Today is Friday; 3rdof the Iranian month of Dey 1395 solar hijri; corresponding to 23rdof the Islamic month of Rabi al-Awwal 1438 lunar hijri; and December 23, 2016, of the Christian Gregorian Calendar.

1791 solar years ago, on this day in 240 AD, Queen Zenobia, who built a short-lived empire encompassing Syria, Egypt and most of Anatolia (modern Turkey) was born to a local Amalekite chieftain in the rich and flourishing oasis city of Tadmor (Palmyra of the Romans) in the Syrian Desert, located along the caravan routes linking Persia with the Mediterranean ports of Syria and Phoenicia. On marrying SeptimiusOdaenathus, the Rome-appointed Amalekite ruler of the kingdom of Palmyra, she became known as "Septimia Zenobia", although she used the Aramaic form "Bat-Zabbai" to sign her name. Some attribute her lineal descent to the Greek Seleucid line of the Ptolemies, while others claim she was an Israelite. The early Iranian Muslim historian Abu Ja’farTabari, who wrote in Arabic, says her original name was Zaynab, and her father was Amr ibn az-Zarib. On her husband’s death in 267, she took power as regent for her young son, and threw off the Roman yoke by conquering all of Syria, Egypt and parts of Anatolia. She had the stated goal of protecting the Roman Empire from Sassanid Iran. Known for her military prowess as well as her beauty and chastity, she refused to surrender to the Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius despite her defeat in 273 in Emessa, and with the help of the Iranians, she and her son escaped by camel, but were captured on the Euphrates River by Roman horsemen. Marcus took her as captive to Rome, paraded her in chains in his triumph, and is said to have executed her in 275.

1237 lunar years ago, on this day in 201 AH, HazratFatema al-Ma’sumah (SA), the venerable descendent of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA), arrived in Qom, which proved to be her permanent abode, since seventeen days later her soul flew to the ethereal heavens from this city in the Iranian desert. The daughter of the Prophet’s 7th Infallible Heir, Imam Musa al-Kazem (AS), she was on her way from Medina to Merv in Khorasan to meet her brother Imam Reza (AS), when her caravan was attacked near Saveh by agents of the tyrannical Abbasid regime. As a result, several people, including two of her brothers were martyred, and the exhausted lady, reportedly poisoned, asked the caravan to turn towards Qom, which was a centre of adherents of the Prophet’s Ahl-Bayt. People came out in large numbers to greet her and to escort her to the city – a ceremony that is enacted till this day by the people of Qom. On the 10th of Rabi al-Akher, she departed from the world at the young age of 28, and was laid to rest in an orchard near the riverbank. Her tomb soon grew into a sprawling mausoleum, topped by a gold-plated dome, which is the site of pilgrimage today for people from all over the world, who seek intercession with God and see their prayers answered. Imam Reza (AS) had remarked: “Whoever visits her (shrine), aware of her status, is like the one who has visited me.”

1053 solar years ago, on this day in 962 AD, Byzantine troops, led by the future emperor, Nicephorus Phocas, stormed the city of Aleppo in Syria, which was the capital of the Hamdanid Shi’ite Muslim Dynasty, and carried off 10,000 Muslims as prisoners. Soon Emir Sayf od-Dowla recovered and refortified Aleppo and counterattacked the Byzantines by raiding deep into Asia Minor. The Byzantine-Hamdanid Wars were part of the Christian-Muslim conflict for supremacy in northern Syria and Asia Minor (present day Turkey) and were continuation of the Greek-Achaemenid, Roman-Parthian, and Roman-Sassanid Wars of the past millennium-and-a-half for control of the region. They continued in the subsequent centuries in the form of Byzantine-Turkic wars, starting with the rise of the Iran-based Seljuqs and culminating in 1453 with the fall of Constantinople to the Ottomans.

