Today is Wednesday; 16th of the Iranian month of Farvardin 1396 solar hijri; corresponding to 7th of the Islamic month of Rajab 1438 lunar hijri; and April 5, 2017, of the Christian Gregorian Calendar.

1133 lunar years ago, on this day in 305 AH, the Muslim scholar and literary figure, Ibn Tarara, was born in Iraq. Among his works mention could be made of the voluminous book titled “al-Jalees as-Saleh al-Kafi wa'l-Anees an-Naseh ash-Shafi”. He passed away in 390 AH.

1115 solar years ago, on this day in 902 AD, Ahmad al-Mu’tadid, the 16^th self-styled caliph of the usurper Abbasid regime, died in Baghdad at the age of 47 after a reign of 10 years. He had seized the caliphate on the death of his uncle al-Mu’tamid during whose last days he had imprisoned and killed his cousin, the heir apparent, Ja’far al-Muwaffadh. Born to Dirar, a Greek concubine of the caliph al-Mutawakkel’s son Talha al-Muwaffaq – the regent and virtual ruler of the state during the reign of al-Mu’tamid – he tried to prevent through deceit and bloodshed the further fragmentation of the fast shrinking Abbasid realm, but failed. He moved the capital back to Baghdad from Samarra and ruled with the help of the powerful Turkic guards – the caliph-makers. He built a series of secret prisons to detain thousands of people on suspicion. He is believed to have been poisoned to death, and during his last moments kicked to death one of the physicians attending him.

536 solar years ago, on this day in 1481 AD, Mahmoud Gawan, the able Grand Vizier of the Bahmani kingdom of Iranian origin of the Deccan in south India, was unjustly executed at the age of 71 by Mohammad Shah II, after being falsely accused of treason by his rivals at the court. Born in the Caspian Sea Province of Gilan in northern Iran, Mahmoud Gawan was a man of letters and a successful merchant plying the lucrative route from the Persian Gulf port of Gombroun (presently Bandar Abbas) to the Konkan coast of India with cargos of silken fabrics, pearls, Arabian horses, etc, for the Bahmani capital of Bidar – where Persian culture was prevalent and where earlier the elders of the Ne’matollahi Sufi order of Kerman (adhering to the path of the Prophet’s Ahl al-Bayt) were settled.    On one such visit at the age of 42, he was given the title of “Malik-ut-Tujjar” (King of Traders) by Feroze Shah and offered a post at the court. He stayed in the Bahmani kingdom, and in the reigns of the subsequent kings, steadily rose in the administrative hierarchy because of his efficient management. He earned the titles “Wakeel us-Saltanah” and “Khwaja-e Jahan” or Prime Minister – a post that he held for almost two decades, during which he carried out many reforms, strengthened the military, increased the revenues through proper utilization of the agricultural lands, and eradicated corruption. As a great patron of arts and literature, he was in correspondence with the political elite and literati of the other parts of the Persianate World, ranging from Central Asia to the Ottoman Sultanate and the Subcontinent. He authored several books such as “Riyaz al-Insha” and built a magnificent college in Bidar, where scholars from Iran, Iraq, and Arabia used to teach. This aroused the jealousy of his rivals, who by bribing his servants obtained his seal, affixed it on a blank paper and forged a letter inviting the Rajah of Orissa to attack the Bahmani Kingdom. The letter was shown to the king who was in a drunken state and he promptly summoned Gawan and executed him. The end of this scholar statesman brought about the decline of the kingdom, which in the next two decades splintered into five independent sultanates.

506 lunar years ago, on this day in 932 AH, the Timurid ruler of Kabul, Zaheer od-Din Babar, defeated Sultan Ibrahim Lodhi of Hindustan or Northern Subcontinent, at the Battle of Panipat. He then took control of Delhi and Agra, thereby laying foundations of the Mughal Empire that would reach its zenith during the rule of the 6^th and last "Great Mughal" Aurangzeb, encompassing what are now India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and eastern Afghanistan. After two centuries of glory, the Mughal Empire shrank to Delhi and its suburbs, ending in 1857 AD with the British capture of the last ruler, Bahadur Shah Zafar and his exile to Burma. Babur was born in Andijan in the Ferghana Valley in what is now Uzbekistan. He was the son of the local ruler Omar Shaikh Mirza, who in turn was a great-grandson of the fearsome Turkic conqueror Amir Timur. From his mother's side he was a descendant of the Mongol marauder, Genghis Khan. A Persianized Turk, Babar, as a protégé of Shah Ismail I, the Founder of the Safavid Dynasty of Iran, had earlier succeeded in gaining brief control of Timur's capital Samarqand, before being driven out by the Uzbeks. Babur's army, which conquered Delhi also included Qizilbash Iranian fighters, who as one of the most influential groups in the Mughal court, would promote Persian language and culture in the subcontinent, as well as the teachings of the Prophet's Ahl al-Bayt, which until then were brutally suppressed in Northern India.

