Today is Friday; 20th of the Iranian month of Mordad 1396 solar hijri; corresponding to 18th of the Islamic month of Zil-Qa’dah 1438 lunar hijri; and August 11, 2017 of the Christian Gregorian Calendar.

5131 solar years ago, on this day in approximately 3114 BC, the Mesoamerican Long Count calendar, used by several pre-European civilizations of the Americas, notably the Mayans, began. The natives of Central and South America had a flourishing civilization that was destroyed by the Spanish invaders.

4509 solar years ago, on this day in 2492 BC, the Babylonian tyrant, Bel, was defeated by Hayk the progenitor and founder of the Armenian nation. Descended from Japheth, the son of Prophet Noah (PuH), he originally lived in Mesopotamia – in present day Iraq – from where he migrated to the Caucasus with his kinsmen to escape oppression, and founded the nation of Armenia.

999 lunar years ago, on this day in 439 AH, the prominent Iranian Muslim mathematician, astronomer, philosopher, and poet, Ghiyas od-Din Omar Ibn Ibrahim Khayyam, was born in Naishapour, Khorasan, in northeastern Iran. He studied in Balkh, Samarqand and Bukhara, before joining the court of the Seljuq ruler, Malik Shah, as scientific advisor. He set up an observatory in his hometown and led work on compiling astronomical tables. To him goes the credit of reforming the solar hijri calendar on the basis of the Spring Equinox, which is still in use in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, and parts of Central Asia, the Caucasus, Iraq, Anatolia, and the Subcontinent. This calendar, known as Jalali, is more perfect than the Gregorian Christian calendar that was imposed on Muslim countries by the colonialists after World War 1. Among Khayyam's works, his book on algebra was until the last century taught as textbook in Iran. In geometry, he reformed the generalities of Euclid and contributed to the theory of parallel lines. His contributions to other fields of science included developing methods for the accurate determination of specific gravity. He is known to the English-speaking world for his “rubaiyyaat” (quatrains) whose English translation was published in 1859 by Edward Fitzgerald, although in the Islamic east he remains the astronomer and mathematician that he was, rather than a poet, since whatever he composed of poetry were casual expressions during his rare leisure hours after strenuous scientific studies and experiments. He died at the age of 85 and was buried in his native Naishapour in the courtyard of the shrine of Imamzadah Mohammad al-Mahruq, a descendant of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA).

758 solar years ago, on this day in 1259 AD, Mongke Khan, the 4^th Khaqaan or Great Khan of the Mongol Empire died of cholera at the age of 51in Chongqing in China after a reign of 8 years during which western Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Anatolia – in present day Turkey – were overrun and incursions made into what is now Pakistan. Son of Tolui and grandson of the bloodthirsty Chengiz Khan, he carried out administrative reforms of the vast empire by employing Chinese, Muslim, and Uyghur officials. Nine of his 16 provincial executive chiefs were Muslims, such as Mahmoud Yalavach in China, Masoud Beg in Turkestan, and Argun Agha in Iran. He ordered his brother, Hulagu Khan exterminate the Ismailis of Alamut in Iran (in 1256) and sack Baghdad (in 1258) if the Abbasid caliph refused to personally submit. Despite his unsuccessful plan to forge an alliance with Christian Europe for attacking Syria and Egypt, he favoured Muslim perceptions. He and Hulagu made the people of the holy city of Najaf an autonomous tax-exempt ecclesiastical polity. He exempted clerics, monks, doctors, churches, mosques and monasteries from taxation.

544 solar years ago, on this day in 1473 AD, the decisive Battle of Otlukbeli took place in central Anatolia in what is now Turkey resulting in the victory of the Ottomans over the Aq Qoyunlu or White Sheep Dynasty – appointed as governors of Diyarbakr and the adjoining regions by the Turkic conqueror, Amir Timur, following his victory over and capture of the Ottoman Sultan, Bayezid I in the Battle of Ankara in 1402. The Ottomans were led by Sultan Mohammad II – the Conqueror of Constantinople and the Byzantine Empire in 1453 – while the Aq Qoyunlu were led by Uzun Hassan, who had recently expanded his dominions eastward by defeating the rival Qara Qoyunlu or Black Sheep Dynasty to annex Iraq and western Iran in 1467 and then routed the army of his nominal overlord, Sultan Abu Sa’eed of the Samarqand-based Timurid Empire in 1469. The power of the Aq Qoyunlu who were goaded by the Venetians to start hostilities with the Ottomans to divert the attention from Italy of Mohammad II, was not completely destroyed until the rise of Shah Ismail I of Iran in 1501 and his founding of the Safavid Empire.

