Today is Wednesday; 21st of the Iranian month of Tir 1396 solar hijri; corresponding to 17th of the Islamic month of Shawwal 1438 lunar hijri; and July 12, 2017, of the Christian Gregorian Calendar.

2117 solar years ago, on this day in 100 BC, Roman dictator, Julius Caesar, was born in a patrician family. One of his ancestors was born by caesarean section (from the Latin verb to cut, caedere, caes-ose); hence the cognomen “Caesar”. A military tactician, statesman, and author of Latin prose, he played a critical role in the events leading to the demise of the Roman Republic and the rise of the Empire. His victories in the Gallic Wars in what is now France, completed by 51 BC, extended Rome's territory to the English Channel and the River Rhine. He became the first Roman general to cross both when he built a bridge across the Rhine and conducted the first invasion of Britain. His dictatorial tactics were opposed by the Senate, among them Cato the Younger with the support of the philosopher Cicero – Rome's greatest orator and prose stylist. He was stabbed to death in 44 BC at the age of 56 by a group of senators, apprehensive of the totalitarian powers he had assumed in the wake of his elimination of all rivals in the civil wars that had followed his victories, emboldening him to violate the law against the crossing of the River Rubicon into Italy with armed legions to challenge for supreme power his former ally and rival Pompey – eventually defeated in Egypt and assassinated. Caesar was killed, while planning to invade the Iranian Parthian Empire to avenge the disgraceful defeat in the Battle of Carrhae (Harran in upper Mesopotamia and presently in modern Turkey) nine years earlier in 53 BC when Iran’s General Surena had routed a mighty Roman army led by General Marcus Licinius Crassus – member of the First Triumvirate, along with Caesar and Pompey. A person of loose morals, Julius Caesar, like all other pagans was a sadistic barbarian, who in his official ‘triumphs’ (public celebrations on Rome’s streets and amphitheatre) used to stage live battles and watch with delight as prisoners of war divided into groups brutally killed each other. His death transformed the republic into the Roman Empire under his designated heir, grandnephew Ocatavius, who after elimination of his main rival Mark Antony, assumed the imperial title of Emperor Augustus Caesar. Julius Caesar is remembered for replacement of the Roman lunar calendar with the Egyptian solar calendar of 365.25 days, by adding a leap day at the end of February every fourth year. The month of Quintilis was renamed July in his honour and thus, the Julian calendar (also named after him), opened on 1 January 45 BC. It was used in Europe until 1582 AD when it was replaced by the current Gregorian.

1433 lunar years ago, on this day in 5 AH, the Battle of Khandaq or Ditch, also known as the Battle of Ahzaab or Confederates, which a 10,000-strong joint force of Arab infidels and Israelites had imposed upon Muslims by laying siege to Medina as part of the plot to kill Prophet Mohammad (SAWA), ended in decisive victory for Islam, thanks to the valour of the Commander of the Faithful, Imam Ali ibn Abi Taleb (AS). To defend the city against the mighty horde led by Abu Sufyan, the archenemy of Islam, the Muslims dug a ditch around the sensitive parts of Medina on the suggestion of Salman Farsi, the Prophet's Iranian companion. When the joint Arab-Israelite force arrived, it was surprised to see a ditch around Medina, and decided to besiege the city in order to break the will of the Muslims. As days passed and no breakdown of morale occurred in Medina, the fearsome Arab pagan warlord, Amr ibn Abduwad, along with some of his accomplices, leapt his horse across the ditch at its narrowest point and challenged the terrified Muslims to personal combat. None of the companions of the Prophet dared to rise up against this veritable giant who had a nasty reputation of physical strength, except for Imam Ali (AS). A duel took place, and the Imam, despite receiving a wound on his forehead, knocked out Amr to the ground. At this moment, the fallen foe, turned out to be a coward, and spat at the Imam in a bid to avoid certain death. On this insult, Imam Ali (AS) gently withdrew to allow his emotions to cool down so that personal feelings do not mix up with pure and sincere jihad in the way of God. The Arab infidel rose to his feet and renewed the life-and-death struggle, but this time the flashing sword of Imam Ali (AS), the famous double-bladed Zul-Feqar, made short work of the opponent who fell down dead to the ground. He then scattered the companions of Amr, and this valorous feat sent shivers down the spine of the Arab-Israelite hordes, making them break ranks and flee. The Prophet expressed the famous hadith this day: "The Stroke of Ali on the Day of Khandaq is superior to the worship of mankind and jinn."

