Today is Sunday; 30th of the Iranian month of Aban 1395 solar hijri; corresponding to 20th of the Islamic month of Safar 1438 lunar hijri; and November 20, 2016, of the Christian Gregorian Calendar.

1732 solar years ago, on this day in 284 AD, Diocletian was proclaimed Roman Emperor by his soldiers in Asia Minor on the sudden and suspicious death of Numerian, the son and successor of Emperor Carus, who days earlier had died of wounds in Mesopotamia during the war against Emperor Bahram of the Sassanid Persian Empire. Of low birth and a hardcore pagan, he was cruel and crafty by nature, and during his 27-year rule, earned notoriety for his massacre of tens of thousands of monotheist followers of Prophet Jesus (AS) as well as members of the creed called Christianity. In 299, taking advantage of the chaotic situation of Rome’s traditional enemy, the Iranian Empire that was gripped in a power struggle for the throne, he penetrated Iraq and sacked the Sassanid capital, Ctesiphon, forcing the ruler Narseh (son of Shapur) – who a couple of years earlier had invaded Roman Syria – to accept peace on humiliating terms. Diocletian also brutally exterminated Manichaeans from Roman territories, since this creed was supported by Persia, thereby compounding religious dissent with international politics.

1377 lunar years ago, on this day in 61 AH, the Arba’een or the traditional 40^th day of the martyrdom of Imam Husain (AS) was observed in Karbala, with the Prophet’s aged companion, Jaber ibn Abdullah al-Ansari visiting the graves of the martyrs of history’s most heartrending tragedy. Every year, the Arba’een anniversary is commemorated throughout the world, especially in Karbala, where millions of pilgrims from all over the world assemble to pay allegiance to the ideals of faith, truth, freedom, justice, and virtue of grandson of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA). In Iran, Iraq, and in parts of several other countries, the day is a public holiday, when mourning processions are taken out on the streets. The recitation of the special ziyarath (salutation) for Imam Husain (AS) on the Day of Arba'een is considered one of the 5 signs of a true believer. The other four signs are recitation in raised voice of the Qur'anic ayah Bismillah-ir-Rahman-ir-Raheem during the ritual prayers; performance of 51 raka'at of ritual prayers in a single day at different times (17 obligatory and 34 recommended); prostration on soil or clay; and wearing of ring in a finger of the right hand.

1354 solar years ago, on this day in 762 AD, Khaqan Bogu Khan of the Uyghur Turks, conquered Lo-Yang, capital of the Chinese Empire. During his reign the Uyghur Khaqanate reached the height of its power. Bogu met with Manichaean priests from Iran while on campaign and was converted to this creed, adopting it as the official religion of the Uyghur Empire in 763. One effect of this conversion was the increased influence of Iranian Sogdians in the Uyghur court. The Uyghur Turks created a highly civilised empire with clear Iranian influences, especially in administrative areas. A century-and-a-half later in 934, Satuq Bughra Khan converted to Islam under influence of Iranian Muslim missionaries, and made Kashghar his capital. Today Uyghur Muslims are concentrated in what is now Xingjian Province of China.

1086 lunar years ago, on this day in 352 AH, the Arabic poet, Abu'l-Qassem Ali ibn Ishaq al-Baghdadi, passed away at the age of 42. Incidentally, he was born on this same day of 20^th of Safar. Most of his poetry is on the unrivalled merits of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA) and the Infallible Imams. He lived for some time at the court of Amir Saif ad-Dowlah Hamdani in Aleppo and has praised this gallant ruler for his love of the Ahl al-Bayt, as well as his exploits against the Byzantines.

