Today is Saturday; 2nd of the Iranian month of Mordad 1395 solar hijri; corresponding to 18th of the Islamic month of Shawwal 1437 lunar hijri; and July 23, 2016, of the Christian Gregorian Calendar.

1068 lunar years ago, on this day in 368 AH, the pleasure-seeking Ezz od-Dowla Daylami, son of Moiz od-Dowla the Buwaihid conqueror of Baghdad, was killed in battle with his cousin, Adhud od-Dowla, the son of Rukn od-Dowla, near the River Tigris after rebelling against the central authority of the then Shiraz-based Buwaihid confederacy. Adhud od-Dowla, a few years later after the passing away of his father, became the senior-most Buwaihid Amir of Iraq and Fars, at a time when Baghdad was wracked by violence and instability. He restored peace and patronized scholars such as the celebrated Shaikh Mufid, besides renovating the holy shrines in Najaf and Karbala. In addition, he is credited with sponsoring several scientific projects. An observatory was built by him in Isfahan, and the dam known till this day as “Band-e Amir” was built on his orders between Shiraz and Istakhr to irrigate some 300 villages in Fars Province. Among his other constructions was the digging of the Haffar Canal joining the Karun River to the Arvand Roud at the confluence of the Rivers Tigris and Euphrates. The port of Khorramshahr is built on the Haffar, at its joining point with the Arvand Roud. He embellished Baghdad with numerous public buildings including the famous public hospital known as “Bimaristan-e Adhudi”, where the great Iranian physician Zakariyya Razi used to practice. It is worth noting that the Commander of the Faithful, Imam Ali (AS), had centuries earlier prophesied the coming to power of the Iranian Buwaihid Dynasty and the death of one cousin at the hands of the other with the words: “The licentious son of the one-handed will be killed by his cousin, beside the Tigris.” The reference one-handed is to Moiz od-Dowla who had lost one of his hands in a battle.

1019 solar years ago, on this day in 997 AD, Nuh II, ruler of the Iranian Samanid Empire of Central Asia died in his capital Bukhara at the age of 34 after a reign of 21 years that saw the gradual decline of the dynasty, as a result of rebellions by refractory governors and encroachment by the Qarakhanid Turks from the north. Shortly after his ascension, the Qarakhanids invaded and captured the upper Zarafshan Valley, where the Samanid silver mines were located. Four years later in 980 they struck again seizing the important trade town of Isfijab (presently in southern Kazakhstan). In the southwest in 982 Nuh II mobilized an army in Khorasan that was initially successfully against the fellow-Iranian Buwaiyhid Empire, but his forces were subsequently crushed. An invasion of Samanid state was prevented only by the sudden death in Baghdad of the powerful Buwaiyhid ruler, Adhud od-Dowla Daylami. In 991, Boghra Khan, the Qarakhanid ruler launched a full-scale invasion of the Samanid Empire, and the next year briefly occupied Bukhara, but his death emboldened Nuh II to retake his capital. The invasion of Transoxania signaled a definitive shift from Iranian to Turkic predominance in Central Asia, although the Qarakhanids became assimilated into the Perso-Arab Muslim culture of the region. In Khorasan, Nuh II’s rewarding of territories to the former Samanid vassal, Sebuktagin and his son Mahmoud of Ghazna, for providing military help against rebellious governors, further weakened the empire. Son and successor of Mansour I, on his death Nuh II was succeeded by his son, Mansour II. The 180-year rule of the Samanid Dynasty saw the birth of modern Persian language and literature in Arabic script, in addition to the patronizing of Arabic language for religious texts.

839 lunar years ago, on this day in 598 AH, the prominent theologian, Mohammad Ibn Ahmad Ibn Idris al-Hilli, passed away at the age of 55. Born in the Iraqi city of Hillah, he was a child prodigy and became a prominent theologian at a fairly young age. He believed that selecting the right path is the duty of every sane and grown up person, and anyone who does not make use of this blessing of the intellect has committed a self-destructive blunder. Among the valuable books written by this great Islamic scholar is "as-Sara’er".

