Today is Sunday; 3rd of the Iranian month of Bahman 1395 solar hijri; corresponding to 23rd of the Islamic month of Rabi as-Sani 1438 lunar hijri; and January 22, 2017, of the Christian Gregorian Calendar.

1149 lunar years ago, on this day in 289 AH, Mu’tazid-Billah, the 16th self-styled caliph of the usurper Abbasid regime died at the age of 46 after a 10-year reign, during which he reversed the anti-Islamic policies of his uncle and predecessor, Mu’tamed, the murderer of Imam Hasan al-Askari (PuH), the 11th Infallible Heir of Prophet Mohammad (blessings of God upon him and his progeny). Son of the regent Muwaffaq, he showed respect for the Prophet’s progeny and ordered the public cursing of the Omayyad caliphs (especially Mu’awiyya ibn Abu Sufyan and Yazid), and the disclosure of their anti-Islamic acts and misdeeds, from pulpits during the Friday Prayers. He also suppressed the Kharijites (renegades) for their acts of terrorism against Muslims, and was very harsh with them and other rebels; while sending presents and large sums of money to the semi-independent Alawid ruler of Tabaristan on the Caspian Sea coast of Iran because of his being a venerable descendent of the Prophet. The Commander of the Faithful, Imam Ali (PuH), in his prophecies had foretold about Mu’tazid.

1017 lunar years ago, on this day in 421 AH, following the death of Mahmoud Ghaznavi, the Turkic Sultan who had created an extensive empire encompassing the eastern half of Iran, most of Central Asia, and the northwestern parts of the Subcontinent; power dispute flared up among his twin sons, Mohammad and Mas’oud. Mohammad ascended the throne as per the will of his father, but when he refused his brother’s request for three of the provinces Mas’oud had won by his sword, civil war erupted. Mas’oud seized power, blinded Mohammad and imprisoned him, but was unable to preserve the empire following a disastrous defeat at the Battle of Dandanaqan by the Seljuq Turks who seized Central Asia and Iran. His last act was to collect treasures from all his forts in the hope of assembling an army to rule from India but his own forces plundered the wealth, forcing him to proclaim his blind brother as king again after ten years. The position of the two brothers was reversed; Mohammad from a prison was raised to the throne and Mas’oud from a throne was consigned to a dungeon where he was assassinated. Soon his son, Mawdoud, rebelled against his blind uncle defeated his sons at the Battle of Nangarhar, and seized the throne of Ghazna.

754 solar years ago, on this day in 1263 AD, the highly controversial Hanbali pseudo scholar, Ahmad ibn Abdul-Haleem Ibn Taymiya, was born in Harran in upper Mesopotamia, which is currently in Turkey on the Syrian border. He indulged in vitriolic criticism of not just Christians, but also of fellow Muslims, especially Sufis, to the extent that without bothering to properly study the works of the famous Spanish Muslim Gnostic, Mohi od-Din Ibn Arabi, he branded him an unbeliever – an accusation that brought swift response from scholars who wrote books against him. He came to Iran to the court of the Mongol Muslim ruler, Ghazaan Khan, with a delegation of scholars from Syria, and courted trouble by his rash attitude. Back in Syria, his weird views brought the displeasure of the ulema, prompting the Mamluk rulers to imprison him for 18 months in Cairo. Ibn Taymiya, who died in Damascus at the age of 65, has earned lasting notoriety for forbidding celebrations of the birthday of Prophet Mohammad (blessings of God upon him and his progeny). He has also been castigated by the ulema for ridiculing pilgrimage to holy shrines, and for his call to return to the days and ways of the Salaf – instead of the pure and pristine Sunnah and Seerah of the Prophet and the Immaculate Ahl al-Bayt. Salaf, which means predecessor, is a reference to early Muslims, especially those who assumed power of the Islamic state, even though neither the Prophet had delegated them any authority nor God granted any legitimacy in the holy Qur’an. The fact of the matter is that most of the Salaf, who were bitter enemies of the Prophet before becoming reluctant converts to Islam from decades of idolatry and sinful life, continued their violation of the letter and spirit of the holy Qur’an even after becoming Muslims, as is evident by their persecution and killing of the Ahl al-Bayt. This is clear by the seditious actions of the present day Salafis, who under the guise of Islam indulge in the most heinous forms of terrorism against Muslims, including the destruction of holy shrines.

