Today is Wednesday; 13th of the Iranian month of Mordad 1395 solar hijri; corresponding to 29th of the Islamic month of Shawwal 1437 lunar hijri; and August 3, 2016, of the Christian Gregorian Calendar.

1511 lunar years ago, on this day, 72 years before hijra (corresponding to 549 AD), Imran Ibn Shayba (Abdul-Muttaleb), known as Abu Taleb, the beloved uncle and guardian of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA) was born in Mecca. As consanguineous brother of the deceased Abdullah (the Prophet’s father), he took charge of his 8-year orphaned nephew on the death of his own father, Abdul-Muttaleb. He became head of the noble Bani Hashem clan following the death of his elder brother, Zubayr Ibn Abdul-Muttaleb. He subsequently became known as “Shaikh al-Bat-ha” (Senior-Most Chief of Mecca). As a follower of the monotheistic creed of his ancestor, Prophet Abraham (PuH), he firmly believed in the message of Islam when God formally appointed his 40-year old nephew as the Last and Greatest Messenger to mankind. He thereafter protected the Prophet against the taunts and plots of the pagan Arabs. When the Meccans imposed the socio-economic boycott on the Prophet, he took his nephew and the whole neo-Muslim community under his protection to the safety of the gorge outside Mecca which is still called “She'b Abi Taleb”. The greatest contribution of Abu Taleb to Islam were his faithful and steadfast sons, Ja'far, Aqeel, and especially the Commander of the Faithful, Imam Ali (AS), whom God appointed as vicegerent to the Prophet. The marriage of Imam Ali (AS) with Hazrat Fatema Zahra (SA) meant that along with the Prophet, Abu Taleb became the grandfather of Imam Hasan (AS) and Imam Husain (AS) and subsequently the noble ancestor of the Ahl al-Bayt and all Seyyeds. His death at the age of 70, over two years before hijra, emboldened the pagan Arabs to plot against the Prophet, who on the command of God Almighty migrated to Medina.

1093 lunar years ago, on this day in 341 AH, Ma'adh Abu Tamim al-Mu'iz le Din-Allah, assumed power as the fourth caliph of the Fatemid Ismaili Shi’ite Muslim dynasty of North Africa in his capital Mahdiyya in what is now Tunisia. He reigned for 22 years during which he conquered Egypt, where in 362 AH, he shifted his capital to the newly built city “al-Qahera” (Cairo), built by his loyal Sicilian general, Jowhar as-Saqali. Jowhar, an ethnic Greek who embraced the truth of Islam and became a devout follower of the Ahl al-Bayt, also built in Cairo the grand al-Azhar Mosque, which derives its name from “az-Zahra” the famous epithet of Hazrat Fatema (SA), the daughter of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA). The Fatemids restored the full form of the “Azan” from the minarets of al-Azhar and other mosques, by bearing testimony to the vicegerency of Imam Ali (AS) after the mission of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA). The phrase "hayya ala khayr il-amal" (hasten to the best of deeds), which was dropped from the “Azan” by caliph Omar ibn Khattab, after the passing away of the Prophet, was also revived.

674 solar years ago, on this day in 1342 AD, the army of Castile, assisted by Christian mercenaries from other parts of Europe started the siege of the Spanish Muslim port city of al-Jazeera al-Khazra (Algeciras in Spanish), which was part of the Marinid Empire of Morocco. The siege lasted for twenty one months, and the starving population of 30,000 was forced to surrender through deceit.

669 solar years ago, on this day in 1347 AD, Hassan Gangu Bahmani titled Zafar Khan, was unanimously elected king with the title Ala od-Din Shah, following his victory over rivals, who two years earlier had joined together to declare the Deccan or southern India independent from the tyrannical rule of Sultan Mohammad bin Tughlaq of Hindustan or northern subcontinent by placing Naseer od-Din Ismail as the Shah at Dowlatabad. Ala od-Din Shah Bahmani, who claimed descent from the legendry Iranian king, Bahman son of Isfandiyar, shifted his capital further south to Gulbarga, and expanded his kingdom in all directions during his 11-year rule. The dynasty he founded ruled for over 170 years – first from Gulbarga and then from Bidar – promoting Islam and Persian language, culture and architecture in southern India, by virtue of its direct sea-route contact with Iran, from where poets, scholars, artists, statesmen, traders and soldiers of fortune flocked to the Bahmani court. The Bahmani Sultans respected Sufi saints and greatly revered Shah Ne’matollah Wali of Kerman and his devotion to the school of the Ahl al-Bayt of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA). The Bahmani Empire – that stretched from the western to the eastern coasts of Peninsular India – split into five independent Persianate kingdoms that ensured the independence of the Deccan from Hindustan for another 170 more years until the conquest by Aurangzeb, the Mughal Emperor. Of these five, the three powerful dynasties (Nizamshahis of Ahmadnagar, Adelshahis of Bijapur and Qutbshahis of Golkandah-Haiderabad) followed the Shi’ite Muslim creed and regarded the Safavid rulers of Iran as their emperor, rather than the Mughal Emperors.

