Today is Thursday; 6th of the Iranian month of Mehr 1396 solar hijri; corresponding to 7th of the Islamic month of Muharram 1439 lunar hijri; and September 28, 2017, of the Christian Gregorian Calendar.

Over three millennium lunar years ago, on this day, God Almighty spoke for the first time with Moses, entrusting him with Prophethood and the mission to invite the tyrannical Pharaoh to monotheism and to ask for the release of Israelites from bondage. As is evident by ayah 9 onwards of Surah TaHa of the holy Qur’an, while searching for fire in the wilderness, Moses saw flames atop Mount Sinai and was startled to see a bush on fire but with all its green leaves and branches miraculously intact. Here he heard the voice of the Almighty Creator asking him to take off his shoes, throw his walking staff down that miraculously turned into a snake and to remove his hand from the armpit to find the palm glowing with light.  

2065 solar years ago, on this day in 48 BC, on landing in Egypt, Roman general and politician Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus or Pompey the Great, was murdered by his own confidante, Septimius, on the orders of King Ptolemy of Egypt at the age of 58. In the mid-60 BC, he joined Marcus Licinius Crassus and Gaius Julius Caesar for the rule of the Roman Republic, in the military-political alliance known as the First Triumvirate, which Pompey's marriage to Caesar's daughter Julia helped secure. After the deaths of Julia and Crassus, Pompey sided with the conservative faction of the Roman Senate. Pompey and Caesar then contended for leadership of the Roman state, leading to a civil war. When Pompey was defeated at the Battle of Pharsalus, he sought refuge in Egypt, where he was assassinated. His career and defeat are significant in Rome's subsequent transformation from Republic to Principate and Empire.

1401 solar years ago, on this day in 616 AD, Javanshir Arran-Shah, the king of the Iranian land of Arran in what is today the Caucasus Republic of Azerbaijan was born in the Gardman region of Armenia. He reigned from 637 to 680 and was either of Parthian or Persian origin, as his family, the Mihranids, claimed descent from the Sassanid Persians. He was placed on the throne by the Sassanid Emperor in place of his father, Varaz Grigor, who had converted to Christianity from Zoroastrianism. Javanshir, who also converted secretly to Christianity, sided with the Sassanid Dynasty during the Arab invasion of Persia and was personally rewarded by Emperor Yazdegerd III two golden spears, two golden shields and a flag, probably the Derafsh Kaviani. In 636, he and his forces, alongside the Armenian prince Musel III Mamikonian, took part in the famous Battle of al-Qadisiyyah in Iraq between the Persian and Arab armies. The Sassanid defeat made Javanshir lose hope and he fled to his kingdom, from where he wrote a letter to Emperor Constans II and became ally of the Byzantine Empire. After his alliance with the Byzantines, he joined forces with the Iberian king Adarnase I to attack garrisons of the declining Sassanid Empire in the Caucasus, expanding his dominion from Derbend in Daghestan to Aras River on what is today Iran’s northwestern border. Soon, faced with the advancing armies of the Muslims from the south and the Khazar offensive on the north, Javanshir recognized the suzerainty of the caliph, a move that facilitated the spread of Islam in his homeland. Javanshir was assassinated in 680 at the age of 64.

1378 lunar years ago, on this day in 61 AH, Obaidullah ibn Ziyad, the tyrannical Omayyad governor of Iraq, dispatched more forces to Karbala to besiege Imam Husain (AS) and ordered the commander of his army, Omar ibn Sa’d, to cut off access to the waters of the River Euphrates in order to extract oath of allegiance to Yazid’s illegal rule from the grandson of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA). Omar ibn Sa’d promptly stationed Amr ibn Hajjaj az-Zubaidi with a detachment of five hundred horsemen on the river banks, but the Imam’s valiant brother, Hazrat Abbas (AS), managed to fetch water from the Euphrates during a night raid and stored it in the encampment, until all resources ran dry on the following day.

838 lunar years ago, on this day in 601 AH, the historian and geographer, Yusuf Ibn Yaqoub Shaybani Dameshqi Ibn al-Mujawir, was born in Damascus, Syria. He spent his childhood and youth in Baghdad, Iraq, learning sciences under the prominent scholars. He traveled all over the Arabian Peninsula and wrote the important work, "Tarikh al-Mustabsir", which contains valuable political, geographical, and social information of the whole region. He died at the age of 89 in 690 AH.

