Today is Saturday; 12th of the Iranian month of Farvardin 1396 solar hijri; corresponding to 3rd of the Islamic month of Rajab 1438 lunar hijri; and April 1, 2017, of the Christian Gregorian Calendar.

1490 solar years ago, on this day in 527 AD, the ailing Byzantine Emperor , Justin I, named his nephew (sister’s son), Justinian I, as co-ruler and successor to the throne. On the death of Justin in August the same year, Justinian became the sole ruler and embarked on a policy of expansionism as he strove to become the emperor of the Western Roman Empire as well, when his generals conquered North Africa, Sicily, southern Spain and most of Italy including Rome from the Ostrogoths. On his eastern borders, however, he had to conclude an ‘Eternal Peace’ in 532 with the new Iranian emperor, Khosrow I Anushirvan by paying 11,000 pounds of gold, a year after the defeat of Roman forces near Callinicum in what is now Turkey by Emperor Qobad. In 540 the ‘Eternal Peace’ was broken because of Justinian’s intrigues in Armenia which made Khosrow Anushirvan capture Beroea and then Antioch in Syria, resulting in the 22-year war that ended in 562 with conclusion of the “Fifty-Year Peace” and payment of 5,000 pounds of gold, plus 500 pounds of gold more each year to the Iranians by the Romans. Khosrow Anoushirvan’s prudent policy thus thwarted Roman designs in Syria, Anatolia, Armenia and Upper Mesopotamia, as he made sure that Rome would never be a threat to Iran by keeping close contacts with the Goths, the Huns, and the Arabs. Justinian during his long reign embellished his capital Constantinople with buildings, including a new Christian basilica – the Hagia Sophia, which is Greek for “Holy Wisdom” – as seat of the Greek Orthodox Church. He also codified the Roman law which serves as the basis of modern law in most European states.

1184 lunar years ago, on this day in 254 AH, Imam Ali an-Naqi al-Hadi (AS), the 10^th Infallible Heir of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA), was martyred in Samarra at the age of 42, as a result of a fatal dose of poisoning administered by Mo’taz, the 13^th self-styled caliph of the usurper Abbasid regime. His period of Imamate was 34 years during which he groomed a large number of scholars in various branches of knowledge, and institutionalized the system “Wikala” (representation), which would efficiently serve the followers of the Prophet’s Ahl al-Bayt during the “Ghaybat as-Sughra” or Minor Occultation of his grandson, the 12^th Imam, who will reappear in the end times as “Qa’em al-Mahdi” to establish the global government of peace, prosperity and justice by weeding out oppression.

1050 lunar years ago, on this day in 388 AH, the Islamic-Iranian mathematician and astronomer, Abu'l-Wafa Mohammad ibn Mohammad ibn Yahya al-Bouzjani, passed away in Baghdad at the age of 60. Born in the northeastern Iranian town of Bouzhgan (present day Torbat-e Jam) in Khorasan, at the age of 19 he moved to Baghdad and remained there for forty years. He made important innovations in spherical trigonometry, and his work on arithmetic for businessmen contains the first instance of using negative numbers in an Islamic text. He was the first to build a wall quadrant to observe the sky. Bouzjani participated in an experiment to determine the difference in local time between his location in Baghdad and that of his famous contemporary, Abu Rayhan al-Berouni in Kath, Khwarezm, which is now part of the Central Asian Republic of Uzbekistan. The result was very close to present-day calculations, showing a difference of approximately 1 hour between the two longitudes. The 3^rd Lunar Inequality (the variation) was first discovered by Bouzjani, a fact admitted by European scientist, Tycho Brahe, who often quotes this Iranian Islamic scientist's work. His "Kitab al-Majisti" (Almajest) covers numerous topics in the fields of plane and spherical trigonometry, planetary theory, and solutions to determine the direction of Qibla – the focal point of the daily ritual prayers for Muslims worldwide. The crater “Abu'l-Wafa” on the Moon is named after him. Bouzjani wrote several books that have not survived, including “Tarikh-e Ilm al-Hesab” (The History of Calculus).

