Today is Friday; 12th of the Iranian month of Khordad 1396 solar hijri; corresponding to 7th of the Islamic month of Ramadhan 1438 lunar hijri; and June 2, 2017, of the Christian Gregorian Calendar.

1562 solar years ago, on this day in 455 AD, the Vandals led by King Genseric entered Rome and for two weeks plundered the capital of the Western Roman Empire following the killing of Emperor Valentinian III and the forced marriage of his daughter Eudocia to Palladius, son of the new Emperor Petronius Maximus in violation of the treaty between the two sides. Eudocia was betrothed to Genseric’s son, Huneric, and thus her marriage was an affront to the ambitions of the Vandal king who set sail from North Africa to attack Italy. Despite the pleas of Pope Leo I to spare the city, Genseric looted great amounts of treasure, damaging objects of cultural significance such as the Temple of Jupiter Optimus by stripping away the gilt bronze roof tiles – hence the modern term vandalism. The usurper Petronius Maximus fled rather than face the Vandals, but was caught and killed by the Roman citizens along with his son Palladius. The Vandals departed with shiploads of captives from Rome and sold them into slavery in North Africa.

1440 lunar years ago, on this day in the second year prior to Hijra, Abu-Taleb, the father of Imam Ali (AS) and uncle and protector of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA), passed away in Mecca. On the death of his father Abdul-Muttaleb, he and his wife, Fatema bint Asad, had taken charge of the 8-year orphan of Abdullah, his deceased brother, and brought up the future Prophet as their own son. Abu Taleb was a staunch monotheist following the creed of his ancestor, Prophet Abraham, and when God formally appointed his now 40-year old nephew as the Last and Greatest Messenger to mankind, he firmly believed in the message of Islam and protected the Prophet against the taunts and attacks of the pagan Arabs. When the Meccans imposed the social-economic boycott on the Prophet, he took his nephew and the whole neo Muslim community under his protection to the safety of the gorge outside Mecca which is still called “She'b Abi Taleb” in his honour.  His death saddened the Prophet and since earlier in the same year, the Prophet's loyal wife, the Mother of all True Believers (Omm al-Momineen) Hazrat Khadija also passed away, the year is known in Islamic history as "Aam al-Hozn” (Year of Grief).

1214 lunar years ago, on this day in 224 AH Ibrahim bin Mahdi, stepbrother of the Abbasid tyrant Haroun Rashid, died at the age of 62 in Baghdad. Born of an African concubine and known as Ibn Shakla because of his dark complexion, he was proclaimed as caliph in Baghdad in 201 AH by the Abbasids in protest to the seemingly pro-Hashemite policies of the reigning caliph, his nephew Mamoun, in declaring the Prophet’s 8th Infallible Heir, Imam Reza (AS) as Heir Apparent. Two years later in 203 AH, with the Mamoun’s return to Baghdad after martyring Imam Reza through poisoning in Tous, he resigned and spent the rest of his life as a singer and a musician. Ibn Shakla reportedly had a phenomenal vocal range.

1127 solar years ago, on this day in 891 AD, Talha ibn Ja’far Muwaffaq-Billah, the regent who in alliance with the powerful Turkic Guard was the virtual ruler of the usurper Abbasid Caliphate for most of the reign of his brother, Mu’tamid, the 15^th self-styled caliph, died in Baghdad. In 861, he was present at the murder of his father, the tyrant Mutawakkil in Samarra by the Turkic guards. According to the historian Tabari he had been drinking with his father that night, and came upon the assassins while going to the toilet. It is not known whether he was an accomplice in his father’s murder with his elder brother, Muntasir, who immediately declared himself the caliph. At the time his cousin, Muhtadi, the 14^th self-styled Abbasid caliph was killed by the Turks in June 870, he was in Mecca and immediately hastened to Samarra, where he and his Turkic associate Musa ibn Bugha effectively sidelined the new caliph, Mu’tamid to assume control of the government. Within a short time, he was conferred an extensive governorate covering most of the lands still under caliphal authority: western Arabia, southern Iraq with Baghdad, and Fars in central Iran. His successful defence of Iraq against the Saffarids of Iran and the suppression of the Zanj Rebellion of the black people made him more powerful. A year after Muwaffaq’s death Mu’tamid died, and the caliphate was seized by his son, Ahmad ibn Talha with the title Mu’tadid-Billah, by sidelining the dead caliph’s son and heir apparent, Mufawwad.

