Today is Saturday, 20th of the Iranian month of Khordad 1396 solar hijri; corresponding to 15th of the Islamic month of Ramadhan 1438 lunar hijri; and June 10, 2017, of the Christian Gregorian Calendar.

1907 solar years ago, on this day in 110 AD, following 50 years of peace with the Parthian Empire, the Roman army under orders of Emperor Trajan attacked Armenia which was a northwestern province of the Iranian Empire. After two years, the Iranians liberated Armenia and drove out the Romans.

1435 lunar years ago, on this day in 3 AH, Imam Hasan Mojtaba (AS), the eldest grandson and 2^nd Infallible Heir of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA), was born in Medina. His name "Hasan", which means the "Most Excellent" was chosen by the Prophet on the commandment of God and is the Arabic equivalent of "Shabar" the name in Hebrew of the first born son of Aaron, the brother and vicegerent of Prophet Moses (AS). Imam Hasan (AS), along with his younger brother, Imam Husain (AS), was hailed by the Prophet as Twin Leaders of the Youths of Paradise. The two brothers along with their parents, Imam Ali (AS) and Hazrat Fatema Zahra (SA), were covered by the Prophet under his cloak as the Ahl al-Bayt on revelation of the Verse of Purity (holy Qur’an 33:33), and this immaculate group also accompanied the Prophet to the decisive debate of Mubahela with the Christians of Najran on revelation of ayah 61 of Surah Nisa in order to prove the truth of Islam. Six months after succeeding to the caliphate, following his father’s martyrdom, Imam Hasan (AS), in view of the widespread sedition and hypocrisy in the society, agreed to relinquish political rule to the charlatan Mu’awiya ibn Abu Sufyan in order to unmask him in his true heathen colours. Thus, his prudence and foresight saved Islam from civil war, at a time when the Byzantine Empire was waiting for weakening of Muslims to attack and occupy Syria and Bayt al-Moqaddas.

1263 solar years ago, on this day in 754 AD, Abu’l-Abbas al-Saffah, the first self-styled caliph of the usurper Abbasid regime, died after a rule of four years, following the overthrow of the Godless Omayyad dynasty, and was succeeded by his crafty and cruel brother, Mansour Dawaniqi. Named Abdullah, he claimed descent from Abbas, an uncle of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA). Although he returned the vast orchard of Fadak to the Prophet's progeny, from whom it was seized by the first and second caliphs, he usurped political power of the state himself, despite the deceptive slogan of his political-military campaign to return to the Ahl al-Bayt the rule of the Islamic realm. The reason he is known as 'as-Saffah' (Shedder of blood), is because of his ruthless massacre of the Omayyads, whose male members he exterminated, almost to the last single person, except for a youth called Abdur-Rahman, who managed to flee Syria to Spain, where he seized power and set up a dynasty that ruled for a century. Saffah also dug up the graves of the Omayyads in Damascus, including that of their founder, Mu'awiyah ibn Abu Sufyan, and burned their bones and skeletons.

1077 solar years ago, on this day in 940 AD, the Islamic-Iranian mathematician and astronomer, Abu'l-Wafa Mohammad ibn Mohammad ibn Yahya al-Bouzjani, was born in the northeastern Iranian town of Bouzhgan (present day Torbat-e Jam) in Khorasan. After acquiring the sciences of the day, he moved to Baghdad at the age of 19 and remained there for forty years. He made important innovations in spherical trigonometry, and his work on arithmetic for businessmen contains the first instance of using negative numbers in an Islamic text. He was the first to build a wall quadrant to observe the sky. Bouzjani participated in an experiment to determine the difference in local time between his location in Baghdad and that of his famous contemporary, Abu Rayhan al-Berouni in Kath, Khwarezm, which is now part of the Central Asian Republic of Uzbekistan. The result was very close to present-day calculations, showing a difference of approximately 1 hour between the two longitudes. The 3^rd Lunar Inequality (the variation) was first discovered by Bouzjani, a fact admitted by European scientist, Tycho Brahe, who often quotes this Iranian Islamic scientist's work. His "Kitab al-Majisti" (Almajest) covers numerous topics in the fields of plane and spherical trigonometry, planetary theory, and solutions to determine the direction of Qibla – the focal point of the daily ritual prayers for Muslims worldwide. The crater “Abu'l-Wafa” on the Moon is named after him. Bouzjani wrote several books that have not survived, including “Tarikh-e Ilm al-Hesab” (The History of Calculus).

