Today is Wednesday; 20th of the Iranian month of Mordad 1395 solar hijri; corresponding to 7th of the Islamic month of Zi’l-Qa’dah 1437 lunar hijri; and August 10, 2016, of the Christian Gregorian Calendar.

2628 solar years ago, on this day in 612 BC, with the killing of King Sin-shar-ishkun during the Battle of Ninevah by an allied army of Babylonians, Chaldeans, Medes, Persians, Scythians and Cimmerians, the city of Ninevah – the then largest in the world – was sacked and the neo-Assyrian Empire came to its end after three centuries of domination over West Asia. The city of Babylon now became the imperial center of Mesopotamia for the first time in over a thousand years, leading to the emergence of the neo-Babylonian Empire under King Nabopolassar, who had formed a successful alliance with King Cyaxares or Hvakhshathra of the Medes, and other Iranic tribes. In 539 BC, Cyrus the Great of the Persian Achaemenid Empire conquered Babylon to end the neo-Babylonian Empire.

1227 solar years ago, on this day in 787 AD, the prominent Iranian-Islamic astronomer, philosopher and hadith scholar, Abu Mash’ar Ja'far ibn Mohammad al-Balkhi, was born in the Khorasani city of Balkh (currently in Afghanistan).  Latinized by medieval Europe as Albumasar, Albusar, or Albuxar, he flourished at the Abbasid court in Baghdad as the greatest astronomer of the era and passed away in Waset, Iraq, at the ripe old age of 102. He wrote several practical manuals on astrology that profoundly influenced Muslim intellectual history, and through Latin translations of his works, deeply impacted Western Europe and Byzantium. He was well versed in Persian, Arabic, Greek and Sanskrit languages, and according to the famous Persian poet of the subcontinent, Amir Khosrow Dehlavi, he came to Benares in India to study astronomy. Abu Ma'shar wrote several books including "Kitab al-Mudkhal al-Kabir ila Ilm Ahkaam an-Nujjum", "Kitāb al‐Milal wa’l-Duwal" and "Kitāb Taḥawil Sini al‐Mawālīd” (Book of the Revolutions of the Years of Nativities). These and other works were translated into Latin and Greek and had profound effect on western philosophers and scientists such as Albert, Roger Bacon, Pierre d'Ailly, and Pico Della Mirandola.

1169 solar years ago, on this day in 847 AD, al-Watheq-Billah, the 9^th self-styled caliph of the usurper Abbasid regime, died under suspicious circumstances in his capital Samarra in Iraq at the age of 31 after a 5-year reign, and was succeeded the same day by his half-brother, the Godless tyrant Mutawakkil, who immediately launched several days of festivities, while his predecessor’s unburied corpse lay rotting, with mice eating away the eyes. Born to Qaratis, a Greek concubine of Mu’tasim, he became caliph on the latter’s death and immediately launched a wave of persecutions. During Watheq’s reign, several revolts broke out, the largest ones in Syria and Palestine. These revolts were the result of an increasingly large gap between Arab populations and the armies of Turkic slave-soldiers imported en masse from Central Asia by Mu’tasim – himself the son of Marida, a Turkic concubine of the tyrant Haroun Rashid. The revolts were put down, but antagonism between the two groups continued to widen, with the Turkic forces gaining more power. Twice in his brief reign Watheq dispatched the Turkic commander Bugha al-Kabir to Arabia to brutally suppress the tribes of Yamama and other regions.

998 lunar years ago, on this day in 439 AH, the prominent Hadith scholar, Abu’l-Hassan La’eb, passed away. He groomed a large number of students including the famous historian and hadith expert, Khatib Baghdadi, author of the voluminous “Tarikh al-Baghdad”, who has spoken highly of his teacher and has included in his masterpiece many outstanding merits of the Ahl al-Bayt or Blessed Household of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA).