1231 lunar years ago, on this day in 207 AH, Abu Salt al-Harawi, the loyal servant and companion of Imam Reza (AS), the 8th Infallible Heir of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA), passed away at the age of 45 and was laid to rest in the environs of holy Mashhad, where a shrine stands today and is a site of pilgrimage. Born in the holy city of Medina in an Iranian family from the Khorasani city of Herat, as is indicated by his surname ‘Harawi”, his name was Abdus-Salaam, the son of Saleh bin Sulayman bin Ayoub. He had the honour of meeting Imam Reza (AS) in Medina, and became a loyal disciple to him, never separating until the 8th Imam’s martyrdom in Tous, Khorasan. He also holds the honour of being a narrator of Hadith from Imam Reza (AS). He has reported on the matchless virtues of the Prophet’s Ahl al-Bayt and travelled over Hijaz, and to Yemen, Basra, Kufa, and through Khorasan to report narrations. Another of his virtues was that he used to debate the Murji'ya, the Jahmiya and the Qadariya sects regarding the genuine teachings of Islam. Aba Salt was the lone person at the side of the 8th Imam on his martyrdom through poisoning by the Abbasid caliph Ma’moun. After the Imam’s martyrdom, he was imprisoned by Ma’moun and escaped from the prison following the miraculous appearance of the 9th Imam Mohammad Taqi (AS), after he had supplicated to God for release. According to the famous bibliographer an-Najashi he had compiled a book on the martyrdom of the 8th Imam titled “Maqtal ar-Reza”.

1181 lunar years ago, on this day in 257 AH, the Godless Ali bin Mohammad, a person of obscure origin and said to be a descendant of slaves, who styled himself Sahib az-Zanj or Leader of the black-skinned people of East African origin, entered the Iraqi port city of Basra, after his sedition met with failure in Bahrain, and launched a general massacre of the populace, burning entire localities including the Jame’ Mosque, where he killed the eminent grammarian Abbas bin Faraj Riyyashi while in prayer. He is said to have lived for a while in the Abbasid capital, Samarra, where he mixed with some of the influential slaves of Caliph Muntasir and saw the deep financial discrimination among Muslim citizens as a result of state policy. He then moved to the Persian Gulf island of Bahrain, where he pretended to be Shi’ite or follower of the household of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA), in order to rouse the people into rebellion against the caliphate. His following grew so large that land taxes were collected in his name, but the rebellion eventually failed, and he relocated to Basra. Here he claimed himself to be a Kharijite or renegade from Islam and started collecting around him the bonded labourers of the marshlands. Soon, supported by the Arab Bedouin as well as black-skinned people, he styled himself Emir and embarked on plunder, death and destruction. His rebellion, which coincided with the secession of Egypt by Ahmad ibn Toloun and Yaqoub bin Laith Saffar’s uprising in Iran, lasted 14 years, during which he seized southern Iraq up to Wasset and parts of Iran’s Khuzestan, defeating several armies sent by the Abbasid caliphs, until he was defeated and killed in 267 AH. He left a trail of destruction and famine, with agricultural lands desolate and as many as half-a-million people killed. It is interesting to note that the Commander of the Faithful, Imam Ali (AS), prophesied the revolt of Saheb az-Zanj two centuries earlier, citing Prophet Mohammad (SAWA) as his source of information, as is evident from the following passage in Sermon 127 of the Nahj al-Balaghah:

“O' Ahnaf! It is as though I see him advancing with an army which has neither dust nor noise, nor rustling of reins, nor neighing of horses. They are trampling the ground with their feet as if they are the feet of ostriches.”

826 solar years ago, on this day in 1191 AD, during the Third Crusade launched by Christian mercenaries from Europe, including King Phillip of France and King Richard of England, the Muslim garrison of Acre, on the orders of Salah od-Din, surrendered, but over a month later, against the terms of the treaty, over 3,000 prisoners were beheaded in cold blood by King Richard of England, with their hands tied.

737 solar years ago, on this day in 1290 AD, King Edward I issued an edict expelling all Jews from England because of their unfair economic activities including usury, in addition to their slandering of Prophet Jesus and his mother, the Virgin Mary. The expulsion edict, which was culmination of two centuries of Christian resentment, remained in force for the subsequent centuries, until Oliver Cromwell allowed Jews to return to England in 1657, in exchange for finance.

