Today is Sunday; 7th of the Iranian month of Aban 1396 solar hijri; corresponding to 9th of the Islamic month of Safar 1439 lunar hijri; and October 29, 2017, of the Christian Gregorian Calendar.

2556 solar years ago, on this day in 539 BC, Iran’s monotheist Achaemenian Emperor, Cyrus the Great, after conquering the Babylonian Empire, allowed Israelites to return to their homeland from which they had been forcibly brought to by the polytheist tyrant, Nebuchadnezzar, and kept in bondage from almost 70 years in what is now Iraq. The Israelites had suffered for their disobedience of the laws of Moses and their killing of several prophets of God. Many of the monotheistic Israelites chose to stay in the Achaemenian Empire, and God raised prophets amongst them such as Daniel, whose shrine in the southwestern Iranian city of Shoush, is a centre of pilgrimage for Muslims. Of the liberated Israelites who returned to their homeland, most of them continued their wicked ways and five centuries later when God raised Prophet Jesus in their midst, they ganged up against him and tried to kill him and betray him to their polytheist overlords, the Romans, but the Virgin-Born Messiah was lifted alive to the heavens, while his betrayer, Judas Iscariot, was crucified

1402 lunar years ago, on this day in 37 AH, Ammar Yasser, one of the close disciples of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA), attained martyrdom at the age of 93 during a battle in the War of Siffin, in defence of Islam, while fighting hypocrisy and sedition, in the company of Prophet’s First Infallible Heir, Imam Ali (AS). He was killed in a cowardly manner from behind by a commander of the Omayyad rebel, Mu’awiyah ibn Abu Sufyan, and thus the Prophet’s prediction that Ammar will be martyred by a heretical group came true. His parents, Yaser and Somayyah, were the first martyrs of Islam. They were tortured to death by the pagan Arabs of Mecca, such as Abu Sufyan. Ammar stood firm against the persecutions of disbelievers and on several occasions accompanied the Prophet in the expeditions against the pagan Arabs. After the Prophet, he stood firmly beside Imam Ali (AS) and refused to accept the regime in Medina for usurping political power through the coup at Saqifa Bani Sa'da. Ammar’s mausoleum situated in Reqqa, Syria, at the site of his martyrdom, has been desecrated by Takfiri terrorists.

1401 lunar years ago, on this day in 38 AH, the Commander of the Faithful, Imam Ali ibn Abi Taleb (AS), decisively defeated at Nahrawan in Iraq, an army of some 2000 Khawarej or renegades who had turned away from Islam to start armed rebellion against Prophet Mohammad’s (SAWA) divinely-designated Heir. Initially, part of the Imam’s forces at the inconclusive War of Siffeen against the rebel, Mu’awiyah ibn Abu Sufyan, these misled people, duped by the Omayyad stratagem in raising copies of the holy Qur’an on spear-points, had forced the Imam to stop the battle on the verge of victory, imposed upon him the weak-willed Abu Musa Ash’ari for the arbitration, rejected its outcome, and then broke away from the Islamic army by claiming the sword should have decided the conflict, when they themselves were the cause of the stalemate. They numbered 12,000 and the next year when Imam Ali (AS) called upon them to join his fresh campaign against Mu’awiyah, they now not only refused but gathered in warlike manner at Nahrawan, where they butchered the governor Abdullah ibn Khabbab ibn al-Arath, and four women including a pregnant maid, whose womb they inhumanly tore to kill the fetus. At this the Imam sent Hareth ibn Murrah al-Abdi to investigate but he too was killed by the Khawarej, who now seemed intent on attacking Kufa in the Imam’s absence. The Imam who had already set out for Syria, decided to curb this new sedition before dealing with Mu’awiyah and sent Sa'sa' ibn Sauhan, Ziyad ibn Nazr al-Harethi, and Abdullah ibn Abbas, to urge them to repent and return to the fold of Islam. He then personally came and explained to them their misinterpretation of events, demanding the handing over of the killers of innocent people, and offering them amnesty through the Prophet’s companion, Abu Ayyub al-Ansari, who hoisted a banner for all those willing to break ranks with the Khawarej. As many as 10,000 people came over, leaving some 2000 hardcore hypocrites led by Abdullah ibn Wahhab to oppose the Imam. The Imam had exhausted all efforts to avoid bloodshed and when these misguided elements attacked the forces of Islam they were all annihilated except for 9 who fled the battlefield towards Basra. On Imam Ali’s (AS) side only 8 persons were killed.

