Today is Wednesday; 30th of the Iranian month of Farvardin 1396 solar hijri; corresponding to 21st of the Islamic month of Rajab 1438 lunar hijri; and April 19, 2017, of the Christian Gregorian Calendar.

1486 solar years ago, on this day in 531 AD at the Battle of Callinicum near what later came to be known as ar-Raqqah in Syria, an Iranian army of 15,000 cavalry and 5000 Lakhmid Arabs led by the Sassanid general, Azarethes, defeated the forces of Byzantine or the Eastern Roman Empire, made up of 25,000 Greeks and Slavs and 3000 Ghassanid Arabs under the command of Belisarius. Initially, the Romans only wanted to ward off the Persians, without a risky battle, which eventually occurred and led to the defeat of the Byzantines when after a seesaw struggle for two-thirds of the day, a squadron of elite Iranian cavalry broke through the Byzantine right flank, driving Greeks and Ghassanid Arabs in different directions. Zacharias of Mytilene writing of the battle said: "[The Romans] turned and fled before the Persian attack. Many fell into the River Euphrates and were drowned, and others were killed."

1190 lunar years ago, on this day in 248 AH, the scholar Abu Hatem Sahl ibn Mohammad Sijistani passed away. An expert in Qur’anic sciences, hadith, literary techniques and poetry, he was also involved in social affairs as well. Books authored by him include “Akhlaq al-Insan”, and “E’raab al-Qur’an”.

803 lunar years ago, on this day in 635AH, Sultan Abul-Ma'ali Mohammad al-Ayyubi, known as al-Malik al-Kamel, the 5^th ruler of the Ayyubid Kurdish dynasty of Egypt, died after twenty years of rule. Son and successor Salah od-Din Ayyubi’s brother, Sultan al-Adel, he defeated two invasions by the European Crusaders – the 5th and 6th Crusades. His most ignominious act was handing over of the Islamic city of Bayt al-Moqaddas, Bethlehem and some other parts of Palestine to Fredrick Barbarossa of Germany, an act that infuriated the Muslims.

639 lunar years ago, on this day in 799 AH, Mahmud I, the 5^th king of the Bahmani kingdom of Iranian origin of the Deccan (or southern India) died in his capital Gulbarga after a reign of 19 years. His 17-year old son Ghiyas od-Din succeeded him as Tahmatan Shah, but two months later was blinded and imprisoned by the Turkish slave Tughalchin Khan, who placed the younger brother, Shams od-Din on the Turquoise Throne. Five months later, Tughalchin and his puppet were deposed by Mahmud Shah’s cousin Taj od-Din Firouz Shah, the greatest ruler of the dynasty who reigned for 25 years, assisted by the able Iranian vizier, Mir Fazlollah Inju of Shiraz. The Bahmanis patronized and promoted Persian language and poetry, as well as Iranian art, culture, and architecture by inviting from Iran thousands of qualified persons in various fields. The famous Iranian poet Hafez Shirazi was also invited, but changed his mind midway through the journey, sending an excellent piece of poetry to the Bahmani court. The famous Gnostic of Kerman, Shah Ne’matollah Wali, was also requested to come to the Deccan, and instead sent his grandson – and later son – who preached in the Bahmani kingdom the teachings of the Ahl al-Bayt or Blessed Household of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA).

566 solar years ago, on this day in 1451 AD, with the abdication of Alam Shah, the last king of the Seyyed Dynasty of North India, the ambitious Pashto warrior, Bahlol Lodi ascended the throne of Delhi as Bahlol Shah Ghazi. The dynasty founded by him lasted 75 years, ending with the defeat and death of his grandson, Ibrahim Lodi in the Battle of Panipat in 1526 against the Mughal conqueror Zaheer od-Din Mohammad Babar. The Lodis patronized Persian language and culture. Several histories were written and poetical works composed during their rule, such as the “Mathnavi Mehr va Mah”. The second king, Sikandar Lodi, had medical books translated into Persian from Sanskrit.

242 solar years ago, on this day in 1775 AD, the armed rebellion of the 13 New England colonies against the British crown – also known as the American Revolutionary War – started with a victory of the colonists at Battle of Concord. This was prelude to the birth of the United States of America, which has since expanded to its present size, large through a policy of expansionism and seizure of Mexican territory.