597 lunar years ago, on this day in 839 AH, Taj od-Din Mohammad Shah, the 3^rd ruler of the Ghorid kingdom of Malwa in central India, was murdered only 4 years after succeeding his famous father, Husam od-Din Hoshang Shah, by his vizier, Mahmoud Khalji, who took the title of Ala od-Din Mahmoud Shah and established the Khalji dynasty that ruled the small kingdom for the next 96 years till its annexation by Bahadur Shah of Gujarat. Shadiabad (now called Mandu), the capital of Malwa is famous for its Islamic style architectural wonders, built by the Ghorids, Khaljis, and later under the brief rule of Baz Bahadur. Malwa was a Persianate society throughout its 170-year history as an independent kingdom under three separate dynasties, with its rich contribution to Persian arts and literature.

524 solar years ago, on this day in 1492 AD, the Italian Navigator, Christopher Columbus, commissioned by Spain to find a route to India through the Atlantic Ocean, commenced his journey. Columbus set sail with three ships and 120 sailors from the Spanish Port of Palos and after 33 days of voyage landed on Salvador Island in the Caribbean Sea, thinking he had reached India. He thus accidentally discovered the American continent, and is believed to have been guided to the New World by Spanish Muslim sailors.

233 lunar years ago, on this day in 1205 AH, the great scholar, Mohammad Baqer ibn Mohammad Akmal, popular as “Waheed-e Asr” (Unique of the Age) and also known as Allamah Waheed Behbahani, passed away at the age of 90 in Karbala in Iraq and was laid to rest in the holy mausoleum of Imam Husain (AS). Born in Isfahan, he was the grandson (that is, daughter’s son) of the celebrated scholar, Allamah Mohammad Baqer Majlisi. On the occupation of Safavid Iran by the Afghans he moved to Behbahan near the Persian Gulf, before migrating to Iraq, where he headed the Usuli intellectual challenge to the Akhbari dominance led by Yusuf al-Bahrani. Waheed Behbahani, at first tentatively challenged the neo-Akhbari tendencies, before building up followers and scholastic confidence to lead the Usuli revival. The Akhbaris believed that the sole sources of law were the Holy Qur'an and the Hadith, in particular the Four Books accepted by Shi’a Muslims, maintaining that everything in these sources was in principle reliable, and outside them there was no authority competent to enact or deduce further legal rules. The Usuli believed that the Hadith collections contained narrations of very varying degrees of reliability, and that critical analysis was necessary to assess their authority. On this view, the task of the “faqih” (or jurisprudent) is to establish intellectual principles of general application, known as usul al-fiqh, from which particular rules may be derived by way of deduction: accordingly, “ijtihad” or legal scholarship has the tools in principle for resolving any situation. Known as “Ostad-e Koll” (or Master of All), and “Muhaqqiq Thalith” (or 3^rd Great Researcher), Allamah Waheed Behbahani groomed a large number of scholars and wrote several books, such as “al-Ijtehad wa’l-Akhbar”, “Masabih az-Zalam” (in 11 volumes), “ar-Rasa’el al-Usuliyyah”, “Tanbih al-Ghafeleen wa Ayqaz al-Raqedeen”, “at-Tuhfat al-Husainiyyah”, and Persian translation of the holy Qur’an.

221 solar years ago, on this day in 1795 AD, the Treaty of Greenville was signed at Fort Greenville in Ohio, following the loss of the Battle of Fallen Timbers the previous year by the Amerindians. The parties to the treaty were a coalition of Amerindian tribes, known as the Western Confederacy, and the United States. It established what became known as the Greenville Treaty Line, which was for several years a boundary between Amerindian territory and lands open to European settlers, who frequently violated the borders and continued to encroach on native lands. The treaty also established the "annuity" system: yearly grants of federal money and supplies of calico cloth to Amerindian tribes and thus institutionalized US government influence in tribal affairs, giving outsiders considerable control over the life of natives. In exchange for goods, such as blankets, utensils, and domestic animals, the Amerindian tribes ceded to the US large parts of modern-day Ohio, the future site of downtown Chicago, the Fort Detroit area, Maumee, Ohio Area and the Lower Sandusky Ohio area. The US pursued a policy of genocide to wipe out native Amerindians and occupy their homelands.

