Today is Sunday; 31st of the Iranian month of Mordad 1395 solar hijri corresponding to 18th of the Islamic month of Zi’l-Qa’dah 1437 lunar hijri; and August 21, 2016, of the Christian Gregorian Calendar.

998 lunar years ago, on this day in 439 AH, the prominent Iranian Muslim mathematician, astronomer, philosopher, and poet, Ghiyas od-Din Omar Ibn Ibrahm Khayyam, was born in Naishabour, Khorasan, in northeastern Iran. He studied in Balkh, Samarqand and Bukhara, before joining the court of the Seljuq ruler, Malik Shah, as scientific advisor. He set up an observatory in his hometown and led work on compiling astronomical tables. To him goes the credit of reforming the solar hijri calendar on the basis of the Spring Equinox, which is still in use in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, and parts of Central Asia, the Caucasus, Iraq, Anatolia, and the Subcontinent. This calendar, known as Jalali, is more perfect than the Gregorian Christian calendar that was imposed on Muslim countries by the colonialists after World War 1. Among Khayyam's works, his book on algebra was until the last century taught as textbook in Iran. In geometry, he reformed the generalities of Euclid and contributed to the theory of parallel lines. His contributions to other fields of science included developing methods for the accurate determination of specific gravity. He is known to the English-speaking world for his “rubaiyyaat” (quatrains) whose English translation was published in 1859 by Edward Fitzgerald, although in the Islamic east he remains the astronomer and mathematician that he was, rather than a poet, since whatever he composed of poetry were casual expressions during his rare leisure hours after strenuous scientific studies and experiments. He died at the age of 85 and was buried in his native Naishabour in the courtyard of the shrine of Imamzadah Mohammad al-Mahruq, a descendant of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA).

885 solar years ago, on this day in 1131 AD, Baldwin II the self-styled 3^rd king of the illegal Latin kingdom of Jerusalem (occupied Bayt al-Moqaddas) died after a rule of 13 years during which he was constantly involved in wars and killings of Muslims. Earlier as Count of the occupied Syrian-Mesopotamian city of Edessa (currently in southeastern Turkey), he was captured in the Battle of Harran by the Seljuq Turks and was not released until four years later in 1108. The Latin kingdom set up by the Crusaders from Europe collapsed in 1187 after 88 years of illegal existence in Palestine, as a result of an attack by a united Muslim army of Kurds, Turks, Arabs and Iranians, while the Egyptian navy effectively blocked the Mediterranean Sea to prevent any aid from Europe.

877 solar years ago, on this day in 1139 AD, Song Dynasty general Yue Fei defeated an army led by Jin Dynasty general Wanyan Wuzhu at the Battle of Yancheng during the Jin–Song wars in China. During the Song era, many foreigners traveled to China to conduct trade or live permanently. There came many foreign religions; religious minorities in China included Muslims and Persian Manichaeans. The economic power of Song China heavily influenced foreign economies abroad. The Sicilian Muslim geographer, Seyyed al-Idrisi al-Hassani, wrote in 1154 of the prowess of Chinese merchant ships in the Indian Ocean and of their annual voyages that brought iron, swords, silk, velvet, porcelain, and various textiles to places such as Aden (Yemen), the Indus River, and the River Euphrates in Iraq. Foreigners, in turn, had an impact on the Chinese economy. For example, many West Asian and Central Asian Muslims went to China to trade, becoming a preeminent force in the import and export industry, while some were even appointed as officers supervising economic affairs.

859 solar years ago, on this day in 1157 AD, Alfonso VII of Leon and Castile died at the age of 52. By 1125 he had inherited the formerly Muslim Kingdom of Toledo. On 10 March 1126, after the death of his mother, he was crowned in León and immediately began the recovery of the Kingdom of Castile. He lost the Battle of Leon to the Muslims.

