Today is Monday; 27th of the Iranian month of Dey 1395 solar hijri; corresponding to17th of the Islamic month of Rabi as-Sani 1438 lunar hijri; and January 16, 2017, of the Christian Gregorian Calendar.

1088 solar years ago, on this day in 929 AD, Abdur-Rahman III, the Omayyad Emir of Cordoba in Spain, styled himself the first caliph of Spain, by breaking all allegiance with the Abbasid caliphate of Baghdad. Born to a Christian concubine (his father's mother was also a Christian concubine), he succeeded his grandfather, Abdullah, as Emir at the age of 23 years. During his 49-year rule until his death at the age of 72, his legitimacy was under serious question as a result of the bid by the Fatemid Ismaili Shi'ite Muslim Dynasty of North Africa to expand its sphere of influence in Spain, where Muslims considered the Omayyads as usurpers and the descendants of the Prophet more worthy of governance. In order to check the Fatemids, he signed a treaty with the Christian ruler of Leon, Ordono III, and backed the Maghrawa Berber rebels in Northwest Africa. Instead of confronting the European Christian rebels who were slowly encroaching upon the northern territories of Islamic Spain, he devoted his time and energy to creating inter-Muslim rivalries, as was evident by his support for the Idrisids, which was also a Shi'ite Muslim Dynasty of what is now Morocco. Abdur-Rahman's efforts were brought to naught in 958, after a decisive Fatemid victory that ended for good any Omayyad influence in North Africa.

1082 lunar years ago, on this day in 356 AH, Moez od-Dowla Abu’l-Hassan Ahmad ibn Buyeh Daylami, the founder of the Buwaiyhid Dynasty of Iran-Iraq-Oman, passed away in Baghdad after a reign of 22 years, and was buried in the graveyard of the Quraish, adjacent to the holy shrine of Imam Musa al-Kazem (AS), the 7th Infallible Successor of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA). After taking Baghdad in 334 and reducing to a mere figurehead al-Mustakfi, the 22nd self-styled caliphs of the usurper Abbasid regime (who a year later was deposed and replaced by al-Muti), he ruled as Amir al-Omara (Chief of the Nobles). For the first time he declared as public holidays the Day of Ghadeer (18th Zilhijja – the Prophet’s proclamation of Imam Ali [AS] as vicegerent on God’s commandment), and the Day of Ashura (10th Moharram – the tragic martyrdom of the Prophet’s grandson, Imam Husain [AS] in Karbala). He also ordered that on the walls of mosques and other main buildings of Iraq and Iran curses should be written against the Omayyad usurper Mu’awiyah ibn Abu Sufyan and other enemies of the Ahl al-Bayt. This practice was emulated in Aleppo and parts of Syria and what is now south-central Turkey by Sayf od-Dowla, the ruler of the Hamdanid Dynasty. Moez od-Dowla’s elder brother Ali who was in control of central and southern Iran was given the title of 'Emad od-Dowla", while the younger brother Hassan, who had gained control of northern Iran, took the title of "Rokn od-Dowla". Buwaiyhid rule lasted over a century in Iran and Iraq and was a period of great cultural revival and emergence of outstanding religious scholars, such as Sheikh Mufid, Seyyed Murtaza, Seyyed Radhi, Shaikh at-Tayefa Tusi, etc.

491 lunar years ago, on this day in 947 AH, India’s Persian language historian, Mullah Abdul-Qader Bada'uni, was born. He was a court chronicler and translator from Sanskrit into Persian for the Mughal Emperor, Jalal od-Din Akbar Shah. He translated the Hindu epics, “Ramayana” and “Mahabharata”, into Persian from Sanskrit. His famous work is the history in Persian titled “Muntakhab at-Tawarikh”.

470 solar years ago, on this day in 1547 AD, Prince Ivan IV, known as "Ivan the Terrible," crowned himself the Czar of Russia in Moscow – the first Russian ruler to assume that title. He was Grand Prince of Moscow from 1533 to 1547 and Czar of All the Russias from 1547 until his death in 1584, during which he launched brutal attacks to conquer the Muslim Khanates of Kazan, Astrakhan, and Siberia, transforming Russia into a multiethnic and multiconfessional state. For instance, in 1552 AD, Kazan, the capital of Tataristan, was occupied after a long siege by Ivan the Terrible, who massacred as many as 110,000 Tartar Muslims, and forcibly converted to Christianity many others, after destroying mosques or turning them into churches.

326 lunar years ago, on this day in 1110 AH, the Ottoman Turkish fleet defeated the Venetian fleet in a sea battle in the Mediterranean, near Italy, thus establishing Muslim supremacy over the sea routes.

224 solar years ago, on this day in 1794 AD, British historian and a member of parliament, Edward Gibbon, died at the age of 57. He is the author of the famous 6-volume work “The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire”, which is acclaimed for its quality, its prose, its use of primary sources, and its open criticism of Judaism and Christianity. He traced the trajectory of Western civilization as well as the spread of Islam and the Mongol invasion from the height of the Roman Empire to the fall of Byzantium. He says about Prophet Mohammad (SAWA):

“He breathed among the faithful a spirit of charity and friendship; recommended the practice of social virtues; and checked ... the thirst of revenge, and the oppression of widows and orphans.”

