Today is Friday, 30th of the Iranian month of Mehr 1395 solar hijri; corresponding to 19th of the Islamic month of Muharram 1438 lunar hijri; and October 21, 2016, of the Christian Gregorian Calendar.

1681 solar years ago, on this day in 335 AD, Roman Emperor Constantine I, following his conversion to Christianity – the cult invented by Paul the Hellenized Jew and falsely attributed to Prophet Jesus (AS) – enacted rules against Jews. One of the laws stated that if a Jew buys and circumcises a Christian slave (or of any other sect), he shall on no account retain the circumcised in slavery, but he who suffered this shall acquire the privileges of liberty. It is forbidden for a Jew to harass or attack on anyone who converts to Christianity from Judaism. The insult should be punished according to the nature of the crime committed.

1377 lunar years ago, on this day in 61 AH, the Caravan of the Captives of Karbala, headed by Hazrat Zainab (SA) and Imam Zain al-Abedin (AS) – the sister and son of Imam Husain (AS), was hastily dispatched towards Damascus in Syria to the court of the self-styled caliph, Yazid ibn Mu’awiyyah, by the tyrannical governor of Iraq, Obaidullah ibn Ziyad, who feared that the presence in Kufa of the bereaved womenfolk and children of the Prophet’s Household would result in uprising against Omayyad rule. The Prophet’s granddaughter reprimanded the Kufans for their weak faith and double crossing, saying they had invited Imam Husain (AS) and then deserted him to be tragically martyred; and that many of them had participated in the shedding of his innocent blood, which will remain till the Day of Resurrection an ugly blot upon them, since they have badly hurt the Prophet’s soul. She would have continued this highly eloquent sermon if her nephew Imam Zain al-Abedin (AS) had not stepped forward and requested her to have patience. When brought to the court of the tyrant Obaidullah ibn Ziyad, who mocked at the severed heads of the martyrs of Karbala, Hazrat Zainab (SA) boldly addressed him:

“We are the sisters of Husain (AS), the grand daughters of Mohammad (SAWA) whom you acknowledge as your Prophet. You and the other henchmen of Yazid have, for the sake of worldly gains, flouted all the principles of Islam, have desecrated the dead bodies of the martyrs, despite the fact that it is strictly forbidden by religion… Today you are gloating over your success and rejoicing; today you are thinking that you can insult and humiliate us to your heart’s content because there is nobody to say a word to you on our behalf, because you see us in this helpless state with no one to befriend us, none to protest against the treatment you are meting out to us. But O tyrant! Let me warn you that you will find your success ephemeral and very soon the wrath of God will descend on you and on those whose cause you espouse. Very soon the nemesis will overtake you and all the others who have ruthlessly killed my brother and other members of my family without the least compunction, simply because they stood steadfast in their belief; because they refused to surrender their principles or compromise their ideals; because they refused to accept Yazid, whose stooge you are, as the caliph of Muslims on account of his being a known profligate, who had flouted all principles of Islam, trampled all ethical concepts and reduced all human beings to an abject state.”

A stunned Ibn Ziyad, sensing dangers of uprising if the captives of Karbala remained in Kufa, sent them hastily towards his mentor Yazid in Syria, but through circuitous routes so that the people of the remote towns through which they pass would not know their identity.

1072 lunar years ago, on this day in 1068 AH, the Buwaiyhid ruler of northern and central Iran, Hassan Ibn Buya Daylami, titled Rukn od-Dowlah, passed away. The federation of Buwaiyhid Amirs, who were Iranian Muslims and followers of the school of Prophet Mohammad’s (SAWA) Ahl al-Bayt, ruled most of Iran and Iraq for over a hundred years. They rebuilt the holy shrines of the Infallible Imams in Iraq and patronized a great many scholars, in addition to building schools, hospitals, bridges and other public works. Rukn od-Dowlah was the father of the famous ruler of Iraq and Iran, Fana Khosrow Adhud od-Dowlah.