1077 lunar years ago, on this day in 361 AH, the grand al-Azhar Mosque and Madrasah was officially opened by Jowhar as-Saqali, the Sicilian general of the Fatemid Ismaili Shi'ite dynasty who completed the grand project three years after conquering Egypt and establishing the city of Cairo, as the new capital of the Empire that now stretched from the Red Sea to the Atlantic Ocean."al-Azhar" is a derivative of "az-Zahra" (or the Radiant), the famous epithet of Hazrat Fatema (SA) the daughter of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA) in whose honour the mosque and the religious school were built. The Fatemids restored the full form of the Azaan or call for the daily prayers, from the minarets of al-Azhar and other mosques, by bearing testimony to the imamate of Imam Ali (AS) after the Prophethood of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA). The phrase "hayya ala khayr il-amal", meaning "hasten to the best of deeds", which was dropped from the Azaan by the second caliph, was also revived. Exactly, a year later on this same date in 362 AH, the Fatemid caliph, al-Mu’iz le-Dinillah arrived in his new capital Cairo, from Mahdia in what is now Tunisia, the then capital of the Fatemid state.

1007 solar years ago, on this day in 1010 AD, the Battle of Aqbat al-Bakr took place around Espiel in Islamic Spain in the context of the “Fitna” (sedition), resulting in a defeat for the Caliphate of Cordoba by a joint army of Muslims and Christian mercenaries assembled from different parts of Spain. The forces of Cordoba were commanded by the newly installed self-styled Omayyad caliph, Sulayman ibn al-Hakam, and the Muslim rebel forces of the Andalusian-Castilian Alliance trying to overthrow him were under the command of Mohammad ibn Hisham, and Christian warlords including Ermengol I, Hugh I, and Ramon Borrell. Although the caliphate of Cordoba survived for another two decades before it disintegrated in 1031 into several Muslim Taifas (or principalities), the Christians became emboldened by their unholy alliance with Muslims that four centuries later would result in the end of Muslim rule in what is now Spain and Portugal.

927 lunar years ago, on this day in 511 AH, the famous Imami theologian, Seyyed Abu’l-Makarem Ibn Zuhra, was born in Aleppo, Syria. He studied in Najaf in Iraq under prominent students of the famous scholar Abu Ja’far Shaykh at-Tayefa Tousi, and on return to Syria groomed several scholars. He has left behind several books including "al-Ghunyah" on fiqh. He passed away in 585 AH.

919 solar years ago, on this day in 1098 AD, the 8-month siege of the Syrian Muslim city of Antioch (currently in Turkey) ended as the Crusaders from Europe occupied the city, but failed to take the citadel. The invading force was made up of Christian knights and experienced warriors under the joint command of Godfrey of Bouillon, Bohemund of Taranto, and Raymond IV of Toulous. This military expedition led by Catholic Europe was organized by Pope Urban II with the goal of responding to an appeal from Byzantine Emperor Alexios I Komnenos, who requested that west European Christians come to his aid to fight the Seljuq Sultanate of Asia Minor. The organized force caught the Muslims by surprise, because of over-confidence of the Turkish defenders, who viewed this batch of experienced warriors as another of the Peasants’ Army that they had defeated a year earlier. In brief, the Crusader invaders marched south along the coast, occupying several cities, and in 1099 seized the holy city of Bayt al-Moqaddas from the Ismaili Shi’a Muslim Fatemid Dynasty of Egypt-Syria-North Africa, massacring 70,000 Muslim men, women and children, besides local Christians and Jews.

494 lunar years ago, on this day in 944 AH, one of the renowned historians and poets, Seyyed Nizam od-Din Mohammad M’asoum Safai Tirmizi, who wrote under the penname “Naami”, was born in India. His ancestors were from Qandahar in Afghanistan. He and his father served the Sultans of Gujarat in western India. He has left behind valuable books, such as “Tibb-e Naami” on medicine. He passed away in 1019 AH.

478 lunar years ago, on this day in 960 AH, Ottoman admiral Turgut Raees took control of the Mediterranean island of Corsica and the city of Catania in Malta, to free some seven thousand Muslim captives. He gave Corsica to the French, who soon lost it to the Spanish.

254 solar years ago, on this day in 1763 AD, the uprising of the Amerindian natives against the British occupiers started in what is now Mackinaw City, Michigan. Known as Pontiac's Rebellion, after the most prominent Amerindian Chief, who campaigned to drive out the Anglo-Saxon invaders from the Great Lake regions of what is now the US and Canada, it lasted for two years. The British resorted to brutal tactics, deception, massacres, and genocide, including spreading of epidemics, such as the smallpox virus, in order to decimate the native population. The 2-year war demonstrated the possibilities of pan-tribal cooperation in resisting European expansion despite the conspiracies of the colonialists to divide Amerindian tribes. It was the first war between Europeans and Native North Americans that did not end in complete defeat of the Amerindians.

224 solar years ago, on this day in 1793 AD, Maximillian Robespierre, a member of France’s Committee on Public Safety, initiated the “Reign of Terror”, a purge of those suspected of treason against the French Republic. Months of the Great Terror, followed the Revolution in France as thousands died beneath the guillotine.