779 solar years ago, on this day in 1238 AD, the Muslim emirate of Valencia in Spain was forced to surrender to the besieging King James I of Aragon, on certain conditions that were never kept by the Christians who persecuted Muslims and converted mosques into churches, beside expelling over 50,000 of the people of this land, which for five hundred years had nurtured many great Islamic scholars and poets. Known as "Balansia" to Muslims and also called "Madinat-at-Turab" (or City of Sands), its keys were delivered to King James by the Muslim king, Zayan, with the words: "In the city of Valencia live Muslims, the nobles of my people, along with Christians and Jews. I hope you continue to govern in the same harmony, all working and living together in this noble land. Here, during my reign, Easter processions went out and Christians professed their religion freely, as our Qur'an recognizes Christ and the Virgin. I hope you bestow the same treatment to the Muslims of Valencia."

Poets such as Ibn al-Abbar and Ibn Amira, have mourned their exile from this beloved Islamic city in their poems. The Christians broke their promise and gradually obliterated all traces of Islam and Muslims.

487 lunar years ago, on this day in 952 AH, on his return march from exile in Iran to reconquer Afghan-occupied Hindustan with Iranian help, Moghal Emperor Naseer od-Din Humayun took Qandahar, and as promised by him to Shah Tahmasp, handed it over to the Safavid Empire. Qandahar, which is currently in Afghanistan, formed the border between the Safavid and Moghal Empires in those days. It was often a bone of contention, exchanging hands many times.

479 solar years ago, on this day in 1538 AD, during the Ottoman-Venetian War, the Turkish navy led by Khayr od-Din Pasha (Barbarossa or Red-beard to the Europeans), scored a decisive victory over a so-called Holy League fleet assembled by Christian powers in the Battle of Preveza off the western coast of the Province of Yunanistan (modern day Greece). The cause of the battle was capture the year before by Khayr od-Din Pasha of a number of Aegean and Ionian islands under control of the Republic of Venice, namely Syros, Aegina, Ios, Paros, Tinos, Karpathos, Kasos and Naxos. The Ottomans also annexed the Duchy of Naxos, besieged the Venetian stronghold of Corfu, and ravaged the Spanish-held Calabrian coast in southern Italy, ringing alarm bells in Rome and making Pope Paul III to assemble the Christian Alliance, which suffered a resounding defeat. At the end of the Battle of Preveza, the Muslim Turks sank 10 ships, burned 3, and captured 36 others, besides taking about 3,000 Christian prisoners. The Ottoman navy did not lose any ship. This day is a Turkish Navy National Holiday. The next year in 1539, Khayr od-Din Pasha returned and captured almost all the remaining Christian outposts in the Ionian and Aegean Seas.

224 solar years ago, on this day in 1793 AD, Mubarak od-Dowla, the Nawab Nazem of Bengal, Bihar, and Orissa, died after a 23-year reign, and was succeeded by his son, Babr Jang, Wazir od-Dowla. He belonged to the Persianate Najafi Seyyed family of Mir Ja’far Ali Khan, who was installed as ruler in 1757 after the Battle of Plassey, betraying his suzerain, Nawab Siraj od-Dowla of the dynasty of Iranian origin.  

177 solar years ago, on this day in 1838 AD, Akbar Shah II, the titular emperor of the great Moghal Empire died and was succeeded on the throne of Delhi by his son, Mohammad Bahadur Shah II Zafar. In 1857, the curtain came down on the empire founded in 1525 by the Central Asian adventurer, Zaheer od-Din Babar (protégé of Shah Ismail Safavi of Iran), as Bahadur Shah Zafar, in whose name the people of northern India rose against the British, was dethroned, humiliated and exiled in 1858 by the colonialists to Yangon (Rangoon) in Burma, where he died in 1862. Zafar was an accomplished poet in both Urdu and Persian.

126 solar years ago, on this day in 1891 AD, US author, Herman Melville, died at the age of 72. A sailor by profession, when his ship sank in one of his voyages, he was marooned on an island inhabited by primitive people. Melville wrote about this adventure and his escape from what he alleges cannibals in a book titled "Typee" which made him famous. His most important novel is “Moby-Dick”.

