Today is Wednesday; 12th of the Iranian month of Aban 1395 solar hijri; corresponding to 2nd of the Islamic month of Safar 1438 lunar hijri; and November 2, 2016, of the Christian Gregorian Calendar.

1334 solar years ago, on this day in 682 AD, Omar ibn Abdul-Aziz, who towards the end of his life became the 8^th self-styled caliph of the usurper Omayyad regime, was born either in Medina or in Helwan in Egypt, where a couple of years later his father Abdul-Aziz was made governor by his grandfather Marwan ibn Hakam ibn Aas, who had become caliph on Yazid’s death. He grew up in Egypt, was called to Damascus and married to the daughter of his uncle, the self-styled caliph Abdul-Malik ibn Marwan. He was appointed governor of Medina by his cousin and brother-in-law the next caliph, Waleed I, retained the position, because of efficient administration during the caliphate of Sulaiman ibn Abdul-Malik, who on his deathbed called him to Syria and nominated him as the next caliph. During his 3-year reign, before he was poisoned to death, Omar ibn Abdul-Aziz renounced the oppressive and un-Islamic policies of his predecessors. One of his first acts on becoming caliph was to issue the decree to halt the blasphemous cursing during Friday Prayer sermons, of the Commander of the Faithful, Prophet Mohammad’s (SAWA) divinely-designated vicegerent Imam Ali ibn Abi Taleb (AS) – a sacrilegious practice begun by the hardcore heathen, Mu’awiyya ibn Abu Sufyan, who through such acts intended to keep the growing neo Muslim population ignorant of the God-given right to rule of the Prophet’s Ahl al-Bayt. Omar ibn Abdul-Aziz next returned to the Ahl al-Bayt the large tract of Fadak whose income had now swelled to 40,000 dinars, since this was the personal property of the Prophet’s daughter, Hazrat Fatema Zahra (SA) from whom the first and second self-styled caliphs had illegally seized. He is also credited with other reforms like abolition of drinking, forbidding public nudity, and elimination of mixed baths for men and women, which the Godless Omayyad caliphs had initiated. He was succeeded by his ungodly cousin, Yazid bin Abdul-Malik, who immediately reversed his policies and again seized Fadak.

1317 lunar years ago, on this day in 121 AH, Zayd bin Ali, the son of Imam Zain al-Abedin (AS) – the great-grandson and 4th Infallible Successor of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA) – was cruelly martyred near Kufa in Iraq by the Godless Omayyad regime, at the age of 42. His mother was a virtuous lady from Sindh in what is now Pakistan, and he rose up against the tyranny of Hesham Ibn Abdul-Malik, the 10th self-styled caliph of the usurper regime, in order to safeguard the achievements of the uprising of his Infallible Grandfather, Imam Husain (AS). After being deserted by the Kufans, he bravely fought until he was martyred. His son Yayha buried him in the riverbed of the Euphrates by briefly diverting the waters and then restoring their normal flow, but the Omayyads bribed turncoats to find the location. They took out the corpse of this pious and learned member of the Prophet’s Household, decapitated it, hung it on the gallows for four years, and finally burned it. Zayd’s martyrdom was foretold by Prophet Mohammad (SAWA) over a hundred and ten years ago when he put his hand on the back of his younger grandson, and said: “O Husain, it will not be long until a man will be born among your descendants. He will be called Zayd; he will be killed as a martyr. On the day of resurrection, he and his companions will enter heaven.” Zayd’s body was later buried, and his head which had been sent to Damascus was, after the fall of the hated Omayyads, buried in Karak in Jordan, which was then part of Syria. Zayd’s sons were also persecuted, especially Yayha, who was martyred in 125 AH, after a valiant fight in distant Khorasan in the area called Jowzajan which is presently in Afghanistan. The Zaydi Shi’ite Muslims of Yemen revere Martyr Zayd as an Imam, although he never claimed the imamate, and was obedient to his elder brother, Imam Mohammad Baqer (AS), and after him to his nephew, Imam Ja’far Sadeq (AS).

