Today is Wednesday; 6th of the Iranian month of Bahman 1395 solar hijri; corresponding to 26th of the Islamic month of Rabi as-Sani 1438 lunar hijri; and January 25, 2017, of the Christian Gregorian Calendar.

1267 solar years ago, on this day in 750 AD, the 13th and last self-styled caliph of the usurper Omayyad regime, Marwan II, known as “al-Hemaar” or the Donkey, was decisively defeated by the rising power of the Abbasids on the banks of the Great Zab River in Iraq that led to the overthrow of the dynasty established by Mu’awiyah in 661 on seizing rule of the Islamic realm through a dubious treaty from Imam Mojtaba (AS), the elder grandson of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA). Three years earlier in 747, the Abbasids, who were descendents of the Prophet’s uncle, Abbas, had launched their uprising in Khorasan on the slogan of giving back the caliphate to the Prophet’s progeny, in order to attract Iranians and the followers of the Ahl al-Bayt to their cause. Prior to the decisive Battle of Zab, the hated Omayyads had suffered a series of defeats all the way from Iran to Iraq by the combined forces of the Abbasids, Shi’ite Muslims, and Iranians. At Zab, Marwan assembled a vast army made up of many veterans of earlier Omayyad campaigns against the Byzantine Empire, but the zeal of the opponents demoralized his forces and they fled in the face of determined attack. Marwan escaped the battlefield and fled down the Levant, pursued relentlessly by the Abbasids, who met no serious resistance from the Syrians. He sought refuge in Abusir a small town on the Egyptian Nile delta, where a few months later, he was killed. The Abbasids, however, broke their promise of returning rule of the Islamic state to the Prophet’s progeny and installed Abu’l-Abbas as-Saffah as caliph, thereby starting a new breed of oppressors.

1267 solar years ago, on this day in 750 AD, Ibrahim, son of Walid II the 11^th self-styled caliph of the usurper Omayyad regime, who ruled for a few weeks in 744 following the death of his brother Yazid III, was executed along with the rest of the male members of his family by the Abbasids after their defeat of Marwan al-Hemaar at the Battle of Zab that ended the Omayyad dynasty. Ibrahim was named heir apparent by Yazid III, but soon died, furthering the ambitions of kinsman Marwan bin Mohammad who seized the caliphate and styled himself as Marwan II. Ibrahim went into hiding and later requested Marwan for personal safety that was granted.

973 lunar years ago, on this day in 465 AH, the Iranian Muslim mathematician, physician, and philosopher, Ain az-Zamaan Abu’l-Hassan ibn Ali al-Qattani al-Marvazi, was born in the Khorasani city of Marv (presently in Turkmenistan). Living in a city with a rich Islamic cultural milieu, he grew up to become an expert in many scientific fields. Like other erudite and encyclopedic savants of the Islamic Middle Ages, he wrote books in most areas of knowledge including astronomy, medicine, prosody, engineering, and literature. A student of Lawkari, who in turn was a student of Bahmanyar, the most distinguished disciple of the famous Abu Ali Ibn Sina (Avicenna), Qattan al‐Marvazi belongs to the third generation of scholars who fully benefited from the Avicennian tradition. He passed away in 548 AH at the age of 83 in his hometown. His writings have not survived except for a book on astronomy written in Persian and entitled “Kayhan-Shenakht” (Knowledge of the Cosmos). The book, however, is not confined to cosmology, but covers a wider range of subjects such as the configuration of the Earth, geographical factors, works dealing with the determination of the calendar and issues related to the passage of time. On purely cosmological issues, it discusses celestial movements, eccentrics and epicycles, apogees, planetary sectors, the ecliptic, the fixed stars, lunar and solar eclipses, the meridian, the azimuth, the size of the earth, and astrology.

561 solar years ago, on this day in 1456 AD, the print industry emerged, and the first book was printed with the usage of movable letters, which the German inventor, Johannes Gutenberg, had made. The first printed book was a combination of the Jewish Torah and the Christian Bible. Today, a few pages of this book remain in museums.

390 solar years ago, on this day in 1627 AD, English-Irish physicist and chemist, Robert Boyle, was born. He studied under his father, Richard Boyle, Earl of Cork, who was a famous English physicist, and soon honed his skills in physics. He is best known for Boyle's Law, which describes the inversely proportional relationship between the absolute pressure and volume of a gas, if the temperature is kept constant within a closed system. He died at the age of 64

313 solar years ago, on this day in 1704 AD, ex-English governor of Carolina, James Moore in his invasion of Spanish-controlled Florida, indiscriminately killed hundreds of Spanish men, women, and children, along with the Apalachee Indians, in the Battle of Ayubale. After the battle, Moore and his Anglo-Saxons cold-bloodedly slaughter all the Spaniards and natives who had surrendered and put themselves at his mercy. In his own report of the expedition Moore sadistically claimed to have killed more than 1,100 men, women, and children. He also stated that he captured as slaves more than 4,300 people, mostly women and children.

