Today is Friday; 26th of the Iranian month of Khordad 1396 solar hijri; corresponding to 21st of the Islamic month of Ramadhan 1438 lunar hijri; and June 16, 2017, of the Christian Gregorian Calendar.

Some three-and-a-half millennia ago, on this date (Ramadhan 21), Prophet Moses (AS), passed away at the age of over 120, after delivering the Israelites from bondage in Pharaonic Egypt, expounding the laws of the heavenly scripture Torah that God revealed to him, and giving the tidings of the Last and Greatest Messenger to be raised among the Ishmaelite Arabs, Prophet Mohammad (SAWA).

Over three millennia ago, on this date (Ramadhan 21) Prophet Joshua (Yusha’ in Arabic) passed away. He was the successor of Prophet Moses (AS).

Over two millennia ago, on this date (Ramadhan 21) Prophet Jesus (AS) was raised alive to the sky by God, to save him from possible death at the hands of the Romans, following his betrayal by the treacherous Israelite, Judas Iscariot, who instead was crucified on the cross. God had revealed the Evangel to Jesus for the guidance of the ever-rebellious Israelites, who plotted against him, and refused to listen to the Messiah’s tidings of the coming of the Last and Greatest Messenger with the universal message of Islam, Prophet Mohammad (SAWA).

1654 solar years ago, on this day in 363 AD, Roman Emperor Julian the Apostate during his retreat from what is now Iraq (lower Mesopotamia), following counterattacks by the Persian army, sailed up the River Tigris and burned his fleet of supply ships in a bid to inspire his forces to make a bold stand. Ten days later, he was killed in the Battle of Samarra as the Iranian army of Sassanid Emperor Shapur II (equipped with war elephants from the Indian satrapies) inflicted a shattering defeat on the Romans. Earlier, while Shapur was in the east, Julian the Apostate (who renounced Christianity and reverted to paganism), had made a daring raid on the Persian capital, Ctesiphon (Mada’en, near Baghdad), as part of an unsuccessful European attempt to seize Iraq for possible infiltration into the Iranian Plateau and domination of the east – like Alexander of Macedonia. The Romans failed to take Ctesiphon and fled in the face of Iranian resistance.

1398 lunar years ago, on this day in 40 AH, the Commander of True Believers, the Leader of the Pious, the Symbol of Justice, the Epitome of Valour, and the Gateway of the City of Knowledge, Imam Ali Ibn Abi Taleb (AS), was martyred in Kufa and laid to rest in nearby Najaf, which today is one of the foremost centres of pilgrimage with its golden domed shrine. Two days earlier, while in the state of ritual prayer, he was fatally struck on the head by the poisoned sword of the renegade, Abdur-Rahman Ibn Muljam. As the cousin, ward, son-in-law, and divinely-decreed vicegerent of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA), Imam Ali (AS) needs no introduction. His model government of social justice, which no administration anywhere in the world has ever succeeded to match, continues to be an inspiration for the seekers of truth. As the unrivalled master of eloquence and wisdom, his sermons, letters and maxims, have been collected in book forms for more than a millennium and two centuries, with the “Nahj al-Balaghah” or Highway of Eloquence, being the most famous. Interestingly, all Sufi or mystical orders trace their origin to his ascetic way of life, while even Sunni Muslims, despite regarding him as the 4th caliph in the order of political succession, consider him to be superior to all and everybody else after Prophet Mohammad (SAWA).

1385 solar years ago, on this day in 632 AD, marks the start of the religious calendar of the Zoroastrian community with the ascension to the throne in Ctesiphon (near Baghdad in modern Iraq) of the 8-year Yazdegird III, the 29th and last Emperor of the Sassanid Dynasty. He was the son of Shahryar and grandson of Khosrow II (Pervez), and after a series of internal conflicts, was placed on the throne, but never truly exercised authority. The Muslim conquest of the Persian Empire began in the first year of his reign, and ended twelve years later with the Battle of Oxus River in Central Asia, the eastern limit of the Sassanid Empire in 644 AD. After fleeing to China via Turkestan, Yazdegird III returned to Iran but was killed by a local miller in Marv in 651 on the instructions of the governor of that city which is currently in Turkmenistan. His daughter, Princess Shahrbano married Imam Husain (AS), the younger grandson and 3rd Infallible Successor of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA), and became mother of the Prophet’s 4th Infallible Heir, Imam Ali Zain al-Abedin (AS).

