Today is Thursday; 16thof the Iranian month of Dey 1395 solar hijri; corresponding to 6th of the Islamic month of Rabi as-Sani 1438 lunar hijri; and January 5, 2017, of the Christian Gregorian Calendar.

1414 solar years ago, on this day in the year 603 AD, the 24-year war broke out between the Iranian and Roman Empires, as a result of assassination of Emperor Maurice, who was a close ally of the Sassanid Emperor, Khosrow Parviz, since he had, years earlier, helped him regain the throne by defeating the usurper Bahram Chubin. In 602 when Maurice was murdered by General Phocas, who usurped the Roman throne, Khosrow launched an offensive against Constantinople, ostensibly to avenge Maurice's death, but clearly his aim included the annexation of as much Byzantine territory as possible. His armies invaded Syria and Asia Minor, and in 608 advanced into Chalcedon. In 613 and 614, Damascus and Jerusalem were besieged and captured by General Shahrbaraz. Soon General Shahin marched through Anatolia or present day Turkey, defeating the Byzantines in several battles, and then conquered Egypt in 618. It is worth noting that victories of the Zoroastrian Persians over the Christian Romans had delighted the pagan Arabs and made them taunt Muslims that their monotheist creed of Islam will also soon vanish. At this time, God revealed the opening ayahs of Surah Roum, saying that although the monotheist Romans have been subdued for the moment, they would be the eventual victors. This prophecy is among the miracles of the holy Qur'an. Ultimately, in 622, the Byzantine Emperor Heraclius, who had succeeded Phocas in 610 and ruled until 641, was able to take the field with a powerful force. In 624, he advanced into northern Media, where he destroyed the great fire-temple of Ganzhak. Two years later in 626, he captured Colchis in Georgia from the Iranians. In response, Persian general Shahrbaraz advanced to Chalcedon and attempted to capture Constantinople with the help of Iran's Avar allies. His maneuver failed as his forces were defeated, and he withdrew his army from Anatolia in the face of Roman advance. In 627, Khosrow fled his capital Cteisphon in Iraq, where the Persian generals tired of his endless wars crowned his son as king, and made peace with the Romans. KhosrowParviz was eventually killed by his own men.

1313 lunar years ago, on this day in 125 AH, Hisham ibn Abdul-Malik, the 10th self-styled caliph of the usurper Omayyad regime, died after an oppressive rule of 20 years over an empire stretching from Spain and southern France in the west to the borders of China and India in the east. Hisham was the murderer of Imam Mohammad Baqer (AS), the 5th Infallible Heir of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA). He also brutally martyred the 5th Imam's younger brother, Zaid ibn Ali and had the body mutilated after taking it out from the grave. Hisham was notorious for his misery, despite accumulating a vast treasure that his troops brought as loot from different parts of Africa, Europe, and Asia. He was succeeded by his nephew, Waleed, who refused to give him any shroud or burial, saying Hisham has left no legitimate and lawful income, and whatever he had accumulated was through plunder and seizure. Seven years after him, the Omayyad dynasty was thrown into the dustbin of history with the rise of the equally oppressive Abbasid usurpers.

1178 solar years ago, on this day in 838 AD, Babak Khorrami was executed in Samarra on the orders of the Abbasid caliph, Mu’tasim-Billah, after he was captured by the Iranian governor of Azarbaijan and Armenia, General Afshin Khaydaar bin Kavous, who crushed the 20-year long Khorramdin rebellion. Babak (Papak in Persian) was not well known outside academic circles until the 20th century, when due to Soviet nation-building efforts and the Khorramdin cult’s following of the teachings of Mazdak with its communist and socialist themes, he was proclaimed a national hero in the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic. In Iran, Babak was discovered by Reza Shah Pahlavi since it suited his anti-Islamic and pseudo nationalist policies to magnify pre-Islamic themes.

1175 solar years ago, on this day in 842 AD, Mu’tasim-Billah, the 8th self-styled caliph of the Abbasid usurper regime, died at the age of 48 after a reign of nine years, and was succeeded by his son, Watheq-Billah (born to a Greek concubine named Qaratis). Mu’tasem was the son of the tyrant Haroun Rashid’s Turkic concubine – a singing-dancing slave girl named Marida – and took over the caliphate on the death of his step-brother, Mamoun. He favoured the Turks and gave them all authority to the resentment of the Iranian and Arab Muslims. He opposed the Mu’tazallite or Rationalistic doctrine of his predecessor. It was on his orders that Ijtihad was forbidden and of the several jurisprudential schools of the newly designated sect Ahl as-Sunnah wa’l-Jama’at, only four, that is, Hanafi, Maleki, Shafei, and Hanbali, were decreed as official. Mu’tasem has earned lasting notoriety for martyring through poison, Imam Mohammad at-Taqi al-Jawad (AS), the 9th Infallible Heir of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA).

