Today is Wednesday; 27th of the Iranian month of Bahman 1395 solar hijri; corresponding to 17th of the Islamic month of Jamadi al-Awwal 1438 lunar hijri; and February 15, 2017, of the Christian Gregorian Calendar.

1427 solar years ago, on this day in 590 AD, Khosrow II was crowned the twenty-second Sassanid Emperor of Persia, following his revolt against his father, Hormizd IV, who was deposed, blinded and killed. Grandson of the wise, just and benevolent ruler, Khosrow I (Anushirvan), he styled himself Perviz (Victorious) but lacked the traits of virtue, as was evident by incidents during his 38-year reign that ended in 628 with his torturous death in prison at the hands of his generals, after he had haughtily torn the letter of invitation to Islam from the Almighty's Last and Greatest Messenger, Prophet Mohammad (SAWA), and threatened to attack Hijaz from Iranian-controlled Yemen, following the reversal of his fortunes in the 26-year long Roman-Iranian War. Although in art and literature, Khosrow Pervez has been immortalized for his romance with the beautiful Armenian Christian princess, Shirin, who eventually became his chief wife, he faced fluctuating fortunes as ruler. Within a year of his accession he was ousted by the rebellious general, Bahram Chubin, fled via Syria to Constantinople, and regained the throne of Ctesiphon in 1591 with help from Emperor Maurice of Byzantium (Eastern Roman Empire). In 602, the murder of Maurice and usurpation of power by Phocas, provided him the pretext to attack the Roman Empire, and in the next decade while Islam was publicly proclaimed for the first time in Mecca, Iranian armies led by the Generals, Shahrbaraz and Shahin, overran Syria, Palestine, Egypt and almost the whole of Anatolia (modern Turkey) right up to the walls of Constantinople. The victories of the Zoroastrian Persians over the Christian Romans gladdened the hearts of the Arab infidels and made them mock Muslims and Prophet Mohammad (SAWA), at which God revealed Surah Roum, foretelling the eventual triumph of the monotheists – indeed one of the eternal miracles of the holy Qur'an. In 622, a decade after Heraclius had removed Phocas to become the new Roman Emperor, and coinciding with the Prophet's migration from Mecca to Medina, the fortunes of Khosrow II began to decline with defeat after defeat in Anatolia, Egypt, Palestine, Syria, Georgia, Armenia, and Iraq; resulting in his ouster, death and replacement by son, Qobad II.

1311 solar years ago, on this day in 706 AD, General Leontios, who had usurped the throne of Byzantine (Eastern Roman Empire) in 695 on deposing Emperor Justinian II and exiling him to Crimea after slitting his tongue and nose, only to be overthrown in 698 by Apsimarus Tiberius, was executed along with the latter by the restored Justinian. In 686 Justinian had chosen Leontios to lead the army against the Muslims in Georgia and Armenia. Ruthless even by the standards of the day, Leontios carried the war further into Azarbaijan, and forced the Omayyad caliph, Abdul-Malik Ibn Marwan, to grant heavy concessions. Leontios was less successful when war renewed in 692, and was defeated by the Muslims at the Battle of Sebastopolis in Cilicia (southern Turkey). A furious Justinian imprisoned Leontius, but freed him two years later in 695 and appointed him commander. Instead Leontius organized a revolt, deposed Justinian and seized the throne. During his unpopular 3-year reign, Leontios lost Carthage in North Africa to the Muslims in 697, and his bid to retake it the next year failed. The Germanic naval commander, Tiberius Apsimarus, realizing the futility of facing the Muslims in Carthage, sailed instead to Constantinople, deposed Leontius, and seized the throne as the new emperor. In 705, Justinian II returned from exile to oust Tiberius. Both Tiberius and Leontios, with their tongues and nose slit, were paraded through the streets while the citizenry pelted them with ordure, before being executed in the Hippodrome.

453 solar years ago, on this day in 1564 AD, the Italian scientist, astronomer, and physicist, Galileo Galilei, was born in the city of Pisa where he mastered physics and mathematics. With the usage of lens, invented by the famous Muslim astronomer, Ibn al-Haytham, he developed a telescope for observing stars. With this instrument, and with the aid of the writings of Islamic scientists, he wrote that the surface of moon has plains and altitudes and each galaxy is made of small and large stars. He also recorded as his own, the discoveries of Islamic scientists that the Sun is at the centre of the Solar System and other planets, including the Earth, revolve around it. These discoveries were already made several centuries earlier in the Islamic world by the renowned Iranian astronomer, Abu-Rayhan Birouni, who as a follower of the Ahl al-Bayt of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA), had proved the circular movement of the spherical Earth around the Sun. Following the publication of Galileo’s theory about the movement of the Earth and other planets of the solar system around the Sun, the Roman Church charged him with blasphemy, forcing him to renounce his views or risk execution. He died in 1642.

