Today is Sunday; 21st of the Iranian month of Shahrivar 1395 solar hijri; corresponding to 9th of the Islamic month of Zi’l-Hijjah 1437 lunar hijri; and September 11, 2016, of the Christian Gregorian Calendar.

Today is the Day of Arafa, which means striving to gain proper and profound cognition of God Almighty. It is thus a day of great blessings for mankind. It is the day on which God the All-Merciful accepted the repentance of the Father of the human race, Adam, after he was cast out of the Garden for eating of the fruit of the tree that was forbidden to him as a divine test and tribulation. It is the day when Abraham as per God's commandment, revived Adam's tradition to spend the day in prayer and supplication on the plain of Arafaat around the “Jabal ar-Rahma” (Mount Mercy), southeast of Mecca. It is the day whose significance all Prophets of God had emphasized to their respective nations. It is the day when during his farewell pilgrimage, the Almighty's Last and Greatest Messenger, Prophet Mohammad (SAWA), delivered a memorable sermon from atop Mount Mercy, in which he emphasized on the “Hadith Thaqalayn” by telling Muslims that as long as they hold fast to the Holy Qur'an and his progeny, the Ahl al-Bayt, they will not go astray. Thus, special prayers and supplications are recommended for the 9^th of Zil-Hijjah for the Hajj pilgrims who gather on the plain of Arafaat, as well as for the faithful all over the world. In the Islamic Republic of Iran, in Iraq, and in many countries, most Muslims recite the famous supplication taught on this plain and on this day by the Prophet's grandson, Imam Husain (AS), which is a treasure trove of enlightenment and proper cognizance of the Lord Most High and His Infinite Mercy.

Some 1431 lunar years ago, on this day, by the commandment of God, Prophet Mohammad (SAWA) ordered closure of doors of the houses of those companions that opened into the Grand Mosque of Medina (Masjid an-Nabi), except that of his own house and that of Imam Ali (AS), as a measure to protect the mosque's sanctity, from possible pollution by the Sahaba who might enter in the state in which it is forbidden to enter a mosque. When certain companions grumbled at this, he said: Indeed, God had ordered His Prophet Moses to build a holy Mosque, and he allowed Moses, Aaron and the two sons of Aaron, viz. Shabar and Shubair, to live therein. I was likewise ordered to construct a holy mosque wherein myself and my brother Ali and his two sons, Hasan and Husain, are allowed to live. Surely, I do only what I am ordered to do. I never undertake to act on my own wish. Certainly I have not ordered of my own accord to close your doors or to let Ali's door remain open. It is God who granted Ali an abode in the Holy Mosque.

This event has been mentioned in the Sahih books of the Sunni compilers of hadith, such as Bukhari, Tirmizi, etc. The 2^nd caliph, Omar Ibn Khattab, has been quoted as saying: “Indeed, Ali has been endowed with three qualities, of which had I but one, it would be more precious to me than to be given high bred camels.” It was asked of him what they were? He replied “His marriage to Fatema (the Prophet’s daughter); his remaining in the Mosque while that is not lawful for me; and his carrying the Standard on the day of Khaibar.”

1377 lunar years ago, on this day in 60 AH, Muslim Ibn Aqeel, the nephew and son-in-law of Imam Ali (AS), was martyred in the city of Kufa in Iraq. He was sent as emissary by his cousin, Imam Husain (AS), to assess the degree of devotion and loyalty of the people to the cause of the Ahl al-Bayt of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA), following receipt of numerous letters from the notables who had claimed that in accordance with Islamic teachings they had refused to acknowledge the illegal rule of the tyrant and debauchee, Yazid Ibn Mu'awiyya, and needed the just and pious leader to guide them. Muslim was warmly welcomed by the people, but when Yazid sent the callous and ruthless Obaidullah Ibn Ziyad as governor of Kufa, almost all people, deserted the cause of Islam, deceived either by hollow promises of reward or threats to their life and property. As a result, Muslim, after a brave fight was betrayed, taken before Ibn Ziyad and brutally beheaded. Among the few martyred with him, was Hani Ibn Orwah, whose shrine lies opposite Muslim's golden-domed shrine, beside the Grand Mosque of Kufa.

