Today is Monday; 28th of the Iranian month of Farvardin 1396 solar hijri; corresponding to 19th of the Islamic month of Rajab 1438 lunar hijri; and April 17, 2017, of the Christian Gregorian Calendar.

1429 lunar years ago, on this day in 9 AH, the Expedition to Tabouk occurred, when Prophet Mohammad (SAWA) on hearing reports of plans by the Roman Empire to attack Muslims, led a force of 30,000 to Arabia’s frontiers with Syria, but no military engagement took place since the Romans and their Arab Christian allies did not turn up. Tabouk is in present-day northwestern Saudi Arabia. It is the only expedition in which the Prophet did not take along with him his brave cousin and son-in-law, Imam Ali (AS). He appointed him as vicegerent in Medina since the presence of Imam Ali (AS) was more important in the capital of Islam, where hypocrites lingered waiting to strike at the roots of Islam. While leaving Medina, the Prophet expressed the famous statement: “The position of Ali to me is like that of Aaron to Moses”, which is a reference to Prophet Moses’ leaving behind Aaron as his deputy amongst the Israelites, during his seclusion on Mount Sinai. An important event during the Tabouk expedition was the unmasking of the plot of the hypocrites from among the companions of the Prophet, when they plotted to assassinate him in a ravine at night. God Almighty, however, sent a streak of lightning that illuminated the sky and stayed for quite a while instead of a brief flash, in order to expose the hypocrites lying in ambush and to identify them to the Prophet’s loyal companions, such as Hudhayfa al-Yamani.

1273 solar years ago, on this day in 744 AD, Waleed II, the 11^th self-styled caliph of the usurper Omayyad regime, was killed after a reign of a year and two-and-a-half months, because of his immoral habits. On assuming power he had ordered his forces in Khorasan to harass Yahya Ibn Zayd, the grandson of Imam Zain al-Abedin (AS) – the 4^th Infallible Heir of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA). Yahya was martyred in a battle in Jowzajan, which is presently in Afghanistan, and his severed head was sent to Damascus, where it is believed to be buried in the Omayyad Mosque in the spot which is mistakenly known today as the tomb of Prophet Yayha (John the Baptist). He built in his palace a fountain of wine in which he used to take dips. On one occasion he threw the holy Qur’an and riddled it with a volley of arrows. Once, in the state of intoxication and in the act of cohabiting with a drunken concubine, when he heard the call for the Fajr Prayer, he promptly asked the ritually unclean woman to put on his clothes, enter the mosque, and lead the Morning Prayer. In a famous hadith, Prophet Mohammad (SAWA) had foretold about this ungodly Omayyad ruler by name, and called him the Pharaoh of the ummah. Eventually Waleed II was besieged in al-Aghdaf in what is now Jordan and killed by his own forces.

964 lunar years ago, on this day in 474 AH, the Spanish Muslim scholar Abul-Waleed Suleiman ibn Khalaf Maleki passed away in Spain. He was a skilled memorizer and exegete of the Holy Qur'an, as well as a poet. He lectured on theology in Andalusia and thereafter in Mecca and Baghdad. Among his valuable books and treatises, mention can be made of “Tafsir al-Qur’an” and “al-Ishara”.

820 lunar years ago, on this day in 618 AH, Egyptian forces liberated the port city of Damietta after the Crusader invaders of Europe retreated and surrendered the city following their defeat by the Ayyubid sultan, al-Kamel, who thwarted their intended march upon Cairo. The goal of the Fifth Crusade was to seize Egypt and use it as a base for attacking Palestine and Bayt al-Moqaddas.

668 solar years ago, on this day in 1349 AD, with the murder of Fakhr od-Dowla Hassan II, the Bavand dynasty of Mazandaran came to its end, and Kiya Afrasiyab, who had defeated the Bavandid army and crowned himself the first ruler of the new Afrasiyabi dynasty – which ended 155 years later in 1504 with the annexation of Mazandaran by Ismail I, the founder of the Safavid Empire.

620 solar years ago, on this day in 1397 AD, Geoffrey Chaucer of England recited for the first time his magnum opus “The Canterbury Tales” at the court of King Richard II, in the colloquial language of the ordinary English masses, rather than the church language Latin or the court language French, thus paving the way for emergence of English as the official language of the people of England.