697 solar years ago, on this day in 1319 AD, Knights of the Christian Hospitaller Order won a naval encounter against the Aydinid Turks off the island of Chios in what is now Greece. Founded in 1308 by Aydinoghlu Mohammad Bey on the western coast of modern Turkey on the decline of the Seljuq Sultanate of Roum, the Aydinids, during their century-odd sway until absorption by the expanding Ottoman Empire, were a major naval power and kept the Christian Genoese and Venetian fleets in check in the Aegean Sea. The dynasty that controlled the port of Smyrna (modern Izmir) has left important architectural works, principally in Birgi and Seljuk, its capital cities. The modern city of Aydın was named after the dynasty.

644 solar years ago, on this day in 1372 AD, Krishnaraja of Yijaynagar, whose seizure of the fortress of Mudkul brought about war with the Bahmani Kingdom of Iranian origin of the Deccan in southern India, was decisively defeated by Mohammad Shah I. After being driven all the way to his capital, the Raja begged for peace to persuade the Bahmani Sultan to lift the siege and return to Gulbarga.

195 solar years ago, on this day in 1821 AD, Christian rebels stormed the Monemvasia Castle in the Ottoman Province of “Yunanistan” (as the land known as Greece today was called during almost four centuries of Turkish rule), and massacred over 3,000 Muslims. The rebels, taking advantage of the weakness of the Ottoman Empire, resorted to organized killings of Muslims and destruction of mosques that made the Sultan in Istanbul call on the Egyptian governor, Mohammad Ali Pasha, to crush the rebellion. The Egyptian forces led by the governor’s son, Ibrahim Pasha, arrived in “Yunanistan” and quickly restored order to this Ottoman Province by crushing the rebels. This gave a pretext to Britain, France and Russia to intervene and internationalize the rebellion, which because of direct European military measures forced the Egyptians and Ottomans to retreat by 1830, when as per the London Protocol, a new country with the ancient name of Greece, was created. The Greeks immediately set about the ethnic cleansing of Turks and Muslims through massacres and expulsion, as well as conversion of mosques into Churches, so that today hardly any trace of several centuries of Ottoman rule remains.

183 lunar years ago, on this day in 1254 AH, the well-known Islamic scholar and theologian, Mohaddith Mirza Hussain Noori, was born in the northern Iranian city of Nour in Mazandaran. Following the completion of his preliminary studies, he strove to scrutinize the vast hadith literature and became an authority in this regard. He is the author of several valuable books, including "Shaakh-e Touba", and "Shehab os-Saqeb” on the Imam of the Age, and the encyclopedic work in over twenty volumes titled, “Mustadrik Wasa’el ash-Shi’a”. He was the teacher of Shaikh Abbas Qomi, the compiler of the prayer-supplication manual, “Mafatih al-Jenan” or Keys to Paradise.

176 solar years ago, on this day in 1840 AD, the Province of Canada was created by the British by merging Upper and Lower Canada, following rebellions and fears of breakaway from the crown like the 13 colonies of New England that seceded from London’s rule to set up the United States of America (USA). In 1867 with the inclusion of more British colonies of the remote and almost uninhabited areas of Northern America, the Confederation of Canada was formed, extending from the US borders till the Arctic Circle.

137 solar years ago, on this day in 1879 AD, the acclaimed German Orientologist and Iranologist, Ernst Herzfeld, was born. He was an expert in deciphering the writings and languages of ancient nations, and lectured for several years at Berlin University on the history of Persia and Mesopotamia. He managed to read and translate the cuneiform inscriptions at the ruins of Persepolis. He published almost 190 books, treatises, and articles on the history and language of Iran and the divine religion of Islam. Among his important books, mention can be made of “Iran in the Ancient Times”. He died in 1947.

71 solar years ago, on this day in 1945 AD, France’s Marshal Henri Petain, who had headed the pro-Nazi Vichy government during World War Two, went on trial, charged with treason. He was condemned to death but his sentence was commuted. He died in prison on this date in 1951.

