Today is Saturday; 14th of the Iranian month of Mordad 1396 solar hijri; corresponding to 12th of the Islamic month of Zil-Qa’dah 1438 lunar hijri; and August 5, 2017, of the Christian Gregorian Calendar.

1882 solar years ago, on this day in 135 AD, during the last of the three major Jewish-Roman wars, pagan Roman armies entered Betar in what was then the Roman province of Judea in Palestine, brutally slaughtering thousands of rebellious Jews to effectively end the revolt of Bar Kokhba. Followers of Prophet Jesus (PuH) did not support Bar Kokhba the Jew, whom the Talmud calls Ben Kusiba or false Messiah. 

1078 solar years ago, on this day in 939 AD, the Battle of Alhandic was fought between Ramiro II of León and Abdur-Rahman III at Zamora in Spain, resulting in a victory for the Muslim Emirate of Cordoba.

739 solar years ago, on this day in 1278 AD, the siege of Algeciras ended in Spain with the victory of the Emirate of Gharnata (Granada) over the Christian kingdom of Castile.

712 solar years ago, on this day in 1305 AD, William Wallace, who led the Scottish resistance against England, is captured by the English near Glasgow and transported to London where he is put on trial and executed.

662 lunar years ago, on this day in 776 AH, the eminent scholar, Abu Ja'far Mohammad ibn Mohammad Buwayhi, popularly known as Qotb od-Din Razi, passed away in Damascus, Syria. Born in Varamin near Rayy in Iran, he was a student of the famous Allamah Hilli, and in turn was among the teachers of Shaikh Jamal od-Din, the First Martyr (Shaheed Awwal). Among his works mention could be made of "al-Mohkamaat", which is the author's judgment on a comparative study of the philosophical views of the Iranian religious philosophers, Khwaja Naseer od-Din Tousi and Fakhr od-Din Razi. His other works include, A Commentary (Sharh) on the "Shamsiyya" of Kateb Qazwini, "Sharh Matale’ al-Anwaar", and an Annotation (Hashiyya) on the "Qawa'ed Ala-al-Ahkaam" an explanation of the jurisprudential masterpiece of the famous Allamah Hilli.

336 solar years ago, on this day in 1681 AD, Danish-Russian navigator, Vitus Jonassen Bering, was born in the Netherlands. He was commissioned by Czar Peter the Great to travel the coast of Asia to see if it was connected to North America. He sailed through the Bering Strait in 1728. He discovered Alaska on his second voyage in 1741, with several scientists on board, explored its coast, and discovered the Aleutian Islands. He died stranded during the winter following a shipwreck. The Bering Sea and Bering Island (where he died) are named for him.

301 solar years ago, on this day in 1716 AD, the battle of Petrovaradin in Serbia resulted in a decisive victory for Austrian forces in the war against the Ottoman Empire, which had assembled a large army of 150,000 in Belgrade for the Turkish advance into Europe.

254 solar years ago, on this day in 1763 AD, the Battle of Bushy Run took place in western Pennsylvania, between the British led by Colonel Henry Bouquet and a combined force of the Amerindian tribes of Delaware, Shawnee, Mingo, and Huron. After a two-day seesaw struggle, the better armed British slaughtered a great many of native Amerindians and went on to relieve the garrison of Fort Pitt that was under siege. The battle was part of the 2-year war known as Pontiac’s Rebellion after the most prominent Amerindian Chief, who campaigned to drive out the Anglo-Saxon invaders from the Great Lake regions of what is now the US and Canada. The British resorted to brutal tactics, deception, massacres, and genocide, including spreading of epidemics, such as the smallpox virus, in order to decimate the native population. The war demonstrated the possibilities of pan-tribal cooperation in resisting European expansion despite the conspiracies of the colonialists to divide Amerindian tribes. It was the first war between Europeans and Native North Americans that did not end in complete defeat of the Amerindians.

134 lunar years ago, on this day in 1304 AH, Ayatollah Moḥammad Taqi Amoli was born in Tehran. After initial studies under his scholarly father, he went to holy Najaf in Iraq for higher religious studies. His teachers were such great scholars as Ayatollah Mirza Hussain Na'ini, Ayatollah Aqa Ziya od-Din Iraqi, and Ayatollah Seyyed Abu’l-Hassan Isfahani. He passed away in Tehran at the age of 85 and his body was taken to Mashhad for burial in the mausoleum of Imam Reza (AS).

