Today is Wednesday; 20th of the Iranian month of Ordibehesht 1396 solar hijri; corresponding to 13th of the Islamic month of Sha'ban 1438 lunar hijri; and May 10, 2017, of the Christian Gregorian Calendar.

2045 solar years ago, on this day in 28 BC, a sunspot is observed by Han Dynasty astronomers during the reign of Emperor Cheng of Han, one of the earliest dated sunspot observations in China.

1133 solar years ago, on this day in 884 AD, Ahmad ibn Tulun, founder of the short-lived Tulunid Dynasty of Egypt, died after a 17-year rule during which he killed at least eighteen thousand people. His father, Tulun, was a Turkic slave sent as part of a tribute by the Iranian governor of Bukhara to the Abbasid caliph, Ma'mun. The Abbasids used to recruit Turkic slaves to serve as military officers. Ibn Tulun received military training in Samarra, the new Abbasid capital, where he was appointed commander of special-forces of the tyrannical caliph, Mutawakkil. After serving in military campaigns against the Byzantine Empire in Tarsus, he gained the favor of Musta'in, and in the reign of the next caliph, Mu'taz, he was sent as governor to Egypt. Since, the then capital of Egypt, al-Fustat, was too small to accommodate his armies, he founded a new city nearby called “Madinat al-Qatta'i” (or the Quartered City), to serve as his capital. It was laid out in the style of the grand cities of Iran, including a large public square, a palace, and a large ceremonial mosque, which was named after Ibn Tulun. This city was razed on the fall of the Tulunid Dynasty, and only the mosque has survived. Ibn Tulun asserted his independence from the Baghdad caliphate by minting coins in his name and seizing control of large parts of Syria. He defeated an Abbasid army sent to Egypt against him. Within two decades after his death, the inefficient rule of his son and grandsons brought about the collapse of the dynasty and re-imposition of Abbasid rule on Egypt.

1015 solar years ago, on this day in 1002 AD, the historian, hadith compiler and orator, Ahmad bin Ali bin Sabet, known as Khateeb al-Baghdadi, was born near Baghdad. The son of a preacher of Darzidjan, he studied under his father and other ulema, mastering the various sciences, with special interest in hadith. At the age of 20 he went to Basra to collect hadith. He then travelled east to Iran and made two trips to Naishapur in Khorasan, collecting in his journey more hadith in Rayy and Isfahan. Back in Baghdad, he acquired fame as a preacher and orator, and it is said that teachers and preachers of hadith would usually submit to him what they had collected, before they used them in their lectures or sermons. Initially a follower of the Hanbali School of jurisprudence, he switched to the Shafe'i School – a change that made Hanbalis his bitter enemies and heap accusations against him. This sectarian hostility made him leave for Damascus, where he preached for 8 years, and before returning to Baghdad, spent another year in Tyre, in what is now Lebanon. Khateeb al-Baghdadi was a prolific writer and has authored several books, the most famous of which is the voluminous history "Tarikh al-Baghdad". He has quoted many of the hadith on the merits of the Ahl al-Bayt or Blessed Household of Prophet Mohammad (blessings of God upon him and his progeny), whose principal members are: Hazrat Fatema Zahra, Imam Ali, Imam Hasan and Imam Husain (peace upon them).

971 lunar years ago, on this day in 467 AH, the 26^th self-styled caliph of the usurper Abbasid dynasty, Abdullah Ibn Ahmed al-Qa’im bi-Amrollah, died in Baghdad after a nominal reign of 45 years. During the first half of his long reign, hardly a day passed in the capital without turmoil, because of the insubordination of the Turks against the last of the rulers of the Iranian Buwayhid dynasty. Meanwhile, a new wave of Turkic conquerors from Central Asia, under Toghrul Seljuqi, were casting eyes on Iraq, after sweeping across Iran and overrunning Armenia, Anatolia and Syria. Toghrul, on the pretext of travelling to Mecca for pilgrimage to the holy Ka’ba, entered Iraq with a heavy force, and was acknowledged as Sultan by the puppet caliph, who conspired to replace the Buwayhids, during whose rule, both Arab and Persian culture had flourished in Iraq.