410 lunar years ago, on this day in 1028 AH, the scholar Seyyed Jamal od-Din Majed bin Hashem bin Ali al-Hussaini, known as Seyyed Majed al-Bahrani, passed away in Shiraz and was laid to rest in the mausoleum of Seyyed Ahmad Shah Chiragh, the son of Imam Musa al-Kazem (AS), the 7^th Infallible Heir of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA). Born in Bahrain, which was an integral part of Iran, for higher religious studies he came to the Safavid capital Isfahan, where among his teachers was the celebrated Shaikh Baha od-Din Ameli. In turn he was the teacher of Faiz Kashani, and on his return to Bahrain where he served as judge and Friday Prayer Leader, he groomed several local Arab scholars. He moved to Shiraz, where he held the same positions, and stayed till the end of his life. He wrote several books.

384 solar years ago, on this day in 1633 AD, the famous French traveler of the Muslim World, Jean de Thevenot, was born in Paris. In 1652 he started his journey by visiting England, the Netherlands, Germany and Italy. In 1655 he came to Istanbul the capital of the Ottoman Empire, and then proceeded to Smyrna, the Greek islands, and finally to Egypt, landing at Alexandria. He stayed for a year in Egypt, then visited Sinai, and, upon returning to Cairo, joined the Lent pilgrim caravan to Bayt al-Moqaddas. He visited the chief places of pilgrimage in Palestine, and was again in Cairo. In January 1659 he sailed from Alexandria to Tunis and after spending four years in Italy in studies, in November 1663 he again sailed for the East, calling at Alexandria and landing at Sidon (in Lebanon), whence he proceeded by land to Damascus, Aleppo, and then through Iraq to Mosul, Baghdad and Mandali. He entered Iran in August 1664, proceeding by Kermanshah and Hamedan to the Safavid capital, Isfahan, where he spent five months. Then he joined the French merchant Tavernier, and proceeded by Shiraz and Lar to Bandar-Abbas on the Persian Gulf, in the hope of finding a passage to India. Tavernier left for India but Thevenot returned to Shiraz and visited the ruins of the Achaemenid capital Persepolis, which was destroyed by Alexander of Macedon. He then travelled to Basra and sailed for India on November 6, 1665, arriving at the port of Surat in Gujarat on January 10, 1666. He was in the Mughal Empire of India for thirteen months, and crossed into the Deccan or south India where he stayed for a while in Haiderabad, the capital of the Qutb Shahi Dynasty, travelling around the kingdom as far as Masulipatam on the Bay of Bengal. He returned overland to Surat, from where he sailed to Bandar-Abbas and went up to Shiraz. He passed the summer of 1667 at Isfahan, and in October started for Tabriz, but died on the way at Miyana on November 28, 1667. Thevenot was skilled in the Turkish, Arabic and Persian languages, and a curious and diligent observer. He was also well skilled in natural sciences, especially in botany, for which he made large collections in India.

334 lunar years ago, on this day in 1104 AH, the famous Islamic scholar, Mohammad Ibn Hassan Ibn Ali Ibn Hussain al-Amili al-Mashghari, known popularly as Shaikh Horr-e Ameli, passed away in Mashhad at the age of 71 and was laid to rest in one of the northern porches of the Grand Mausoleum of Imam Reza (AS), the 8^th Infallible Heir of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA). Born in the Jabal Amel region of southern Lebanon, he studied in his homeland under prominent scholars, and later performed the Hajj and pilgrimage to the holy shrines of Iraq. Till the age of 40 he stayed in Lebanon, before migrating to Safavid Iran where after a meeting with the famous Iranian scholar in Isfahan, Allamah Mohammad Baqer Majlisi, he was given the position of Shaikh al-Islam in Mashhad – a duty which he discharged for 30 years. He was a prolific writer and among the many books he wrote, mention could be made of “Wasa’el ash-Shi’a”, which is an encyclopedic work on hadith.

233 lunar years ago, on this date in 1205 AH, the virtuous scholar Seyyed Sadeq Ibn Ali Ibn Hussain al-A'araj al-Fakhaam, passed away.

201 solar years ago, on this day in 1816 AD, English poet George Gordon Byron read “Fantasmagoriana” (a French anthology of German ghost stories) to his four house guests at the Villa Diodati by Lake Geneva, Switzerland –Percy Shelley, Mary Shelley, Claire Clairmont, and John Polidori. He challenged that each guest write a ghost story, which culminated in Mary Shelley writing the novel “Frankenstein”, John Polidori writing the short story “The Vampyre”, and Byron writing the poem “Darkness”. Byron led an unprincipled life, travelling around Europe and indulging in scandalous affairs. He died of severe bleeding at the age of 36, while inciting the Greeks to sedition against Ottoman Muslims.

163 lunar years ago, on this day in 1275 AH, the prominent scholar of Iraq, Sheikh Hussain ibn Shaikh Radhi ibn Sheikh Nasar an-Najafi, passed away.

146 lunar years ago, on this date in 1292 AH, the scholar Seyyed Mohammed Reza al-Mazandarani al-Isfahani, passed away.

