Today is Monday, 7th of the Iranian month of Farvardin 1396 solar hijri; corresponding to 28th of the Islamic month of Jamadi as-Sani 1438 lunar hijri; and March 27, 2017, of the Christian Gregorian Calendar.

1490 lunar years ago, on this day 52 years before Hijra, as was the custom among the noble Arab families, the infant Prophet Mohammad (blessings of God upon him and his progeny), was entrusted to the care of a wet-nurse named Halimah as-Sa’diya, selected by his grandfather and guardian, Abdul Muttalib, who felt it necessary to employ an honourable, chaste and trustworthy lady to look after the child of his deceased son, Abdullah. Halimah, who was from the desert-dwelling Hawazen tribe, was in Mecca along with her husband Hareth and infant son, Zomrah. It is said that one of her breasts had dried up, and when the infant Prophet refused to suck the one with which she used to suckle her own son, she reluctantly gave him the dried one, and to her utter amazement it miraculously flowed with milk. With the permission of the family, Halimah used to take the infant Prophet to her dwellings in the desert, and the very day he entered her house, good fortune and blessings entered with him. Her life, which had been filled with poverty and destitution, suddenly changed into a happy and prosperous one. The pasture of the sheep and camels of that region turned fresh and green. The reason the noble urban families allowed their toddler sons to be taken to the desert was because of the pureness of the desert air, coupled with the hardships of the desert, which enabled their physical disposition to grow sounder and equipped them with a natural adaptability towards different conditions. Over two decades later when the Prophet had married Hazrat Khadija (peace upon her), Halimah came to Mecca and was given several sheep and camels. On the Prophet’s public proclamation of his universal mission of Islam, Halimah and her husband Hareth, came to him and became Muslims. The Prophet used to greatly respect her, and whenever, Halimah visited him, he would spread his cloak on the ground so that she would sit on it.

936 lunar years ago, on this day in 502 AH, the renowned Iranian scholar of Arabic literature, Abu Zakariyya Yahya Ibn Ali Ibn Mohammed at-Tabrizi, passed away. He is the author of several commentaries on divans of Arabic poets, like “al Mu'allaqat as-Saba”, “al Mufadhaliyaat” and “al-Hamasa”.

848 lunar years ago, on this day in 590 AH, the famous reciter of the Holy Qur'an, Qasem Ibn Fera ash-Shatebi, known as “Imam al-Qurra” passed away in Cairo, Egypt. He authored a book on the seven different ways of recitation.

355 solar years ago, on this day in 1662 AD, Garhgaon, the capital of Assam, was captured by the Iranian general of the Moghal Empire, Mir Mohammad Sa’eed entitled “Mir Jomla”. Born is Isfahan to a merchant, he set out for the Deccan or southern India on a business trip under a diamond merchant to the Qotb-Shahi Sultanate of Iranian origin of Golkandah-Haiderabad, where he started his own business and rose to become the prime minister of Sultan Abdullah Qotb Shah. He conquered the southernmost part of India for the king, but soon friction with the court made him seek service with the Moghal Empire of the northern subcontinent, where Emperor Shah-Jahan appointed him governor of Bengal. Mir Jomla started his conquest of the remote northeast and brought under control Assam and other regions, before death overtook him.

203 solar years ago, on this day in 1814 AD, US expansionist forces led by General Andrew Jackson routed the lightly-armed Amerindians of the Creek Nation in the Battle of Horseshoe Bend, as part of the white man’s genocide of America’s native population. Andrew Jackson, who later became the 7^th president of the US, forced the Creek Nation to cede 23 million acres (93,000 square km) of land in what are now the states of Alabama and Georgia.

172 solar years ago, on this day in 1845 AD, the acclaimed German physicist, Wilhelm Conrad Rontgen, was born. In 1895 he discovered the X-Ray, and in 1901 was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for his important discovery. X-Ray goes through human tissues and is the best means for taking photographs of limbs, thereby diagnosing damages and fractures to limbs.

171 solar years ago, on this day in 1846 AD, US forces besieged Fort Texas with the start of the fresh round of American aggression on Mexico. The war lasted two years during which the expansionist US annexed Texas and quickly occupied New Mexico and California. It then invaded parts of Northeastern Mexico and Northwest Mexico. When Mexico refused to agree to US expansionist demands, American army captured Mexico City, and the war ended in victory of the US, with Mexico forced to give up vast areas of its northern parts, which are now the southern states of the US.

