Today is Thursday; 13th of the Iranian month of Aban 1395 solar hijri; corresponding to 3rd of the Islamic month of Safar 1438 lunar hijri; and November 3, 2016, of the Christian Gregorian Calendar.

1655 solar years ago, on this day in 361 AD, Roman Emperor Constantius II died in Cilicia in what is now south-central Turkey at the age of 44 after a reign of 24 years during which he was involved in war with Emperor Shapur II of the Sassanid Empire of Iran for control of Syria and what is now south-central Turkey. The second son of Constantine I – the imposer of Pauline Christianity on the Empire – he ascended to the throne on the division of the empire with his brothers Constantine II and Constans in 337 upon the death of their father, who by turning down an offer of peace by Emperor Shapur II of Sassanid Iran, was planning a large scale invasion of the Persian Empire on the pretext of mistreatment of Christians. On assuming power, Constantius was confronted with the large army, including the Indian war elephants of Shapur II, whose forces swept across of what is now northern Syria and southern Turkey, putting Nisibis (Nusaybin) under siege. When the Iranians lifted the siege, Constantius prepared his army for a counter-attack, but was unable to mount any successful campaign, except for the Battle of Narasara. Meanwhile, in the western provinces, his brothers clashed in 340, resulting in the death of Constantine II. In 350 Constans was overthrown and assassinated by Magnentius, who committed suicide in 353 following his military defeats by the armies of the east, leaving Constantius as sole ruler of the empire till his death in 361. Before dying he was forced to appoint as his successor, the rebellious Julian the Apostate, who two years later was to be killed in the Battle of Samarra (363) by the Iranians while fleeing from the counterattacks of the Persian forces.

1381 lunar years ago, on this day in 57 AH, according to a narration, is the birth anniversary of Imam Mohammad al-Baqer (AS), the 5th Infallible Successor of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA). Born in Medina, he was present in Karbala as a four-year old boy and was witness to the tragic martyrdom of his grandfather, Imam Husain (AS). In the aftermath of the tragedy he was imprisoned by the Omayyads, along with his parents and the rest of the womenfolk and children of the Prophet's progeny. His father was Imam Zain al-Abedin (AS) while his mother Fatema (SA) was the daughter of the Prophet's elder grandson, Imam Hasan al-Mojtaba (AS), which means he was descended on both sides from the Prophet. During his 19-year Imamate, he strove to spread the genuine teachings of Islam and the pure and pristine practice (Sunnah) and behaviour (Seerah) of the Prophet. In fact, his epithet “Baqer al-Uloum” (Splitter and Spreader of Sciences) was foretold by the Prophet himself through the prominent Sahabi, Jaber Ibn Abdullah al-Ansari, who lived until the time of the 5th Imam’s childhood and conveyed to him the Messenger of Islam’s message. In addition to the followers of the Ahl al-Bayt, Sunni Muslims have also narrated hadith on his authority. Before his martyrdom at the age of 57 as a result of poisoning by the Omayyad caliph, Hesham ibn Abdul-Malik, he opened many vistas of knowledge, which were taken to new heights by his son and successor, Imam Ja'far as-Sadeq (AS).

1372 solar years ago, on this day in 644 AD, Omar ibn Khattab, the 2nd caliph or political head of the Muslim state, succumbed to the wounds he had suffered two days ago at the hands of Abu Lulu Firuz for failing to redress the injustice done to him by the latter's Arab master, Mughirah, who had imposed heavy taxes on this talented Iranian convert to Islam, well versed in many crafts including the construction of mills. Omar, who before becoming a Muslim was a fierce opponent of Islam and Prophet Mohammad (SAWA), had played the leading role in installing his friend Abu Bakr as the first caliph at the dubious gathering of Saqifa Bani Sa'da after a fist fight amongst the companions of the Prophet, while the Prophet's divinely-designated heir, Imam Ali (AS), along with the Bani Hashem clan and some prominent Sahaba (companions), was busy performing the last rites of the Last Messenger of God. Two years later, on Abu Bakr's death, he became the caliph on the claim of the former's will in his favour, although at the historic gathering of Ghadeer-Khom he was the first one to felicitate Imam Ali's (AS) formal appointment as the Prophet's vicegerent with the words: You have become my Master and the Master of all faithful men and women. For almost a decade he was head of state. On his deathbed, in order to determine the next caliph, Omar appointed a 6-man Shura (council), which chose Osman Ibn Affan, when Imam Ali (AS) who was first offered the political post, made it clear that he would rule only in accordance with the Holy Qur'an and the Prophet's Sunnah (practice), and would not follow the unhealthy innovations that had crept into the administration.

