Today is Wednesday; 29th of the Iranian month of Shahrivar 1396 solar hijri; corresponding to 29th of the Islamic month of Zi’l-Hijjah 1438 lunar hijri; and September 20, 2017 of the Christian Gregorian Calendar.

2497 solar years ago, on this day in 480 BC, an Iranian army was defeated by an alliance of Greek city states in the Battle of Salamis in the straits between the mainland and the island of Salamis in the Saronic Gulf near Athens. To block the advance of the Persian Achaemenian Emperor, Xerxes I, the Greeks blocked the pass of Thermopylae, while an Athenian- led allied navy engaged the Iranian fleet in the nearby straits of Artemisium. In the resulting Battle of Thermopylae, the Greeks were annihilated, while in the Battle of Artemisium they suffered heavy losses and retreated. This allowed the Persians to conquer Boeotia and Attica. The Iranian navy then sailed into the Straits of Salamis and tried to block both entrances. In the cramped conditions of the Straits the great Iranian numbers were an active hindrance, as ships struggled to maneuver and became disorganised. Seizing the chance, the Greek fleet formed in line and scored a decisive victory, sinking or capturing at least 300 ships. As a result Xerxes withdrew to Asia Minor with much of his army, leaving Mardonius to complete the conquest of Greece. However, the following year, the remainder of the Persian army was beaten at the Battle of Plataea and the Persian navy at the Battle of Mycale. The Achaemenians made no more attempts to conquer the Greek mainland. Salamis and Plataea thus marking a turning point in the Greco-Persian Wars. According to historians, an Iranian victory would have meant the end of Ancient Greece, and by extension there would not have been any advanced western civilization today.

1,425 lunar years ago, on this day in 13 AH, Omar ibn Khattab, the 2^nd caliph or political head of the Muslim state, succumbed to the wounds he had suffered two days earlier at the hands of Abu Lulu Firuz for failing to redress the injustice done to him by the latter’s Arab master, Mughirah, who had imposed heavy taxes on this talented Iranian convert to Islam, well versed in many crafts including the construction of mills. Omar, who before becoming a Muslim was a fierce opponent of Islam and Prophet Mohammad (SAWA), had played the leading role in installing his friend Abu Bakr as the first caliph at the dubious gathering of Saqifa Bani Sa’da after a fist fight amongst the companions of the Prophet, while the Prophet’s divinely-designated heir, Imam Ali (AS), along with the Bani Hashem clan and some prominent Sahaba (companions), was busy performing the funeral rites of the Last Messenger of God. Two years later, on Abu Bakr’s death, he became the caliph on the claim of the former’s will in his favour, although at the historic gathering of Ghadeer-Khom he was the first one to felicitate Imam Ali’s (AS) formal appointment as the Prophet’s vicegerent with the words: You have become my Master and the Master of all faithful men and women. For almost a decade that he was head of state, he forbade collection of the Prophet’s hadith, having earlier rejected Imam Ali’s (AS) compilation in book-form of the holy Qur’an, even though he himself had raised the slogan “hasbuna kitabullah” (the Book of God is enough for us), while denying the Prophet’s request in the last days for pen and paper to put in writing the Will for the salvation of the ummah – adherence to the Thaqalayn, i.e. the Holy Qur’an and the Ahl al-Bayt. On his deathbed, in order to determine the next caliph, Omar appointed a 6-man Shura (council), which chose Osman Ibn Affan, when Imam Ali (AS), who was first offered the political post, made it clear that he would rule only in accordance with the Holy Qur’an and the Prophet’s “Sunnah” (practice), and would not follow the unhealthy innovations that had crept into the administration during the previous two reigns.

1118 lunar years ago, on this day in 320 AH, the grammarian and hadith narrator, Abu-Bakr Mohammad ibn Ahmad Khayyat, died. He was of Iranian stock from Samarqand in Central Asia, which is now in the present day Republic of Uzbekistan. He went to Iraq for higher studies and settled there after visiting different cities. Among his works is "Ma'ani al-Qur’an".

