Today is Monday; 6th of the Iranian month of Azar 1396 solar hijri; corresponding to 8th of the Islamic month of Rabi al-Awwal 1439 lunar hijri; and November 27, 2017, of the Christian Gregorian Calendar.

2025 solar years ago, on this day in 8 BC, Quintus Horatius Flaccus, Roman poet, satirist, and soldier, known as Horace, died at the age of 57. He is best known for his three books “Odes”. Recently, Iranian scholar Mir Jalal od-Din Kazzazi has rendered into Persian an anthology of Horace’s Odes, most of which have historical and epic backgrounds and composed in a sensational language especially when describing events like the battles of Julius Caesar.

1415 solar years ago, on this day in 602 AD, Roman Emperor Maurice was murdered by the usurper Phocas days after his overthrow, and before being beheaded was forced to watch his six sons executed. His eldest son and designated heir, Theodosius, fled to the Sassanid court for aid, prompting the Iranian Emperor Khosrau Pervez, who years earlier had sought asylum in Constantinople and regained the throne in Ctesiphon with the aid of Maurice by defeating Bahram Chubin, to launch a massive invasion of the Roman Empire. Maurice, during his 20-year reign, had successfully brought to an end the intermittent wars between the Iranians and Romans, and his backing of Khosrau Pervez had yielded rich rewards, since for the first time in nearly two centuries the Romans were no longer obliged to pay the Persians millions of pounds of gold annually for peace. Thus, the seizure of power by Phocas renewed the traditional wars, and resulted in the loss of Syria, Egypt and all of modern day Turkey, right up to the gates of Constantinople (present-day Istanbul) to the Iranians. Phocas was eventually killed and replaced by Heraclius who successfully ended the 25-year war that proved cataclysmic for both the empires, which within the next five years were overrun by Arab Muslims that changed the demography and history of the region.

1179 lunar years ago, on this day in 260 AH, Imam Hasan al-Askari (AS), the 11^th Infallible Successor of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA), was martyred as a result of a fatal dose of poisoning by Mo'tamed, the 15^th self-styled caliph of the usurper Abbasid regime, in the city of Samarra in Iraq at the young age of 28 years. The Imam, who during his six-year spiritual mission was either imprisoned or kept under house arrest by several Abbasid caliphs, was given slow poison on the 1^st of Rabi al-Awwal in order to avoid suspicion. The poison worsened the physical condition of the 11th Imam and on the morning of 8th Rabi al-Awwal after Fajr prayers, he breathed his last. Before his death, he gave the necessary instructions to his 5-year old son, who was born and brought up in secrecy because of the fear of the regime, which was terrified of the Prophet's famous hadith that his rightful successors will number 12, and the last of them will rise as Qa'em al-Mahdi to cleanse the world of oppression by establishing the global government of peace, prosperity and justice. The night before his martyrdom the 11^th Imam wrote letters to his followers in various cities, informing them of the special conditions that would arise in the absence of his young son. One of the famous advices of Imam Askari (AS) to the Muslims reads: "It is obligatory for the people to follow the jurist who refrains from committing wrong, emphasizes his faith, opposes carnal desires, and obeys Allah's command." The city of Samarra was engulfed in grief as the Imam was laid to rest beside his father in his own house, which soon grew into a sprawling mausoleum, with pilgrims coming from all over the world to pay their respects to him. Alas, in 2006 and the following year, terrorists, funded by the US and certain Arab reactionary regimes like Saudi Arabia had desecrated the golden-domed shrine of Samarra through blasphemous bomb blasts.