920 solar years ago, on this day in 1096 AD, Sultan Qilij Arsalan of the Seljuq Sultanate of Roum (Asia Minor), soundly defeated the first attempt by a large army of Christians of Western Europe to invade Muslim lands in the east. Known as the People's Crusade or the Peasants Crusade, a 40,000 strong force of thugs, robbers and killers from France, Germany, Italy and other lands marched overland towards and through the Byzantine territories, pillaging, killing, and robbing towns that lay in their path. The main reason for this military march of the marauders, calling themselves ‘pilgrims to Palestine’ was drought, famine, and plague afflicting France and Germany for many years, and most of them seemed to have envisioned the crusade as an escape from these hardships. The trek to the east started in April 1096 and the first victims of these killers were the Jews that had ventured out of the safety of Muslim lands to settle among Christians. Some 4,000 Jewish men, women and children were slaughtered, while the remaining were driven to suicide or forced to convert to Christianity. Then they killed 4,000 Hungarian Christians living under the jurisdiction of the Byzantine Empire, a crime that brought swift wrath upon them from the emperor’s forces who massacred 10,000 of these marauding crusaders. The Byzantines then thought of a plan to use them against the Turks and transported the remaining 30,000 Germans, French, and Italians to Asia Minor. Here, near the village of Dracon, in what is now southwestern Turkey, these crusaders were completely routed by the Muslim defenders, and of those captured and wished to remain alive, Sultan Qilij Arsalan spared their life on condition of becoming Muslims and sent them to Khorasan in northeastern Iran.

919 solar years ago, on this day in 1097 AD, the first organized Crusade made up of Christian knights and experienced warriors under the joint command of Godfrey of Bouillon, Bohemund of Taranto, and Raymond IV of Toulouse, began the siege of the Syrian city of Antioch, which is now in Turkey. This military expedition led by Catholic Europe was organized by Pope Urban II with the goal of responding to an appeal from Byzantine Emperor Alexios I Komnenos, who requested that west European Christians come to his aid to fight the Seljuq Sultanate of Asia Minor. The organized force caught the Muslims by surprise and besieged Antioch, which fell to them some 8 months later, because of the over-confidence of the Turkish defenders, who viewed this batch of experienced warriors as another of the Peasants’ Army that they had defeated a year earlier. In brief, the Crusader invaders marched south along the coast, occupying several cities, and in 1099 seized the Islamic holy city of Bayt al-Moqaddas from the Ismaili Shi’ite Fatemid Dynasty of Egypt-North Africa, massacring some 70,000 Muslim men, women and children, including local Christians and Jews.

749 lunar years ago, on this day in 689 AH, Kai-Qobad, the 10^th and last sultan of the Mamluk (Slave) Dynasty of Hindustan (Northern Subcontinent), was murdered after a 3-year reign at the instigation of his prime minister, Jalal od-Din Khalji, who after enthroning and soon dethroning his 3-year orphan, Shams od-Din Kiamurs, took the title of Ferouz Shah to set up the short-lived Khalji Dynasty. Kai-Qobad had succeeded his grandfather, the powerful Sultan Ghiyas od-Din Balban, on the refusal of his own father Naseer od-Din Bughra Khan the governor of Bengal to take the crown of Delhi. Soon Kai-Qobad’s inefficiency and pleasure-loving ways made the father march against his son. The two armies met on the banks of Saryu River in North Bihar, but due to the love for his father, Kai-Qobad ran towards Bughra and embraced him, while in tears. No battle took place and a peace treaty was agreed between Bengal and Hindustan. The famous poet Amir Khosrow, who was a contemporary, has versified this unusual event in the Persian Mathnavi titled “Qiran os-Sa’dain” (Meeting of the Two Auspicious Stars). The court language of the Subcontinent during Muslim rule was Persian.

688 solar years ago, on this day in 1328 AD was born in a peasant family, Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang, who in 1368 established the Ming Dynasty and went on to liberate China from the rule of the Mongol Yuan Dynasty. Known as Hongwu, he rose to command the forces that seized the Mongol capital Khanbaliq (modern Beijing). During his 30-year rule, he transformed China into a major power, and although born a Buddhist, he embraced the Confucian doctrine, and showed inclination towards Islam. He ordered construction of several mosques in Nanjing, Yunnan, Guangdong, Xijing and Fujian, and had inscriptions praising the Prophet of Islam placed in them. He rebuilt the Jinjue Mosque in his capital Nanjing, and large numbers of the Muslim Hui people moved to the city during his rule. He had some ten Muslim generals in his military, including Chang Yuchun, Lan Yu, Ding Dexing, Mu Ying, Feng Sheng and Hu Dahai. He personally wrote a 100-word praise (called baizizan) on Islam, Allah and Prophet Mohammad (SAWA).