547 solar years ago, on this day in 1470 AD, Euboea, the second-largest Greek island after Crete, was liberated from its Venetian occupiers by the Ottoman Sultan Mohammad II. Called Egriboz by the Turks, for over three-and-a-half centuries it was the seat of a thriving sanjaq (or administrative division) that included much of mainland Greece, where mosques, baths, libraries, and bazaars flourished, until destroyed by Greek Christians, assisted by mercenaries from other parts of Europe in 1830. The Europeans called it Negroponte until the 19th century.

528 solar years ago, in 1489 AD, Bahlul Khan Lodi, the founder of the Lodi Dynasty of most of Hindustan (northern subcontinent), died after a reign of 38 years, and was succeeded by his son, Sikandar. Born into a Pashtoon family of traders, he became a renowned warrior and governor of Sirhind in Punjab, under Mohammad Shah of the Seyyed Dynasty of Delhi (appointees of the Turkic conqueror, Amir Timur), who having tested his valour and loyalty during the aggression of the ruler of Malwa, conferred upon him the title of Khan-e Khanaan. He subsequently forced his benefactor’s son, Sultan Alam Shah to abdicate, and crowned himself king in Delhi on 19 April 1451 with the title Bahlul Shah Ghazi. He and his successors were patrons of Persian literature. The dynasty ended in 1526, with the defeat and death of Bahlul’s grandson, Ibrahim Shah Lodi, in the Battle of Panipat at the hands of Timur’s great grandson, Zaheer od-Din Babar, who went on to establish the famous Mughal Empire of the Subcontinent.

218 solar years ago, on this day in 1799 AD, the Sikh warrior Ranjit Singh seized Lahore from his benefactors, the Afghan Durrani Dynasty, and declared himself the Maharaja of Punjab. Acquainted with Persian language as a young soldier, he was chosen by Zaman Shah Durrani as governor of Punjab. He soon assembled an army of Sikhs to carve out a kingdom. He desecrated the grand Badshahi Mosque of Lahore by turning it into a stable. In 1818, he occupied Multan, invaded Kashmir, and advanced upon Peshawar. His dreams of marching on Kabul did not materialize, but when Shah Shuja sought asylum with him, he seized the fabulous Koh-e Noor diamond which Nader Shah of Iran had taken from Mughal Emperor Mohammad Shah of Delhi and which after him had fallen to the Afghan general, Ahmad Shah Abdali Durrani. In 1849, when the British defeated the Sikhs, they seized Koh-e Noor which is currently in the crown of the British queen. Within ten years after Ranjit Singh’s death, his kingdom was annexed by the British.

175 lunar years ago, on this day in 1263 AH, the eminent scholar, Seyyed Ibrahim Karbalai, passed away in the holy city of Karbala in Iraq at the age of 49. Born in Iran, after preliminary studies at his homeland, he left for Iraq, where in holy Karbala he spent the rest of his life, studying and lecturing on Islamic sciences. Among the books remaining from this Islamic scholar, mention can be made of "Dala’el al-Ahkaam", and "Treatises on Hajj Pilgrimage".

163 solar years ago, on this day in 1854 AD, US inventor and entrepreneur, George Eastman, was born in Waterville, New York. A pioneering manufacturer of photographic materials, including rolled film (first patented 1884) and the Kodak camera (patented 1888), he founded the Eastman-Kodak Company, which for years held a virtual monopoly in the camera and film industry. His introduction of the first Kodak camera helped to promote large-scale amateur photography

152 lunar years ago, on this day in 1286 AH, the prominent scholar Seyyed Mohammad Quli Kintoori passed away near Lucknow in northern India. Scion of a scholarly family from Naishapur in Khorasan, Iran, which had migrated to India and settled in Barabankavi and the town of Kintoor, he is the author of “Burhan as-Sa`adah”, and “Taqlib al-Maka’ed”, which are refutations of the 7th and 12th Chapters respectively of the seditious book of Shah Abdul-Aziz Dehlavi against the beliefs of the Ahl al-Bayt of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA) titled “Tohfeye- Ithna Ashariyyah”. He served in the judicial branch as a civil servant of the court of law, and presided as judge at the High Court of Meerut, where he authored the treatise “Adalat al-Alawiyya” on the exemplary judgements of Imam Ali (AS), the first Infallible Heir of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA). He also authored the book “Thathir al-Mu'minin an Najasat al-Mushrikin”. He strove to implement the Imami legal system in the kingdom of Awadh ruled by a family of Naishapur Seyyeds of Iranian origin, and adopted the code of governmental laws of the erstwhile Qotb Shahi kingdom of Golkandah-Haiderabad in the Deccan or southern India, ruled by an Iranian family from Hamedan. Mohammad Quli Kintoori was the father of the celebrated Ayatollah Seyyed Hamed Hussain Musavi the author of the famous book “Abaqaat al-Anwaar” on the merits of the Prophet’s Ahl al-Bayt, as mentioned in the holy Qur'an by God Almighty and the Hadith.  

