Today is Saturday; 18th of the Iranian month of Dey 1395 solar hijri; corresponding to 8th of the Islamic month of Rabi as-Sani 1438 lunar hijri; and January 7, 2017, of the Christian Gregorian Calendar.

1206 lunar years ago, on this day in 232 AH, Imam Hasan al-Askari (AS), the 11th Infallible Heir of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA), was born in the city of Medina. He later moved to Samarra to join his father, Imam Ali al-Hadi (AS), who was forced to come to Iraq by the tyrant Mutawakkel, the 10th self-styled caliph of the usurper Abbasid regime. The mantle of Imamate or divinely-decreed leadership of mankind came to rest on Imam Hassan Askari’s (AS) young shoulders at the age of 22, following the martyrdom of his father through poisoning by the 13th treacherous caliph, Mu’taz. For six years, the 11th Imam guided the ummah, until his own martyrdom in the prime of youth by another tyrannical caliph, Mo’tamed. During this period, his son and successor, Imam Mahdi (AS) was born and brought up in secrecy –safe and secure from the Abbasid spies. The 12th Imam, who is currently in occultation by God’s Will, will emerge in the end times as the Redeemer of mankind to cleanse the earth of all vestiges of corruption and oppression by establishing the global government of peace, prosperity and justice. We hereby felicitate the auspicious birth anniversary of Imam Hassan Askari (AS) and later in our programme will present to you a special feature on his life and times.

1081 lunar years ago, on this day in 357 AH, the famous Arabic poet, statesman, and warrior, Harres bin Sa’eed, known popularly as Abu Firaas Hamdani, passed away. He was a cousin and brother-in-law of the Hamdanid ruler of Aleppo and northern Syria, Sayf od-Dowlah, and was one of commanders in the campaigns against the Byzantine Empire. He, like the rest of the Hamdanids was a devotee of the Ahl al-Bayt, and wrote his odes describing the injustices committed by the caliphs against the progeny of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA). He was once captured by the Byzantines and was freed four years later through payment of ransom. In another battle, he was injured and finally succumbed to his wounds. The reputation of Abu Firaas owes much to his personal qualities. Handsome in person, of noble family, brave, generous, and extolled by his contemporaries as “excelling in every virtue”, he lived up to the Islamic Arab ideal of chivalry which he expressed in his poetry. His poems are popular till this day, especially the “ar-Roumiyaat”, written during his captivity by Byzantines or eastern Romans. His diwan was edited with a commentary (largely from the poet himself) shortly after his death by his tutor, the famous Iranian grammarian of Arabic language, Ibn Khalawaiyh, who lived in Syria at the Hamdanid court.

515 solar years ago, on this day in 1502 AD, the Italian pontiff, Ugo Boncompagni, who as Pope Gregory XIII was head of the Catholic sect of Christianity from 1572 to 1585, was born in Bologna. Later in life, after fathering an illegitimate child through adultery, he joined the Church. He is known for commissioning the Gregorian calendar that bears his name and was imposed in the 20th century on the rest of the world by the western powers. On Thursday 4th October 1582, three years before his death, Gregory replaced the pre-Christian Julian calendar of the Romans, decreeing that the next day, Friday, be declared as October 15, which meant the skipping of ten days in the Catholic countries of Italy, Portugal, Spain and Poland. The rest of Europe opposed his move and continued to follow the Julian Calendar of Julius Caesar. For instance, Britain and its colonies resisted this change by the Catholic Pope, and used the Julian calendar for more than a century and a half until Wednesday 2nd September 1752, which meant that the next morning on Thursday it was the 14th of September instead of September 3. Russia adopted the Gregorian calendar in 1918, a year after the atheist non-Christian Bolshevik Revolution, and Greece as late as 1923, while in 1927 this calendar was imposed on Turkey as part of the anti-Islamic policies of Mustafa Kamal Ata-Turk. At any rate, it was only in the 20th century between the Two World Wars that the Gregorian calendar along with January 1 as New Year Day was forced upon the rest of the world, so that the globe would be held in ransom to the policies of London and Washington. Iran is among the very few world countries that do not follow the Christian calendar for administrative purposes or for keeping track of the orderly seasons, since the solar hijri calendar in use in Iran is more perfect and precise than the Gregorian calendar.