258 solar years ago, on this day in 1759 AD, the poet, Robert Burns, was born in Ayshire. He is widely regarded as the national poet of Scotland. He is the best known of the poets who have written in the Scots language, although much of his writing is also in English and a light Scots dialect, accessible to an audience beyond Scotland. He also wrote in Standard English and in these his political or civil commentary is often at its bluntest. He is regarded as a pioneer of the Romantic Movement and after his death he became a great source of inspiration to the founders of both liberalism and socialism, and a cultural icon in Scotland. Celebration of his life and work became almost a national charismatic cult during the 19th and 20th centuries, and his influence has long been strong on Scottish literature. In 2009 he was chosen as the greatest Scot by the Scottish public in a vote run by Scottish television channel STV.

165 solar years ago, on this day in1852 AD, Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen, a Baltic-German officer in the Imperial Russian Navy, cartographer and explorer, who ultimately rose to the rank of Admiral, Russian admiral, cartographer, and explorer, died at the age of 73 in St. Petersburg. Born in Saaremaa, Governorate of Livonia, now in Estonia, he participated in the first Russian circumnavigation of the globe and subsequently became a leader of another circumnavigation expedition, along with Mikhail Petrovich Lazarev, which discovered the continent of Antarctica in the South Pole. “Bellinsgauzen”, a crater on the far side of the Moon is named in his honour.

146 solar years ago, on this day in 1871 AD, the German physician and researcher, Gerhard Armauer Hansen, discovered the bacteria of leprosy. This infectious and chronic disease results in incurable wounds and wipes out vital tissues. It is more common in warm regions, although the people of other regions are not immune to it. Despite significant developments in control of leprosy, it still cannot be medically treated and many people suffer from this illness in different countries.

75 lunar years ago, on this day in 1363 AH, the prominent Iranian theologian, Aqa Najafi Qochani, passed away in his hometown Qochan in northeastern Iran. He was a product of the famous Islamic seminary of holy Najaf in Iraq, where he reached the status of Ijtehad. On his return to Iran, he actively participated in the Constitutional Movement. He has widely elaborated on this era in his book: “Siahat-e Sharq”. He wrote many books, including “Siahat-e Gharb”.

11 solar years ago, on this day in 2006 AD, Palestine's Islamic Resistance Movement, Hamas, in its first participation in parliamentary polls in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, won 76 of the 132 seats, and formed the government under Prime Minister Ismail Hanieh. But, the illegal Zionist entity and Western regimes, especially the US, by imposing economic, political, and military pressures, tried in vain to topple the popularly elected government. They then created internal differences by inciting Mahmoud Abbas to declare a rival government in the West Bank. When this also failed, Israel unleashed the 22-day holocaust on Gaza during December-January 1908/09, massacring almost 1,500 Palestinian men, women and children, but failed to dislodge the government. The Zionists have ever since periodically targeted Gaza. The last full scale Israeli invasion was on 8 July 2014 and lasted seven weeks during which, in addition to rocket attacks on civilian centres, ground fighting took place, resulting in the deaths of over 2200 Palestinian men, women and children, in addition to extensive damage to the infrastructure.

10 solar years ago, on this day in 2007 AD, Saudi-backed terrorists triggered a bomb blast in a predominantly Shi’a Muslim neighborhood in central Baghdad through an explosive-rigged car given to an unsuspecting person to drive, resulting in the martyrdom of over a score of men, women, and children, in addition to wounding of over thirty other people.

7 solar years ago, on this day in 2010 AD, Leader of Yemen’s Ansarullah Movement, Abdu-Malek al-Howthi, declared that the war imposed by Saudi Arabia on Zaydi Shi’a Muslims, was over and that he will pull his fighters out of the parts of Saudi Arabia they had had captured. More than 150 Saudi invasion soldiers were killed by the Yemeni defenders in the weeks of fierce fighting in the rugged border region. Currently, fresh Saudi invasion of Yemen is nearing two years and has resulted in the martyrdom of almost 14,000 Yemeni men, women, and children. The Saudi aggressors have also lost over a thousand of their troops in addition to heavy loss in tanks, artillery pieces and other weapons. The Ansarullah have in retaliation liberated several border areas that the Saudis had occupied in 1934.

AS/ME