451 solar years ago, on this day in 1566 AD, Germany physician and botanist, Leonhart Fuchs, died at the age of 65. His fame mainly rests on a large book about plants and their uses as medicines, that he authored and gave the title “Herbal Book”. It was first published in 1542 in Latin. It has about 500 accurate and detailed drawings of plants, which were printed from woodcuts. The botanical genus “Fuchsia” is named in his honour, and consequently the colour “Fuchsia”.

238 lunar years ago, on this day in 1200 AH, the prominent religious scholar, Hussain ibn Mohammad Saleh Khaledi, passed away. He was born in Bayt al-Moqaddas and learned the common sciences of his day in his hometown. He was a skilled writer and a talented poet.

216 solar years ago, on this day in 1801 AD, the First Barbary War, occurred off the coast of Tripolitania in present day Libya between the North African Berber Muslim states and the intruding US fleet. The principalities of Tripoli, Algiers, and Tunis, which were quasi-independent entities nominally under the Ottoman Empire, along with the semi-independent Sultanate of Morocco, defeated the US navy. The war lasted four years, and the US, as per the advice of France and Spain had to pay war indemnities in order to procure the release of its prisoners. In 1815, the US, now no longer engaged in hostilities with the British, again attacked the North African states in the Second Barbary War (also known as the Algerian War). With Ottoman naval power on the wane and the Mediterranean Sea no long the Turkish Lake of the past three centuries; the Barbary States were forced to seek peace by paying heavy damages to the US. Within decades, European powers built more sophisticated ships which the Turks and the Barbary States could not match in numbers or technology. These iron-clad warships of the late 19^th century and the early 20th century ensured European dominance of the Mediterranean. As a result Algeria and Tunis were occupied by France, although the Turks continued to hold Tripolitania (Libya) till 1911, when it fell to Fascist Italy.

164 lunar years ago, on this day in 1274 AH, the British formally deposed Bahadur Shah Zafar from the Mughal throne of Delhi and exiled him to Rangoon, Burma, thus ending over three and a quarter centuries of the rule of the Timurid dynasty, founded by Zaheer od-Din Babar – a protégé of Shah Ismail, the Founder of the Safavid Empire of Iran. The aging Bahadur Shah was accused of helping the uprising against British rule the previous year, and his sons and grandsons were shot in cold-blood by the British, who sadistically sent their heads to the Mughal king as gifts on the day of Nowrouz, the Spring Equinox, when traditional celebrations were in progress at the court for the New solar hijri year. Bahadur Shah Zafar was an accomplished poet in both Persian and Urdu.

146 solar years ago, on this day in 1871 AD, the Treaty of Frankfurt was signed following the Franco-Prussian War that saw the German-speaking people emerge as a united entity called Germany, due to the efforts of “Iron Chancellor” Otto von Bismarck. Germany became a major power and was no longer known as Prussia.

140 solar years ago, on this day in 1877 AD, the Ottoman provinces of Wallachia and Moldavia, along with Transylvania, which was under Austrian rule, declared themselves independent as a new country called Romania, taking advantage of the declining state of Turkish Empire, which for almost five centuries had established Muslim rule in southwestern Europe. A war followed and four years later Romania became formally independent on March 26, 1881.

129 lunar years ago, on this day in 1309 AH, Grand Ayatollah Seyyed Abdullah Musavi Shirazi, was born in Shiraz. He was 15 years old when he accompanied his father, Ayatollah Seyyed Mohammad Tahir Shirazi, into banishment to remote areas for opposing the Qajarid dynasty’s subservience to British colonial rule. Just before outbreak of World War 1, Abdullah Shirazi went to Iraq to study advanced jurisprudence at the seminary of holy Najaf, under Grand Ayatollah Mirza Mohammad Hussain Na’eni. On his return to Iran, he became active against the anti-Islamic rule of Reza Khan Pahlavi, and following the Gowharshad Mosque protests of 1935 against the forcible unveiling of women, he was sentenced to 4 years in prison. After his release, he went back to Najaf, and soon became one of the leading Marja or Source of Emulation. In 1975, he returned to Iran and joined the movement of the Father of the Islamic Revolution, Imam Khomeini (RA) against Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, until the regime was overthrown in 1979. He was socially active, both inside and outside Iran, and wrote several books, such as “Umdat-il Wasa'il fil Hashiyat ila ar-Rasa'il” (on writings of Shaikh Morteza Ansari, in 4 volumes); “Azahat ush-Shubahat fi Hukm il-Afaaq al-Muttahidah wa’l Mottafiqah” (Jurisprudential Rules on Observation of the Moon for Calculations of the Solar Calendar); “At-Tuhfat ol-Kadhimiyah fi Qatl al-Hayawanat bil-Alaat al-Kahruba'iyah”  (Jurisprudential Rules concerning Slaughtering of Farm Animals with Electric Devices); “Al-Ihtejajaat al-Ashra” (Discussion on the Sunni-Shi'a Debate – translated into Persian, English, Urdu, and Gujarati, and published several times); and “Imam wa Imamat” (in Persian on the topic of Imamate in Islam). Ayatollah Abdullah Shirazi founded over 180 institutes, including hospitals, schools, and libraries in Iran, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Pakistan, India, and African countries. He passed away in holy Mashhad at the age of 92 and was laid to rest in the mausoleum of Imam Reza (AS), the 8th Infallible Heir of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA).

