Today is Wednesday; 4th of the Iranian month of Mordad 1396 solar hijri; corresponding to 2nd of the Islamic month of Zil-Qa’dah 1438 lunar hijri; and July 26, 2017, of the Christian Gregorian Calendar.

1360 solar years ago, on this day in 657 AD, the Battle of Siffin was started by the Omayyad rebel, Mu’awiyah ibn Abu Sufyan, as a result of his refusal to step down, following his dismissal from the governorship of the Province of Syria by the Prophet’s First Infallible Heir, Imam Ali Ibn Abi Taleb (AS). The war that lasted four months was fought in the region called Siffin, besides the River Euphrates in what is now the Reqqa District in Syria, a short distance from the city of Aleppo. In the final battle of the Siffin War, when Mu’awiyah was on the verge of defeat, his comrade-in-crimes, Amr Ibn al-Aas, ordered the Omayyad troops to raise on spear-points, what he claimed to be copies of the holy Qur’an, in order to deceive the people and sue for peace. Despite the warnings of Imam Ali (AS), many among his forces were deceived and refused to continue the battle against the demoralized enemy troops. These gullible people forced the Imam to enter into arbitration with Mu’awiyah, and when the result turned out against their nefarious desires, they openly rebelled against the Prophet’s rightful successor. These misled people called Khwarej or renegades are considered outside the pale of Islam. It is an irony of Islamic history that Mu’awiyah, who had reluctantly accepted Islam to save his life at the fall of Mecca to Muslims two years before the Prophet of Islam’s passing away, was made governor of the newly conquered Christian majority province of Syria by those that had assumed political power in Medina through a coup. Here, through propaganda and forging of hadith, he built a strong base against the Ahl al-Bayt. After the martyrdom of Imam Ali (AS), he seized the caliphate from Imam Hasan Mojtaba (AS) through deceit, thus laying the groundwork for the Godless Omayyad Dynasty that terrorized Muslims for 91 years.

1206 solar years ago, on this day in 811 AD, the Battle of Varbitsa Pass, resulted in the killing of Byzantine Emperor Nikephoros I and the serious wounding of his heir, Staurakios, by the Bulgarian army led by the ruler Khan Krum. It was culmination of a series of battles between troops, gathered from all parts of the Byzantine Empire in the invasion of Bulgaria. The Byzantines, feeling reprieve from any confrontation with the Muslims because of the war of succession in Baghdad, plundered and burned the Bulgar capital Pliska which gave time for the Bulgarians to block passes in the Balkan Mountains that served as exits out of Bulgaria. In the final battle in the Varbitsa Pass, the Bulgarians ambushed and effectively immobilized the Byzantine forces, annihilating almost the whole army, including the Emperor. After the battle, Khan Krum encased Nikephorus' skull in silver and used it as a cup for wine-drinking. This is one of the best documented instances of the custom of the skull cup. The Battle of Varbitsa Pass was one of the worst defeats in Byzantine history. It deterred Byzantine rulers from sending their troops north of the Balkans for more than 150 years afterwards, which increased the influence and spread of the Bulgarians to the west and south of the Balkan Peninsula, resulting in a great territorial enlargement of the First Bulgarian Empire. A patrician by birth, Nikephoros who was appointed finance minister by the Empress Irene, seized the throne from her on October 31, 802. He then made the folly of stopping the Byzantine tribute to the Abbasid caliphate in Baghdad, prompting a Muslim army to defeat him in the Battle of Krasos in Phrygia in what is now Turkey in 805. The next year, a huge Muslim army of 135,000 invaded the Byzantine Empire, and forced him to make peace on payment of 50,000 nomismata immediately and a yearly tribute of 30,000 nomismata. He was killed after nine years in power.

1127 lunar years ago, on this day in 311 AH, the Iranian Sunni Muslim compiler of hadith, Mohammad ibn Ishaq Ibn Khuzaymah Naishapuri, passed away at the age of 88. After basic studies in his homeland he travelled to Iraq, Syria, and Egypt, collecting hadith from different sources before returning to Iran, where he took up residence in Gorgan. He is the compiler of the book "Mukhtasar al-Mukhtasar min al-Musnad as-Sahih", which is known as "Sahih Ibn Khuzaymah". Though not included in the "Sihah as-Sitta" or the Six Canonical Hadith Compendiums of the Ahl as-Sunnah, it is considered by many prominent Sunni figures, such as the medieval Egyptian scholar, Jalal od-Din Suyuti, as next only to "Sahih Bukhari" and "Sahih Muslim". Like all other compilers of Sunni hadith – all of whom were Iranians and are held in high esteem by modern day Arab Salafis – Ibn Khuzaymah failed to have any direct contact with the Infallible Imams or their disciples for determination of authentic hadith, though he has mentioned some of the unsurpassed merits of the Prophet’s Ahl al-Bayt. He also authored the book "Kitab at-Towheed wa Ithbat Sifat ar-Rabb".

