Today is Sunday; 17th of the Iranian month of Ordibehesht 1396 solar hijri; corresponding to 10th of the Islamic month of Sha’ban 1438 lunar hijri; and May 7, 2017, of the Christian Gregorian Calendar.

2416 solar years ago, on this day in 399 BC, Greek philosopher Socrates was killed during imprisonment by being forced to drink poison because of rejecting the Athenian democratic regime’s tyranny and rejection of its demand to acknowledge its pantheon of gods. His preaching of moral virtue brought accusations of corrupting the youth.

1426 lunar years ago, on this day in 12 AH, the Arab Muslim army under the command of Qa'qa Ibn Amr at-Tamimi defeated a combined force of Persians and Christian Arabs led by the Sassanid general, Rouzbeh, in the Battle of al-Hussaid in Iraq that resulted in many Arabs and Iranians of Iraq embracing the truth of Islam.

1332 solar years ago, on this day in 685 AD, Marwan ibn al-Hakam, the fourth self-styled caliph of the usurper Omayyad regime died in Damascus at the age of 62, after nine months in power, which was limited mostly to Syria. He was killed by his most recent wife, a widow of the tyrant Yazid ibn Mu'awiyyah, who put a pillow on his face and sat over it till his breath was snuffed out. One of the most criminal characters in Islamic history, Marwan was the son of the hypocrite Hakam bin Aas, who was expelled from Medina by Prophet Mohammad (SAWA) for ridiculing Islam. He was the first cousin of Osman bin Affan, who on becoming caliph recalled him to Medina in violation of the Prophet’s Sunnah, gave his daughter in marriage to him, and entrusted him all affairs of the state. The resulting mismanagement and plunder of the public treasury ended some twelve years later in the killing of Osman by Muslim revolutionaries from Egypt. In the "Battle of Jamal" that the pledge-breakers led by Ayesha – a wife of the Prophet – imposed on the Commander of the Faithful, Imam Ali (AS), near Basra in Iraq, Marwan treacherously killed his own leader, Talhah Ibn Obaidollah, with an arrow shot at the unprotected thigh. When the Omayyads seized the caliphate he served as governor of Medina for intermittent periods, and stayed there after retirement until Abdullah ibn Zubayr rebelled against Yazid and made the mistake of allowing him and his son Abdul-Malik to leave for Damascus. In Syria, following Yazid’s death and abdication by his son Mu’awiyya II, in protest to his father’s crimes against Islam and humanity, including the tragic martyrdom of Imam Husain (AS) in Karbala, Marwan found himself propelled to the caliphate. His ascension pointed to a shift in the lineage of the Omayyad dynasty from descendants of Abu Sufyan to those of Hakam, both of whom were grandsons of Omayya. Some 67 years later, the Marwanids were thrown into the dustbin of history with the rise of the new dynasty of usurper caliphs, the Abbasids.

1184 solar years ago, on this day in 833 AD, the historian Abdul-Malik bin Hisham ibn Ayyub al-Himyari, died in Fustat (Cairo). His family was from Basra in southern Iraq and migrated to Egypt, where he became known as a grammarian and said to have mastered philology in a way which only the famous Iranian scholar of Arabic, Sibawayh had. Ibn Hisham compiled the “Sirah” or biography of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA), which is actually an edited version of the earlier “Sirah” compiled by Mohammad ibn Ishaq – grandson of Christian convert from Kufa. Ibn Hisham abbreviated, annotated, and altered the original text by adding what appealed to his inclination and removing several passages, however authentic. For instance, he deleted those hadith confirming Imam Ali ibn Abi Taleb (AS) as “wasi” (testamentary legatee), including the famous event in Mecca on revelation of ayah 214 of Surah Shu’ara when Prophet Mohammad (SAWA) soon after his formal entrustment with prophethood, invited his kinsmen for meals and announced to them the message of Islam, declaring at the end of the function his young, pre-teen cousin, Imam Ali (AS) as brother, legatee and caliph. The historian Tabari has preserved such hadith, citing Ibn Ishaq's work as his source.

1016 lunar years ago, on this day in 422 AH, the Arabic poet Abdullah Abdul-Baqi, passed away in Baghdad. He was a scholar as well, and an expert in Hadith and Islamic sciences.

684 lunar years ago,on this day in 754 AH, the renowned Islamic scholar Seyyed Amid od-Din Abu’l-Fawaris Abdul Muttalib ibn Mohammad ibn Ali al-A'arj, passed away. He was the son of the nephew of the celebrated scholar Allamah Hilli, and an expert in jurisprudence, theology, exegesis of the holy Qur’an, Hadith, and Arabic literature. He wrote several books on various Islamic sciences, including "Sharh Tahzib al-Osoul" and “Kanz al-Fawa’ed”.

530 solar years ago, on this day in 1487 AD, the siege of the important Spanish Muslim city of Malaqa was started by a huge Christian army of 20,000 cavalry, 50,000 infantry, and 8,000 support troops including thousands of mercenaries from other parts of Europe, as part of the attempts of Ferdinand of Aragon and his wife Isabel of Castile to occupy the prosperous Nasrid Kingdom of Granada. The siege lasted about four months. Malaqa was the second important city after Granada, a major trading port on the Mediterranean. The city was prosperous, with elegant architecture, gardens and fountains. It was surrounded by fortifications. Above it was the citadel, connected via a covered way with the impregnable fortress of Gibralfaro. A landside suburb was also ringed by a strong wall. Towards the sea were orchards of olives, oranges, pomegranates, and vineyards. The city was well-supplied with artillery and ammunition. After the city surrendered, Ferdinand broke all terms and ordered that the survivors, numbering around 15,000 should be killed or enslaved. It is also worth noting that the Mamluks of Egypt, who had assembled a special force for assisting the Spanish Muslims, could not march to their aid, because of the divisive diplomacy of Christian powers, who fearful of the Ottoman advance into Italy and subsequently Spain, tempted the Turkish Sultan of Istanbul to get embroiled in an unwanted fratricidal war in Syria.

