Today is Sunday; 28th of the Iranian month of Khordad 1396 solar hijri; corresponding to 23rd of the Islamic month of Ramadhan 1438 lunar hijri; and June 18, 2017, of the Christian Gregorian Calendar.

Nearly a millennium-and-a-half lunar years ago, on the eve of this day, God Almighty sent down the Holy Qur’an on the heart of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA) from the Preserved Tablet or the “Lowh al-Mahfouz”, as the final heavenly scripture for all mankind with the universal message of Islam, as is evident by the ayah: “Indeed, We sent it down on the Grand Night (Laylat-al-Qadr).” This was the first stage of the revelation, although over the next 23 years of the Prophet’s mission, the entire text of the Holy Qur’an was gradually revealed to mankind.

1399 solar years ago, on this day in 618 AD, Li Yuan became Emperor Gaozu of Tang, initiating three centuries of Tang Dynasty rule over China.

1276 solar years ago, on this day in 741 AD, Byzantine emperor, Leo III the Isaurian, died at the age of 56 after a reign of 24 years, having seized the throne treacherously in 1717, by deceitfully orchestrating the defeat of the Omayyad siege of Constantinople. As part of his plan to rise up against Emperor Theodosios III, he had tricked the Muslims to send a huge armada of ships, and then betrayed them after seizing the throne for himself, resulting in the disorderly retreat of 1,800 ships sent by the Omayyad regime. The year-long siege marked the culmination of twenty years of attacks and progressive Arab occupation of Byzantine borderlands. Leo, whose original name was Konon, having secured the near extinction of the Empire, invited Slavic settlers into the depopulated districts and when a decade or two later, the Omayyads renewed their invasions in 726 and 739, as part of the campaigns of the tyrant, Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik, they were decisively beaten, particularly at the Battle of Akroinon in 740 in western Anatolia in what is now Turkey. Leo’s military efforts were supplemented by his alliances with the Khazars and the Georgians to keep the Muslims in check. His most striking legislative reforms dealt with religious matters, especially iconoclasm (Icon-breaking). After a successful attempt to enforce the baptism of all Jews and Montanists in the empire (722), he issued a series of edicts against the worship of images (726–729).

1218 lunar years ago, on this day in 220 AH, the founder of the short-lived Tulunid Dynasty of Egypt and later Syria, Ahmad Ibn Tulun, was born in Baghdad. His father, Tulun, was a Turkic slave, sent as part of tribute from the governor of Bukhara to the Abbasid caliph, Ma'mun. The Abbasids used to recruit Turkic slaves to serve as military officers. Ahmad Ibn Tulun received his military training in Samarra, the new Abbasid capital, where he was appointed commander of the special forces of the tyrannical caliph, Mutawakkil. After serving in military campaigns against the Byzantine Empire in Tarsus, he gained the favour of the caliph, Musta'in, and in the reign of the next caliph, Mu'taz, he was sent as governor to Egypt. Since, the existing capital of Egypt, al-Fustat, was too small to accommodate his armies, he founded a new city nearby called Madinat-al-Qatta'i (or Quartered City), to serve as his capital. It was laid out in the style of grand cities of Iran, including a large public square, a palace, and a large ceremonial mosque, which was named after Ibn Tulun. This city was razed in 905 AD on the fall of the Tulunid Dynasty, and only the mosque has survived. Ibn Tulun soon asserted his independence from the Baghdad caliphate by minting coins in his name and seizing control of large parts of Syria. He defeated an Abbasid army sent against him. He died after 17 years in power, but two decades later, the inefficient rule of his son and grandsons brought about the collapse of the dynasty and re-imposition of Abbasid rule on Egypt.

