famous WaheedBehbahani. At the age of 31 he went to Mashhad in Khorasan, Iran, where he lived for seven years, learning different sciences, as well as philosophy from Mirza Mahdi ShahidKhorasani. His teacher, because of his extensive knowledge, called him “Baḥr al-Uloum” (or Ocean of Knowledge). His sons, grandsons, and direct descendants continue to use this title as family name. Baḥr al-Uloum returned to Najaf to teach. He performed the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca in 193 AH, and also taught there. Among his students were: Seyyed Sadr od-Din Ameli, Shaikh Ja’farNajafi, SeyyedJawadAmeli, Shaikh Abu Ali Haeri, Mulla Ahmad Naraqi, Seyyed Muhammad Mojahed, SeyyedAbu’l-QasemKhwansari, SeyyedDildar Ali Lakhnavi (of India). On the passing away of WaheedBehbahani, he became the Source of Emulation. On his authority, in view of his contacts with the Lord of the Age, Imam Mahdi (may God hasten his reappearance), he determined the exact spots in the Grand Mosque of Kufa and the Sahla Mosque, associated with the Prophets and the Imams. He wrote many works in diverse religious sciences including jurisprudence and hadith, such as “al-Masabih”, “ad-Durra-an-Najafiyyah”, “al-Fawa’edar-Rejaliyyah” and “Tuhfat al-Keraam” (on history of Mecca and Masjid al-Haraam). He passed away at the age of 57 in Najaf, and was laid to rest next to the grave of the founder of the thousand-year old Najaf Seminary, Shaikh at-Ta’efa Abu Ja’far at-Tusi.

162 solar years ago, on this day in 1854 AD, German mathematician and physicist, Georg Simon Ohm, passed away at the age of 67. He discovering laws in electricity which are named after him as “Ohm”, and are applied to this day. He has left a book on the mathematical theory of electrical currents.

131 solar years ago, on this day in 1885 AD, French chemist and microbiologist, Louis Pasteur, successfully tested his vaccine against rabies. The patient was Joseph Meister, a 9-year old boy bitten by a rabid dog. The boy was injected the first of 14 daily doses of rabbit spinal cord suspensions containing progressively inactivated rabies virus. This was the beginning of the era of immunization, which had been presaged by Britain’s Edward Jenner nearly 100 years earlier. The boy grew up and became caretaker of the Pasteur Institute until age 64.

129 solar years ago, on this day in 1887 AD, David Kalakaua, monarch of the Kingdom of Hawaii, was forced at gunpoint by the Americans to sign the “Bayonet Constitution” giving US nationals more power in Hawaii while stripping Hawaiian citizens of their rights. The Hawaiian Islands in the Pacific are presently under full US occupation and regarded as an American state.

123 solar years ago, on this day in 1893 AD, popular French writer, Henri Rene Albert Guy de Maupassant, who is considered one of the fathers of the modern short story and one of the form's finest exponents, died in Paris at the age of 43. His stories are characterized by economy of style and efficient, effortless outcomes. Many are set during the Franco-Prussian War of the 1870s, describing the futility of war and the innocent civilians who, caught up in events beyond their control, are permanently changed by their experiences. He wrote some 300 short stories, six novels, three travel books, and one volume of verse. His first published story, "Boule de Suif" (Ball of Fat, 1880), is often considered his masterpiece.

94 solar years ago, on this day in 1922 AD, the scholar Ayatollah Zain al-Abedinbin Ismail Marandi, passed away at the age of 72 and was laid to rest in the Wadi as-Salaam (Valley of Peace) Cemetery in Holy Najaf in Iraq. After preliminary studies in his hometown Marand in Iran’s East Azarbaijan Province, he left for Iraq to study at the Najaf Seminary under celebrated scholars such as Mirza Habibollah Rashti and Ayatollah Mirza Hassan Shirazi (famous for his fatwa against tobacco consumption to save Iran’s economy from British exploitation). He was “Marja’ Taqleed” or Source of Emulation for most Azeri people.

79 solar years ago, on this day in 1937 AD, the jurisprudent Ayatollah MirzaAbu’l-Huda Karbasi, passed away and was laid to rest in Isfahan’s Takht-e Foulad Cemetery. A product of the holy Najaf Seminary of Iraq, he was a student of the prominent scholars, Ayatollah Akhound Mullah Mohammad Kazem Khorasani and Ayatollah Seyyed Mohammad KazemYazdi. He wrote several books such as “al-Badr at-Tamaam”.

