Today is Thursday; 18th of the Iranian month of Shahrivar 1395 solar hijri; corresponding to 6th of the Islamic month of Zi’l-Hijjah 1437 lunar hijri; and September 8, 2016, of the Christian Gregorian Calendar.

1399 solar years ago, on this day in 617 AD, in the Battle of Huoyi, a Sui Dynasty army was defeated by Li Yuan, opening the path to his capture of the imperial capital Chang’an and the eventual establishment of the Tang Dynasty.

1289 lunar years ago, on this day in 158 AH, the tyrant Mansour ad-Dawaniqi, who styled himself as the 2^nd caliph of the usurper Abbasid regime, died of gluttony at the age of 63 after a reign of 22 years. His real name was Abdullah, and the reason he was called “Dawaniqi” was because of his stinginess. He claimed descent from Prophet Mohammad’s (SAWA) uncle, Abbas Ibn Abdul-Muttaleb, although his mother was a morally-loose slave-girl from Africa, whom his father, Mohammad had taken as concubine. Persecuted during the days of the Godless Ommayad regime, he shot into prominence when his brother, Abu’l-Abbas as-Saffah, (the Blood-Shedder), deceitfully hijacked the caliphate by making the Muslims, especially of Khorasan, Iraq, Yemen, Egypt, and other places, believe that rule of the Islamic state was being returned to the Prophet’s Ahl al-Bayt. In 136 AH, following the death of his brother after a reign of 4-years, he styled himself as caliph and unleashed terror on the people, immediately killing Behzadaan pour Vandaad, known as Abu Muslim Khorasani, the Iranian general whose victories had brought the Abbasids to power. Mansour, who in the Omayyad era, had sworn allegiance to Mohammad Nafs-Zakiyya, a great grandson of the Prophet’s elder grandson, Imam Hasan al-Mujtaba (AS), as the future ruler, cold-bloodedly martyred many descendants of the Prophets, through wars, imprisonment, and poisoning. His most prominent victim was Imam Ja'far as-Sadeq (AS), the Prophet’s 6^th Infallible Successor. He founded the city of Baghdad by using Iranian architects and Zoroastrian astrologers, and was the first person to destroy the holy shrine of the Chief of Martyrs, the Prophet’s younger grandson Imam Husain (AS), in Karbala. 

1188 solar years ago, on this day in 828 AD (according to the Gregorian calendar), Imam Ali an-Naqi al-Hadi (AS), the 10^th Infallible Heir of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA), was born in Medina. As per the Islamic calendar his date of birth is 15^th Zilhijja 212 AH. His period of imamate or divinely-decreed leadership was 34 years during which he groomed a large number of scholars in different branches of sciences in those dark days of Abbasid tyranny. He had to spend the last few years of his life in the Abbasid capital Samarra in Iraq, where he was forcibly brought by Caliph Mutawakkel and placed under house arrest most of the time. He strengthened the system of "wikala" or representation around the world of Islam before his martyrdom through poisoning at the age of 42 years, and passed it on to his son and successor, Imam Hasan al-Askari (AS), for further consolidation during the crucial period of "Ghayba" (occultation) of his grandson, Imam Mahdi (AS), who will reappear as the promised savior of mankind to fill the earth with peace, prosperity and justice.

1179 lunar years ago, on this day in 258 AH, the prominent hadith scholar of Iranian stock, Abu Ali Mohammad bin Hammam bin Sohail al-Iskafi, was born in the town of Iskaf, between Basra and Kufa in Iraq, following a request by his father to the Prophet’s 11^th Infallible Heir, Imam Hasan Askari (AS), to pray to God for a son for him. He grew up into a devout follower of the Ahl al-Bayt or Blessed Household of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA). For higher education he moved to Baghdad, where he studied under leading scholars. He was closely associated with the Nawwabs or Sole Representatives of the 12^th Imam during the latter’s Ghaybat as-Soghra or Minor Occultation, and through them has related several hadith, as well as signed letters and instructions of Imam Mahdi (may God hasten his reappearance). He groomed many scholars and authored several books including “al-Anwaar fi Tarikh al-Aimmat al-Athaar” (History of the Infallible Imams), and “Kitab at-Tamhees”, which is among the primary sources of the famous encyclopedia “Behaar al-Anwaar” compiled by the celebrated Allamah Mohammad Baqer Majlisi during the Safavid era. Mohammad bin Hammam al-Iskafi passed away in 336 AH at the age of 78.

