Today is Sunday; 14th of the Iranian month of Azar 1395 solar hijri; corresponding to 4th of the Islamic month of Rabi al-Awwal 1438 lunar hijri; and December 4, 2016, of the Christian Gregorian Calendar.

2546 solar years ago, on this day in 530 BC, Iran’s pre-Islamic monotheist Emperor, Cyrus the Great, the Founder of the Persian Achaemenid Empire, died in battle while fighting the Massagetae tribe along the Syr Darya or River Jaxartes in Central Asia, after a reign of 30 years. Under his rule, the empire embraced all the previous civilized states of Mesopotamia, Asia Minor, and the ancient Levant. He eventually conquered most of Southwest Asia and much of Central Asia and the Caucasus. From the Mediterranean Sea in the west to the Indus River in the east, Cyrus the Great created the largest empire the world had yet seen.

1438 lunar years ago, on the eve of this day, Prophet Mohammad (SAWA), who had sought refuge in the Cave of Thaur on the outskirts of Mecca from the evil of the Arab infidels, during his historic migration, as per God's commandments, continued his journey towards Yathreb, which would eventually become famous as “Medinat-an-Nabi” (City of the Prophet), or simply Medina. The Almighty had saved His Last Messenger from the plot of the polytheists to murder him, by commanding him to instruct his dear cousin, Imam Ali ibn Abi Taleb (AS) to sleep on his bed, so that he could migrate undetected. The selfless act of Imam Ali (AS) in risking his life and limbs brought divine rewards in the form of revelation of ayah 207 of Surah al-Baqarah. With the Prophet's arrival in Medina, Islam entered the decisive phase of its universal mission to enlighten all mankind.

906 solar years ago, on this day in 1110 AD, with the arrival of a 60-ship fleet led by King Sigurd of Norway, the European Crusader invaders who had earlier occupied the holy Islamic city of Bayt al-Moqaddas, brutally sacked the city of Sidon in what is now Lebanon, After a 47-day siege to take the city from the control of the Ismaili Shi’ite Muslim Fatemid Dynasty of Egypt, the Christians massacred the people and looted their property. The attack was led by Baldwin the self-styled king of the usurper Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem, and was assisted by the Venetian fleet, to prevent the Fatemid navy from sending reinforcements. It is worth recalling that Bayt al-Moqaddas and Palestine were seized by the Crusaders from the Fatemids, whose Islamic army made up of Arabs, Iranians, Turks, and Berbers lost mainly because of arrogance and underestimation of the power and intentions of the European invaders.

885 solar years ago, on this day in 1131 AD, the Iranian mathematician, astronomer, and poet, Ghiyas od-Din Omar Ibn Ibrahim Khayyam, passed away in his hometown Naishapour, Khorasan, in northeastern Iran. He studied in Balkh, Samarqand and Bukhara, before joining the court of the Seljuq ruler, Malik Shah, as scientific advisor. In 1070, he wrote the influential “Treatise on Demonstration of Problems of Algebra”, which laid down the principles of algebra that was eventually transmitted to Europe. In 1077, Khayyam wrote “Sharh ma ashkala min Musadarat Kitab Uqlidis” (Explanations of the Difficulties in the Postulates of Euclid). He set up an observatory in his hometown and led work on compiling astronomical tables. To him goes the credit of reforming the solar hijri calendar on the basis of the Spring Equinox, which is still in use in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, and parts of Central Asia, the Caucasus, Iraq, Anatolia, and the Subcontinent. This calendar, known as Jalali, is more perfect than the Gregorian Christian calendar that was imposed on Muslim countries by the colonialists after World War 1. Among Khayyam's works, his book on algebra was until the last century taught as textbook in Iran. In geometry, he reformed the generalities of Euclid and contributed to the theory of parallel lines. His contributions to other fields of science include developing methods for accurate determination of specific gravity. His most important philosophical work is “ar-Risalah fi’l-Wujud” (Treatise on Being"), written in Arabic, which begins with Qur’anic verses and asserts that all things come from God and that there is an order to all things. Khayyam is known to English-speakers for his “Rubaiyyaat” (quatrains), published in 1859 by Edward Fitzgerald, although in the Islamic east he remains the astronomer and mathematician that he was, rather than a poet, since whatever he composed of poetry were casual expressions during his rare leisure hours after strenuous scientific studies and experiments. He was buried in the courtyard of the shrine of Imamzadah Mahruq, a descendant of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA).

