Today is Sunday; 9th of the Iranian month of Aban 1395 solar hijri; corresponding to 28th of the Islamic month of Muharram 1438 lunar hijri; and October 30, 2016, of the Christian Gregorian Calendar.

1379 solar years ago, on this day in 637 AD, Antioch in Syria surrendered to the Muslim forces after the Battle of the Iron Bridge that was fought near a nine-arch stone bridge spanning the River Orontes in what is now southeastern Turkey, but is geographically and historically part of Syria. The aftermath of the battle marked the nearly complete annexation of the large Roman province of Syria by the Muslims, one of whose victorious commanders in this battle was Malek Ashtar, who later loyally served the Commander of the Faithful, Imam Ali (AS) and was made governor of Egypt with the famous epistle that is regarded till this day as the finest charter of human rights. The capture and clearance of Azaz was essential to ensure that no large Byzantine forces remained north of Aleppo, from where they could strike at the flank and rear of the Muslim army during the operation against Antioch. According to the pact, the defeated Byzantine soldiers were allowed to depart in peace. Following the surrender of Antioch, Muslim forces moved south along the Mediterranean coast and captured Latakia, Jablah and Tartus, while other columns were sent to subdue the remaining resistance in northern Syria.

1258 solar years ago, on this day in 758 AD, Guangzhou in southeastern China saw an expedition mounted by a joint force of Arab and Iranian sailors who took control of this port city, following massacre of thousands of Muslim merchants and their families by the Chinese rebel leader, Huang Chao, during the days of Emperor Suzong of the Tang Dynasty. Order was restored on the intervention of the authorities and the Muslims were allowed to carry on trade and build mosques in Guangzhou, where a couple of years ago in 2010 China held the 16th Asian Games. According to the ancient Iranian historian, Abu Zaid Hassan of Siraf, Iranians used to call Guangzhou "Khanfu" and Arabs "Sin Kalaan". Many Iranian and Arab Muslims were settled over a thousand years ago in this city which was later called Canton by the Europeans. Today also Guangzhou has a noticeable population of Chinese Muslims. 

782 lunar years ago, on this day in 656 AH, Baghdad was sacked by the Buddhist army of the Mongol marauder, Hulagu Khan (grandson of the bloodthirsty Chingiz Khan), who had the 37th and last self-styled caliph of the usurper Abbasid regime, al-Musta'sem, rolled in a carpet and trampled to death under the feet of horses. The grand library of Baghdad, containing countless historical documents and books on subjects ranging from medicine to astronomy, was destroyed. It is said the waters of the Tigris ran black with ink from the enormous quantity of books flung into the river. Death counts vary widely and cannot be easily substantiated, running into estimates ranging from 200,000 to a million. The Mongols looted and destroyed mosques, palaces, libraries, hospitals and buildings that had been the work of generations, since the founding of Baghdad five centuries ago. So terrible was the sack that Baghdad lay desolate for several generations. The incompetent Musta’sem, whose 16-year rule was confined to Iraq and some eastern parts of Syria, had neither raised an army to defend Baghdad nor did he attempt to negotiate with Hulagu, to whom two years earlier, he had supplied troops to conquer the Ismaili Nizari stronghold of Alamout (200 km west of modern Tehran). It seems the Abbasid ruler not just paid the price of assisting infidels against fellow Muslims, but also the far more serious treachery of his great-grandfather, the 34^th self-styled caliph, an-Naser-Billah, some 40 years ago, in inviting Chingiz to attack the empire of the Khwarezm Shah, because of personal dispute, some years before the Mongol invasion actually occurred. The curtain thus came down on 524 lunar years of the Abbasid caliphate founded by Abu'l-Abbas Saffah by hijacking the sentiments of the Arab and Iranian masses for the Ahl al-Bayt, thereby depriving once again the progeny of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA) of their political right to rule the Islamic realm. The Abbasids exercised actual authority for only some 150 years, after which they became mere puppets in the hands of the Iranian and Turkic emirs, while independent dynasties cropped up in all the provinces, except for the heartland Iraq. The Abbasids never ruled Islamic Spain, where remnants of the Omayyads held power, while the Maghreb (Morocco) was lost during the early days of Haroun Rashid to Idris, a great-grandson of the Prophet's elder grandson, Imam Hasan Mojtaba (AS). Over a century later, all of North Africa, followed by Syria and the Hejaz, were taken over by the Fatemids, who also claimed descent from the Prophet.

