Today is Tuesday; 25th of the Iranian month of Aban 1395 solar hijri; corresponding to 15th of the Islamic month of Safar 1438 lunar hijri; and November 15, 2016, of the Christian Gregorian Calendar.

1451 solar years ago, on this day in 565 AD, Justin II succeeded his maternal uncle Justinian I as emperor of the Byzantine Empire, and ruled for eleven years till 574 during which he was embroiled in a devastating war with the Sassanid Empire of Iran in Syria and what is now Turkey. Justin suffered a shattering defeat at the hands of the Iranian Emperor, Khosrow I Anushiravan. The Romans agreed to pay 45,000 gold coins to Iran as war reparations. Justin died at the age of 58, four years after abdicating the throne in favour of Tiberius because of his mental breakdown following the defeat inflicted by the Iranians.

1321 lunar years ago, on this day in 127 AH, Marwan al-Hemar (literally “the Donkey”) started his rule as the 14^th self-styled caliph of the usurper Omayyad regime by displacing Ibrahim, who days earlier had been installed as the new caliph on the death of Yazid III, who in turn had ruled for only six months on assuming power after the less than a year rule of the depraved Walid II. This meant that in one year four of the so-called caliphs had come and gone after the long reign of the tyrant, Hisham ibn Abdul-Malik. Marwan presided over the end of the hated Omayyad regime that was thrown into the dustbin of history in 132 AH when he was caught and killed in Egypt, while fleeing the advance of the Abbasids from Khorasan to Iraq and Syria. The dynasty had been founded by the Godless Mu'awiyah ibn Abu Sufyan, on his seizure of the caliphate from the Prophet's grandson, Imam Hasan Mojtaba (AS) in 41 AH by deceiving the Muslim masses and imposing a treaty, whose clauses he violated. The Abbasids – descendants of Abbas, an uncle of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA) – now usurped political power by exploiting the sentiments of the people of Iran, Iraq and Hijaz, for the Ahl al-Bayt, but turned out to be as cruel as the Omayyads, as is evident by their persecution of the Prophet’s progeny and martyring of 6 of the Infallible Imams through poisoning.

736 solar years ago, on this day in 1280 AD, the German chemist and philosopher, Saint Albertus Magnus, died. He succeeded in whitening copper with the use of arsenic, after studying the Latin translation of Arabic books, especially those written by the Muslim scientists of Islamic Spain.

619 solar years ago, on this day in 1397 AD, Taj od-Din Firouz Shah, grandson of Ala od-Din Bahman Shah (founder of the Bahmani kingdom of Iranian origin) ascended the throne of Gulbarga in the Deccan (southern India), after removing the puppet boy-king Shams od-Din and his Turkic regent, Taghalchin, who five months earlier had blinded Ghiyas od-Din Shah Tahmatan and seized the throne. Firouz Shah, the greatest ruler of the dynasty, reigned for 25 years. The Bahmanis patronized and promoted Persian language and poetry, as well as Iranian art, culture, and architecture by inviting from Iran thousands of qualified persons in various fields. The famous Iranian poet Hafez Shirazi was also invited, but changed his mind midway through the journey, sending an excellent piece of poetry to the Bahmani court. The famous Gnostic of Kerman, Shah Ne’matollah Wali, was also requested to come to the Deccan, but sent his grandson – and later son – who preached the teachings of the Ahl al-Bayt in the Bahmani kingdom.

386 solar years ago, on this day in 1630 AD, German astronomer, Johannes Kepler, died at the age of 59. Following completion of his studies, he settled in Austria and lectured there. After studying the Latin translations of the works of Muslim scientists, he devised the rule known as the Principles of Kepler about the movement of planets and discovery of the oval movement of Mercury around its orbit, all of which are believed to have been copied from Arabic texts written by Islamic scientists including the Iranian genius, Abu Rayhan Birouni, and the Spanish Muslim scholar, Ibn Hazm Andalusi, who almost five centuries before Kepler had proved the spherical shape of the earth and how it revolves around the sun.