572 lunar years ago, on this day in 866 AH, Jam Nizam od-Din II, known as Nindo, the most powerful ruler of the Samma Dynasty, succeeded his father Sanjar Sadr od-Din and ruled for 48 years over Sindh, parts of Punjab, Baluchestan and Gujarat. Towards the end of his reign he defeated a Mughal army sent against him by Shah Beg Arghun from Qandahar. Founded by Rajputs who had embraced the truth of Islam, the Samma civilization contributed significantly to the evolution of the "Sindhi-Islamic" architectural style, which is a blending of Persian art as well. Thatta, which is in modern Pakistan, was the capital of this kingdom that lasted almost two centuries. The city is still famous for its necropolis, which covers 10 square km on the Makli Hill. Every year thousands perform pilgrimage to this site to commemorate the saints buried here. The graves testify to a long period when Thatta was a thriving center of trade, religion and scholarly pursuits.

239 solar years ago, on this day in 1777 AD, Alexander I of Russia was born in Saint Petersburg to Grand Duke Paul Petrovich, later Emperor Paul. He is said to have been involved in the murder of his father, whom he succeeded as Emperor of Russia in March 1801 and ruled till his death in 1825. The first Russian King of Poland (1815 to 1825), as well as the first Russian Grand Duke of Finland, his reign saw aggression on Qajarid Iran in the Caucasus, resulting in the 9-year Russo-Persian War from 1804-to-1813, and imposition of the Gulistan Treaty through which Georgia, Daghestan, and much of what is now the Republic of Azerbaijan was seized from the Persian Empire. In his European policy, he switched Russia back and forth four times during 1804-1812 from neutral peacemaker to anti-Napoleon to an ally of Napoleon, winding up in 1812 as Napoleon’s enemy. In 1805, he joined Britain in the War of the Third Coalition against Napoleon, but after the massive defeat at the Battle of Austerlitz he switched and formed an alliance with Napoleon by the Treaty of Tilsit (1807) and joined Napoleon's Continental System. He fought a small-scale naval war against Britain. He and Napoleon could never agree; especially about Poland, and the alliance collapsed by 1810. His greatest triumph came in 1812 as Napoleon's invasion of Russia proved a total disaster for the French. Later he formed the so-called Holy Alliance to suppress revolutionary movements in Europe and helped Austria's Klemens von Metternich in suppressing all national and liberal movements. Alexander died without issue.

226 solar years ago, on this day in 1790 AD, French Orientalist, Jean-François Champollion, was born. He established scientific methods in archaeology and pioneered in deciphering Egyptian hieroglyphics. He mastered Latin, Greek, Arabic, Hebrew, Persian, Chinese, and Coptic languages, and later learned ancient Syriac and Chaldean. He started interpreting Egyptian hieroglyphics, building on the earlier efforts of Thomas Young. He succeeded in deciphering the Rosetta Stone, a stone slab unearthed in 1799 at Rosetta near Alexandria, Egypt, inscribed in two languages and three scripts, that is, Egyptian hieroglyphic and demotic, and ancient Greek.

183 solar years ago, on this day in 1834 AD, Thomas Robert Malthus, English economist and demographer, died at the age of 68. Although an Anglican Christian priest, his theories, as is evident from his work “An Essay on the Principle of Population”, betrayed his lack of belief in the Infinite Power of the Almighty Creator. He wrote “population would always outrun the food supply and would result in famine, disease or war to reduce the number of people.” His views became controversial, across economic, political, social and scientific thought, while his reputation as economist dropped away for the rest of his life.

76 lunar years ago, on this day in 1362 AH, famous Iranian poet and scholar, Hussain Khan Danesh, died at the age of 70. He spent a major part of his life in Turkey, conducting research on Persian works in Ankara, Istanbul and other cities, and making efforts to publish them. Among his works, mention could be made of "DastourZaban-e Farsi" and "Saramadan-e Sokhan".

