Today is Sunday; 17th of the Iranian month of Dey 1396 solar hijri; corresponding to 19th of the Islamic month of Rabi as-Sani 1439 lunar hijri; and January 7, 2018, of the Christian Gregorian Calendar.

776 lunar years ago, on this day in 663 AH, the prominent philosopher, astronomer, and mathematician, Atheer od‐Din al‐Mufadhal Samarqandi al‐Abhari, also known as al‐Munajjim or the Astronomer, passed away in Shabestar, in northwestern Iran. He studied and taught at various schools in Khorasan, Baghdad, and Arbil, living for some time in Sivas in what is now Turkey. He was a student of Kamal od‐Din ibn Yunus, and also studied under the famous scholar Fakhr od‐Din ar‐Raazi. His works on astronomy are titled “Risala fī'l-Hayya” and “Kashf al‐Haqa'eq fī Tahrir ad‐Daqa'eq”, where he accepts the view that the celestial bodies do not change and maintains that stars have volition and it is the source of their motion. In the field of mathematics, he wrote “al-Islah” which is Correction of the Greek Euclid, and is an attempt to prove the parallel postulate. In philosophy he wrote “Hidayat al-Hikmah”.

516 solar years ago, on this day in 1502 AD, the Italian pontiff, Ugo Boncompagni, who as Pope Gregory XIII was head of the Catholic sect of Christianity from 1572 to 1585, was born in Bologna. Later in life, after fathering an illegitimate child through adultery, he joined the Church. He is known for commissioning the Gregorian calendar that bears his name and was imposed in the 20th century on the rest of the world by the western powers. On Thursday 4th October 1582, three years before his death, Gregory replaced the pre-Christian Julian calendar of the Romans, decreeing that the next day, Friday, be declared as October 15, which meant the skipping of ten days in the Catholic countries of Italy, Portugal, Spain and Poland. The rest of Europe opposed his move and continued to follow the Julian Calendar of Julius Caesar. For instance, Britain and its colonies resisted this change by the Catholic Pope, and used the Julian calendar for more than a century and a half until Wednesday 2nd September 1752, which meant that the next morning on Thursday it was the 14th of September instead of September 3. Russia adopted the Gregorian calendar in 1918, a year after the atheist non-Christian Bolshevik Revolution, and Greece as late as 1923, while in 1927 this calendar was imposed on Turkey as part of the anti-Islamic policies of Mustafa Kamal Ata-Turk. At any rate, it was only in the 20th century between the Two World Wars that the Gregorian calendar along with January 1 as New Year Day was forced upon the rest of the world, so that the globe would be held in ransom to the policies of London and Washington. Iran is among the very few world countries that do not follow the Christian calendar for administrative purposes or for keeping track of the orderly seasons, since the solar hijri calendar in use in Iran is more perfect and precise than the Gregorian calendar.

460 solar years ago, on this day in 1558 AD, France liberated the port of Calais on the English Channel – the last possession of England on mainland Europe.

448 lunar years ago, on this day in 991 AH, the Safavid dynasty of Iran suffered a setback with the loss of a key battle in the Caucasus against the Ottoman Turks at Mashalat Lir for control of Sherwan, which is presently in the Republic of Azerbaijan. The Iranians later liberated these lands.

259 lunar years ago, on this day in 1180 AH, the prominent religious scholar of Isfahan, Ayatollah Mohammad Ibrahimi Khorasani, popularly known as “Karbasi”, was born. He completed his higher studies at the Najaf Seminary in Iraq, and on returning to his hometown, lived a life of piety. He wrote numerous valuable works and passed away in Isfahan in 1261 AH.

233 solar years ago, on this day in 1785 AD, Frenchman Jean Pierre Blanchard and American scientist and physician John Jeffries made the first air crossing of the English Channel from England to France in a hot-air balloon - the first international flight. The voyage was successful, though not without difficulty, because to maintain height they were forced to jettison everything in the basket, including rope and most of their clothes. Their previous flight took place on 30 Nov 1784, in London, for the purpose of taking scientific and meteorological measurements. The history of aviation is as old as Man’s quest to fly since antiquity. In the heyday of Islamic science and civilization, there are records pertaining to the Spanish Muslim polymath, Abbas ibn Firnas, who flew from Jabal al-Arous Hill by employing a rudimentary glider in the 9th century AD. In 1783, with the first successful floating of a balloon with a person on board, the aviation industry was born and led to the invention of the airship, the zeppelin and finally the modern aircraft.

82 solar years ago, on this day in 1936 AD, the British-installed Pahlavi potentate, Reza Khan, tried to insult the dignity of Iran’s Muslim women by banning the Hejab. Earlier he had forbidden Iranian men from wearing traditional clothes as part of his policy to deprive the Iranian nation of its cultural and Islamic identity. He was blindly emulating the western-dictated policies of the Turkish dictator, Kamal Ata Turk, who had also banned the Islamic dress code for women in Turkey and forced men to adopt European clothing. The Iranian ulema and freedom-seekers strongly opposed Reza Khan’s moves, risking imprisonment, torture, and martyrdom. When the agents of this unlettered soldier tried to unveil women on the streets, many respectable women of Iran vowed never to venture out on the streets in order to safeguard their dignity and Islamic values.

