Today is Wednesday; 12th of the Iranian month of Mehr 1396 solar hijri; corresponding to 13th of the Islamic month of Muharram 1439 lunar hijri; and October 4, 2017, of the Christian Gregorian Calendar.

1994 solar years ago, on this day in 23 AD, rebels captured and sacked the Chinese capital Chang'an during a peasant rebellion. They killed and decapitated the emperor, Wang Mang, two days later.

1407 solar years ago, on this day in 610 AD, Heraclius arrived by ship in Constantinople from Africa, overthrew Byzantine Emperor Phocas and declared himself Emperor in the midst of the ongoing war against Iran's Sassanid Empire. Born into an Armenian family he was the son of Heraclius the Elder, who had served as governor of the province of North Africa and was a veteran general of the Byzantine wars against Bahram Chobin the usurper of the Persian Empire. The year he came to power, the Byzantine Empire was threatened on multiple fronts. He immediately took charge of the ongoing war against the Sassanid Empire. The first battles of the campaign ended in defeat for the Greeks as the Iranian army fought its way to the Bosporus and besieged the capital Constantinople, which because of impenetrable walls was able to avoid total defeat. Soon Heraclius rebuilt the military and managed to drive the Persians out of Asia Minor. He pushed deep into Iranian territory, defeating them decisively in 627 at the Battle of Nineveh in Iraq. Soon the Sassanid Emperor, Khosrow II, was assassinated and peace was restored to the two deeply strained empires. However, shortly after his victory, Heraclius, who some years earlier had received a letter of invitation to Islam from Prophet Mohammad (SAWA), faced Arab armies in Syria, where he was defeated and withdrew, as the Muslims swept across the Levant, Mesopotamia, Armenia, and Egypt, before the crestfallen Byzantine Emperor died in 641 after a 31-year reign that saw him lose half the Empire.

1378 lunar years ago, on this day in 61 AH, the aged Abdullah ibn Afif al-Azdi al-Ghamidi, who had served the cause of Islam with distinction, was martyred by Obaidullah ibn Ziyad, the tyrannical governor of Iraq, for praising the Martyr of Karbala, Imam Husain (AS) and the Prophet’s Ahl al-Bayt, as the chosen ones of God. On the 12^th of Moharram, when the severed heads of the martyrs of Karbala were brought before him, Ibn Ziyad went to the Mosque of Kufa and addressing the prayer gathering from the pulpit verbally abused the Ahl al-Bayt. On hearing this, Abdullah ibn Afif, who was blind, having lost one eye during the Battle of Jamal and the second eye during the Battle of Siffin, while fighting for the cause of the Commander of the Faithful, Imam Ali ibn Abi Taleb (AS), retorted: “The liar, son of the liar, is you and your father, and the one who appointed you as the governor [i.e. Yazid] and his father [Mu’awiyyah]. O son of Marjanah (the morally lose woman)! You kill the offspring of the Prophet from whom Allah removed all abomination, and then claim that you are a Muslim. Where are the sons of the Muhajirun and the Ansar to seek revenge against this tyrant, the one who and whose father were both cursed by Prophet Mohammad (SAWA).”

Ibn Ziyad’s anger intensified and he ordered his guards to seize Abdullah ibn Afif, who gave the battle cry of the Azdi Clan that brought clansmen to his rescue. He was taken home that day but in the night, the Omayyads burst into his house, and after overpowering the blind man who staged a valiant defence, they took him to Ibn Ziyad, who ordered his execution, at which Ibn Afif boldly said: “Then Praise to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds! I have been for years praying my Lord to grant me the honour of martyrdom even before your mother gave birth to you, and I prayed Him to let it be at the hands of one whom He curses and hates the most!”