69 solar years ago, on this day in 1947 AD, the Iranian astronomer, jurisprudent, and poet, HabibollahSoltanabadiEraqi, popular as “Zu’l-Fonoun” passed away at the age of 77. Born near Arak, at the age of 23 he left for Iraq to complete religious studies at the famous seminary of holy Najaf, where he stayed for ten years, mastering several branches of Islamic sciences, especially exegesis of the holy Qur’an and Arabic literature. On return to Iran, he devoted himself to astronomy and astrology, discovering fascinating facts about the moon and the stars. For years he was in charge of publishing Iran’s astrological calendar. He was a prolific writer as well, and in addition to his books on astronomy, he authored an exegesis of the holy Qur’an. He also used to compose poems in both Persian and Arabic.

68 solar years ago, on this day in 1948 AD, as per the verdict of an International Tribunal in the Japanese capital, Tokyo, seven senior officials of Japan's imperial government, including former premier, Hideki Tojo, were executed for war crimes committed during World War II. The court was held simultaneous with the Nuremberg Tribunal in Germany for prosecution of Nazi war criminals. It tried 25 Japanese officials and sentenced 18 of them to prison terms.

63 solar years ago, on this day in 1953 AD, Lavrenity Pavlovich Beria, Head of the Soviet Union’s dreaded security apparatus and the No.2 man during Joseph Stalin’s rule, was tried and executed on charges of deviation from the principles of the communist party, and for conspiracy against the Soviet system. Upon Beria’s order many people were killed, and gory purges took place within the communist party and the Red Army, as a result of which, an atmosphere of fear dominated the Soviet Union. Following Stalin’s death in March 1953, the new leaders executed Beria.

46 solar years ago, on this day in 1970 AD, the construction of the World Trade Center in New York City reached 1353 feet high (411 meter), its highest point. This was a complex of 7 buildings including the twin 110-storey towers, having 9 million sq. feet of office space. The towers' design by architect Minoru Yamasaki used a steel frame with glass curtain walls. Observation decks at the top of the towers gave a view of 45 miles. The building had three vertical zones served by express elevators to skylobbies at the 41st and 74th floors and local elevators within the three zones. Once the highest skyscrapers in the world (until surpassed by the Sears Tower, Chicago), the twin towers were totally destroyed by fire on 11 September 2001 by remote-controlled unmanned planes in a conspiracy hatched by the FBI and the Zionist spying agency Mossad, in order to lay the blame on Muslims for a pretext to attack and occupy Afghanistan.

44 solar years ago, on this day in 1972 AD, a destructive quake jolted Nicaragua’s capital, Managua, claiming almost 10,000 lives, while 15,000 others sustained injuries. Half of Managua’s residents were made homeless, and huge damage inflicted on the city and its environs.

28 lunar years ago, on this day in 1410 AH, Grand Ayatollah JawadAqa Tehrani passed away at the age of 88. He was born in Tehran and after completing his studies in Qom left for Holy Najaf in Iraq to continue his higher studies. He groomed many scholars and was known for his piety and ascetic nature. Among the books written by him are: "Mizan al-Mataleb" in Arabic and "Aieen-e Zindagi" in Persian.

5 solar years ago, on this day in 2011 AD new evidence came to light of the genocide carried by France in Algeria where fifteen percent of the Muslim population was massacred by the colonialists, and beginning in 1945 many Algerians were burned in oven. With the weakening of Ottoman power, France invaded and occupied Algeria in the 1830s after crushing the heroic resistance of Amir Seyyed Abdul-Qader al-Hassani al-Jazayeri. After a hard fought war of independence lasting from 1954 to 1962, during which 1.5 million more Algerians were killed by the French, the country became free.

5 solar years ago, on this day in 2011 AD, the repressive Aal-e Khalifa minority regime of the Persian Gulf island state of Bahrain, banned the weekly peaceful protest by the people in Manama, after attacking with bullets and teargas the headquarters of al-Wefaq, the main opposition party. The vast majority of the Bahraini people are deprived of their birthrights, and this year the tyrannical regime desecrated mosques and hussainiyahs.

AS/SS