452 lunar years ago, on this day in 986 AH, the Battle of Jıldır was fought in northeast Anatolia as the initial armed encounter of the 12-year war between the Ottomans and the Safavids for control of the Caucasus, thus ending the 23-year Peace of Amasya, two years after the death of Shah Tahmasb I of Iran and four years after the death of the Turkish sultan, Sulaiman – the two signatories to the peace treaty. These inter-Muslim hostilities were started by Murad III, who resenting the growing inclination of the Turkish tribes of Anatolia towards the school of the Prophet's Ahl al-Bayt, made a pact with France, stopped the Ottoman push into Europe, and massacred thousands of Shi'ite Muslims in his dominions. Although the Ottomans defeated the Persian army, seized Tiflis, the capital of Georgia from Iran, and went on to occupy Daghestan's capital Derbend on the Caspian Sea, their victories were temporary, as these areas were later liberated by Shah Abbas I.

432 solar years ago, on this day in 1585 AD, a massacre took place in the city of Harlem in Holland on the orders of Spain’s King Philip II, to crush the Dutch freedom-seekers. It was the worst of several periodic massacres launched by Spain to keep Holland under its control. The Harlem massacre saw the death of some 6,000 Dutch independence-seekers. Finally in 1609, Holland gained independence from the yoke of Spain.

429 solar years ago, on this day in 1588 AD, the English Philosopher, Thomas Hobbes, was born. He believed that human beings by nature are selfish and power-hungry with the tendency to dominate. He thus advocated establishment of a powerful government to provide peace and security for the vulnerable people. His most important book is “Leviathan”. He died in 1679.

368 solar years ago, on this day in 1649 AD, Elihu Yale, the Welsh philanthropist for whom Yale University in what is now the United States of America is named, was born in Boston, Colony of Massachusetts. He came to England and joined the East India Company which appointed him governor of Fort St. George, Madras, which the English had leased from the Persianate Qutb-Shahi Dynasty of Golkandah-Haiderabad. The Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb soon conquered the whole of Deccan and demanded allegiance of the English, which Yale complied willingly, and promised to supply troops in the event of war. Yale, who had learned Persian and provided passage to Iran (at a high cost) for Ibrahim Beg the Safavid Ambassador to the Deccan court, amassed a fortune, largely through secret contracts with Madras merchants, against the East India Company’s directive. By 1692, his repeated flouting of regulations and growing embarrassment at his illegal profiteering resulted in his being relieved of the post of governor, under pressure of the Mughal government, because of Yale’s levying of heavy taxes on the local inhabitants and indulgence in slave trade. On his instructions, the English would kidnap young children and sell them to distant parts of the world. In 1699, having accumulated considerable wealth through every foul mean, he returned to England and settled in Wrexham. In 1718, when on request for help from the Collegiate School in New Haven in the Colony of Connecticut, Yale sent 417 books and a substantial sum of money, the officials in gratitude, named the new building Yale. Soon the entire institution became Yale College, and eventually Yale University, which has the third largest library in the US, and contains rare Persian and Arabic manuscripts as well.

295 solar years ago, on this day in 1722 AD, on Easter Sunday Dutch explorer Jacob Roggeveen discovered a Polynesian Island 1400 miles from the coast of South America and named it Easter Island. He noted that the island was treeless and wondered how its massive statues were erected. Much of the population was later wiped out and the island became a possession of Chile. An indigenous script called ‘rongorongo’ survived but by 2002 was still not deciphered. In 2005 Steven Roger Fischer authored “Island at the End of the World: The Turbulent History of Easter Island.”

223 solar years ago, on this day in 1794 AD, Georges Danton, one of the leaders of the French Revolution, was hanged at the age of 65. An eloquent speaker, he believed that the monarchic system should be ousted to prevent oppression and chaos in society. He was the victim of a plot by his revolutionary rival, Maximilian Robespierre, who now unleashed the four-month Reign of Terror on France.

