Today is Saturday; 28th of the Iranian month of Bahman 1396 solar hijri; corresponding to 30th of the Islamic month of Jamadi al-Awwal 1439 lunar hijri; and February 17, 2018, of the Christian Gregorian Calendar.

1654 solar years ago, on this day in 364 AD, Roman Emperor Jovian died in Antioch during retreat from Mesopotamia following the shattering defeat inflicted by the Iranian army of Sassanid Emperor Shapur II eight months earlier at the Battle of Samarra in Iraq where his predecessor, Emperor Julian the Apostate, was killed. This means Jovian ruled for only 8 months during which he sought peace with Sassanid Persia on humiliating terms by surrendering the fortresses of Nisibis, Castra Maurorum and Singara, in what are now parts of northern Syria and southern Turkey. The Romans also surrendered their interests in the Kingdom of Armenia to the Persians.

1095 solar years ago, on this day in 923 AD, the renowned Iranian Islamic historian and exegete of the holy Qur’an, Abu Ja’far Mohammad bin Jarir at-Tabari, passed away in Baghdad at the age of 84. Born in Amol in Tabaristan (present day Mazandaran) near the Caspian Sea, he left his hometown at the age of 12 to study in Rayy, where he remained for five years studying Islam and history and was introduced to pre-Islamic history as well. He then went to the Abbasid capital, Baghdad, for further studies, and in his late twenties took up travel, visiting Basra, Kufa and Waset to meet scholars, and later going to Syria, Palestine and Egypt. After staying for three years in Egypt he returned to Baghdad, performing the Hajj pilgrimage on the way. He never married and never took a government job or judicial position. He retained close ties with his hometown, Amol, to which he returned at least twice, the last time at the age 65. He initially followed the Shafei School of jurisprudence, but later devised a jurisprudential school of his own named “Jariri” after him, which, however, did not survive. Tabari’s monumental work is titled “Tarikh ar-Rusol wa’l-Mulouk” (History of Prophets and Kings). It is a universal history from the time of creation to some seven years before his death. His history is renowned for its detail and near accuracy concerning Muslim history, as well as the history of pre-Islamic Iran, Rome, Greece, Egypt and other places. His exegesis of the holy Qur’an is titled “Jame’ al-Bayan”. He also wrote a two-volume book titled “al-Wilayah” in which he has collected various sources of the historical event of Ghadeer-Khom, where on 18th Zilhijja, 10 AH, Prophet Mohammad (SAWA) while returning from his farewell Hajj pilgrimage, was commanded by God Almighty to proclaim Imam Ali ibn Abi Taleb (AS) as vicegerent.

450 solar years ago, on this day in 1568 AD, while the 10th Ottoman sultan and 3rd self-styled Turkic caliph, Selim II, had given up all state affairs and immersed himself in wine and pleasures of the flesh, his able Grand Vizier, Mohammad Sokollu (an ethnic Bosnian), succeeded in concluding a treaty with the Habsburg Holy Roman Emperor, Maximilian II, who agreed to pay an annual tribute of 30,000 ducats and cede authority to the Turks in Walachia (in present day Romania) as well as in Moldavia.

418 solar years ago, on this day in 1600 AD, Giordano Bruno, the Italian philosopher, mathematician, and astronomer, was burned at the stake on charges of heresy by the Christian church for suggesting the Sun was essentially a star, and moreover, that the universe contained an infinite number of planets. Bruno was deeply influenced by the astronomical facts of the universe which he learned from Latin translations of Arabic works written by Islamic scholars and scientists several centuries before. He refused to renounce his scientific discoveries and was brutally killed by the Catholic sect of Christianity.

209 solar years ago, on this day in 1809 AD, the gory Battle of Zaragoza between French and Spanish forces ended with French victory and occupation of the city of Zaragoza in eastern Spain. The war broke out as of November 15, 1808, with Napoleon’s attack that aroused strong resistance by the Spanish people. Both sides were ruthless, and countless people were killed in this war. Although Spain was occupied by France, after Napoleon’s retreat from Russia and his subsequent defeat by the allied European armies, Spain was liberated.

191 solar years ago, on this day in 1827 AD, the Swiss scientist, Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi, died at the age of 81. An expert in natural sciences and mathematics, he was fluent in several languages.