Gibbon notes the remarkable preservation of the holy Qur’an in its original form, from the time of the Prophet till this day, in contrast to the scriptures of the Jews and Christians that have constantly undergone changes. He says:

“It is not the propagation but the permanency of his religion that deserves our wonder, the same pure and perfect impression which he engraved at Mecca and Medina is preserved after the revolutions of twelve centuries by the Indian, the African and the Turkish proselytes of the Qur’an.”

About Imam Ali (AS), Gibbon writes:

“The zeal and virtue of Ali were never outstripped by any recent proselyte. He united the qualifications of a poet, a soldier, and a saint; his wisdom still breathes in a collection of moral and religious sayings; and every antagonist, in the combats of the tongue or of the sword, was subdued by his eloquence and valour. From the first hour of his mission to the last rites of his funeral, the Apostle was never forsaken by a generous friend, whom he delighted to name his brother, his vicegerent, and the faithful Aaron of a second Moses.”

About the heartrending tragedy of Karbala, Gibbon states:

“In a distant age and climate the tragic scene of the death of Husain will awaken the sympathy of the coldest reader.”

Gibbon is highly critical of the Christian Church and says:

“If Paganism was conquered by Christianity, it is equally true that Christianity was corrupted by Paganism.”

About the Israelites, he is even more frank and forthright:

“Humanity is shocked at the recital of the horrid cruelties which they (Jews) committed in the cities of Egypt, of Cyprus, and of Cyrene, where they dwelt in treacherous friendship with the unsuspecting natives;”

 In his footnote Gibbon adds:

“In Cyrene, [the Jews] massacred 220,000 Greeks; in Cyprus, 240,000; in Egypt, a very great multitude... The victorious Jews devoured the flesh, licked up the blood, and twisted the entrails like a girdle around their bodies.”

171 solar years ago, on this day in 1846 AD, the US, as part of its expansionist policies, attacked Mexico on the pretext of the alleged mistreatment of Americans. The war lasted two years, and the US occupied and annexed large regions of Mexico, including Texas, California, Nevada, Arizona, and New Mexico.

152 solar years ago, on this day in 1865 AD, the French socialist philosopher, Pierre Joseph Proudhon, died at the age of 56. He brought out a number of journals, including the one titled: "What's Ownership". He supported the rights of workers, and considered himself an anarchist. Among the books written by him is "The Philosophy of Poverty".

104 lunar years ago, on this day in 1334 AH, the renowned Islamic scholar, Grand Ayatollah Sheikh Mohammad Ali Nakhchivani, passed away in the holy city of Karbala in Iraq. He was from the Iranian region of Nakhchivan – which is presently in Republic of Azerbaijan – and was a student of Ayatollah Fazel Iravani, who was also from the Caucasus. Nakhchivani soon became a Source of Emulation for Muslims of the Caucasus and Azarbaijan. A master of logic and Arabic literature, he authored several books, including “Ijtema al-Amr”.

61 solar years ago, on this day in 1956 AD, the combatant Iranian religious scholar, Hojjat ol-Islam, Seyyed Mohammad Nawwab Safavi, and his three companions, were sentenced to death by a military court of the Shah's hated regime, and attained martyrdom. A product of the famous Seminary of holy Najaf in Iraq, on his return to Iran, he assumed leadership of the Fedaiyaan-e Islam group, and started his activities for social reforms by opposing the heinous crimes of the British-installed and American-backed Shah’s regime. He was close to the future Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Imam Khomeini (RA), and established contacts between Iranian Islamic revolutionaries and the Ikhawan al-Muslimin (Muslim Brotherhood) of Egypt. His three companions who also attained martyrdom this day were Tahmasbi, Zolqadr, and Vahedi. Nawwab Safavi was only 31-year old at the time of his martyrdom.

38 solar years ago,  on this day in 1979 AD, Iraqi journalist, Muntazar az-Zaidi, who became a world famous hero for hurling shoes at the US president, was born in Sadr City, Baghdad, in a family adhering to the school of the Ahl al-Bayt of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA). On December 14, 2008, during a press conference in Baghdad attended by US president, George Bush, and Iraqi Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maleki, he suddenly shouted: "This is a farewell kiss from the Iraqi people, you dog" as he threw his first show. As Bush ducked to avoid being hit in the face, az-Zaidi threw his second shoe at him, shouting: "This is for the widows and orphans and all those killed in Iraq." Again, a badly shaken Bush barely evaded a direct hit on the face. The heroic Iraqi journalist was immediately pulled to the ground, as security guards kicked, beat and dragged him outside the conference hall, with blood dripping from his body. He was jailed, tortured, interrogated, put on trial, defended his action as the natural response to the killing of over a million Iraqis by the American occupiers, and sentenced to a year in prison. Nine months later, he was released for good conduct, and now works for a Lebanese TV channel. He has been hailed around the world for his heroic action.

29 solar years ago, on this day in 1988 AD, prominent Iraqi religious leader, Hojjat al-Islam Seyyed Mahdi al-Hakeem, son of the Source of Emulation, Grand Ayatollah Seyyed Mohsen al-Hakeem, was martyred by agents of Saddam’s Ba'th minority regime in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum. He was socially and culturally active in Iraq, for which reason the tyrannical Ba'th minority party issued a death verdict against him. He went into exile, first in Pakistan and then in the UAE, where for years he was the Friday Prayer Leader in Dubai. Later, he moved to London. During the last days of the 8-year war that the US had imposed on Iran through Saddam, when efforts were underway to rid Iraq of Ba'th minority rule, Seyyed Mahdi al-Hakeem who was in Khartoum to attend a political conference, was martyred in the hotel lobby.

SS