Today is Friday; 6th of the Iranian month of Mordad 1396 solar hijri; corresponding to 4th of the Islamic month of Zil-Qa’dah 1438 lunar hijri; and July 28, 2017, of the Christian Gregorian Calendar.

1567 solar years ago, on this day in 450 AD, Eastern Roman Emperor, Theodosius II, died at the age of 49 in a riding accident, after a 42-year reign – having succeeded his father as a 7-year-old. He presided over the outbreak of two christological controversies, Nestorianism and Eutychianism, and fought an almost two-year inconclusive war with the Sassanid Empire of Iran.  In 421, Bahram V succeeded his father Yazdegerd I, who shortly before being killed, had started the persecution of Christians as reprisal for attacks against Zoroastrian temples in the Roman Empire. Bahram continued this persecution, and among those killed was his father’s Christian counselor, James Intercisus, who was cut to pieces in Jundishapur. This incident, along with friction in trade ties and border issues, made Theodosius declare war on Persia in 421 AD. The conflict raged across the borders of the two empires, mostly in southeastern Turkey, northern Syria and to some extent in Armenia. In 422, the two sides signed the peace treaty that returned everything to the pre-war situation. Both sides agreed to reject Arab defectors of the other part, as well as to guarantee liberty of religion in their territories.

782 lunar years ago, on this day in 656 AH, the famous Arabic poet, Baha od-Din Zuhayr Abu'l-Fazl Ibn Mohammad al-Muhallabi, died in Cairo at the age of 74. Born in Mecca, he travelled to Egypt where he became a poet at the court of the Ayyubid Kurdish dynasty, and finally became vizier of the ruler, Sultan as-Saleh. His Diwan was translated into English in two volumes by E.H. Palmer in 1876-77.

757 lunar years ago, on this day in 681 AH, the Iranian historian Ata-Malik Jowaini, passed away at the age of 58 in Azarbaijan. He belonged to a prominent scholarly and political family of Jowain in Khorasan that were followers of the Prophet’s Ahl al-Bayt. His brother, father, and grandfather held important posts in the Ilkhanid Empire of Iran-Iraq. He too became an important official and twice visited the main Mongol capital of Karakorum in Central Asia. He accompanied Hulagu Khan during the sack of Baghdad and the next year was appointed governor of Baghdad, Lower Mesopotamia, and Khuzestan. His famous history is titled “Tarikh-e Jahan-Gusha”.  It was translated into English by John Andrew Boyle under the title: “The History of the World-Conqueror” and the 2^nd edition published in 1997. It should be noted that his brother, Shams od-Din Mohammad, who had been Sahib-e Divan (or Finance Minister) and vizier for 22 years under three Ilkhans – i.e. Hulagu, Abaqa and Ahmad Tekuder – was martyred by the next ruler, Arghun Khan, on the alleged poisoning of his father Abaqa Khan, who actually died of excessive drinking. Ata-Malik's father, Baha od-Din, and grandfather Mohammad had held the post of Sahib-e Divan for Mohammad Jalal od-Din Khwarezmshah and later for Chingiz Khan's son Ogedei Khan respectively.

267 solar years ago, on this day in 1750 AD, the German musician and composer, Johann Sebastian Bach, died at the age of 65. Many of his songs are religious, and he also played a pivotal role in the progress and perfection of German music. Later in life he went blind. He composed numerous works, including a number of carols.

223 solar years ago, on this day in 1794 AD, with the execution of Maximilien Robespierre and a group of his supporters, the one-year long Reign of Terror in France ended. It had started when on the order of parliament, which administrated the affairs of France following the victory of the French Revolution, a court was formed to counter the anti-revolutionaries. Robespierre, who was one of the main leaders of the revolution, intended to gain absolute authority in France, and executed many of his opponents, to this end. During the Reign of Terror, more than 120,000 summary executions took place, and many prominent persons were killed such as the chemist, Antoine-Laurent Lavoisier, and poet, Andre Marie Chenier.

196 solar years ago, on this day in 1821 AD, Peru gained independence from Spanish colonial rule. Home to the Inca Empire and Civilization that dominated northwest South America from the 12th to the 16th centuries, Peru and its rich culture were destroyed by the Spanish invaders, who ruthlessly massacred the indigenous people. Finally, thanks to the struggles of South American revolutionaries, such as Jose de San Martin and Simon Bolivar, Peru was liberated. The country covers an area of 1285216 sq km, with a long coastline on the Pacific Ocean, and shares borders with Ecuador, Colombia, Chile, Brazil, and Bolivia.

159 solar years ago, on this day in 1858, fingerprints were used as a means of identification for the first time.