101 solar years ago, on this day in 1917 AD, Egyptian philosopher and poet, Abdur-Rahman Badawi, was born in the village of Sharabas, some 150 km from Cairo. He has been called the "Master of Arab Existentialism." and authored more than 150 works. He wrote fluently in his native Arabic, English, Spanish, French and German; and read Greek, Latin and Persian. From 1950 to 1956 he taught at Ibrahim Pasha University. As a member of a 1954 committee to draft a new Egyptian constitution, he clashed with President Jamal Abdun-Nasser, who dissolved the committee in 1956. From 1956 to 1958 he was a cultural attaché in Switzerland. He described leaving Nasser's Egypt to teach at Sorbonne University in Paris as escaping from "the big jail". He later moved to Libya as university professor, and in 1973 when his students demanded freedom of expression, he was imprisoned by Mu’ammar Qadhafi, who publicly burned his personal library. After release he moved to Kuwait from 1975 to 1982. He died in 2005 at the age of 88.

29 solar years ago, on this day in 1989 AD, the Arab Maghreb Union was formed in Morocco by the host country along with Algeria, Libya, Tunisia, and Mauritania, for facilitating trade, commerce, and cultural ties in North Africa. However, disputes among member states, especially Algeria and Morocco, have obstructed the materialization of the Union’s goals.

18 solar years ago, on this day in 2000 AD, eminent historian and litterateur, Professor Mohammad Deyhim Tabrizi passed away in Tehran at the age of 92. Born in Tabriz, he learned literature and mathematics from his scholarly father, and became an expert on the history and literature of Azarbaijan. At the age of 25 he started work as a journalist in the local newspaper, and strove to expose the anti-national activities of the Soviet-backed Democratic Party. At the age of 39 he moved to Tehran and involved himself in literary activities, resulting in the founding of associations of the classical Persian poets, such as Mowlana Roumi and Sa’eb. He established some 15 literary associations in Tehran during his long career. He authored several books on history, mathematics, urban development, and literature. His masterpiece is “Biography of Poets of Azarbaijan” in five volumes. The term Azarbaijan in his writings imply the two Iranian provinces of East and West Azarbaijan, as well as the northern part of historical Azarbaijan, which the Russians seized from Iran in the 19^th century and which is known today as the Republic of Azerbaijan.  

10 solar years ago, on this day in 2008 AD, Kosovo declared independence from Serbia, after endorsement by its parliament with Hashem Tachi as Prime Minister. Landlocked Kosovo, whose population is more than 90 percent Muslim and composed of ethnic Albanians, was oppressed by the Serbs. It shares borders with the Republic of Macedonia to the south, Albania to the west and Montenegro to the northwest. The remaining frontier belt is with the Central Serbian region which is the source of international dispute. The largest city and the capital is Pristina. It was in 1389 at the Battle of Kosovo that it became part of the Ottoman Turkish Empire. In 1455 the people embraced the truth of Islam and till 1912 remained under Ottoman rule, first as part of the ayalat or state of Rumelia, and from 1864 as a separate vilayet or province. The Vilayet of Kosovo was an area much larger than today's Kosovo; it included all of today's Kosovo territory, sections of the Sandjak region cutting into present-day central Serbia and Montenegro along with the Kukes municipality of present-day northern Albania and parts of north-western Macedonia with the city of Skopje as its capital. Kosovo also has many followers of the Bektashi Sufi order, which is devoted to the Ahl al-Bayt of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA) and was founded by Iran’s Haji Bektash Vali of Neishabur, Khorasan in the 13th century, and was once widespread in the Ottoman Empire.

7 solar years ago, on this day in 2011 AD, people’s protests began in Libya against the dictatorial rule of Mu’ammar Qadhafi, who was eventually overthrown and killed the following year.

7 solar years ago, on this day in 2011 AD, in a bid to crush the popular uprising of the people of Bahrain that formally started three days ago, forces of the repressive Aal-e Khalifa minority regime launched a deadly pre-dawn raid on the peaceful protesters assembled at the Maidan Lu’lu (Pearl Square) in Manama. The day is known as Bloody Thursday and saw several people martyred and injured.

2 solar years ago, on this day in 2016 AD, the famous Egyptian journalist, Mohammad Hassanain Haikal, passed away in his hometown Cairo at the age of 93. Born in a wealthy merchant family, he was highly educated, and chose journalism as his career. For 17 years from 1957 to 1974, he was editor-in-chief of Egypt’s leading Arabic newspaper “al-Ahram”. For more than half-a-century he was an authoritative commentator on Arab affairs. Haikal articulated the thoughts of President Jamal Abdun-Nasser earlier in his career, and worked as a ghostwriter for him and his ideology of pan-Arabism. He was appointed minister of information in 1970 by the next president, Anwar Sadaat, but resigned from government in 1974 over differences. Throughout his career he was a critic of the military regimes of Anwar Sadaat and Hosni Mubarak, which he perceived as having departed from Nasser's original nationalist dream. He visited Iran following the triumph of the Islamic Revolution, and met with Imam Khomeini (RA). The result of the meeting was a book in English published in 1981 and titled “The Return of the Ayatollah”.

AS/MG