235 solar years ago, on this day in 1782 AD, a naval battle broke out between France and Britain off the coastlines of India and lasted seven months, as part of the two European colonial powers' rivalry in controlling the Subcontinent and plundering its rich resources. Earlier, France had relinquished its Indian possessions following its defeat in the 13-month long Madras War.

209 solar years ago, on this day in 1808 AD, Russia seized Finland, which since the 12^th century had been occupied by Sweden. Finland gained independence, following the Russian revolution in 1917.

180 lunar years ago, on this day in 1258 AH, Ayatollah Seyyed Mohammad Ali Shah-Abdulazimi, was born in Rayy, near modern Tehran. He went to Iraq to complete his higher religious studies at the famous seminary of holy Najaf, where he mastered Islamic sciences under Ayatollah Sheikh Morteza Ansari Dezfuli, Ayatollah Mirza Mohammad Hassan Shirazi, and Ayatollah Sheikh Mullah Ali Khalili – whose daughter he married. He passed away at the age of 76 in Tuweiraj while returning from Karbala after pilgrimage to the holy shrine of Imam Husain (AS). He was laid to rest in Najaf in the holy mausoleum of Imam Ali (AS). He was a prolific writer, whose several works have not yet been published. Among his printed works mention could be made of “al-Iqaat”, and “al-Jowharah”.  

148 solar years ago, on this day in 1869 AD, the famous Urdu-Persian poet of the Subcontinent, Mirza Asadollah Khan Ghaleb, passed away in Delhi at the age of 73. Born in Agra in a Persianized Turkic family, whose ancestors had migrated to India from Samarqand, he was well versed in the Persian, Arabic, Turkic and Urdu languages, and excelled in composing ghazals (lyrics) in a unique style. His choice of words, philosophical references, delicate metaphors, and witticism, has made his poetry highly popular in India, Pakistan, and wherever Urdu speakers are found. He initiated a new style in letter-writing which greatly influenced the development of Urdu language. Ghaleb was an accomplished poet in Persian, and also composed qasidahs (panegyrics) in praise of noblemen as well as Prophet Mohammad (SAWA), Imam Ali (AS) and the Infallible Ahl al-Bayt. In fact, his Persian Diwan is four times the size of his Urdu Diwan and has been published in Iran.

119 solar years ago, on this day in 1898 AD, as a pretext to start a war with Spain, the USS Maine was deceitfully blown up and sank by US agents in Havana harbour in Cuba, killing more than 260. The resulting 4-year war with Spain saw the US seize Cuba, Guam Island and the Philippines. In our own days, the glaring example of US deceit and state terrorism was the collapse of the Twin Towers of New York's 110-storey high World Trade Center through a series of implosions, while to deceive world public opinion, two remote-controlled unmanned aircraft crashed into it, in order to blame others and provide a pretext for the occupation of Afghanistan.

75 solar years ago, on this day in 1942 AD, during World War II, Singapore fell and British General, Arthur Percival, surrendered to the Japanese. Some 80,000 Indian, British and Australian troops became POWs, the largest surrender of British-led military forces in history.

38 solar years ago, on this day in 1979 AD, Chief of the Pahlavi regime’s dreaded anti-public outfit, SAVAK, Ne’matollah Naseeri, was executed for his crimes against humanity, after being found guilty of the imprisonment, torture and death of thousands of Iranian Muslims during his 13-year tenure. Although the crimes of the Shah’s officials against the Iranian nation were crystal clear, the Father of the Islamic Revolution, Imam Khomeini (RA), ordered the setting up of a revolutionary court to try these corrupt and murderous elements in order to make their guilt clear to the public. A personal friend of the إقهفهساShah, Nassiri had gained notoriety for removing Mosaddegh from power (see Operation Ajax).

28 solar years ago, on this day in 1989 AD, the Soviet forces were forced to withdraw from Afghanistan after almost ten years of occupation, because of the people’s stiff resistance.

6 solar years ago, on this day in 2011 AD, Bahrain’s Fadhel al-Matrook attained martyrdom in the Persian Gulf island of Bahrain. While, participating in the funeral procession of Ali Abdul-Hadi Mushaima, who was martyred the day before, he succumbed to his wounds in hospital after being shot at close range that caused internal bleeding and punctured his lungs. The Bahraini people are campaigning for restoration of their denied birthrights in a peaceful manner since the past three years, but the US-supported Aal-e Khalifa minority regime, has answered them with bullets, artillery fire, razing of mosques, burning of copies of the holy Qur’an, desecration of Hussainiyahs, and torture and killing of the unarmed activists.

AS/MG