1055 lunar years ago, on this day in 383 AH, the famous literary figure, Abu Bakr Mohammad Ibn Abbas Khwarezmi, passed away in the northeastern Iranian city of Naishapour. He had a strong memory and was highly talented in memorization of Arabic poems and history. He had inclinations towards the household of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA) and has highlighted in his works the tyranny of the caliphs including the Omayyads and the Abbasids. One of his famous works is “ar-Rasa’el”, which is a masterpiece of Arabic literature. He was the maternal nephew (sister’s son) of the famous Abu Ja’far Mohammad Ibn Rustom Tabari.

1053 lunar years ago, on this day in 385 AH, the famous scholar and Founder of the Islamic Seminary of holy Najaf in Iraq, Abu Ja'far Mohammad Ibn Hassan Tusi, popular as Shaikh at-Ta’efah, was born in Tous near holy Mashhad in Khorasan, northeastern Iran. On completing his studies in his homeland, at the age of 23 he left for Baghdad for higher studies under the celebrated scholar Shaikh Mufid, who died five years later in 413 AH. Leadership of the Shi'ite Muslim scholars then fell to the renowned Sharif Murtaza, who remained in this position for 23 years until his death in 436 AH. During this period Shaikh Tousi was closely associated with Sharif Murtaza, and subsequently succeeded him as head of the community. So impressive was Shaikh Tusi's knowledge that the Abbasid caliph, al-Qader, attended his lectures. Eleven years later in 447 AH, when the Iranian Buwayhid dynasty was in the state of decline, the house of Shaikh Tusi in the Karkh locality, along with his library that contained some 90,000 books, was burnt down in sectarian riots. Shaikh Tusi, seeing the danger of remaining in Baghdad, moved to holy Najaf where his arrival made it the leading centre of Islamic scholarship, a role which it has maintained down to the present day. Some 13 years later, he passed away and was succeeded by his son Shaikh Hassan Tusi, who as an outstanding scholar was known as Mufid-e Thani or Second Mufid. He was laid to rest in his home, near the shrine of the Commander of the Faithful, Imam Ali ibn Abi Taleb (AS) – the vicegerent and 1^st Infallible Heir of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA). His house containing his tomb was converted into a mosque and is known today as Jame' at-Tusi. He authored over 50 books on various topics such as jurisprudence, exegesis of the holy Qur’an, hadith, theology, history and biography of narrators. Of the four authoritative resources of hadith of the School of the Prophet's Ahl al-Bayt, two were compiled by Shaikh at-Taifah Tusi. These two basic reference books are: “Tahzeeb al-Ahkaam” and “al-Istibsaar”. His exegesis on the holy Qur'an is titled “at-Tibyaan”. On the Lord of the Age, Imam Mahdi (God hasten his reappearance) he wrote the book “al-Ghayba” (Occultation). His another work is “Mukhtasar Akhbar al-Mukhtar”, a concise history of the uprising of Mukhtar ibn Abu Obaydah Thaqafi to avenge the martyrdom of Imam Husain (AS).

827 solar years ago, on this day in 1190 AD, leader of the Third Crusade against Muslims, the self-styled Holy Roman Emperor Fredrick Barbarossa of Germany, drowned in River Saleph, known currently as Goksu Nehri in what is now Turkey. On the instructions of Pope Urban III, he had assembled a huge army in alliance with the kings of France and England, and marched overland towards Syria through the Byzantine Empire, but before reaching his cherished goal, i.e. the Islamic city of Bayt al-Moqaddas in Palestine, Barbarossa and his horse were struck by divine wrath and swept away to a terrible death that aborted the joint military campaign against Muslims. His leaderless army lost heart and fled, and many European Christian knights, afraid of fighting Muslims, committed suicide.