209 lunar years ago, on this day in 1228 AH, the Golestan Treaty was imposed on Qajarid Iran by Czarist Russia in the village of the same name in the Caucasus, following ten years of warfare that led to the loss of vast areas of northwestern Iran. As per the treaty that was mediated by the crafty British, the Russians occupied what are now the republics of Daghestan and Georgia, as well as Baku in northern Azerbaijan. Thirteen years later in 1241 AH, Russia once again invaded Iran, and occupied other regions, such as Armenia, Nakhchivan and what is now the Republic of Azerbaijan.

172 solar years ago, on this day in 1844 AD, Dieulafoy, the French archaeologist and civil engineer who in 1884-86 undertook major excavations at the ancient site of Susa (modern Shush, Iran) uncovering the palaces of the ancient Persian kings Darius I the Great and Artaxerxes II, was born. He was helped by a French physician at the Persian court to reopen the 1852 excavations done by W.K. Loftus. Exploration resulted in revealing part of the palace and other structures, and in settling the topographical details of the city. He also recovered unique and beautiful features of art and architecture, including the pillars with capitals of bulls' heads, three great porticoes and the hall of columns, the frieze of lions, and that of archers now in the Louvre.

102 solar years ago, on this day in 1914 AD, the Panama Canal was officially inaugurated. The construction was started by French engineers, from whom the Americans took over and completed the work. This 68-kilometer canal links the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.

86 solar years ago, on this day in 1930 AD, Grand Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Sistani was born in the holy city of Mashhad, Khorasan, northeastern Iran, in a family of religious scholars. During the Safavid period, his ancestor Seyyed Mohammad was appointed by Shah Sultan Hussain to the office of Sheikh ol-Islam in Sistan province, where he settled, and hence became known as "Sistani". Grand Ayatollah Sistani began his religious education as a child, first in Mashhad and later in Qom. In 1951, Sistani traveled to Iraq to study in the famous seminary of the holy city of Najaf, and in 1960, at the young age of 30 years, attained Ijtehad. In 1992, following the deaths in quick succession of Grand Ayatollah Abu’l-Qassem Khoei and Grand Ayatollah Sabzevari, he became the leading authority of Iraq. During the years of Saddam’s repressive rule, survived the violent Ba'thist repression and persecution that resulted in the martyrdom of several ulema. Since the overthrow of the Ba'th Party, Grand Ayatollah Sistani has played an increasingly prominent role in regional religious and political affairs and he has been called the "most influential" figure in today’s Iraq. He has a large worldwide following.

56 solar years ago, on this day in 1960 AD, the West African country of Niger gained independence from French colonial rule. Predominantly Muslim Niger covers an area of 1267000 sq km and shares borders with Libya, Chad, Mali, and Benin.

46 lunar years ago, on this day in 1391 AH, Ayatollah Moḥammad Taqi Amoli passed away in his hometown Tehran at the age of 85 and his body was taken to Mashhad for burial in the mausoleum of Imam Reza (AS). After initial studies under his scholarly father, he went to holy Najaf in Iraq for higher religious studies. His teachers were such great scholars as Ayatollah Mirza Hussain Na'ini, Ayatollah Aqa Ziya od-Din Iraqi, and Ayatollah Seyyed Abu’l-Hassan Isfahani.

29 solar years ago, on this day in 1987 AD, the prominent scholar and poet, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Akbar Borqa’ie, passed away at the age of 88 in his hometown holy Qom. A product of the Islamic Seminary of holy Najaf in Iraq, in addition to writing poetry under the penname of “Kashef”, he was socially active during World War by organizing the Association for Helping the War-Stricken. After the war he addressed sessions of the World Congress for Peace in Paris and Vienna. On his return home, he was persecuted by the Pahlavi regime and banished to remote parts of the country. He authored several books such as “Manifestation of Truth” on the Commander of the Faithful, Imam Ali (AS), “Dawn of Brightness” on the reasons of Imam Hasan’s (AS) Treaty, “Focal Point of Sensibilities” on the movement of Imam Husain (AS), the Martyr of Karbala, and the 3-volume “Guide of the Intellectuals”.

7 solar years ago, on this day in 2008 AD the Russian author and historian, Alexander Solzhenitsyn, died at the age of 90. Born in the Caucasus, he graduated in physics and mathematics. During World War 2, he actively served at the warfronts to defend the country against Nazi Germany, for which he was awarded a medal of honour. In the post war period his criticism of Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin brought him exile and forced labor in Siberia. He was released in 1956 and published part of his works. He received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1970. He was once again detained and exiled in 1974 due to his criticisms of the Soviet regime. Following the collapse of communism he returned to his country and became a hero. Nonetheless, he continued to criticize the Russian government for following Western liberalism, and the Russian people for distancing themselves from God and spiritual values. Among his works, mention can be made of “The Gulag Archipelago”, “The Cancer Ward”, and “Letter to Soviet Leaders”.

AS/SS