500 solar years ago, on this day in 1517 AD, the Ottoman Empire under Selim I defeated the Mamluk Sultanate of al-Ashraf Tuman Bay II of Egypt-Syria at the Battle of Ridaniya. After earlier victories in Palestine, the Turks marched into Cairo with the severed head of Egypt’s last Mamluk Sultan, which was hung over an entrance gate in the al-Ghourieh quarter of Cairo. Selim I, an ethnic Turk, forced the puppet Abbasid caliph to hand him over the caliphate, and by bribing the religious scholars declared himself the first Ottoman caliph. Selim had violated the treaty with the Mamluks to launch a surprise attack on Syria, fearful of the rising power and influence of the Safavid Dynasty of Iran, against whom he had barely managed a victory from a certain defeat at Chaldiran in August 1514.

467 solar years ago, on this day in 1550 AD, Jamsheed Quli Qutb Shah, the second ruler of the Qutb-Shahi dynasty of Iranian origin of Golkandah in the Deccan (southern India), died after a reign of 7 years. It is said that he was behind the assassination of his father, Sultan Quli Qutb-ul-Mulk, a scion of the Qara Qoyounlu Dynasty of western Iran, Iraq, eastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula, and parts of Caucasus and Turkey. Jamsheed blinded his older brother, the heir to the throne, and forced his younger brother, Ibrahim to flee to Vijayanagar. An accomplished poet in Persian, his tomb in the vast necropolis near Golkandah Fort in unique octagonal pattern is a masterpiece of Indo-Iranian architecture. The Qutb-Shahis who built the famous city of Haiderabad, considered the Safavid rulers of Iran as their emperors and their dominion and court attracted Iranians from all walks of life, including religious scholars, scientists, poets, artists, architects, traders, and soldiers.

456 solar years ago, on this day in 1561 AD, the English philosopher and mathematician, Francis Bacon, was born. He initially engaged in politics and was imprisoned on the charge of bribery. While serving his prison term, he took to writing and advocated revival of science and philosophy. He authored several books, including “New Atlantis”, which presents a utopian picture of life. He died in 1626.

395 solar years ago, on this day in 1622 AD, the Safavid Emperor, Shah Abbas I, liberated the strategic island of Hormuz in the Strait of the same name, and with the help of four English ships, he drove out the Portuguese from the Persian Gulf. He soon replaced Hormuz as a trading centre with a new port, named Bandar Abbas after him on the Iranian mainland near what used to be Gombroon. Twenty years earlier, Shah Abbas I had liberated Bahrain from Portuguese occupation by sending a fleet under command of his trusted general, Imam Qoli Khan.

351 solar years ago, on this day in 1666 AD, Shah Jahan, the 5th Mughal Emperor of Hindustan (northern Subcontinent), died in Agra under confinement in the fort by his rebellious son, Aurangzeb, at the age of 74, eight years after being dethroned following a 30-year reign (1628-1658).  Born at Lahore in present day Pakistan, during the reign of his grandfather, Jalal od-Din Akbar Shah, he was named Shahab od-Din Mohammad Khorram. His father was Emperor Saleem Noor od-Din Jahangir, while his mother was the Rajput princess, Manmati of Jodhpur, who on conversion to Islam was given the name and title Taj Bibi Bilqis Makani. Shah Jahan’s reign was the golden age of Mughal architecture. He erected splendid monuments, the most famous of which is the legendary white marble Taj Mahal 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 (its inspiration was the Ibrahim Rowza of Ibrahim Adel Shah of Bijapur in the Deccan where Shah Jahan spent time in exile after an unsuccessful rebellion against his own father).  The Pearl Mosque and many other buildings in Agra, the Red Fort and the Jama Mosque in Delhi, mosques in Lahore, and extensions to the Lahore Fort 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 reign are the "Diwan-e Aam" and "Diwan-e Khaas" (public and special courts of audiences) 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 residence. In 1638, by bribing the governor, he captured 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. When Shah Jahan became ill, civil war erupted among his four sons, with the victor, Aurangzeb, killing his brothers, and declaring himself Emperor after confining his father to the Agra fort.

281 solar years ago, on this day in 1736 AD, the Safavid Dynasty of Iran formally came to its end after a rule of 235 years, with the deposition of the boy-king Abbas III after a 4-year nominal reign, by the general Nader Quli Afshar, who now crowned himself as Nader Shah. A successful military commander who drove out the Afghan occupiers from Iran, Nader had placed Abbas on the throne in 1732 by deposing his father, Tahmasp II. In 1739, both father and son were brutally killed in the prison in Sabzevar on the orders of Nader’s son Reza Qoli Mirza on fears that the Iranian people will revolt in favour of the Safavids while Nader Shah was campaigning in northern India. The Safavids gave Iran religious legality, national identity, cultural affinity, and territorial integrity. The Qajarid dynasty that followed Nader lost large parts of the country to the Russians, the Afghans and the British of the Subcontinent.