482 solar years ago, on this day in 1534 AD, Baghdad was seized from Iran by Sultan Sulaiman, two years after start of the 23-year long intermittent Ottoman-Safavid War. Following invasion of southeastern Anatolia and Iraq by the Turks, the Persian army withdrew since Shah Tahmasp I, who believed in peace and negotiations, did not want unnecessary spilling of Muslim blood. The Ottomans, however, continued to push forward by seizing Basra and invading the Caucasus and Azarbaijan in the north, prompting Shah Tahmasp to adopt a scorched-earth policy that blunted the Turkish invasion, finally forcing Sultan Sulaiman to sign the 30-year Peace Treaty of Amasya, after three massive but unsuccessful invasions in the course of 22 years. The frontier of the two empires was delineated through Anatolia, Iraq, and the Caucasus, with Georgia being divided between the Ottomans and the Safavids. The Ottomans, in return for their annexation of Baghdad and most of Iraq, allowed Iranian pilgrims to continue visits to Najaf and Karbala, as well as to Mecca and Medina for Hajj. Over the next two centuries, whenever Iran became powerful, it liberated Baghdad, Karbala, and Najaf.

337 solar years ago, on this day in 1679 AD, English philosopher Thomas Hobbes died at the age of 91. He believed that human beings by nature are selfish and power-hungry with the tendency to dominate. He thus advocated establishment of a powerful government to provide peace and security for the vulnerable people. His most important book is “Leviathan”, in which he argues that the only way to secure civil society is through universal submission to the absolute authority of a sovereign.

252 lunar years ago, on this day in 1186 AH, the Imami scholar Sheikh Yousuf al-Bahrani of Bahrain in the Persian Gulf passed away in the holy city of Karbala, in Iraq. The Omani invasion of Bahrain forced him and his family to flee, first to Qatif on the eastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula, thence to Mecca and then Iran, before he eventually settled in Karbala. He is the author of the famous biographical work of leading scholars titled "Lu'lu' al-Bahrain" (Pearl of Bahrain), the last chapter of which is his autobiography. In Iran, impressed by the scholarly atmosphere, he decided to reside in the town of Fasa, near Shiraz in Fars Province. It was here that he wrote his other famous work, "al-Hada'eq an-Nazerah" in several volumes on hadith and the unrivalled merits of the Prophet and the Infallible Imams. A follower of the Usuli school in his youth, he later adopted Akhbari ideas, but accepted the validity of the Friday Prayer during the occultation of the Imam of the Age, and did not go so far as to say that no verse in the holy Qur'an could be understood without the interpretation of the Infallible Imams. He sought to bridge the gap between the two. He authored a total of 32 works including "Anees al-Musafer wa Jalees al-Khawater".

221 solar years ago, on this day in 1795 AD, Scottish essayist, historian and orientalist, Thomas Carlyle was born. He mastered German and Arabic languages, and later taught Arabic at Cambridge University. During trips to Muslim lands, he became familiar with Islamic culture and civilization, and was highly influenced by the divine religion of Islam. On the Holy Qur’an, he calls it a direct voice from the heart of the universe for mankind. He has hailed Prophet Mohammad (SAWA) as a person of deep and a great spirit, far from worldly ambitions, saying:

“It is a great shame for anyone to listen to the accusation that Islam is a lie and that Mohammad was a fabricator and a deceiver. We saw that he remained steadfast upon his principles, with firm determination; kind and generous, compassionate, pious, virtuous, with real manhood, hardworking and sincere. Besides all these qualities, he was lenient with others, tolerant, kind, cheerful and praiseworthy and perhaps he would joke and tease his companions. He was just, truthful, smart, pure, magnanimous and present-minded; his face was radiant as if he had lights within him to illuminate the darkest of nights; he was a great man by nature who was not educated in a school nor nurtured by a teacher as he was not in need of any of this.”

On the Prophet’s divinely-decreed vicegerent Imam Ali ibn Abi Taleb (AS), Carlyle wrote:

"As for this young Ali, one cannot but like him. A noble minded creature, as he shows himself, now and always afterwards, full of affection, of fiery daring something chivalrous in him, brave as a lion, yet with a grace, truth and affection… He died by assassination in the mosque at Kufa, death occasioned by his own generous fairness, confidence in the fairness of others. He said: if the wound proved not unto death, they must pardon the assassin, but if it did, they must slay him straightaway, so that the two of them in the same our might appear before God, and see which side of that quarrel was the just one."