748 lunar years ago, on this day in 689 AH, the 7^th Mamluk (or slave) Sultan of Egypt and Syria, al-Mansour Saif od-Din Qalawun, died at the age of 70 after a reign of 11 years. A Qipchaq Turk of Eurasia, who was sold into slavery during his teen years and ended up in the service of Egypt’s Kurdish Ayubid ruler, Sultan as-Saleh, he quickly rose into prominence, because of his abilities. Under his predecessor, Sultan Baybars, he displayed his military prowess in the victorious wars against the Mongols. In 680 AH, Qalawun decisively defeated the huge joint Mongol-Christian army of 80,000 led by Monke Timur, the brother of the Iran-based Abaqa Khan in the Second Battle of Homs, fought in western Syria. He also checked the ambitions of the usurper Crusader states on the coasts of Palestine and Lebanon. He was a great builder of mosques and public institutes, which are still intact in the Egyptian capital.

721 lunar years ago, on this day in 716 AH, the renowned Syrian calligrapher Mohammad Ibn Musa Ibn Ali al-Basees, passed away at the age of65. Born in Damascus, he taught calligraphy for fifty years, and wrote many books. His copy of Holy Qur’an written in illuminated gold-plated letters has remained to this day in addition to several other works.

497 solar years ago, on this day in 1519 AD, the Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan's 5-ship Spanish expedition set sail from Seville to circumnavigate the Earth. The Basque second in command Juan Sebastian Elcano was to complete the expedition after Magellan's death in the Philippines and return to Spain on 5 September 1522.

461 lunar years ago, on this day in 976 AH, the Ottoman naval commander, Turgut Pasha, liberated the fort of Jerba near Tunis from Spanish occupation after a 63- day siege. Earlier in 960 AH, he had taken control of the Mediterranean island of Corsica and the city of Catania in Malta to free some seven thousand Muslim captives. As Chief Admiral of the Ottoman navy after the death of Khayr od-Din Pasha (Barbarosa to Europe), he was made governor of Algiers and later Beyglarbeigi of Tripoli in what is now Libya – a city which he greatly adorned and made it the most beautiful of the Mediterranean coast.

336 solar years ago, on this day in 1680 AD, the Pueblo Revolt was launched by most of the Pueblo Amerindians against the Spanish colonizers in the province of Santa Fe de Nuevo México. From 1540 to 1600 the Pueblo Indians of present-day New Mexico were subjected to seven successive waves of soldiers, missionaries, and settlers. These encounters, referred to as the Entradas, were characterized by violent confrontations between Spanish colonists and Pueblo peoples. The Tiguex War, fought in the winter of 1540-41 by the expedition of Francisco Vásquez de Coronado against the twelve or thirteen pueblos of Tiwa Indians, was particularly destructive to Pueblo and Spanish relations. The Pueblo Revolt killed 400 Spanish and drove the remaining 2,000 occupiers out of the province. Twelve years later the Spanish returned and were able to reoccupy New Mexico.

224 solar years ago, on this day in 1792 AD during the French Revolution, the storming of the Tuileries Palace led to the arrest of King Louis XVI and the massacre of his Swiss Guards by the Parisian mob. He and his wife, Queen Marie Antoinette were later executed by the guillotine

223 solar years ago, on this day in 1793 AD, Louvre, which today is the world's largest museum, was officially opened in Paris, the capital of France, with an exhibition of 537 paintings, the majority of the works being royal and confiscated church property. Because of structural problems with the building, the museum was closed in 1796 until 1801. The collection was increased under Napoleon Bonaparte, and after his abdication many works seized by his armies for the museum were returned to their original owners. The collection was further increased during the reigns of Louis XVIII and Charles X, and during the Second French Empire the museum gained 20,000 pieces. Holdings have grown steadily through donations and bequests since then. Today nearly 35,000 objects from prehistory to the 21st century are exhibited over an area of 60,600 square meters.   The collection is divided among eight curatorial departments: Egyptian Antiquities; Near Eastern Antiquities; Greek, Etruscan and Roman Antiquities; Islamic Art; Sculpture; Decorative Arts; Paintings; Prints and Drawings. The Louvre is the world's second most visited museum after the Palace Museum in China, and in 2014 received more than 9.26 million visitors.

175 lunar years ago, on this day in 1262 AH, the prominent theologian, Ayatollah Fadai Astani, passed away. He widely travelled after mastering Islamic sciences, and was an authority on theology and jurisprudence. He groomed many students and wrote several books. A Diwan of poems has remained from this pious scholar.

