Today is Sunday; 20th of the Iranian month of Tir 1395 solar hijri; corresponding to 5th of the Islamic month of Shawwal 1437 lunar hijri; and July 10, 2016, of the Christian Gregorian Calendar.

1878 solar years ago, on this day in 138 AD, Roman Emperor Hadrian, died at the age of 62. Of mixed Spanish-Italian ancestry, he succeeded his father’s cousin Trajan as Roman Emperor in 117 and ruled for 21 years till his death in 138 AD. He is regarded as one of the Five Good Roman Emperors. Hadrian joined Trajan's expedition against the Parthian Empire of Iran as a legate on the emperor’s staff. Neither during the first phase, nor during the second phase of the war when the Romans were repelled from Mesopotamia or modern Iraq by the Iranians, did Hadrian do anything of note. He surrendered Trajan's gains in Mesopotamia, considering them to be indefensible against determined Parthian pressure. There was almost a war with Parthia around 121, but the threat was averted when Hadrian succeeded in negotiating a peace with Emperor Osroes I or Khosrow. He is best known for the Hadrian’s Wall he built in Britain for defence of Roman possessions against the Picts of what is now Scotland.

1401 lunar years ago, on this day in 36 AH, the Commander of the Faithful, Imam Ali ibn Abi Taleb (AS), started from his capital Kufa in Iraq towards Syria with a force of 90,000 to meet the threats of the rebellious governor, Mua'wiyyah ibn Abu Sufyan. The result was the protracted War of Siffeen in the place of the same name, in the vicinity of Aleppo near Reqqa that exposed the hypocrisy of the Omayyads and proved the righteousness of Imam Ali (AS), as the First Infallible Successor of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA).

1377 lunar years ago, on this day in 60 AH, Muslim Ibn Aqeel, the cousin and emissary of Imam Husain (AS), the grandson of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA), arrived in Kufa and was warmly welcomed by the people, with as many as 18,000 giving him oath of allegiance and reaffirming the letters they had sent to the Imam in Mecca, inviting him to come to Iraq to deliver the ummah from the tyrannical and Godless rule of the Omayyad usurper, Yazid bin Mua'wiyyah. Muslim wrote to the Imam of the situation and called on him to come to Iraq to lead the people. Two months later, however, when Yazid dispatched to Kufa as governor, the bloodthirsty Obaidollah ibn Ziyad, who immediately resorted to threats and bribes, the majority of the Kufans broke their oath of allegiance and betrayed Muslim, as a result of which he was martyred. When Imam Husain (AS) arrived in Iraq he was prevented from entering Kufa and cruelly martyred in the plain of Karbala by the forces of Ibn Ziyad that also included the majority of those who had written letters to him, inviting him to come to Iraq and deliver them from Omayyad oppression.

917 solar years ago, on this day in 1099 AD, the Spanish warlord, Rodrigo Díaz de Viva, known popularly as “El Cid” – corruption of the Arabic word “al-Seyyed” (Lord) – was slain on the battlefield at the age of 55 in Valencia, while fighting against the al-Murabetoun (Almoravid) Berber Muslim army. A Castilian nobleman, fluent in Arabic and known to the Arabs as "Rudriq al-Qanbiyatur" (Rodrigo el Campeador), he became famous for his military prowess in the battles he fought for Christian kings as well as Muslim emirs. Initially, he helped enlarge Castilian territory at the expense of the Christian Sancho brothers, and the Spanish Muslims. When exiled by King Alfonso in 1081, he took up service under the Muslim rulers of Zaragoza, whom he helped to repel the attacks by Christian mercenaries of Aragon and Barcelona, thereby bolstering his military record. He was also victorious in battles against the Muslim rulers of Lerida and their Christian allies, as well as against a large Christian army under King Sancho Ramírez of Aragon. In 1086, when Alfonso was defeated by the al-Murabetoun Dynasty of North Africa, he lured El Cid to his side. Over the next several years, El Cid set his sights on the kingdom-city of Valencia (al-Balansiyya), operating more or less independently of Alfonso while politically supporting the Banu Houd and other Muslim dynasties. He gradually increased his control over Valencia and in 1092 made its Muslim ruler, al-Qader, a tributary. In 1094, with the death of al-Qader, he usurped power and ruled Valencia as an independent principality on the eastern Mediterranean coast of Spain that had a mixed population of Christians and Muslims. His final years were spent in fighting the al-Murabetoun, whom he could not defeat and lost his son and heir, Diego Rodriguez in combat in 1097. Two years later in 1099, he was slain, and was succeeded by his wife, Jimena Díaz, who in 1102 surrendered Valencia to the al-Murabetoun.

