Today is Saturday; 8th of the Iranian month of Mehr 1396 solar hijri; corresponding to 9th of the Islamic month of Muharram 1439 lunar hijri; and September 30, 2017, of the Christian Gregorian Calendar.

1378 lunar years ago, on the eve of this day in 61 AH, Imam Husain (AS), who was surrounded in Karbala and deprived of access to the waters of the River Euphrates by the bloodthirsty Omayyad hordes, sent one of his loyal companions named Amr ibn Qardha to the enemy camp, asking for a meeting with their commander Omar ibn Sa’d, who in vain pursuit of the riches of the transient world had joined the army of Yazid despite being the son of Sa’d ibn Abi Waqqas, a senior companion of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA). The two met along with 20 men each, and for the final discussion, the Prophet’s grandson proposed a private meeting accompanied by their nearest ones. The Imam was accompanied by his elder son, Hazrat Ali Akbar (AS) and his brother Hazrat Abbas (AS), while Omar was joined by his son Hafas and a slave. When the Imam questioned Omar about his hostile stand in spite of fully knowing the prime position of the Ahl al-Bayt, he replied that he feared the destruction of his house by the Omayyads. The Imam told him that he will provide for him a grand house, to which Omar said his properties might be seized by the regime. The Imam said he will give him better property and wealth in Hijaz, to which Omar said that he feared the tyrannical governor of Kufa, Obaidollah ibn Ziyad might slaughter him and his family. At these lame excuses the Imam stood up and said: What has happened to you; God would cause you to die in your own bed and on the Day of Resurrection and Judgement He would never forgive you for such a cardinal sin of yours. By God, don’t be deceived by the Omayyads, for you are not destined to taste even a single grain of the wheat of Rayy, whose governorship they have promised you. Omar said he would content with some barley of that flourishing land in Iran, ignoring the fact that Imam Husain (AS) has been hailed by the Prophet as the Leader of the Youth of Paradise. Omar returned to his encampment greatly disturbed, and wrote a letter to Obaidullah ibn Ziyad, asking him to let Imam Husain (AS) return to Hijaz or any other place instead of harassing him. Ibn Ziyad became angry and immediately dispatched the despicable Shimr Zil-Jowshan with a letter to Karbala, demanding that either Omar extract allegiance to Yazid’s ungodly rule, or killing the Prophet’s grandson or handing over command of the army to Shimr.

1378 lunar years ago, on the afternoon of this day in 61 AH, with the arrival of the Godless Shemr Zil-Jowshan in Karbala with a letter from Yazid's tyrannical governor of Kufa, Obaidollah bin Ziyad, to tighten the siege around Imam Husain (AS) and attack him, the ungodly Omayyad hordes led by their commander, Omar bin Sa'd, advanced on the small encampment of the Prophet’s grandson. The Imam sent his brother, Hazrat Abbas (AS) to tell them to delay the attack until the next morning so that he and his followers would pray and supplicate to God on the eve of their eventual martyrdom, since it was out of question to yield to the enemies’ demand. That night the Imam extinguished the lamp and told his followers to avail of the darkness of night and leave him, since it is his life the heartless enemies want and not theirs. The seventy-odd pious and steadfast men refused to leave him, vowing that death in his company was better than a life of humiliation. When Shemr tried to offer a letter of amnesty to Hazrat Abbas (AS) and his brothers on condition of deserting Imam Husain (AS), this valiant standard-bearer spurned the offer and swore never to leave the grandson of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA). That night was spent in prayers and supplications by the Imam and his followers, as they prepared themselves for glorious martyrdom, rather than yielding to the Godless enemy or endorsing the illegitimate rule of the tyrant, Yazid.