881 solar years ago, on this day in 1134 AD, Alfonso the Battler, the king of Navarre in Spain, died at the age of 61 after a reign of 30 years, during which he seized from Spanish Muslims the city of Zaragoza and the province of the same name, with the help of mercenaries from France and other parts of Europe. He was notorious for his wars against both Muslims and fellow Christians. Known in Arabic as Saraqusta, the region which had witnessed 414 years of glorious Islamic rule, was renamed Aragon by Alfonso.

636 solar years ago, on this day in 1380 AD, the Battle of Kulikovo was won by an alliance of Russian principalities under command of Prince Dmitri of Moscow against a Mongol-Tatar army of the Golden Horde Muslims led by Mamai, the regent for the immature Khan Mohammad Bolak, who was killed in the fray. Mamai fled to Crimea where he was assassinated. The victory did not end the vassalage of the Russian principalities to the Golden Horde and enabled the rise of Toktamysh as the Great Khan who would win battles as far as Lithuania until his defeat by the fearsome Turkic conqueror, Amir Timur.

352 solar years ago, on this day in 1664 AD, after a period of hostilities, the Dutch formally surrendered to English soldiers the whole of New Netherlands including the city of New Amsterdam founded in 1625 on Manhattan Island in North America. The British soon renamed New Amsterdam as New York and the New Netherlands as New York State, as part of the New England colonies.

256 solar years ago, on this day in 1760 AD the greater part of New France that spanned what is now Canada and the US, from Newfoundland to the Rocky Mountains and from Hudson Bay to the Gulf of Mexico, was surrendered by Governor Vaudreuil to a British invasion force at Montreal. Earlier, the native Amerindian allies of the French had surrendered to the British on 25 August and the Huron tribe on 5 September. The colony was under military occupation until a formal treaty of peace was imposed on 10^th February 1763, thus ending the 7-year war involving Britain, France, and Spain. France ceded most of New France, except the islands of St. Pierre and Miquelon, to Britain, including the lands east of the Mississippi River and parts of Louisiana in what is now the US, while Spain received the territory to the west – the larger portion of Louisiana. Spain returned its portion of Louisiana to France in 1800 under the secret Treaty of San Ildefonso, but Napoleon Bonaparte sold it to the United States in the Louisiana Purchase of 1803. Canada thus became a British colony, and although, as per the 1867 constitution the Confederation of Canada was granted self-rule by London, its foreign policy and defence remained in the hands of Britain till formal independence was granted in 1931.

83 solar years ago, on this day in 1933 AD, Faisal I, the imported king of Iraq, died at the age of 50 in Baghdad and was succeeded by his son, Ghazi. Faisal, the son of Sharif Hussain, the British agent of Hejaz, was installed as king against the wishes of the Iraqi people, after the British suppressed the popular revolution led by Ayatollah Mohammad Taqi Shirazi and Ayatollah Kashef al-Gheta. Earlier in 1920, Faisal had been installed as King of Syria in Damascus, but was forced to flee after only four months in power. For his younger brother, Abdullah, the British carved out a new country called Jordan from Greater Syria and placed him as king. In 1958, the hated Iraqi monarchy was overthrown by General Abdul-Karim Qassim and Faisal II was caught and killed while fleeing.

75 solar years ago, on this day in 1941 AD, German Nazi troops besieged the Soviet city of Leningrad (present day St. Petersburg), but met with stiff resistance for two years and four months that forced Adolf Hitler in January 1944 to lift the siege during which almost a million people died, mainly because of food shortage and diseases. The Russian resistance turned the tide of the Second World War against the Germans.

