Today is Tuesday; 4th of the Iranian month of Mehr 1396 solar hijri; corresponding to 5th of the Islamic month of Muharram 1439 lunar hijri; and September 26, 2017, of the Christian Gregorian Calendar.

Some 3,504 lunar years ago, on this day, by the command of God Almighty waters parted for Prophet Moses (AS) to cross into Sinai safely from Egypt along with the Israelites who had been enslaved by the Pharaoh. When the Pharaoh tried to pursue Moses, the waters merged and drowned him and his forces. Islam considers Moses one of the five great prophets – the others being Noah, Abraham, Jesus, and the last and greatest of them all, Prophet Mohammad (SAWA).

1378 lunar years ago, on this day in 61 AH, the forces of Yazid continued to converge upon Karbala in thousands, in a bid to pressure Imam Husain (AS) to surrender to the tyrannical Omayyad ruler. Obaidullah ibn Ziyad, the bloodthirsty governor of Iraq stationed a force of five-hundred horsemen under Zahr bin Qais on the Sadah Bridge on the Euphrates to prevent anyone from Kufa to join Imam Husain (AS) in Karbala. Amer ibn Salamah, a staunch follower of the Ahl al-Bayt of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA), who had the honour of accompanying Imam Ali (AS) to the battles imposed upon the Commander of the Faithful by the seditionists and hypocrites, dauntlessly attacked the forces of Zahr bin Qays and breaking through their ranks, rode fearlessly to Karbala to join Imam Husain (AS). Amer eventually drank the elixir of martyrdom on the Day of Ashura (Muharram 10) to sacrifice his life for the ideals of faith, justice, and piety, of the Prophet’s grandson.

645 solar years ago, on this day in 1371 AD, the Second Battle of Maritsa took place in the Balkans as part of the Serbian-Turkish wars, resulting in another resounding victory for the Ottomans against the combined Serb-Greek army of 70,000 soldiers. The Muslim army was led by Sultan Murad I's lieutenant, Lala Shahin Pasha, who through superior military tactics defeated the huge force the Christians had assembled in a bid to avenge their loss in the First Battle of Maritsa seven years earlier in 1364. Both the Serbian king and the Greek despot died on the battlefield. Macedonia and parts of Greece fell under Ottoman power after this battle, which was preceded by the Turkish capture of Sozopol and followed by the capture of Drama, Kavala and Serrai in Greece. It was prelude to the historic Battle of Kosovo eighteen years later in 1389 that completed the conquest of the Balkans by Murad and his death on the battlefield.

330 solar years ago, on this day in 1687 AD, the Venetian army attacked the Acropolis in Athens during the 15-year Morean War (1864-1699) to try to occupy the whole of the Ottoman Province of “Yuninstan” (Greece), while the main Turkish army was engaged in the war with the Hapsburgs in Hungary. The Italians and their Christian mercenaries including Germans, who had no regard for ancient history unlike the Muslim Turkish defenders, bombarded the Parthenon, severely damaging the northern colonnade. The Turks continued to defend for several more days until safe passage to Smyrna, while the Venetians and their Christian mercenaries almost destroyed the whole of Parthenon. They especially targetted the imposing mosque built by Muslims following liberation of Athens in 1354. In 1715, when the Ottomans liberated Yunanistan, the Parthenon was partly rebuilt and the grand mosque restored for the benefit of Greek Muslims. In mid-19th century, Greek mercenaries, aided by Christian powers detached Yunanistan and gave it the ancient name of “Greece” which had ceased to exist over two millennium ago with the rise of the Roman Empire.

254 solar years ago, on this day in 1763 AD, English poet John Byrom died at the age of 71. He invented a revolutionary system of shorthand and is the writer of the lyrics of Anglican hymn: “Christians Awake, salute the happy morn”. The words “Tweedle-dum” and “Tweedle-dee” were written by him became frequently quoted epigrams, satirizing the disagreements between George Frideric Handel and Giovanni Battista Bononcini. A nursery rhyme published in 1805 included the characters Tweedledum and Tweedledee.

193 lunar years ago, on this day in 1438 AH, the prominent Indian Islamic scholar, Allamah Mir Hamed Hussain Musavi, was born in a religious family. He was the son of Mir Mohammad Quli Musavi Kintoori, the author of “Burhan al Sa`adah”, which is a refutation of the 7th Chapter of the seditious book of Shah Abdul-Aziz Dehlavi against the beliefs of the Ahl al-Bayt of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA) titled “Tuhfeye- Ithna Ashariyyah”. Well versed in theology, hadith, and other Islamic sciences, Hamed Hussain devoted his entire life to research and writing, for which he travelled around the Islamic world and browsed whole libraries. He authored several books, his magnum opus being the voluminous “Abaqaat al-Anwaar” on merits of Prophet Mohammad’s (SAWA) Ahl al-Bayt, as mentioned in the holy Qur'an by God Almighty and the Hadith. This valuable work which has been printed in Iran is a well-documented and rational refutation of the Abdul-Aziz Dehlavi’s highly fabricated book.