969 lunar years ago, on this day in 469 AH, the Arabic grammarian of Fatemid Egypt, Abu’l-Hassan Taher Ibn Ahmad Ibn Babshad, passed away. He was of Iranian origin and was born in Basra, Iraq, in a family of pearl-dealers who migrated to Cairo. In his youth he came to Baghdad to learn sciences, and eventually returned to Egypt. He wrote several books, and was a rich businessman but later in life, donated to charity all his possessions, and became a hermit.

735 solar years ago, on this day in 1282 AD, Abaqa Khan, the son and successor of Hulagu Khan, the founder of the Ilkhanid Dynasty of Iran-Iraq, died at Hamedan in a state of delirium tremens induced by a bout of heavy drinking, to which, like the majority of Mongol rulers, he was prone. The Iranian vizier, Shams od-Din Juwaini was accused of poisoning him. The historian Rasheed od-Din Fazlollah in his famous “Jawame’ at-Tarikh” says Abaqa had gone out to answer a call of nature and was disturbed by an apparition in the form of a large black bird. He called out to his attendants to shoot arrows at it, but they saw nothing, whereupon he suddenly collapsed and died. He was buried, like his father, on Shahi Island in Lake Oroumiyeh. Both his two sons, Arghun and Gaikhatu were later to ascend the throne in turn, but his immediate successor was his brother Tekuder, who had adopted Islam and assumed the name of Ahmad. Much of Abaqa’s 17-year reign was consumed with civil wars in the Mongol Empire, such as those between the Ilkhanate and the northern khanate of the Golden Horde. Abaqa also engaged in unsuccessful attempts at military invasion of Syria, including the Second Battle of Homs, where he was defeated by the Mamluks of Egypt.

543 lunar years ago, on this day in 895 AH, Ahmad Nizam ul-Mulk Bahri defeated Sultan Mahmud Shah II of the Bahmani kingdom of the Deccan in south-central India, to establish the Nizam-Shahi kingdom of Ahmadnagar and took the title of Ahmad Nizam Shah. He was son of Hassan Nizam ul-Mulk Bahri, a Kanarese Brahmin who embraced the truth of Islam and was appointed governor of the northern parts of the Bahmani kingdom of Iranian origin. Two years later Ahmad Nizam Shah died, but the dynasty he founded continued to rule with fluctuating fortunes for over 125 years, until its annexation by the Mughal Empire of the northern Subcontinent. The second king, Burhan Nizam Shah, became a follower of the Ahl al-Bayt of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA), due to the influence of the Iranian migrant religious scholar, Seyyed Shah Taher Hussaini. The Nizam-Shahis, like the other two Shi’ite Muslim sultanates of the Deccan, the Adil-Shahis of Bijapur and the Qutb-Shahis of Golkandah-Haiderabad, maintained cordial relations with Iran’s Safavid Emperors, exchanging ambassadors, hosting Iranians of various walks of life, and patronizing Persian literature, art, and architecture.

439 solar years ago, on this day in 1578 AD, the physician and father of modern physiology, William Harvey, was born in England. He improved upon the writings of Islamic scientists to determine the true nature of the circulation of the blood and of the function of the heart as a pump. He died in the year 1657.

202 solar years ago, on this day in 1815 AD, Prussian statesman and 1^st Chancellor of unified Germany, Otto von Bismarck, was born in Schonhausen, west of Berlin to a wealthy estate owner and named Otto Eduard Leopold.  Educated and trained as a lawyer, he entered politics at the age of 32, and became a skillful politician, dominating German and European affairs from the 1860s until 1898. In 1862, following his appointment by King Wilhelm I as Minister President of Prussia, he engineered a series of wars against Denmark, Austria and archenemy France that unified the German-speaking states (excluding Austria) into a powerful German Empire under Prussian leadership. With that accomplished by 1871 he skillfully used balance of power diplomacy to preserve German hegemony in Europe. He remained undisputed world champion at the game of multilateral diplomatic chess for almost twenty years. His diplomacy of realpolitik and powerful rule at home gained him the nickname of "Iron Chancellor". German unification and its rapid economic growth were indebted to his policies. 1890, Bismarck was dismissed by the German Emperor, Wilhelm II. After his dismissal he started writing his political testament, in which he highly criticized the emperor.

