Today is Tuesday; 30th of the Iranian month of Azar 1395 solar hijri; corresponding to 20th of the Islamic month of Rabi al-Awwal 1438 lunar hijri; and December 20, 2016, of the Christian Gregorian Calendar.

Over 3100 lunar years ago, on this day, the young Prophet David (AS) killed in combat Goliath, the fearsome warlord of the idol-worshipping Philistines, who broke ranks and fled. Almighty Allah has referred to this historic event towards the end of Surah Baqarah, which informs us of the weak faith of the monotheist Israelites; most of whom, except for 313 men of firm faith, deserted the army of King Saul when faced by an invading force of the Philistines led by the veritable giant, Goliath. Even Saul despite his strength and stature avoided combat with Goliath by ignoring the assurances of divine help by Prophet Samuel (AS). At this stage, David, still a young lad without any battle experience and only with a sling in his hand with which he used to chase away wild beasts attacking his flock of sheep, decided to accept the challenge of the heavily armed and armour-clad Goliath. Goliath laughed at the sight of the slim unarmed youth, but before the infidel had time to use his sword or bow, David, taking aim at his opponent’s forehead, flung a stone or two by means of his sling, piercing the area below the helmet. Goliath cried loudly in pain and fell dead on the ground. At this, fear seized the hearts of the Philistines, who began to flee. Ayah 246 of Surah Baqarah says in this regard:

“Thus they routed them with Allah’s will, and David killed Goliath, and Allah gave him the kingdom and wisdom, and taught him whatever He liked. Were it not for Allah’s repelling the people by means of one another, the earth would surely have been corrupted; but Allah is gracious to the world’s creatures.”

A similar event took place in the early days of the founding of the Islamic state by Prophet Mohammad (SAWA) when a 12,000 strong joint Arab-Israelite army besieged Medina in a bid to kill Muslims and wipe out Islam. The infidel warlord Amr ibn Abd Wudd, who was a giant like Goliath, leapt over the ditch which the Muslim defenders had dug as means of defence and challenged them to fight. Fear prevailed everywhere and no one heeded the Prophet’s call to face Amr, except the young Imam Ali ibn Abi Taleb (AS). In a heroic combat during which the Imam allowed his fearsome opponent respite to renew the life-and-death fight when the fallen infidel had dared to spit at him, he made short work of Amr, making the Arab-Israelite force disperse in fear and ensuring victory of Islam. The Prophet stated: “The stroke of Ali on the Day of the Ditch is superior to the worship of mankind and jinn.” This event is known in the annals of history as Battle of Khandaq or Ditch, and also Battle of 'Ahzaab', i.e. Confederates, since the Arabs and Israelites had joined together to try to kill the Prophet and wipe out Islam.

1374 solar years ago, on this day in 642 AD, Muslims decisively defeated the forces of the 29th and last Sassanid monarch of the Persian Empire, Yazdegerd III, near the western Iranian city of Nahavand, in the crucial battle called “Fath al-Fotouh” (Victory of Victories), since it ended the 416-year Sassanid rule over what is now Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, the Caucasus (Georgia, Armenia, Chechen and Daghestan), and parts of Central Asia and modern Turkey. According to the early Iranian Muslim historian, Abu Ja’far at-Tabari, Firouzan, who led the Persian army of 50,000 demoralized soldiers, was outmaneuvered by a force of 30,000 Arab Muslims. Yazedgerd fled to Khorasan where the people did not welcome him and after his failure to raise an army, he was murdered in 651 by a miller in Marv (presently in Turkmenistan). In addition to the firm faith of Muslims, what led to the defeat of Yazdegerd was the fact that the Iranians, who were fed up with the tyranny and corruption of Sassanid kings and the irrationality of Zoroastrian tenets, enthusiastically accepted the truth of Islam, given its egalitarian values of monotheism, justice, fraternity, and equality. Soon Iranian Muslims turned into flag-bearers for spread of the divine religion of Islam, its ethereal teachings, and its scientific and cultural endeavours.

988 lunar years ago, on this day in 450 AH, the Iranian Shafei jurisprudent and scholar, Taher ibn Abdullah Abu Tayyeb at-Tabari, died in Baghdad at the age of 102. Born in Amol, in the Caspian Sea region of Mazandaran, he traveled widely to acquire knowledge, before settling in Iraq, where he was Chief Judge of Baghdad until his death. His books include "Jawab fi's-Sama" and the ten-volume work titled "al-Ghena wa't-Ta'liqat al-Kubra fi'l-Furu".

931 lunar years ago, on this day in 507 AH, the famous Iranian Arabic scholar and poet, Abu'l-Muzaffar Mohammad bin Ahmad Abiwardi, died in Isfahan. He was well-versed in history, hadith, lexicography, and calligraphy and wrote on various topics. Among his books are "Tabaqat al-Ilm", "Tarikh-e Abiward", and a critical work on genealogy titled "Qabsat al-Ajlan fi-Nasab Aal-e Abi Sufiyan", which deals with the dubious paternity of Abu Sufyan, Mu'awiyya and other Omayyads. He wrote a moving ode in Arabic on the plight of Muslims in Syria and Palestine during the occupation of these lands by Europe’s Crusader invaders, who had unleashed a bloody holocaust on the people. Here are some of his verses:

"We have mingled blood with flowing tears,

And there is no room left for pity

To shed tears is a man's worst weapon

When the swords stir up the embers of war,

Sons of Islam, behind you are battles in which heads rolled at your feet.