922 solar years ago, on this day in 1095 AD, at a time when Muslims ruled Spain Sicily, and the Mediterranean islands, and the scientific achievements of Islamic scholars were attracting intellectuals in Europe, Pope Urban II of the Catholic sect of Christianity, in a highly hatred-filled seditious speech during the Council of Clermont in France, called on thugs, brigands, and warlords of western Europe to mobilize an army for invasion of Muslim Syria. Earlier in March he had received an envoy from the Byzantine Emperor Alexios I Komnenos asking for help against Seljuq Turks who had taken over most of Anatolia (present day Turkey). In his seditious declaration which later became known as “Call for the First Crusade” the Pope did not mention Palestine or Bayt al-Moqaddas (Jerusalem), nor did he use the word “crusades” which was coined later by the savage hordes of western Europe that occupied and ravaged whatever lands that came into their path, whether Muslim or eastern Christian such as the Byzantines and the Armenians. In 1096 the first crusade landed in Constantinople and on entering Asia Minor was decisively routed by the Seljuqs. The next year, another crusade was diverted by the Byzantines towards Turkish-ruled Antioch and the possessions of the Fatemid Shi’ite Muslim dynasty of Egypt and North Africa in Syria, including Bayt al-Moqaddas, which was taken in 1099 with savagery beyond description and the massacre of 70,000 Muslim men, women, and children. Urban II died before receiving news of the Christian occupation of Bayt al-Moqaddas.

455 lunar years ago, on this day in 984 AH, the prominent scholar, Sheikh Izz od-Din Hussain ibn Abdus-Samad passed away in Bahrain at the age of 66, and was buried in the village of Hejr or Musalla where his tomb is revered by the people. Born in a religious family in the Jabal Amel region of what is now Lebanon, he migrated to Safavid Iran along with his young son, Sheikh Baha od-Din Ameli, who grew up into a great scholar. For eight years, Sheikh Izz od-Din lived and preached in the holy city of Mashhad near the shrine of Imam Reza (AS), the 8^th Infallible Successor of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA). Leaving his son behind in Iran, he migrated to Bahrain since he felt the Persian Gulf Island was more in need of religious scholars than Iran. He wrote many books, including a Diwan of Arabic poetry and the book titled "Tuhfa Ahl al-Imaan" (Gift of the People of Faith).

317 solar years ago, on this day in 1701 AD, Swedish physicist, Anders Celsius, was born in Uppsala in an academic family. His father and grandfather were mathematicians. He studied astronomy and in 1730, started lecturing at Uppsala University. He was placed in charge of the city's major observatory. In 1742, he invented the thermometer; hence the temperature is called Celsius. The Celsius fixed scale (often called centigrade) for measuring temperature defines zero degrees as the temperature at which water freezes, and 100 degrees as the temperature at which water boils. The Celsius degree was internationally accepted in 1948. He died in 1744.

201 solar years ago, on this day in 1816 AD, US soldiers attacked an Amerindian village in Florida and began the First Seminole War that lasted till 1819. The Seminole Wars, also known as the Florida Wars, were three conflicts in Florida between US army and the Seminole — the collective name given to the amalgamation of various groups of native Americans and the blacks who settled in Florida in the early 18th century. The Second Seminole War lasted from 1835 to 1842, and the Third Seminole War from 1855 to 1858. These were the largest conflicts in the United States between the War of 1812 against the British and the American Civil War of 1861-65. The first war with the Seminoles arose out of tensions relating to General Andrew Jackson's attack and destruction of Negro Fort in Florida. Jackson also attacked the Spanish at Pensacola. Ultimately, Spain ceded Florida. The United States has a bleak and bloody record of expansionism, aggression and ethnic cleansing.

191 solar years ago, on this day in 1826 AD, English pharmacist, John Walker, invented the first practical, strike-anywhere, friction match, which he first sold on 7 Apr 1827. He used three-inch splints of wood, tipped with potassium chlorate, antimony sulfide, and gum Arabic. The match head was ignited by drawing it through a fold of fine glass paper. This soon developed into the present day safety matches used all over the world.

149 solar years ago, on this day in 1868 AD, US Lieutenant Colonel George Custer’s 7th Cavalry killed Amerindian Chief, Black Kettle, and slaughtered some 100 Cheyenne (mostly women and children) on the Washita River near present day Cheyenne, in Oklahoma State.

