Today is Friday; 19th of the Iranian month of Khordad 1396 solar hijri; corresponding to 14th of the Islamic month of Ramadhan 1438 lunar hijri; and June 9, 2017, of the Christian Gregorian Calendar.

1949 solar years ago, on this day in 68 AD, the deceitful, cruel and bloodthirsty Roman Emperor, Nero, to evade a Senate-imposed death by flogging, committed suicide at the age of 31 by imploring his secretary Epaphroditos to slit his throat. Thus ended the 14-year reign of terror of Nero during which he tortured to death the monotheistic followers of Prophet Jesus (AS), killed his own mother Agrippina who had secured the throne for him through treachery, and torched the entire city of Rome while sadistically enjoying the sight of its burning from a hill. His widowed mother married her own uncle Emperor Claudius and forced him to adopt Nero as son. Nero poisoned the emperor to death and on seizing the throne got rid through poisoning of the late emperor’s teenaged son Britannicus. He eliminated all possible rivals, killed his wives at pleasure, and ordered the death of his own mother. In foreign policy, unable to face the might of Iran’s Parthian Empire, after hostilities in Armenia, he concluded peace. His death made the people joyous.

1387 solar years ago, on this day in 630 AD, the victorious Iranian general Farrokhan titled “Shahrbaraz”, who had seized power as the 25^th Sassanid Emperor, was killed. “Shahrbaraz” means Boar of the Empire, since the boar was the animal associated with the Zoroastrian Izad Vahram (epitome of victory). Appointed “Iran Sepahbod” (or Commander of the Army of Iran) by Emperor Khosrow II (Pervez), he swept through Syria taking Damascus and Jerusalem from the Byzantine Empire in 613 and 614 respectively, before marching towards the capital Constantinople. However, when Heraclius assumed power as the new Byzantine Emperor and pushed back the Persians from Anatolia (modern Turkey) in the 620s, mutual suspicion arose between Khosrow and Shahrbaraz. Byzantine agents showed Shahrbaraz letters indicating that Khosrow was planning his execution. This kept one of the main Persian armies and its best general neutral during this crucial period, speeding the end of the long war and Byzantine victory. Following the Persian surrender, Shahrbaraz was heavily involved in the intrigues of the Sassanid court. On April 27, 630, he killed Emperor Ardashir III and seized power. He made peace with Heraclius and returned to him the relics of Jerusalem. In April 630 he failed to deal with the invasion of Armenia by a Khazar-Gokturk force under Chorpan Tarkhan. He was slain by the nobles and replaced by his wife – Khosrow’s daughter – Purandokht, as Empress of the rapidly declining Sassanid Empire, which six years later would be overrun by Arab Muslim armies.

1371 lunar years ago, on this day in 67 AH, Mukhtar Ibn Abi Obaidah Thaqafi, the Avenger of the Innocent Blood of Prophet Mohammad’s (SAWA) younger grandson and 3^rd Infallible Heir, Imam Husain (AS), achieved martyrdom in Kufa at the hands of Mus’ab Ibn Zubayr at the age of 66. Born in Ta’ef in Hijaz, to Abi Obaidah (a commander of the Muslim conquest of Iraq from the Sassanids), he was a devout follower of the Commander of the Faithful, Imam Ali (AS) – the Prophet’s First Infallible Heir. He was imprisoned by the usurper Omayyad regime on the threshold of the arrival of Imam Husain (AS) in Iraq. After the Imam’s tragic martyrdom in Karbala, he was released and returned to his homeland Hijaz. Following the tyrant Yazid’s death, he came back to Iraq, where he had the support of Arab tribes loyal to the Prophet’s Ahl al-Bayt and the “Mawali” (as Iranians were known), in his campaign to bring to justice the killers of Imam Husain (AS). He took the city of Kufa and brought vast tracts of Iraq and Iran under his control, at a time when the Omayyad usurpers and Abdullah Ibn Zubayr – who had established as ruler of Hijaz – were battling for power of the Islamic state that belonged to neither of them. Mukhtar repulsed the attacks of the Omayyad army from Syria, and in heroic combat, along with Ibrahim Ibn Malik Ashtar, killed the principal perpetrators of the heartrending tragedy of Karbala, such as Obaidollah Ibn Ziyad, Haseen Ibn Numayr and others. So strong was his sense of justice that he even did not spare the life of his own brother-in-law (sister’s husband), Omar Ibn Sa’d Ibn Abi Waqqas, who had commanded the Omayyad forces against Imam Husain (AS) and then imprisoned the Prophet’s family. Mukhtar and his companions, including Iranians and Arabs, meted out justice to such bloodthirsty murderers as Shemr Ziljowshan, Khouli, Harmala etc. After a rule of a year-and-a-half, he attained martyrdom because of the treachery of the Kufans during battle with the forces of Mus’ab Ibn Zubayr. His tomb is in the mausoleum of Imam Husain’s (AS) cousin, Muslim Ibn Aqeel, beside the Grand Mosque of Kufa.