154 solar years ago, on this day in 1863 AD, Tsarist Russia’s senior-most Muslim general, Husain Khan Nakhchivanski, was born in Nakhchivan City to Major-General Kalb-e Ali Khan – son of Ehsan Khan Kangarlu, the last ruler of the Nakhchivan Khanate, which the Russians seized from Qajarid Iran through the Khan’s treachery during the 1828 war. His mother was Khurshid Qajar-Iravani, member of the ruling family of the Erivan Khanate – also abolished by Russia in 1828 on its seizure from Iran. He was the only Muslim to serve as General-Adjutant of the Tsar’s retinue. He distinguished himself in the Russo-Japanese War and received 7 medals for his bravery. Tsar Nicholas II personally decorated him and made him Deputy Commander of the Caucasus Army during World War I, before promoting him as General of the Cavalry. After the end of World War I, Hussain Khan Nakhchivanski remained in the capital Petrograd (St. Petersburg) and refused to side with the revolutionaries. He sent to the Tsar a telegram (later found undelivered) to use his forces to crush them. In October 1917, when the Bolsheviks under Lenin hijacked the revolution and seized power, Hussain Khan Nakhchivanski along with other prominent citizens was taken hostage, and executed in 1919 at the age of 55. His nephews, Jamshid Khan and Kalb-e Ali Khan (sons of Ja’far Khan Nakhchivanski), who served under him, joined the Azerbaijan Democratic Army, inflicted defeats on the Soviet Red Army, and played prominent roles in the short-lived Azerbaijan Republic, before the communists took over. Kalb-e Ali fled to Iran where he joined the Iranian Army and was secretly murdered by Reza Khan Pahlavi in 1934, while Jamshid after brief imprisonment, reluctantly switched sides to the Soviet Union, but during the 1937-1938 repressions he was arrested, charged with anti-communist activities and killed by a firing squad.   

139 solar years ago, on this day in 1878 AD, the Treaty of Berlin was signed by representatives of Russia, France, Britain, and Austria as well as other German speaking states, at the end of the Berlin Congress called by German chancellor, Otto von Bismarck, to determine the national identity of Germany.

103 solar years ago, on this day in 1914 AD, the Austria-Hungary Empire declared war on Serbia on rejection of conditions of an ultimatum of July 23 following assassination of crown prince, Archduke Francis Ferdinand. World War I thus began with the Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman Empires on one side, and the Russian and British Empires on the other side in alliance with Serbia and France.

74 solar years ago, on this day in 1943 AD during World War II, the savage Operation Gomorrah launched by the British air force on Hamburg caused a firestorm that killed 42,000 German civilians.

41 solar years ago, on this day in 1976 AD, a major earthquake shook the East Chinese city of Tangshan, killing 242,769 people and injuring 164,851 others. Over a million people were made homeless. This 7.8 degree trembler was the second major earthquake that jolted China in the 20^th Century.

28 solar years ago, on this day in 1989 AD, the overwhelming majority of the Iranian people, in a referendum, approved amendments to the Islamic Republic of Iran’s Constitution, as per the instructions of the Late Founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Imam Khomeini (RA). The amendments included enhancement of the presidential powers and elimination of the post of prime minister.

28 solar years ago, on this day in 1989 AD, in a blatant act of terrorism, Zionist commandos abducted Shi’a Muslim religious leader, Sheikh Abdul-Karim Obeid, from his home in the village of Jibshit, south Lebanon. Danny Abdalla, a notorious Lebanese criminal based in Denmark, who in 1984 was involved in the martyrdom of Lebanese religious leader, Sheikh Ragheb Harb, on behalf of the Israelis, was part of the 25-member Zionist commando team that kidnapped Sheikh Obeid. For several years, Sheikh Obeid was held prisoner in the Zionist occupied strip of southern Lebanon, and later transferred to the Ashmoret concentration camp, near Kfar Yona, north of Tel Aviv. He was released 15 years later in January 2004 along with twenty other Lebanese prisoners, 400 Palestinian prisoners and a number of other nationals, in exchange for Zionist soldiers and spies captured by Lebanon’s legendry anti-terrorist movement, the Hezbollah.

10 solar years ago, on this day 2007 AD, Takfiri terrorists backed by the US and the Saudi regime triggered an explosion of truck bomb in Baghdad’s Shi’a Muslim neighborhood of Karrada, resulting in the martyrdom of around 150 men, women and children, and injury to over two hundred others.

10 solar years ago, on this day in 2007 AD, over 4,000 Hazaras, a Shi’a Muslim ethnic group concentrated in Afghanistan’s central highlands, was displaced from Behsood district, Wardak Province, over the last 2 months by bands of Kuchi nomads. Some 200 ethnic Pushtun and Sunni Muslims, along with their families and livestock, emptied about 65 Hazara villages and martyred a dozen people.

8 solar years ago, on this day in 2009 AD, prominent Iranian film director and producer, Saifollah Dad, passed away at the age of 52. He turned out some of the outstanding hits such as “From Karkheh to Rhine”, “The Satan”, “Children of Divorce,” and ‘The Survivor”. The last named is an epic historical film about the brutal expulsion of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from their homeland by Zionist terrorists at the illegal birth of Israel in 1948.

5 solar years ago, on this day in 2012 AD, Iran published the results of its 2011 census. It gave Iran's total population as 75.2 million, 99.4 percent of whom are Muslim. 55 percent were under 30 years of age.

AS/ME