726 solar years ago, on this day 1291 AD, Alfonso III of Aragon died at the age of 26 years. He was hostile to the Muslims of Spain and during his 6-year reign occupied the Muslim state of Manurqa in the Balearic group of islands in the Mediterranean Sea – known today as Minorca

205 solar years ago, on this day in 1812 AD, the US Congress declared war on Britain and Canada. The war lasted two years and eight months. Although no boundary changes occurred, its outcome resolved many issues which remained from the rebellion of the 13 New England colonies that declared themselves the United States of America and fought the 8-year war (1775-1783) to force the British to grant independence. The US declared war for several reasons, including trade restrictions brought about by Britain's continuing war with France, the impressments of American merchant sailors into the Royal Navy, British support of American Indian tribes against US expansion, and American plan in annexing British North American territory (part of modern-day Canada). The war was fought in three principal theatres. Firstly, at sea, where each side attacked the other's merchant ships, while the British blockaded the Atlantic coast of the US and mounted large-scale raids in the later stages of the war. Secondly, both land and naval battles were fought on the US-Canadian frontier, which ran along the Great Lakes. Thirdly, the Gulf of Mexico Coast also saw major land battles in which the American forces defeated Britain's Amerindian allies and a British invasion force at New Orleans. The British took control of eastern Maine, along with parts of Michigan and Wisconsin, and held it with their Amerindian allies for the duration of the war. In the southwest, The British victory at the Battle of Bladensburg in August 1814 allowed them to capture and burn the US capital, Washington. In Canada, victories over invading US armies became iconic and promoted the development of a distinct Canadian identity with strong loyalty to Britain. Canada and the US continue to commemorate this war, while it is scarcely remembered in Britain, since it was fought far off in the Americas and regarded as a sideshow to the much larger Napoleonic Wars raging in Europe. At the end of the war, Britain and the US signed the Treaty of Ghent and all parties returned occupied land to its pre-war owner.

202 solar years ago, on this day in 1815 AD, the decisive Battle of Waterloo marked the end of the power and conquests of French emperor, Napoleon Bonaparte. Fought near the village of Waterloo in Belgium, the British and the Prussian armies led by Duke of Wellington and Von Blucher, sealed the fate of Napoleon, who was subsequently captured by the British and sent to exile to Saint Helena Island, where he died a few years later.

184 lunar years ago, on this day in 1254 AH, the writing of the jurisprudential encyclopedia, “Jawaher al-Kalaam”, was completed in 44 volumes after 27 years of research by the prominent scholar Shaikh Mohammad Hassan an-Najafi in holy Najaf Iraq by the morning of the Grand Night of Qadr. It is a comprehensive and discursive work in Imamiyya fiqh, and is an extended exposition of “Shara'e al-Islam” written some centuries earlier by Muhaqqiq al-Hilli. It is taught till this day at seminaries in Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, and elsewhere.

117 solar years ago, on this day in 1900 AD, Empress Dowager Longyu of China ordered all foreigners killed, including foreign diplomats and their families.

89 solar years ago, on this day in 1928 AD, Norwegian polar explorer, Roald Engelbregt Amundsen, disappeared along with five crew in the Arctic at the age 55 and was given up as dead after a search of several months. The bodies were never found. In his twenties, he interrupted his studies in medicine to join the first winter expedition to the Antarctic, sailing in 1897 as first mate on the Belgica, a Belgian expedition. On his next voyage during 1903-06 he established the Northwest Passage. In 1904 he located the site of the North Magnetic pole. When he turned his attention to the Antarctic, he achieved his quest to be the first to reach the South Pole on 14 December 1911. After three unsuccessful attempts, he was among the first to cross the Arctic by air in 1926 when he made a flight by dirigible from Spitsbergen, across the North Pole, to Alaska.

