Today is Monday; 14th of the Iranian month of Farvardin 1396 solar hijri; corresponding to 5th of the Islamic month of Rajab 1438 lunar hijri; and April 3, 2017, of the Christian Gregorian Calendar.

1346 lunar years ago, on this day in 92 AH, Tareq bin Ziyad, crossed the Mediterranean from the northwestern African coast and landed on the island known ever since in his memory as "Jabal at-Tareq" (Rock or Mount of Tareq, Latinized as Gibraltar). He was governor of Tangiers under Musa bin Nusayr, the conqueror and Emir of the Province of Ifriqiya (present day western Libya, Algeria, Tunisia, and Morocco). The Muslims under Tareq swept through Spain and soon conquered the whole Iberian Peninsula. Later, they crossed the Pyrenees into southern France and conquered it. Tareq was made governor of Islamic Spain but was eventually called back to Damascus by the jealous Omayyad caliph, Walid I, who also relieved Musa bin Nusayr of the overall charge of northwest Africa, Spain and the islands off the coast of France. There are three different accounts of the origins of Tareq given by Arab historians – he was a Persian from Hamedan; he was an Arab of the Sadf tribe; he was a Berber from North Africa. Musa bin Nusayr is also said to be the son of an Iranian Christian, according to the historian Tabari; while others say he belonged to the Lakhmid Arab clan who were clients of the Sassanid Dynasty.

1194 lunar years ago, on this day in 244 AH, the prominent Islamic scientist and lexicographer, Abu Yusuf Yaqub ibn Ishaq, popularly known as “Ibn Sikkit” was brutally martyred by the cruel Abbasid caliph, Mutawakkil, who ordered the pulling out of his tongue through the nape for speaking the truth. Born in Khuzestan, southwestern Iran, he studied in Baghdad under prominent scholars, and his fame led Mutawakkil to invite him to Samarra where he was appointed as tutor to two of the caliph’s sons. Mutawakkil, who is notorious for his sacrilegious destruction of the shrine of the Martyr of Karbala and his forcing of the Prophet's 10^th Infallible Successor, Imam Hadi (AS) to come to Samarra, once asked Ibn Sikkit whether his sons were superior to the Prophet’s two grandsons, Imam Hasan (AS) and Imam Husain (AS). The scholar boldly replied that even Qanbar, the black slave of Imam Ali (AS), was better than the caliph's sons. The enraged caliph ordered his execution. Here is one of his poems worth pondering upon.

"By Allah, if the Omayyads had killed the (grand)son of the Prophet unjustly,

His cousins (the Abbasids) did the same;

Here (in Karbala) is his tomb destroyed!

They felt sorry that they did not participate in killing him,

So they chased him in the grave."

In addition to his poems, Ibn Sikkit has left behind at least twenty books, including “Islah al-Manteq” on lexicography.

850 lunar years ago, on this day in 587 AH, the Iranian mystical philosopher, Shahab od-Din Sohrewardi, was martyred in Aleppo, Syria, by the Kurdish ruler, Malik az-Zaher, the son of Salah od-Din Ayyoubi. Born in Sohreward, near the northwestern city of Zanjan, he went to Iraq and Syria to develop his knowledge. During his short life of less than forty years he wrote valuable works that established him as founder of a new school of philosophy, called "Hikmat al-Ishraq" (Illuminationist Philosophy). He is thus known as "Shaikh-e Ishraq". His views angered his opponents, who had him arrested or charges of heresy and subsequently martyred. Sohrewardi has left behind some 50 works in Persian and Arabic.

692 solar years ago,  on this day in 1325 AD, the second most prominent mystic of India, Seyyed Nizam od-Din Awliya, passed away at the age of 87 in Delhi, where his tomb is a site of pilgrimage. He traced his descent to Imam Ali an-Naqi al-Hadi (AS), the 10^th Infallible Successor of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA), and belonged to the Cheshti Sufi order founded in the Subcontinent by the Iranian saint of Ajmer, Seyyed Moin od-Din Cheshti, who is famous for his tribute in Persian poetry to the Chief of Martyrs, Imam Husain (AS). Nizam od-Din wrote several books including the spiritual treatise “Fawa’ed ol-Fu’aad” in Persian and trained many disciples such as the great Persian poet of the Subcontinent, Amir Khosrow Dehlavi. Nizam od-Din Awliya’s criticism of the eccentric policies of Sultan Mohammad Tughlaq had enraged the king and made him issue threats of punishment after returning to Delhi, at which the mystic smiled and calmly said in Persian "Hanouz Dilli dour ast" (Delhi is still far). The Sultan died on his way.