1230 lunar years ago, on this day in 208 AH, according to a narration. Seyyeda Nafisah, the great granddaughter of Imam Hasan al-Mujtaba (AS) – the elder grandson of Prophet Muhammad (SAWA) – and daughter-in-law of the Prophet’s 6^th Infallible Heir, Imam Ja’far as-Sadeq (AS), passed away at the age of 63 in Cairo, Egypt, and was laid to rest in that city when husband Ishaq al-Mo’tamen saw the Prophet in his dream, instructing him not to take the body to homeland Hijaz for burial in Medina, as planned. She was a very pious and God-fearing lady, in contrast to her unprincipled father, Hassan al-Anwar ibn Zayd, who contrary to the ways of the Ahl al-Bayt, had sided with the usurper Abbasid regime against his own kinsmen, serving as governor of Medina during the tyrant Mansour Dawaniqi’s caliphate and opposing the marriage of Nafisah to Ishaq. Her husband was noted for his piety, knowledge, and reliability in narrating hadith, for which he had earned the epithet “al-Mo’tamen” or trustworthy. He was witness to the last will written by his brother Imam Musa al-Kazem (AS) to son, Imam Ali ar-Reza (AS). Nafisah, who was the mother of two children – a son and daughter – came to Egypt in 193 AH after visiting Damascus to perform pilgrimage to the shrine of her great grand aunt, the Prophet’s granddaughter Hazrat Zainab (SA). The Egyptian people warmly welcomed her and entreated her to stay in Cairo, where, during her 15-year stay, she used to hold classes of Qur’an and hadith, attended among others at various times by the Mystic Dhun-Noon al-Misri, Bishr bin Hareth al-Haafi of Baghdad – who was guided to the right path by Imam Kazem (AS), and two jurists who later founded their respective schools of jurisprudence, Mohammad bin Idris ash-Shafei, Ahmad bin Mohammad bin Hanbal. It has been mentioned that Nafisah performed the annual Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca on thirty occasions, due to her miraculous powers she cured the ill and saved Egyptians and the River Nile from drought. The shrine of Seyyeda Nafisah is among the most visited pilgrimage centres in Egypt. On Sundays and Thursdays, thousands of people visit her shrine. It is also a custom to hold wedding ceremonies in her mausoleum. Another account says she passed away on the 1^st of Ramadhan the same year.

1105 lunar years ago, on this day in 333 AH, al-Muttaqi-Billah, the 21st self-styled caliph of the usurper Abbasid regime, was deposed and blinded after a rule of four years by the Turkic general, Tuzun, who replaced him on the same day with a cousin called al-Mustakfi. The caliphate or political rule of the Islamic state that was snatched from its rightful inheritor, Imam Ali Ibn Abi Taleb (AS), at the scandalous gathering of Saqifa Bani Sa'da, by a group of Sahaba – recent converts from years of idolatry – no sooner did Prophet Mohammad (SAWA) leave the mortal world, had become so insignificant after the tyrannically un-Islamic rule of the Omayyads and the early Abbasids, that it now depended on the whims of the neo-Muslim Turkic slave guards who played havoc in Baghdad. Iran and the east were long gone; Egypt and Africa had been lost to the Fatemids, Arabia and Yemen were held by the Carmathians and local chieftains, Syria and Palestine were no longer under the caliphate, and even in Iraq there were revolts in Basra and Waset, while Mosul had become independent. In northern Syria and Anatolia, the Byzantine attempts to advance were being thwarted only because of the bravery of the Hamdanid Shi'ite Muslim dynasty whose protection Muttaqi-Billah sought on becoming caliph. Naser od-Dowla Hamdani saw this as an opportunity to add all of Iraq to his realm and marched along with the caliph, but because of the well-organized opposition of the Turkic forces in Baghdad he found it difficult to control the city. The caliph after wondering from city to city finally threw himself at the mercy of Tuzun, who soon broke his promises and deposed, blinded and replaced him with another puppet.

