Today is Monday; 21st of the Iranian month of Farvardin 1396 solar hijri; corresponding to 12th of the Islamic month of Rajab 1438 lunar hijri; and April10, 2017, of the Christian  Gregorian Calendar.

1406 lunar years ago, on this day in 32 AH, Abbas ibn Abdul-Muttaleb, the paternal uncle of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA), passed away in Medina at almost 90 years of age and was laid to rest in the sacred Baqie Cemetery by his worthy son, Abdullah, the hadith narrator and exegete of the holy Qur’an, who was a disciple of Imam Ali ibn Abi Taleb (AS). Abbas, who had become a rich merchant in the days of ignorance, did not openly profess Islam in Mecca, but it is said that he stood beside his nephew when a group from Medina came to the Prophet for the secret allegiance of Aqaba. He was forced by the pagan Arabs to accompany them to the Battle of Badr in which he was captured by the Muslims and allowed to ransom himself and return to Mecca. Shortly before the peaceful takeover of Mecca by the Prophet, he disassociated from the Meccans and submitted to the Muslims, some twenty year after his wife, “Omm al-Fazl Lubaba bint al-Hareth had accepted Islam, claiming to be second woman to do so. Thereafter he accompanied the Prophet, like other members of the Hashemite clan in various endeavours. Abbas knew that after the passing away of the Prophet, his other nephew, Imam Ali (AS), was the divinely-decreed leader of mankind as was evident by the historic declaration at Ghadeer-Khom. Unfortunately, some of his descendants in blind pursuit of the material world, turned away from the truth, usurped political power by deceiving the Muslims, wrongly called themselves caliphs, and indulged in the persecution of the Prophet’s progeny, to the extent that six of the Imams of the Ahl al-Bayt were martyred through poisoning by the Abbasids.

1232 lunar years ago, on this day in 206 AH, the narrator of hadith and historical events, Abu Hudhayfa, passed away. Among his important compilations, mention could be made of “al-Mubtada” on the creation of mankind and the biography of prophets. He has also narrated from Imam Ja’far Sadeq (AS), the account of Prophet Mohammad’s Me’raj or ascension to the ethereal heavens and back in a fraction of the night.

859 lunar years ago, on this day in 479AH, Spanish Muslims led by Yusuf bin Tashfin defeated Spanish Christians under command of Alphonse VI in the glorious battle of "az-Zalaqa". This decisive battle halted for over two-and-a-half centuries the bid by the Christian powers to drive out Spanish Muslim from the Iberian Peninsula.

681 solar years ago, on this day in 1336 AD, the Ilkhanid ruler of Iran-Iraq, Arpa Mahmoud Khan, was defeated at Maragha by the rebellious governor of Baghdad, Oirat Ali Pasha, and subsequently captured and killed, after a reign of a little more than a year. A direct descendent of Boke, the younger brother of the founder of the Ilkhanid Dynasty, Hulagu Khan (grandson of the fearsome Chengiz Khan) he came to power following the death of Abu Sa’eed Bahadur Khan the last effective Ikhanid ruler. Almost immediately he had to deal with an invasion by Ozbek Khan of the Golden Horde, which he defeated and used it as a pretext for executing Queen Baghdad Khatoun, the widow of Abu Sa’eed, in an effort to cement his power. Those who followed Arpa Mahmoud Khan to the Ilkhanid throne were mere puppets raised by various factions before the dynasty vanished from the scene in 1357 after a century of rule.

229 lunar years ago, on this day in 1209 AH, Lotf Ali Khan, the last ruler of the Zand Dynasty of Iran, died under torture in prison in Tehran at the age of 25, three years after he was captured through deceit and bribing of the governor of Bam by Agha Mohammad Khan the founder of the Qajarid Dynasty. He was buried in the mausoleum of the Prophet’s descendant, Imamzadah Zaid, near the Tehran Grand Bazaar. An extremely handsome and gallant person, he was an accomplished swordsman who fought for two hours and killed several of his opponents until overpowered. Lotf Ali Khan ruled Iran for five years from his capital Shiraz, and had almost won his last battle against his mortal enemy, Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar, who was put to flight. A tactical error and betrayal by his subordinates cost him the throne and his life. The extremely cruel Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar had him blinded and castrated, and also castrated his minor sons. A few months later, Agha Mohammad Khan was assassinated in Qarabagh, Caucasus. Founded by Karim Khan, a general of Nader Shah Afshar, the Zand dynasty lasted for 45 years, and at its peak held sway over almost all of Iran, along with Basra and parts of the Caucasus, except for Greater Khorasan. To legitimize his rule, Karim Khan had placed the Safavid prince, Ismail III, as a figurehead, and never took the title of Shah, contenting himself with the honourary epithet “Wakil ar-Re’aya” (Representative of the People). He based his administration on social justice, and to this day he has the reputation as one of the most able rulers in Iranian history.

211 lunar years ago, on this day in 1227 AH, the prominent jurisprudent, Shaikh Ja’far bin Khizr al-Ḥilli an-Najafi, popular as Kashef al-Gheta, an epithet by which his progeny of scholars became well-known, passed away at the age of 73. A student of the famous scholars, Allamah Seyyed Mohammad Mahdi Bahr al-Uloum, and Waheed Behbahani, he campaigned against Akhbaris, writing books and essays to reject their views. During the Wahhabi attack on holy Najaf, Kashef al-Gheta defended the city, and was the first Shi’a Muslim scholar who wrote against the heretical Wahhabi cult. He wrote several books and groomed many scholars, including the famous jurisprudent, Shaikh Mohammad Hasan Najafi, the author of “Jawaher al-Kalaam”.