440 solar years ago, on this day in 1576 AD, Ismail II ascended the Safavid throne of Iran as the 3^rd king of the dynasty and launched a campaign of fratricide in his brief 15-month reign that ended with his murder at the age of 40. Imprisoned by his father Shah Tahmasp I for plotting to seize the throne, he was freed and declared king by a faction of the powerful Qizilbash guard in the dispute that ensued on the death of Shah Tahmasp. The Qizilbash were split between him and his younger brother Haydar Ali. The pro-Haydar faction was briefly successful in placing their candidate on the throne but Haydar was killed in the ensuing fight between supporters and opponents that made his tutor, the great scholar, Mir Mohammad Momin Astarabadi to leave Iran for the safety of the Deccan in southern India, where he became Prime Minister of the Qotb-Shahi Dynasty of Iranian origin of Golkandeh and helped found the city of Hyderabad. Another faction tried to make a third son of Tahmasp as king, but was thwarted by Ismail's supporters. It seems the almost 20-year imprisonment of Ismail at the fortress of Qahqaha had affected his mind. As well as executing members of the faction that had opposed him, he also turned on his own supporters. He killed or blinded five of his own brothers and four other Safavid princes. He is known in Iranian history as "Ismail-e Murted" (Ismail the Apostate) for turning away from the path of the Ahl al-Bayt of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA). The Qizilbash began to regret their choice and plotted to assassinate Ismail with the help of his own sister Pari Khan Khanum. lsmail died after consuming poisoned opium on 24 November 1577 and was succeeded by his almost blind brother, Mohammad Khodabandah, the father of Shah Abbas the Great.

395 solar years ago, on this day in 1621 AD, the well-known Islamic scholar, theologian, astronomer, and mathematician, Baha od-Din Mohammad bin Hussain Ameli, popularly known as “Sheikh Bahai”, passed away in Isfahan at the age of 78. Born in Ba’lbak in Lebanon, in a family descended from Harres al-Hamdani, a loyal disciple of the Commander of the Faithful, Imam Ali ibn Abi Taleb (AS), his father, Shaikh Hussain bin Abdus-Samad, was one of the prominent scholars who migrated to Safavid Iran with his young son. Given his sublime talents, the young Bahai soon honed his skills in sciences, such as theology, jurisprudence, Exegesis of the Holy Qur'an, hadith, mathematics, astronomy, medicine, literature, and history. He travelled extensively through Syria, Palestine, Hijaz, Egypt, Iraq, Azarbaijan and Khorasan. Because of his creative talents, he had actually become a walking encyclopedia. He is the first jurisprudent who wrote a handbook on Fiqh for simple layman in Persian language titled "Jame' Abbasi". In spite of his diverse interests, he trained great Fuqaha like Mullah Sadra Shirazi, Muhaqqiq Sabzevari, Fazel Jawad, and Mullah Mohammad Taqi, known as Majlisi the First, since he was the father of the famous scholar, Allamah Mohammad Baqer Majlisi, the author of the encyclopedic work, "Behar ul-Anwaar". After the death of his father-in-law, Shaikh Ali Minshar, he was made the Shaikh ol-Islam of Iran. He has left behind at least 100 valuable books and treatises. Among his works, mention can be made of the books: “Kashkol” (literature), “Khulasat al-Hesab” (mathematics), and “Tashrih al-Aflaak” (astronomy).

336 solar years ago, on this day in 1680 AD, Pueblo Amerindians captured Santa Fe from the Spanish during the Pueblo Revolt in what is now New Mexico State of the US. In the fighting over 400 Spaniard occupiers lost their life, while more than 2,000 others fled. Soon, as part of their genocidal policies, the Spanish occupiers retaliated and massacred thousands of native Amerindians. 

246 solar years ago, on this day in 1770 AD, Captain James Cook formally claimed eastern Australia for Britain, naming it New South Wales. The British soon occupied the whole of the continent seizing lands from the native aborigines and settling them with convicts, as well as Irish revolutionaries exiled from their homeland. Today, although Australia has its own elected government with only nominal allegiance to the British crown, it serves as an outpost in the east of the decadent western civilization, heavily discriminating against people of non-European background and blindly following the dictates of London and Washington.

185 solar years ago, on this day 1831 AD, Nat Turner led the enslaved black people as well as the free blacks in a rebellion against the white US oppressors, a week after he saw a solar eclipse and interpreted it as a sign of God to launch an uprising against the Anglo-Saxon racists.  Turner, who was descended from highly civilized people of Ghana and kidnapped by Europeans and sold in the Americas, started his uprising in Southampton County, Virginia, by freeing many African people from slavery. The uprising was brutally crushed after a few days by the White racist government. Turner survived in hiding for over two months afterwards, but was hunted down and hanged. His corpse was flayed, beheaded and quartered by the white Americans who went on to massacre over 200 black people in the southern states, where state legislatures passed new laws prohibiting education of the so-called slaves as well as free black- people, in addition to restricting rights of assembly and other civil rights for them.