126 lunar years ago, on this day in 1313 AH, Grand Ayatollah Seyyed Hadi Milani was born in holy Najaf in Iraq in a family from Milaan in West Azarbaijan Province. He started his religious studies at a very young age, soon mastering jurisprudence, theology, hadith, exegesis of the holy Qur’an, philosophy, and Arabic and Persian literature. He reached the status of Ijtehad at the young age of 21, and migrated to holy Mashhad in Iran, where he stayed the rest of his life, passing away at the age of 82. He established the Imam Sadeq (AS) Seminary and the Husaini Institute of Islamic Sciences in Mashhad. Ayatollah Milani who groomed many scholars and wrote the 10-volume jurisprudential work “Muhadhiraat fi Fiqh-al-Imamia”, was laid to rest in the Towhid-Khanah Aivan of the holy shrine of Imam Reza (AS).

122 solar years ago, on this day in 1895 AD, French physician and chemist, Louis Pasteur, died at the age of 73. He presented new theories on contagious diseases such as rabies, and made major discoveries in this field. His innovative methods in treatment of infectious ailments and identification of microbes revolutionized the principles of hygiene. He created and tested vaccines for diphtheria, cholera, yellow fever, plague, rabies, anthrax, and tuberculosis.

69 lunar years ago, on this day in 1370 AH, the jurisprudent and exegete of the holy Qur’an, Ayatollah Shaikh Ja’far Nizari Naqdi, passed away in holy Najaf, Iraq, at the age of 64. A student of Ayatollah Shaikh Ahmad Kashef al-Gheta and Ayatollah Seyyed Mohammad Kazem Yazdi, on the latter’s instructions he was stationed for a time in al-Ammarah in southern Iraq to enlighten the local tribes of the teachings of Islam. He authored several books, such as “al-Anwaar al-Alawiyya wa’l-Asraar al-Murtazawiyya” on the God-given merits of Imam Ali ibn Abi Taleb (AS), the 1^st divinely-designated Heir of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA).

47 solar years ago, on this day in 1970 AD, Egyptian president, Col. Jamal Abdun-Nasser, died at the age of 54. He participated in the first war imposed by the illegal Zionist entity on Arab states in 1948. In 1952, along with Gen. Mohammad Najib, he staged a coup against King Farouq to end the monarchy and two years later after ousting Najib, he became president. He was a staunch anti-colonialist and in 1956 he nationalized the Suez Canal, a measure that prompted France, Britain and the Zionist entity to attack Egypt. In the 1967 war against the usurper state of Israel, he suffered a shattering defeat and lost the Sinai Peninsula, mainly because of his miscalculation in committing as many as 70,000 Egyptian troops to the civil war in Yemen.

40 solar years ago, on this day in 1977 AD, Iranian composer and trombone player, Hussain Nassehi, passed away at the age of 52. Born in Tehran he studied music at the Tehran Conservatory, where he later taught. Among his pupils were Hussain Dehlavi, Ahmad Pejhman and Parviz Mansouri. Most of Nassehi's works because of his political activities were never performed in Iran during the repressive Pahlavi era.

26 solar years ago, on this day in 1991 AD, Iranian author, translator, and political activist, Behzad Bashi, passed away. Fluent in English and well versed in Music, for thirty years he was active in the various sections of the Persian media – wire agencies, newspapers, radio, and TV – and because of his bold views against despotism, was subjected to bouts of imprisonment and banishment to the remote parts of the country by the Pahlavi regime. He translated into Persian “Feudal Society” as well as “Greater America and Human Rights”. During the last ten years of his life, following the victory of the Islamic Revolution, he wrote “History of Music in the Orient” and “The Comprehensive History of Music”.

21 solar years ago, on this day in 1996 AD, The UN Security Council issued a resolution, calling for end to excavation of a tunnel underneath the courtyard of the al-Aqsa Mosque by the illegal Zionist entity. The US, however, lobbied for removal of this clause from the resolution. The excavation at al-Aqsa triggered bloody confrontations between the Zionists and Palestinians, resulting in the martyrdom of hundreds of Palestinians and wounding of thousands. Israel, because of US support, continues its excavations in the surroundings of this sacred mosque.

17 solar years ago, on this day in 2000 AD, the al-Aqsa Intefadha of the Palestinian people started following desecration of this sacred mosque by Ariel Sharon, the ringleader of the Likud party and the mass murderer of Palestinians in the Sabra and Shatilla refugee camps of southern Lebanon. Sharon, who had entered the sanctified Muslim place of worship with his boots on, died in 2914 after lying in coma for eight long years, which is a sign of divine wrath.

AS/ME