1280 solar years ago, on this day in 737 AD, the Battle of the Baggage occurred in Central Asia, resulting in a humiliating defeat of the Omayyads at the hands of the Turgesh Turks, supported by both Iranian and Arab Muslims of Transoxiana. It marked the culmination of a string of defeats that started over the past 16 years for the tyrannical Omayyad regime before the outbreak of the Abbasid movement that threw them into the dustbin of history. When the Omayyad governor of Khorasan, Asad Ibn Abdullah al-Qasri and his freshly arrived 20,000 Syrian troops tried to invade Khuttal in what is now eastern Tajikistan, the people requested the non-Muslim Turks and the Chinese for help, in addition to urging the local Muslim population of both Iranians and Arabs to rise up. The Turks led by Sulu attacked the Omayyads and as they tried to flee across the Oxus into what is now Afghanistan, they outpaced them to the river. The Omayyad army retreated in haste and managed to cross the Oxus, but the Turks crossed immediately after, seized the entire baggage and inflicted heavy casualties. The failure of the campaign meant the end of Omayyad control over all Transoxiana including Samarqand their last stronghold. The losses suffered by the Syrians were of grave consequences, as the Syrian army was the main pillar of the Omayyad regime, which neither had the support of other Arabs nor Iranian Muslims.

497 solar years ago, on this day in 1520 AD, Suleiman I succeeded his father Selim I as Ottoman Sultan and ruled till 1566, during which he seized Iraq from the Safavid Empire of Iran. Twice he tried to attack Iran, but the wise policies of Shah Tahmasp, coupled with stiff resistance by the Iranians foiled his ambitions, and he had to conclude a long term peace with the Safavids. In the west, his armies swept across Southwestern Europe and North Africa, and changed the Mediterranean Sea into a Turkish lake. Suleiman, in addition to his native Turkic, was a poet in Persian.

476 solar years ago, on this day in 1541 AD, Spanish conquistador Hernando de Soto and his forces entered Tula territory in present-day western Arkansas, encountering fierce resistance from the Amerindians, who were overpowered because of the superior firepower and brutality of the European invaders.

428 lunar years ago, on this day in 1021 AH, the army of the 3rd Moghal Emperor of the northern part of the subcontinent, Jalal od-Din Mohammad Akbar, defeated the Afghans in Bengal, killing Osman Lohani, and annexing this land to the empire

122 solar years ago, on this day in 1895 AD, Madagascar was proclaimed a French protectorate after much bloodshed. France invaded this island off the southeastern coast of Africa in 1883 in what became known as the first Franco-Hova War, at the end of which Madagascar was forced to cede the northern port town of Antsiranana (Diego Suarez) to the European invaders from France and pay 560,000 francs. In 1890, the British accepted the full formal imposition of a French protectorate on the island, but French authority was not acknowledged by the Madagascar government. To force capitulation, the French shelled and occupied the harbour of Toamasina on the east coast, and Mahajanga on the west coast, in December 1894 and January 1895 respectively. A French military column then marched toward Antananarivo, losing many men to malaria and other diseases. Reinforcements came from Sub-Saharan Africa and upon reaching the city in September 1895, the column bombarded the royal palace with artillery, causing heavy casualties and forcing Queen Ranavalona III to surrender. France dissolved the Merina monarchy and sent the royal family into exile on Réunion Island and to Algeria. A two-year resistance movement organized in response to the French capture of the royal palace was effectively put down at the end of 1897. There were several uprisings, one of which in 1947 led to the killing of almost 90,000 people by the French, who savagely attacked the independence-seekers and engaged in a variety of terror tactics designed to demoralize the population. The French carried out mass execution, torture, rape, torching of entire villages, collective punishment and other atrocities such as throwing live Malagasy prisoners out of airplane – called death flights. By August 1948, the majority of the nationalist leaders were killed or captured, and the Uprising was put down by December 1948. The violent repression of the nationalist uprising left deep scars in Malagasy society. A generation of the managerial class was wiped out, creating challenges for the country upon achieving independence in 1960. The majority of people are Malagasy, tracing their origin to Borneo in Southeast Asia. Muslims constitute over 10 percent of the population. The first Muslims to arrive were Arabs and Somalis in the 9^th century. The written history of Madagascar began with the Arabs, who established trading posts along the northwest coast by the 10^th century and introduced Islam and the Arabic script that was formally used to transcribe the Malagasy language in a form of writing known as Sorabe. Today the language is written in the Latin script imposed by the French and the majority of people are Christians. It is worth noting that over 90% of wildlife of Madagascar is found nowhere else on Earth.

79 solar years ago, on this day in 1938 AD, German Nazi leader Adolf Hitler hosted a conference in Munich on the border dispute with Czechoslovakia, attended by Italian Fascist leader, Benito Mussolini, French prime minister, Edouard Daladier, and British premier, Neville Chamberlain. The leaders of Czechoslovakia and the Soviet Union did not attend the meeting in which Britain and France gave permission to Hitler to occupy the Sudetenland region of Czechoslovakia to Germany. The events led to the start of World War 2 the following year.