1049 solar years ago, on this day in 967 AD, Abu’l-Faraj Isfahani, the famous master of Arabic prose, historian, sociologist, poet, and musicologist, passed away in Baghdad at the age of 71. Born in Isfahan and named Ali by his father Hussain Ibn Mohammad, he spent most of his life in Baghdad where he settled after visiting different lands. He is best known for his encyclopedic 25-volume work “Kitab al-Aghani” that took him fifty years to compile, and which contains valuable information on poets, poetry, philology, rhythms, instruments, Arabic literature and genealogy, from the ancient times till his own days. He travelled to Aleppo, Syria to present this book to the Hamdanid Shi’ite Muslim ruler, Saif od-Dowla. In Rey, the famous Iranian statesman and scholar, Saheb Ibn Abbad Ismail Taleqani, greatly valued this book. Although a direct descendent of the last Omayyad caliph, Marwan II, he was a follower of Prophet Mohammad’s (SAWA) Ahl al-Bayt and a strong critic of his own Godless ancestors. He wrote the valuable work “Maqatel at-Talibiyeen”, comprising short biographies of the descendants of Imam Ali (AS) martyred by the Omayyad and Abbasid caliphs till the year 313 AH.

822 solar years ago, on this day in 1194 AD, Palermo, the capital of Sicily was conquered by Emperor Henry VI of the German Hohenstaufen dynasty, who styled himself as Holy Roman Emperor. He expelled tens of thousands of Muslims and turned mosques in Sicily into churches.

266 solar years ago, on this day in 1750 AD, the Muslim king of Mysore, Fath Ali Khan, known as Tipu Sultan, was born in Devanahili, near Bangalore in southern India. The son and successor of Hyder Ali Khan, the founder of the Muslim kingdom of Mysore, like his father, Tipu was a staunch opponent of the British, and had tried to form alliances with local rulers for driving them out. He also appealed for help from the rulers of Iran, Afghanistan, the Ottoman Empire and even France, to break the British hegemony. He was in personal contact with Napoleon Bonaparte, and following the latter's conquest of Egypt, the British fearing Napoleon may sail to India, attacked Mysore in violation of the peace treaties. The result was the 4th Anglo-Mysore War in which during the Battle of Seringapatnam, Tipu Sultan was martyred while defending his capital on 4th May 1799 at the age of 49. He was an enlightened ruler and patronized Arabic and Persian literature. He also experimented with the manufacture of artillery rockets, which greatly alarmed the British. Among the history books of the Muslim Dynasty of Mysore is “Nishan-e Hyderi” in Persian, written by the migrant Iranian scholar, Mir Hussain Ali Khan Kermani.

135 lunar years ago, on this day in 1303 AH, the prominent Iranian Islamic scholar, Sheikh Ja’far Shushtari, passed away. His power of speech, piety, and strong memory was known to all. He was an accomplished jurisprudent and spent all his life, guiding people and carrying out religious duties. He groomed a large number of students and has left behind numerous books, including “Usoul ad-Din” (Fundamentals of Religion).

123 lunar years ago, on this day in 1315 AH, the renowned Bibliophile and Source of Emulation, Grand Ayatollah Seyyed Shahab od-Din Mar’ashi Najafi, was born in holy Najaf to the Iranian jurisprudent, Seyyed Shams od-Din Mahmoud. He was educated at the famous Najaf Seminary, attending the classes of the Ayatollahs, Mirza Abu’l- Hassan Meshkini, Sheikh Mohammad Hussain Shirazi, Seyyed Habib od-Din Shahrestani and Seyyed Ibrahim Shafei Rafaei Baghdadi. He studied for some years at the seminaries of Samarra and Kazemayn as well. He mastered theology, jurisprudence, hadith, exegesis of the Holy Qur'an, philosophy, ethics, and biography of narrators. After attaining the status of Ijtehad, at the request of Grand Ayatollah Sheikh Abdul-Karim Ha'eri Yazdi, the revivalist of the Qom seminary, he came to this holy city where he lectured and carried out research for six decades until he passed away at the age of 96. For over fifty years he led the daily ritual prayers at the shrine of Hazrat Fatemah al-Ma’sumah in Qom. In his youth in Najaf, he had become growingly concerned with the immense wealth of Islamic knowledge that was being lost in the displacement and destruction of Islamic texts. He took it upon himself to purchase as many rare books and manuscripts that he could on his modest student stipend in order to preserve them. When his stipend was exhausted he took a job at a rice cleaning factory in Najaf, performed Qadha prayers and fasts on behalf of others, and ate only one meal a day in order to raise enough money to purchase these books. He continued to collect these rare manuscripts after migration to Iran, eventually laying the foundation before his death of the Grand Mar’ashi Najafi Library in Qom, which today contains the world’s largest collection of manuscripts of the School of the Prophet’s Ahl al-Bayt, among its more than 300,000 books. Earlier in 1965, he had presented 278 rare Arabic and Persian manuscripts to the College of Divinity and Theology of the University of Tehran. He also donated many such books to libraries across Iran, before formal establishment of his library. He was a supporter of the Father of the Islamic Revolution, late Imam Khomeini (RA), in the struggles against the Shah’s despotic regime.