897 lunar years ago, on this day in 541 AH, Imad od-Din Zangi, the Atabeg of Mosul, Aleppo, Hama and Edessa and founder of the Turkic Zangid dynasty that ruled parts of Syria, was killed by his European slave, Yarankesh, shortly after repulsing a joint Byzantine-Crusader army. His father, Aq Sunqur al-Hajeb, was governor of Aleppo under Malik Shah I, the Isfahan-based Seljuq sultan of Iran- Iraq-Syria-Anatolia. Imad Zangi distinguished himself in military exploits against the European Crusader, and defeated King Fulk of the usurper Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem (Bayt al-Moqaddas). The Zangid dynasty ended with the rise of the Kurdish adventurer, Salah od-Din Ayyoubi of Mosul.

622 lunar years ago, on this day in 816 AH, the Iranian scholar and literary figure, Ali ibn Mohammad al-Hussaini al-Jorjani Astarabadi, known popularly as Mir Seyyed Sharif, passed away in Shiraz. He was a prominent figure of the Timurid era and was a student of the renowned scientist of his day, Qotb od-Din Raazi. He authored several books, including “Risalat-al-Kubra fi'l-Manteq” (The Major Treatise in Logic). Among his students were Seyyed Mohammad Nourbakhsh, the founder of the Nourbakhshiya Sufi order, and Shaikh Abi Jamhour al-Ahsa'i of Arabia.

425 solar years ago, on this day in 1592 AD, Shah Jahan, the Moghal emperor of Hindustan (Northern Subcontinent), was born at Lahore. Named Shahab od-Din Mohammad Khorram, he succeeded his father, Saleem Noor od-Din Jahangir in 1628. His reign was the golden age of architecture. He erected splendid monuments, the most famous of which is the famous white marble TajMahal at Agra built as a mausoleum for his wife of Iranian ancestry, Empress Arjmand Bano Momtaz Mahal, and regarded among the Seven Wonders of the World. The Pearl Mosque and many other buildings in Agra, the Red Fort and the Jama Mosque in Delhi, were built by him. The famous “Takht-e Tawous” (Peacock Throne), said to be worth millions of dollars by modern estimates, also dates from his reign. Other important buildings of his rule are the “Diwan-e Aam” (Public Audience Chamber) and the “Diwan-e Khaas” (Special Audience Chamber) in the Red Fort Complex in Delhi and the Pearl Mosque in the Lahore Fort. He also patronized paintings and laid out gardens, especially in Kashmir, his favourite summer resort. In 1638, by bribing the governor, Shah Jahan captured the city of Qandahar in what is now Afghanistan from the Iranians, prompting the retaliation of the Safavids led by Shah Abbas II, who recaptured it in 1649. The Mughal armies were unable to retake it despite repeated attempts. Shah Jahan's end was ill-fated. When he became ill, civil war erupted among his four sons, at the end of which the victor, Aurangzeb, after killing his brothers, confined his father to the Agra fort, where Shah Jahan died in 1666.

412 solar years ago, on this day in 1605 AD, Spanish poet and novelist, Miguel de Cervantes published in Madrid the first edition of his magnum opus “El Ingenioso Hidalgo Don Quijote de la Mancha” or Book One of Don Quixote. Considered to be the first modern European novel, it follows the adventures of Alonso Quixano, who reads so many chivalric novels that he loses his sanity and decides to set out to revive chivalry, undo wrongs, and bring justice to the world, under the name Don Quixote. He recruits a simple farmer, Sancho Panza, as his squire, who often employs a unique, earthly wit in dealing with Don Quixote's rhetorical orations on antiquated knighthood. Cervantes influence on the Spanish language has been so great that the language is often called “la lengua de Cervantes” (or the language of Cervantes). He wrote “Don Quixote” to satirize the chivalric romance and to challenge the popularity of a form of literature that had been a favorite of the general public for more than a century. Cervantes enlisted as a soldier in a Spanish Navy infantry regiment and was captured by Algerian-Ottoman naval forces. After 5 years of captivity he was released. He died in 1616 in Madrid, Spain.