830 solar years ago, on this day in 1187 AD, the Kurdish ruler of Egypt-Syria, Salah od-Din Ayyoubi besieged Bayt al-Moqaddas which the Crusader invaders from Europe had seized in 1099 from the Fatemid Ismaili Shi’a Muslim dynasty of Egypt-Syria. His army of Turks, Arabs, Iranians and Kurds liberated the city on October 2 after 88 years of occupation by the illegal Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem.

689 solar years ago, on this day in 1328 AD, the highly controversial Hanbali pseudo scholar, Ahmad ibn Abdul-Haleem Ibn Taymiya, died in Damascus at the age of 65, while serving a prison sentence for discouraging celebrations on the Prophet of Islam’s birth anniversary, for declaring pilgrimage to the Prophet’s tomb as “bid’ah” (innovation), and for belittling the sanctity of Islam’s two principal mosques – the Masjid al-Haram around the holy Ka’ba in Mecca and Medina’s Masjid an-Nabi that encloses Prophet of Islam’s holy shrine. Earlier also, he had spent over 18 months in jail in Cairo (1319-21) for his views which the ulema considered heretical. Born in Harran in upper Mesopotamia, which is currently in Turkey on the Syrian border, he indulged in vitriolic criticism of not just Christians, but also of fellow Muslims, to the extent that without bothering to properly study the works of the famous Spanish Muslim Gnostic, Mohi od-Din Ibn Arabi, he branded him an unbeliever – an accusation that brought swift response from scholars who wrote books against him. He came to Iran to the court of the Mongol Muslim ruler, Ghazaan Khan, with a delegation of scholars and courted trouble by his rash attitude and lack of manners. Ibn Taymiya has earned lasting notoriety for forbidding pilgrimage to holy shrines, as well as his call to return to the days and ways of the Salaf – instead of the Prophet’s pure and pristine “Sunnah” (practice) and “Seerah” (behaviour) and the teachings of the Immaculate Ahl al-Bayt. Salaf, which means predecessor, is a reference to early Muslims, especially those who assumed power of the Islamic state, even though neither the Prophet had delegated them any authority nor God has given them any legitimacy in the holy Qur’an. The fact of the matter is that most of the Salaf, who were bitter enemies of the Prophet before becoming reluctant converts to Islam from decades of idolatry and sinful life, continued their violation of the letter and spirit of the holy Qur’an even after becoming Muslims, as is evident by their persecution and killing of the Ahl al-Bayt. This is clear by the seditious actions of the present day Salafis, who under the guise of Islam indulge in the most heinous forms of terrorism against Muslims, including the destruction of holy shrines.

639 solar years ago, on this day in 1378 AD, Cardinal Robert of Geneva, notorious as the "Butcher of Cesena", was elected as Avignon Pope Clement VII. In 1377, while serving as papal legate in upper Italy, he personally commanded troops lent to the papacy during the ‘War of the Eight Saints’, to reduce the small city of Cesena in the territory of Forlì, by authorizing the massacre of some 8,000 civilians, an atrocity even by the rules of war at the time.

629 solar years ago, on this day in 1388 AD, Ferouz Shah, the 3rd Sultan of the Turkic Toghlaq Dynasty of North India, died in Delhi at the age of 79, after a 37-year reign. The son of Rajab and a Hindu princess, he succeeded his eccentric cousin, Sultan Mohammad Toghlaq, but ruled a much shrunken empire, as Bengal, Gujarat and the Deccan had already seceded as independent Muslim dynasties. Ferouz Shah did not pursue any expansionist policy and worked to improve the infrastructure of the realm under his control, building canals, hospitals, and caravanserais, and creating and refurbishing reservoirs. He was fond of learning and had a large personal library of books in Persian, Arabic and other languages. During his reign Sanskrit books, including Hindu religious works were translated into Persian. The famous Persian history of his reign is "Tarikh-e Ferouz Shahi" written by Shams-e Siraj Afif.

397 solar years ago, on this day in 1620 AD, the Battle of Jassy took place in Romania when the Ottoman Turks beat King Sigismund III of Poland.

239 solar years ago, on this day in 1778 AD, Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen, a Baltic-German officer in the Imperial Russian Navy, cartographer and explorer, who ultimately rose to the rank of Admiral, was born in Saaremaa, Governorate of Livonia, now in Estonia. He participated in the first Russian circumnavigation of the globe and later, along with Mikhail Petrovich Lazarev, led another circumnavigation expedition, which discovered Antarctica in the South Pole. “Bellinsgauzen”, a crater on the far side of the Moon is named in his honour. He died at the age of 73 in St. Petersburg.