1033 lunar years ago, on this day in 405 AH, the prominent Iranian Sunni Muslim compiler of hadith, Mohammad Ibn Abdullah, Hakem an-Naishapuri, passed away in his native Khorasan at the age 81. His famous book is "Mustadrek ala as-Sahihayn" in five volumes, which is a supplement to the two principal books of Sunni hadith, the "Sahih Bukhari" and the "Sahih Muslim" – also compiled by Iranians born in families of converts from Zoroastrianism to Islam. On the basis of the criteria set by the two books, Hakem has collected thousands of hadith that Bukhari and Muslim had failed to locate, including many pertaining to the unparalleled merits of Imam Ali (AS), and the Ahl al-Bayt. He authored several books including on the History of the Ulema of his hometown Naishapur, the Benefits of the People of Khorasan, and “Tarajem al-Musnad ala Shart as-Sahihayn” (Reports of Ibn Hanbal’s Musnad that Match the Criteria of the Two Sahih Books).

412 solar years ago, on this day in 1604 AD, the Ottoman Sultan, Osman II, was born to Sultan Ahmad and his Greek wife Maria – renamed Mah-Firuzeh Khadija on becoming Muslim. He ascended the throne at the young age of 14, as a result of a palace coup against his uncle Mustafa I. Four years later in 1622 he was strangled to death by his vizier, following his plans to reorganize the army and the administrative system in the wake of the treaty imposed on humiliating terms in the Moldavian Wars when he personally led the Turkish forces into Poland, after securing the eastern borders with Safavid Iran by signing the Treaty of Serav with Shah Abbas I. He was fluent in Arabic, Persian, Greek, Latin and Italian.

397 solar years ago, on this day in 1619 AD, the sixth and last of the Great Mughal emperoros of the subcontinent, Mohi od-Din Mohammad titled Aurangzeb Alamagir, was born at Dohad, while his grandfather Noor od-Din Jahangir was marching from Gujarat to Ujjain. His father was Shahab od-Din Shahjahan, while his mother was Arjumand Banu titled Mumtaz Mahal, who was the daughter of the Iranian émigré to India, Asaf Khan Tehrani – brother of the empress Noor Jahan. Aurangzeb ruled for half-a-century, extending the empire to the southernmost part of India, as well as the eastern-most parts, in addition to ruling the eastern part of Afghanistan, where he was involved in a struggle with the Safavid Empire of Iran.

177 solar years ago, on this day in 1839 AD, with the attack of the British navy on Chinese civilian ships, the Opium War broke out, and intensified eight months later as of July 5, 1840. The motivation was to expand opium trade in China, which led to drug addiction of a large number of Chinese people. The Chinese government threw 20,000 bags containing opium into the sea, which led to breakout of war. China lost the war and was forced to grant numerous concessions, but, Britain was intent on resuming the opium trade and imposed a new war in 1856, in collaboration with France. In 1860, as the colonial forces approached the capital, Beijing, China surrendered and the opium trade was resumed. It was during these wars that the British seized Hong Kong.