326 solar years ago, on this day in 1691 AD, the first currency note or paper money in Europe was printed and distributed by Sweden’s Stockholm Bank. The credit for paper money actually goes to China several centuries earlier.

208 solar years ago, on this day in 1809 AD, the Treaty of Dardanelles was signed between London and Istanbul, according to which Britain pledged to withdraw forces from all Ottoman territories, including Egypt. In return, the Ottoman Empire pledged to recognize the consular rights of Britain in Ottoman lands. The goal behind this treaty by Britain was to maintain the security of the British fleet in the Mediterranean in the face of possible attacks by the Russian Navy through the Black Sea, because according to this treaty the Ottoman Empire agreed not to allow any warship to pass through the Bosporus Strait and the Dardanelles during peacetime.

111 lunar years ago, on this day in 1327 AH, the 6th Qajarid king of Iran, Mohammad Ali Shah, was forced by the constitutionalists to revive the Majlis (parliament), which he had dissolved two years earlier, shortly after succeeding his father, Mozaffar od-Din Shah, to the Peacock Throne. A repressive and inefficient ruler, he had earlier bombarded the parliament building with the help of the British and Russian forces. He was soon deposed by the constitutionalists, and on being replaced by his 11-year old son, Ahmad Shah, he fled to Russian-ruled Odessa (present day Ukraine), from where he plotted his return to power. Two years later he landed at Astarabad on the Caspian Sea coast of northern Iran, but his forces were defeated. Mohammad Ali Shah again fled to Russia, then to Istanbul and later to San Remo, Italy, where he died on 5th April 1925, the same year the 140-year rule of the Qajarid Dynasty ended when the British formally declared their agent, Reza Khan Pahlavi as the new king, while Ahmad Shah was on an extended, almost 2-year long visit, to Europe. Every shah of Iran since Mohammad Ali Shah has died in exile.

89 solar years ago, on this day in 1928 AD, Zulfeqar Ali Bhutto, who served as Pakistani foreign minister, president and prime minister, was born in Larnaka, Sindh to Shahnawaz Bhutto, the prime minister of the Muslim princely state of Junagadh in Gujarat, India. Educated in Bombay and the US, he founded the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) in the 1960s. He was ousted in a military coup in 1977 by the US-backed General Zia ul-Haq, who two years later executed him on charges of murder. Bhutto’s legacy is still alive in Pakistan. His daughter Benazir was to serve as prime minister in the 1990s, before her assassination during the election campaign, while the previous president of Pakistan, Asef Ali Zardari, was his son-in-law.

57 solar years ago, on this day in 1960 AD, Russian Orientalist and Iranologist, Dr. Boris Zakhoder, passed away at the age of 62. He conducted numerous studies on Iran’s history and wrote several books including one on the famous Iranian statesman of the Seljuqid era, Khwaja Nizam- ol-MolkTusi.

57 solar years ago, on this day in 1960 AD, the founder of modern Persian poetry, Ali Esfandiari, who wrote under the penname NimaYoushij, passed away. He was born in Yoush village, Mazandaran Province, northern Iran. In Tehran, after completing his studies, he studied French and Arabic, and started writing poems. He launched a new school of Persian poetry known as blank verse. The important features of his poetry include presentation of contemporary topics of important in the community in simple and friendly language. He broke away from the classic frameworks in his poetry. The most important work of this prominent Iranian poet is named “Afsaneh”.

39 solar years ago, on this day in 1978 AD, with the publication of an insulting article in the “Etela’at” daily against the Father of Islamic Revolution, Imam Khomeini (RA), nationwide demonstrations started across the country and the Islamic movement was placed on the path to victory. The despotic regime of the British-installed and US-supported Shah, thought that by insulting this revered leader, it could undermine his popularity. The insult backfired on the regime and finally on February 11, 1979, the Pahlavi potentate was thrown into the dustbin of history.

38 solar years ago, on this day in 1979 AD, following collapse of the military government of Gholam Reza Azhaari and its replacement by Shapour Bakhtiar’s cabinet on the orders of British-installed and US-backed Pahlavi regime, the Father of the Islamic Revolution, Imam Khomeini (RA), declared from his place of exile near Paris in France that the new government was illegal and the people should continue their struggle till the end of monarchic rule.

AS/ME