91 solar years ago, on this day in 1926 AD, the notorious British spy, Gertrude Bell, who masqueraded as archaeologist, writer, traveller, and political officer, died. She was fluent in Arabic and Persian languages, and travelled extensively in Syria, Iraq, Asia Minor, and Arabia. Along with that other notorious British spy, T. E. Lawrence, she helped establish the Hashemite dynasties in what is today Jordan and Iraq, by placing the sons of the British agent, Sharif Hussain of Hejaz as kings, so as to brutally suppress the aspirations of the people. She was involved in creating and administering the modern state of Iraq, and has remarked in her travelogue: If Iraq were to be allowed real representative rule, then the Shi'a Muslim majority would definitely rise to power, but the British should never allow this to happen, because rule by a mujtahed is certainly not in London's interests.

82 solar years ago, on this day in 1935 AD, the Gowharshad Mosque Uprising of the people of Mashhad began against the anti-Islamic policies of the British-installed Pahlavi potentate, Reza Khan, especially “Kashf-e Hijab” or forced unveiling of Muslim women. Adjacent to the holy shrine of Imam Reza (AS) – the 8^th Infallible Heir of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA) – the Gowharshad Mosque and its courtyard was the scene of peaceful public protests led by the ulema, including Ayatollah Mohammad Taqi Gonabadi known as "Sheikh Bohlool". The regime’s forces, desecrating the holy precincts, brutally attacked the peaceful gathering, and on July 14 martyred and wounded some 5,000 people, besides arresting a large number of others.

71 solar years ago, on this day in 1946 AD, King David Hotel in Bayt al-Moqqadas was exploded by the Irgun Zionist terrorist group, which placed bombs in its basement to kill more than 200 Palestinians, along with 15 Jews.

69 solar years ago, on this day in 1948 AD, a day after the illegal Zionist entity seized the Palestinian town of al-Ludd (Judaized to Lod) it massacred in cold blood over 400 men, women and children, and then drove out from their homes to Jordan the remaining 20,000 (18,500 Muslims and 1500 Christians). The same day the Zionists occupied Ramlah and almost emptied the town of its Arab population – both Muslims and Christians. These two cities have been settled with the illegal Jewish migrants to the usurped land of Palestine that is wrongly called Israel.

56 solar years ago, on this day in 1961 AD, floods hit Pune in western Indian, due to breach of the Khadakwasla and Panshet dams. Half of the city was submerged, more than 100,000 families were relocated and the death tally exceeded 2,000.

22 solar years ago, on this day in 1995 AD, in Bosnia, over a hundred Muslims were brutally decapitated and their headless corpses loaded on to trucks, under instructions of Serb intelligence officer, Momir Nikolic, who was eventually arrested in 2002 for killing some 1,000 Muslim males, taken from a UN compound in July 1995. He was also charged for the deaths of 6,000 more Muslim prisoners who were fleeing besieged Srebrenica. In 2003 Nikolic pleaded guilty to war crimes, but was only given a light sentence of 20 years in prison.

11 solar years ago, on this day in 2006 AD, the illegal Zionist entity launched a brutal war on Lebanon on the pretext of capture of two Israeli soldiers by the legendry anti-terrorist movement, the Hezbollah. The 33-day invasion, supported by the US and certain Arab reactionary regimes, was defeated by the Islamic resistance, which shattered the myth of invincibility of Israel. The cowardly Zionist entity, however, attacked civilian areas, martyring a total of 1,200 men, women and children, in addition to destroying part of the infrastructure of southern Lebanon. Thanks to the people’s support for the Hezbollah, which retaliated with a steady barrage of rockets on Israel that took a heavy toll of life in the usurper state, the Zionists were forced to halt the war and withdraw in a humiliating manner.

4 solar years ago, on this day in 2013 AD, the UAE, on the orders of the US, Saudi Arabia and the illegal Zionist entity, cancelled the legal work and resident permits of hundreds of professional and peaceful Shi’a Muslims of Lebanon and quietly expelled on suspicion of being supporters of legendry anti-terrorist movement, the Hezbollah.

AS/ME