Today is Wednesday; 5th of the Iranian month of Mehr 1396 solar hijri; corresponding to 6th of the Islamic month of Muharram 1439 lunar hijri; and September 27, 2017, of the Christian Gregorian Calendar.

1378 lunar years ago, on this day in 61 AH, Habib ibn Mazaher al-Assadi, a loyal companion of Imam Husain (AS), with the permission of the Imam who was surrounded by the Yazidi forces in Karbala, rode out under cover of darkness towards the tribal areas of his clansmen, the Bani Assad, to urge them to rally to the aid of the besieged grandson of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA). Some 90 tribesmen answered his call and rode towards Karbala, but the commander of the Omayyad forces, Omar ibn Sa’d, on being informed of the situation, dispatched a 400-strong force under Azraq ash-Shami to block their entry. After brief skirmish, seeing that the odds were heavily against them, the Bani Assad tribesmen dispersed while Habib returned to Imam Husain (AS), who was the least perturbed and said there is no Power except that of God and we are content with the Will of the Almighty Creator. The 75-year old Habib, who had the honour of the company of Prophet Mohammad, Imam Ali, Imam Hasan, and Imam Husain (peace upon them), attained martyrdom on the Day of Ashura, fighting the Omayyad hordes to the last drop of his blood in defence of Islam, justice and all other virtues.

1378 lunar years ago, on this day in 61 AH, Imam Husain (AS) wrote a brief letter to his brother Mohammad al-Hanafiyya, and followers of the Prophet’s Ahl al-Bayt in Medina, emphasizing: “Indeed, anyone joining me (in Karbala) will attain martyrdom, while anyone who does not join me will not attain victory.” The letter of the Prophet’s grandson has several messages. Firstly, it shows that Imam Husain (AS) was aware of his being martyred, along with his loyal companions, in his epic stand against the tyrannical rule of Yazid. Secondly, after explicitly spelling out the fate of anyone standing firm beside him, he meant to say that all those desiring any other objective in siding with him, should leave – as is clear by his emphasis on several occasions that he was waiving aside the pledge of allegiance to him by his companions so that everyone was free to leave him without any hesitation. Thirdly, there is no victory for his killers even if they celebrate his death and the imprisoning of the children and womenfolk of the Prophet’s Household with festivities, as will soon be evident by the ignominious end of the perpetrators of the Tragedy of Karbala – battlefield commanders such as Omar ibn Sa’d, Shimr, etc; Obaidullah ibn Ziyad the cruel governor of Iraq in Kufa, and Yazid the usurper caliph in Damascus. Fourthly, his message may also refer to the numerous uprisings launched by followers of the Ahl al-Bayt to avenge the innocent blood of the martyrs of Karbala with varying degrees of success, but never fully victorious by the sword alone.

1033 lunar years ago, on this day in 406 AH, the famous Islamic scholar Seyyed Mohammad Ibn Hussain al-Musawi al-Baghdadi, better known as Sharif Razi, passed away at the age of 47. He was a child prodigy. Along with his elder brother, Sharif Murtaza, he was a student of the celebrated scholar Shaikh Mufid. He was also a poet and a symbol of selflessness and devotion in his social activities. He wrote several books on a wide variety of topics such as exegesis of the holy Qur’an, theology, history, Arabic literature, and hadith. His fame, however, rests on his compilation of the book “Nahj al-Balaghah” (Highway of Eloquence), which contains the sermons, letters, and maxims of the Commander of the Faithful, the Prophet’s First Infallible Successor, Imam Ali ibn Abi Taleb (AS). The book is testimony to the Imam’s unparalleled eloquence which is considered, even by non-Muslim Arabic scholars, to be next only to God’s Revealed Word, the holy Qur’an. His other works include: "Haqa’eq at-Tanzeel", and "Mu’jazaat al-Qur’an".

727 solar years ago, on this day in 1290 AD a massive earthquake in China’s Gulf of Chili killed an estimated 100,000 people.

489 solar years ago, on this day in 1529 AD, the Siege of Vienna started with the attack of Suleiman I on the Austrian capital. It signalled the pinnacle of the Ottoman Empire's power, the maximum extent of Muslim expansion in central Europe. The Turkish failure to capture Vienna turned the tide against almost a century of Muslim conquest throughout eastern and central Europe, which had previously directly annexed Central Hungary in the wake of the Battle of Mohacs. According to British historian Toynbee, "The failure of the first [siege of Vienna] brought to a standstill the tide of Ottoman conquest which had been flooding up the Danube Valley for a century past."