1273 solar years ago, on this day in 744 AD, Yazid ibn al-Waleed or Yazid III, the 12^th self-styled caliph of the Omayyad usurper regime, died of a brain tumour, less than six months after seizing the caliphate through a coup against his immoral, drunkard and debauched cousin, Waleed Ibn Yazid or Waleed II, who was killed and his head mounted on a lance and paraded around Damascus. The mother of Yazid III was an Iranian and he was known as “an-Naqqes” (the Diminisher) for his austerity measures in contrast to the profligacy and sinning habits of the Omayyads. It is worth noting that in 6 years from 126 to 132 AH, six Omayyad caliphs died one after another as this tyrannical dynasty came to its end.

1063 lunar years ago, on this day in 376 AH, the Iranian astronomer and mathematician, Abu'l-Hassan Abdur-Rahman ibn Amr as-Sufi ar-Razi was born in Rayy, currently the southern suburb of Tehran. He was one of the greatest astronomers and astrologers and was patronized by Azud od-Dowla Daylami. Among his works is “Kitab al-Kawakeb as-Sabeta” on astronomy. A related work by him is: “Kitab Suwar al-Kawakeb ath-Thamaniya al-Arba’in”.

790 solar years ago, on this day in 1227 AD, the self-styled al-Muwahhedeen caliph of Morocco and Islamic Spain, Abdullah al-Adel, was assassinated. He had seized power through a coup three years earlier, plunging the realm into instability that lasted well beyond his death. He is often regarded as one of the most disastrous rulers. His coup divided the dynasty and set in motion the loss of Andalusia or Islamic Spain, and the eventual collapse of the al-Muwahhedeen state.

754 solar years ago, on this day in 1363 AD, the Battle of Lake Poyang ended; the Chinese rebel forces of Zhu Yuanzhang defeated the rival Chen Youliang, in one of the largest naval battles in history. Following this victory, Zhu emerged as the strongest of warlords fighting for supremacy in China, and in 1367 he defeated Zhang Shicheng's Kingdom of Dazhou, which granted him authority over the lands north and south of the Yangtze River. The other major warlords surrendered to him and on 20 January 1368, Zhu proclaimed himself the first Emperor of the Ming Dynasty in Nanjing and adopted the title "Hongwu". His dynasty's mission was to drive away the Mongols and restore Han Chinese rule in China. The Hongwu Emperor ruled for 30 years, and although born a Buddhist, he embraced the Confucian doctrine and showed inclination towards Islam. He ordered the construction of several mosques in Nanjing, Yunnan, Guangdong, Xijing and Fujian, and had inscriptions placed in them in praises of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA). He rebuilt the Jinjue Mosque in his capital Nanjing, and large numbers of the Muslim Hui people moved to the city during his rule. He had some ten Muslim generals in his military, including Chang Yuchun, Lan Yu, Ding Dexing, Mu Ying, Feng Sheng and Hu Dahai. He personally wrote the 100-word praise known as ‘baizizan’ on Islam, Allah and the Prophet Mohammad (SAWA).

418 lunar years ago, on this day in 1021 AH, the prominent Iranian religious scholar, Mullah Abdullah Shushtari, passed away. He was a product of the famous seminary of holy Najaf in Iraq and on returning to Iran, he groomed a great many scholars. He lived a life of piety and asceticism and adopted a simple lifestyle. He has written a large number of books and at the same time was active in social affairs, sparing no efforts to solve people's problems.

415 solar years ago, on this day in 1582 AD, Thursday was the last day of the use of the Julian calendar in Italy and the three other Catholic countries of Spain, Portugal, and Poland. The next day Friday instead of being October 5 became October 15, as per the new Gregorian calendar established by Pope Gregory XIII. Ten days had thus been skipped to realign the calendar, and Easter, with the equinoxes. The Julian calendar, and its leap years as introduced by the Roman dictator, Julius Caesar, did not quite fit the solar year. An error of one day accumulated for each 128 years. Britain resisted this Catholic change until 2^nd September 1752, while Russia until 31 January 1918. The Islamic solar hijri calendar which starts on the exact time of the spring equinox and is in use in Iran, Afghanistan and the peoples of neighbouring countries, is far more perfect than the Gregorian calendar that was imposed by the colonial powers on the rest of the world after World War I.