177 solar years ago, on this day in 1840 AD, Thomas Hardy, English novelist and poet, was born in Higher Bockhampton and almost given up for dead until an observant midwife noticed he was breathing. He was driven by a sense of somber doom by the failure of his readers to wake up to the dreary fraud of their beliefs, and he devoted the last half of his long life to writing poems that expressed his haunted vision. Hardy died in 1928, and was buried in the Poet’s Corner of Westminster Abbey in London. His work included “Tess of D'Ubervilles” and “Jude the Obscure”.

153 solar years ago, on this day in 1864 AD, the series of battles and wars in the northwestern Caucasus, starting with the Russian encroachment on the Persian Empire, and known as the Russian-Circassian War, ended after approximately 101 years with the signing of loyalty oaths to the rule of the Tsars by the subdued Circassian Muslim leaders. Started in 1763 with Catherine the Great’s attack on the Persian Empire, since the northwestern Caucasus was part of Greater Iran, the seesaw struggle saw Russia steadily advance into the Caucasus by setting up forts as springboards for further conquests, as Iran gradually retreated, leaving the area to the local Circassians to defend themselves from 1817 onwards. The long war claimed the life of over a million Muslims, while, of the 500,000 Circassians deported by Russia in the 1860s, a large fraction of them died in transit from disease. Some of the Circassians migrated to the interior of Iran as refugees. Following the end of the 101-year war, the Ottoman Empire offered to harbour the Circassians who did not wish to accept the rule of Russia, and many migrated to Anatolia, ending up in what are now modern Turkey, Syria, Jordan, Israel, Iraq and Kosovo.

135 solar years ago, on this day in 1882 AD, Italian adventurer, Giuseppe Garibaldi, who unified Italy as one single kingdom under King Emmanuel II of Sardinia, died at the age of 75. In 1860, he had set sail from Genoa to conquer the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies – Kingdom of Sicily and Kingdom of Naples – that had been set up in 1816. Earlier he was involved in military enterprises in Brazil, Uruguay and some parts of Europe, and had served as General of the Roman Republic in 1849. He is considered one of the three “Fathers of the Fatherland”, along with Count Camillo Cavour, King Victor Emmanuel II for unifying Italy.

93 solar years ago, on this day in 1924 AD, after centuries of oppression, displacement, torture and genocide by the white Anglo-Saxon occupiers from Europe, the original native people of what is called the United States of America were granted citizenship in their own occupied ancestral lands, with the signing of the so-called Indian Citizenship Act by President Calvin Coolidge. The Amerindians are still discriminated in the US and Canada.

75 solar years ago, on this day in 1942 AD, during World War II, the major counter attack of German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, known as the Desert Fox, started in North Africa against the British forces, who had attacked and occupied Libya. Rommel’s counter-attack which continued for nearly a month saw his forces drive the British out of Libya and advance up to the vicinity of Alexandria in northern Egypt. The continued advancement of German forces threatened the fall of the strategic Suez Canal, but Rommel’s troops were decisively defeated by the British in November 1942.

71 solar years ago, on this day in 1946 AD, following a referendum, Italy became a republic – a day celebrated since as Republic Day in that country. This was also the first time that Italian women were entitled to vote.^[ Victor Emmanuel III's son, Umberto II, was forced to abdicate and exiled.

47 solar years ago, on this day in 1969 AD, the Source of Emulation, Grand Ayatollah Seyyed Mohsen al-Hakeem, passed away in holy Najaf, Iraq, at the age of 84. After attaining the status of Ijtehad he lectured at the Najaf seminary and guided the Muslim people amid the different political and social upheavals in Iraq and abroad. Following the six-day Zionist war and occupation of large parts of Egypt, Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon, he sent telegrams to heads of Muslim states, calling on them to set aside differences and think of the interests of the Ummah. He authored several books, including “Haqayeq al-Osoul”, and “Nahj ul-Fuqaha.”

21 solar years ago, on this day in 1996 AD, a list of countries that are considered the most corrupt by international business people had the following top ten: Nigeria, Pakistan, Kenya, Bangladesh, China, Cameroon, Venezuela, Russia, India and Indonesia.

17 solar years ago, on this day in the year 2000 AD, the combatant scholar Hojjat al-Islam Seyyed Ali Akbar Abu Torabi Fard, lost his life in a car accident, along with his father Ayatollah Seyyed Abbas Abu Torabi, at the age of 61. Born in the holy city of Qom he studied under prominent ulema, including the Father of the Islamic Revolution, Imam Khomeini (RA). Beginning from 1963 and the Khordad 15 Uprising, he was arrested and tortured by the Shah’s regime on several occasions. In September 1980, a year-and-a-half after victory of the Islamic Revolution in 1979, when the US imposed the 8-year war on Iran through its agent, Saddam, he rushed to the battlefronts, and towards the end of the year was taken captive by the Ba’thist troops, who tortured him for ten years in prison camps, but failed to break his steadfastness. In 1990, he was freed along with other Iranian captives and was appointed by the Leader of Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, as representative for POW affairs. Hojjat al-Islam Abu Torabi was elected as lawmaker twice.

AS/ME