141 solar years ago, on this day in 1876 AD, the Subcontinent’s political activist and literary figure, Seyyed Ghulam Mohi od-Din Nairang, was born in Ambala in a family that had migrated to India from Tirmiz in Greater Khorasan. He studied law and joined the All-India Muslim League. As a close friend of the Philosopher-Poet of the East, Allamah Mohammad Iqbal Lahori, he was active in political and social fields. On the creation of Pakistan he settled in Lahore, where he died in 1952. In addition to his poetical composition, "Kalaam-e Nairang" he was a regular contributor to prestigious Urdu magazines such as "Zamana", “Makhzan”, “Humayun”, “Aligarh Old Boys”, and his own “Tableegh”. His articles on political, national and literary topics also appeared in the prominent newspapers of those days such as the Lahore-based "Inqelaab” and “Zamindaar”, the Amritsar-based “Wakeel”, the Lucknow-based “Sach” and the Bombay-based “Khilafat”.

129 solar years ago, on this day in 1888 AD, the English literary figure and poet, Thomas Stearns Eliot, was born. He catapulted to fame in 1922 with his poem "The Waste Land". He wrote several books, which show his inclination toward religion. His work include "Sacred Wood", and "Murder in the Cathedral".

129 lunar years ago, on this day in 1310 AH, the prominent Iranian scholar Mullah Ahmad Fazel-e Naraqi, passed away. He was born in Azarbaijan Province, northwestern Iran, and studied at the famous seminary of holy Najaf in Iraq under such great scholar as Sheikh Morteza Ansari. Following his return to Iran, he groomed a large number of students. He has left behind numerous books on various topics including an exegesis of the holy Qur’an

128 solar years ago, on this day in 1889 AD, Martin Heidegger, existentialist philosopher and writer, was born in Germany. He wrote "Being and Time", and criticized the tyranny of modern technology over humanity. He researched the relationship between Western philosophy and Islamic ideas. Scholars interested in Arabic philosophical medieval sources are influenced by his work in this regard.

110 solar years ago, on this day in 1907 AD, New Zealand, which was occupied by the British in the late 18th century and settled by waves of illegal Anglo-Saxon migrants who seized the lands of the Maori natives, was granted dominion status within the British Empire. Earlier, from 1845 to 1848 and again from 1860 to 1870, the Maoris rose against the British for violation of the treaty of 1840 AD, but were brutally crushed. Today, New Zealand is still part of the constitutional monarchy of Britain, with Queen Elizabeth as head of state. She appoints the Governor-General, in consultation with the elected prime minister of the island state. New Zealand consists of two main islands and several smaller ones in the South Pacific Ocean. It covers an area of more than 268,000 sq km.

76 solar years ago, on this day in 1941 AD, during World War 2, the Battle of Kiev, near the capital of Ukraine, resulted in the victory of the invading German Nazi forces over Soviet troops, of whom 665,000 were captured.

55 solar years ago, on this day in 1962 AD, a coup led by Colonel Abdullah Sallal, and supported militarily by President Jamal Abdun-Nasser of Egypt, overthrew the Zaidi Imam, Mohammad al-Badr, who a week earlier had succeeded his father as the ruler of the almost 1,000 year old dynasty. The result was civil war till 1970 that sapped the energies of the invading Egyptian army which saw thousands of its soldiers killed, and led to the humiliating defeat of Nasser in the 6-day Israeli war of 1967. In May 1990, North Yemen and the former British protectorate of South Yemen were united in one single country under the dictatorial rule of Ali Abdullah Saleh, who was in power in Sanaa since 1978, and was replaced in February 2012 by vice president, Abd Rabbo Mansour al-Hadi – a Saudi-American stooge. Hadi was driven out of the country by the popular uprising of the Ansarullah Movement of the Zaidi branch of Shi’a Muslims who make up half of the population of Yemen, and are a majority in the north. There is sizeable minority of Ismaili and Ithna Ash’ari (Twelver) Shi’ite Muslims in Yemen. The ancient land of Yemen with a civilization dating several thousand years ago, embraced the truth of Islam when Prophet Mohammad (SAWA) dispatched his dear cousin and son-in-law, Imam Ali (AS) to invite the people to the true religion. For the two year-and-a-half Saudi Arabia, in a blatant act of US-backed state terrorism, has been bombing Yemen and has killed over 14,000 men, women and children so far, in addition to destroying the infrastructure and the historical heritage. Along with the UAE and other Arab reactionary states, it has sent invasion forces in a bid to topple the popular Ansarullah Movement.

26 solar years ago, on this day in 1991 AD, Ayatollah Seyyed Mostafa Musavi Khwansari “Kashefi”, passed away. A student of Grand Ayatollah Seyyed Hussain Boroujerdi, he wrote many books, such including “Marriage in Islam”.

25 solar years ago, on this day in 1992 AD, the Iranian mystic and lecturer, Mirza Abdul-Karim Roshan Tehrani, passed away at the age of 89. For a while he lectured at the Faculty of Theology at Tehran University.

23 lunar years ago, on this day in 1416 AH, Ayatollah Sheikh Mohammad Baqer Kamrei Khomeini passed away at the age of 96 and was laid to rest in the courtyard of the mausoleum of Hazrat Abdul-Aziz Hassani in Rayy. An expert in Arabic and Persian literature, in addition to exegesis of the holy Qur’an, hadith, jurisprudence, history, and theology, he authored some fifty books on various topics, and was socially active till the end of his life.

5 solar years ago, on this day in 2012 AD, Syrian Christian journalist, Maya Nasser, while working for Iran’s Press TV, was targeted and killed in Damascus by terrorists backed by the US, Turkey, Israel and reactionary Arab regimes. His reports from Aleppo are the most notable. The 33-year old journalist also reported from the US, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt, and Bahrain.

AS/ME