1296 solar years ago, on this day in 721 AD, the Arab army suffered a setback at the Battle of Toulouse in southern France against Odo of Aquitaine. Faulty planning by the Omayyad governor of Spain, Samh ibn Malik al-Khawlani, made the huge Muslim force immobile against the lightly armed Christians. However, this did not end the Muslim march into Europe that continued as far as north-western France for another decade until the decisive defeat at the Battle of Tours.

1215 lunar years ago, on this day in 223 AH, Seyyed Hassan, known as Jalal od-Din Ashraf, the youngest son of Prophet Mohammad’s (SAWA) 7^th Infallible Heir, Imam Musa Kazem (AS), achieved martyrdom at the age of 53 in Gilan, northern Iran, and was laid to rest in the village of Kouchan, which soon grew into a site of pilgrimage as the bustling city of Astan-e Ashrafiyeh (Threshold of Ashraf). Born in Medina in 180 AH, shortly after his father was taken to Iraq as prisoner by the Abbasid tyrant, Haroun Rashid, he grew up under the guidance of his elder brother, Imam Reza (AS), on whose forced journey to Marv in distant Khorasan on the orders of the self-styled caliph, Mamoun, he was a youth of 21 years. Brave, pious, and prudent, he soon shifted to Baghdad but in 204 when Mamoun shifted his capital to this city after martyring Imam Reza (AS) in Tous, Khorasan, he moved to Qom. Two years later he was invited to Gilan by the people to confront remnants of the ousted Omayyad regime in the northern parts of Iran on the southern coast of the Caspian Sea. In 211 AH (828 AD), he established the first ever state in Iran by a member of the Prophet’s family. Twelve years later, on being severely injured in battle against the Abbasid forces at Lyalman (5 km from Lahijan), he trekked toward the mountains so that his body does not fall into enemy hands, and breathed his last some 9 km from Roudbar in the house of Shaikh Mufid od-Din. According to his will, his body was put in a coffin and floated down the Sefidroud River until it reached Kouchan where the people recognizing him laid him to rest amid lamentation. Soon a mausoleum was built over his grave and became known as Aastan-e Ashrafiyeh in his honour. It is worth noting that the rice grown in the paddy fields around the city and known as the “Astaneh” brand is famous for its aroma, which is believed to be among the blessings of the burial of the Prophet’s venerable descendant in this soil.

896 lunar years ago, on this day in 542 AH, the Malekite hadith scholar, Mohammad Ibn Ali Ibn Mohammad al-Jullabi al-Maghazeli, passed away at the age of 95 in Baghdad. He was the son of Ali Ibn Mohammad al-Jullabi al-Maghazeli, the author of the famous book "Manaqeb (Imam) Ali Ibn Abi Taleb (AS)", which he used to teach and explain to students.

345 solar years ago, on this day in 1672 AD, Tsar Peter the Great of Russia was born to Tsar Alexis. He was crowned at the age of 10, but was soon dethroned by his half-sister Sophia and banished to a village in the vicinity of Moscow. After a while, he gathered a large number of troops and confronted his sister, winning the battle as well as the crown. He was an expansionist and waged wars on neighbouring states to enlarge the Russian Empire. To the south, he sought an outlet to the Black Sea which was controlled by the Ottoman Empire. Peter entered into an agreement with Poland to acquire Kiev in Ukraine, so as to use it as a base for launching attacks on the Tartar Muslims of the Crimean Peninsula on the Black Sea. Peter's primary objective became the capture of the Ottoman fortress of Azov, near the Don River. In the summer of 1695 he organized the Azov campaigns to take the fortress, but his attempts ended in failure. Peter returned to Moscow in November of that year and began building a large navy. He launched about thirty ships against the Ottomans in 1696, capturing Azov in July of that year. He soon realized that he cannot defeat the Ottomans alone, and travelled to Europe to seek alliances against the Turks, but to his dismay, found France and Austria, reluctant to start hostilities with the Ottomans. In the end he made peace with the Ottomans to keep control of Azov, and died in 1725 without succeeding in his expansionist goals of pushing into the Caucasus against the Turkish and Iranian territories. In 1703 he founded the city of Saint Petersburg on the estuary of Neva River flowing into the Baltic Sea, a fortnight after he had captured during the Great Northern War what was then the Swedish fortress of Nyenskans in the land called Ingermanland inhabited by the Finnic tribe of Ingrians. Peter moved the capital from Moscow to St Petersburg in 1712. Between 1713-to-1728 and from 1732-to-1918, St Petersburg was capital of Russia, until Vladimir Lenin replaced it with Moscow.

243 solar years ago, on this day in 1774 AD, Austrian orientalist, Joseph von Hammer-Purgstall, was born in Graz. He mastered Arabic, Persian and Turkish, and on entering the diplomatic service in 1796, was appointed in 1799 to a position in the Austrian embassy in Constantinople. For fifty years Hammer-Purgstall wrote prolifically on the most diverse subjects and published numerous texts and translations of Arabic, Persian and Turkish authors. By traversing so large a field, he laid himself open to the criticism of specialists, and he was severely handled by Friedrich Christian Diez who, in his “Unfug und Betrug” (1815), devoted to him nearly 600 pages of abuse. He also came into conflict on the subject of the origin of “The Thousand and One Nights” with his English contemporary Edward William Lane. The Austrian Oriental Society, founded in 1959 to foster cultural relations with the Near East, is formally named “Österreichische Orient-Gesellschaft Hammer-Purgstall” in recognition of Joseph von Hammer-Purgstall's accomplishments. He wrote several books including an English language translation (1834) of the first two volumes of Ottoman scholar Avliya Chelebi's travelogue titled “Siyahat-Nameh”.