122 solar years ago, on this day in 1895 AD, Alfred Bernhard Nobel, the Swedish chemist, engineer, innovator, and armaments manufacturer, signed his last will and testament at the Swedish-Norwegian Club in Paris, setting aside his estate to establish the Nobel Prize after his death. He deposited the huge amount in a bank in Stockholm. In it, he provided for most of his fortune to be put in trust to establish the Nobel Prizes. As the inventor of new, more powerful explosives used in the weapons of war, especially, whose use in the killing of fellow human he deeply regretted, he left a legacy to reward those persons who provided benefits to mankind. Prizes were to be established in the fields of physics, chemistry, physiology, literature and a prize for peace. He died a year later of a cerebral hemorrhage in San Remo, Italy. Sadly, in violation of his will, the peace prize has been politicized and given to warmongers and those leaders with a criminal record of massacre of fellow humans, as part of the West’s domineering, divisive, exploitative and murderous policies.

76 solar years ago, on this day in 1941 AD, German troops lost the fierce battle of tanks against Soviet forces in Kursk near Moscow during World War II, triggering the start of the Nazi army's failure on the Russian front.

64 solar years ago, on this day in 1953 AD, Eugene Gladstone O'Neill, American playwright and Nobel laureate in Literature, died in Boston at the age of 65. Born in New York, his poetically titled plays were among the first to introduce into American drama techniques of realism earlier associated with Russian playwright Anton Chekhov, Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen, and Swedish playwright August Strindberg. The drama “Long Day's Journey Into Night” is often numbered on the short list of being among the finest American plays in the 20th century. O'Neill's plays were among the first to include speeches in American vernacular and involve characters on the fringes of society. Nearly all of his other plays involve some degree of tragedy and personal pessimism.

33 solar years ago, on this day in 1984 AD, Kurdish scholar of Iran, Dr. Mohammad Siddiq Muftizadeh, passed away. An excellent poet and writer, for several years he worked in Tehran at the Kurdish Radio Service of Iran, and wrote several books, such as “Cognizance of God”, and “A Brief History of Kurdish Dynasties.”

25 solar years ago, on this day in 1992 AD, the newly independent republics of Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, and Azerbaijan joined the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO), which was founded by Iran, Turkey and Pakistan in 1984, after dissolution of the Regional Cooperation for Development (RCD), which the three countries had set up in 1964. ECO is one of the biggest regional organizations in the world and covers a population of over 500 million people.

22 solar years ago, on this day in 1995 AD, the scholar Dr. Seyyed Sadeq Gohari, passed away. After Islamic studies at the seminary, he specialized Persian literature and started career as a lecturer. His magnum opus is “Farhang-e Lughat va Ta’birat-e Mathnavi” in nine volumes, in which he has classified and explained in detail Qur’anic ayahs, hadith, astronomical and medical terms, Persian and Arabic idioms, and Gnostic references used by by Mowlana Jalal od-Din Balkhi Rumi.

19 solar years ago, on this day in 1998 AD, Hojjat al-Islam Mohammad Ali Sharqi, the Friday Prayer Leader of Mamaqan, passed away. A product of the Qom Seminary, he was a student of Grand Ayatollah Seyyed Hussain Boroujerdi, and after completing his studies played an active role in promotion of Islamic teachings in Oromiyeh in West Azarbaijan Province. A fierce opponent of the repressive Pahlavi regime, following the victory of the Islamic Revolution, he was appointed Friday Prayer Leader of Maragheh in East Azarbaijan Province, where for seventeen years, he carried out his duties, before being shifted to the nearby town of Mamaqan some three years before his death. Among the books authored by this scholar mention could be made of the 4-volume “Qamous Nahj al-Balagha” which is an explanation of the words and terms found in the flawless Arabic sermons, letters, and aphorisms of the Commander of the Faithful, Imam Ali ibn Abi Taleb (AS). Another of his works is the 7-volume book titled “Qiyam-e Haq” or “Uprising for Truth”.   

10 solar years ago, on this day in 2007 AD, the Bahamas ratified the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, bringing to 141 the number of countries that have done so. The treaty, which bans all nuclear explosions, will not enter into force until it has been ratified by all 44 states listed in an annex that participated in a 1996 disarmament conference and had nuclear power or research reactors at the time. Only 34 countries, including the Islamic Republic of Iran, have ratified the pact. The holdouts include the nuclear-armed powers: The US, China, India, Pakistan, Israel and North Korea.

AS/ME