Today is Thursday; 25th of the Iranian month of Khordad 1396 solar hijri; corresponding to 20th of the Islamic month of Ramadhan 1438 lunar hijri; and June 15, 2017, of the Christian Gregorian Calendar.

2780 solar years ago, on this day in 763 BC, the Assyrians recorded a solar eclipse that was later used to fix the chronology of Mesopotamian history in today’s Iraq and the neighbouring lands

1430 lunar years ago, on this day in 8 AH, Mecca, the then centre of paganism, peacefully surrendered to Muslims at the approach of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA) without notice with some 10,000 believers, following the breach of the Treaty of Hodaibiyyah signed two years earlier by the Arabs. The Prophet declared general amnesty to his bitter foes and even did not retaliate against the killers of his dear uncle, Hamza, that is, the Abyssinian slave Wahshi and his masters who had ordered him to commit the savagery at Ohad five years earlier – Hind and her husband Abu Sufyan. He spared them by calling them “tulaqa” or freed slaves. This display of the clemency had a profound effect and multitudes of Qoreish started embracing the truth of Islam, as borne out by “Surah Nasr” revealed by God on this day. The Prophet ordered demolishment of temples and the holy Ka’ba was cleansed of the idols the polytheists had installed at Abraham’s edifice of monotheism. The chief idol atop the Ka’ba was pulled down by Imam Ali (AS), who, the Prophet lifted on his shoulders to end idolatry in Arabia.

985 solar years ago, on this day in 1032 AD, Salar Masoud Ghazi, a descendent of the Prophet’s vicegerent, Imam Ali ibn Abi Taleb (AS), through Mohammad al-Hanafiya, attained martyrdom in the town of Bahraich, 125 km northeast of Lucknow in what is now Uttar Pradesh state of India. He was a pious person, and after arriving in India with the armies of the Turkic conqueror, Sultan Mahmoud Ghaznavi, he penetrated the interior of India to propagate Islam. Revered till this day as Ghazi Miyan by both Muslims and Hindus, his tomb is the site of pilgrimage in India.

896 lunar years ago, on this day in 542 AH, the Arabic literary figure, grammarian, and poet, Hibatollah Ibn Ali Ibn ash-Shajari, passed away. He was a descendant of Imam Hasan Mojtaba (AS), the elder grandson of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA). He spent almost seventy years lecturing on grammar and has left behind numerous works, including: “al-Amali”, and “al-Hamasah”. He has critically evaluated and beautifully explained the poetry of the famous poet, al-Mutanabbi who preceded him by two centuries.

812 lunar years ago, on this day in 626 AH, the Islamic geographer and biographer, Yaqout ibn Abdullah ar-Rumi al-Hamawi, passed away at the age of 51 in Aleppo, Syria. Renowned for his encyclopedic writings, the epithet "ar-Rumi" refers to his Roman or more properly Greek Byzantine origin, while "al-Hamawi" is taken from the family name of his master who was from Hama in Syria but settled in Baghdad, Iraq. “Ibn-Abdullah” means “son of the servant of God, since the name of his Greek father was rather difficult to pronounce in Arabic. His master taught him accounting, trading and other sciences before releasing him. Yaqout, in addition to his native Greek and Latin, mastered Arabic, Persian and Turkish, and dedicated himself to scholarly tasks. He was one of the last scholars who visited the famous Islamic libraries east of the Caspian Sea before the devastating Mongol invasion of Central Asia. He spent two years in the libraries of the Khorasani city of Merv which is currently in Turkmenistan. His two famous voluminous works are “Kitab Mu'jam al-Boldaan (Encyclopedia of Lands) and “Kitab Mu'jam al-Udaba” (Encyclopedia of Writers).

802 solar years ago, on this day in 1215 AD, the Magna Carta (Great Charter) was adopted and sealed by King John of England at Runnymede, granting his barons more liberty. The British claim that it asserted the supremacy of the law over the king.

