Today is Friday; 8th of the Iranian month of Mordad 1395 solar hijri; corresponding to 24th of the Islamic month of Shawwal 1437 lunar hijri; and July 29, 2016, of the Christian Gregorian Calendar.

1226 lunar years ago, on this day in 211 AH, the Sunni Muslim compiler of hadith, Abdur-Razzaq San'ani, passed away in Yemen at the age of 85. He was from San‘a, and traveled to Mecca, Medina, Syria and Iraq for study. It is obvious that he failed to approach the Infallible Imams of Prophet Mohammad's (SAWA) Ahl al-Bayt (Blessed Household) for authentic hadith, contenting himself with the narrations handed down from the Sahaba (Prophet’s companions), though he has admitted some of the merits of the Ahl al-Bayt. He went blind in the last years of his life. He was a memorizer of the Holy Qur'an, and his work on hadith is titled "Musannaf Abdur-Razzaq".

1147 solar years ago, on this day in 869 AD, according to the Gregorian solar calendar, is the birthday of the Lord of the Age, the Awaited Redeemer of mankind, Imam Mahdi (AS), the 12^th and Last Infallible Heir of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA). According to the lunar calendar the auspicious day is the 15^th of Sha’ban, a public holiday in Iran and other places. He was born in Samarra in Iraq and raised in secrecy by his father, Imam Hasan al-Askari (AS), so as to be safe from the prying eyes of the tyrannical regime, which aware of the prophecy of his birth and his universal mission, was making every attempt to prevent the birth of a child to the 11^th Imam. His mother was the virtuous Greek lady, Narjis – the Byzantine Emperor’s granddaughter, who was descended through her mother from Simeon, the famous disciple of Prophet Jesus (AS). The 12^th Imam, who is in occultation by the Will of God Almighty, will reappear in end times, along with Prophet Jesus as his lieutenant, to cleanse the world of all vestiges of oppression and corruption, by establishing the global government of peace, prosperity, and justice.

1112 solar years ago, on this day in 904 AD, Greek Muslim admiral, Raseq al-Wardami, sailing from Syria, took control of Thessalonica, the second largest city of the Byzantium Empire. After a week's stay, during which he seized some 60 ships and forced the Christians to free over 4,000 Muslim prisoners, he sailed back to the Levant. Born as a Christian, and named Leo by his parents, he was an officer in the Byzantine navy, before discovering the truth of Islam and joining the Muslims. Also known as Ghulam Zurafa, three years later in 907, he sailed up the Dardanelles and for a while besieged Constantinople, the capital of the Byzantine Empire. In 912, he and his fellow Greek Muslim admiral, Damian of Tarsus, known by his Muslim name, Ghulam Yazman, decisively defeated the Byzantine admiral, Himerios, off the island of Chios, in retaliation for an attack by Christians on the Arabs of Cyprus.

898 solar years ago, on this day in 1148 AD, the Siege of Damascus ended in a decisive victory for the Muslim defenders resulting in the disintegration of the Second Crusade. European Christian invaders, led by King Louis VII of France and Conrad III of Germany, had started the siege on June 24, but thanks to the stiff resistance of the people of Damascus and the timely arrival of fresh forces led by the Turkic ruler, Noor od-Din Zangi, they were decisively defeated five days later.

428 solar years ago, on this day in 1588 AD, in the Battle of Gravelines, English naval forces under the command of Charles Howard and Francis Drake defeated the Spanish Armada off the coast of Gravelines, France, by setting alight eight fire ships filled with pitch, gunpowder, and tar, and sending them downwind among the closely-anchored Spanish vessels. The threat of invasion of England by Spain was thus averted. 

322 solar years ago, on this day in 1694 AD, Shah Sulaiman I, the 8^th Emperor of the Safavid Dynasty of Iran, died after a reign of 28 years, and was succeeded by his son, Shah Sultan Hussain. Crowned as Shah Safi II on the death of his father, Shah Abbas II, he was brought up in the harem and had little experience of the world outside. He also suffered from poor health. The first year of his reign was markedly unsuccessful. A series of natural disasters, combined with devastating raids by the Cossack Stenka Razin on Iran’s Caspian Sea coast, convinced court astrologers that the coronation had taken place at the wrong time, and the ceremony was repeated on March 20, 1667, with the Shah taking the new name of Sulaiman I. He had little interest in administrative affairs, and left political decision-making to his grand viziers, whose power increased during his long reign. As a result, corruption became widespread and discipline in the army was dangerously lax. The Shah made no attempt to exploit the weakness of Safavid Iran’s traditional rival, the Ottoman Empire after the Turks suffered a serious defeat at the Battle of Vienna in 1683. During his reign, Iran also suffered raids by the Uzbeks and Kalmyks.

