Today is Friday; 5th of the Iranian month of Shahrivar 1395 solar hijri; corresponding to 23rd of the Islamic month of Zi’l-Qa’dah 1437 lunar hijri; and August 26, 2016, of the Christian Gregorian Calendar.

1234 lunar years ago, on this day in 203 AH, according to a narration, Imam Reza (AS), the 8^th Infallible Heir of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA) attained martyrdom through poisoning by Mamoun, the self-styled caliph of the usurper Abbasid regime, and was laid to rest in Tous, which is now famous as Mashhad ar-Reza  or simply Mashhad. According to other accounts, which are deemed more reliable, Imam Reza (AS) was martyred either on Safar 17 or the last day of Safar, which is a public holiday in the Islamic Republic of Iran.

1181 lunar years ago, on this day in 256 AH, the Qadhi (judge) of Mecca and an expert on Arab genealogy, Zubayr ibn Bakkar, died at the age of 84, after being afflicted with de-pigmentation of the feet and ankles, as a result of offending a descendant of Abu Taleb the uncle of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA). He is the author of the book "Jamharaat Nasab Quraysh wa Akhbaruha” and “al-Akhbar al-Muwaffaqiyaat”. His father Bakkar was a wicked person who had grievously wronged the Prophet’s 8th Infallible Heir, Imam Reza (AS), and as a result of being cursed, fell down from the roof of his villa, broke his neck and subsequently died. His grandfather Abdullah Ibn Mus’ab had died three days after violating his oath to the Prophet's venerable descendent, Yahya Ibn Abdullah Ibn Hassan al-Muthanna, after tearing the latter’s covenant, in a bid to please the Abbasid tyrant, Haroun Rashid. The family was notorious for its enmity towards the Prophet’s blessed household, although Zubayr Ibn Bakkar has acknowledged in his books some of the unrivalled merits of the Ahl al-Bayt. His ancestor was the infamous Abdullah Ibn Zubayr, who in 36 AH had stirred sedition against the Commander of the Faithful, Imam Ali ibn Abi Taleb (AS), resulting in the Battle of Jamal; and then a quarter century later, after the tragic martyrdom of the Prophet's grandson Imam Husain (AS), styled himself as caliph, persecuted the followers of the Ahl al-Bayt, and attacked Iraq to suppress the revolution of Mukhtar ibn Abi Ubayda by rejecting the latter’s offer of alliance against the Omayyads for avenging the blood of the martyrs of Karbala.

1034 lunar years ago, on this day in 403 AH, the Maliki jurisprudent and judge, Mohammad ibn Tayyeb Qadhi Abu Bakr Baqillani, died at the age of 65. He lived most of his life in Baghdad and strove to promote the Sunni sect of Asha’rism. A prolific writer, among his works is the book titled "E'jaaz al-Qur'an" that focuses on the eternal miracle of the Holy Scripture, and the miracles of the Prophet, while rebutting Brahmanism, Trinitarianism, Dualism and other deviated creeds.

945 solar years ago, on this day in 1071 AD, the crucial Battle of Manzikert took place in Asia Minor in which the Seljuq Turks led by Sultan Alp Arsalan decisively defeated the Byzantine Army at Manzikert (modern Malazgirt in Turkey), and captured Emperor Romanos IV Diogenes. The battle practically wrecked Byzantine authority in Anatolia and Armenia, and led to the gradual Turkification of Anatolia, with the Seljuqs gaining an area of 78,000 square km in the next decade, which facilitated the mass movement of Turkic Muslims into central Anatolia. Alp Arslan, whose capital was Isfahan, had initially sought a peace treaty with the Byzantines, for he regarded the Fatemid Ismaili Shi'ite Caliphate of Egypt as his main enemy for control of Syria. A peace treaty was signed in 1069 and renewed in February 1071, to enable the Seljuqs to attack the Fatemid controlled city of Aleppo, but Emperor Romanus tried to distract the Sultan long enough for leading a large army into Armenia. Alp Arsalan quickly realized the plot of the Christians and met and defeated them at Manzikert. When the captured Emperor Romanos IV was conducted into the presence of Alp Arslan, the Sultan forced him to kiss the ground, and asked him what would he have done if he was captured, to which he got the reply that he would have been killed or exhibited in the streets of Constantinople. Alp Arslan said: "My punishment is far heavier. I forgive you, and set you free." Romanos remained a captive of the Sultan for a week, during which he was allowed to eat at his table whilst conditions were worked out for his release; including 10 million gold pieces as ransom for release, which the Sultan reduced to 1.5 million gold pieces as an initial payment followed by an annual sum of 360,000 gold pieces. Alp Arsalan before returning to Isfahan gave Romanos presents and an escort of two emirs and one hundred Mamluks on his route to Constantinople.

