Today is Sunday; 10th of the Iranian month of Mordad 1395 solar hijri; corresponding to 26th of the Islamic month of Shawwal 1437 lunar hijri; and July 31, 2016, of the Christian Gregorian Calendar.

1161 solar years ago, in 855 AD, the jurisprudent, Ahmad bin Mohammad bin Hanbal ash-Shaybani, passed away in his hometown Baghdad at the age of 77. His father was an army officer of the Abbasid regime in Khorasan. After studying under Abu Yusuf, a student of the Iranian Sunni jurist, Abu Hanifa, he travelled widely around Arabia, Iraq, and Syria, to collect hadith, before returning to Baghdad, where he was not welcomed for his views against the Mu’tazalites (Rationalists). He suffered imprisonment under the caliph Ma'moun; flogging on the orders of his successor, Mu'tasim; and was banished from Baghdad by the next caliph, Watheq. It was only when the tyrant, Mutawakkil, assumed power as caliph that he was welcomed back in Baghdad. Ibn Hanbal is the founder of one of the four court sanctioned schools of Sunni jurisprudence, named after him, as Hanbali. His principal work is a collection of hadith, known as al-Musnad in which he has also included hadith on the merits of the Ahl al-Bayt or Blessed Household of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA). He, however, perhaps for political reasons, failed to have direct contact with the Infallible Imams of his time, such as Imam Reza, Imam Jawad, and Imam Hadi (peace upon them) – respectively the 8th, 9th and 10th Infallible Heirs of the Prophet, for recourse to authentic hadith from the right sources, although he has cited in his collection the famous hadith "the one who dies without the recognizing the Imam of the Age, dies the death of ignorance."

1127 lunar years ago, on this day in 310 AH, the renowned Iranian Islamic historian and exegete of the holy Qur’an, Mohammad bin Jarir Tabari, passed away in Baghdad at the age of 86. Born in Amol in Tabaristan in present day Mazandaran near the Caspian Sea, he left his hometown at the age of 12 to study in Rayy, where he remained for five years studying under Islam and history and was introduced to the pre-Islamic history as well. He then went to the Abbasid capital, Baghdad, for further study and in his late twenties took up travel, visiting Basra, Kufah and Wasset to meet scholars, and later going to Syria, Palestine and Egypt. After staying for three years in Egypt he returned to Baghdad, performing the Hajj pilgrimage on the way. He never married and never took a government job or judicial position. He retained close ties with his hometown, Amol, and returned at least twice, the last time in 290 AH at the age 66. He initially followed the Shafei School of jurisprudence, but later in life came up with a jurisprudential school of his own named “Jariri” after him, which, however, did not survive. Tabari’s monumental work is titled “Tarikh ar-Rusol wa’l-Mulouk” (History of Prophets and Kings). It is a universal history from the time of creation to around 302 AH, and is renowned for its detail and accuracy concerning Muslim history, as well as the history of pre-Islamic Iran, Rome, Greece, Egypt and other places. His exegesis of the holy Qur’an is titled “Jame’ al-Bayan”. He also wrote a two-volume book titled “al-Wilayah” in which he has collected various sources of the historical event of Ghadeer-Khom, where on 18^th Zilhijja, 10 AH, Prophet Mohammad (SAWA) while returning from his farewell Hajj pilgrimage, was commanded by God Almighty to proclaim Imam Ali ibn Abi Taleb (AS) as vicegerent.

524 solar years ago, on this day in 1492 AD, Jews were expelled from Spain as per the Alhambra Edict issued jointly by the Catholic Monarchs, Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon, less than three months after the surrender of Granada, the last of the Muslim emirates in the Iberian Peninsula. Jews, who for centuries had peacefully flourished under Muslim rule in Spain as "People of the Book" and prospered as merchants and scholars, were harshly persecuted by the Christians at the end of the Islamic period. Many were forced to become Christians, and it is said over 130,000 Jews decided to leave for Muslim North Africa or parts of the Ottoman Turkish Empire, where they could live peacefully under Islamic rule. Still many other Jews were massacred by Spanish Christians. The Alhambra Edict was formally revoked almost five centuries later on 16 December 1968, following the Second Vatican Council.