242 solar years ago, on this day in 1775 AD, French mathematician and physicist, Andre Marie Ampere, was born. He lectured at the Paris Polytechnic and made important discoveries. He invented the electrical telegraph. He is known as the founder of electrodynamics. To honour his efforts in physics, the unit of electrical current has been named after him, as Ampere. He died in 1836.

229 solar years ago, on this day in 1788 AD, English poet, George Gordon Byron, was born. He was a controversial figure, and his works are sentimental and critical. His first collection of poems was “Hours of Idleness”. His other works include “The Prisoner of Chillon”, and “Childe Harold”. He led an unprincipled life, travelling around Europe and indulging in scandalous affairs, before he was killed in 1824, while inciting the Greeks to fight the Ottoman Turkish Empire.

193 lunar years ago, on this day in 1245 AH, the Iranian religious scholar and poet, Allamah Ahmad Naraqi, passed away at the age of 60 in Kashan and his body was taken holy Najaf in Iraq for burial besides his father, the famous Mullah Mahdi Naraqi, in the sacred mausoleum of the Commander of the Faithful, Imam Ali ibn Abi Taleb (AS). He studied under his father in the city of Kashan, before leaving for Iraq for higher studies at the seminary of holy Najaf where he reached the status of Ijtehad. His teachers included Seyyed Mahdi Bahr al-Uloum and Sheikh Ja’far Kashef al-Gheta. Among his students mention could be made of Ayatollah Sheikh Murtaza Ansari Dezfuli, Aqa Mohammad Baqer Hezar Jaribi, and his own brother, Mahdi, known as Aqa Buzurg Naraqi. On his father’s death in Najaf, he returned to Iran and took over administrative affairs of the Kashan Seminary. He was an authority on jurisprudence, hadith, theology, Ilm-ar-Rijal or analytical biography of scholars and narrators, mathematics, astronomy, philosophy, Arabic literature and poetry, as well as Persian literature and poetry. He was fluent in Arabic, Hebrew and Latin and his knowledge about different sciences is evident in his various books. One of his books titled “Sayf al-Ummah wa Burhan al-Millah”, which was written to answer questions raised by British pastor Henry Martin shows his knowledge of Christianity and his mastery in answering deviated thoughts. Among his other works mention could be made oof “Me’raj as-Sa’adah”, and “al-Asrar al-Hajj”.  He lived during the weak rule of Fath Ali Shah Qajar, when the Russians occupied large parts of Iran’s Caucasus and treated the local Muslims in the worst possible way. Mullah Ahmad Naraqi, along with other aware and political conscious ulema helped  influenced the declaration of war by Iran against Russian forces and eventually at the end of Muharram 1242 AH (1826), some of the areas occupied by Russia as per the dubious Gulistan Treaty, were liberated by Iran.

168 solar years ago, on this day in 1849 AD, during the Second Anglo-Sikh War, the Siege of Multan ended after nine months when the last Sikh defenders surrendered to the British. Multan in Punjab had been occupied by the Sikh warlord Ranjit Singh in 1818. Although the population was almost entirely Muslim, it was ruled by a Hindu vassal, named Dewan Mulraj, whose attempts for independence ended this day.

138 solar years ago, on this day in 1879 AD, Zulu troops decisively defeated the technologically superior British army at the Battle of Isandlwana in South Africa. It was the worst defeat for the British, who six months later adopted violent and brutal methods in the second invasion of King Cetshwayo’s independent kingdom that ended the Anglo–Zulu War, and resulted in the annexation of Zululand. 

116 solar years ago, on this day in 1901 AD, with the death of Queen Victoria of Britain at the age of 82, after a long reign of almost 64 years, the Victorian Era came to its end. It was a period of industrial, cultural, political, scientific, and military change within the United Kingdom, and was marked by expansion of the British Empire to its zenith. She was the longest-ruling monarch.

38 solar years ago, on this day in 1979 AD, the Shah’s troops, faced by the people’s firm resolve, withdrew from the holy city of Qom, while in Tehran, the revolutionary masses, under the supervision of the ulema, established a central committee for coordination to prevent chaos. The committee called on the people to continue strikes and demonstrations until the victory of the Islamic Revolution.

10 solar years ago, on this day in 2007 AD, over a hundred Iraqi Shi’a Muslim men, women, and children were martyred in a busy marketplace in central Baghdad, when Saudi-backed Takfiri terrorists blew up through remote control a car rigged with explosives, just seconds after another car bomb tore through the stalls where vendors were hawking DVDs and clothing. Hundreds of others were injured.

AS/ME