210 solar years ago, on this day in 1807 AD, the British forces, following their failure to confront the Egyptians, withdrew from Alexandria. The British plot was to seize Egypt in order to pressure the Ottoman Empire, but the Egyptian ruler, Mohammad Ali Pasha, with the assistance of Egyptian people and ulema, who had issued a fatwa for Jihad against the invading troops, defended the country.

193 solar years ago, on this day in 1824 AD, English poet, George Gordon Byron, died of severe bleeding at the age of 36 in Greece, where he was inciting the Greeks to rebel against the Ottoman Turkish Empire by planning to attack the fortress of Lepanto, at the mouth of the Gulf of Corinth. A controversial figure, his works are sentimental and critical. His first collection of poems was “Hours of Idleness”. His other works include “The Prisoner of Chillon”, and “Childe Harold”. He led an unprincipled life, travelling around Europe and indulging in scandalous affairs.

178 solar years ago, on this day in 1839 AD, the Treaty of London established the new country Belgium as a kingdom and guaranteed its neutrality. Made up of ethnic Dutch, French and German speakers, its capital Brussels today is the headquarters of the 28-nation European Union (EU).

139 lunar years ago, on this day in 1299 AH, Grand Ayatollah Seyyed Sadr od-Din Sadr was born in holy Kazemayn in Iraq. Son of Grand Ayatollah Seyyed Ismail Sadr and grandson of Grand Ayatollah Sadr od-Din bin Saleh after whom the Sadr Family of well-known scholars is named, at the age of 29 he enrolled at the famous seminary of holy Najaf to complete higher religious studies under such prominent ulema as Akhound Khorasani, Ayatollah Seyyed Kazem Yazdi, and Ayatollah Mirza Hussain Na’ini. He then moved to holy Mashhad in Iran where he married the daughter of Grand Ayatollah Hussain Qomi and stayed for 6 years, before settling in holy Qom at the invitation of Ayatollah Shaikh Abdul-Karim Ha’eri, the Reviver of the Qom Seminary. He later became Head of the Qom Seminary, and among his books mention could be made of “Khulasat al-Fosoul” and Annotation (Hashiya) on the “al-Kifaya”. His son was the renowned scholar Imam Musa Sadr who uplifted the social, economic and political conditions of the Shi’a Muslims of Lebanon, before being treacherously martyred by Libya’s military dictator Mo’ammar Qadhafi at whose official invitation he was visiting Tripoli. The Sadr family, whose ancestor had migrated to Iran from the Jabal Amel region, has produced numerous Islamic scholars in Iran, Lebanon, and Iraq, including Martyr Ayatollah Seyyed Mohammad Baqer Sadr of Najaf. Grand Ayatollah Sadr od-Din Sadr passed away in Qom at the age of 74 years.     

135 solar years ago, on this day in 1882 AD, English naturalist, Charles Darwin, died. He is the author of the controversial theory of evolution which he presented in "Survival of the Fittest," and “On the Origin of Species.” His theories have been refuted by both Christian and Muslim scientists and scholars as absurd.

111 solar years ago, on this day in 1906 AD, French physical chemist and co-winner of the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1903, Pierre Curie died at the age of 46. His studies of radioactive substances were made together with his wife, Marie Curie, whom he married in 1895. They were achieved under conditions of much hardship - barely adequate laboratory facilities and under the stress of having to do much teaching in order to earn their livelihood. Together, they discovered radium and polonium in their investigation of radioactivity by fractionation of pitchblende (announced in 1898). Later they did much to elucidate the properties of radium and its transformation products. Their work in this era formed the basis for much of the subsequent research in nuclear physics and chemistry.

108 solar years ago, on this day in 1909 AD, Howard Baskerville, a 24-year old American Presbyterian preacher in Iran, was shot dead while trying to break the siege of Tabriz as a defender of the new Iranian constitution. Born in North Platte, Nebraska, he came to Iran in 1907, and taught English and geometry in the American Memorial School in Tabriz. In the spring of 1909, during the Constitutional Revolution of Iran, he decided to raise a volunteer force to defend the people. Despite attempts to discourage him by the American consul in Tabriz, William F. Doty, he led about a hundred volunteers to help defend the besieged city against the British-backed Qajar troops of Mohammad Ali Shah. Baskerville's funeral was attended by thousands, and he was eulogized by Iranian patriots. He was buried in the Christian Armenian cemetery in Tabriz, which fell to the Shah’s forces five days after Baskerville's death. A carpet with his picture woven on it was made by the carpet weavers of Tabriz and meant to be sent to his mother in the US in recognition of his courage and sacrifice. Schools and streets in Iran have been named for him. There is a bust of him in Tabriz's Constitution House bearing the legend "Howard C. Baskerville— Patriot and Maker of History".