286 lunar years ago, on this day in 1151 AH, the pious scholar Mir Mohammad Hussain Ibn Mohammad Saleh, passed away. He was the maternal grandson of the celebrated scholar, Allamah Mohammad Baqer Majlisi. Among his works, is “Miftah al-Faraj”.

133 solar years ago, on this day in 1883 AD, the Italian politician, dictator and founder of the Fascist Party, Benito Mussolini, was born in a middle-class family in Italy. He started as a journalist and rapidly rose to political power in the ranks of Italy’s Fascist Party. As the totalitarian Prime Minister of Italy, he aligned himself with Nazi dictator, Adolf Hitler of Germany in World War II. Following devastating defeats by the Allied powers, he was removed from power in 1943 by his own party, and two years later, while trying to flee Italy, he was captured and summarily executed.

126 solar years ago, on this day in 1890 AD, the Dutch painter, Vincent Van Gogh, died at the age of 37 two days after a self inflicted wound. He initiated a new style in painting and has left behind several masterpieces such as “Sunflowers”, and “A Self-Portrait: With Bandaged Ear”.

66 solar years ago, on this day in 1950 AD, during the war imposed on Korea by the US, after four days, the No Gun Ri Massacre of over 300 Korean men, women and children by the American troops ended when the US Army 7^th Cavalry Regiment was withdrawn.

59 solar years ago, on this day in 1957 AD, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) was set up by the United Nations for supervision to guarantee the peaceful usage of nuclear energy and to prevent its usage for military purposes or production of weapons of mass destruction.  Based in the Austrian Capital, Vienna, the IAEA has come under the influence of world powers, especially the US, and is being used as a tool to pressure independent states by doctoring and politicizing reports of inspection. The self-imposed permanent members of the UN Security Council (the US, Britain, France, Russia and China), unfortunately, remain outside its supervision. In addition, because of US control, the IAEA has turned a blind eye to the possession of nuclear weapons by the illegal Zionist entity called Israel, subjecting NPT-signatory, Iran, to unjustified obstructions regarding peaceful use of nuclear energy.

17 solar years ago, on this day in 1999 AD, prominent Iranian researcher of rational sciences, Dr. Seyyed Jalal od-Din Mojtabavi, passed away at the age of 71. Born in Tehran, he obtained PhD in philosophy and joined Tehran University as an instructor. For 9 years he was chief of the Faculty of Literature and Humanities, in addition to being head of the philosophical group. Besides Islamic philosophy he was an authority on Greek and Roman philosophy, and has several writings and translations in this field to his credit. Dr. Mojtabavi’s translation of the holy Qur’an into Persian along with necessary explanations of the ayahs is considered one of the best works in this field.   

11 solar years ago, on this day in 2005 AD, scientists reported that a 10^th planet, bigger than Pluto, is the farthest-known object in the solar system. It was currently 9 billion miles away from the sun, or about three times Pluto's current distance from the Sun and orbited the Sun once every 560 years. It was temporarily named 2003 UB313 (Xena). With orbits significantly inclined to the others, the status as a planet of either or even Pluto, is a subject for debate. They are in a region of numerous frozen comet-like objects beyond Neptune - the Kuiper Belt.

9 solar years ago, on this day in 2007 AD, Chairman of the Assembly of Experts, Ayatollah Ali Akbar Faiz Meshkini, passed away at the age of 86. Born in Meshkin Shahr in Ardabil Province, he studied at the Qom Seminary under Grand Ayatollah Seyyed Hussain Borujerdi and the Father of the Islamic Revolution, Imam Khomeini (RA). He joined the movement against the despotic rule of the Shah, and as a result suffered imprisonment and banishment to the remote parts of the country. He was Friday Prayer Leader of Qom for several years, and his sermons were eagerly listened for their religious and political analyses.

6 solar years ago, on this day in 2010 AD, the government of President Dr. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announced Iran’s readiness for immediate talks with the US, Russia and France over an exchange of nuclear fuel. Iran said it was also against stockpiling higher enriched uranium, which it had succeeded in enriching to 20 percent purity to demonstrate the ability of its scientists, following politicization of its peaceful nuclear programme by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on the orders of Washington. The Americans, instead of coming to terms with Iran, resorted to military threats, assassination of Iranian scientists, imposing of more illegal sanctions, freezing of Iranian funds abroad, and pressuring other countries to stop trade with Tehran. After over a decade of intransigence and failure to stop centrifuges from spinning in Iran, the US, as part of the 5+1 group of countries, reached accord in Vienna earlier this month, acknowledging the right of the Islamic Republic to continue with its peaceful nuclear activities.

AS/ME