1018 lunar years ago, on this day in 421 AH, the prominent Iranian Islamic scientist, historian, and thinker, Abu Ali Ahmad ibn Mohammad ibn Yaqoub Ibn Miskawaiyh, passed away at the age of 101. Born in the city of Rayy (a southern suburb of modern Tehran today), he was an accomplished scholar in all the sciences of his era. He conducted studies and researches in medicine, chemistry, history and philosophy. Ibn Miskawaiyh, through combination of these teachings based on his bright insight, created valuable works in the domains of history, philosophy, and ethics. He was a follower of the school of the Ahl al-Bayt (Blessed Household) of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA). He authored several books in Arabic, including "Tahzib al-Akhlaaq", which was translated into Persian over two centuries after his death by the prominent scientist, Khwaja Naseer od-Din Tusi. His other famous book is the voluminous "Tajareb al-Umam", which states the important events until 372 AH, and is considered as one of the authentic historical books. Devoted to literature and an accomplished poet, his collection of poems shows his thoughts, and mastery over the language, as is evident by the book he wrote in his native Persian “Javidan-e Kherad” on literature and poetry.

844 lunar years ago, on this day in 595 AH, the famous Spanish Muslim philosopher and polymath, Mohammad Ibn Ahmad Ibn Rushd, known to Medieval Europe as “Averroes”, passed away at the age of 72, while on a visit to Marakesh, from where his body was brought back to Spain and buried in his birthplace Cordoba. He was an expert in the sciences of the day, including medicine, astronomy, jurisprudence, Qur’an and hadith, at a time when the Christian World was living in ignorance and darkness. At the age of 25, he conducted astronomical observations in Morocco, discovering a previously unobserved star. He gave one of the first descriptions on sunspots. Ibn Rushd made remarkable contributions to medicine. His well-known book in this field is “Kitab al-Kulliyaat fi’t-Tibb”, whose Latin translation known as “Colliget” aroused much interest in medieval Europe. He has thrown light on various aspects of medicine, including the diagnoses, cure and prevention of diseases. He was called “the jurisprudent philosopher” and as a follower of the Maliki School, he compiled a summary of edicts (fatwa) of previous jurists. His works include interpretation of Qur’anic concepts. Ibn Rushd’s important original philosophical work is “Tahafut at-Tahafut” (Incoherence of the Incoherence), which is a refutation of the Iranian Shafei theologian, Ghazali’s “Tahafut al-Falasefa” (Incoherence of the Philosophers). Ghazali had criticized as self-contradictory and an affront to Islamic teachings, the presentation of Aristotle’s thoughts by the famous Iranian Islamic genius, Abu Ali Ibn Sina. Ibn Rushd proved Ghazali's arguments as mistaken.

513 solar years ago, on this day in 1504 AD, Korean artist, writer, calligraphist, and noted poet, Shin Saimdang was born and raised in Gangneung. Her artwork is known for delicate beauty; insects, flowers, butterflies, orchids, grapes, fish and landscapes were favorite themes. Approximately 40 paintings of ink and stonepaint colours have survived, although many others are assumed to exist. Unfortunately, not much of her calligraphy is left but her style was greatly praised in her time, with high-ranking officials and connoisseurs writing records of her work. As the mother of the Korean Confucian scholar Yi I, she is often held up as a model of Confucian ideals. Among her poems is “Thinking of Parents”, which she dedicated to her mother. She died in 551 AD at the age of 48, after moving to Pyongan. Shin Saimdang is the first woman to appear on a South Korean banknote, the 50,000 won note, first issued in June 2009.