76 solar years ago on this day in 1940 AD, Russian Marxist leader, Leon Trotsky, was assassinated in exile in Mexico by a Spanish communist agent of Soviet dictator, Joseph Stalin, who had expelled him from the communist party. Ramon Mercador del Rio, posing as a Canadian businessman by the name of Frank Jackson, fatally wounded him with an alpine axe to the back of the head, the day before. Born in Yanivka (presently in Ukraine) in the Russian Empire, Trotsky grew up to be an active revolutionary against Czarist despotism. As a result he was deported twice to Siberia but managed to escape both times. After the victory of the February Revolution in March 1917, he returned home and when the Bolsheviks seized power in October, he was appointed as the People’s Commissar for Foreign Affairs. A year later, he was named the People’s Commissar for Military and Naval Affairs. Later, he was involved in a power struggle with Stalin, who seized power on the death of Vladimir Lenin. Trotsky was one of the ideologues of the Bolshevik Revolution and had differences of opinion with Lenin. He wrote a number of books including “History of the Russian Revolution” and “The Revolution Betrayed”.

64 lunar years ago, on this day in 1373 AH, the renowned Islamic scholar and literary figure of Iraq, Ayatollah Mohammad Hussain Kashef al-Gheta, passed away. He was born in a virtuous academic family in the holy city of Najaf. He learned preliminary Islamic sciences at a young age and soon attained high scholarly status by attending the classes of prominent ulema, such as Akhound Khorasani. Ayatollah Kashef al-Gheta groomed many students and wrote several books. He also visited a number of Muslim states to promote Islamic teachings, delivering memorable speeches at the universities and scientific centers of Iran, Egypt, and Palestine. He considered presence of Muslims in political affairs as a must, and played a vital role in the Islamic movement of the Iraqi people against the British, who exiled him to Iran after crushing the 1920 revolution and martyring Ayatollah Mirza Mohammad Taqi Shirazi. Among his books, mention can be made of a diwan of poems and the book “as-Siyasat al-Husainiyyah” on the philosophy behind the epoch-making uprising of the Martyr of Karbala, Imam Husain (AS) – the younger grandson of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA)

57 solar years ago, on this day in 1959 AD, the Central Treaty Organization (CENTO) was set up with the signing of an accord in the Turkish capital Ankara by Iran, Turkey, Pakistan, and Britain, for replacing the Bagdad Pact that had collapsed the year before with General Abdul-Karim Qassim’s coup in Iraq and his decision to withdraw from the Treaty. Although the US was not a signatory and had an observer status, it played the major role in CENTO, which was the central loop in the West’s military girdle around the Soviet Union. Following the victory of the Islamic Revolution in 1979 and Iran’s withdrawal, CENTO collapsed and was dissolved.

47 solar years ago, on this day in 1969 AD, an arson attack was launched by the Zionists on Islam’s former Qibla (focal point of prayer), the al-Aqsa Mosque in Bayt al-Moqaddas. The usurper state of Israel attributed the fire to Australian tourist, Denis Michael Rohan, and detained him, but a court in Tel Aviv released him on the pretext of being mentally ill. Muslims throughout the world held protest rallies, compelling heads of Muslim states to establish the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) the next year, to counter the threats against Islamic sanctities. In 2003, on the proposal of the Islamic Republic of Iran, the OIC designated August 21 as World Mosque Day in order to arouse international conscience towards the sanctity of mosques.

30 solar years ago, on this day in 1986 AD, more than 1700 people died when toxic gas erupted from Lake Nyos, a volcanic lake in the West African nation of Cameroon. The gas was carbon dioxide which, being more dense than air, hugged the ground and flowed down valleys. The cloud travelled as far as 25 km from the lake. It was moving fast enough to flatten vegetation, including a few trees. In addition to the human deaths caused by suffocation, 845 people were hospitalized and 3,000 cattle died. Lake Nyos is a few square kilometres in area, and is around 200 m deep. It is situated in the crater formed from the collapse of the pipe feeding a now extinct volcano

6 solar years ago, on this day in 2010 AD, Iran’s President Dr. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad inaugurated the country's first domestically built unmanned bomber aircraft, as part of the Islamic Republic’s efforts to reach self-sufficiency in sophisticated electronic technology despite the illegal sanctions imposed by the US and its accomplices. He called it an "ambassador of death" to Iran's enemies.

3 solar years ago, on this day in 2013 AD, terrorists, supported by the US and Arab reactionary regimes, used internationally banned chemical weapons to kill hundreds of men, women, and children in the Ghouta region of Syria near the capital Damascus.

AS/ME