147 solar years ago, on this day in 1869 AD, Russian orientalist, Vasily Vladimirovich Bartold also known as Wilhelm Barthold, was born in Saint Petersburg. He specialized in the history of Islam and the Turkic peoples (Turkology). He was the first to publish obscure information from the early Arab historians on Kievan Rus, which later emerged as Russia. He also edited several scholarly journals of Muslim studies, and contributed extensively to the first edition of the Encyclopaedia of Islam. Bartold wrote three authoritative monographs on the history of Islam, namely, Islam (1918), Muslim Culture (1918) and The Muslim World (1922). He also contributed to the development of Cyrillic writing for the Muslim countries of Central Asia. Most of his writings were translated in English, Arabic, and Persian. Bartold's collected works were reprinted in 9 volumes between 1963 and 1977, and whilst Soviet editors added footnotes deploring his 'bourgeois' attitudes, his prestige was such that the text was left uncensored, despite not conforming to a Marxist interpretation of history. His works include: “Ulugh-Beg”, “Turkestan Down to the Mongol Invasion”, “Mussalman Culture”, "A Short History of Turkestan", and “An Historical Geography of Iran”.

132 solar years ago, on this day in 1884 AD, the Berlin Conference started for division of Africa and plunder of its rich natural resources by European colonial powers and continued until February 26 of the following year, attended by representatives of France, Britain, Russia, Belgium, Portugal, Austria, and Germany. Based on its decisions, each European state, which wanted to annex a part of Africa’s soil, should announce its intention to other colonial powers. Despite the decisions made, the feud between European states over expansion of influence in Africa was not settled.

127 solar years ago, on this day in 1889 AD, Brazil was declared a republic by Marshal Deodoro da Fonseca as Emperor Pedro II was deposed in a military coup. The Portuguese royal family had shifted to Brazil following the occupation of Portugal by Napoleon. With the end of the Napoleonic wars, King Joaop VI moved back to Portugal leaving his son as regent, who later declared himself Pedro I as independent ruler of Brazil. When monarchial rule ended in Brazil Pedro II was the emperor, whose reforms such as abolishment of slavery in 1888, angered plantation owners and led to his overthrow.

103 solar years ago, on this day in 1913 AD, Sattar Khan, one of the leading activists of Iran’s Constitutional Movement, who earned the title “Sardar-e Melli” (National Commander), passed away. During his youth, he was forced to leave his hometown, Tabriz, northwestern Iran, due to harassment by agents of the despotic Qajarid regime. On the start of the freedom-struggle he returned to Tabriz and joined the uprising. He was one of the leaders of the revolutionaries who marched upon Tehran and forced Mohammad Ali Shah Qajar to abdicate. His warm reception by the people of Tehran alarmed the colonialist powers, Britain and Russia. After a short while, intense clashes erupted between the revolutionaries and agents of the foreign-backed regime. As a consequence, a number of freedom-seekers were killed. Sattar Khan, who was severely wounded, succumbed to his injuries on this day.

81 solar years ago, on this day in 1935 AD, the famous Islamic scholar of Lebanon, Seyyed Mohammad Hussein Fazlollah, was born in the holy city of Najaf in Iraq, to the scholar Abdur-Raoof Fazlollah. After 21 years of studying under prominent ulema, including Ayatollah Shaikh Mujtaba Ali Lankarani of Iran, he settled in Lebanon, where he was active in social, cultural, religious and political affairs. He established several schools, orphanages, hospitals and libraries. He firmly opposed the illegal Zionist entity and stood against US hegemonic designs on Lebanon, for which the Americans and the Israelis tried several times to assassinate him. He breathed his last on July 4, 2010 at the age of 74 in Beirut.

69 lunar years ago, on this day in 1369 AH, senior Iranian religious leader, Ayatollah Mirza Mohammad Ali Shahabadi, passed away in Tehran at the age of 77. He was an accomplished scholar in the field of philosophy and Gnosticism and groomed numerous students at the Qom Seminary. Among his prominent students was the Father of the Islamic Revolution, Imam Khomeini (RA). Ayatollah Shahabadi wrote a large number of books and treatises including "al-Insaan wa’l-Khateraat".

36 solar years ago, on this day in 1980 AD, Iran's southwestern border town of Susangerd witnessed the courageous resistance of the Muslim combatants against the invading forces of Saddam. The defence operations were conducted only by two hundred personnel of the Islamic Revolution's Guards Corps (IRGC), led by Defence Minister Mostafa Chamran and assisted by the lightly-armed local Basijis. The brave Iranian combatants held back enemy tanks and liberated Susangerd from the Ba'thist forces. The victory was achieved despite virtual deprivation of water, food, and ammunitions for almost three days.