136 lunar years ago, on this day in 1302 AH, the Iranian theologian and literary figure, Mirza Mohammad Ibn Soleiman Tonekaboni, passed away. He has left behind numerous books, including “Qessas al-Ulema” on the biographies of prominent Islamic scholars. Among his other works “al-Fawa'ed fi Usoul ad-Din” – a versified presentation of principles of religion.

119 solar years ago, on this day in 1898 AD, the Indian educator, politician, and Islamic reformer, Seyyed Ahmad Khan passed away in Delhi. He was born in a family that had migrated from Iran. His father, Mir Mohammad Muttaqi and grandfather, Seyyed Hadi, were attached to the Mughal court. He was trained in Persian, Arabic, Urdu and religious subjects, as well as mathematics and astronomy, and was well versed in the Mathnavi of the great Persian mystic, Mowlana Jalal od-Din Roumi. After the 1857 rebellion against British rule that abolished the Mughal dynasty, he wrote the book "Asbab-e Baghawat-e Hind" (Causes of the Indian Revolt) in which he rejected the notion that the conspiracy was planned by Muslim elites feeling insecure at the diminishing influence of Muslim rulers. He held the British responsible for their aggressive colonial expansion and ignorance of India's rich culture. He then launched the campaign for modern education of the Muslims of India by founding the Mohammedan Anglo-Oriental College, which later developed into the famous Aligarh Muslim University. His efforts gave rise to a new generation of Muslim entrepreneurs and politicians. He also founded the All-India Muslim League, which decades later under the leadership of Mohammad Ali Jinnah, resulted in the birth of Pakistan. When the British banned the study of Persian in order to cut the cultural links of Indian Muslims with Iran, Afghanistan and Central Asia, he took up the patronage of Urdu which led to its widespread use amongst Indian Muslims, and years later, following the Partition of India its adoption as the official language of Pakistan. Seyyed Ahmad Khan was knighted by the British as "Sir", and his views on nature were strongly criticized by the famous pan-Islamic Iranian thinker, Seyyed Jamal od-Din Asadabadi. He died at the age of 81.

69 solar years ago, on this day in 1948 AD, France set up the French Union made up of its colonies in Asia, Africa and Latin America as replacement for the French Overseas Empire. This was replaced in 1958 by the French Community on the model of the British Commonwealth, although many former French colonies like Algeria refused to join it. In 1995 the French Community was abolished. The only body linking France with its former colonies today is the Francophone Countries’ Organization that was set up in 1970, and includes 56 member states and mainly pursues cultural activities.

49 solar years ago, on this day in 1968 AD, Russian Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin who became the first recorded human being to travel into outer space, died in an air accident at the age of 34. In 1961 he had performed the first manned orbital flight in Vostok 3KA-2 (Vostok 1).

40 solar years ago, on this day in in 1977 AD, the worst aviation accident in history occurred in Tenerife in the Canary Islands killing 583 passengers, when two Boeing 747 airliners collided on a foggy runway. All 248 on board Holland’s KLM flight died, while 335 passengers of the US Pan Am flight lost their life. There were, however, 61 survivors among the Pan Am passengers.

35 solar years ago, on this day in 1982 AD, Renowned Muslim architect, Fazl ur-Rahman Khan, who initiated important structural systems for skyscrapers and is considered the "father of tubular designs for high-rises”, passed away at the age of 53. Born in British India in Dhaka in what is now the capital of Bangladesh, he was a pioneer in computer-aided design (CAD). He designed the 108-storey Willis Tower (formerly Sears Tower of Chicago), the second-tallest building in the United States and tallest in the world for many years. He also designed Chicago’s 100-story John Hancock Center. He had come to the US in the 1950s on scholarship from what was then the government of East Pakistan (currently Bangladesh) and became an American citizen in 1967. Khan helped usher in a renaissance in skyscraper construction during the second half of the 20^th century. The Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat named their lifetime achievement medal after him. He was also responsible for designing notable buildings in Bangladesh, Australia and Saudi Arabia.

10 solar years ago, on this day in 2007 AD, in the market of the northern Iraqi town of Tal-Afar, Takfiri terrorists, backed by Saudi Arabia, detonated through remote control two nearly simultaneous truck bombs, resulting in the death of 152 men, women, and children, in addition to injury to several hundred other innocent persons.

AS/ME