96 solar years ago, on this day in 1920 AD, the Treaty of Sevres was forced upon the decaying Ottoman Empire by Britain and France, stripping it of 80% of its territory. The remaining European parts of the Empire were handed over to Greece and several islands to Italy, forcing hundreds of thousands of Muslims to leave their ancestral homes and cross into the Asian parts. At the same time, Iraq, Jordan, and Palestine were placed under British mandate, and Syria and Lebanon under French mandate, while Hijaz with its holy cities of Mecca and Medina, the resort of Ta’ef and the Red Sea ports of Jeddah and Yanbu, declared an independent kingdom under the British agent, Sharif Hussain. Armenia also got a share of Turkish territory while a part of Asia Minor was further given to Greece as Ionia. Istanbul and its surroundings were declared demilitarized, while the ancient Seljuq capital of Konya was placed under Italian zone of influence. The plan was to separate the Kurdish areas as well, but was deferred for the time being. This harsh and humiliating treatment led to the uprising of the Turkish people, and the Turkish army soon drove away the Greek occupiers from parts of Asia Minor and the surroundings of Istanbul on the European side. This forced the western powers to draft a new treaty in 1923, which has fixed the present boundaries of modern Turkey, although in 1937, the French illegally handed over to Turkey the Syrian territories of Iskenderun and Antakya (Antioch), which Turkey calls Hatay Province, but whose sovereignty Damascus has never recognized, calling it part of Syria. Meanwhile, in 1925, the Kingdom of Hijaz was occupied by Wahhabi brigands from the Nejd with the blessings of the British who in 1932 formally installed their agent, Abdul-Aziz Aal-Saud as king of the pseudo country called Saudi Arabia. Abdel-Aziz consequently seized parts of Yemen and occupied the Shi’ite Muslim sheikhdoms of the eastern parts of the Arabian Peninsula on the oil-rich Persian Gulf coast.

91 solar years ago, on this day in 1925 AD, the jurisprudent, Ayatollah Shaikh Abdun-Nabi Noori, passed away in Tehran. A product of the seminary of holy Najaf, in Iraq, where he attained ijtihad under guidance of leading ulema such as Mirza Mohammad Hassan Shirazi of the anti-tobacco movement. On his return to Iran, he taught at the Tehran seminary, grooming several scholars.  

79 solar years ago, on this day in 1937 AD, a two-year war broke out between China and Japan over the seizure of two important regions of Chinese soil including Canton which fell to the Japanese on April 25, 1939. With the outbreak of World War II Japan also occupied large regions of eastern China, which it was forced to evacuate following its defeat in World War 2.

36 solar years ago, on this day in 1980 AD, Pakistan’s former president, General Agha Mohammad Yahya Khan, died at the age of 63. In 1969, he was handed power by his predecessor President Field Marshal Mohammad Ayub Khan and was the chief executive until the defeat in the war against India and separation of East Pakistan as Bangladesh on December 16, 1971. On December 20, he formally handed over power to the civilian politician Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto. During World War 2, he had served with distinction in the North African, West Asian, and Mediterranean theatres as an officer of the British Indian army. He was of Iranian origin, having been born into an ethnic Qizilbash family in Chakwal, Punjab. In Afghanistan and the Subcontinent the Qizilbash (literally Red-Heads from the special caps they used to wear during the Safavid Empire), are descendants of the soldiers of Iran’s Nader Shah Afshar who stayed behind after his invasion of India. 

26 solar years ago, on this day in 1990 AD, more than 127 Muslims were massacred in northeastern Sri Lanka by paramilitary troops. Throughout the civil war between the Sinhali dominated Buddhist government and the Hindu Tamil militants, the Muslims of Sri Lanka were unfortunately targeted by both sides.

23 solar years ago, on this day in 1993 AD, the acclaimed Iranian miniaturist and illustrator, Ahmad Raez, passed away. Born in Isfahan, he became familiar with arts and illustration under prominent masters. His works which were displayed at the Brussels International Exhibition were ranked second and won prizes. He spent nearly 50 years drawing miniatures and enameling, in addition to grooming numerous students. He produced more than 145 works of miniature.

4 solar years ago, on this day in 2012 AD, in northwest Iran hundreds of villages were flattened by twin earthquakes (magnitude 6.4 and 6.3), leaving 306 dead and 3,037 injured. Around half the 600 villages located in the zone were damaged or destroyed.

AS/ME