Today is Tuesday; 12th of the Iranian month of Ordibehesht 1396 solar hijri; corresponding to 5th of the Islamic month of Sha’ban 1438 lunar hijri; and May 2, 2017, of the Christian Gregorian Calendar.

1400 lunar years ago, on this day in 38 AH, Imam Ali ibn al-Husain Zain al-Abedin (AS), the 4th Infallible Successor of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA), was born in Medina. As a 23-year old youth, he was present in Karbala when history's most bloodcurdling tragedy took place, but could not take part in the combat because of being bedridden due to high fever. It was the Will of God that he should survive and wage a unique Jihad whose course traversed the courts of the tyrants in Kufa and Damascus. He triumphed in captivity by shaking to its very foundations the illegal caliphate of Yazid through a series of brilliant sermons that forced the tyrant to release the noble Ahl al-Bayt. His lasting legacy for humanity are his supplications to God that range from purification of spirit and self-reform to social and political issues, as well as scientific facts such as the weight of light – factors which were unthinkable in those days. The “Sahifat-as-Sajjadiyya” is a firm testimony in this regard as well as the “Risalat-al-Hoqouq” – a treatise that contains details of each and every right and more comprehensive than the UN Charter of Rights.

1125 lunar years ago, on this day in 313 AH, the famous Iranian Islamic physician and chemist, Mohammad ibn Zakariyah Razi, passed away at the age of 62. Born in the city of Rayy, he initially followed his father's profession of a goldsmith, before turning to chemistry in addition to honing his skills in other sciences, such as medicine, geometry, logic, and philosophy. He wrote almost 250 works in different scientific fields, including “al-Hawi”, “al-Mansouri”, and “Sayrat al-Falsafiyah”.

657 solar years ago, on this day in 1360 AD, the Yongle Emperor, the third ruler of the Ming Dynasty, who unified China during his 22-year long reign (1402-1424), and patronized Muslims, was born as Zhu Di. He was created Prince of Yan at the age of ten with his capital at Beiping (modern Beijing), by his father, the Hongwu Emperor. Later, as per the will of his deceased father, he acknowledged the rule of his nephew, the Jianwen Emperor, but when the latter started demoting and executing his uncles, Zhu Di found pretext to rebel. After sacking Nanjing in 1402, he declared himself the new emperor, calling his era “Yongle” or the time of "Perpetual Happiness". His even handed approach helped him win the support of the people and unify China. His love for Chinese culture sparked a sincere hatred for Mongolian culture. He considered it rotten and forbade the use of popular Mongolian names, habits, language, and clothing, as part of his efforts to eradicate Mongolian culture from China. Yongle ordered construction and repair of Islamic mosques during his reign. Two mosques were built by him, one in Nanjing and the other in Xi'an and they still stand today. Repairs were encouraged and the mosques were not allowed to be converted to any other use. Among his favourties was the Muslim general of Iranian origin, Zheng He – great-great-great-grandson of Seyyed Ajjal Shams ol-Din Omar – who undertook major voyages of exploration into the South Pacific and Indian Oceans.

498 solar years ago, on this day in 1519 AD, Italian painter, draftsman, sculptor, architect, and engineer, Leonardo Da Vinci, died at the age of 67. He was a genius who designed buildings, bridges, canals, forts and war machines. He kept notebooks sketching his ideas that show his fascination with birds and flying, including such fantastic designs as flying machines, which Islamic scientists in Baghdad, Cairo and Cordoba (Islamic Spain), had experimented centuries before him. He is also best known for such paintings as “Mona Lisa” and “The Last Supper.”

195 lunar years ago, on this day in 1243 AH, following Qajarid Iran's defeat in the second series of battles in the Caucasus with expansionist Russia, the Turkmenchai Treaty was imposed on Fath Ali Shah with the mediation of the British colonial officials, on the threat that failure to accept will result in the march of Russian troops upon Tehran. As per this one-sided treaty, Iran handed over to Russia, the Erivan khanate or most of present-day central Armenia, the Nakhchivan khanate, which is the present-day Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic of Azerbaijan, the Talish khanate, the Ordubad and Mughan regions of what is now the Republic of Azerbaijan, in addition to all lands seized by Russia some fifteen years earlier, such as Georgia, Daghestan and other parts of the Caucasus. It is to be recalled that initially these battles, led by crown prince, Abbas Mirza, were in Iran's favour but lack of support from Tehran resulted in disastrous defeats. In the aftermath of the war and signing of the humiliating treaty, anti-Russian sentiments became rampant in Iran, and on February 11, 1829, angry people stormed the Russian embassy in Tehran and killed almost everyone inside including the newly appointed ambassador, Alexander Griboyedov, who was part of the team that drafted the Turkmenchai Treaty.