75 solar years ago, on this day in 1943 AD, the Yugoslav physicist, Nikola Tesla, died at the age of 87. His studies and inventions were mainly in the domain of electricity current. One of his discoveries is the alternative current.

66 lunar years ago, on this day in 1373 AH, Grand Ayatollah Seyyed Sadr od-Din Sadr, passed away at the age of 74 in holy Qom. Son of Grand Ayatollah Seyyed Ismail Sadr and grandson of Grand Ayatollah Sadr od-Din bin Saleh after whom the Sadr Family of well-known scholars is named, he was born in holy Kazemayn in Iraq. At the age of 29 he enrolled at the famous seminary of holy Najaf to complete higher religious studies under such prominent ulema as Akhound Khorasani, Ayatollah Seyyed Kazem Yazdi, and Ayatollah Mirza Hussain Na’ini. At the age of 40 he moved to holy Mashhad in Iran where he married the daughter of Grand Ayatollah Hussain Qomi and stayed for 6 years, before settling in holy Qom at the invitation of Ayatollah Shaikh Abdul-Karim Ha’eri, the Reviver of the Qom Seminary. He later became Head of the Qom Seminary, and among his books mention could be made of “Khulasat al-Fosoul” and Annotation (Hashiya) on the “al-Kifaya”. His son was the renowned scholar Imam Musa Sadr who uplifted the social, economic and political conditions of the Shi’a Muslims of Lebanon, before being treacherously martyred by Libya’s military dictator Mo’ammar Qadhafi at whose official invitation he was visiting Tripoli. The Sadr family, whose ancestor had migrated to Iran from the Jabal Amel region, has produced numerous Islamic scholars in Iran, Lebanon, and Iraq, including Martyr Seyyed Mohammad Baqer Sadr of Najaf.   

50 solar years ago, on this day in 1968 AD, Iran’s wrestling champion, Gholam-Reza Takhti, was killed by agents of the Shah’s despotic regime. Born in a middle class family in Tehran, he was very honest, courageous and kind-hearted toward people. He acted fairly when competing against rivals, something which originated from traditional values of “Zourkhanah”, which is a kind of heroic behaviour that epitomizes chivalrous qualities known as “Javanmardi” in Persian culture. For instance, during a bout with Russian wrestler Alexander Medved who had an injured right knee, he avoided touching his opponent’s injured leg and tried to attack the other leg instead. He lost the match, but showed that he valued honourable behaviour more than achieving victory. Another example of his character comes from a match in Moscow. After defeating the then-world champion Anatoli Albul, he saw the sorrow on the face of Albul's mother. Takhti went to her and said, "I'm sorry about the result, but your son is a great wrestler." She smiled. Takhti bagged nine gold and silver medals in international and Olympic Games and was an Iranian athlete with the highest number of gold and silver medals. His rising popularity among people, and his opposition to the Shah’s despotic policies led agents of the Pahlavi regime to murder him.

39 solar years ago, on this day in 1979 AD, following the Vietnamese army’s attack on Cambodia, Khmer Rouge dictator, Pol Pot, fled the country. The main features of Pol Pot’s regime were violent methods and forced eviction of people from cities, and eradication of any sign of civilization. In less than three years 2 million people, especially the Cambodians of Vietnamese origin, were killed.

32 solar years ago, on this day in 1986 AD, Egyptian border policeman in Sinai desert, Suleiman Khater, attained martyrdom in prison. In protest to the scandalous Camp David accord between Egypt and the Zionist entity, he executed a number of Israelis in the Sinai Peninsula on October 1985. Following his detention by the Hosni Mubarak regime a kangaroo court sentenced him to life imprisonment. After a while, his body was found hanging in the prison, and the Egyptian regime claimed he had committed suicide. On announcement of this news, thousands of Egyptian students held major demonstrations in Cairo and other cities, venting their anger against this ominous act of the Egyptian regime. It is believed the regime murdered him on the orders of the Zionists, and hanged his dead body to avoid blame.

25 solar years ago, on this day in 1993 AD, the Islamologist and translator of Holy Qu’ran into Japanese language, Toshihiko Izutsu, passed away at the age of 79. He was born in Tokyo and in 1960 he obtained a PhD in linguistics. He concurrently taught linguistics and philosophy of language. He received the highest scientific medal from the Japanese emperor and has left behind a large number of books on mysticism, the Holy Qur’an, and philosophy. For a while he taught in Iran as well. His books include "History of Islamic Thought". He highlighted the rich contribution of Iranians throughout history to the Islamic culture, civilization, and thought.

14 solar years ago, on this day in 2004 AD, a 57-year-old man was miraculously pulled out alive from the rubble 13 days after the deadly earthquake that hit Bam in south-eastern Iran.

AS/SS