348 solar years ago, on this day in 1669 AD, Dutch painter and illustrator, Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn, died at the age of 63. He is considered one of the greatest painters and printmakers in Europe and the most important in Dutch history.

222 solar years ago, on this day in 1795 AD, Napoleon Bonaparte rose to national prominence with a "Whiff of Grapeshot", using cannon to suppress armed counter-revolutionary rioters threatening the French Legislature (National Convention).

187 solar years ago, on this day in 1830 AD, a new country called Belgium was created as a kingdom after separation of the southern parts of the Netherlands. The area used to be under the control of Austria before its seizure by France in the late 18th century. In 1815, it formed a union with Holland and this union did not last long because of the difference between the Catholics and Protestants. Leopold was chosen as the first king of Belgium, which today has a constitutional monarchy. It covers an area of more than 30,000 sq km, and shares borders with France, Germany, Holland, and Luxemburg.

164 solar years ago, on this day in 1853 AD the Crimean conflict started on the Black Sea coast of what is now Ukraine, with the declaration of war against the expansionist Russian Empire by the Ottoman Turkish Empire, supported by France and Britain. The Crimean War, which lasted three years without any tangible results on either side, was one of the first wars to be documented extensively in written reports and photographs. News correspondence reaching Britain from the Crimea was the first time the public were kept informed of the day-to-day realities of war. It was also the first war in which railways and the electric telegraph were used. The Russian navy in the Black Sea was totally destroyed, but the Turks failed to restore the rights and sovereignty of the Tartar Muslims in Crimea.

60 solar years ago, on this day in 1957 AD, the first spacecraft was launched into space by Soviet scientists. It was named Sputnik 1, and orbited round the Earth 1400 times in 92 days, telecommunicating radio messages from space for the first time. It weighed 83 kg and was equipped with two radio transmitters.

54 solar years ago, on this day in 1963 AD, Hurricane Flora devastated Cuba and Haiti killing at least 6,000 people. Its speed was 150 km per hour.

51 solar years ago, on this day in 1966 AD, Lesotho gained independence from British colonial rule. Prior to independence it was known as Basutoland, and had become a British colony in 1884. Lesotho covers an area of 30355 sq km. This landlocked country is situated in southern Africa.

21 solar years ago, on this day in 1996 AD, Iranian author, translator, and university lecturer, Dr. Morteza As’adi, passed away. He was an authority on translation of literary and Islamic texts and besides Persian, was fluent in Arabic and English languages. He wrote several books and articles. His books include “Crusades”, and “World of Islam”. He translated into Persian “Political Philosophy”, and “Bayt al-Moqaddas”.

14 solar years ago, on this day in 1993 AD, in Somalia a group of US invasion troops committed a heinous war crime in the Bakara Market in Mogadishu by indiscriminately firing on unsuspecting shoppers and massacring over 500 men, women and children, besides injuring over a thousand others, before fleeing. One US soldier was caught and killed by the Somalis, who dragged the body of this war criminal in jubilation through the streets of the capital.

6 solar years ago, on this day in 2011 AD, a kangaroo court set up by the repressive Aal-e Khalifa minority regime in Bahrain, sentenced 26 peaceful protestors to prison, raising to 60 the total number of persons imprisoned in the sham trial. The overwhelming majority of the people of Bahrain are continuing their peaceful protests for freedom of the Persian Gulf island state that was occupied in the early 19^th century by the Aal-e Khalifa pirates, with British help, at a time when Qajarid Iran had become weak. The aspiration of the Bahraini people for democracy has faced the torture of the regime, which with the assistance of the equally tyrannical Aal-e Saud regime has destroyed mosques and husseiniyahs, and desecrated copies of the holy Qur’an.

AS/ME