54 solar years ago, on this day in 1962 AD, the US author, William Faulkner, died at the age of 65. After participating in World War I, he returned to his country. Following his familiarization with his compatriot author, Sherwood Anderson, he turned to writing poems in the year 1925. He spoke of social chaos in the US in his books, especially racial discrimination against blacks. His novels highly influenced the style of novel writing in the US. Among his valuable books, mention can be made of “The Sound and the Fury”.

52 solar years ago, on this day in 1964 AD, Malawi in southern African gained its independence from British colonial rule. Prior to independence, it was known as Nyasaland, and was under British hegemony since 1859 when David Livingston, set foot on its soil. Malawi covers an area of 118484 square km. It is situated in Southeast Africa and shares borders with Tanzania, Zambia, and Mozambique.

49 solar years ago, on this day in 1967 AD, the Biafran War erupted in Nigeria, lasting more than two years and claiming some 600,000 lives. The Republic of Biafra was proclaimed, through Israel’s sedition to instigate the ethnic Igbo populated eastern region of Nigeria to secede. This was followed by civil war. The federal troops held most of rebellious Biafra by the end of 1968 but the Igbos attempted to hold out in a small and crowded area. The war broke out when the Igbos, led by Col. Emeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu, launched a rebellion to form a separate state, because of instigation by the illegal Zionist entity.

41 solar years ago, on this day in 1975 AD, the Comoros Islands gained independence from French colonial rule. Comoros is actually the French corruption of “Qamar” for Moon in Arabic since the islands are known as Juzur al-Qamar or Moon Islands. According to accounts, in 632, upon hearing of Islam, the islanders are said to have dispatched an emissary, the navigator Qumralu, to Arabia—but by the time he arrived there, Prophet Mohammad (SAWA) had departed from the world. Nonetheless, after a stay in Medina, he returned to Qanbalu Island and led the gradual conversion of his islanders to Islam. Some of the earliest accounts of the Comoros were derived from the works of the famous Islamic geographer, al-Masudi, who mentions the early Islamic trade routes and how the islands were frequently visited by Muslims including Iranian and Arab merchants and sailors from Basra in search of coral, ylang-ylang, ivory, beads, spices, and gold. They also brought Islam to the people of Comoros and Zanzibar. By the 12th century AD, masses of people converted to Islam in these islands and the Islamic culture and civilization quickly spread. In the 16th Century AD, Comoros were for a while occupied by Portugal. The Sultan of Oman who had brought Zanzibar under his control, ended this occupation. In 1842, parts of Comoros were occupied by the French. Finally, following the struggles of people, Comoros officially announced its independence in 1975. President Ahmad Abdullah Mohammad Sambi, who was elected in the first democratically-held ballot in May 2006, was head of state for a five-year term until 2011. Educated in the holy city of Qom and popularly known as “Ayatollah” because of his Islamic attire and green turban, he is of Hadhrami ancestry from Yemen and claims descent from Ali al-Uraydhi, a son of Imam Ja’far Sadeq (AS), the 6th Infallible Heir of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA).

30 solar years ago, on this day in 1986 AD, the Iranian poet, Seyyed Reza Hussaini, passed away at the age of 76. A devotee of the Prophet’s Ahl al-Bayt, he was known as Sa’di of the Age – in reference to the immortal Persian poet, Sheikh Sa’di of Shiraz. An outstanding elegist in Azeri language, he composed moving mournful poems on the sufferings endured by the Blessed Household of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA). He was well versed in Persian, Arabic, and Turkic, besides excellent knowledge of theology, jurisprudence, exegesis of the holy Qur’an, law, hadith, history, and logic. He has several poetical compilations to his credit such as “Lum’aat-e Hussaini”, “Nojoum-e Darakhshan” and “Bahar-e Bi-Khazaan”.

21 solar years ago, on this day in 1995 AD, Serbs, under the command of General Ratko Mladic and assisted by Greek volunteers unleashed genocide on the town of Srebrenica, right before the eyes of the Dutch peacekeepers, Dutchbat, driving out over 30,000 Bosniak Muslims from their homes as part of ethnic cleansing, and massacring more than 8000 Bosniak men, women and children, in what is known as the worst crime on European soil since the Second World War. The tragedy of Srebrenica would haunt the UN's history forever, because of the genocide in the presence of peacekeeping troops as well as the delay of the International Criminal Court at Hague for meting out justice to Ratko Mladic, who is under trial since 2012. “The Preliminary List of People Missing or Killed in Srebrenica” compiled by the Bosnian Federal Commission of Missing Persons contains 8,373 names. As of July 2012, 6,838 genocide victims have been identified through DNA analysis of body parts recovered from mass graves; as of July 2013, 6,066 victims have been buried at the Memorial Centre of Potocari.

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