1133 solar years ago, on this day in 883 AD, the famous Greek Muslim admiral, Damian of Tarsus, known by his Islamic name of Ghulam Yazman al-Khadim, decisively routed a large Byzantine invasion army by a carrying out a lightening night attack at Bab Qalamyah, some 12 km from Tarsus that resulted in the death of tens of thousands of Roman soldiers, including their commander-in-chief, Kesta Styppiotes – an ethnic Slav who had recently replaced Andrew the Scythian on his defeat by Muslim armies. For a decade Yazman was a thorn in the Byzantine side, and won several land and sea battles against the Christians, sometimes in alliance with another valourous Greek convert to Islam, Cleo or Raseq al-Wardami, who is famous for besieging the Byzantine capital, Constantinople, and briefly taking over Thessalonica, the second largest city. According to the historian al-Mas’udi, his fame was such that he was among the ten illustrious Muslims whose portraits were hung in Byzantine churches in recognition of their valour. Yazman died in 891 during the siege of the Byzantine fortress of Salandu in what is now southwestern Turkey, as a result of a catapult wound. His troops carried him to his seat of power Tarsus, and buried him there.

899 lunar years ago, on this day in 538 AH, the Iranian Sunni Muslim exegete of the holy Qur'an, narrator of hadith, and linguist, Abu'l-Qasim Mohammad Ibn Omar Zamakhshari, died at the age of 72 in the city of Gurganj in the ancient Iranian land of Khwarezm, which today is divided between the Central Asian republics of Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. He was born in the village of Zamakhsar and studied in Samarqand and Bukhara. He later lived in Baghdad for some years. He followed the rationalistic Mu'tazali doctrine and was known as “Jarallah”  (Neighbour of God), since he stayed for several years in the city of Mecca, spending his time at the holy Ka'ba, the symbolic House of God Almighty. He wrote both in Persian and Arabic, and is best known for “al-Kashshaaf”, a commentary on the holy Qur'an, which is famous for its deep linguistic analysis of the ayahs. Another of his famous books is “Rabi al-Abraar”, a voluminous reference work, in which he has exposed the dubious parentage of Mu’awiya ibn Abu Sufyan. He has recorded many of the God-given merits of the Ahl al-Bayt of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA) and their superiority over all Muslims.

783 lunar years ago, on this day in 654 AH, the Muslim scientist Abu'l-Abbas Ahmad Ibn Muhammad al-Banna al-Marrakushi was born in Morocco. He was a mathematician, astronomer, Islamic scholar, Sufi, and astrologer. The crater al-Marrakushi on the Moon is named after him. He has left behind 82 important books.

748 lunar years ago, on this day in 689 AH, the Imami scholar, Yahya Ibn Ahmad al-Hilli, passed away in Iraq. He was a cousin of the famous researcher, Muhaqqeq al-Hilli, who in turn was the maternal uncle of the celebrated scholar, Allamah Hilli. Among his works is “Nuzhat an-Nazzer”.

719 solar years ago, on this day in 1297 AD, Battle of Stirling Bridge, during the First War of Scottish Independence resulted in a decisive victory for Scots jointly-led by William Wallace and Andrew Moray defeat the English beside the River Forth.

451 solar years ago, on this day in 1565 AD, Ottoman forces lift the Great Siege of the Island of Malta in the Mediterranean Sea during the period when the Mediterranean Sea had virtually turned into a Turkish Lake. The Turks, however, continued to raid Malta and coast of Italy and Spain in order to check the ambitions of Christian powers.