Dare you slumber in the blessed shade of safety!

Where life is soft as an orchard flower?

How can the eye sleep between the lids?

At a time of disasters that would awaken any sleeper!

While your Syrian brothers can only sleep,

On the backs of their chargers or in vultures' bellies!

Must the foreigners feed on our ignominy, while you trail behind!

The train of a pleasant life, like men whose world is at peace?

When blood has been spilt, when sweet girls must for shame 

Hide their lovely faces in their hands!

When the white swords' points are red with blood, and the iron

Of the brown lances is stained with gore!

At the sound of sword hammering on lance

Young children's hair turn white, 

This is war, and the infidel's sword is naked in his hand,

Ready to be sheathed in men's necks and skulls,

This is war, and he who lies in the tomb at Medina seems

To raise his voice and cry: O sons of Hashem!

I see my people slow to raise the lance against the enemy:

I see the Faith resting on feeble pillars.

For fear of death the Muslims are evading the fire of battle,

Refusing to believe that death will surely strike them. 

Must the Arab champions then suffer with resignation? 

While the gallant Persians shut their eyes to their dishonour!

494 solar years ago, on this day in 1522 AD, the island of Rhodes in the Aegean Sea surrendered to the Ottoman Sultan Suleiman after a siege of several months, and the surviving Knights Hospitalers were allowed to leave. They eventually settled on Malta and became known as the Knights of Malta. The Turks found and released thousands of Muslim prisoners on Rhodes who were enslaved and forced to work in the building and defence of the almost impregnable fortress.

294 solar years ago, on this day in 1722 AD, Kangxi, the fourth emperor of the Qing dynasty of China, died at the age of 68. His 61-year reign makes him the longest-reigning emperor in Chinese history and one of the world’s longest-reigning rulers. However, since he ascended the throne at the age of seven, actual power was held for six years by four regents and his grandmother, Grand Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang. Kangxi is considered one of China's greatest emperors. He suppressed the Revolt of the Three Feudatories, forced the Kingdom of Tungning in Taiwan to submit, blocked Tsarist Russia on the Amur River and expanded the empire in the northwest. He also accomplished such literary feats as the compilation of the Kangxi Dictionary. His reign brought about long-term stability and relative wealth after years of war and chaos. By the end of his reign, the Qing Empire controlled all of China proper, Taiwan, Manchuria, part of the Russian Far East (Outer Manchuria), both Inner and Outer Mongolia, and Tibet proper.

213 solar years ago, on this day in 1803 AD, the Louisiana Purchase was completed as the vast territory, acquired by the French from the Spanish just 20 days ago, was formally transferred from France to the United States during ceremonies in New Orleans. This effectively doubled the size of the existing US.

96 solar years ago, on this day in 1920 AD, the jurisprudent and Source of Emulation, Mullah Fathollah bin Mohammad Namazi Gharavi, known as Shaikh osh-Shari’ah Isfahani, passed away at the age of 71 in Najaf, Iraq, and was laid to rest in the courtyard of the holy shrine of the Commander of the Faithful, Imam Ali ibn Abi Taleb (AS). Born in Isfahan in a family of scholars from Shiraz, after initial studies he enrolled at the seminary of holy Mashhad, where his teachers included Mullah Haidar Ali Isfahani, Mullah Abdul-Jawad Khorasani Modarris Kabir, and Mullah Ahmad Sabzevari. Here he established himself as a budding scholar with dynamic views. At the age of 30, he went to Iraq for higher studies at the famous seminary of holy Najaf, where his teachers were Mirza Habibollah Rashti and Shaikh Mohammad Hussain Faqih Kazemi. He soon became an authority on different branches of Islamic sciences, and the Marja’ or Source of Emulation. He wrote several books and groomed many scholars, such as Seyyed Abdul-Hadi Shirazi, Shaikh Mohammad Hassan al-Muzaffar an-Najafi, Aqa Bozorg Tehrani, and Grand Ayatollah Seyyed Hussain Tabataba'i Boroujerdi. Sheikh osh-Shari’ah Isfahani was also politically active against the colonialists, issuing fatwas on Italy’s aggression on Libya, the Russian attack on Khorasan and shelling of the holy shrine of Imam Reza (AS) in Mashhad, the invasion of the Ottoman state by the allied European powers during World War 1, and the landing of British troops in Basra and their occupation of Iraq. Along with Ayatollah Mirza Mohammad Taqi Shirazi, he led the uprising of the Iraqi people against the British, and besides supervising the affairs he was the link between the chiefs of the nomads involved in the war. He rejected any political, military, economic and cultural domination of Islamic lands by the colonialists. 