804 solar years ago, on this day in 1213 AD, Iranian philosopher and Sufi writer, Fakhr od-Din Ibrahim Iraqi, was born in Hamedan, western Iran. He spent many years in Multan, (present day Pakistan) as well as in Konya and Toqat in present day Turkey. He was highly educated in both theology and literary disciplines and not only knew the Holy Qur'an, hadith and its exegesis, but also Persian and Arabic literature. In Multan he became a disciple of the Head of the Suhrawardi Sufi Order, Shaikh Baha od-Din Zakariyya, married his daughter, and stayed for twenty-five years. He then traveled first to Mecca and Medina, and later visited Konya, where he became a good friend of the famous Persian mystical poet, Mowlana Jalal od-Din Rumi. He also met Sadr od-Din Qunawi, who helped to shape him intellectually, as Shaikh Baha od-Din Zakariyya had shaped him spiritually. After Rumi's death, he moved to Toqat, at a time when there was much upheaval on the Byzantine border. The local ruler did not like him because of his influence over the people; so he fled to Cairo in Egypt. Later he settled in Damascus where he died at the age of 78. His writings include “Lama’at” (Divine Flashes). His Diwan has been published in Iran under the title “Kulliyaat-e Iraqi”. Another of his works is the “Ushshaq-Namah” written during his stay in Multan and dedicated to the vizier Shams od-Din Juwayni.

688 solar years ago, on this day in 1329 AD, the Battle of Pelekanon resulted in a Byzantine defeat by the rising power of the Ottoman Turks, led by Orhan I. The defeat suffered by Emperor Andronicus III meant that no Byzantine army would again attempt to attack Anatolia. The Ottomans built up a strong base from which they eventually swept away the Byzantine Empire as a whole, a century-and-a-half later.

473 lunar years ago, on this day in 965 AH, the famous jurisprudent Shaikh Zayn od-Din al-Juba'i al-Ameli, known as “Shaheed Thani” (Second Martyr), was martyred at the age of 54. Born in Juba in the Jabal Amel region of what is now Lebanon, he is believed to have some connection with Tous in Khorasan, because he occasionally signed his surname as "at-Tousi ash-Shami" – the second part pertaining to Greater Syria since Lebanon like Palestine and Jordan is actually a part of Syria. After initial study under his father, he was groomed for some 8 years by the celebrated Shaikh Ali bin Hussain bin Abd al-Aali Muhaqqaq Karki, and by the age of 33 became a Mujtahed. He had also studied in Damascus under Sunni ulema, and became an authority on such texts as “Sahih Bukhari” and “Sahih Muslim”. He visited Egypt to study medicine, geometry, prosody and logic from different teachers. He performed the Hajj pilgrimage and visited Bayt al-Moqaddas, in addition to travelling to Iraq for the pilgrimage to the shrines of the Imams of the Ahl al-Bayt. During a visit to Istanbul had a lively discussion with the Chief Qazi of the state, Mohammad bin Mohammad Qazizadah ar-Roumi, to whom he presented a treatise titled “Ten Knowledges” that greatly impressed the latter. He was permitted to teach at the Nooriyah Islamic School in Ba’lbek, where he taught the five schools of Islamic jurisprudence, that is, Ja'fari, Hanafi, Shafei, Maliki and Hanbali. Apart from proficiency in jurisprudence, he was well versed in theology, philosophy, Gnosis, medicine and astronomy. He was a man of piety, known for his austere way of life. His students have recorded in his biography that he maintained his family by selling wood that he cut during the nights, and then sat to teach during the day. Some pseudo ulema, adverse to Islamic unity, conspired against him, labeled false accusations, and complained to the Ottoman Sultan. He was taken to Istanbul, but on the way to see the Sultan, he was brutally beheaded and his body thrown into the sea. His assassin was killed on the Sultan's orders. Later, a shrine was built by Turkmens at the site of his martyrdom when they realised his lofty stature. He authored several books, and his masterpiece is the commentary on the jurisprudential manual "Lum'at-ad-Dimashqiyya" (The Damascene Glitter) of the First Martyr, Mohammad Jamal od-Din al-Makki al-Ameli, titled "ar-Rawdhat-al-Bahiyah ft Sharh al-Lum'at-ad- Dimashqiyya" (The Beautiful Garden in Interpreting the Damascene Glitter).

231 solar years ago, on this day in 1786 AD, a landslide dam on the Dadu River created by an earthquake ten days earlier collapsed, killing 100,000 in the Sichuan province of China.

227 solar years ago, on this day in 1790 AD, British troops attacked and occupied Malaya. Upon the infiltration of Britain, the Dutch troops were forced to retreat from Malaya and even parts of Indonesia. In 1824, British sovereignty was firmly established in what is now Malaysia, while Indonesia remained a colony of the Netherlands called the Dutch East Indies. These two European powers wantonly looted the wealth of these two Muslim lands. Malaysia gained independence from British rule in 1956 while Indonesia gained independence in 1957.