113 solar years ago, on this day in 1903 AD, prominent historian of the Subcontinent, and professor of political history at Karachi University, Pakistan, was born in Etah, a town in Uttar Pradesh, India. He did matriculation in 1916, and joined MAO College Aligarh. He took active part in the Khilafat Movement against abolishment of the Ottoman caliphate, while completing post-graduation with distinction in Persian language from St. Stephen's College, Delhi in 1927, which he joined the next year as Lecturer in History. Between 1937 and 1940, he studied at Cambridge University, Britain for a PhD degree, the topic of his thesis being “Administration of Sultanate of Delhi”. During this period in London, he also briefly joined the Pakistan National Movement founded by Choudhary Rahmat Ali. After returning home, he rejoined Delhi University where he was appointed Professor of History, and subsequently the Dean of the Faculty of Arts. In 1947, during the partition riots, when the Muslim students of the St Stephen's College had to be evacuated to the Purana Qila, and Dr Qureshi's library was completely burnt down by anti-Muslim mobs. He decided to migrate to Pakistan in 1948, where he continued his academic and political career, and served as a member of the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan. In 1949, he was appointed Professor of History at the University of the Punjab, Lahore. He also joined the Government of Pakistan as Minister of Refugee Rehabilitation, and later as Minister of Education. Later on, he joined the Columbia University, New York where he wrote his famous book, “Muslim Community of South Asia”, as a story of the trials and tribulations of the Muslims in the Subcontinent. On his return, he played a pivotal role in the establishment of the University of Karachi, and died on 22 January 1981 in Karachi. Some of his books are: “Ulema in Politics”, “Akbar, the Architect of Mughal Empire”, “Administration of the Mughal Empire”, “Struggle for Pakistan”, and “Islam – Religion of Peace”. He also edited the four-volume series on History of Pakistan.

60 solar years ago, on this day in 1956 AD, during Israel's war on Egypt, Zionist troops massacred at least 275 people in the city of Khan Younes in the Gaza Strip. They hanged 25 Egyptian soldiers, besides raiding the city’s hospital and killing all the patients, as well as nurses, and physicians. They then bombed and flattened the city’s shelter where dozens of women, children, and elderly had taken refuge.

52 solar years ago, on this day in 1964 AD, the Father of the Islamic Revolution, Imam Khomeini (RA), was exiled to Turkey, following his arrest in Qom by the Shah’s security forces and his relocation to Tehran. The aim of the Pahlavi regime was to suppress the Islamic aspirations of the people. On hearing the news of the exile of their beloved leader, the people in various Iranian cities held mass demonstrations. Soon Imam Khomeini moved from Turkey to holy Najaf in Iraq, from where he continued to lead the Islamic movement of the Iranian people, until his triumphant return home some 15 years later to end the monarchy and establish the Islamic Republic system.

38 solar years ago, on this day in 1978 AD, during the mass protests of the Iranian people against the Pahlavi regime, students at Tehran University Campus, calling for the return home from exile of their beloved leader, Imam Khomeini (RA), were brutally attacked by the Shah's forces, resulting in the martyrdom of several of them. Hence, the 13th of Aban was named as Students Day, following the victory of the Islamic Revolution.

37 solar years ago, on this day in 1979 AD, on the first anniversary of the massacre of Tehran University students by the Shah's regime, thousands of Iranian students held a protest rally in front of the US embassy in Tehran that culminated in the capture of this den of espionage. It was a historic step and foiled a sinister plot to overthrow the Islamic Republic, since the US mission in violation of diplomatic norms, was openly indulging in spying and terrorist activities. Prior to the capture of the US spy den, the Islamic Republic’s Foreign Ministry had on several occasions protested to US meddling and conspiracies in Iran, but without any positive response from Washington. In fact, following the takeover of the US embassy, documented evidence was brought to light, proving its functioning as a centre of espionage, not just against Iran but throughout the region. The Father of the Islamic Revolution, Imam Khomeini (RA), hailed this courageous and revolutionary move by the students and called the fall of the US Spy Den as the Second Revolution, greater than the First Revolution. Aban 13 has consequently been named as the National day of Campaign against Global Arrogance.

AS/ME