1115 lunar years ago, on this day in 323 AH, the imposter and apostate, Mohammad ibn Ali ash-Shalmaghani, who falsely claimed to be an emissary and gateway to Imam Mahdi (AS), was executed and hanged in Baghdad by Caliph Raadhi-Billah, when he failed to serve the evil designs of the usurper Abbasid regime in undermining the followers of the Ahl al-Bayt during the “Ghaybat-as-Sughra” (Minor Occultation) of the 12^th and Last Heir of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA) – may Allah hasten his reappearance to cleanse the earth of all vestiges of oppression and corruption, and to establish the global government of peace, prosperity and justice. Shalmaghani, after a good beginning as a scholar, fell prey to the satanic temptations of greed and jealousy, because of his personal enmity with the 12^th Imam’s 3^rd Deputy, Hussain Ibn Rouh Nowbakhti, and finally went completely astray, to the extent that the Imam had to personally issue a denunciation with his sacred seal so as to caution the followers of the Ahl al-Bayt against believing in his false claims.

1087 solar years ago, on this day in 920 AD, an alliance of Christian troops from Navarre and Léon was routed by Spanish Muslims at Pamplona in the Basque region. The Muslims, who first arrived in this region over two centuries earlier in 716, continued to dominate Pamplona and its surroundings till 1083 when brutal Christian onslaughts forced them to lose territory.

555 lunar years ago, on this day in 883 AH, the Treaty of Istanbul was signed by the Ottoman Empire and the Republic of Venice, officially ending the 15-year war between the two sides as a result of the advance of the Turks under Sultan Mohammad Fateh (conqueror of Constantinople) to the outskirts of Venice. The Venetians ceded Shkodra and other territories on the Dalmatian coastline, as well as the Greek islands of Negroponte and Lemnos. They also agreed to pay a tribute of around 10,000 ducats per year for trading privileges in the Black Sea.

535 lunar years ago, on this day in 903 AH, the prominent Iranian historian, Seyyed Mohammad Ibn Khwandshah Ibn Maḥmoud, popular as Mir-Khwand, passed away in the Khorasani city of Herat (presently in Afghanistan) at the age of 67. Born in Balkh, he belonged to a noble family of Bukhara (presently in Uzbekistan) that traced its descent from Prophet Mohammad (SAWA). He lived most of his life in Herat at the Timurid court of Sultan Hussain Bayqarah, and authored the famous universal history “Rawzat as-Safa” (Garden of Purity). He was a friend of the scholarly minister, Ali Shir Navaei. Mir-Khwand’s grandson (daughter’s son) was the famous Persian historian, Ghiyas od-Din Khwandamir, the author of “Habeeb as-Siyar” and “Qanoun-e Humayuni”, who also flourished at the court of Herat, and moved to India in the waning years of his life to the court of another branch of the Timurids, the Mughals, founded by Zaheer od-Din Babar.

484 solar years ago, on this day in 1533 AD, Atahualpa, the 13^th and last emperor of the Incas, died by strangulation at the hands of the Spanish general, Francisco Pizarro, His death marks the end of 300 years of Inca civilization in Peru and eastern parts of South America. Atahualpa, after being kidnapped by the Spaniards offered them enough gold to fill the room he was imprisoned in, and twice that amount of silver. The Inca fulfilled this ransom, but Pizarro deceived them and treacherously murdered the emperor.

259 solar years ago, on this day in 1758 AD, during the French and Amerindian War, the Siege of Louisbourg ended with British forces defeating the French and taking control of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence in what is now the Quebec Province of Canada.

195 solar years ago, on this day in 1822 AD, the three-day Battle of Dervenakia, started between the Ottoman force led by the vizier Mahmoud Dramali Pasha and the Greek Rebels led by Theodoros Kolokotronis, and assisted by major European Christian powers such as Britain, France, and Russia. The Turks lost this crucial encounter because of the strategic blunder by Mahmoud Pasha in not heeding the advice of experienced generals. Of distinguished Albanian stock and as a maternal grandson of Sultan Ahmad III, he had risen by personal qualities including military skills. When in the summer of 1821 the Greeks rebelled in the province of Yunanistan, he replaced Khurshid Pasha and easily crushed the rebellions in the Agrafa and Mount Pelion regions, before being entrusted the task of destroying the Greek revolt in its heartland, Morea. Instead of using Corinth as a base to effectively quell the Greek insurgents by cutting off naval access, he made the mistake of marching into hostile terrain and that too without securing his main supply and withdrawal route through the Dervenakia Pass. The Greek rebels looted the villages, burned the grain and foodstuff they could not move, and damaged the wells and springs. The Ottoman army was trapped in the sweltering Argolic plain without enough food and water, and was ambushed in the pass while trying to retreat. Two days later Mahmoud Pasha barely managed to escape alive while the major Ottoman force in the region was in total disarray, enabling the rebels to consolidate their positions.