202 solar years ago, on this day in 1815 AD, the Vienna Congress, attended by European kings and ministers, drew to its close. Commenced in September 1814, following the defeat of Napoleon Bonaparte, it restored to power the dynasties overthrown by the French Emperor. It redrew the new political map of Europe that saw Belgium annexed by the Netherlands and Norway annexed by Sweden, while Poland was divided among Russia, Prussia, and Austria. Prussia also annexed many of the German states, while Italy remained divided into several small states. Several French colonies abroad were handed to Britain.

190 lunar years ago, on this day in 1248 AH, the Iranian scholar, Shams od-Din Behbahani, passed away. A student of the famous researcher, Mohaqqeq Behbahani, in addition to his mastery over theology and jurisprudence, he was a pious mystic who spent most of his life compiling books. He has written a detailed annotation on “Ma’alem al-Osoul”, and treatises on the principles of religion.

149 lunar years ago, on this day in 1289 AH, prominent religious scholar of India, Seyyed Mohammad Taqi, popular as Mumtaz ul-Ulema, passed away in the city of Lucknow. His library is famous in India, and he authored several books such as “Irshad al-Momineen”, “Hadiqat al-Wa’ezeen”, and “Zaheer ash-Shi’a”.

147 solar years ago, on this day in 1870 AD, the English author and novelist, Charles Dickens, died at the age of 58. He was the founder of Realism Style in English literature. His books include "Oliver Twist" and "David Copperfield" which brought him world fame. Among his other famous novels, mention can be made of "Great Expectations" and "The Tale of Two Cities". Dickens who was editor of “Bentley’s Miscellany” a general interest monthly magazine, from January 1837 to 1839, paid tribute to the Martyr of Karbala in it, by writing:

“If Husain had fought to quench his worldly desires…then I do not understand why his sister, wife, and children accompanied him. It stands to reason therefore, that he sacrificed purely for Islam.”

133 solar years ago, on this day in 1884 AD, Germany forced Togo in West Africa to become its protectorate by signing a treaty with King Mlapa III. In 1905, this former slave trade centre for European merchants was declared the German colony of Togoland. During World War I it was invaded by British troops from the neighbouring Gold Coast or today’s Ghana and French troops from Dahomey, which is now the republic of Benin. As a result, Togoland was separated into two League of Nations mandates administered by Britain and France. After World War II, these mandates became UN Trust Territories. In 1957, the residents of British Togoland voted to join the Gold Coast as part of the new independent nation of Ghana in 1957, while in 1959, French Togoland became an autonomous republic within the French Union. The next year it was declared the Togolese Republic. It has a coastline on the Gulf of Guinea and shares borders with Benin, Ghana, and Burkina Faso. Some 25 percent of its people are Muslims.

55 solar years ago, on this day in 1962 AD, the University of Algiers in the Algerian capital was set ablaze by French agents, as a result of which 500,000 volumes of valuable books were destroyed. The majority of burnt books were important and unique reference works.

50 solar years ago, on this day in 1967 AD, during the 6-day war, the usurper state of Israel seized the Golan Heights from Syria, and later illegally annexed it. Despite several UN Security Council Resolutions, the illegal Zionist entity, with the backing of the US, has refused to withdraw from occupied Syrian territory.

49 solar years ago, on this day in 1968 AD, the prominent Islamic scholar and mystic, Ayatollah Seyyed Mohammad Hassan Elahi Tabatabai, passed away at the age of 62. Born in Tabriz, northwestern Iran, he left for holy Najaf in Iraq at the age of 19 for higher Islamic studies. After attaining ijtihad he returned to his hometown, Tabriz, and started teaching. Among his valuable works is “A Treatise on the Science of Music and Spiritual Relations with Sounds”.

24 lunar years ago, on this day in 1414 AH, American-Zionist soldier of German Jewish parentage, Baruch Goldstein, opened fire on rows of Palestinian Muslims praying in congregation at the shrine of Prophet Abraham (AS) in the city of al-Khalil in the West Bank of River Jordan in the blessed fasting month of Ramadhan. As a result of this cowardly act of terrorism 29 people were martyred and scores of others wounded. This act of terrorism led to the anger of the civilized world. As a result, the Arab compromisers had no other choice but to postpone their dubious negotiations with the illegal Zionist entity.

6 solar years ago, on this day in 2011, the famous Indian artist and painter Maqboul Fida Hussain, died in self-exile in Qatar at the age of 96. Born into a family of Bohras of the Sulaymani Ismaili Shi'ite sect, he is considered the Picasso of India and was forced to leave his homeland because of threats against his life by Hindu extremists.

AS/ME