81 solar years ago, on this day in 1936 AD, the famous Russian author and political activist, Alexei Maximovich Peshkov, known by his penname Maxim Gorky (“bitter advice” in Russian), died at the age of 68. It is believed that he was killed by agents of Soviet dictator, Joseph Stalin. Born in Nizhny Novgorod, the abysmal poverty of his family, forced him to work during his studies. He started writing stories very soon and while working at railway workshop at Tbilisi, Georgia, his first story was published in the local newspaper. His stories brought him money and fame. He focused on the miserable life of the Russian people and sought solutions to social problems. The brutal shooting of workers marching to the Tsar with a petition for reform on 9 January 1905 (known as the "Bloody Sunday"), which set in motion the abortive Revolution of 1905, made Gorky closely associated with Vladimir Lenin and Alexander Bogdanov's Bolshevik wing of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party. He wrote the play “Children of the Sun”, nominally set during an 1862 cholera epidemic, but universally understood to relate to contemporary events. He next wrote the famous book “Mother”, in admiration of the struggles of Russian workers and as a result had to leave Russia in 1906. He lived in exile, mostly on the Italian island of Capri until an amnesty granted in 1913 on the 300th anniversary of the Romanov dynasty allowed him to return to Russia, where he continued his social criticism. During World War I and the revolutionary period of 1917, his apartment turned into Bolshevik staff headquarters. These relations became strained, however, after his newspaper “Novaya Zhizn” was subjected to Bolshevik censorship during the ensuing civil war. Gorky published a collection of essays critical of the Bolsheviks called “Untimely Thoughts” in 1918. The essays call Lenin a tyrant for his senseless arrests and repression of free discourse, and an anarchist for his conspiratorial tactics. Gorky compared Lenin to the Tsar. He termed Lenin "a cold-blooded trickster who spares neither the honor nor the life of the proletariat." He was exiled and spent the period from 1921 to 1928 living abroad, mostly in Sorrento, Italy, where he wrote several successful books. On the personal invitation of Stalin, he returned definitively to the Soviet Union in 1932, and for a while was officially feted by the dictator for propaganda purposes. With the increase of Stalinist repression, especially after the assassination of Sergei Kirov in December 1934, Gorky was placed under house arrest. Two years later after the sudden death of his son, he also suspiciously died.

64 solar years ago, on this day in 1953 AD, Egypt became a republic, ending the 150-year rule of the Khedive Dynasty founded by Mohammad Ali Pasha, the Albanian general of the Ottoman Sultan. Egypt’s failure in its confrontation with the illegal Zionist entity in 1948 war led to resentment among Egyptians toward King Farouq, leading to formation of a secret organization in the army, known as the Free Officers Movement, opposed to British domination. In 1952 a coup led by Major General Mohammad Najib and Colonel Jamal Abdun-Nasser, forced the king to abdicate in favour of his young son Ahmad Fouad, who was subsequently deposed this day on announcement of the republic and declaration of Najib as president. A year later Najib was ousted by Nasser, who espoused the Pan Arab policy for revolutions in different Arab states.

46 lunar years ago, on this day in 1392 AH, the famous exegesis of the holy Qur’an titled “Tafsir al-Mizan” was completed in the dawn hours of the Grand Night of Qadr by Allamah Seyyed Mohammad Hussain Tabatabaie of Iran in Arabic in 20 volumes, after 18 years of research and scholastic study. This unique exegesis focuses on various topics such as philosophical, academic, historical, social and ethical – wherever the need arises in explaining the meanings of God’s Revealed Words in the light of authentic sayings from Prophet Mohammad (SAWA) and the Infallible Imams of his household.

38 solar years ago, on this day in 1979 AD, the prominent jurisprudent Ayatollah Seyyed Ahmad Khosrowshahi, passed away in his hometown Tabriz, four months after the triumph of the Islamic Revolution, for the success of which he had openly announced support for Imam Khomeini (RA) at the start of the Khordad 15 uprising (June 5, 1963), braving imprisonment from the regime. In fact, right since his youthful years as a religious student he was a fierce opponent of the anti-Islamic policies of the British-installed Pahlavi potentate, Reza Khan, who exiled him to Semnan and later Mashhad, where he benefitted from the classes of the leading ulema. Later when the political atmosphere of Iran became a bit relaxed, he shifted to holy Qom where he attained the status of Ijtehad, and embarked on teaching.

20 solar years ago, on this day in 1997 AD, Turkish premier, Najm od-Din Erbakan, was undemocratically removed from office by the laic military generals because of his attempts to restore to the Muslim masses of Turkey their denied rights and lost identity. Born in the northern city of Sinop, he studied Mechanical Engineering at Istanbul University, on the completion of which he left for Germany to obtain a PhD at Aachen University. On return to Turkey, he was appointed a university professor in 1967. He entered politics in 1969, and was soon elected MP. He founded several Islamic-oriented parties, which the military authorities forcibly dissolved. He became leader of the Welfare Islamic Party in 1987, and in 1996 was democratically elected as Prime Minister. His Islamic policies were unbearable for the Kemalist military, the Zionist entity called Israel, and the US. He was ousted a year later, his party was outlawed, and he was banned from political activities for five years. Erbakan died in 2011 at the age of 84.

AS/ME