79 solar years ago, on this day in 1938 AD, the League of Nations unanimously outlawed "intentional bombings of civilian populations". In practice, however, nothing changed for the aggressors, who continue to bomb and destroy civilians, as was the case of the criminal atomic bombing of the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki by the US. In the 1980s, with Washington’s support Saddam devastatingly bombed Iranian cities, as the UN looked the other way, and today, the US, on the pretext of targeting its own creation the Takfiri terrorists, is killing men, women, and children in Iraq and Syria, without due regard for international laws and conventions.

52 solar years ago, on this day in 1965 AD, the 30 September Movement attempted a coup against the Indonesian government, but was crushed by the General Suharto, resulting in a mass anti-communist purge, with over 500,000 people killed.

51 solar years ago, on this day in 1966 AD, Botswana in southern Africa, gained independence from Britain after over 8 decades of plundering of its resources. Landlocked Botswana shares borders with South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Namibia.

32 solar years ago, on this day in 1985 AD, the seismologist inventor of Richter scale, Charles Richter, died in the US, at the age of 85. In the early 1930s, he developed with his German colleague, Beno Gutenberg, a scale for measuring earthquake intensity. The scale assigns numerical ratings to the energy released by earthquakes. Richter used a seismograph (an instrument generally consisting of a constantly unwinding roll of paper, anchored to a fixed place, and a pendulum or magnet suspended with a marking device above the roll) to record actual earth motion during an earthquake. The scale takes into account the instrument's distance from the epicenter. Gutenberg suggested that the scale be logarithmic so, for example, a quake of magnitude 7 would be ten times stronger than a 6.

31 solar years ago, on this day in 1986 AD, nuclear scientist, Mordechai Vanunu, who revealed details of the covert nuclear military activities of the illegal Zionist entity to the British media, was kidnapped in Rome, Italy, by the Israeli spying outfit, Mossad, in cooperation with the CIA, and taken to Israel. Vanunu, who had converted to Christianity from Judaism, spent 18 years in prison, including more than 11 in solitary confinement. Released from prison in 2004, he became subject to a wide range of restrictions on his speech and movement. Since then he has been arrested several times for alleged violations of those restrictions, including giving interviews to foreign journalists and attempting to leave Israel. He says he suffered "cruel and barbaric treatment" at the hands of the Zionists while imprisoned, and suggests that his treatment would have been different if he were Jewish.

27 solar years ago, on this day in 1990 AD, Pakistani researcher, Siraj Munir, passed away. He strove for promotion of Persian language and introduction of Iran's prominent literary, cultural, and philosophical figures. He is considered as one of the founders of the Persian Language Association in Pakistan.

24 solar years ago, on this day in 1993 AD, an estimated 10,000 people were killed and another 30,000 injured when an earthquake measuring a magnitude of 6.0-to-6.4 struck the Latur-Osmanabad region in the Marathwada region of Maharashtra Province in the Deccan (southern India). Its epicenter was about 350 miles southwest of Jabalpur. Fifty-two villages were demolished in the intraplate earthquake. The Latur-Osmanabad regions, which has a 30 percent Muslim population, was part of the Bahmani and Adel Shahi sultanates of Iranian origin, before being annexed by the expanding Moghal Empire of northern India. In the early 18^th century it became part of the dominions of Nizam ul-Mulk Asef Jah of Haiderabad-Deccan, until its separation in 1960 and merger with Bombay Presidency, later renamed Maharashtra.

3 solar years ago, on this day in 2014 AD, Kashmiri religious scholar and politician, Mowlavi Iftikhar Hussain Ansari, who was organizer of the Grand Ashura Procession, passed away in Srinagar at the age of 71. He had succeeded his father Mowlavi Mohammad Jawad Ansari as president of All Jammu and Kashmir Shi’a Muslim Association in 1962. He was a sitting member of the Jammu-Kashmir Legislative Assembly, and was earlier with the National Conference and Congress. He was thrice the target of assassination attempts. In June 2000 he barely escaped the explosion of a landmine while addressing a religious congregation. The blast killed twelve persons.

AS/SS