764 lunar years ago, on this day in 674 AH, the literary figure and historian, Taj od-Din Ali Ibn Anjab Ibn Abdullah as-Sa’i, passed away in Baghdad at the age of 81 years.  He was the custodian of books at the al-Mustansiriyah School of Baghdad. After the sack of Baghdad by the Mongols of Hulagu Khan and the end of the Abbasid caliphate, he was made in charge of the surviving libraries of Baghdad by the renowned Iranian Islamic scientist, Khwjah Naseer od-Din Tusi. Among his works is “al-Jame’ al-Mukhtasar fi Onwan at-Tarikh wa Uyoun as-Siyar”. He also wrote the book “Nisa' al-Khluafa” on the different types of women patronized by the Abbasid caliphs.

618 solar years ago, on this day in 1389 AD, the Ottomans triumphed in the Battle of Kosovo against the Serbs, but Sultan Murad I lost his life, as a result of a surprise attack by a lone Serb warrior, while reviewing his success after the battle. Son of Orhan Bey and grandson of Osman, the Central Asian Turk who founded the Ottoman principality in what is now western Turkey, Murad through his conquests transformed the family fiefdom into a sultanate that subsequently became a vast empire straddling southwest Europe, west Asia and northern Africa.

350 solar years ago, on this day in 1667 AD, the first recorded blood transfusion was administered by Dr. Jean-Baptiste Denys from an animal to human. He successfully transfused a few ounces of blood from a lamb into a-15-year old boy. Another experimental transfusion later in the same year resulted in the patient’s death and Denys was charged with murder.

309 solar years ago, on this day in 1708 AD, the uprising of Scottish independence seekers for liberation of their homeland from the yoke of the English was brutally suppressed. Scottish people have a history of resentment against British colonial rule, and have staged uprisings in various period of history. In 1999, London was forced to agree to the formation of a separate parliament in Scotland.

265 solar years ago, on this day in 1752 AD, Benjamin Franklin's kite-flying experiment proved lightning and electricity were related while flying a kite with a key attached. He equipped his house with a lightning rod, connecting it to bells that ring when the rod is electrified. He explained how to perform a kite experiment in the 19^th October 1752 issue of the Pennsylvania Gazette. He had earlier proposed use of lightning rods to protect houses. He next devised an experiment involving a sentry-box with a pointed rod on its roof, to be erected on hilltop or in church steeple, with rod attached to a Leyden jar which would collect the electrical charge, and thus prove lightning to be a form of electricity.

152 lunar years ago, on this day in 1286 AH, the eminent scholar, Shaikh al-Iraqayn, Abdul-Husain Ibn Ali Tehrani, passed away in Karbala, and was laid to rest in the holy shrine of the Chief of Martyrs, Imam Husain (AS). Iraq. An authority in theology, hadith, and exegesis of the Holy Qur’an, he groomed many students, including the famous Mirza Hussain Nouri, the teacher in turn of the celebrated Shaikh Abbas Qomi – the author of widely circulated prayer-supplication manual “Mafatih al-Jenaan”.  He had a vast collection of books and before his death endowed his library for the use of scholars and researchers.

149 lunar years ago, on this day in 1289 AH, the eminent jurist, Seyyed Mohammed Taqi Ibn Seyyed Mohammed Reza Ibn Seyyed Mohammed Mahdi Bahr al-Uloum, passed away.

121 solar years ago, on this day in 1896 AD, the deadliest tsunami in Japan's history killed more than 22,000 people

119 solar years ago, on this day in 1898 AD, an expansionist US, through a bill in the House of Representatives approved annexation of the kingdom of Hawaii, despite the opposition of the natives, five years after Queen Liliuokalani was forced to abdicate her throne by a group of US businessmen and sugar planters. She was the last reigning queen of the Hawaiian Islands in the Pacific Ocean, having ascended the throne in 1891 upon the death of her brother, King Kalakaua. In 1895, following her failed attempt to regain the throne, she was forced to renounce her royal status and shipped to the US, where her petition to seek compensation for the loss of her property was rejected. The Hawaiians signed what they called the "Monster Petition" which Queen Liliuokalani personally delivered to the US government, but this was also ignored. Hawaii thus became US territory against the wishes of the Hawaiian people and in 1959 was declared as the 50th state.