170 solar years ago, on this day in 1847 AD, Liberia in West Africa became an independent republic with Joseph Roberts who had been enslaved in Virginia, US, as its president. Following the decline of the Songhai Mali Muslim Empire, the ‘Pepper Coast’ or “Grain Coast’ region on the Atlantic, bordered by Sierra Leone on the west, Guinea on the east and Ivory Coast on the north, was eyed by the US as an ideal place to settle the growing number of freed black people, whose ancestors had been kidnapped by Europeans from Africa and sold as slaves in America. In 1822, the first batch of Afro-Americans was settled after forcible purchase of this strip of land from the local chiefs by the US and its renaming as Liberia. The land was initially administered like one of the US states, before becoming an independent republic affiliated to the US and supported by financial, industrial and other assistance from Washington. The capital was named Monrovia in honour of US president, James Monroe, who had masterminded the project.

161 solar years ago, on this day in 1856 AD, the Irish author, critic, and playwright, George Bernard Shaw, was born in Dublin. The major feature of his works is the delicate satire, which is one of the main reasons behind his fame. He was profoundly attracted to Islam and on several occasions emphasized on the grandeur and importance of this divine religion. One of his famous quotes is: "If any religion had the chance of ruling over England, nay Europe within the next hundred years, it could be Islam."  In 1925, he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. He died in 1950.

73 solar years ago, on this day in 1944 AD, Reza Khan, whom the British installed as the first Pahlavi king of Iran, died in exile in South Africa at the age of 66 years, three years after being exiled by his masters, the British, for attempts to cooperate with Nazi Germany during World War 2. An illiterate soldier, who was set up as king in Iran by the British after their abolishment of the Qajar dynasty, he terrorized the people of Iran for sixteen years through his anti-Islamic policies that included repression of ulema, banning Iranian men from wearing the traditional clothes, and the forced unveiling of women in public. In 1920, Reza Khan, who was an officer in the Cossack Brigade, was ordered by the British to stage a coup, following which he was appointed as minister of defense and later instated as the premier. Finally, in 1925, he was declared king by the British to implement their policies of imposing decadent western culture on the Iranian people. During World War 2 his pro German views, made the Allied forces converge upon Tehran to replace him by his son, Mohammad Reza. Reza Khan was detained and deported, first to Mauritius and then to South Africa, where he died.

61 solar years ago, on this day in 1956 AD, the Suez Canal was nationalized by Egypt. Built in 1896 by French engineer Ferdinand de Lesseps, to shorten the marine route between Europe and Asia, the revenues of the Suez Canal were monopolized by Britain and France until the nationalization, which brought about a joint British, French, and Zionist attack on Egypt. International pressure coupled with the resistance of the Egyptian people, forced the invaders to evacuate their forces and reluctantly agree to Egyptian administration of the Suez.

52 solar years ago, on this day in 1965 AD, the Maldives Archipelago in South Asia gained independence. These Muslim populated islands were occupied by the Portuguese in early 16^th Century. Thereafter, the Dutch, French, and finally in late 19^th Century, the British occupied these islands. Britain granted autonomy to the Maldives in 1965. The Maldives archipelago consists of 2,000 islands, covering an area of 298 sq km. These Islands are situated in south of the Subcontinent in the Indian Ocean.

29 solar years ago, on this day in 1988 AD, the Islamic scholar of Pakistan, Fazlur Rahman Malik, died at the age of 69 in the US, where he was serving as US State Department advisor on Islamic issues. After mastering Persian and Arabic at Punjab University, he completed his higher studies in Britain where at Oxford University he wrote a dissertation on the famous Iranian-Islamic genius, Abu Ali Ibn Sina (Avicenna). He started his career at Durham University where he taught Persian and Islamic philosophy, and then at McGill University where he taught Islamic studies until 1961. He then taught at UCLA before moving to Chicago University. He wrote several books including “Ibn Sina’s Psychology” that was published in London in 1952. Later he wrote a lengthy researched article for the Karachi-based quarterly Hamdard Islamicus, titled: “Essence and Existence in Ibn Sina: the Myth and the Reality” (1981). Another of his books is on Iran’s Safavid era philosopher and titled “The Philosophy of Mulla Sadra Shirazi”. It was published by the State University of New York Press in 1976. Earlier he had translated and published Ibn Sina’s “De Anima”.

20 solar years ago, on this day in 1997 AD, Iran inaugurated the world’s largest crude oil refinery in the port city of Bandar Abbas on the Persian Gulf, thanks to the dedication of Iranian experts, as part of efforts to reach self-sufficiency.

12 solar years ago, on this day in 2005 AD, Iran said it has fully developed solid-fuel technology in producing missiles, a major breakthrough that increased the accuracy of missiles hitting targets.

12 solar years ago, on this day in 2005 AD, Mumbai on the western coast of India received 99.5cm of rain (39.17 inches) within 24 hours, resulting in floods killing over 5,000 people.

7 solar years ago, on this day in 2010 AD, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange promised that the release of some 91,000 secret US military documents on the Afghanistan war was just the beginning, adding that he still has thousands more Afghan files to post online. The files were mostly field reports and intelligence assessments from 2004-to-2009, and among other things exposed Pakistan's most powerful spy agency ISI’s connections with both the CIA and Taliban.

AS/MG