Today is Thursday; 29th of the Iranian month of Mehr 1395 solar hijri; corresponding to 18th of the Islamic month of Muharram 1438 lunar hijri; and October 20, 2016, of the Christian Gregorian Calendar.

960 lunar years ago, on this day in 478 AH, the Iranian Shafe’i scholar, Abdul-Malik Ibn Abdullah Ibn Yusuf al-Juwaini, died in his hometown Naishabur, Khorasan. Known as Imam al-Haramain, because of his four years of teaching in the holy cities of Mecca and Medina, he was the teacher of the famous Iranian Sufi theologian, Shaikh Abu Hamed Ghazali.

384 solar years ago, on this day in 1632 AD, the English mathematician, astronomer and architect, Christopher Wren, was born. After the 'Great Fire'  that destroyed most of London, he presented a scheme to rebuild the city, though only partially realized, still boasts of such architectural landmarks as St. Paul's Cathedral. He invented a “weather clock” similar to a modern barometer, as well as new engraving methods. He died at the age of 90.

297 solar years ago, on this day in 1719 AD, the German mathematician and philosopher, Gottfried Achenwall, was born. He founded the science of statistics. He also conducted extensive studies in philosophy and left behind several works in this scientific course. He died in 1771.

218 solar years ago, on this day in 1798 AD, the Muslim people of Cairo staged an uprising against the French occupation forces of Napoleon Bonaparte, offering 3000 martyrs for the freedom of their country. Inspired by the ulema, the people held a large protest gathering at the famous al-Azhar University that was subjected to attacks by the French military. This led to a battle between the unarmed people who overpowered and killed many French soldiers. The French occupiers retorted with brute forces, killing some 3,000 defenseless people, including many religious scholars. The French soldiers threw the bodies of martyrs into the River Nile.

189 solar years ago, on this day in 1827 AD, the Battle of Navarino in Greece resulted in the defeat of a combined Turkish and Egyptian armada by the British, French, and Russian naval forces in the port of Navarino in Pylos. As many as 6,000 Muslim soldiers lost their life while 60 warships were sunk. The revolt in the Ottoman Province of Yunanistan that had begun in 1821 with the support of leading European Christian powers ended in 1829 with the formal separation of this province and it's renaming as Greece. In short, the Greek Revolt turned into the genocide of Muslims and within a few years all traces of four centuries of Turkish rule of Greece were removed through barbaric crimes by the Christians, who destroyed mosques, converted many into churches and even massacred or expelled ethnic Greek Muslims.

157 solar years ago, on this day in 1859 AD, US philosopher, John Dewey, was born. An advocate of the Pragmatic School of Thought, he authored several books including "The Public and Its Problems", and "Reconstruction in Philosophy". He died in 1952.

145 lunar years ago, on this day in 1293 AH, the Islamic scholar, Haydar Qoli Khan Afghani, known as Sardar Kabuli, was born in Kabul. He travelled to Iran and Iraq to attend the classes of the leading ulema, and among his teachers in holy Najaf was the authority on Hadith, Ayatollah Mohaddith Mirza Hussain Noori. Besides his native Persian, Sardar Kabuli also mastered Arabic, Urdu, English and Hebrew languages, and became an authority in logic, mathematics, astronomy, history, geography, jurisprudence, hadith and Arabic literature. He obtained the “ijaza” or permission to relate hadith from prominent authorities in this field such as Mohaddith Shaikh Abbas Qomi, Ayatollah Seyyed Hasan Sadr, and Ayatollah Shaikh Aqa Bozorg Tehran. He settled in Kermanshah in western Iran where he enlightened people with the teachings of the Ahl al-Bayt of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA). He wrote a valuable book on the virtues of the Prophet’s 1^st Infallible Heir, Imam Ali (AS). He translated into Persian, the famous book “al-Muraja’at”, on exchange of letters between Allamah Seyyed Abdul-Hussain Sharaf od-Din of Lebanon and Dean of Egypt’s al-Azhar Academy, Shaikh Saleem al-Bishri. He gave it the title “Monazeraat”. He also translated from the Hebrew the “Gospel of Barnabas”. Sardar Kabuli passed away at the age of 79 and was laid to rest in the holy shrine of Imam Ali (AS) in Najaf.