390 solar years ago, on this day in 1627 AD, the last Battle of La Rochelle broke out between the French Catholics and Protestants. The battle was the result of instigations by England. The Catholics, under command of Cardinal Richelieu emerged victorious in the battle of La Rochelle in western France.

92 solar years ago, on this day in 1925 AD, the jurisprudent, Ayatollah Shaikh Abdun-Nabi Noori, passed away in Tehran. He was a product of the seminary of holy Najaf, in Iraq, where he attained ijtihad under guidance of leading ulema such as Mirza Mohammad Hassan Shirazi of the anti-tobacco movement. On his return to Iran, he taught at the Tehran seminary, grooming several scholars.  

74 solar years ago, on this day in 1943 AD, former Pakistani president, Pervez Musharraf was born in New Delhi. Four years later with the partition of the Indian Subcontinent, his family migrated to Pakistan, where on growing up he joined the army and was gradually promoted to the rank of general. In 1999 he seized power through a bloodless military coup by ousting Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. On 18 August he had to resign amidst threats of impeachment for the many corruption cases against him and his government.

65 solar years ago, on this day in 1952 AD, Ethiopian Emperor, Haile Selassie, with the connivance of the UN General Assembly, annexed Eritrea, which had been occupied by Italy in 1890 and seized by Britain in 1941 during World War 2. The people of Eritrea opposed the move and stepped up their struggle for freedom. The Eritrean Liberation Front took up arms in 1960, and in 1993, the struggle bore fruit with formal declaration of independence, following an UN-supervised referendum. Eritrea is situated near the Horn of Africa, with a coastline on the Red Sea. It maintains an important geographical position and shares borders with Ethiopia, Sudan, and Djibouti. Almost half of the population of Eritrea is made up of Muslims including tribes from Arabia.

65 lunar years ago, on this day in 1373 AH, the renowned Islamic scholar and literary figure of Iraq, Ayatollah Mohammad Hussain Kashef al-Gheta, passed away. He was born in a virtuous academic family in the holy city of Najaf. He learned preliminary Islamic sciences at a young age and soon attained high scholarly status by attending the classes of prominent ulema, such as Akhound Khorasani. Ayatollah Kashef al-Gheta groomed many students and wrote several books. He also visited a number of Muslim states to promote Islamic teachings, delivering memorable speeches at the universities and scientific centers of Iran, Egypt, and Palestine. He considered presence of Muslims in political affairs as a must, and played a vital role in the Islamic movement of the Iraqi people against the British, who exiled him to Iran after crushing the 1920 revolution and martyring Ayatollah Mirza Mohammad Taqi Shirazi. Among his books, mention can be made of a diwan of poems and the book “as-Siyasat al-Husainiyyah” on the philosophy behind the epoch-making uprising of the Martyr of Karbala, Imam Husain (AS) – the younger grandson of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA)

57 solar years ago, on this day in 1960 AD, Chad gained independence from French colonial rule. It was occupied in the late 19^th century and early 20^th century AD. Over 60 percent of the people are Muslim. The 25-percent odd Christian population is the result of forced conversion by the French. Chad covers an area of 1.28 million sq. km. It is situated in central Africa and shares borders with Libya, Cameroon, Sudan, Central Africa, Nigeria, and Niger.

24 solar years ago, on this day in 1993 AD, the acclaimed Iranian miniaturist and illustrator, Ahmad Ra’ez, passed away. Born in Isfahan, he became familiar with arts and illustration under prominent masters. His works which were displayed at the Brussels International Exhibition were ranked second and won prizes. He spent nearly 50 years drawing miniatures and enameling, in addition to grooming numerous students. He produced more than 145 works of miniature.

8 solar years ago, on this day in 2009 AD, the 6^th round of confrontations broke out between the Yemeni army and Shi’a Muslims of the Sa'dah region of northern Yemen, who are led by the founders of the popular Ansarullah Movement, the al-Houthi Zaydi clan. In this phase of the struggle, Saudi Arabia, which is in occupation of vast areas of Yemen, deployed its ground and air forces to help the Yemeni army suppress the revolutionary people, but it failed and retreated in humiliation. In this round of confrontations, hundreds of Yemeni Shi'as were martyred and nearly 200,000 people were made homeless. Currently Yemen is reeling under the aerial bombardment of Saudi Arabia, which over the past year and four months has martyred more than 10,000 men, women and children, in addition to wounding tens of thousands of others, and destroying the infrastructure.

5 solar years ago, on this day in 2012 AD, in northwest Iran hundreds of villages were flattened by twin earthquakes (magnitude 6.4 and 6.3), leaving 306 dead and 3,037 injured. Around half the 600 villages located in the zone were damaged or destroyed.

AS/SS