122 solar years ago, on this day in 1895 AD, German philosopher, Friedrich Engels, died in London at the age of 75. A close friend of his compatriot, Karl Marx, who coined the theory of Marxism, he was persecuted for his political views and fled to Britain in 1850. The book “Communist Manifesto”, published in 1848 is the joint work of Engels and Marx.

111 solar years ago, on this day in 1906 AD, the movement of the Iranian people led by the ulema forced the Qajarid king, Mozaffar od-Din Shah to sign the Constitutional Decree that aimed to end injustice, oppression, and the interference of foreign states in Iran’s internal affairs. Prime Minister Ain od-Dowlah’s brutal suppression of public protests had led to the killing and wounding of scores of people. In protest, the ulema led by Ayatollah Seyyed Abdullah Behbahani and Ayatollah Seyyed Mohammad Tabatabai, staged sit-ins in Rayy and Qom. The Shah, fearful of the events, dismissed the premier and issued the Constitutional Decree. Later, British agents infiltrated the Constitutional Movement and diverted it from its path.

94 lunar years ago, on this day in 1344 AH, the prominent Iranian poet, Abdul-Jawad Adib Naishapouri, passed away at the age of 63. He went blind in childhood due to smallpox, but continued to learn sciences enthusiastically and after honing his skills in Arabic literature and other sciences of his era, he started to lecture these subjects. Gradually, he turned into a skilled poet. Selection of appropriate terms and precise meanings are the strong points of his poetry. His Diwan of poems consists of beautiful verses in Persian and Arabic.

65 solar years ago, on this day in 1952 AD, Egyptian nuclear scientist, Sameera Musa, was killed in a mysterious accident in the US at the age of 35. It is widely believed that this budding Muslim lady scientist was the victim of foul play by the CIA and Mossad. After obtaining a doctorate in atomic radiation – the first woman to do so – she worked to make the medical use of nuclear technology affordable to all. She organized the Atomic Energy for Peace Conference and sponsored a call for setting an international conference under the banner "Atom for Peace". She used to say: "I will make nuclear treatment as cheap as Aspirin". She volunteered to help treat cancer patients at various hospitals. She was offered scholarship by the Fullbright Atomic Program of the US, but on visiting the US, she turned down several offers that required her to live there and be granted American citizenship. On the eve of her return home, she was invited to a trip to California, and on the way the car suddenly went down from a height of 40 feet, which killed her immediately. Later it was proved that the invitation letter was false, and besides the vanishing of the driver who jumped from the car just before it went down, it was revealed that Egypt's Jewish actress Raqya Ibrahim (Rachel Abraham), with connections to Israel, was behind Sameera's mysterious trip to California.

57 solar years ago, on this day in 1960 AD, the West African Muslim majority country of Burkina Faso became independent from French colonial rule. Formerly known as Upper Volta, it covers an area of more than 274,000 sq km. and shares borders with Mali, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, Benin, and Niger. Over 70 percent of the people are Muslims.

29 solar years ago, on this day in 1988 AD, the battered and bruised Saddam of the repressive Ba’th minority regime of Baghdad, officially ended the 8-year war he had imposed on US orders on the Islamic Republic of Iran, 17 days after his formal acceptance of UN Security Council Resolution 598 during which he had made a last attempt to seize more Iranian territory by continuing hostilities and sending thousands of fully armed MKO hypocrites across the border. The valour and alertness of Iran’s Muslim combatants thwarted the plots of Saddam, who two years later was officially declared as aggressor of the 8-year war by the UN.

27 solar years ago, on this day in 1990 AD, during the 19th round of ministerial meetings of the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) in Cairo, the Declaration of Islamic Human Rights was approved and this day was designated as the Day of Islamic Human Rights and Mankind’s Dignity. The Declaration consists of a prelude and 25 articles. It was the result of the objection of Islamic states to the flawed UN Declaration of Human Rights. The most important feature, which distinguishes the Declaration of Islamic Human Rights from the UN version, is the focus on spiritual rights and dignity of mankind on the basis of religion. The Declaration of Islamic Human Rights also emphasizes on the right of nations to struggle against colonialism.

10 solar years ago, on this day in 2007 AD, Iran showed off for the first time a new fighter jet, built using domestic technology. The "Azarakhsh" (or Lightning) Jet, one of the first to be home-produced by Iran, made a successful flight in the central city of Isfahan.

AS/SS