On the martyrdom of Imam Husain (AS), he has written:

"The best lesson which we get from the tragedy of Karbala is that Husain and his companions were the steadfast believers of God. They illustrated that numerical superiority does not count when it comes to truth and falsehood. The victory of Husain despite his minority marvels me!"

Carlyle, who died at the age of 86, authored several books, including “The French Revolution”, “Past and Present”, and “On Heroes and Hero Worship and the Heroic in History.”

187 solar years ago, on this day in 1829 AD British Governor-General of India, William Bentinck, issued a regulation declaring that anyone who abets “sati” or the Hindu custom of burning of a widow on her husband’s pyre, is guilty of culpable homicide.

181 solar years ago, on this day in 1835 AD, British writer and painter, Samuel Butler, was born. Two of his most famous pieces are the satire “Erewhon” and a semi-autobiographical novel published posthumously, “The Way of All Flesh”. He is also known for examining Christian orthodoxy, studies of Italian art, and works of literary history and criticism. Butler made prose translations of the ancient Greek classics “Iliad” and “Odyssey”, which remain in use to this day.

160 solar years ago, on this day in 1856 AD, a month after Iran’s liberation of its northeastern city of Herat in Khorasan on 1st of November 1856, Britain declared war on Iran as its fleet sent from Bombay to the Persian Gulf, attacked Khark Island and Bushehr. By the start of January 1857, the British led battalions of “sepoys” (corruption for the Persian word "sipahi" for Indian soldiers), after occupying Khark and Bushehr, pushed inland towards Kerman in the southeast and Khorramshahr in the southwest of Iran. An alarmed Nasser od-Din Shah Qajar sent an envoy to France for mediation, and the result was imposition of the Treaty of Paris on Iran, which was forced to drop all claims to this historical city and most of eastern Khorasan, which is now part of Afghanistan today, on condition of British withdrawal from Khark, Bushehr and Khorramshahr. Herat, the then capital of Khorasan, had been part of Iran from time immemorial till 1856 when its rebellious governor placed the area under British protection. It is worth noting that earlier in Febrauary1856, these Indian sepoy battalions had been used by the British to overthrow Wajed Ali Shah of the Naishapuri Dynasty of Iranian origin of Awadh in northern India, and would be mobilized again in the middle of 1857 to crush the uprising of the Indian people and end the Mughal Dynasty of Delhi by exiling to Burma its last ruler, Bahadur Shah Zafar.

117 solar years ago, on this day in 1899 AD, vaccine to prevent the typhoid fever was used for the first time. It was developed by British pathologist, bacteriologist, and immunologist, Edward Wright.

63 solar years ago, on this day in 1952 AD, the US, Britain, and France held a trilateral conference in the Bermuda islands in the Caribbean Sea to plot against the USSR’s influence in the German city of Berlin. At the time, the western region of Berlin was under the control of the US, Britain, and France, while the eastern section was controlled by the Soviet Union. The escalating disputes over terms of administration of Berlin finally led to construction of the Berlin Wall by the Soviet Union and the then East Germany in 1961.

33 solar years ago, on this day in 1983 AD, when the US, in yet another act of state terrorism, attempted an air strike on Syrian positions in Lebanon, two of its aircraft were down and a pilot captured. The Syrians then shelled the positions of the American intruders and killed eight Marines.

26 solar years ago, on this day in 1990 AD, the First Islamic conference on solidarity with the Intefadha of the Palestinian people was held in Tehran. Thinkers from several countries reviewed the chronic crisis of the usurpation of Palestine by the Zionists of Europe and the growing influence of the Islamic Revolution on the Palestinian people. Iran is a firm supporter of the Palestinian cause and believes that Israel has no right to exist in Palestine, which should be returned in its entirety to the Palestinian people.

26 solar years ago, on this day in 1990 AD, the Iranian lecturer, researcher, and Persian language expert, Dr. Gholam Hussein Yousufi, passed away at the age of 63. Born in the holy city of Mashhad, he started his career as a university lecturer after obtaining a PhD. Among the books he has left behind, mention can be made of “Cheshma-e Rowshan”. He also edited several Persian literary masterpieces such as “Qaboos-Nameh”, and the “Golestan” and “Boustan” of the famous poet, Sa’di Shirazi.

6 solar years ago, on this day in 2010 AD, The Islamic Republic of Iran announced it could now use domestically mined uranium to produce nuclear fuel, giving the country complete control over the fuel cycle, as part of efforts to develop peaceful use of nuclear energy.

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