79 solar years ago, on this day in 1938 AD, the Jurist, Ayatollah Seyyed Najm ul-Hassan the founder of Jame’ Nazemiyya of Lucknow, the oldest Shi’ite Muslim religious institution of India, passed away at the age of 75. Known as Najm ul-Millat or Najm ul-Ulema, he trained several scholars, such as Sibt-e Hasan Naqavi, Farman Ali the translator and interpreter of the holy Qur’an, and Mufti Ja’far Hussain, who later became the leading scholar of Pakistan. He is remembered for his services to the followers of the Ahl al-Bayt of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA) in Tibet, Burma, Singapore, Shanghai, East Africa and other lands. He wrote several books.

56 solar years ago, on this day in 1961 AD, Cuba’s air force shot down 9 of the 16 US aircraft used by the American-backed invaders and killed 114 of the insurgents, making the rest of the invasion force to surrender, thereby defeating the sinister plot of Washington to overthrow the government of Fidel Castro.

29 solar years ago, on this day in 1988 AD, the US launched unprovoked attacks on Iranian naval forces in the Persian Gulf in support of Saddam the Ba’th minority dictator of Baghdad, in an operation codenamed 'Praying Mantis'. This was the largest naval battle since World War II. The Iranian navy put up a brave fight in the face of heavy odds with the frigates Sahand and Joshan challenging the American ships, along with a flotilla of speed boats backed by aircraft. Because of superior fire power, the US navy damaged Joshan and sank a few boats, but after an exchange of missile volleys with Sahand, it backed off. Earlier the Americans had scuttled the merchant ship Iran Ajr and attacked Iranian oil platforms in the Persian Gulf.

24 solar years ago, on this day in 1993 AD, the statistician and founder of the statistical sampling method in Iran, Dr. Abbas Qoli Khwajah-Nouri, passed away at the age of 78. He graduated in engineering in the year 1937 and thereafter lectured at Iran’s universities. He later on obtained his PhD in statistics from Paris Faculty of Science. He highly participated in research, educational, and consultative jobs in different ministries, and founded the Higher Education Institute of Statistics in 1966. Among his numerous compilations, mention can be made of Research Methodology, and Advanced Statistics.

24 solar years ago, on this day in 1993 AD, following the attack of FBI on the Headquarters of Davidian Sect in Waco, Texas 80 men, women and children were brutally killed for opposing the Godless policies of the US regime.

22 solar years ago, on this day in 1995 AD, in Oklahoma City, US, a large car bomb exploded at the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building killing 168 people and injuring 500 including many children in the building’s day care center. As usual, the American press alleged the blast to be the work of what it called a Muslim terrorist. Within a week a suspect, Timothy McVeigh, was caught and charged, along with Terry Nichols, and since the two were white American Christians, all talks of terrorism quickly disappeared from the American press. The two were later convicted and sentenced to 12 years in prison in 1998. McVeigh was later convicted of federal murder charges and executed.

7 lunar years ago, on this day in 1431 AH, the prominent Islamic scholar and Source of Emulation in Lebanon, Grand Ayatollah Seyyed Mohammad Hussain Fazlollah, passed away at the age of 77. Born in the holy Iraqi city of Najaf, in Iraq in a Lebanese religious family, he studied under prominent ulema, including Grand Ayatollah Seyyed Mohsin al-Hakeem, Grand Ayatollah Seyyed Abu’l-Qasem Khoi, and Ayatollah Sadra Baad-Koubaee. He spent six years writing articles and compiling books and played a major role in reclaiming the denied rights of Shi'ite Muslims in Lebanon. He was a firm supporter of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Islamic Resistance Movement of Lebanon against Israeli occupation. He was the target of several assassination attempts by the Americans. He has left behind valuable books, including a 25-volume Exegesis of the Holy Qur'an.

AS/ME