Today is Tuesday; 4th of the Iranian month of Aban 1395 solar hijri; corresponding to 23rd of the Islamic month of Muharram 1438 lunar hijri; and October 25, 2016, of the Christian Gregorian Calendar.

1269 lunar years ago, on this day in 169 AH, Mahdi al-Abbasi, the 3rd self-styled caliph of the usurper Abbasid regime, died a miserable death at the age of 44 after a reign of 11 years, when the horse he was riding during a deer-hunt in Masabzaan in the Dinavar area of Kalhor in what is now Kermanshah Province of Iran (bordering Iraq), hurled him on a wall of a dilapidated structure and trampled him. Of dark complexion, and born to "Shikla", a Negroid concubine of the tyrant Mansur Dawaniqi, he was known as "at-Tinnin" (the Dragon). He was deliberately named "Mahdi" by his father in a bid to distract attention from the Infallible Ahl al-Bayt and to mislead Muslims, in view of the famous hadith of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA) that the Last of his rightful successors who will fill the earth with justice, would rise as "Mahdi al-Qa'em" to end oppression on earth. An open drunkard who spent most of his time in the pleasures of the flesh in violation of the tenets of Islam, he was not just fond of music and songstresses, but universalized music in the Islamic realm. He bore an unabated hatred towards the Prophet's progeny. When he found that Mansur had stored in a house, tagged bodies of Imam Hasan al-Mojtaba's (AS) descendants killed by the regime, he ordered these bodies to be buried in a mass grave over which a market was built to remove any trace of them. Like the Omayyad tyrant, Mu'awiyya ibn Abu Sufyan, he spent huge sums of money on hadith forgery to try to negate from public minds the God-given right of leadership of the Ahl al-Bayt. The term "Ahl as-Sunnah", coined by Mansur, was promoted to brainwash the neo-Muslim community, while the followers of the Ahl al-Bayt were persecuted as "Rawafedh" (Rejectors), despite the fact that the Prophet had explicitly used the word "Shi'ite" in praise of the true followers of his divinely-appointed successor, Imam Ali (AS). At least twice, he imprisoned the Prophet's 7th Infallible Heir, Imam Musa al-Kazem (AS). So great was his fear among the people that many "Sadaat" (plural of Seyyed), in order to avoid imprisonment and possible death, used to live incognito by concealing their identity, such as Eisa, a son of Zayd the Martyr – the son Imam of Zain al-Abedin (AS) – who revealed his genealogy to his wife and children only on his deathbed. Mahdi al-Abbasi was succeeded by his son Musa al-Hadi, who, during his brief rule of a year and a few months, perpetrated the Fakh Tragedy – the most gruesome massacre of the Prophet's progeny after the heartrending Tragedy of Karbala.

1000 lunar years ago, on this day in 438 AH, the famous Iranian Sunni Muslim exegete of the holy Qur'an, Ahmad Ibn Mohammad Ibn Ibrahim Tha'labi, passed away. He was born in Naishapur, in Khorasan, and lived most of his life in northeastern Iran. His masterpiece is the exegesis of the holy Qur’an “al-Kashf wa’l-Bayan”, also known as “Tafsir Tha'labi”. Another of his famous books is “Ara’es al-Majalis” which is an account of the Prophets beginning with Adam. In his works, he has admitted the unrivalled position of the progeny of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA), and the unsurpassed merits of Imam Ali (AS).

869 solar years ago, on this day in 1147 AD, Seljuq Turks led by Masoud I completely annihilated a 200,000-strong invading force of German crusaders led by Conrad III at the Battle of Dorylaeum in what is now southwestern Turkey. The crusade miserably failed and Conrad fled to the army led by Louis VII of France.

869 solar years ago, on this day in 1147 AD, after a siege of four months, crusader hordes led by Afonso Henriques occupied the Muslim city of Lisbon, which is now the capital of Portugal. The occupiers forcibly converted several Muslims to Christianity, while the majority who refused to be converted fled to other parts of the Islamic world, primarily Muslim Spain and North Africa. All mosques were either destroyed or converted into churches. As a result of the end of over four centuries of Muslim rule, spoken Arabic gradually lost its place in the everyday life of the city and disappeared altogether. Lisbon was liberated on 6 August 711 by Muslims from the occupation of Vandals. The Muslims built many mosques and houses, rebuilt the city wall and established administrative control, while permitting the diverse population (Muladi, Mozarabs, Berbers, Arabs, Jews, Zanj and Saqaliba) to maintain their socio-cultural lifestyles. Mozarabic was the native language spoken by most of the Christian population although Arabic was widely known as spoken by all religious communities. The Muslim influence is still visible present in the Alfama district, an old quarter of Lisbon that survived the 1755 Lisbon earthquake. Many place-names are derived from Arabic and the Alfama (the oldest existing district of Lisbon) was derived from the Arabic "al-hamma".