337 solar years ago, on this day in 1680 AD, Shivaji, the Maratha guerilla chieftain of the Bhosle clan who carved out a kingdom in western India, died at the age of 50. His father was Shahji, a general in the service of the Adel-Shahi and Nizam-Shahi Persianate dynasties of the Deccan, who was named “Shah” by his father Maloji in honour of the Muslim mystic “Shah Sharif” of Ahmadnagar, whose prayers had granted him two sons – the second was named Sharifji. Shivaji was not on good terms with his own father, and unlike him, rebelled against the Adel-Shahi sultanate of Bijapur, whose famous general of eastern Iranian origin, Afzal Khan, he deceitfully slew at Pratapgarh in 1659 during a supposedly unarmed meeting between the two sides for submission to the central authority and end of insurgency. An expert in guerilla warfare, Shivaji was invited to Agra by Moghal Emperor Aurangzeb and according to protocol, restrictions were placed on his movements from the mansion where he was lodged. On learning that Aurangzeb was planning to send him and his guerilla forces to the northwestern frontier for the campaign to retake Qandahar – in what is now Afghanistan – from the Safavid Empire of Iran, Shivaji became fearful and fled south without notice. Back in the Deccan, by 1674 he carved out an independent enclave from the declining sultanate of Bijapur and chose Raigarh as his capital, which was his base for raiding the territories of the Qutb-Shahis, the Adel-Shahis and the powerful Moghal Empire that brought retaliation from Aurangzeb. In the areas under his control, he replaced the Persian language with his mother-tongue Marathi for official use. In the next century, the Marathas expanded their power in the north as far as Delhi, Punjab and the borders of Kashmir, bringing them into direct confrontation with the Afghans. Their pillaging and looting had alienated the Sikhs, the Jats, and even fellow Hindu Rajputs, enabling Ahmad Shah Durrani to inflict a crushing defeat on them at the Battle of Panipat in 1761 from which the Marathas never recovered, and were gradually absorbed by the British.

127 solar years ago, on this day in the year 1890 AD, Chancellor, Otto von Bismarck, was dismissed by the German Emperor, Wilhelm II, following disputes between the two, despite his efforts to unite Germany as a nation state in 1871. After his dismissal he started writing his political testament, in which he highly criticized the German emperor. Bismarck died in 1898.

88 solar years ago, on this day in 1929 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”, was born in Dhaka in what is now the capital of Bangladesh. Khan, who died in 1982 at the age of 53, was also 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) and the 100-story John Hancock Center. He came 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 20th 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.

76 solar years ago, on this day in 1941 AD, during the struggles of the Iraqi people against the British regime and its puppet monarchy, Baghdad was taken over in a coup by two-times nationalist prime minister, Rashid Aali Gilani, who resented London’s plot to involve in the Second World War. The British forces brutally suppressed the uprising. Gilani, who came from a distinguished Sunni Muslim Iraqi family of Iranian origin, sought refuge in Iran. However, on 25 August 1941, the armed forces of Britain and the Soviet Union invaded Iran to remove Reza Khan Pahlavi from power and install on the Peacock Throne his 21-year old son, Mohammad Reza as the new puppet. Gilani, sensing danger, left for Berlin, where he was recognized as the leader of the Iraqi government in exile. Upon the defeat of Germany, he again fled and found refuge, this time in Saudi Arabia. Gilani only returned from exile after the revolution that overthrew the Iraqi monarchy in 1958. Once again he attempted to seize power, and plotted a revolt against Colonel Abdul Karim Qassem's government. The revolt was foiled and he was sentenced to death. Later pardoned, he went into exile in Beirut, Lebanon, where he died in 1965.