150 solar years ago, on this day 1867 AD, the British forced the Sultan of Johor to cede Singapore and the surrounding 62 islands, which were later permanently separated from Muslim Malaysia and declared an independent country.

93 solar years ago, on this day in 1924 AD, German Nazi leader, Adolf Hitler, was sentenced to five years in jail for his participation in the "Beer Hall Putsch" that his party had planned for seizure of political power. However, he spent only nine months in jail, during which he wrote “Mein Kampf” (My Story), and soon shot to fame, winning the elections and becoming chancellor in 1933.

81 solar years ago, on this day in 1936 AD, Pakistani physicist, chemist, and nuclear engineer, Abdul-Qadeer Khan, was born in Bhopal in undivided India. In 1952, 16-year old Abdul-Qadeer, along with his parents migrated to Pakistan and settled in Karachi, where he earned a degree in metallurgy. In 1961, he went to Germany for higher studies and in 1965 enrolled at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands, where he obtained his MS. In 1967, he joined the Catholic University of Leuven for his doctoral studies, obtaining PhD in metallurgical engineering in 1972. His doctoral thesis dealt and contained fundamental work on martensite, and its extended industrial applications to the field of morphology— a field that studies the shape, size, texture and phase distribution of physical objects. In 1972, he worked at a Dutch plant where he gained knowledge on uranium enrichment technology. On 17 Sep 1974, he offered Pakistan’s prime minister, his help to build an atomic bomb. He returned to Pakistan, was involved in the uranium enrichment project, and participated in the successful weapons-grade nuclear field tests on 28 May 1998, a week after neighbouring India detonated nuclear blasts.

72 solar years ago, on this day in 1945 AD, the US forces’ major aggression on Japan’s Okinawa Island started. This offensive which took place in the waning days of World War II, is considered as the last and largest naval and ground confrontation between the US and Japan. During this 83-day attack, 1300 US warships and almost 10,000 US warplanes were deployed. But, the Japanese strongly defended their soil, destroying 36 US warships and damaging 389 others, mainly through Kamikaze or suicide aerial attacks. The US also lost a total 763 warplanes during these battles. The Japanese paid a heavy price for defending Okinawa Island, losing to death and injury 110,000 of the 120,000 troops deployed on the island. The Japanese also lost 16 ships and 7830 warplanes. Although the US forces ultimately occupied Okinawa Island, the resistance of the Japanese prevented the Americans from invading mainland Japan. Instead, the US officials, in an inhuman act, and in order to force Japan into submission, ordered the nuclear bombardment of the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Currently the US main base in Japan is located in the Okinawa Island and the people of this Island have long demanded the closure of this US base.

71 solar years ago, on this day in 1946 AD, the Malayan Union was formed with its capital at Kuala Lumpur. The sultans of the various British-ruled Malay states agreed to its formation despite the loss of their political power. The Union ceased to exist in January, 1948 and was replaced by the Federation of Malaya, and in 1963 was joined by Sabah and Sarawak.

57 solar years ago, on this day in 1960 AD, the first weather observation satellite, Tiros I, was launched from Cape Kennedy in the US and made the first television picture from space. TIROS stands for Television Infrared Observation Satellite, and the goal was to improve satellite applications for Earth-bound decisions, such as "should we evacuate the coast because of the hurricane?" It became extremely successful for weather forecasting.