407 solar years ago, on this day in 1609 AD, Philip III issued expulsion order for the Moriscos of Valencia, at the instigation of the Duke of Lerma and the Viceroy of Valencia, Archbishop Juan de Ribera. Hundreds of thousands of Spanish who under compulsion outwardly appeared as Catholics but inwardly were Muslims, had to leave Valencia in hundreds of thousands. This was the beginning of the expulsion of all Moriscos from Spain by the 1614, and led to the migration of over a one million Spanish Muslims to North Africa. They were ordered to depart "under the pain of death and confiscation, without trial or sentence... to take with them no money, bullion, jewels or bills of exchange... just what they could carry." The charge against them was that they were secretly planning to facilitate the invasion of Spain by the Ottoman Turks from the sea and by the Huguenots or Protestant Christians of France from the northern land route.

319 solar years ago, on this day in 1697 AD, the Battle of Zenta was fought in Serbia, on the east side of the Tisa River, resulting in a victory for the Austrians and decisive defeat for the Ottoman Turks. While the Ottoman army was in the process of crossing the river, the Austrians launched a surprise attack and massacred at least 30,000 Turkish Muslims. As a result, the Ottoman Empire lost control over Bosnia, and so demoralized was Sultan Mustafa II that he signed the Treaty of Karlowitz in 1699, giving away large parts of Central Europe including Hungary.

224 solar years ago, on this day in 1792 AD, the Hope Diamond was stolen along with other French crown jewels when six men broke into the house where they were stored. It is a large, 45.52-carat deep-blue diamond, now housed in the Smithsonian Natural History Museum in Washington, D.C. It is valued at 250 million US dollars. Ever since its discovery in the 17th century in Guntur, southern India, in what was then the Qutb-Shahi Kingdom of Iranian origin of Golkandeh, it has changed hands numerous times on its way from India to France to Britain and eventually to the United States.

221 solar years ago, on this day in 1795 AD, in the Battle of Krtsanisi in the Caucasus, the Iranian army demolished the joint forces of the Kartl-Kakheti kingdoms, as Heraclius II of Georgia fled and Agha Mohammad Qajar took possession of the Georgian capital, Tbilisi. The cause of the war was the alliance of Heraclius with the Russian Empire, despite the fact that for the past two millenniums Georgia had intermittently been part of the various Iran-based empires. Since 1555 Eastern Georgia, which had been under Safavid suzerainty, asserted its independence in 1747 on the death of Nader Shah Afshar. After his triumph in Georgia, Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar subdued all rivals by 1796 and crowned himself king of Iran to formally establish the Qajarid dynasty. The next year he died issueless and was succeeded by his pleasure-loving nephew, Fath Ali Shah Qajar, who during his long reign lost much of Iranian territory in the Caucasus and Central Asia.

213 solar years ago, on this day in 1803 AD, the British troops decisively defeated the Marathas in the Battle of Delhi, thereby strengthening their rising control over India.

97 solar years ago, on this day in 1920 AD, the prominent activist of the Constitutional Era, Sheikh Mohammad Khiyabani, was martyred, thus ending the uprising in the northwestern Iranian city of Tabriz against the despotic Qajar Dynasty. After acquiring Islamic sciences, he struggled against the injustices of the monarchial system. He strove to awaken the people against the infiltration of foreign powers, believing that the root cause of the problems of the Islamic Ummah, were the oppressive rulers and their colonial masters. Following the ouster of Mohammad Ali Shah and his fleeing from Iran in 1908, Khiyabani was elected to the parliament in Tehran as representative of the people of Tabriz, from where he launched his uprising following signing of the ominous pact with Britain in 1919 by the corrupt Prime Minister Wosouq od-Dowlah. After succeeding in taking charge of the administration of Tabriz, he was captured in an unequal battle with the governmental forces and executed.