358 solar years ago, on this day in 1658 AD, Mohi ud-Din Mohammad Aurangzeb proclaimed himself the 6th Grand Moghul Emperor of the Subcontinent after defeating and executing his brothers in the war of succession, and imprisoning his father, Shah Jahan – the builder of the famous monument Taj Mahal. He took the title of Alamgir or Word-Grasper and during his 50-year reign the empire reached the zenith of expansion, stretching from northern boundaries of Afghanistan to the southernmost tip of India, and from border with Iran in the west to the borders of Burma in the east. Born of an Iranian mother – Arjmand Banu Begum Mumtaz Mahal, the granddaughter of E'temad od-Dowla Mirza Ghiyas Beg Tehrani – he was prolific both in Arabic and Persian, and carried on correspondence with the Safavid Shahs of Iran and the Turkish Ottoman Sultans. His death led to the rapid decline of Moghul power in India founded by the famous Central Asian adventurer Zahir od-Din Babur – a great grandson of the fearsome Turkic conqueror, Amir Timur, and protégé of Shah Ismael I, the Founder of the Safavid Dynasty.

210 solar years ago, on this day in 1806 AD, the Cape region in southern Africa, flanked by the Atlantic and Indian Oceans, was occupied by British forces. This region is home to gold and diamond mines and has therefore been at the center of attention of colonialists.

144 lunar years ago, on this day in 1293 AH, the Source of Emulation, Grand Ayatollah Seyyed Abdul-Mohammad Musavi, passed away. A child prodigy he memorized the holy Qur’an when only seven years old and at the age of 24 attained the status of Ijtehad – or independent reasoning on basis of the Holy Qur’an and Prophet's Hadith. He was one of the prominent lecturers of and his services include establishment of seminaries and other social activities. He wrote several books, including the treatise titled "Zakhirat al-Ebaad".

136 solar years ago, on this day in 1880 AD, Munshi Premchand, famous for his modern Urdu-Hindi literature, was born near Benares in northern India. He learnt Urdu and Persian in childhood, and years later taught himself English. After his mother's death, he sought solace in fiction, and developed a fascination for books, especially after hearing stories from the Persian-language fantasy epic "Tilism-e Hoshruba" His writings prominently featured realism, describing the problems of the poor and the urban middle-class. He used literature for the purpose of arousing public awareness about national and social issues and often wrote on topics related to corruption, child widowhood, prostitution, feudal system, poverty, colonialism and the freedom movement. He died in 1936 at the age of 56 years. Among his works mention could be made of “Soz-e Watan”, “Jalwa-e Isaar”, “Bazaar-e Hosn”, and “Maidan-e Amal”.

123 solar years ago, on this day in 1893 AD, Fatema Jinnah, one of the leading Founding Mothers of Pakistan was born in Karachi into an Ismaili Shi'ite family and later in life became Ithna Ash'ari or Twelver Shi'ite. She was the younger sister of the Founder of Pakistan, Mohammad Ali Jinnah, and was a dental surgeon by profession. She actively participated in politics, and was an influential political figure in the movement for independence from British colonial rule. After the independence, and following the death of her brother, she continued to work for the welfare of the Pakistani people though charities and the institutions. In 1965, she ran for president and it is widely believed that elections were rigged by incumbent President Field Marshal Ayub Khan to deprive her of possible win. She died in Karachi in 1967 and is commonly known in Pakistan as Mader-e Millat (Mother of the Nation).

93 solar years ago, on this day in 1923 AD, American chemist and inventor, Stephanie Kwolek, was born. Shortly after graduating with a bachelor's degree in chemistry (1946), she began a career at DuPont's textile fibers department in Buffalo, New York. Kwolek was assigned to search for a new, high-performance fiber that would be acid-and base-resistant and stable at high temperatures, suitable to replace steel in radial tyres. After extensive experimentation, she created a polymer solution which, when spun into a fibre, was five times stronger than steel and had half the density of fiberglass. It was named Kevlar. Today, this fibre is used to make bullet-proof jackets, military helmets, aircraft parts, inflatable boats, gloves, rope, and building materials.