129 lunar years ago, on this day in 1309 AH, the prominent jurisprudent, Grand Ayatollah Seyyed Ahmad Khansari, was born. At the age of 20 he left for Iraq to study at the famous seminary of holy Najaf, where his teachers were Ayatollah Mohaqqeq Khorasani, Ayatollah Seyyed Mohammad Kazem Yazdi, Ayatollah Shaikh as-Shari’a Isfahani, and Ayatollah Mirza Hussain Na’ini. On his return to Iran, he taught at the seminary in Arak, and assisted Grand Ayatollah Shaikh Abdul-Karim Ha’eri Yazdi in re-establishing the seminary in holy Qom. He was prayer leader of the Faiziyyeh religious school, and later shifted to Tehran where he led the prayers at the Seyyed Azizollah Mosque, until the last years of his life.

125 solar years ago, on this day in 1891 AD, British physicist, James Chadwick, who as one of the evil minds behind London’s manufacture of the atom bomb, was born. He worked on the scattering of alpha particles and on nuclear disintegration. By bombarding beryllium with alpha particles, he discovered a neutral particle in the atom's nucleus in 1932, and named it neutron, while investigating the prototype of weapons of mass destruction. Ironically for his destructive work, he was given the Nobel Prize and later knighted in 1945. He died in 1974.

116 solar years ago, on this day 1900 AD, Albanian Muslim poet and writer, Na'eem Frasheri, passed away at the age of 54 in Istanbul, the capital of the Ottoman Empire, which he served as an official in the ministry of culture. A prominent figure of the Albanian National Awakening he is widely regarded as the national poet of Albania. His father was a Bey from Frasher, and he hailed from a family with long connections to the Bektashi Shi'ite Sufi order, founded by the 13th century Iranian mystic, Haji Bektashi Vali of Naishabour, who had settled in Anatolia or what is now Turkey during the days of Seljuqid Sultanate of Roum. Frasheri's earliest writings were poetry and the very first poems he wrote were in Persian. In all, he authored twenty-two major works: four in Turkish, one in Persian, two in Greek and fifteen in his native Albanian. His patriotic poems and highly popular lyric poetry were strongly influenced by Persian literature. He also translated Homer's Iliad, and wrote articles on didactics and Islamic practices. Through his writings, Frasheri exerted a strong influence on Albanian literature and society. Today, the government of Albania has depicted his picture on the obverses of the Albanian 500 leke banknote and the 200 leke banknote. He was survived by his only son, Mahdi Frasheri.

115 lunar years ago, on this day in 1323 AH, the prominent Iranian religious scholar, Ayatollah Shaikh Mohammad Hassan Mamaqani, passed away. He lived a life of piety, having attained the status of Ijtehad – or independent reasoning based on the Holy Qur’an and Prophet’s Hadith. He has left behind a large number of valuable compilations in jurisprudence, including “Zara'eq al-Ahkaam” and "Mujalladaat al-Bashari". He has also written an annotation on the famous jurisprudential book "al-Makaseb" of Grand Ayatollah Sheikh Morteza Ansari Dezfuli.

113 solar years ago, on this day in 1903 AD, the prominent theologian and jurisprudent, Ayatollah Seyyed Ismail Noori Tabarsi, passed away in holy Kazemain in Iraq. Born in the town of Noor in Iran’s Mazandaran Province near the Caspian Sea, after preliminary studies, he travelled for higher studies to Iraq, where the famous seminary of holy Najaf, he attended the classes of such leading ulema as the Ayatollahs Shaikh Morteza Ansari, Mirza Habibollah Rashti, and Mirza Mohammad Hassan Shirazi – famous for his fatwa against tobacco consumption to save Iran’s economy from British exploitation. Besides teaching at the seminary he wrote several books, such as the 3-volume “Kifayat-al-Muwahhidin” in Arabic, and the Persian language “Ismat-al-Wilayah”, on imamate. 