348 solar years ago, on this day in 1669 AD, the Venetians surrendered to the Ottoman Empire the fortress of Candia on the island of Crete, thus ending the 21-year siege – the longest in history. Candia is called Heraklion today. As part of the surrender terms concluded with Ahmad Pasha Koprulu, the Grand Vizier of Albanian origin, all Christians were allowed to leave Candia. It is said that when news of Candia's fall reached Pope Clement IX in Rome in October he immediately fell ill and died two months later.

196 solar years ago, on this day in 1821 AD, Mexico gained independence from Spain. It was centre of the Aztec Empire that had reached heights of civilization centuries before the coming of the Europeans. In 1519, the greed for gold and silver brought to this land the Spanish conquistadores led by Hernan Cortes who mercilessly killed the people, including emperor Montezuma. It required another two centuries for Spain to complete its conquest of the Aztec Empire, although it named the land “New Spain. After the fall of Aztec capital, Tenochtitlan, it took decades of sporadic warfare to subdue the rest of Mesoamerica. Particularly fierce was the Chichimeca War (1576–1606) in the north. During the colonial period lasting from 1650-to-1821, Mexico was part of the much larger Viceroyalty of New Spain, which included Cuba, Puerto Rico, Central America, as far south as Costa Rica, Florida, the southwestern United States and the Philippines. The country was exploited by Spain, and after independence fell to the repeated aggressions of an expansionist US, which seized large parts of Mexico, including California, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, and parts of Colorado.

184 solar years ago, on this day in 1833 AD, Indian humanitarian and reformer, Ram Mohan Roy, whose study of the holy Qur’an, led him to discover the concept of monotheism in Vedic texts and to denounce idol-worship and polytheism of Hindus as innovations, died at the age of 61 at Stapleton near Bristol, while serving as ambassador to Britain of the penultimate Mughal king, Akbar Shah II. He was buried in Arnos Vale Cemetery. A Bengali Brahmin, he started his education by learning Bengali, Sanskrit and Persian, and later enrolled at a Muslim madrasah in Patna for higher Persian and Arabic studies. With his new found knowledge of Arabic he started reading the holy Qur’an and became a monotheist, making his alarmed family send him to Benares for learning the intricacies of Sanskrit and Hindu scriptures. To the horror of his family, Ram Mohan now interpreted the Upanishads through the monotheist strictures of the holy Qur’an, and denounced idolatry. He, along with other Bengali Hindu intellectuals, who had studied Christianity and Islam, founded the Brahmo Samaj Movement. In 1805, he published “Tuhfat-ul-Muwahhidin” (A Gift to Monotheists) – an essay written in Persian with an introduction in Arabic in which he rationalized the indivisible unity of the One and Only God. During the 1820s he published journals in English, Hindi, Persian and Bengali, calling for abolishment of temples, of priests, of ‘sati’ or widow-burning on the husband’s funeral pier, and other such superstitious practices. His most popular Bengali journal was “Sambad Kaumudi”, while the Persian paper was titled “Mirat ul-Akhbar”

77 solar years ago, on this day in 1940 AD, The Tripartite Pact was signed by the Axis Powers of the Second World War – Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, and Imperial Japan. The three agreed that for the next ten years they would "stand by and co-operate with one another, and recognized each other's spheres of interest, pledging to assist one another with all political, economic and military means when one of the three contracting powers is attacked.

68 solar years ago, on this day in 1949 AD, the populous city of Beijing was officially chosen as the Chinese capital. Beijing is situated in East China and is considered as one of the major political, economic, and cultural hubs of China.