713 solar years ago, on this day in 1303 AD, Sultan Ala od-Din Khilji of the Delhi Sultanate captured the strategic and heavily fortified city of Chittorgarh in Rajasthan, thereby breaking the power of the Rajputs and consolidating Muslim rule in the Subcontinent. He subsequently enlarged his empire by conquering most of the Deccan or southern India which had so far not been subjugated by the Persianized Turkic Muslims. It is interesting to note that till this day the Hindus in their local languages in south India use the word “Turka” for all Muslims.

670 solar years ago, on this day in 1346 AD, Edward III of England defeated Philip VI's army at the Battle of Crecy in France. The longbow proved instrumental in the victory as French knights on horseback outnumbered the British 3 to 1. At the end of the battle 1,542 French lords and knights were killed along with 20,000 soldiers. The battle is regarded as one of the most decisive in European history, as it saw for the first time in Europe, the use of cannon, firing a round ball carved from rock. The English reportedly used 22 cannons, which in those days were mere psychological weapons, having no more power than the trebuchet, and unable to batter down the walls. However, the burst of fire and loud noise were effective in getting the enemy's attention, making it impossible for them to forget that their lives were in danger.

528 solar years ago, on this day in 1488 AD, the Battle of Aghajariyi near Adana in what is now south-central Turkey ended with the victory of the Mamluk dynasty of Egypt-Syria over the Ottomans. A few months earlier the Ottomans had launched a major attack from both land and sea, but while they managed to take control of Cilicia, their fleet was almost destroyed by a storm off the coast of Syria. The Mamluks responded by besieging Adana and taking it after three months, thus reasserting their control over Cilicia – a victory that made the local Muslim dynasties of Anatolia flock to their standard instead of siding with the Ottomans. The wars between these two great Turkic powers that started in 1485 and ended 32 years later in 1517 with the fall of Cairo to Sultan Selim, are indeed a series of unfortunate events of Muslim history that provided much-needed relief to Europe and emboldened Christian mercenaries to attack Spanish Muslims in their last stronghold, the kingdom of Granada, thereby ending almost eight centuries of Muslim rule in Spain. The beleaguered Spanish Muslims had appealed to both the Mamluks and the Ottomans for help, but after conquering Constantinople (Istanbul) and ending the Byzantine Empire in 1453, Mohammad al-Fateh, who was advancing towards Italy with sights set on the capture of Rome, fell victim to the deceit and intrigue of European powers, which turned him against fellow Muslims in the east. In 1468 he planned to attack the Mamluks in Syria but could not do so because of the refusal to cooperate with him by the Turkic dynasties of Anatolia, especially the Aq-Qoyounlu leader Sultan Uzun Hassan, whom he attacked and defeated in 1473. Finally in 1485, the next Ottoman Sultan, Bayazid II, got the pretext to start war with the Mamluks when the Egyptian forces detained an Ottoman ambassador who was returning from Deccan with an Indian ambassador and gifts for the Ottoman Sultan through the Red Sea.

273 solar years ago, on this day in 1743 AD, the French chemist, Antoine Laurent Lavoisiere, was born in Paris. He discovered the components of water which were oxygen and hydrogen and the role played by oxygen in combustions. He was executed on the charge of opposing the French Revolution.