106 solar years ago, on this day in 1910 AD, Russian Author, Leo Tolstoy, died at the age of 82. He lost both his parents while still a boy and was brought up by his elder siblings. His trips to Western Europe and his keen observations of the social injustices, made him loathe the West’s materialistic culture. Tolstoy attached paramount importance to educating children, and actively assisted the underprivileged and vulnerable sections of the society. He has left behind numerous books, including the two famous masterpieces, titled "War and Peace"; and "Anna Karenina".

96 solar years ago, on this day in 1920 AD, the uprising of Iraq's long-oppressed Shia Muslim majority was crushed, and this time by the new colonial rulers, the British, who had replaced the Ottoman Turks in Mesopotamia, following the end of World War I. The uprising had started on June 30, 1920, under the leadership of senior ulema, such as Mirza Mohammad Taqi Shirazi and Sheikh Kashef al-Gheta, for establishment of an independent ruling system, based on Islamic rules and regulations. The British martyred Mirza Mohammad Taqi Shirazi by poisoning his food and exiled Kashef al-Gheta, before massacring a large number of Iraqi people and installing their agent, Faisal bin Hussain of Mecca, as king in Baghdad.

95 solar years ago, on this day in 1921 AD, Iran as per the approval of the Majlis (parliament), secretly signed a contact with Standard Oil of the US for exploitation of its northern oilfields. Two days later, when the news leaked out, the Soviet Union, followed by Britain, delivered ultimatums to Iran to cancel the contact with the American company, but the Majlis ignored them.

66 solar years ago, on this day in 1950 AD, the US and China almost went to direct war with each other in the Korean Peninsula, because of their support for the southern and northern parts of that divided land respectively. UN mediation averted the war, but due to American intransigence, Korea remains divided at the 38th Parallel.

56 solar years ago, on this day in 1960 AD, the plan for establishment of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) was ratified in Stockholm, Sweden. The members of this Association were Austria, Finland, Norway, and Sweden which despite being geographically located in west Europe, did not want to join the European common market.

37 solar years ago, on this day in 1979 AD, the scholar and poet, Mohammad Hussain Jalilli “Bidaar”, passed away at the age of 60 in his hometown Kermanshah. Son of Ayatollah Hadi Kermanshahi, after elementary school, he studied hadith, jurisprudence, philosophy and Arabic literature under his father and Allamah Haidar Qoli Sardar Kabuli. He then graduated from Tehran University and returned to Kermanshah to teach literature. An accomplished poet of the classical Persian style, he composed lively ghazals. He wrote several books, including “Ancient Kermanshah” and “History of Seljuq Dynasty” in Persian, and “Abkaar al-Afkaar” in Arabic.

32 solar years ago, on this day in 1984 AD, the famous Urdu poet of the subcontinent, Faiz Ahmed Faiz, passed away in Lahore, Pakistan, at the age of 73. He was born in Karachi in undivided India and was named Faiz Ahmad Farooq. He was also politically active both before and after the founding of Pakistan. He opposed the dictatorial rule of General Zia ul-Haq and was imprisoned and exiled for his views, which he expressed through poetry and novels. Among his important works are "Naqsh-e Faryadi", "Dast-e Saba", and "Zindan-Namah". 

27 solar years ago, on this day in 1989 AD, on the 30th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Children’s Rights, the UN General Assembly passed the Convention on Rights of the Child, signed by 140 countries. This day was thus designated as Day of Children’s Rights. Presently 194 countries have officially ratified the Universal Declaration of Children’s Rights, except for a handful of countries, including the US, which although a signatory has refused to ratify it.

AS/ME