1171 lunar years ago, on this day in 257 AH, the Godless Ali bin Mohammad, a person of obscure origin and said to be a descendant of slaves, who styled himself Sahib az-Zanj or Leader of the black-skinned people of East African origin, was killed in southern Iraq. He had entered the Iraqi port city of Basra, after his sedition met with failure in Bahrain, and launched a general massacre of the populace, burning entire localities including the Jame’ Mosque, where he killed the eminent grammarian Abbas bin Faraj Riyyashi while in prayer. He is said to have lived for a while in the Abbasid capital, Samarra, where he mixed with some of the influential slaves of Caliph Muntasir and saw the deep financial discrimination among Muslim citizens as a result of state policy. He then moved to the Persian Gulf island of Bahrain, where he pretended to be Shi’a or follower of the household of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA), in order to rouse the people into rebellion against the caliphate. His followers grew so large that land taxes were collected in his name, but the rebellion eventually failed, and he relocated to Basra. Here he claimed himself to be a Kharijite or renegade from Islam and started collecting around him the bonded labourers of the marshlands. Soon, supported by the Arab Bedouin as well as black-skinned people, he styled himself Emir and embarked on plunder, death and destruction. His rebellion, which coincided with the secession of Egypt by Ahmad ibn Toloun and Yaqoub bin Laith Saffar’s uprising in Iran, lasted 14 years, during which he seized southern Iraq up to Wasset and parts of Iran’s Khuzestan, defeating several armies sent by the Abbasid caliphs, until he was defeated and killed. He left a trail of destruction and famine, with agricultural lands desolate and as many as half-a-million people killed. The Commander of the Faithful, Imam Ali (AS), prophesied the revolt of Saheb az-Zanj two centuries earlier, citing Prophet Mohammad (SAWA) as source of information, as is evident from the following passage in Sermon 127 of Nahj al-Balagha:

“O' Ahnaf! It is as though I see him advancing with an army which has neither dust nor noise, nor rustling of reins, nor neighing of horses. They are trampling the ground with their feet as if they are the feet of ostriches.”

1045 solar years ago, on this day in 971 AD, Sultan Mahmud Ghaznavi, was born a commoner in Ghazni to Sebuktagin, a Turkic slave-soldier of the Iranian Samanid Dynasty of Bukhara, who had risen to become a governor. His mother was said to be a Persian from Zabulistan. He took over his father's principality in 998 in what is now Afghanistan and enlarged it into an empire by conquering Khorasan in Eastern Iran, parts of Central Asia, and Northwest India including today’s Pakistan. He led 17 expeditions into India, as far as Gujarat and what is now Uttar Pradesh, bringing in vast booty to finance his principal campaigns against the Shi’a Muslim Buwayhid Dynasty of Iran-Iraq and the Khwarezmshahis and Samanids in Central Asia. Mahmud, who massacred the Ismaili Shi’as of Multan, killed more Muslims during his military campaigns than he killed the Hindus of India, most of whose territories, except for Punjab, he left intact under their own control, contenting himself with annual tribute, and even circulating coins with Islamic emblems in the Sanskrit script. During his raids in Iran, Mahmud transferred to Ghazni whole libraries from Rayy and other parts. He demanded that the Khwarezmshahi court send its men of learning to his capital, such as the famous scientists, Abu Rayhan Berouni and Abu Ali ibn Sina – although the latter declined and fled into the interior of the Buwaiyhid Empire. The notable Persian poet Abu’l-Qassem Ferdowsi presented his masterpiece the “Shahnamah” to Mahmud, who failed to appreciate his genius. A paradoxical person, in Afghanistan, Pakistan and among the Indian Muslims, he is regarded as a hero, while others revile him. He was a patron of arts, architecture, literature and Iranian culture. He appointed Iranians to high offices as ministers, viziers and generals. He promoted Persian language instead of his native Turkic, and adopted on his flag the “Shir-o-Khorshid” (Lion and Sun) which was a symbol of pre-Islamic Iran. He died at the age of 60 in his birthplace after a rule of 33 years.

693 lunar years ago, on this day in 745 AH, the Spanish Muslim poet and literary figure, Mohammad Ibn Yusuf Ibn Ali al-Barbari, known as Abu-Hayyan al-Gharnati, passed away at the age of 91 in Cairo, where he had settled. Born in Granada (Gharnata) in southern Spain, he travelled widely to acquire knowledge under the prominent scholars of his era, before moving to Ceuta in what is now Morocco in North Africa. He then traveled through Tunisia, Egypt, Ethiopia, and reached Mecca for the Hajj pilgrimage. He wrote the famous book in explaining the linguistic meanings of the holy Qur’an, titled “al-Bahr al-Muheet”. A master of Arabic grammar, he considered himself a student of the school of the celebrated Iranian grammarian of the Arabic language, Sibwaiyh of Shiraz. He has left behind numerous books, including a Diwan or collection of poems.