59 lunar years ago, on this day in 1379 AH, the prominent religious scholar, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Yathrebi-Kashani passed away at the age of 68 in Kashan and was laid to rest in the mausoleum of Imamzadeh Habib ibn Imam Musa al-Kazem (AS). Born in the holy city of Karbala, at the age of 5 he returned to his ancestral town Kashan, along with his scholarly father, Ayatollah Seyyed Mohammad Reza Yathrebi-Kashani. He was initially taught by his father and other scholars of the Kashan Seminary, before travelling to Iraq for higher religious studies at the famous seminary of holy Najaf, where during his 7-year stay, his teachers included Grand Ayatollah Seyyed Mohammad Kazem Yazdi, Grand Ayatollah Sheikh osh-Shari’ah Isfahani, Grand Ayatollah Mirza Mohammad Hussain Na’ini, and Ayatollah Aqa Ziya od-Din Iraqi. In 1339 AH, he returned to Kashan on request of his father, and two years later, on the invitation of Grand Ayatollah Sheikh Abdul-Karim Ha’eri he became an instructor at the seminary in holy Qom, where his students included Ayatollah Seyyed Shahab od-Din Mar’ashi, Ayatollah Seyyed Mohammad Baqer Mohaqqiq Damad, Ayatollah Mirza Hashem Amoli, and the future Father of the Islamic Revolution, Imam Khomeini (RA). Seven years later, on his father’s death, he returned to Kashan to take up the latter’s responsibilities at the local seminary, which he ably discharged for over three decades. 

51 solar years ago, on this day in 1966 AD, Luna 10, the first spacecraft to orbit the moon entered lunar orbit, and completed its first orbit 3 hours later. It was launched by the Soviet Union from an Earth orbiting platform on 31 March 1966. The scientific instruments on board included a gamma-ray spectrometer, triaxial magnetometer, and a meteorite detector. Other instruments investigated the solar-plasma, infrared emissions from the Moon, radiation conditions of the lunar environment and gravitational studies. It was battery powered, operated for 460 lunar orbits and made 219 active data radio transmissions before it discontinued on 30 May 1966.

17 solar years ago, on this day in 2000 AD, the prominent Iranian researcher and cartographer, Abbas Sehaab, passed away in Tehran at the age of 79. Born in Tafresh to the famous Professor Abu'l-Qasem Sehaab, who established the first- ever Geography and Cartography Institute of Iran, he specialized in geography and cartography, and as assistant to his father, travelled throughout Iran to prepare maps of towns and cities, while making trips abroad as well. He prepared the first- ever map of Tehran and was entrusted by his father with management of the Sehaab Institute of Geography and Cartography, whose library today contains over 16,000 books on geography and cartography; 18,000 geographical periodicals, and 20,000 maps. He authored the book “Art of Calligraphy from Earliest Times till Today”, as part of the UNESCO project for its Atlas of the History of Islamic Arts.

15 solar years ago, on this day in the year 2002, the Zionist army brutally attacked the city of Jenin as part of the campaign to terrorize Palestinians in the West Bank in a bid to end the Second Intefadha. Nearly 200 tanks, dozens of choppers, and 10,000 troops participated in the aggression, pounding Jenin continuously. Despite the power cut, severance of water supplies, and obstruction of relief aid, the Palestinian people and combatants resisted for nine days. Israel brutally suppressed and massacred hundreds of men, women and children; demolished their homes and hearths, hospitals, and the infrastructure; to the extent that 70% of the city was flattened and 5,000 Palestinians were made homeless.

15 solar years ago, on this day in 2002 AD, renowned Iranian mathematician Professor Ahmad Birashk passed away in his hometown Tehran at the age of 96. After graduation he taught architecture at the university for 19 years before serving as Deputy Ministry of Education. He translated, wrote and compiled several books on mathematics, engineering, philosophy and history, including a biographical work on scientists and intellectuals. Known as “Father of Mathematics” in Iran, Professor Ahmad Birashk is known for his encyclopedic work titled “A Comparative Calendar of the Iranian, Muslim Lunar, and Christian Eras for Three-Thousand Years”. This is a manual of the three major calendars in use in Iran: the Islamic lunar hijri calendar, the Iranian solar hijri calendar, and the Western Gregorian calendar. This book includes tables for the conversions of dates among these three calendars from 639 BC to 2621 AD.

AS/MG