81 solar years ago, on this day in 1935 AD, the Muslim revolutionary, Sheikh Mohammad Izz od-Din al-Qassaam, attained martyrdom near Haifa in Palestine at the age of 53. Born in Jableh in the Latakia Governorate of the Ottoman Province of Syria, he was a follower of the Qaderi Sufi order. After studying at Egypt’s al-Azhar Academy he returned home to become prayer leader and teacher at a mosque. After Italy's seizure of Libya from the Turks in 1911, he recruited dozens of volunteers, but Turkish officials prevented him from going to Libya. He joined the Ottoman army when World War I broke out, and served as a chaplain. After the war, he organized a local defense force to fight the French occupation of Syria, but internecine fighting forced him to take refuge in the mountains to plan guerrilla warfare. He was a key figure in the 1921 Syrian uprising against the French when Faisal, a son of the British agent, Sharif Hussain, was brought from Hejaz and installed king in Damascus. Al-Qassaam was sentenced to death after the failure of the revolt. When the French occupiers besieged the city, he fled via Beirut to Haifa in British occupied Palestine. Already in his forties, he concentrated his activities on mobilizing Islamic resistance against the colonialists. His followers were mainly the landless farmers drifting in to Haifa from Upper Galilee, where land purchases by the illegal Zionist migrants from Europe was creating a crisis. He joined the Istiqlal or Independence Party and in 1929 was appointed the marriage registrar in Mufti Amin al-Hussaini's Supreme Muslim Council Sharia Court in Haifa, a role that allowed him to tour the northern villages, whose inhabitants he encouraged to set up agricultural cooperatives. In 1930 he established ‘Black Hand’, a combatant organization for fighting the British occupiers as well as the illegal Zionist migrants. He arranged military training for peasants and by 1935 had enlisted nearly 800 men. In November 1935, fearing arrest after a British constable was killed in a skirmish with some of his followers he fled with his men to the hills between Jenin and Nablus. The British cornered al-Qassaam in a cave near Ya'bad, and in the ensuing battle he was martyred. The manner of his last stand assumed legendary proportions in Palestinian and other Arab circles as the symbol of resistance. The al-Qassaam Brigades of the Palestinian Islamic Resistance were named after him for the struggle to liberate their homeland from the Zionist usurpers.

66 solar years ago, on this day in 1950 AD, Iran’s expert of the art of Marquetry, Mohammad Hussein Sanee’ Khatam, passed away at the age of 67. Born in Shiraz, he was also a calligrapher well familiar with Arabic, Persian and English. He has to his credit valuable artistic works that adorn museums in Iran and abroad.

65 solar years ago, on this day in 1951 AD, Oman gained independence from British rule. Oman used to be a part of various Persian Empires, both before and after the advent of Islam. In the 16th century it was occupied by the Portuguese, who were expelled in 1622 by a joint Iranian-British army. Iran also briefly ruled Oman from 1737 to 1749, when power was seized by the Aal-e Sa’eed Tribe of the Abadhi sect of the Khwarej. As of late 19th century, Britain colonized Oman and in 1904 declared it as its protectorate. Oman, with its capital of Muscat, covers an area of over 212000 sq km. It lies on the southern coast of the Arabian Peninsula, sharing borders with Saudi Arabia, Yemen, and the UAE. It is separated from Iran by the Hormuz Strait.

48 solar years ago, on this day in 1968 AD, US novelist, John Steinbeck, died at the age of 66. The bitter incidents of his life cover his novels, which depict the hardships of the underprivileged strata of US society. His famous novel is “Grapes of Wrath”.

33 solar years ago, on this day in 1983 AD, Donald Rumsfeld, who was later to acquire lasting notoriety as US War minister, and was one of the architects of the American invasion and occupation of Iraq, visited Saddam in Baghdad to prepare the ground for supply of satellite photos of Iranian troop deployments on the fronts of the imposed war, and finalize shipment of a variety of US war materials.

17 solar years ago, on this day in 1999 AD, Macao reverted to Chinese control after over four centuries of occupation by Portugal, which had rented it in 1557 from the Ming Dynasty of China, and went on to occupy it in 1887. Macau lies on the western side of the Pearl River Delta across from Hong Kong, which is about 64 kilometers to the east, and it is also bordered by Guangdong of Mainland China to the north and the South China Sea to the east and south. Although only 650,000 live there, it has a population density of 20,497 persons per square kilometer, making it one of the most populated places in the world. Macau is one of the world's richest cities, and as of 2013 its GDP per capita by purchasing power parity is higher than that of any country.

5 solar years ago, on this day in 2011 AD, five Iranian engineers working on an electricity power plant in Jandar, close to the city of Homs, Syria, were abducted by Takfiri terrorists backed by Turkey, Saudi regime, the US and Israel. Two others working for Iran Power Plant Projects Management Company (MAPNA) were taken when they went to investigate their colleagues' disappearance. Through Iran’s intense diplomatic efforts, especially with Turkey, the Iranian hostages were released and returned home after months of captivity.

AS/SS