459 solar years ago, on this day in 1558 AD, France liberated the port of Calais on the English Channel – the last possession of England on mainland Europe.

232 solar years ago, on this day in 1785 AD, Frenchman Jean Pierre Blanchard and American scientist and physician John Jeffries made the first air crossing of the English Channel from England to France in a hot-air balloon - the first international flight. The voyage was successful, though not without difficulty, because to maintain height they were forced to jettison everything in the basket, including rope and most of their clothes. Their previous flight took place on 30 Nov 1784, in London, for the purpose of taking scientific and meteorological measurements. The history of aviation is as old as Man’s quest to fly since antiquity. In the heyday of Islamic science and civilization, there are records pertaining to the Spanish Muslim polymath, Abbas ibn Firnas, who flew from Jabal al-Arous Hill by employing a rudimentary glider in the 9th century AD. In 1783, with the first successful floating of a balloon with a person on board, the aviation industry was born and led to the invention of the airship, the zeppelin and finally the modern aircraft.

98 lunar years ago, on this day in 1339 AH, the prominent jurisprudence Fathollah bin Mohammad Namazi Gharawi, popular as Shaikh osh-Shari’ah Isfahani, was 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 wentto 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, including “Qa’eda’eh Sodoor”. He 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, issuingfatwas 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. He rejected any political, military, economic and cultural domination of Islamic lands by the colonialists. He passed away at the age of 73 and was laid to rest in the courtyard of the holy shrine of the Commander of the Faithful, Imam Ali ibn AbiTaleb (AS).

74 solar years ago, on this day in 1943 AD, the Yugoslav physicist, Nikola Tesla, died at the age of 87. His studies and inventions were mainly in the domain of electricity current. One of his discoveries is the alternative current.

38 solar years ago, on this day in 1979 AD, following the Vietnamese army’s attack on Cambodia, Khmer Rouge dictator, Pol Pot, fled the country. The main features of Pol Pot’s regime were violent methods and forced eviction of people from cities, and eradication of any sign of civilization. In less than three years 2 million people, especially the Cambodians of Vietnamese origin, were killed.

31 solar years ago, on this day in 1986 AD, Egyptian border policeman in Sinai desert, Suleiman Khater, attained martyrdom in prison. In protest to the scandalous Camp David accord between Egypt and the Zionist entity, he executed a number of Israelis in the Sinai Peninsula on October 1985. Following his detention by the Hosni Mubarak regime a kangaroo court sentenced him to life imprisonment. After a while, his body was found hanging in the prison, and the Egyptian regime claimed he had committed suicide. On announcement of this news, thousands of Egyptian students held major demonstrations in Cairo and other cities, venting their anger against this ominous act of the Egyptian regime. It is believed the regime murdered him on the orders of the Zionists, and hanged his dead body to avoid blame.

24 solar years ago, on this day in 1993 AD, the Islamologist and translator of Holy Qu’ran into Japanese language, Toshihiko Izutsu, passed away at the age of 79. He was born in Tokyo and in 1960 he obtained a PhD in linguistics. He concurrently taught linguistics and philosophy of language. He received the highest scientific medal from the Japanese emperor and has left behind a large number of books on mysticism, the Holy Qur’an, and philosophy. For a while he taught in Iran as well. His books include "History of Islamic Thought". He highlighted the rich contribution of Iranians throughout history to the Islamic culture, civilization, and thought.

10 solar years ago, on this day in 2007 AD, the Iranian historian and researcher, Hojjatol-Islam Ali Davani, passed away at the age of 78. Born near the city of Kazeroun, in southern Iran, at the age of 14 he left for the seminary of holy Najaf in Iraq for learning Islamic sciences. He returned to Iran five years later and continued studies under prominent figures, such as Grand Ayatollah Seyyed Hussain Boroujerdi, and the Father of the Islamic Revolution, Imam Khomeini (RA). He soon attained the status of Ijtehad. He was an expert on Islamic history and wrote 110 books and numerous articles in this regard. His books include "The Movement of Iranian Ulema", which is in ten volumes. He was compiling the "Alawid Encyclopedia" when death overtook him.

AS/ME