715 solar years ago, on this day in 1301AD the impregnable and strategically located Rantambhore Fortress in what is now the Rajasthan State of India was captured by Sultan Ala ud-Din Khilji. Built on a mountain peak by the Jats, it was occupied by the Rajputs, from whom the Muslims captured it for the first time in 1226 during the reign of the Turkic slave-king, Sultan Shams od-Din Altamash. Ten years later the Rajputs seized it, and managed to retain it for the next 65 years in the face of repeated sieges by the Sultans of Delhi. With the decline of Muslim power in northern India, following the invasion of the Central Asian conqueror, Amir Timur, the Rajputs again took over Ranthambore, which in 1532 was conquered by Sultan Bahadur Shah of Gujarat. In 1559, it passed into the hands of the Mughal Emperor, Jalal od-Din Akbar, whose matrimonial relations with the Rajputs meant the control of the Kachwaha Maharajas of Jaipur over it since the 17th century. Today this massive fortress is part of the World Heritage Site and is in the midst of a national reserve for protection of tigers.

275 solar years ago, on this day in 1741 AD, Alaska was discovered by Danish explorer, Vitus Bering. Bound for Russia in his ship, he discovered Alaska, northwest of Canada. Oil-rich Alaska was part of Czarist Russia until the year 1867, when it was sold for $7 million to the US.

210 solar years ago, on this day in 1806 AD, the Indian sepoys (English corruption of the Persian word 'sipahi' for soldier), rose against the British East India Company in Vellore, south India, in the first instance of large scale resentment against European colonial rule in the Subcontinent, predating by half-a-century the Indian Rebellion of 1857. The crafty British, who entered as traders, had spread their political and military tentacles in different parts of India, including the Deccan or the South, after treacherously attacking Fath Ali Khan Tipu Sultan of Mysore and seizing his dominions. The Vellore Uprising, though brief and brutally crushed by the British, was due to imposing of the dress code on the sepoys that offended both the Muslims and Hindus, since it required Muslims to shave their beards and the Hindus to wear European hats instead of the traditional turban. This fueled the already simmering nationalist sentiments and the sepoys stormed Vellore Fort, killed or wounded 200 British troops, raised the flag of Mysore Sultanate, and declared Fath Haider (the imprisoned son of the slain Tipu Sultan), as king. The uprising was poorly-organised and this enabled the British to rush reinforcements from nearby Madras and brutally crush the uprising, resulting in the death of over 800 Indians in a few hours.

165 solar years ago, on this day in 1851 AD, French artist, Louis-Jacques-Mande Daguerre, who invented the daguerreotype – the first practical process of photography – died at the age of 63. The first permanent photograph was made in 1826/27 by his compatriot, Joseph-Nicephore Niepce, but was of poor quality and required about eight hours' exposure time. The process that Daguerre developed required only 20 to 30 minutes. The two became partners in the development of Niepce's heliographic process from 1829 until the latter’s death in 1833. Daguerre continued his experiments and discovered that exposing an iodized silver plate in a camera would result in a lasting image after a chemical fixing process.

160 solar years ago, on this day in 1856 AD, Serbian-American inventor, electrical engineer, mechanical engineer, and physicist, Nikola Tesla, best known for his contributions to the design of the modern alternating current (AC) electricity supply system, was born in village of Smiljan, in present day Croatia in what was then part of the Austria-Hungarian Empire. He migrated to the US in 1884. Having discovered the benefits of a rotating magnetic field, the basis of most alternating-current machinery, he expanded its use in dynamos, transformers, and motors. Because alternating current could be transmitted over much greater distances than direct current. He died in the US at the age of 87.

145 solar years ago, on this day in 1871 AD, French novelist, critic, and essayist, Valentin Louis Georges Eugene Marcel Proust, was born near Paris. He wrote the novel “A la Recherche du temps Perdu” (In Search of Lost Time; earlier translated as Remembrance of Things Past), published in 7 parts 1913-to-1927.