676 lunar years ago, on this day in 762 AH, the Muslim astronomer, mathematician, and theologian, Ali Ibn Mohammad Ibn ad-Durayhim, passed away. He lived mostly in Syria and Egypt and lectured for many years on various topics. He is considered the pioneer of the science of cryptanalysis. In fact, he was the first to analyze the various capabilities of substitution for cipher or zero, and to present what is called today the Vigenere Table. He actually formulated this table more than two centuries before the European Blaise de Vigenere, who seems to have copied it from Islamic sources. Ibn ad-Durayhim's book entitled "Clear Chapters Goals and Solving Ciphers" was recently discovered. It includes the use of statistical techniques pioneered by the famous philosopher Yaqub Ibn Ishaq al-Kindi.

368 solar years ago, on this day in 1648 AD, as part of the independent struggle of the people of Ukraine 12,000 Jews were massacred by Cossack Bogdan Chmielnicki in Narol Podlia, because of their siding with the Polish occupiers of the country to suppress the Ukrainians and collect taxes from them. Throughout history, the Christians have slaughtered Jews on various pretexts, mainly because of their insulting of the fundamental beliefs of Christianity, including slandering of Prophet Jesus and his mother, the Virgin Mary (peace upon them).

175 solar years ago, on this day in 1841 AD, Akbar Khan successfully revolted against Shah Shuja in Afghanistan, during the 1^st Afghan War (1839-1842), and killed British envoy, Lt. Col. Alexander Burnes and his accomplices. By January 1842 the British army retreated with its 4,500 Anglo-Indian troops and 10,000 camp followers. The whole column was wiped out by Ghilzai tribesmen with their long-barreled rifles.

169 lunar years ago, on this day in 1268 AH, the highly efficient Prime Minister of Iran, Mirza Taqi Khan Amir Kabir, was dismissed from his post by Naser od-Din Shah Qajar, following court intrigues by agents of foreign powers, on loss of their illegal interests, because of his political and administrative reforms. Rising from the lower rungs of the society through hard work, honesty, and voracious appetite for knowledge and new techniques, his achievements include the vaccination of Iranians against smallpox, economic development of the fertile Khuzestan Province, setting up in Tehran of the Dar ol-Fonun Academy which taught medicine, surgery, natural history, mathematics, pharmacology, geology, and natural science to train the civilian and military staff, cancellation of the one-sided treaties with the Russians and the British, promotion of education, launching of a newspaper, and above all the timely crackdown on the seditious Babi-Bahai plot against Islam and the country, resulting in the execution of the heretic Mohammad Ali Bab. In the end, Amir Kabir was martyred in Kashan and with him died the prospects of an independent Iran led by meritocracy.

108 solar years ago, on this day in 1908 AD, the combatant religious leader, Grand Ayatollah Mirza Hussain Hussaini, popular as Mirza Khalili, passed away at the age of 93. Born in holy Najaf, he studied under prominent ulema such as Shaikh Mohammad Hassan Najafi (author of “Jawaher al-Kalaam”) and Ayatollah Shaikh Morteza Ansari Dezfuli (author of “Rasa’el” and “Makaseb”). On the passing away of Grand Ayatollah Mirza Hassan Shirazi (famous for his anti-tobacco fatwa to save Iranian economy from British exploitation), he was acknowledged as Source of Emulation for Shi’a Muslims of Iran, Iraq, Syria and the Subcontinent. He backed the Constitutional Revolution against the despotism of the Qajarids in Iran, and on the victory of this movement formed its 3-member leadership council at the Najaf Seminary, along with the scholars Akhound Mullah Mohammad Kazem Khorasani and Mirza Abdullah Mazandarani. He groomed scholars and wrote many books.