59 lunar years ago, on this day in 1379 AH, the prominent Iranian literary figure, Abu’l-Hassan Foroughi, passed away in his hometown Tehran. He was a lecturer on history and geography, especially at Tehran University. He wrote many books, including “Tarikh-e Adabiyat-e Iran” (Literary History of Iran), and in French language, titled “Social and Philosophical Ideas”.

45 solar years ago, on this day in 1972 AD, Ayatollah Kohistani Behshahri, passed away at the age of 83 in his hometown Kohistan near Behshahr, Mazandaran. A product of the Holy Najaf seminary of Iraq, where he reached the status of Ijtehad after studying under such prominent ulema as Grand Ayatollah Mirza Hussain Na’eni and Grand Seyyed Abu’l-Hassan Isfahani, he established the Islamic seminary in his hometown and groomed a number of students, including the Islamic revolutionary figure, Martyr Hojjat al-Islam Seyyed Abdul-Karim Hashemi-Nejad, who was a member of the Assembly of Experts.   

44 solar years ago, on this day in 1973 AD, the Western Saharan Liberation Front (POLISARIO) was formed for independence of the northwestern African Muslim region from the Spanish colonial rule. Two years later, Spain was forced to leave West Sahara, but mischievously handed over the region to Morocco and Mauritania. Pressed by POLISARIO, Mauritania gave up its claims, but the Moroccans have continued to occupy Western Sahara. With UN mediation, it was decided in 1991 to hold referendum for determining the fate of this land, but Morocco has continued to stall any plebiscite ever since. Nonetheless, many countries have recognized Western Sahara as an independent country, and the POLISARIO as representative of the Western Saharan people.

34 solar years ago, on this day in 1983 AD, the repressive Ba’th minority regime of Saddam, detained 90 members of the family of Grand Ayatollah Seyyed Mohsin al-Hakeem, and martyred six of them. Two year later, 10 other family members of the Grand Ayatollah were martyred. Saddam's policy was to demoralize and terrorize Iraq's Shi'ite Arab majority, especially since the Late Grand Ayatollah's son, Seyyed Mohammad Baqer al-Hakeem had set up in exile in Tehran, the Supreme Assembly of the Islamic Revolution of Iraq.  Incidentally, on this day in 2003, Baqer al-Hakeem returned triumphantly to his US-occupied homeland after two decades of exile in Iran, and a few months later was martyred by terrorists.

28 solar years ago, on this day in 1989 AD, Iranian author, researcher, and lecturer, Hojjat al-Islam Dr. Seyyed Javad Mostafavi, passed away. An authority on Islamic sciences, following the victory of the Islamic Revolution, he served as chancellor of the University of Islamic Sciences in holy Mashhad. Among the works written by him are “al-Kashef” and “Miftah al-Wasa’el”.

23 solar years ago, on this day in 1994 AD, Nelson Mandela was officially inaugurated as South Africa's first black president, after decades of struggle against the apartheid rule of the White European minority.

14 solar years ago, on this day in 2003 AD, the leader of Iraq's Supreme Islamic Assembly, Ayatollah Seyyed Mohammad Baqer al-Hakeem, returned triumphantly to his US-occupied homeland after two decades of exile in Iran, following the overthrow of Saddam’s repressive Ba’th minority regime. The Ayatollah was martyred a few months later after the Friday Prayer in holy Najaf while leaving the shrine of Imam Ali ibn Abi Taleb (AS), by American affiliate Ba’thist-Takfiri terrorists.

AS/ME