338 lunar years ago, on this day in 1100 AH, Tartar Muslim commander of Crimea, Spem Giray, who was an ally of the Ottoman Empire, defeated a huge Russian army of 300,000 soldiers in what is now Ukraine. The Tartars, who for several centuries were a major power in the northern Black Sea region, were later conquered by the Russians, brutally suppressed and deported to other lands.

205 solar years ago, on this day in 1812 AD, English poet, Robert Browning, was born in London. His works include "The Piper of Hamelin" and "The Ring and the Book."

156 solar years ago, on this day in 1861 AD, India’s Bengali language poet and thinker, Rabindranath Tagore, was born. He travelled widely and wrote several books. He visited Iran and paid tributes to the famous Persian poet, Hafez Shirazi. Tagore travelled to Shiraz, Isfahan, Tehran and Kermanshah in Iran, from where he went by road to Baghdad in Iraq. Tagore's personal diary and public interviews capture fascinating details of his political and social observations. At the mausoleum of Hafez, he wrote in his travelogue, “Sitting near the tomb, a signal flashed through my mind, a signal from the bright and smiling eyes of the poet on a long past spring day – akin to the springtime sunshine of today.” He celebrated his 71^st birthday in Tehran and wrote a beautiful poem titled: “IRAN”, on the occasion. Part of his poem reads:

“Iran, thy brave sons have brought

Their priceless gifts of friendship

On this birthday of the poet of a far-away shore,

For they have known him in their hearts as their own,

And in return I bind this wreath of my verse

On thy forehead, and I cry: Victory of Iran!”

133 lunar years ago, on this day in 1305 AH, the literary scholar Seyyed Ismail ibn Radhi ibn Ismail al-Hussaini ash-Shirazi, passed away in Iraq.

129 solar years ago, on this day in 1888 AD, on the pretext of trade, the crafty British established their foothold in what is now Zimbabwe, through the designs of the imperialist agent, Cecil Rhodes, who soon deceived the local African chiefs to declare the land as Britain’s colony. The British troops massacred thousands of black people and in 1898 named the land Southern Rhodesia – the land of Zambesi across the river of the same name was called Northern Rhodesia. In 1965 with the intensification of the freedom struggle by the black people, British agent, Ian Smith, seized power, brutally suppressed the people and involved them in civil war, as his white racist policy of divide and rule. In 1980, the country became independent as Rhodesia, and the colonial capital, Salisbury was renamed Harare. Today, independence leader, Robert Mugabe, is the president. Because of his independent policies, the US, Britain, and Western Europe, have imposed sanctions on Zimbabwe’s economy, and indulge in feverish propaganda against him. Zimbabwe is rich in diamonds and minerals.

109 lunar years ago, on this day in 1329 AH, Azarbaijani philosopher and renowned poet of the Caucasus region, Mirza Ali Akbar Zain ol-Abedin Taherzadeh, known by his penname Saber, was born in the city of Shervan in what is now the Republic of Azerbaijan, which before the Russian occupation in the first half of 19th century was an integral part of Iran. He was fluent with the Azeri, Persian, Arabic, and Russian languages, and wrote many ghazals in imitations of Persian poets, particularly Nizami Ganjavi. In 1885, he embarked on a tour of several cities of Iran and Central Asia. Political satire was an important part of his work, and the butt of his satire ranged from Emperor Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany to Mohammad Ali Shah Qajar of Iran, and from the Ottoman Sultan Abdul Hamid to the defeat of Russian armies by Japan as well as the scenes of social and domestic life at home. Part of Saber’s life coincided with the Constitutional Revolution in Iran and his vibrant and biting political satire was recited by the Constitutionalists in the trenches of Tabriz. He also made a fine verse translation of some passages of Ferdowsi’s “Shahnamah” into Azeri. Many of Saber’s poems are in admiration of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA) and the Infallible Imams of the Ahl al-Bayt.

63 solar years ago, on this day in 1954 AD, the Battle of Dien Bien Phu ended in a French defeat and a Vietnamese victory after almost two months of fighting. The Viet Minh forces besieged Dien Bien Phu Castle, forcing Colonel Christian de Castries to surrender, thus ending French colonial rule over Vietnam. The meddlesome Americans, however, started interfering in Vietnam and on the pretext of spread of communism, landed troops, divided the country into two parts and imposed an unwanted war that dragged on till 1975, resulting in the death of tens of thousands of Vietnamese, but ultimately ending in a humiliating defeat for the US.

26 solar years ago, on this day in 1991 AD, the Iranian poet, author, and researcher, Mehrdad Avesta, passed away at the age of 62. He was an authority on the classical Persian poet Shaikh Sadi’s famous works “Bostan” and “Golestan”, in addition to Arabic grammar. He lectured on Iranian and global arts and literature at several colleges in Tehran. He started political activities against the repressive rule of the Pahlavi regime through his poems. He has written beautiful poems on the Islamic Revolution and in admiration of the Founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Imam Khomeini (RA). He researched and published the works of prominent classical Persian poets, such as Hafez, Sa’di, Mowlavi, Khaqani, Sanaei, and Salman Saavoji.

AS/ME