508 lunar years ago, on this day in 930 AH, Shah Ismail I, the founder of the Safavid Dynasty of Iran, passed away at the age of 37 after a reign of 24 years, and was succeeding by his young son, Shah Tahmasp I. To Ismail and the Safavids goes the credit of giving Iran its present political, cultural, religious, and national identity, although in terms of geography many of the areas were lost to the aggressors and colonialists by the subsequent dynasties. Ismail was devoted to the teachings of the Ahl al-Bayt of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA). Born in Ardebil to the head of the Safaviyya Sufi order, Shah Haidar, and his wife Martha, the daughter of the Aq Qoyounlu ruler, Uzun Hassan by his Greek wife Theodora – better known as Despina Khatun – he was the direct descendant of the famous mystic, Safi od-Din Ardabeli, and hence traced lineage to the Prophet’s 7th Infallible Heir, Imam Musa Kazem (AS). At the age of 13, Ismail launched his campaign in Erzinjan (presently in Turkey), and with the help of a 7,000 force of Qizl-Bash (literally ‘Red-Heads’ from the colour of their caps) Turkic tribes of Rumlu, Shamlu, Ustajlu, Qajar, Afshar, Zu’l-Qadr, Tekulu, and Varsak, he defeated the Shirvan-Shah, took control of Baku (presently in the Republic of Azerbaijan) and crowned himself as King of Azarbaijan in Tabriz. By 1509, he unified all of Iran, Iraq, the Caucasus, parts of Central Asia, and western Afghanistan, and took the title of Shah of Persia. An adventurous personality, the dynasty founded by him lasted 235 years, reviving Iran's Islamic glories in science, art, architecture, philosophy, culture, and literature. Hence he wielded spiritual influence outside Iran as well amongst the followers of the Ahl al-Bayt in Iraq, Syria, Anatolia (modern Turkey), the Caucasus, Central Asia and the Deccan Plateau of India. The Timurid prince, Babar, who later founded the Moghal Empire in northern India, regarded Shah Ismail as his suzerain, and so did the Deccan Sultanates of Yusuf Adel Shah of Bijapur and Sultan Qoli Qotb Shah of Golconda. For this reason, the Ottomans and Uzbeks were his mortal enemies, whose political ambitions, he decisively checked despite the setback he suffered in the Battle of Chaldiran against the former. Shah Ismail I was an accomplished poet in both Persian and his native Azeri Turkish, and wrote under the penname of "Khatai".

227 solar years ago, on this day in 1790 AD, US politician, inventor, diplomat, and printer, Benjamin Franklin, died at the age of 84. One of the Founding Fathers of the United States of America that was set up by the 13 rebellious New England colonies, he was born in Boston to British parents. He became widely known in European scientific circles for his reports of electrical experiments and theories. He invented the lightning rod, and a type of stove – still being manufactured – to give more warmth than open fireplaces. Bifocal eyeglasses were his ideas as well. When the colonies rebelled against the British crown, he became an ardent supporter of independence, served as diplomat both at home and in Europe, and was regarded as second only to President George Washington in power and prestige. Franklin emphasized that the US could survive only if the people were virtuous, followed religious rules in both personal and civic life, and abstained from corruption, oppression, violence, and immoralities – all of which are dragging the US today towards its eventual doom.

203 lunar years ago, on this day in 1235 AH, prominent Islamic scholar of the Subcontinent, Ayatollah Seyyed Dildar Ali Naqavi Naseerabadi, known as “Ghufraan-Ma'ab”, passed away in Lucknow at the age of 69. Son of Seyyed Mo’in ibn Seyyed Abdul-Hadi, he came from a family of scholars hailing from Naishapur in Khorasan, Iran, which had settled in the village of Naseerabad, in what is now Uttar Pradesh state of India. He completed preliminary studies in India under various scholars, including Gholam Ali Dakani (of Deccan, southern India where the school of the Ahl al-Bayt was the state religion of the Qotb Shahi dynasty of Golconda-Haiderabad for almost two centuries, and which model was later adopted by the Nawabs of Oudh). He then left for the famous seminary of holy Najaf in Iraq, where his teachers included the jurisprudents Shaikh Ja'far Kashef al-Gheta and Wahid Behbahani. The title "Ghufraan-Ma'ab” was bestowed on him by the ulema of holy Najaf, due to his scholarly activities that included writing of books and promoting of Islamic teachings in society.  Later, he travelled to holy Mashhad in northeastern Iran for further studies. Initially of Akhbari persuasion, Dildar Ali became a Usuli, and on his return to India, was hailed as a Marja’. He revived the Friday Prayers in Lucknow and wrote prolifically in Arabic, Persian, and Urdu. He authored several books including “Imdad al-Islam” on theology, which is a refutation of the allegations of Fakhr od-Din ar-Razi. His detailed work in jurisprudence is “Muntah-il-Afkaar”. His sons were also pious, dedicated scholars and teachers.

137 solar years ago, on this day in 1880 AD, British archeologist of Mesopotamia, Charles Leonard Woolley, was born. His excavations during 1922-to-1934 of the ancient Sumerian city of Ur in modern Iraq and the burial sites, greatly advanced knowledge of the ancient Mesopotamian civilization, enabling scholars to trace the history of the city from its final days during the 4^th century BC back to its prehistoric beginnings (around 4000 BC). His finds revealed much about everyday life, art, architecture, literature, government, and religion in the cradle of civilization. In royal tombs dating from about 2700 BC, he uncovered the practice of the sacrificial burial of a deceased king's personal retinue. He discovered tombs of great material wealth, gold and silver jewelry, large paintings of ancient Mesopotamian culture at its zenith, and other furnishings. The most extravagant tomb of Queen Pu-Abi was untouched by the hands of looters through the millennia, with many well-preserved items, including a cylindrical seal bearing her name in Sumerian. His widely read book titled “Ur of the Chaldees” is a record of seven years of excavation, described his findings in a manner both informative to specialists and accessible by lay-persons.