745 solar years ago, on this day in 1270 AD, the Eighth Crusade and siege of Tunis, mounted by invaders from Europe, ended by an agreement between Sultan Mohammad I al-Mustansir of Tunis and Charles I of Sicily (brother of King Louis IX of France, who died months earlier on invading this Muslim land). The Crusader plan was to use this North African Muslim city as a base to attack Palestine, but their plans failed, because of the strength of the Mamluk army of Sultan Baibars of Egypt that had liberated most of the cities of Palestine and Syria from the occupation of European Crusaders. Baibars had already assembled a separate army for aiding Tunis against the Christian invaders, but disbanded it on learning of the retreated of the disease-afflicted Crusaders.

676 solar years ago, on this day in 1340 AD, Portuguese and Spanish Castilian forces halted the Muslims in the Battle of Río Salado, but failed to subjugate the Emirate of Granada. Two months earlier in August, Sultan Abu’l-Hasan Ali, the Marinid ruler of Morocco, who had crossed over to Spain to help the Spanish Muslims against Christian marauders from the north, had inflicted a shattering defeat on the Portuguese-Castilian alliance, destroying the Christian fleet in the Strait of Gibraltar, and ensuring that the island of Gibraltar (corruption of the Arabic term “Jabal at-Tareq” or Rock of Tareq, the Muslim conqueror of Spain), remains under the suzerainty of Emir Yusuf of Granada. In 1492 with the fall of Granada, the last Spanish Muslim stronghold, to the Christian aggressors, almost 8 glorious centuries of Muslim rule in Spain that produced scholars and scientists at a time when Europe was immersed in the dark ages, came to its end, because of Muslim disunity and the failure of the two strong Muslim regional Empires of the Mamluks of Egypt-Syria and the Ottomans of Anatolia and southwestern Europe, to respond to the pleas for help of their co-religionists in Spain. 

390 solar years ago, on this day in 1626 AD, Dutch astronomer and mathematician, Willebrord Snellius, who attributed to himself the Islamic scientist Ibn Sahl’s “Law of Refraction of Light”, died at the age of 46. Named Willebrord Snel van Royen at birth and known in the English-speaking world as Snell; in the West, his name has been attached to the law of refraction of light for several centuries, but it is now known that this law was discovered by Abu Sa’d al-Ala ibn Sahl of Baghdad in 984. Ibn Sahl (940–1000) was a Muslim mathematician, physicist and optics engineer of the Islamic Golden Age. His treatise “On Burning Mirrors and Lenses” sets out his understanding of how curved mirrors and lenses bend and focus light. Ibn Sahl is credited with first discovering the law of refraction, which until late was called “Snell’s Law” in the West. Ibn Sahl used the law of refraction to derive lens shapes that focus light with no geometric aberrations, known as anaclastic lenses. Ibn Sahl’s treatise was used by Ibn al-Haitham (965–1039), one of the greatest Islamic scholars of optics who flourished in Iraq during the rule of the Iranian Buwaihid Dynasty and later moved to Fatemid Egypt. In modern times, Egyptian scientist and historian, Roshdi Rashed, discovered Ibn Sahl’s text dispersed in manuscripts in two different libraries, one in Tehran (Iran), and the other in Damascus (Syria). He reassembled the surviving portions, translated and published them.

158 lunar years ago, on this day in 1280 AH, the scholar, Mirza Mohammad Taher Tonekabouni, was born in Kelardasht, Mazandaran Province. He came to Tehran for higher religious and later joined the Madrasa-e Sepah-Salar as lecturer. He entered in politics and was elected to the 1^st and later 4^th Majlis, He passed away in Tehran at the age of 80 and was laid to rest in the mausoleum of the famous theologian, Shaikh Sadouq in Rayy.