64 solar years ago, on this day in 1952 AD General Mohammad Najib led the Free Officers Movement (formed by Colonel Jamal Abdun-Nasser, the real power behind the coup) in overthrowing King Farouq and thus ending a century and half rule of the Khedive dynasty of Egypt founded by the Ottoman Albanian General, Mohammad Ali Pasha.

53 solar years ago, on this day in 1963 AD, following the illegal imprisonment of the Father of the Islamic Revolution, Imam Khomeini (RA) by the British-installed and US-backed Pahlavi regime, leading ulema of the holy cities of Qom and Mashhad converged on Tehran and released a statement acknowledging his religious authority as Marja’ or Source of Emulation for Muslims. The regime, in a bid to pacify the protesting masses, shifted the Imam from prison to a house where he continued to be kept under detention. The people and ulema, however, refused to be deceived and continued their protests. The regime panicked and sent the Imam into exile to neighbouring Turkey, from where a year later he moved to holy Najaf in Iraq.

49 solar years ago, on this day in 1967 AD, the 12th Street Riot in Detroit, Michigan, in the predominantly African American inner city, resulted in the death of 43 people, injury to over 2000 others, and homelessness of 5,000 black people. Over 1,400 buildings were burned.

46 solar years ago, on this day in 1970 AD, Qaboos Ibn Sa’id became Sultan of Oman after overthrowing his father, Sa’id Ibn Taimur. Educated at Pune (India) and Britain, he never remarried after divorcing his wife after a brief marriage in the 1970s, nor has he any children.

17 solar years ago, on this day in 1999 AD, Morocco's King Hassan II died at the age of 70 after ruling for 38 years. He was a repressive ruler and brutally suppressed any opposition. At the same time, he was over friendly with the enemies of Islam, especially the illegal Zionist entity, despite the claim of his family to be descendents of Imam Hasan al-Mujtaba (AS), the elder grandson and 2nd Infallible Successor of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA).  He was succeeded by his son, Mohammad VI.

9 solar years ago, on this day in 2007 AD, Mohammad Zaher Shah, the former King of Afghanistan, died as a private citizen in Kabul at the age of 93 years. In 1973, he was deposed by his cousin, brother-in-law, and former Prime Minister Mohammad Daoud Khan, while in Italy for eye surgery, after a reign of 40 years – having ascended the throne in 1933 on the assassination of his father, Mohammad Nader Shah, the British installed king. On his return to Afghanistan in 2002 after an absence of 29 years, Zaher Shah was given the honourary title “Father of the Nation”.

6 solar years ago, on this day in 2010 AD, the largest recorded hailstone fell in the US fell in Vivian, South Dakota, 20 cm in length, weighing 880 grams and a 47.3 cm circumference. A larger hailstone fell in the Gopalganj District of Bangladesh on 14 April 1986 weighing 1.02 kg that killed 92 people during a hailstorm.

5 solar years ago, on this day in 2011 AD, in Iran, a pair of US-Zionist agents firing from a motorcycle martyred 35-year Dariush Rezaei-Nejad, an electronics masters’ student at Khwajeh Naseer University in Tehran. He was driving home with his wife (Shohreh Pirani) after picking up their daughter from kindergarten. His wife was also wounded in the attack. Rezaei-Nejad was the fourth scientist killed by bomb, gunshot or poisoning by US-Israelis funded terrorists since 2007. The pair of terrorists, riding a motor cycle had actually been assigned to assassinate Dariush Rezaei, a physics professor whose area of expertise was neutron transport, but targeted Rezaei-Nejad instead. On August 2, 2011, German news website Spiegel Online published an article titled "Mossad behind Tehran Assassinations.”

5 solar years ago, on this day in 2011 AD, in Bahrain, the venerable religious leader, Seyyed Abdullah al-Ghoreifi disclosed that agents of the Aal-e Khalifa minority regime have demolished 30 mosques during their so far 5-month-old state terrorism against the long suppressed Shi’ite Muslim majority of that Persian Gulf island state.

AS/ME