123 lunar years ago, on this day in 1314 AH, the great pan-Islamist thinker and pioneer of the anti-colonial struggles, Seyyed Jamal od-Din Asadabadi, attained martyrdom in Istanbul at the age of 59 on being poisoned on the orders of the Ottoman Sultan, Abdul-Hamid II. Born in Asadabad near the western Iranian city of Hamedan, he honed his skills in religion, philosophy, astronomy, and history. He was well-versed in Arabic, Persian, Turkish, English, French, and Russian languages. He strove for Islamic solidarity and strongly opposed colonialists. At the age of 17, he started his travels abroad, first studying theology in Iraq, and then visiting India, at a crucial period in its history, a year after the British overthrew Wajed Ali Shah of the Naishapuri kingdom of Iranian origin of Awadh, and then in 1857 brutally crushed the uprising by massacring Muslims and exiling to Burma, the last king of the once mighty Timurid Mughal Empire, Bahador Shah Zafar. The young Jamal od-Din was profoundly affected by the events, and lived for several years in the semi-independent Muslim state of Haiderabad-Deccan under patronage of its famous prime minister, Salar Jung Mokhtar ol-Mulk. Here he countered through pamphlets and treatises the “naturist” views of the pro-British Sir Seyyed Ahmad Khan, the founder of the Anglo-Mohammadan College that later became Aligarh Muslim University. These were later published in book form for the first time in Haiderabad in 1881 under the title “Haqiqat-e Madhhab-e Naychari wa Bayan-e Hal-e Naychariyan” (Truth about the Neichari Sect and an Explanation of the Necharis). After a brief detention in Calcutta, he had to leave India under pressure from the British, and after performing the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca, he returned to Iran. A few years later in 1866 he left for Afghanistan to serve as advisor to Amir Dost Mohammad Khan. On being expelled from Kabul by the next ruler, Sher Ali Khan, he went to Egypt in 1871, where until his expulsion in 1879, he won several admirers and students – including Shaikh Mohammad Abduh, who wrote a commentary on the Nahj al-Balagha (the Collection of Imam Ali’s [AS] sermons, letters and maxims). Forced to leave Egypt, he went to Istanbul, from where he travelled around Europe, visiting Paris, London, Munich, Moscow and St. Petersburg. From France in 1884, he published the daily “al-Orwat al-Wosqa” and from Britain “Zia al-Khafeqin” to awaken the Muslims. He was invited back to Iran by Nasser od-Din Shah Qajar to serve as political advisor, but soon fell out with the autocratic king and took refuge in the holy shrine of Seyyed Abdul-Azim al-Hassani, before being expelled seven months later in 1891 to Iraq. He informed the leading marja’ of the time, Ayatollah Mirza Hassan Shirazi of the ruin brought on Iranian economy by granting of the tobacco concession to the British. The Ayatollah’s fatwa against tobacco consumption saved Iran. In 1892, he was invited by the Ottoman Sultan Abdul-Hamid to Istanbul, where several of his disciples visited him, including Mirza Reza Kermani, who assassinated Nasser od-Din Shah in 1896. Jamal od-Din Asadabadi eventually fell out with the Ottoman Sultan and was poisoned to death. His reformist and pan-Islamist ideas were opposed by colonial powers and the repressive Muslim regimes. Among his works is “ar-Radd ala ad-Dahriyyiin” (Refutation of the Materialists), in answer to Darwin's absurd theory of evolution titled “On the Origin of Species”. Seyyed Jamal od-Din, who at times called himself ‘Afghani’ in order to conceal his Iranian and Shi’a Muslim identity, profoundly impacted many thinkers of his age and the subsequent generations. Among these were the famous Persian-Urdu poet Mohammad Iqbal Lahori, Mohammad Ali Jinnah (Founder of Pakistan), and prominent Indian Muslim educationist, Abu’l Kalaam Azad. In Egypt, besides Abduh, he deeply influenced Rashid Redha, and Ali Abdur-Razeq, while in Turkey: Namik Kemal, Said Nursi and others. The Constitutional Movement that triumphed in Iran in 1905 was also influenced by him.

76 solar years ago, on this day in 1940 AD, during World War II, following the German occupation of France, Field Marshal Petain took charge of his defeated country as Prime Minister under Nazi protection, and transferred the capital from Paris to the central city of Vichy. Although Petain was one of the heroes of World War I, his serving of the Germans tarnished his image and led to his rejection by most French people. The free France National Committee under General Charles de Gaulle was set up in London to continue struggle against German occupation. After end of World War II, Petain was accused of treason and sentenced to death, and later commuted to life imprisonment. He died in prison in 1951.

70 solar years ago, on this day in 1946 AD, the acclaimed Iranian musician and Santour player, Habib Sama’i, passed away at the age of 45. His father was a musician and he became familiar with music in childhood and could play Santour at a young age. Later he mastered different instruments under Abul-Hassan Saba and groomed numerous students himself.

69 solar years ago, on this day in 1947 AD, Leader of the All India Muslim League, Mohammad Ali Jinnah, considered the Founder of Pakistan, was recommended by British Prime Minister Clement Attlee, as the first Governor-General of the new country to be born on August 14 the same year. A lawyer by profession and a brilliant orator, he led the struggle for a separate Muslim state in the Subcontinent, after leaving the Indian National Congress on being disillusioned by the policies of M.K. Gandhi. Born in Karachi into an Ismaili Khoja Shi’ite Muslim family of Gujarati origin on 25th December 1876, he later became an Ithna Ash’ari (Twelver) Shi’ite, and died in Karachi on 11th September 1948 after serving as Governor-General of Pakistan for a year and a month. Revered as “Qa’ed-e Azam” (Great Leader), his portrait still adorns Pakistan’s currency notes, while in Iran and Turkey, highways are named in his honour.

43 solar years ago, on this day in 1973 AD, the Bahamas Islands in the Caribbean Sea gained independence from 190 years of British occupation. Occupied by the Spanish after Christopher Columbus sighted them, they exchanged hands between the Britain and Spain in the 17th and 18th centuries, until the formal British annexation in 1783. The Bahamas are situated north of Cuba.

AS/ME