71 lunar years ago, on this day in 1365 AH, the Source of Emulation, Grand Ayatollah Seyyed Abu’l-Hassan Isfahani, passed away at the age of 81 in the holy city of Najaf, Iraq. Born in the vicinity of the Iranian city of Isfahan, after preliminary studies he traveled to Iraq to attend the famous Seminary in holy Najaf. He studied under prominent scholars such as Akhound Khorasani, and attained the status of “Ijtehad”. A prominent instructor at the Najaf Seminary for over thirty years, he groomed numerous scholars. At the same time, aware of political developments, he strongly opposed the British invasion of Iraq, which led to his expulsion to Iran. But, the public and ulema forced the Iraqi administration to revise its decision and recall him to Najaf. He was very patient and modest. Among his most important works is “Wasilat-an-Najat”. Many leading scholars have written annotations on this book, including the Father of the Islamic Revolution, Imam Khomeini (RA).

68 solar years ago, on this day in 1948 AD, the Founder of Pakistan, Mohammad Ali Jinnah, passed away in his hometown Karachi. Born in an Ismaili Shi'ite Muslim family, later in life, he became an Asna Ash'ari or Twelver Shi'ite. Educated in London and a lawyer by profession, he was a brilliant orator who was one of the founders of the Muslim League of India for the struggle against colonialism and a separate homeland for Muslims of the Subcontinent, after being dissatisfied with the Hindu-oriented policy of the Indian National Congress, of which he was initially a member. For this reason, he was affectionately called all over India, and later after the birth of Pakistan, as Qa'ed-e Azam or the Great Leader. Following the birth of Pakistan on August 14, 1947, he became Governor-General.

43 solar years ago, on this day in 1973 AD, General Augusto Pinochet of Chile was used by the notorious US spying agency, CIA, to topple the legal and elected government of President Salvador Allende, three years after this Secretary-General of the Chilean Socialist Party was voted by the people to power. Allende's plan to nationalize banks, mines, and industries meant the end of the vested interests of US companies in Chile, and to sabotage his policies, the CIA engineered the coup and killed him. Pinochet was subsequently put in charge of Chile and suppressed the people for the next 25 years. Despite handing power to an elected civilian cabinet in 1990, he continued to terrorize the Chilean people until ill health forced him to relinquish military power in 1998. The families of tens of thousands of his victims called for prosecution, but because of US support, Pinochet and his cohorts were never brought to trial. He died in 2006.

15 solar years ago, on this day in 2001 AD, two US aircraft plowed through the twin-towers of the 110-storey World Trade Center in New York. The huge building collapsed, not as a result of the impact of the supposedly hijacked aircraft but through implosions, because of the explosives planted in their basement by FBI and Mossad agents. The US blamed its own agent, Osama bin Laden of al-Qaeda, for what it called "terrorist" attacks, when in fact the real terrorist was the US regime itself. As things turned out, the Twin-Tower incidents were part of an elaborate plot by the US to let loose a wave of Islamophobia in the West and to attack and occupy one of the weakest and most backward Muslim countries, that is, Afghanistan. Later in 2003 on the same pretext, the US invaded and occupied Iraq, where over the next few years it directly or indirectly killed 1.2 million men, women, and children. At the same time, the US has used the 9/11/2001 incidents as a pretext to suppress civil liberties at home, especially the rights of the fast growing Muslim community, while increasing its military budget to terrorize the free world.

9 solar years ago, on this day in 2007 AD, Russia tested the largest conventional weapon ever, the Aviation Thermobaric Bomb of Increased Power (ATBIP), nicknamed the Father of All Bombs. It is bomber-delivered weapon of massive power, which is supposed to evaporate all living things within its radius. The ATBIP is reportedly four times as powerful as the US military's GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast bomb (whose official military acronym "MOAB" is often colloquially called the "Mother of All Bombs").The thermobaric device yields the equivalent of 44 tons of TNT using about seven tons of a new type of high explosive. Because of this, the bomb's blast and pressure wave have a similar effect to a small tactical nuclear weapon, although on a smaller scale. The bomb works by detonating in mid-air. Most damage is inflicted by a supersonic shockwave and extremely high temperatures. Thermobaric weapons differ from conventional explosive weapons in that they generate a longer, more sustained blast wave with greater temperatures. In doing so, they produce more damage over a larger area than a conventional weapon of similar mass.

AS/MG