163 solar years ago, on this day in 1854 AD, Iranian poet, Mirza Habibollah Qa’ani Shirazi passed away at the age of 46. He was the most brilliant and celebrated Persian poet of the 19^th century, known for his melodious verses. His famous elegy on the Martyr of Karbala, Imam Husain (AS), is still popular in Iran. This elegy is inscribed on the walls of the holy shrine of Imam Reza (AS) in Mashhad. Considered to be the last of the classical poets, Qa’ani, in this tribute, breaks with the tradition of explanatory poetry and pays his tribute to the grandson of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA) in the form of question and answer or a dialogue

76 solar years ago, on this day in 1941 AD, Britain again invaded Iraq to oust the nationalist government of Prime Minister Rashid Aali al-Gilani who had staged a coup to end British influence by removing from power Abdullah bin Ali, the regent of the 6-year old king, Faisal II, whose grandfather Faisal I of Hijaz was installed as king in 1921 by London against the wishes of the Iraqi people, after crushing the popular uprising of 1920 led by Ayatollah Shaikh Kashef al-Gheta and Ayatollah Mirza Mohammad Taqi Shirazi. London feared that Gilani might take control of the oil industry from Britain, in view of his links to Germany and the Axis powers. The war ended on May 29 when Gilani fled to Iran and an armistice was signed on May 31. Gilani, a Sunni Muslim and descendant of Baghdad’s prominent Sufi of Iranian origin, Sheikh Abdul-Qader Gilani, could not stay long in Iran and fled to Germany when the British dethroned their agent Reza Khan Pahlavi for his pro-German views and exiled him to the island of Mauritius, , replacing him with his 21 year old son Mohammad Reza. After the German defeat in World War 2, Gilani sought asylum in Saudi Arabia before returning to Iraq in 1958 on the overthrow of the British-installed monarchy by General Abdul-Karim Qassim. He was implicated in a plot to seize power, was sentenced to death, but pardoned and exiled. He died in Beirut, Lebanon in 1965.

72 solar years ago, on this day in 1945 AD, World War II: Fall of Berlin: The Soviet Union announced the capture of Berlin and Soviet soldiers hoisted their red flag over the Reichstag building.

60 solar years ago, on this day in 1957 AD, controversial US Senator, Joseph McCarthy, died. During the early years of the Cold War, he headed an Inquisition-like Senate Committee, which on the pretext of countering communist activities in the US, suppressed critics of the American political and social system by jailing authors, journalists, and even artists. This era is known as McCarthyism in US history. The term McCarthyism, coined in 1950, was applied to similar anti-communist activities. Today the term is used more generally in reference to demagogic, reckless, and unsubstantiated accusations, as well as public attacks on the character and/or patriotism of political opponents.

38 solar years ago, on this day in 1979, the great contemporary Iranian Islamic thinker, Ayatollah Morteza Motahhari, was martyred at the age of 60 by the Forqan terrorist outfit. He was born in Fariman in Khorasan, northeastern Iran, and at the age of 12 years, enrolled at the Islamic seminary in holy Mashhad. Later he left for holy Qom for higher studies. Here he attended the classes of such prominent ulema, as Grand Ayatollah Boroujerdi, Allamah Seyyed Mohammad Hussain Tabatabai, and the Father of the Islamic Revolution, Imam Khomeini (RA). Along with his studies he became an activist of the Islamic Revolution Movement, as one of the close allies of Imam Khomeini. As of the year 1955, Ayatollah Motahari started lecturing at the Faculty of Theology of Tehran University for 23 years and groomed numerous students. He had a profound understanding of the social, political, and cultural topics of importance of the contemporary era. This brilliant Islamic thinker changed thoughts and attitudes by focusing on the dynamism of Islam for salvage of mankind in accordance with the progress in scientific and other fields. His speeches, articles, and books in different domains elaborate on Islamic topics and have been translated into different languages.

35 solar years ago, on this day in 1982 AD, during the Falklands War in the British-occupied Malvinas Islands of Argentina, a British submarine sank the Argentine cruiser “General Belgrano”, resulting in the death of some 600 Argentine sailors. Terence Thornton Lewin, British military commander, was regarded as the one who persuaded Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher to order the sinking.

13 solar years ago, on this day in 2004 AD, the infamous Yelwa massacre occurred in Nigeria when the Christians brutally massacred over 630 Muslim nomads including women, children and old men. The Christians surrounded Yelwa town, and according to Human Rights Watch, over the next two days 660 Muslims were massacred, including the patients in the al-Amin clinic. Twelve mosques and 300 houses went up in flames. Young girls were marched to a nearby Christian town and forced to eat pork and drink alcohol. Many were raped, and 50 were brutally killed.

9 solar years ago, on this day in 2008, cyclone Nargis struck Burma, killing over 138,000 people and leaving millions of people homeless.

6 solar years ago, on this day in 2011 AD, leader of the CIA-created al-Qa’eda terrorist outfit, Saudi national Osama bin Laden, was killed by US special forces in Abbottabad, Pakistan, ending an almost decade-long manhunt for him. Osama, a multimillionaire, was used by Washington in the 1980s to supply arms to the mujahideen during the occupation of Afghanistan by the Soviet Union. He again proved handy to American interests in the 1990s, in creating the Taleban to take over Afghanistan and tarnish the image of Islam with brutalities resembling medieval European laws. When he fell out with his backers, he was dumped and framed for the highly suspicious 9/11/2001 incidents in New York, as a pretext for the US invasion and occupation of that country. Osama’s body was thrown into the sea by the Americans in order to erase any trace of him after his death.

2 solar years ago, on this day in 2014 AD, Iranian classical musician, Mohammad-Reza Lotfi, renowned for his mastery of the “Tar” and “Setar”, died at the age of 87.

AS/MG