314 lunar years ago, on this day in 1124 AH, the 7^th Mughal Emperor of the Subcontinent, Qotb od-Din Mo’azzam entitled Shah Alam Bahadur Shah I, died in Lahore at the age of 71, while making alterations to the famous Shalimar Gardens. During his brief 5-year reign he managed to keep intact the vast empire of his father, Aurangzeb – from Kabul in Afghanistan to the southern tip of peninsular India and from Baluchistan in the west to the borders of Burma in the east. As had been the sorry state of affairs, since the death of Jahangir in 1627, he had risen to the throne after defeating and killing his brothers, Azam and Kam Bakhsh. His four sons likewise disputed the succession and battles ensued in which Azim osh-Shan, Rafi osh-Shan, and Jahan Shah were killed, while the remaining Mo'iz od-Din Jahandar Shah ascended the throne, only to be overthrown eleven months later by his nephew Farrokhsiyar, with the help of the “kingmakers”, the two Seyyed Brothers, Abdullah Khan and Husain Ali Khan.

244 solar years ago, on this day in 1772 AD, English poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge was born. He and his friend William Wordsworth were among the founders of the Romantic Movement in England and later identified, along with Robert Southey, as the Lake School of poets. Coleridge’s work included "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner", "Frost at Midnight" and "Kubla Khan". In his later life he authored the "Bibliographia Literaria", a work of literary theory.

226 solar years ago, on this day in 1790 AD, French poet, Alphonse de Lamartine, was born. He is famous in regard to poetic delicacy and his major book is “Poetic Imaginations”. He traveled to the east and stayed a while in Beirut, and later penned a book titled Eastern Journey. He died in 1869.

211 solar years ago, on this day in 1805 AD, the Battle of Trafalgar took place near the Strait of Gibraltar, in which the British fleet, commanded by Horatio Nelson, defeated the combined French-Spanish fleet off the coast of Spain under Admiral Villeneuve. It signaled the end of French maritime power and left Britain's navy unchallenged until the 20th century. Though Nelson died in the battle, this was the first major defeat for French Emperor, Napoleon Bonaparte.

183 solar years ago, on this day in 1833 AD, Swedish chemist and inventor of dynamite, Alfred Nobel, was born. He invented dynamite for the purpose of exploration. Contrary to his expectations, when European powers used dynamite in wars, which led to the massacre of a large number of people, Nobel resented the misuse of his invention and allocated all his wealth to a peace prize. He intended to hand over this prize to those who render valuable services in literary and scientific domains, and promote global peace. But, in violation of his wishes, today the Nobel Peace Prize has been politicized and turned into a means for promotion of the West’s domineering, divisive, exploitative and murderous policies.

137 solar years ago, on this day in 1879 AD, Thomas A. Edison successfully demonstrated the first durable and commercially practical electric light bulb at his laboratory in Menlo Park, New Jersey. This model lasted 40 hours before burning out. The idea of electric lighting was not new; several people, including Joseph Swan, had worked on and even developed forms of electric lighting. However, nothing durable had been developed that was practical for home use. The difficulty was finding a suitable material for the filament. Edison tested over 6,000 vegetable growths (baywood, boxwood, hickory, cedar, flax, bamboo) as filament material. After one and a half years of work, after spending $40,000, and performing 1,200 experiments, success was achieved when an incandescent lamp with a filament of carbonized sewing thread.

105 solar years ago, on this day in 1911 AD, the prominent scholar, Ayatollah Mullah Ali Zanjani passed away. A student of Shaikh Mohammad Taqi (author of “Hidayat-ol-Mustarshidin”), and contemporary of the celebrated Ayatollah Shaikh Morteza Ansari Dezfuli, he in turn groomed outstanding ulema such as Mirza Habibollah Rashti. He strove to solve the problems of people and was a prolific author as well. Among his books, mentioned could be made of an exegesis of the holy Qur’an, and “Jawame’ al-Usoul”.

64 solar years ago, on this day in 1952 AD, Iranian foreign minister, Dr. Hussein Fatemi, announced severance of political ties with Britain. This decision was made by Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddeq after a vote from the parliament. Dr Fatemi summoned the British Charge D' Affaires and pointed out that the reason behind the severance of ties with Britain has been the indifference of the British regime toward the Iranian nation's demands for fulfillment of the people's rights in relation to nationalization of Iran's oil industry.

30 solar years ago, on this day in 1986 AD, commander of Palestine’s naval units, Brigadier General Mundhir Abu-Ghazalah, was assassinated by agents of the Zionist spying agency, Mossad, through a car bomb blast in Athens, Greece.

29 solar years ago, on this day in 1987 AD, Indian ‘Peace-keeping Forces’ attacked Jaffna Hospital in Sri Lanka, massacring 70 ethnic Tamil patients, doctors and nurses.

AS/ME