55 solar years ago, on this day in 1962 AD, a day after overthrow of the Zaydi Shi’a Muslim dynasty of North Yemen through a military coup by Colonel Abdullah Sallal, assisted by Egypt’s President Jamal Abdun-Nasser, the Yemen Arab Republic was established. The coup marked the beginning of the North Yemen civil war that pitted pro-monarchy and revolutionary elements. Conflict continued until 1967 when Egyptian troops were withdrawn after their humiliating defeat in the 6-day Israeli war, and finally ended in 1970. Ever since, the successive governments in Sana’a, even after the merger of South Yemen with North Yemen in 1990, have continue to deprive Northern Yemen’s Zaydi Muslim majority of its birthrights, resulting in the present chaos in the country. Currently, the Americans and the Saudis are trying prevent the people from reclaiming their rights through a policy of state terrorism that is evident in the ongoing invasion of the country and the more than two-and-a-half years of unabated aerial bombing by Saudi Arabia that has led to the killing of over 6,000 men, women and children.

36 solar years ago, on this day in 1981 AD, upon the order of the Father of Islamic Revolution, Imam Khomeini (RA), Iran's Muslim combatants launched the victorious “Samen al-Ai’mma” Operations to break the more-than-a-year long siege of the city of Abadan in Khuzestan Province, southwestern Iran, by the invading forces of the repressive Ba'th minority regime of Baghdad. The successful operation amazed the world's military and political planners, and was a turning point in the 8-year war imposed by the US on Iran through Saddam.

33 solar years ago, on this day in 1984 AD, Grand Ayatollah Seyyed Abdullah Musavi Shirazi, passed away in holy Mashhad at the age of 92 and was laid to rest in the mausoleum of Imam Reza (AS), the 8^th Infallible Heir of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA). Born in Shiraz, he was 15 years old when he accompanied his father, Ayatollah Seyyed Mohammad Tahir Shirazi, into banishment to remote areas for opposing the Qajarid dynasty’s subservience to British colonial rule. In 1914, Abdullah Shirazi went to Iraq to study advanced jurisprudence at the seminary of holy Najaf, under Ayatollah Mirza Mohammad Hussain Na’eni. On his return to Iran, he became active against the anti-Islamic rule of Reza Khan Pahlavi, and following the Gowharshad Mosque protests of 1935 against the forcible unveiling of women, he was sentenced to 4 years in prison. After his release, he went back to Najaf, and soon became one of the leading Marja or Source of Emulation. In 1975, he returned to Iran and joined the movement of the Father of the Islamic Revolution, Imam Khomeini (RA) against Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, until the regime was overthrown in 1979. He was socially active, both inside and outside Iran, and wrote several books, such as “Umdat-il Wasa'il fil Hashiyat ila ar-Rasa'il” (on writings of Shaikh Morteza Ansari, in 4 volumes); “Azahat ush-Shubahat fi Hukm il-Afaaq al-Muttahidah wa’l Mottafiqah” (Jurisprudential Rules on Observation of the Moon for Calculations of the Solar Calendar); “At-Tuhfat ol-Kadhimiyah fi Qatl al-Hayawanat bil-Alaat al-Kahruba'iyah”  (Jurisprudential Rules concerning Slaughtering of Farm Animals with Electric Devices); “al-Ihtejajaat al-Ashra” (Discussion on the Sunni-Shi'a Debate – translated into Persian, English, Urdu, and Gujarati, and published several times); and “Imam wa Imamat” (in Persian on the topic of Imamate in Islam). Ayatollah Abdullah Shirazi founded over 180 institutes, including hospitals, schools, and libraries in Iran, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Pakistan, India, and African countries.

24 solar years ago, on this day in 1993 AD, a brutal massacre took place in Sukhumi on its capture by Abkhazian separatists, who drove out some 250,000 Georgians, as part of ethnic cleansing. It is said the Armenians assisted the Abkhaz militia in torturing and killing Georgian men, women, and children.

21 solar years ago, on this day in 1996 AD, the Taleban militia, which was formed in Pakistan, funded by Saudi Arabia and armed by the US, occupied the Afghan capital, Kabul, after ousting the legal government of President Burhan od-Din Rabbani. The Taleban forced the UN mission in Kabul to hand them over, General Mohammad Najibollah, the last communist president of Afghanistan, and brutally executed him. The Taleban unleashed a reign of terror in Afghanistan by enforcing medieval European laws, in a bid to tarnish the image of Islam. In October 2001, they were ousted by their own godfather, the US.

6 solar years ago, on this day in 2011AD, Iran announced the mass production of a new cruise missile, designed to destroy warships and coastal targets. The Qader has a range of 300 km.

AS/MG