106 solar years ago, on this day in 1910 AD, the Founder of International Committee of the Red Cross, Henri Dunant, died at the age of 82. He supported efforts to help and save the wounded in wars, and received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1901 for his humanitarian services. Since the Cross represents the crucifix and is solely a Christian Trinitarian emblem contrary to the belief of Muslims that Prophet Jesus was not crucified, Muslims have adopted the Red Crescent as their symbol. The Red Crescent emblem was first used by ICRC volunteers during the armed conflict between the Ottoman Muslim Empire and the Russia Christian Empire in 1877-1878. The symbol was officially adopted in 1929, and so far 33 Islamic states have recognized it. Today the abbreviation IFRC stands for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.

91 solar years ago, on this day in 1925 AD, Iran’s parliament, under influence of the British and their agent Reza Khan, dethroned Ahmad Shah and announced dissolution of the 135-year old Qajarid dynasty. Ahmad Shah was in Europe at the time, having been reduced to mere figure-head four years earlier by Reza Khan, an illiterate military officer, who imposed himself, with British help, as the prime minister. A month after the dissolution of the Qajarid dynasty, the British instructed the Iranian parliament to declare Reza Khan as king of the new Pahlavi dynasty, which set the stage for further plunder of the national wealth and suppression of the Iranian people by Britain and the US.

79 solar years ago, on this day in 1937, an asteroid approached the Earth, at about twice the distance of the moon. At the time, it was regarded as the closest approach of anybody other than a meteor. It traversed the night sky at 5 degrees per hour. It was first spotted two nights earlier, on 28 Oct. Astronomer Karl Reinmuth of Heidelberg noticed a streak of light on a picture he had just taken. Because of its fast motion, he named it Hermes, after the herald of the Olympian gods. He was able to observe it for only five days before viewing conditions became unfavorable. It was lost until sighted again on 15 Oct 2003 by Lowell Observatory astronomer Brian Skiff. Its elliptical orbit took 777 days, cutting across the orbits of Venus, Earth and Mars. It was found to be a binary object by Jean-Luc Margot at the Arecibo Observatory.«

30 solar years ago, on this day in 1986 AD, Iranian poet, Salman Qanbar Herati, died in a road accident at the young age of 27. Born in Marzdasht near Tonekabon in Mazandaran, he was deeply religious and a committed revolutionary poet. After completion of studies he worked as a teacher. His poems written in simple language have a special appeal for the young generation. He focused on social issues, on the natural environment, and on the bond between God and mankind. He composed beautiful odes, elegies, couplets, and quatrains. He left behind three collections of poems for teenagers, titled "A Gateway to the Sun's House", “Green Sky” (Aseman-e Sabz), and “From this Star to that Star” (Az een Sitareh ta an Sitareh). 

25 solar years ago, on this day in 1991 AD, under US pressure, the so-called Middle East Peace Conference was held in the Spanish Capital, Madrid, between the illegal Zionist entity, and Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, and the Palestine Liberation Organization. At this and subsequent dubious meetings, the usurper Israeli regime emphasized on what it called peace for peace, while the Arab states called for return of land in exchange for peace by urging the withdrawal of Zionists from only the lands occupied in 1967. Israel, with US help managed to drive a wedge among Arab negotiators, and tricked the PLO and Jordan by imposing upon them separate so-called peace treaties, whose clauses it refuses to honour. Such meetings are mere deception and nothing has come out from them, except for more retreat by the Arabs. Syria, sensing the futility of these so-called peace talks withdrew from them when Israel refused to return the Golan Heights. The regime in Jordan signed a scandalous treaty with Israel and has not gained anything concrete in return, except for more humiliation. As has become evident, Israel and its backers are not interested in peace, and as Iran has pointed out the only solution to the chronic question of Palestine is to hold a referendum involving all original inhabitants of this land, including Muslims, Christian and the original Jews, for a single country and government, with the emphasis that all those who migrated from abroad should peacefully return to their lands of origin.

AS/SS