188 lunar years ago, on this day in 1250 AH, Mohammad Shah succeeded his grandfather, Fath Ali Shah, to the Peacock Throne of Iran as the third Qajarid King. Son of Crown Prince Abbas Mirza, who predeceased Fath Ali Shah by less than a year, he immediately sidelined his prudent premier, Mirza Abu’l-Qasem Qa’em Maqaam Farahani, and replaced him with Mirza Aqasi, who was a pawn of the British and the Russians. During Mohammad Shah's reign, the parts of northwestern Iran in the Caucasus were occupied by Russia. Moreover, the rivalry of Russia and Britain for control of Iran increased. Hoping for assistance from Russia, Mohammad Shah deployed forces to control unrest in Herat, which was part of Iran’s soil and capital of Khorasan. However, due to Moscow’s breach of promise, coupled with London’s covert conspiracies, Herat was separated from Iran and annexed to British-controlled Afghanistan. Finally, this unwise Qajarid ruler died in 1264 AH, and was succeeded by his underage son, Nasser od-Din Shah.

165 lunar years ago, on this day in 1273 AH, the Treaty of Paris ended the Anglo-Persian War, which the British had imposed on Iran by attacking and occupying Bushehr on the Persian Gulf as well as Khorramshahr, in order to pressure Nasser od-Din Shah Qajar to surrender the city of Herat and its surroundings in Khorasan to their Afghan ally. Herat, the then capital of Khorasan, had been part of Iran from time immemorial till the war broke in 1272 AH when its rebellious governor declared independence and placed the area under British protection. As per the Treaty of Paris, the weakened government of Iran withdrew from Herat and was forced to drop all claims to this historical Iranian city and most of eastern Khorasan, which is now part of Afghanistan today. The British had launched their sea attacks on Iran from their naval bases in Mumbai by deploying battalions of sepoys (corruption for the Persian word "sipahi" for Indian soldiers), who earlier in the year had been used to overthrow Wajed Ali Shah of the Naishapuri Dynasty of Iranian origin of Awadh in northern India.

74 solar years ago, on this day in 1943 AD, during World War II, US bomber aircraft massacred more than 900 Belgian civilians, including 209 children, in addition to wounding 1300 others, in the town of Mortsel. This and other war crimes of the Allied forces in Germany and other parts of Europe, as well as in Japan, have been hushed up by the western media and politicians.

61 solar years ago, on this day in 1956 AD, the ruthless 2-day raid on the city of Gaza by troops of the illegal Zionist entity ended, resulting in the martyrdom of at least 56 Palestinian women, children, and elderly people. The usurper state of Israel was emboldened to commit such heinous crimes by the ominous silence of the West and international circles.

42 solar years ago, on this day in 1975 AD, Chiang Kai-shek, Chinese general, politician, president of the Republic of China (1928-1948), and then president of the breakaway island state of Formosa (Taiwan), died at the age of 88. His dream to retake mainland China which he lost to the communists led by Mao Zedong during the civil war of 1949 never materialized, despite his backing of nationalist, ethnic and religious forces including the Muslims of Xinjiang and Yunan.

35 solar years ago, on this day in 1981 AD, The Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force, in a heroic operation, attacked the H-3 Airbase and destroyed over 50 Iraqi aircraft during the 8-year war imposed by Saddam on the orders of the US.

4 solar years ago, on this day in 2013 AD, noted Kashmiri historian, Dr. Mohammad Ishaq Khan, died in Srinagar, Indian-controlled Kashmir, at the age of 69. His most widely read book is “Kashmir’s Transition to Islam: The Role of Muslim Rishis”, which has been described as an authoritative and seminal work on the social dimension of Islam in Kashmir. His last work, published posthumously is “Merited Invocation”, which is an English translation along with notes and annotations of the Persian book “Awraad-e Fathiyya” of the famous Iranian missionary, Mir Seyyed Ali Hamedani, to whom goes the credit of spreading Islam in Kashmir. Ishaq Khan wrote several researched articles published in international magazines such as: “Reflections on Time and History vis-à-vis the Qur’an”, “Islam in Kashmir: Some distinctive features”, “Persian Influences in Kashmir in the Sultanate Period”, “The Rishi Movement as a Social Force in The Making of Indo-Persian Culture”, and “The Evolution of Shari’ah consciousness in Kashmir: An Interpretation of Mir Seyyed Ali Hamedani’s Historical Role”.

AS/ME