616 solar years ago, on this day in 1400 AD, English poet, Geoffrey Chaucer, died at the age of 57. He composed his magnum opus “The Canterbury Tales” in the colloquial language of the ordinary English masses, rather than the church language Latin or the court language French, thus paving the way for emergence of English as the official language of the people of England.

601 solar years ago, on this day in 1415 AD, during the Hundred Years' War, Henry V of England and his lightly-armoured infantry and archers defeated the heavily-armoured French cavalry in the Battle of Agincourt. The French had outnumbered Henry’s troops, but Welsh longbows turned the tide of the battle.

305 solar years ago, on this day in 1711 AD, the first traces of ruins of the two ancient Roman cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum, in Italy, were accidentally discovered by a farmer. Pompeii was built in the early years of 6th century BC, and was a burgeoning port until the 1st century AD. It was notorious for its promiscuous and lewd way of life, and its destruction is viewed as a divine wrath. These two cities were buried under the lava and ashes of the volcano, Mount Vesuvius, in 79 AD. Following the discovery of these cities, archeologists launched wide-scale explorations and have managed to dig out a large number of monuments.

216 solar years ago, on this day the British historian and politician, Thomas Babington Macaulay, was born in Leicestershire in a Scottish highlander family. He studied laws, worked as an attorney, before turning to politics. He became a member of parliament, and after resigning was sent to India as Secretary to the Board of Control. An expert of the English language, during his 4-year tenure in British-ruled India from 1834 to 1838, he made English compulsory and discouraged the use of Persian which for centuries had been the court and official language of the Subcontinent, besides being the strategic cultural and religious link of the Muslims of South Asia with Iran, Afghanistan and Central Asia. He was scornful of the wisdom of the east, including the rich Arabic, Persian, and Sanskrit heritage of India. He made English the medium of education in order to create Anglicised Indians, detached from their native culture and serving the interests of their colonial masters. Till this day in Indian culture, the term “Macaulay's Children” is used to refer to people born of Indian ancestry who adopt western culture as a lifestyle, or display attitudes influenced by the colonisers. On his return to Britain, Macaulay was elected to the parliament and later appointed war minister. He died at the age of 59.

183 solar years ago, on this day in 1833 AD, the brave Iranian crown prince, Abbas Mirza, died at the age of 44 in holy Mashhad, while restoring order in Khorasan Province. Son of Fath-Ali Shah, the second king 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 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 1834 when Fath-Ali Shah died, Abbas Mirza’s eldest son, Mohammed Mirza, was crowned the king of Iran.

135 solar years ago, on this day in 1881 AD, the Spanish painter, Pablo Picasso, was born. He is the founder of the Cubism style, which swiftly spread among the French painters. He has created a large number of paintings in his peculiar style. The painting “Avinion Maidens” marks the start of the Cubism movement. His Cubist masterpiece is called Guernica. In this painting, Picasso has depicted his fright in the wake of bombardment of the city of Guernica amid Spain’s civil war. Picasso died in April, 1973

99 solar years ago, on this day in 1917 AD, during the struggles of the Russian people against the despotic rule of the Czars, communists seized power by manipulating events. Seven decades later communism collapsed and resulted in the disintegration of the USSR.

90 solar years ago, on this day in 1926 AD, famous Pakistani painter, Ismail Gulgeez, was born in Peshawar in an Ismaili Shi’ite Muslim family. A graduate of Aligarh University and an engineer by profession, he was self-taught artist, won the topmost awards of Pakistan. Influenced by Islamic calligraphy, he painted some very excellent works that brought him international fame. Gulgeez, his wife Zarrin, and a maid, were victim of sectarian terrorism, and were found dead in their house on the evening of December 19, 2007, with hands tied behind their back and mouths gagged with cloth.

52 solar years ago, on this day in 1964 AD, the Father of the Islamic Revolution, Imam Khomeini (RA), on release from prison delivered a keynote speech strongly denouncing the judicial immunity granted to US nationals in Iran by the Pahlavi regime. He also condemned Washington and its illegitimate surrogate, Israel. The remarks of the beloved Imam enlightened the people and angered the despotic regime, to the extent that it again detained him and a few days later sent him into exile.

36 solar years ago, on this day in 1980 AD, the port city of Khorramshahr was occupied by the invading forces of Baghdad’s repressive Ba’th minority regime, after 34 days of brave resistance by Iranian civilians, following Saddam’s unprovoked invasion of the Islamic Republic on the orders of the US, thus starting the 8-year imposed war. The Muslim combatants of Iran liberated Khorramshahr 19 months later during the heroic Bayt al-Moqaddas operations.

AS/MG