493 lunar years ago, on this day in 946 AH, the second Mughal emperor, Humayun Shah, retreating for Agra from Mongir, was intercepted and defeated by the Afghan chieftain, Sher Shah Suri, at Chapar Ghat near Baksar. Humayun fled to Iran from where he returned with assistance from Shah Tahmasp Safavi to regain the throne of Delhi on the death of Sher Shah.

120 lunar years ago, on this day in 1319 AH, the concession for drilling of Iran’s oil was given to the British investor, William Knox D’Arcy, by the weak Qajarid ruler, Mozaffar od-Din Shah, without considering the grave consequences to Iran's national interests. Three decades after the Constitutional Movement, D’Arcy’s contract was annulled in view of its unjust nature.

94 solar years ago, on this day in 1923 AD, with the formal dissolving of the 400-year old Ottoman caliphate, and the 623-year old Ottoman Dynasty, Turkey was declared a laic and secular republic by the western-oriented Mustafa Kamal Pasha, who styled himself as Ata Turk (Father of the Turks). For 15 years, Ata Turk blindly aped the West and tried to uproot the cultural, religious, and spiritual values of Turkish Muslims, to the extent that he abolished Islamic rules, forbade the recitation of the Azaan and the holy Qur'an, imposed European dress, banned women from wearing the hijab, and changed the beautiful Arabic-Persian script of the Turkish language to Latin. After his death in 1938, Turkey started the painfully slow progress of rediscovering its Islamic religious and cultural identity, and today, thanks to the people's awakening, the country is trying to get back again into the Islamic fold. Turkey, known as Anatolia or Asia Minor to the Greeks, was an integral part of the Achaemenian Persian Empire until the invasion of Alexander of Macedonia. Later after the advent of Islam and liberation of Anatolia from the Eastern Roman or Byzantine Empire, mainly by Turkic Muslim tribes from Central Asia, this land became part of the Iran-based Seljuqid and Ilkhanid Empires. The Ottomans brought this region under their complete domination only after 1500, following their conquest of several independent fellow Turkic principalities of Anatolia, invading and occupying the southwestern parts that were traditionally under the sway of the Mamluks of Egypt-Syria, and finally their narrow victory over Iran’s Shah Ismail Safavi at Chaldiran in 1514. Turkey covers an area of 780,000 sq km, and borders Iran, Iraq, Syria, Armenia, Georgia, Bulgaria, and Greece.

91 solar years ago, on this day in 1926 AD, prominent leader of Iran's Constitutional Movement, Ayatollah Seyyed Hassan Modarres, escaped an assassination attempt against him by Reza Khan of the British installed Pahlavi regime. Two years later, the Ayatollah, who in 1925 had unsuccessfully opposed the dissolution of the Qajarid dynasty, was arrested along with his family and friends and exiled to Khaf and then to Kashmar, where in 1937 he was fatally poisoned on the orders of Reza Khan and achieved martyrdom at the age of 67. A product of the seminaries of Isfahan and holy Najaf in Iraq, in 1910, he was chosen by Najaf's ulema and sent to Tehran to supervise the laws passed by the Majlis (parliament), to make sure they are not against the rules of shar’ia. In 1914, he was elected as a Majlis representative of Tehran. In 1916, during World War I, he moved to Iraq, Syria, and Turkey together with some political figures, and served as the Minister of Justice in a cabinet formed in exile by Nezam os-Saltaneh. After returning to Iran, he was elected in the Majlis elections a few more times. Modarres fought against the presence of British forces in Iran, vigorously opposing the proposed 1919 agreement that would have transformed Iran into a British protectorate. His martyrdom anniversary (December 1) is marked in the Islamic Republic of Iran as Majlis Day (Day of the parliament). Ayatollah Modarres was among the teachers of the Father of the Islamic Revolution, Imam Khomeini (RA), and his portrait is depicted on the obverse of the Iranian 100 rials banknote.

69 solar years ago, on this day in 1948 AD, Zionist troops stormed the Safsaf village in the Jaliliyeh (Galilee) region, and massacred over 70 Palestinian men, women, and children. The victims were tied and shot in cold blood and some of the women were raped by the Israeli criminals.