100 solar years ago, on this day in 1916 AD, under the instigation of the British, Sharif Hussein, the ruler of Mecca, Medina, and the other cities of Hijaz, styled himself Sultan of Arabia. Earlier on June 5, on the orders of the British he launched an open revolt against Ottoman rule in order to weaken the Turkish Muslims during World War I. Britain had promised to declare Sharif Hussein as King of all Arabia after the end of the war, but did not keep its word. The British, who were playing a double game by supporting the Wahhabi chieftain of Najd, Abdul-Aziz ibn Saud, wanted to see which of its two mercenaries in Arabia, would emerge stronger. When the Wahhabis started inflicting defeats on Sharif Hussein, London tilted towards Abdul-Aziz, but at the same time in order to keep its influence amongst the Arabs, it carved out from Greater Syria, a new country called Jordan and placed Hussein's son, Abdullah, as king in Amman. The British then placed another son of Hussein, named Faisal, as king of Iraq in Baghdad, in order to deprive the Shi'a Muslim majority of its right to form an independent elected government. Some years later, when Abdul-Aziz and his brutal Wahhabi hordes seized Hejaz, drove out Sharif Hussein, massacred tens of thousands of people in Mecca, Medina, Jeddah, and Ta'ef, and destroyed the sacred cemeteries of Jannat al-Baqie and Jannat al-Mo'alla, the British gifted him with a new and artificial country called Saudi Arabia, and hailed him as king. These were all part of the British plot to weaken Muslims and pave the way for the planting of an illegitimate entity for European Jews in the heart of the Muslim World.

99 solar years ago, on this day in 1917 AD, the scandalous Balfour Declaration was issued by the then British Foreign Secretary, Arthur James Balfour, calling for setting up an illegal Zionist state in Palestine for European Jews. In May 1948, some 31 years after issuance of this dubious declaration, the illegal Zionist migrants who had been flocking into British occupied Palestine since the end of World War 1, announced the illegitimate birth of Israel, with the support of Britain and the US. Till this day, the Palestinian people and the rest of the Muslim World are suffering from the crimes against humanity of this cancerous tumour called Israel.

67 solar years ago, on this day in 1949 AD, Indonesia gained independence after three-and-a-half centuries of Dutch colonial rule. Based on an agreement that was reached between Holland and the Indonesian independence-seekers, under the leadership of Dr. Ahmad Sukarno and Ahmad Hata, Dutch troops withdrew from Indonesia. This agreement was the outcome of four years of intense battles between the independence seekers and Dutch forces as of August 1945. Following independence, Sukarno was elected as president and remained at this post until 1965, when he was toppled in a military coup by General Suharto, who remained in power as president until 1998, when he was forced to resign by mounting popular protests. Indonesia is an archipelago in Southeast Asia, consisting of over 13,000 islands – inhabited and uninhabited. It covers an area of almost two million sq km, and its population stands at 240 million people, of which 85% are Muslims. Indonesia is considered the most populous Muslim country, although non-Muslim India has the world's largest Muslim population of almost 250 million.

66 solar years ago, on this day in 1950 AD, George Bernard Shaw, the Irish-born, English dramatist, critic and social reformer, passed away. Born in Dublin, the main feature of his works is delicate satire. He was profoundly attracted to Islam and on several occasions emphasized on the grandeur and importance of this divine religion. One of his famous quotes is: "If any religion had the chance of ruling over England, nay Europe within the next hundred years, it could be Islam."  In 1925, he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature.

61 solar years ago, on this day in 1955 AD, Iranian researcher, literary figure and university professor, Dr. Ahmad Bahmanyar Kermani, passed away at the age of 72 in Tehran. Born in Kerman, he received his early education from his scholarly father Aqa Mohammad Ali, and from his brother. He soon became proficient in Arabic and Persian literature and at the young age of sixteen could teach Arabic grammar and literature and write a commentary on one of his father’s scholarly works. Two periods can be distinguished in his life. During the first one (1910-29) he joined the Constitutional Movement, published the weekly paper “Dehqan” in Kerman (1st issue Shawwal 1329 AH/October 1911 AD) and later the “Fikr-e Azad” in Mashhad (1922-23) and Tehran (1924). In 1915, due to his political involvements, he was exiled by the British from Kerman to Fars, where he was jailed for more than fourteen months. While in jail he learned Ottoman Turkish and translated a few Turkish poems into Persian. He also studied astronomy with a fellow prisoner. Upon his release he went to Tehran and entered the government service, serving the Ministries of Finance, Education, and Justice in a number of cities for about nine years. During the second period (1929 until his death in 1955), he became a high-school teacher in Tehran, a faculty member at the Dar al-Mo’allemin (Teachers’ College; 1931), professor of Arabic and Persian at Tehran University (1935), and a permanent member of the Farhangestan-e Iran (Academy of Iran; 1942). Bahmanyar’s work is characterized by clarity and simplicity of language. It includes “Tohfa-ye Ahmadiya”, a two-volume commentary on the Alfiya of Ibn Malek (1912), a biography of the famous Iranian vizier of the Buwaiyhid Dynasty Saheb ibn Abbad Ismail Taleqani), and critical editions of Mohammad bin Monawwar’s “Asrar at-Tawhid” (1935), Baha od-Din Mohammad Baghdadi’s “At-Tawassol ila’t-Tarassol” (1936), Ibn Fondoq’s “Tarikh-e Bayhaq” (1938), Abu Mansur’s “Kitab al-Abniya an“Haqa’eq al-Adwiya”, some treatises of Hajj Mohammad-Karim Kirmani, and a number of articles. His “Majma’ al-Amsal” is yet to be published. Bahmanyar also wrote some poetry, and a memoir “Yaddasht-e Ayyam-e Avaragi”.