212 solar years ago, on this day in 1805 AD, the First Barbary War ended when the Ottoman Pasha (governor) of Tripolitania (Western Libya), Yusuf Karamanli, signed a treaty ending hostilities with the United States, which was forced to pay huge war indemnity. The war occurred off the coast of Tripolitania 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 Britain, again attacked the North African states in the Second Barbary War. With Ottoman naval power on the wane and the Mediterranean Sea no longer 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 19th 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.

181 solar years ago, on this day in 1836 AD, French mathematician and physicist, Andre Marie Ampere, died. He lectured at the Paris Polytechnic and made important discoveries. He invented the electrical telegraph. He is known as the founder of electrodynamics, now known as electromagnetism. To honour his efforts, the unit of electrical current has been named after him, as Ampere.

105 solar years ago, on this day in 1912 AD, Iranian meteorologist and academic, Mohammad Hassan Ganji, was born in Birjand, in Khorasan. He is credited as being the father of modern geography in Iran. He established the Iran Meteorological Organization in 1955 and served as the head of Iran's Department General of Meteorology from 1956 to 1968. He died in Tehran at the age of one hundred years.

50 solar years ago, on this day in 1967 AD, the Six-Day War ended, a day after the illegal Zionist entity’s final offensive in Syria’s Golan Heights and Damascus’ agreeing to a ceasefire, with large parts of its territory, as well as that of Egypt, Lebanon and Jordan, occupied by Israel. With military backing from the US, the Zionist entity seized Gaza and Sinai from Egypt, Bayt al-Moqaddas and the West Bank from Jordan, the Golan Heights from Syria, and southern parts of Lebanon. The Israelis violated all international norms by killing 300 Egyptian prisoners of war.

47 solar years ago, on this day in 1970 AD, Ayatollah Mohammad Reza Saeedi, attained martyrdom in the Shah's dungeons as a result of torture, at the age of 41. A student of Grand Ayatollah Seyyed Hussain Boroujerdi and the Father of the Islamic Revolution, Imam Khomeini (God bless him), he was active in the 15th of Khordad Uprising (of June 5, 1963). He believed that mosques are bastions for enlightening people, especially youths, and in his speeches exposed the crimes of the Zionists in Palestine. As a result, he was detained and tortured by the Shah's regime on several occasions. He wrote many books including "Ittehad al-Islam".

41 solar years ago, on this day in 1976 AD, Iranian Taekwondo champion, Hadi Sa’ei was born in Rayy, the southern suburb of Tehran. He became the most successful Iranian athlete in Olympic history after winning gold in the 2008 Summer Olympics. He competed in the Men's 68 kg (featherweight) at the 2004 Summer Olympics and won the gold medal. In addition, he competed in the Men's 80 kg at the 2008 Summer Olympics and won his second Olympic gold. Earlier in his career, in the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Sa’ei had won bronze medal.

18 solar years ago, on this day in 1999 AD, scientists reported wintertime cloud of air pollution the size of the US over the Indian Ocean. The soot and sulfur cloud covered an area of 3.8 million sq. miles.

17 solar years ago, on this day in 2000 AD, Syrian President Hafez al-Assad, passed away at the age of 70. He was instated as air force commander of Syria in 1964 and appointed defence minister in 1967 in the aftermath of the 6-day war imposed by Israel. Following a coup in 1970, he was elected leader of the Ba'th Party and was subsequently elected as president in a referendum. During his 30 years as president, he developed Syria and brought stability to a country where governments used to last not more than a year because of coups and counter-coups. He carried out reforms and played a major role in the 1973 war along with Egypt against the illegal Zionist entity, but because of massive US and western support for Israel, Syria was defeated and the Golan Heights continued to be occupied. The main feature of his foreign policy was refusal to compromise with Israel. He was a member of the Alawite Muslim sect and a firm supporter of the Islamic Revolution of Iran, a factor that made the West and Arab reactionary regimes despise him. After him, his son Bashar al-Assad was elected as president and is steadfastly serving the Syrian people despite the massive invasion of Syria by thousands of heavily armed terrorists from around the world, supported by Israel, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, France and Britain.

June 10 is celebrated as World Handicraft Day worldwide under the auspices of   the World Crafts Council (WCC), affiliated to UNESCO. Iranian artists have used the occasion to draw international attention to Iran’s unique art forms, including the Persian carpet. Iran is home to one of the richest art heritages and handicrafts in world history and distinguished in many disciplines, including architecture, painting, weaving, pottery, calligraphy, metalworking, stone masonry etc.

AS/SS