122 solar years ago, on this day in 1895 AD, Japan forced upon China the Treaty of Shimonoseki, marking the end of the First Sino-Japanese War, and compelling the defeated Qing Empire to renounce its claims on Korea and to concede the southern portion of the Fengtien province, Taiwan and the Pescadores Islands to Japan. Japan’s arrogantly imperialist attitude towards China and Korea led to destructive wars and massive killing of people.

102 solar years ago, on this day in 1915 AD, chemical gases were used for the first time in a war. In this inhuman measure, which took place during World War I, German forces attacked British and French forces with chemical gas, killing a large number of them. Following the end of World War I, the use of chemical weapons was banned as per international treaties, but this did not prevent the US to use chemicals against the Vietnamese in the 1960s and 1970s. The US, along with Germany, also supplied internationally-banned chemical weapons to Saddam for use against Iran during the 1980-88 imposed war. In addition to martyring and maiming a large number of Iranian civilians and combatants, while the UN and the West turned a blind eye to his crimes, Saddam also used chemical weapons on the Iraqi Kurdish town of Halabche massacring over 5,000 men, women, and children, and maiming more than 10,000 others, for welcoming the Iranian combatants as liberators from Ba’thist rule.

71 solar years ago, on this day in 1946 AD, the last French troops left Syria following formal recognition of its independence earlier in the year. Bilaad ash-Shaam or Greater Syria, which for four centuries had been occupied by the Ottoman Turks, was seized by the Allied powers of Britain and France in 1917 during World War I. The victors divided Syria between them, with the British creating Jordan and Palestine, and the French creating present-day Syria and Lebanon. Following independence from colonial rule, Syria went through instability for 24 years with frequent coups, counter-coups and overthrow of military and civilian governments that saw the rise and fall of more than a dozen regimes. The situation was stabilized and progress became possible, only with the coming to power in 1970 of President Hafez al-Assad, who during his 30-year rule made Syria a strong bulwark of resistance against the designs of the West and the illegal Zionist entity. He was succeeded in 2000 by his son, Dr. Bashshar al-Assad, who for the past 16 years has ably led the country, although at present he is facing an insurrection and state-sponsored terrorism incited by the US, Britain, France, Israel, Turkey and Arab reactionary states, such as Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

56 solar years ago, on this day in 1961 AD, following failure of their diversionary landing near Baracoa, Oriente Province, over 1,500 CIA-trained Cuban anti-revolutionaries, launched the disastrous Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba in a failed attempt to overthrow the government of Fidel Castro. Cuban forces killed 200 rebels and captured 1,197 in less than 72 hours. The command vessel Marsopa and supply ship Houston were sunk and an entire battalion was lost. A single copy of a CIA report written by inspector general Lyman Kirkpatrick was made public in 1998. The operation, which had been devised during the Eisenhower Administration, was nonetheless endorsed by the new president, John F. Kennedy.

55 lunar years ago, on this day in 1383 AH, Ayatollah Sheikh Mohammad Khalesi, known as “Khalesizadeh”, passed away in Baghdad. Parallel to his cultural and religious activities, he struggled against the infiltration and interference of colonialists in Islamic countries and was one of the religious leaders who inspired the people of Iraq in the uprising of the 1920s, which the British brutally crushed, and imposed upon the Iraqi people an unwanted king from the Hijaz, Faisal the son of the British agent, Sharif Hussain of Mecca. Khalesizadeh, along with Ayatollah Sheikh Kashef al-Gheta, was exiled to Iran, while the British martyred through poisoning, Ayatollah Mirza Mohammad Taqi Shirazi. Among the books written by him are: “The Injustices of Britain in Mesopotamia” and “God in the Nature”. 

42 solar years ago, on this day in 1975 AD, the US-backed Lon Nol regime of Cambodia surrendered to the Khmer Rouge (Red Cambodia). Pol Pot, leader of the Khmer Rouge, occupied the capital Phnom Penh ending Cambodia's five-year war. He renamed the country “Democratic Kampuchea”, thus beginning his brutal rule that resulted in the death of some three million people or approximately 25 percent of the Cambodian population, through executions, forced labour, malnutrition and poor medical care.

13 solar years ago, on this day in 2004 AD, Palestinian activist and Leader of the Islamic Resistance Movement, Hamas, Dr. Abdul-Aziz Rantisi, was martyred when the car carrying him was targeted with missiles by Zionist choppers. Born in Palestine in 1947, he graduated in medicine from Egypt’s Alexandria University in 1967, and joined the struggle against the usurper state of Israel. He was imprisoned, tortured and exiled to “no man’s land” on the frontier of Occupied Palestine with southern Lebanon, where the contact of Rantisi and his group with members of the legendry anti-terrorist movement, the Hezbollah, positively changed their outlook, and infused new spirit into Hamas.

AS/MG