61 solar years ago, on this day in 1956 AD, Zionist troops invaded the Sinai Peninsula of Egypt, following nationalization of the Suez Canal by President Jamal Abdun-Nasser. The usurper state of Israel intended to occupy the Gulf of Aqaba at the rear end of Red Sea for movement of its ships. Two days later, Britain and France, in support of the illegal Zionist entity, stationed their paratroops around Suez Canal. The goal behind this trilateral attack was to force Egypt into relinquishing the nationalization of this canal, which links the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea, and was controlled by France and Britain till then. After a few months occupation, the invaders withdrew from Egyptian soil in March 1957 under pressure from world public opinion and many world governments. This incident is known as the Suez War.

61 solar years ago, on this day in 1956 AD, Zionist forces committed yet another atrocious crime, slaughtering the residents of Kafr Qasim Village. After curfew was announced in the village, without prior notice the Israeli terrorists attacked it and martyred at least 49 innocent Palestinian men, women, and children, besides wounding scores of others. A few months later, the people of Palestine staged demonstrations in protest to this carnage, and the usurper state of Israel was forced into holding a make-belief trial for the perpetrators of this barbaric crime. All the culprits were acquitted later and set free.

53 solar years ago, on this day in 1964 AD, the United Republic of Tanganyika and Zanzibar, formed months before in April following seizure of Zanzibar by President Julius Nyerere was renamed the United Republic of Tanzania. It is worth recalling that a thousand years ago, Islam had been brought to east Africa by Iranians from Shiraz, whose descendants are still found in Zanzibar, Tanzania, and Kenya.

37 solar years ago, on this day in 1980 AD, Iranian scholar and poet, Hojjat al-Islam Hussain-Ali Rashed, passed away at the age of 75. Born in the northeastern city of Torbat-e Haideriyyeh in Khorasan, at the age of 16 he moved to Mashhad where for ten years he studied at the seminary under prominent scholars, including Adib Naishapuri. He later studied under the ulema of Najaf, Isfahan, and Tehran and became a prominent preacher. In 1946, he became a lecturer at Tehran University and also taught Islamic sciences at the Madras-e Sepah Salar (Madrasa-e Aali Mutahhari). During this period, Radio Iran started broadcasting his ethical and religious discourses. His works include “Fazilat-hai Rashed”, “Two Philosophers of the East and West”, and “Collection of Rashed’s Discourses”.

23 lunar years ago, on this day in 1416 AH, the jurisprudent and prominent researcher, Ayatollah Seyyed Mohammad Hussain Hussaini Tehrani, passed away in his hometown Tehran at the age of 69. After studying in holy Qom under Grand Ayatollah Seyyed Hussain Boroujerdi, and the famous exegete of the holy Qur’an, Allamah Seyyed Mohamnmad Hussain Tabatabai, he left for Iraq to study at the seminary in Holy Najaf, were he studied under Grand Ayatollah Seyyed Abu’l-Qassem Khoie, and Ayatollah Seyyed Mahmood Shahroudi. On his return to Iran he was engaged in grooming students and writing books in Persian, including the 18-volume “Imam-Shinasi” (Cognizance of the Imam), the 10-volume “Ma’ad-Shinasi” (Understanding Resurrection), the 4-volume “Noor-e Malakout-e Qur’an” and “Rooh-e Mojarrad” (The Detached Soul) on Gnosis. In this last named book, he has mentioned in detail his meeting with the reclusive Gnostic Seyyed Hashem Haddad and how his spiritual guidance totally transformed him, taking him to higher levels of spirituality.

4 solar years ago, on this day in 2013 AD, the Marmaray Rail Tunnel under the Bosporus Strait, the world's first sea tunnel connecting two continents and the deepest submerged tunnel, was opened for public travel and over 300,000 people travelled through it on the 90^th anniversary of the Turkish Republic. A 1.4-km stretch of the tunnel lies 50 meter below the seabed. The 13-km project linking Kazlicesme in Europe and Ayrılıkçesme in Asia is part of what will be a total 77-km cross-city surburban service above and below ground when construction is finished.

AS/MG