47 solar years ago, on this day in 1969 AD, the Iranian author and critic, Jalal Aal-e Ahmad, passed away at the age of 46. Born in Tehran, he graduated in Persian Literature from Tehran University. During the tough years of World War II, he entered the scene of politics and started his career in journalism. As of 1953, he focused on research, compilation of books, and teaching, and published critical articles and short stories. He maintained a particular style in writing stories. He used verbal language precisely and in a delicate manner within the framework of attractive stories, and social and political criticisms. The infiltration of Western culture in Iran's society was the grave concern of Aal-e Ahmad. Hence, he published the book “Gharbzadagi” (Westoxication) in the year 1962, warning against this unwanted phenomenon, and saying the strengthening of belief in sacred religion of Islam is the solution in this regard. Among his other important books, mention could be made of "Modir-e Madraseh", and "Nafrat-e Zamin".

37 solar years ago, on this day in 1979 AD, the renowned Iranian traditional musician and celebrated player of the ‘taar’, Ali Naqi Vaziri, passed away at the age of 92. Son of Musa Khan (a prominent official in the Persian Cossack Brigade) and Bibi Khatoon Astarabadi, a notable Iranian writer and satirist (founder of the first girls schools in Iran), he founded the Academy of Music of Iran as well as Iran's National Orchestra. His younger brother was the celebrated painter Hasan Vaziri. Ali-Naqi was a master of Iran's classical music and always looked for new dimensions and perspectives in musical expression, and by doing so he revolutionized the style of playing the tar. He was the first to transcribe the classical ‘radif’ of the Persian music. He was removed from the Academy of Music by the British-installed Pahlavi dictator, Reza Khan, for refusing to conduct an orchestra at one of the private functions of the court. After the fall of Reza Khan, Tehran University appointed him professor of the Art and Aesthetic Department. After the victory of the Islamic Revolution, he participated in production of the first national anthem of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and produced such masterpieces as “O Motherland”, and “Soil of Iran”.

30 lunar years ago, on this day in 1407 AH, hundreds of Hajj pilgrims from Iran and other countries, while observing the divine ritual of disavowal of disbelievers, were martyred by Saudi forces, on the orders of Interior Minister, Nayef Ibn Abdul-Aziz. The Hajj pilgrims observe this ritual every year on the basis of the opening ayahs of Surah Towbah of the Holy Qur'an, where God commands the believers to declare their disavowal of disbelievers or Bara'at min al-Mushrikin. During this ritual, Hajj pilgrims call on Muslims to close ranks and announce their resentment toward the archenemies of Islam, especially the US and the illegal Zionist entity. The inspiration behind revival of this Islamic practice was the Father of the Islamic Revolution, Imam Khomeini (RA). The present Leader of Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, also stresses the importance of this ritual as instrumental in awakening Muslims and preserving their dignity.

21 solar years ago, on this day in 1995 AD, Safa Abdul-Aziz Khulusi, Iraqi historian, novelist, poet, lexicographer, journalist and broadcaster, passed away at the age of 78. He is known for mediating between Arabic-and English-language cultures, and for his scholarship of modern Iraqi literature. He is also remembered for his theories on Arabic grammar, on Shakespeare, as well as his role in Islamic education and his work on the poetry of al-Mutanabbi. In Oxford in 1972, he became one of the editors of the “Concise Oxford English-Arabic Dictionary of Current Usage”. In his book “Islam Our Choice”, first published in 1961, Khulusi set out a collection of personal accounts from individuals who converted to Islam from other religions.

September 8: is marked as International Literacy Day, following the decision taken by UNESCO on November 17, 1965. Its aim is to highlight the importance of literacy to individuals, communities and societies. On International Literacy Day each year, UNESCO reminds the international community of the status of literacy and adult learning globally. Celebrations take place around the world. Some 775 million adults lack minimum literacy skills; one in five adults is still not literate and two-thirds of them are women; 60.7 million children are out-of-school and many more attend irregularly or drop out.