186 solar years ago, on this day in 1831 AD, the first bus empowered by steam engine was manufactured in Europe. It had the capacity to carry thirty passengers; and maintained a low speed.

160 solar years ago, on this day in 1857 AD, British troops of the East India Company captured Delhi to crush the Indian Uprising of 1857, and cold-bloodedly massacred the people. They dethroned the last Mughal monarch, the aged Bahadur Shah Zafar, and before exiling him to Rangoon in Burma (Myanmar), mercilessly shot his sons and grandsons. They then sadistically sent their heads to the king as gifts on the day of Nowrouz, or the Spring Equinox, when traditional celebrations were in progress for the new solar hijri year.

150 solar years ago, on this day in 1867 AD, with annexation of Hungary to Austrian soil, Franz Joseph was officially instated as Austro-Hungarian emperor. Hungary, which had been part of the Ottoman Turkish Empire before its seizure by Austria, gained independence at the end of World War I following Austria's defeat.

147 solar years ago, on this day in 1870 AD, Rome was seized by the forces of King Victor Emmanuel II, resulting in the unification of Italy as a national state.

100 lunar years ago, on this day in 1338 AH, the prominent activist of Iran’s Constitutional Era, Sheikh Mohammad Khiyabani, was martyred, thus ending the uprising in the northwestern Iranian city of Tabriz against the despotic Qajar Dynasty. After acquiring Islamic sciences, he struggled against the injustices of the monarchial system. He strove to awaken the people against the infiltration of foreign powers, believing that the root cause of the problems of the Islamic ummah, were the oppressive rulers and their colonial masters. Following the ouster of Mohammad Ali Shah in 1327 AH and his fleeing from Iran, Khiyabani was elected to the parliament in Tehran as representative of the people of Tabriz, from where he launched his uprising following signing of the ominous pact with Britain in 1337 AH by the corrupt Prime Minister Wosouq od-Dowlah. After succeeding in taking charge of the administration of Tabriz, he was captured in an unequal battle with the governmental forces and executed.

84 solar years ago, on this day in 1933 AD, Annie Wood Besant, British socialist, theosophist, women's rights activist, writer, orator and supporter of Irish and Indian self-rule, died in Adyar, Madras Presidency at the age of 86. She became involved with union actions including the Bloody Sunday demonstration and the London Match-Girls Strike of 1888. She was a leading speaker for the Fabian Society and the Marxist Social Democratic Federation (SDF). She was elected to the London School Board for Tower Hamlets, topping the poll even though few women were qualified to vote at that time. She became a member of the Theosophical Society and a prominent lecturer on the subject. As part of her theosophy-related work, she travelled to India. In 1898 she helped establish the Central Hindu College and in 1922 she helped establish the Hyderabad (Sind) National Collegiate Board in Mumbai, India.  She joined the Indian National Congress. When World War I broke out in 1914, she helped launch the Home Rule League to campaign for democracy in India and dominion status within the British Empire. This led to her election as president of the India National Congress in late 1917. She was arrested, prompting the Congress and the Muslim League to threaten to launch joint protests if she were not set free. Anne Wood Besant was a firm opponent of the Church of England as a state-sponsored faith. In fact, she was critical of Christianity, saying that for centuries the leaders of Christian thought have spoken of women as a necessary evil, and that the greatest saints of the Church were those who despised women the most. She wrote: "Against the teachings of eternal torture, of the vicarious atonement, of the infallibility of the Bible, I leveled all the strength of my brain and tongue, and I exposed the history of the Christian Church with unsparing hand, its persecutions, its religious wars, its cruelties, its oppressions.” (Annie Besant, An Autobiography Chapter VII). In the section titled "Its Evidences Unreliable" of her work titled "Christianity", Besant presents the case of why the Gospels are not authentic:

“Before about AD 180 there is no trace of the FOUR gospels among the Christians.  ...As it is not pretended by any that there is any mention of four Gospels before the time of Irenaeus, excepting this "harmony," pleaded by some as dated about AD 170 and by others as between 170 and 180, it would be sheer waste of time and space to prove further a point admitted on all hands. This step of our argument is, then on solid and unassailable ground —that before about AD 180 there is no trace of FOUR gospels among the Christians. Before that date, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, are not selected as the four evangelists.”