76 solar years ago, on this day in 1940 AD, Indian independence activist, Udham Singh, who assassinated British Lieutenant Governor of Punjab, Michael O'Dwyer, to avenge the 1919 Jallianwalla Bagh Massacre, was executed. He used to call himself Ram Mohammad Singh Azad, symbolizing the three major religions of India: Hinduism, Islam and Sikhism.

72 solar years ago, on this day in 1944 AD, French author, Antoine de Saint-Exupery, died in a plane crash during World War II at the age of 44, while on duty of transportation of postal packages. Among his books are: “The Little Prince”, “Southern Mail” and “Night Flight”.

56 solar years ago, on this day in 1960 AD, American Black Muslim Leader, Elijah Mohammad, called for creation of a separate Black State in the US for people of African origin, who form almost 20 percent of the population, and whose ancestors were abducted from African and forced into slavery in North America.

51 lunar years ago, on this day in 1386 AH, Ayatollah Seyyed Mohammad Ali Hibat-od-Din Shahrestani, passed away at the age of 85 in Iraq. Born in Holy Karbala, he completed his higher studies at the famous seminary of Holy Najaf, and was active in both the religious and social spheres; writing books and personally taking part in the battles against the British occupiers of Iraq. He served Iraq as Head of the Judiciary, Minister of Islamic Affairs, and parliamentary representative. He strove for the unity of the Islamic world, and cooperated with the famous Egyptian activist, Sheikh Mohammad Abduh – the disciple of Iran’s Seyyed Jamal od-Din Asadabadi. Among the books written by him are a series of children’s books, the “Tafsir al-Mohit” exegesis of the holy Qur’an, the “Nahdhat-al-Hussaini” on the philosophy behind the martyrdom of Imam Husain (AS), and “Hikmat-al-Ahkam” on jurisprudential laws.

45 solar years ago, on this day in 1971 AD, US astronaut, Dave Scott, became the first person to drive a vehicle on the Moon - the battery-powered Lunar Rover (LRV) - as part of the Apollo 15 mission to the mountainous Hadley-Apennine region. This LRV, the first to be carried on an Apollo mission, weighed 209 kg and folded into a space 1.5-by-0.5 meters. Each wheel was independently driven by ¼ horsepower electric motor. The car travelled 28 km and collected about 76 kg of lunar materials to return to Earth.

10 solar years ago, on this day in 2006 AD, a year after his proposal for exchange of nuclear fuel was rejected by the US, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad brushed aside an illegal UN Security Council resolution demanding that Iran should suspend uranium enrichment by August 31. He said that as per NPT and IAEA rules, Iran will continue its peaceful nuclear programme, and no pressures or threats by the nuclear-armed powers could force Iran to give up its inalienable right to develop nuclear energy for producing electricity, manufacturing medicines, and use in various industrial projects. After years of illegal sanctions, the West finally acknowledged Iran’s right to continue its peaceful nuclear programme in Vienna last month.

6 solar years ago, on this day in 2010 AD, UNESCO added seven cultural sites to its World Heritage List, including the historic bazaar in the northwestern Iranian city of Tabriz, and the Sheikh Safi od-Din Khaneqah and Mausoleum Ensemble in Ardabil, northwestern Iran, which is the resting place of the great Sufi scholar who was the ancestor of the Safavid Emperors. Also added to the list were the Jantar Mantar astronomical observation site in India; the historic villages of Hahoe and Yangdong in South Korea, Australia's penal colony sites where criminals from England were confined by the British; the Turaif District in Saudi Arabia from where the seditious Wahhabi cult spread its tentacles over the Arabian Peninsula,; the and the Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands, where the US criminally conducted atomic bomb experiments in the 1940s and 1950s, almost totally destroying marine life and the atmosphere.

7 solar years ago, on this day in 2009 AD, Takfiri terrorists backed by Saudi Arabia triggered bomb blasts near five mosques of Shi’a Muslims in Baghdad, martyring over 30 people, in an apparent coordinated attack that targeted worshippers leaving the weekly Friday prayers.

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