38 solar years ago, on this day in 1978 AD, workers and personnel of Iran’s oil industry went on a nationwide strike against the Shah’s despotic regime. As a result, Iran’s oil exports came to a halt, depriving the regime of its most important revenues. Moreover, the severance of Iran’s oil exports led to sharp oil price hikes. The Shah’s regime through its scaremongering policies, tried to force the oil industry workers to return to their jobs, but they refused to do so. The strike of Iran’s oil industry personnel continued until the ouster of the British-installed and US-backed Shah, thanks to the people’s revolutionary zeal and their tolerance of oil shortages.

36 lunar years ago, on this day in 1402 AH, the great philosopher and famous exegete of the holy Qur’an, Ayatollah Allamah Seyyed Mohammad Hussein Tabatabaei, passed away at the age of 82, and was laid to rest in the mausoleum of Hazrat Ma’sumah (SA) in Qom. He was born in an academic and religious family in the city of Tabriz, northwestern Iran. His previous 14 ancestors were well-known scholars of Tabriz. Following completion of preliminary studies, he learned Islamic sciences and Arabic language, and after studying in holy Najaf, Iraq, where he attained the rank of Ijtehad, he returned to Iran and taught at Islamic seminaries. He studied under well-known scholars in Najaf, such as Ayatollah Mohammad Hussain Na'ini, Ayatollah Mohammad Hussain Gharawi Isfahani, Ayatollah Seyyed Abu’l-Hassan Jilwa, and the famous gnostic, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Qadhi Tabatabaie. He was an innovative philosopher, an expert mathematician, and an active farmer, in addition to being an Islamic Gnostic. He was also well versed in literature and theology and steeped in spiritual values. He wrote several works in philosophy and Islamic sciences, including “The Principles of Philosophy and the Method of Realism” and the famous 20-volume exegesis in Arabic titled “al-Mizan fi Tafsir al-Qur’an”, which has been translated into English language as well. His sessions with French philosopher Henry Corbin were held every fall for 20 years (1959-to-1979) in the presence of other scholars and seminarians. Vital issues about religion, philosophy, and also the challenges of the present world for those who seek truth and spirituality were discussed. The result was the writing of an interesting book by the Allamah titled “Musahibat ba Ostad Qorban” (Dialogues with Professor Corbin). His students include such famous personalities as Martyr Ayatollah Morteza Motahhari, Martyr Ayatollah Seyyed Mohammad Hussaini Beheshti, Martyr Ayatollah Ali Qoddusi, Martyr Ayatollah Mohammad Mufatteh, Imam Seyyed Musa as-Sadr, Ayatollah Abdullah Jawadi Amoli, Ayatollah Hassan Hassanzadeh Amoli, Ayatollah Mohammad Taqi Misbah Yazdi, Ayatollah Ja’far Sobhani, Grand Ayatollah Nasir Makarem Shirazi, Ayatollah   Ibrahim Amini, and Grand Ayatollah Hussain Noori Hamdani.

26 solar years ago, on this day in 1995 AD, Iranian poet and scholar, Javad Qawwampour, passed away at the age of 77. Born in Semnan, he learned Islamic eschatology and has left a 2-volume collection of poems, titled “Niday-e Dil” (Voice of the Heart).

5 solar years ago, on this day in 2011 AD, the former leader of Libya, Muammar Mohammad Qadhafi and his son, Mutassim, were killed shortly after the Battle of Sirte while in the custody of NTC fighters. Brought to power through a military coup in 1969 by the CIA against King Idris who was abroad for medical treatment, Qadhafi terrorized Libya for 42 years until his violent ouster by his own masters – the US and the West – who have since destabilized the country.

2 solar years ago, on this day in 2014 AD, Head of Iran’s Assembly of Experts, Ayatollah Mohammad Reza Mahdavi Kani passed away at the age of 83. As a disciple of the Father of the Islamic Revolution, Imam Khomeini (RA), he strove against the despotic regime of the Shah, and after establishment of the Islamic Republic, he served as Acting Prime Minister from 2 September until 29 October 1981. Before that, he was Minister of Interior and Minister of Justice in the cabinets of Mohammad-Ali Rajai and Mohammad-Javad Bahonar. He was the leader of Combatant Ulema Association and founder and president of Imam Sadeq (AS) University.

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