204 solar years ago, on this day in 1813 AD, French mathematician, Joseph-Louis Lagrange, died at the age of 77. Among his important scientific books, mention can be made of the book: “Analytical Mechanics”, which took him 25 years to compile.

202 solar years ago, on this day in 1815 AD, Mount Tambora volcano on the Indonesian island of Sumbawa, began a three-month-long massive eruption, lasting until July 15 that ultimately killed over 80,000 people and affected the Earth's climate for the next two years. It was the most powerful explosion in 1,600 years, formed a crater 5-mile across on Sumbawa, lowered the island by 4,000 feet, and immediately killed 10,000 people. The series of eruptions between April the 5th and 15th had worldwide effects more far-reaching than the famous 1883 eruption of Krakatoa – also in Indonesia. The record amounts of ash Tambora spewed into the atmosphere encircled the globe, screened the sun's light and caused a global drop in temperature. Thus 1816 was a “Year without a summer,” with severe climate abnormalities across the globe. Frosts killed crops and late heavy snowstorms occurred. Elsewhere, there were severe storms, excessive rainfall and floods, as well as widespread famine and disease that led to more deaths.

149 solar years ago, on this day in 1868 AD, at Arogee in Abyssinia, British and Indian forces defeated an army of Emperor Tewodros II. While 700 Ethiopians were killed and many more injured, only two British/Indian troops died. It was part of the British colonial designs to subjugate other lands with the help of their well-trained Indian sepoys (corruption of the Persian word “sepahi” for soldiers).

128 lunar years ago, on this day in 1110 AH, Omani sailors who dominated Zanzibar and the eastern coast of Africa defeated the Portuguese in the sea Battle of Mombasa, off the coast of what is now Kenya.

98 solar years ago, on this day in 1919 AD, the Mexican revolutionary, Emiliano Zapata, was murdered in the wake of a conspiracy. The indigenous Mexicans considered him to be their saviour. He was betrayed by Mexican President Francisco Madero, who after initially posing as a reformist sabotaged the land reforms. This forced Zapata to take up arms towards the end of the year 1910 with the motto of “land and freedom” and he retook from people of European origin the lands of the Amerindians that they and their ancestors had seized. His native language was Nahuatl of the Aztecs.

71 solar years ago, on this day in 1946 AD, the last French troops left Lebanon. In the wake of World War I and disintegration of the Ottoman Empire in 1918, Britain and France occupied the extensive land of Shaam or Greater Syria, and carved it up into Palestine and Jordan under British control, and modern Syria and Lebanon under French control. The French plan was to create a Christian state in Lebanon for the local Maronite sect in order to weaken the Muslim majority, similar to the plot of the British to illegally settle the Zionists of Europe in Palestine for creating Israel. In 1943, the French government in exile, while France was under German occupation, imposed a communally divisive constitution on Lebanon, according to which the President should be a Maronite Christian, the Prime Minister a Sunni Muslim and the Speaker of the parliament a Shi’a Muslim, although the Shi’a were the largest single group in the land. In 1945, following end of World War 2 Lebanon was granted independence and the following year the French forces withdrew. The Shi’a Muslims, although the largest single group in Lebanon, were long oppressed since the time of the Ayyubid and Ottoman rulers, until the arrival of the charismatic Iranian religious scholar, Imam Seyyed Musa Sadr in the late 1950s. He uplifted their social status and prepared the ground for making them a powerful force in Lebanon. Today, the legendary anti-terrorist movement, Hezbollah, not only defends the birthrights of the Lebanese Shi’as but the rights of all people of Lebanon against the plots of the Zionist entity, the US, West European regimes, Arab reactionary states, and their local agents, trying to subvert the country.

44 solar years ago, on this day in 1973 AD, operatives of the illegal Zionist entity’s spy agency, Mossad, assassinated three Palestinian officials in the Lebanese Capital, Beirut, namely Kamal Naser, Kamal Adwan, and Mohammad Yousef Najjar. In 1983, on the 10^th anniversary of the martyrdom of these officials, Mossad agents martyred in Portugal Attam Sartawi, the political advisor of the Palestine Liberation Organization leader, Yaser Arafat. These crimes against humanity by the usurper state of Israel are proof of its terrorist nature and violation of territorial integrity and national sovereignty of other countries.

18 solar years ago, on this day in 1999 AD, Lieutenant General Ali Sayyad Shirazi, the acting commander of Islamic Republic of Iran’s Armed Forces General Headquarters and a veteran of the 8-year holy defence during the war the US had imposed through Saddam, was martyred at the age of 55 in Tehran when he opened the gate of his house by MKO terrorists dressed as cleaners. Born in a village in northeastern Iran, following completion of high school he joined the military academy. He was an opponent of the Shah’s despotic regime and suffered imprisonment as a result. He was freed from prison with the victory of the Islamic Revolution in February 1979, and on rehabilitation in the armed forces, selflessly served the Islamic Republic by actively participating in the battles against the Ba’thist invaders on the warfronts. In 1981, the Father of the Islamic Revolution, Imam Khomeini (RA) appointed him commander of the Army’s Ground Forces. Martyr Sayyad Shirazi played a pivotal role during the 8-year imposed war and continued his yeoman services in its aftermath till he achieved martyrdom.

AS/MG