35 solar years ago, on this day in 1981 AD, Pakistan's prominent Urdu and Persian poet, Khawar Rezavi, passed away at the age of 43 due to heart attack. Born in Punjab in undivided India in a family tracing its lineage to Prophet Mohammad (SAWA), his real name was Seyyed Sibt-e Hassan. He took the penname "Khawar" (East in Persian) for writing poetry and essays, as he was a great admirer of eastern values and way of life. An enlightened scholar, he actively participated in the political and intellectual movements as a member of the Progressive Writers' Movement. He was against all types of tyranny, dictatorship, subjugation and exploitation. Due to his ideology and political beliefs he became a victim of the oppressive policies of General Zia ul-Haq, the US and Saudi-backed dictator of Pakistan.

33 solar years ago, on this day in 1983 AD, the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus was founded, and recognized only by Turkey. On July 20, 1974 AD, Turkish forces had landed on Cyprus on the invitation of local Turkish Muslim Cypriot leader, Raoof Denktash, after a coup d’état by Greece to take over the entire island. Since then Cyprus has been divided into the northern one-third controlled by Turks and the southern two-thirds controlled by the Greeks. UN measures for unity of this island state have remained inconclusive to this day. Cyprus first came under Muslim rule in the latter half of the 7th century AD when Arabs from Syria entered it, before being reoccupied by the Greek Byzantine Empire over two centuries later. It fell to the Venetians in the 15th century, and in 1570 was formally taken over by the Turkish Ottoman Empire, whose rule lasted till 1914 and the beginning of World War 1, although in 1878 it was leased to the British.

18 solar years ago, on this day in 1998 AD, the philosopher and theologian, Allamah Mohammad-Taqi Ja'fari, passed away at the age of 75. Born in Tabriz, northwestern Iran, after elementary school, he studied at the Talebieh seminary, and then moved to Tehran and later to holy Qom, where he studied under some of the leading religious scholars of his time, before leaving for the holy Najaf seminary in Iraq, where he spent 11 years attending the classes of great ulema. Of sharp and inquisitive mind, he had attained ijtehad at the young age of 23. On returning to Iran, he continued to study the new waves of thought and intellectualism that were rapidly spreading throughout the world. This dominated his 60-year academic career, and he entered into lively discussions and debates with leading European intellectuals such as Bertrand Russell and Jean Paul Sartre. Allamah Mohammad Taqi Ja’fari wrote many books on a vast variety of fields, the most prominent of which are his 15-volume “Interpretation and Criticism of Mathnavi”, of the famous Iranian Poet Mowlana Jalal od-Din Roumi's poetical masterpiece, and his unfinished, 27-volume “Translation and Interpretation of the Nahj al-Balagha”. These two major works contain his most important thoughts and ideas in fields like anthropology, sociology, moral ethics, philosophy and mysticism.

16 solar years ago, on this day in 2000 AD, the prominent researcher and writer, Hojjat al-Islam Dr. Mohammad Hadi al-Amini, passed away at the age of 69. Born in Tabriz, he migrated to Iraq in his childhood along with his celebrated father, Allamah Abdul-Hussain Amini, the author of the famous book “al-Ghadeer”. He studied at the seminary of holy Najaf, before graduating from Baghdad University, and went on to obtain PhD from Egypt’s al-Azhar University in Arabic literature. In 1971, he returned to his homeland Iran where he taught at the university, in addition to research and writing of books. Works authored by him include “E’laam Nahj al-Balagha”, “Mu’jam Rijal Fikr wa’l-Adab”, “Itrat dar Qur’an”, and a highly researched work on Hazrat Fatema Zahra (SA), the Immaculate Daughter of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA).  

16 solar years ago, on this day in 2000 AD, Mahdi Edoardo Agnelli, heir and only son of Gianni Agnelli, the Head of Italy’s Fiat Group of Automobiles, was martyred by Zionists in Turin at the age of 46. Born in New York, his mother was Princess Donna Marella Caracciolo di Castagneto of Florence. He studied at Princeton University, New York, where after reading the holy Qur’an thoroughly, he converted to Islam and changed his name to Hisham Aziz. He travelled to India and from there to Iran, where he met the Father of the Islamic Revolution, Imam Khomeini (God bless him). He soon embraced the truth of the school of Prophet Mohammad’s Ahl al-Bayt, a move that alarmed the Zionists, Americans, and other enemies of Islam, especially his meeting with Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei. They devised a plan to remove him and pass on inheritance of the multi-billion dollar fortune of Fiat to his Jewish nephew (sister’s son), John Elkann. His body was found on a river bed beneath a motorway viaduct, with his car nearby, which means, he was thrown down by hired assassins. In 2003, Iran made a documentary on Mahdi Edoardo Agnelli and his name is enshrined in the Museum of Martyrs in Tehran.

AS/MG