69 solar years ago, on this day in 1948 AD, Dr. Husain Salah od-Din, the Maldivian writer and an influential poet and scholar of English, Arabic, Persian, Urdu and the local Dhivehi language of the Maldives archipelago, passed away at the age of 67. He was buried in Colombo, Sri Lanka. He greatly contributed to Maldivian literature. He also served as the Chief Justice of the Maldives for a long time. His most famous work is the Biography of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA), which is broadcast till this day in the month of Ramadhan by Radio Maldives.

38 solar years ago, on this day in 1979 AD, after 13 years in power of which the last three were as the self-styled emperor of the Central African Republic, Jean Bedel Bokassa was replaced by his masters the French, with David Dacko, whom he had overthrown in a military coup in 1966. Bokassa lived lavishly in France where he had a chateau and other property bought with the money he had embezzled. A brutal dictator, during his reign of terror, he took all important government posts for himself. He personally supervised judicial beatings and in 1977, in emulation of his hero Napoleon Bonaparte, he crowned himself emperor in a ceremony costing $20 million, practically bankrupting the country. His diamond-encrusted crown cost $5 million. In 1979 he had hundreds of schoolchildren arrested for refusing to wear uniforms made in a factory he owned, and personally supervised the massacre of 100 schoolchildren.

26 solar years ago, on this day in 1991 AD, South Ossetia declared independence from the Republic of Georgia. Ossetia is an ethno-linguistic region located on both sides of the Greater Caucasus Mountains, largely inhabited by Ossetians, whose language is part of the eastern Iranian branch of the Indo-European family of languages. The northern portion of the region consists of the republic of North Ossetia–Alania within the Russian Federation, while the southern has seceded from Georgia, especially after a fighting a war in 2008.

15 solar years ago, on this day in 2002 AD, the prominent jurisprudent, Ayatollah Seyyed Mohammad Ali Movahhed Abtahi, passed away at the age of 72. Born in Isfahan, at the tender age of 15 years he enrolled at the Qom seminary and studied under prominent ulema, such as Grand Ayatollah Seyyed Hussain Boroujerdi, Grand Ayatollah Seyyed Mohammad Reza Golpayegani and the famous exegete of the holy Qur’an, Allamah Seyyed Mohammad Hussain Tabatabaie. At the age of 24 he left for the holy Najaf seminary in Iraq, where he spent twenty years, studying under the famous Grand Ayatollahs Seyyed Mohsin al-Hakim, and Seyyed Abu’l-Qasim Khoei, and reaching the status of Ijtihad. On his return to Iran he engaged himself in teaching, research and writing of books at the Qom seminary. He wrote over a hundred books and treatises on a wide variety of Islamic sciences, including the 5-volume “Tahdhib al-Maqal fi Sharh Rejal”, the 10-volume “Akhbar ar-Ruwwaat”, the 4-volume “Osoul-e Fiqh”, and the 2-volume “al-Me’raj” on Prophet Mohammad’s (SAWA) Ascension to the highest point in the heaven and back to Planet Earth in a fraction of the night.    

11 solar years ago, on this day in 2006 AD, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez took his verbal battle with the US to the floor of the UN General Assembly, calling President George W. Bush “the devil”. "The devil came here yesterday," Chavez said. "He came here talking as if he were the owner of the world."

6 solar years ago, on this day in 2011 AD, former president of Afghanistan, Burhan od-Din Rabbani, was assassinated on his 71^st birthday by a Taliban terrorist, who visited him on the pretext of holding talks. An ethnic Persian-speaking Tajik and an Islamic scholar, he founded the first Afghan mujahideen movement, before the 1979 Soviet invasion. After the downfall of the pro-Soviet regime in 1992, he was elected president and served in the post until the seizure of Afghanistan by the Taliban militia in 1996. Thereafter, he was part of the Northern Alliance fighting the Taliban terrorists until their ouster in 2001 by the US.

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