98 solar years ago, on this day in 1919 AD, Ayatollah Mirza Mustafa Mujtahed Tabrizi passed away at the relatively young age of 40 years in his hometown Tabriz, and his body was taken to holy Najaf in Iraq for burial. A product of the Najaf seminary, in addition to jurisprudence, theology, and hadith, he mastered mathematics and astronomy, and was an accomplished poet in Arabic and Persian. Among his works mention could be made of the “Hashiya” (Annotation) he wrote separately on the books “Kifayat al-Usoul” and “Lisan al-Khawas”.

73 solar years ago, on this day in 1944 AD, 14-year old Afro-American boy, George Junius Stinney Jr., was mercilessly executed by the US government on alleged charges of homicide. He was the youngest person executed in the US in the 20th century. His execution is proof of the flawed concept of justice in the US, which styles itself as champion of human rights and uses this as a tool to interfere in the affairs of other countries, despite its sordid record of genocide of the Amerindians and mistreatment of black and coloured peoples. There are cases in the US where after execution it has been proved that the person handed capital punishment was innocent.

73 solar years ago, on this day in 1944 AD, during World War II, the US air force carried out an extensive bombardment of southern Japan in a bid to force Tokyo to surrender. Tens of thousands of Japanese civilians were killed and the factories and farmlands were destroyed. Japan, however, stood steadfast. Having failed to break the spirit of the Japanese, the US intensified its crimes against humanity, and over a year later in August 1945 it dropped atomic bombs on the cities of Nagasaki and Hiroshima.

54 solar years ago, on this day in 1963 AD, the first female astronaut, the Soviet Union's Valentina Tereshkova, started her journey into outer space on board the Vostok-6 Spacecraft, two years after the first male astronaut of the world, Yuri Gagarin, orbited the Earth. Tereshkova orbited 48 times around the Earth in 70 hours and 50 minutes.

52 solar years ago, on this day in 1965 AD, four members of the Islamic Coalition Group, namely Mohammad Bukharai, Sadeq Amani, Saffar Harandi, and Morteza Niknejad, were martyred by the British-installed and US-backed Shah, for protesting against his anti-Islamic policies. The Islamic Coalition was formed in the aftermath of the exile of the Father of the Islamic Revolution, Imam Khomeini (RA) following the 15th of Khordad Uprising (June 5, 1963). This combatant group had earlier carried out the revolutionary execution of the then Iranian premier, Hassan Ali Mansour, the implementer of the scandalous Capitulation Law, which granted judicial immunity to Americans in Iran. More than hundred members of the Islamic Coalition Group were arrested, tortured and imprisoned after unfair trials.

41 solar years ago, on this day in 1976 AD, the Soweto Uprising, also known as the 16 June Uprising, started in South Africa as a series of protests led by high school students. Students from numerous Sowetan schools began to protest in the streets of Soweto in response to the introduction of Afrikaans as the medium of instruction in local schools by the white racist Apartheid regime. An estimated 20,000 students took part in the protests. The number of people who died is estimated at 700. June 16 is marked as Youth Day with a public holiday in South Africa, in remembrance of the events of 1976.

10 solar years ago, on this day in 2007 AD, the Source of Emulation, Grand Ayatollah Mohammad Fazel Lankarani, passed away in his hometown Qom at the age of 76 years. He was a student of both Grand Ayatollah Seyyed Hussain Boroujerdi and the Father of the Islamic Revolution, Imam Khomeini (RA). He was active in the 15th Khordad uprising, for which he was detained and tortured on several occasions by the Shah. He fully supported the victory of Islamic Revolution and founding of the Islamic Republic, and groomed numerous students.

4 solar years ago, on this day in 2012 AD, Takfiri terrorists backed by the US and Saudi Arabia, used car bombs to target religious processions in Baghdad on the route of the annual pilgrimage to the holy shrine of the 7^th and 9^th Infallible Imams of the Prophet’s Household in Kadhemain, leaving around 50 people martyred and over a hundred others injured.

One solar year ago, on this day in 2016 AD, famous Iranian pharmaceutical chemist, Professor Abbas Shafiee, passed away at the of 79 in Tehran. Born in a religious family, he completed his education in medical sciences from Tehran University in 1962, specializing in pharmaceutical sciences. He then travelled to the US where he obtained a master's degree in 1965 from Columbia University's College of Pharmaceutical Sciences in 1965, and a Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Chemistry from the same institution in 1968. On his return to Iran, he started teaching at Tehran University, where he soon became President of the Faculty of Pharmacy. During the 8-year war the US imposed on Iran through Saddam of the repressive Ba’th minority regime, Dr. Shafiee was active at the frontlines, examining victims of the internationally banned chemicals used by the Ba’thists. He studied the toxic weapons used and their effects, and succeeded in producing chemicals to neutralize their effects. He published more than 350 scientific articles in peer reviewed international journals.

AS/ME