104 solar years ago, on this day in 1913 AD, the Battle of Bud Bagsak ended in the southern Philippines resulting in the crushing of the 14-year resistance of Filipino Muslims by the American occupiers, who killed their leader Datu Amil and his force of 500 in the 4-day battle. In all, some 20,000 Filipino men, women, and children were slaughtered by the US forces in addition to scores of thousands wounded. The US seized Spanish-controlled Philippines in 1898 at the start of the 4-year war against Spain, and the next year, in violation of all international rules claimed jurisdiction over the independent Muslim ruled archipelago of the Sultanate of Sulu in the south – a provocative move that led to the 14-year war. The Muslims of Philippines, which for five centuries were the dominant power in the south and had thwarted Spanish attempts to subjugate them, became the victims of American expansionism and forcibly made part of the administration in Manila. General John ‘Black Jack’ Pershing, who led the US forces in the battle for Mount Bagsak, later wrote to his wife in the US: "The fighting was the fiercest I have ever seen... They (the Muslims) are absolutely fearless, and once committed to combat they count death as a mere incident." The US went on to occupy Mindanao, Sulu, and Palawan, reduced the Sultan of Sulu to a mere figurehead religious leader, and illegally incorporated the Muslim “Moroland” into the Philippines. The word "Moro" is a term for ethnic Muslims used by the Spanish who used to refer to the Muslims of Iberia (Spain and Portugal) as “Moor”. The American occupiers even ignored the Treaty of Peace between Filipino Muslims and the Spanish signed on July 22, 1878.

99 solar years ago, on this day in 1918 AD, Ayatollah Seyyed Mustafa Mujtahedi Kashani passed away. After preliminary studies in his hometown Kashan and later in Isfahan, he attained the status of Ijtihad at the Islamic seminary of holy Najaf. In addition to being an accomplished poet in both Arabic and Persian, he was active in the struggle against despotism and foreign hegemony, as was evident by his support for the Constitutional Movement in Iran against the Qajarid Dynasty and British encroachment in the region. He was among the ulema, who issued the fatwa for jihad against the British occupation of Iraq, and was personally present at the scenes of confrontation against the foreign forces. His son was the famous Ayatollah Seyyed Abu’l-Qassim Kashani, who led the Iranian people during the oil nationalization campaign in the 1950s.

90 solar years ago, on this day in 1927 AD, famous Urdu poet, humourist, travelogue writer and columnist, Sher Mohammad Khan, known popularly by his penname “Ibn-e Insha”, was born in Phillaur, Punjab, in a family that hailed from Rajasthan. On the partition of the Subcontinent the family moved to Pakistan, and he lived most of his life in Karachi, working for various governmental services including Radio Pakistan, the Ministry of Culture and the National Book Centre. He also served the UN for some time and this enabled him to visit many places – including Iran – all of which served to inspire the travelogues he would then pen.

23 solar years ago, on this day in 1994 AD, Vatican, the seat of the Catholic sect of Christianity, shocked devout Christians by establishing full and formal diplomatic relations with the illegal Zionist entity, Israel, under pressure of the US. The Zionists ridicule the most fundamental beliefs of Christianity by slandering Prophet Jesus and his Virgin Mother, Mary (peace upon them).  

16 solar years ago, on this day in 2001 AD, the Leaders of China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan formed the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation in the city of the same name. It is a political and economic organisation, and the Islamic Republic of Iran, along with India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Mongolia, enjoys observer status at it.

7 solar years ago, on this day in 2010 AD, Iran signed contracts worth 21 billion dollars with local firms to develop six gas fields.

6 solar years ago, on this day in 2011 AD, the Islamic Republic of Iran launched another satellite into the earth’s orbit as part of its peaceful aeronautics programme to gather metrological data.

AS/MG