227 solar years ago, on this day in 1789 AD, the valiant Iranian crown prince, Abbas Mirza, was born to King Fath Ali Shah, the second ruler of the Qajarid dynasty. He developed a reputation as a military commander during wars with expansionist Russia and the Ottoman Empire. He was intelligent, possessed literary taste, and modernized the Iranian army. At the same time he was noteworthy for the comparative simplicity of his life. As commander of the Iranian forces, his aid was solicited by both England and Napoleon, anxious to checkmate one another in the East. Abbas Mirza defended Iran against Russian attacks, but the French failed to provide him assistance, and the court in Tehran was also slow in realizing the situation on the borders, as a result of which he was defeated in the Battle of Aslanduz in 1813. Iran was forced to sign the Treaty of Golestan, ceding large parts of its territories in the Caucasus including present-day Georgia, Daghestan, and most of the Republic of Azerbaijan. In 1821 when the Ottomans attacked Iran, Abbas Mirza defeated them in the Battle of Erzurum, and through the Treaty of 1823, ensured Iran’s sovereignty. His second war with Russia, which began in 1826 with initial success, ended in 1828 with a string of costly defeats after which Iran was forced to cede nearly all of its Armenian territories as well as Nakhchivan, as per the Treaty of Turkmanchay. In 1833, while restoring order in the province of Khorasan in the east, Crown Prince Abbas Mirza died at the age of 44 in holy Mashhad. A year later in1834 when Fath Ali Shah Qajar died, Abbas Mirza’s eldest son, Mohammed Mirza, succeed him as the king of Iran.

133 solar years ago, on this day in 1883 AD, the eruption of Krakatoa Volcano in the Indonesian island of the same name, began its final, paroxysmal stage and culminated with several destructive eruptions of the remaining caldera. The next day, two thirds of Krakatoa collapsed in a chain of titanic explosions, destroying most of the island and its surrounding archipelago. It was one of the deadliest and most destructive volcanic events in recorded history, with at least 36,417 deaths being attributed to the eruption itself and the tsunamis it created. Significant aftershocks were also felt around the world and the explosion was heard as far as Australia. The huge amount of volcanic dust thrust high into the stratosphere eventually travelled around the world. The dust blocked sunlight causing temperature drops, highly coloured sunsets, and chaotic weather patterns for several years afterward.

120 solar years ago, on this day in 1896 AD, the Ottoman Empire forces attacked the Armenians for their assistance to Greeks in the riots against the Turks.

26 solar years ago, on this day in 1990 AD, the prominent Iranian calligrapher, Ali Akbar Kaveh, passed away at the age of 98. Born in the southern Iranian city of Shiraz, he was a student of such renowned masters as Mirza Taher Kateb, and Homayoun Hamedani. He was a member of Iran Calligraphy Association in Tehran for several years and groomed many students.

12 solar years ago, on this day in 2004 AD, A mortar barrage fired by terrorists desecrated the sanctity of the Grand Mosque of Kufa that was filled with Iraqi worshippers, resulting in the martyrdom of at least 27 people and wounding of 63 others.

7 solar years ago, on this day in 2009 AD, prominent Iraqi religious scholar and political leader, Hojjat al-Islam Seyyed Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim, passed away due to lung cancer in Tehran at the age of 59. A son of Late Grand Ayatollah, Seyyed Mohsin al-Hakim, on the martyrdom of his elder brother, Ayatollah Seyyed Mohammad Baqer al-Hakim, six years earlier in 2003, he became head of the Supreme Assembly of the Islamic Revolution of Iraq. He channeled rising Shi’a Muslim power after the fall of Saddam the tyrannical ruler of the Ba’th minority regime. In turn, Seyyed Abdul-Aziz was succeeded by his son, Hojjat al-Islam Seyyed Ammar al-Hakim, who is currently one of Iraq's most influential politicians.

4 solar years ago, on this day in 2012 AD, the Islamic Republic of Iran opened in Tehran the 16th Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), attended by heads of state, foreign ministers and senior delegates of 120 member countries and 17 nations with observer status. This was a slap at the US and a handful West European states that dominate the UN and manipulate the Security Council to dictate terms to the free world, and illegally impose sanctions on independent countries, such as Iran.

5^th Shahrivar of the Iranian Calendar: is commemorated every year in the Islamic Republic as "Mohammad ibn Zakariya Raazi Day" and consequently "Pharmacology Day" in honour of this great Iranian-Islamic physician (854-925 AD) who was known as "Rhazes" to medieval Europe and who made fundamental and enduring contributions to various fields of medicine and related sciences, which he recorded in over 200 books and treatises. Among his important books on medicine is “al-Hawi al-Kabeer” on ways of leading a sound and healthy life. This monumental medical encyclopedia in nine volumes is also known as “Jame’ al-Kabir". He also wrote a home medical (remedial) novel for the general public titled “Man La Yahzuruhu at-Ṭabeeb”, (“Who has no Physician to Attend Him”). Later in our programme, you will listen to a special feature on Zakariya Raazi.

AS/MG