39 solar years ago, on this day in 1978 AD, the jurisprudent and exegete of the holy Qur’an, Ayatollah Mirza Abu’l-Fazl Zahedi, passed away in his hometown Qom and was laid to rest in the Shaykhaan Cemetery opposite the holy shrine of Hazrat Fatema al-Ma’soumah (SA). Born in a scholarly family, he was a student of such prominent scholars as Grand Ayatollah Sheikh Abdul-Karim Ha’eri Yazdi, Ayatollah Mirza Abu’l-Qasim Kabir-e Qomi, and Ayatollah Ali Akbar Modarres Yazdi. He was among the scholars who helped Grand Ayatollah Ha’eri Yazdi revive the Qom seminary. When Grand Ayatollah Seyyed Hussain Boroujerdi shifted to Qom, Ayatollah Abu’l-Fazl Zahedi, attended his classes and became one of his close associates. An outstanding preacher with authority on religious texts, his opinion was sought by scholars. He authored several books including “The Logic of Imam Husain (AS)” and “The Objective of Imam Husain (AS)”. Ayatollah Zahedi participated in the Iranian people’s grassroots movement against the British-installed and US-backed Pahlavi regime, and was considered by the Father of the Islamic Revolution, Imam Khomeini (RA) as “Shaikh at-Ta’efa” or “Elder of the Community”.

38 solar years ago, on this day in 1979 AD, the Iranian nation, in less than two months after the victory of Islamic Revolution, held a 2-day referendum and voted for establishment of the Islamic Republic System, with 98.2% yes votes. The 12th of Farvardin is thus marked as the Islamic Republic Day with a public holiday. Although the Iranian Muslims had on several occasions during the course of the Islamic Revolution demanded establishment of the Islamic system of government, the Father of Islamic Revolution, Imam Khomeini (RA) emphasized on holding a nationwide referendum as a mark of respect for the people's aspirations and their participation in the political, economic, cultural and all spheres of the society. In his message, on the manifestation of people's vote for the Islamic System, he said: Congratulations on the day on which, following the martyrdom of courageous youths and after numerous hardships, you defeated the enemy once again, and opted for the just, divine ruling system with your resolute votes. In the holy Islamic system, all people are considered as equals based on the principle of divine justice, under the shade of the blessings of the holy Qur'an and the Sunnah of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA).

27 solar years ago, on this day in 1990 AD, the prominent researcher and religious scholar, Professor Hussain Emadzadeh Isfahani, passed away at the age of 85. Son of Hojjat al-Islam Ahmad Emad al-Va’ezeen, he was born in Isfahan and studied at the city’s seminary, where his teachers included Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Najafabadi, Ayatollah Ali Va’ez Shirazi, Ayatollah Mohammad Kazem Kalbasi, and Ayatollah Seyyed Sadr od-Din Kohpaye. He later acquired permission to relate hadith from the leading authorities of the seminary of holy Najaf, such as Grand Ayatollah Seyyed Abu’l-Hassan Isfahani, Ayatollah Sheikh Aqa Bozorg Tehrani, and Ayatollah Mohammad Muzaffar. He taught at the universities, and as a prolific writer, contributed articles to newspapers and journals. A keen researcher, books authored by him include “Islamic World and Islam in the World”, “Translation and Exegesis of the Holy Qur’an”, “Commentary on Prophet’s Ghadeer Sermon”, “Hazrat Fatema Zahra (SA)”, “History of Ashura” and “Life of the Fourteen Infallibles”.

15 years ago, on this day in 1992 AD, the Serbs started the Bosnian War, as part of their genocide of Europe’s native Muslims. The almost 4-year long war saw the coldblooded massacre of Bosnian Muslims, especially in Srebrenica and Markale, while the western world and the UN turned a blind eye. Over 100,000 Muslims were slaughtered in addition to an estimated 50,000 women raped, and over 2.2 million people displaced, making it the most devastating conflict in Europe since the end of World War II. When the Bosnian defenders, with help from Muslim countries were about to turn the tide of the war against the Serb aggressors, the US intervened to stop the conflict by imposing the Dayton Accord. Till this day, mass graves are being found in various parts of Bosnia.

6 solar years ago, on this day in 2011 AD, Bahrain human rights organization and opposition groups said at least 20 people have been killed in total, since protests began February 14 and hundreds of activists have been either detained or questioned since martial law was imposed by the repressive Aal-e Khalifa minority regime on the overwhelming population of the Persian Gulf island state in mid-March.

AS/SS