42 solar years ago, on this day in 1964 AD, King Saud of the British-created entity Saudi Arabia was deposed in a coup and replaced by his half-brother Faisal, following an 11-year rule on the death of his father, Abdul-Aziz, who is notorious for massacring hundreds of thousands of Muslims, imposing the heretical cult of Wahhabism in Arabia, and desecrating the holy shrines in Mecca and Medina. Faisal was assassinated in 1975 by one of his nephews, on the orders of the CIA, for having imposed the oil embargo on the US, during the 1973 Israeli war against Arab states. 

41 solar years ago, on this day in 1975 AD, the Iranian philosopher, jurist, and theologian, Allamah Mirza Abu’l-Hassan Sha’rani Tehrani passed away in his hometown Tehran at the age of 73 and was laid to rest in the mausoleum of Seyyed Abdul-Azim al-Hassani. Son of the scholar Shaikh Mohammad Tehrani and grandson of Abu’l-Hassan Mujtahed Tehrani and of Mullah Fathollah, the author of the commentary of “Manhaj-as-Sadeqin”, he studied in the famous seminary of holy Najaf and on his return to Iran developed into one of the great teachers of the philosophical school of Tehran. In addition to mastering religious sciences, he studied medicine and astronomy, and was fluent in Persian, Arabic, French and Hebrew. His teachers included Ayatollah Seyyed Hassan Modarres, Allamah Shaikh Aqa Bozorg Tehrani, Ayatollah Mirza Mahdi Ashtiani, Ayatollah Abu Turab Khwansari, and Grand Ayatollah Shaikh Abdul-Karim Haeri Yazdi, the Reviver of the Qom Seminary. He, in turn groomed several students, many of whom developed into prominent scholars such as Ayatollah Mirza Hashem Amoli, Shaikh Ali Asghar Karbaschian (Founder of Tehran’s Alavi High school), Ayatollah Hassan Hassanzadeh Amoli, Ayatollah Javadi Amoli, Dr Mahdi Mohaqeq, Dr Mohammad Khwansari and others. Ayatollah Sha’rani, in addition to teaching religious sciences at Tehran’s Sepah-Salar School (presently Martyr Motahhari) and Marvi School, was a full professor at the Faculty of Literature of Tehran University. He wrote many books on diverse subjects, such as jurisprudence, theology, philosophy and Hadith. He translated from Arabic to Persian such books as “Nafas al-Mahmoum” and “Sahifat-as-Sajjadiyah”. Some of his works are: Commentary on the book of “al-Wafi”; Notes on “al-Kafi” in 12 volumes; Annotation of the exegesis “Majma’ al Bayan”; Preface and Notes on “Asrar al Hikam” (Mysteries of Wisdom), and translation of “Flamarion” to French.

10 solar years ago, on this day in 2006 AD the Islamic Republic of Iran successfully test-fired three new models of sea missiles in the Persian Gulf waters, as part of its efforts to boost defence capabilities.

5 solar years ago, on this day in 2011 AD, Fazl-e Hassan Abed, the founder of an anti-poverty group in Bangladesh (BRAC) received the $500,000 education prize awarded by Qatar. BRAC is the world's largest non-governmental organization with over 120,000 employees. For his contributions to social improvement, he has also has received the Ramon Magsaysay Award, the UNDP Mahboub ul-Haq Award, and the inaugural WISE Prize for Education. In 2015, he received World Food Prize for his “unparalleled” work on reducing poverty in Bangladesh and 10 other countries. His family has contributed to South Asian politics and social movements for nearly four-hundred years, since the Mughal Emperor Jahangir’s era. The family is among remnants of Mughal nobility in Bangladesh, with their ancient home still intact.

AS/ME