Today is Tuesday; 17th of the Iranian month of Farvardin 1395 solar hijri; corresponding to 26th of the Islamic month of Jamadi as-Sani 1437 lunar hijri; and April 5, 2016, of the Christian Gregorian Calendar.

1429 lunar years ago, on this day in 8th AH, the Muslims led by the Commander of the Faithful, Imam Ali ibn Abi Taleb (AS) achieved a great victory in the battle of “Zaat as-Salasel” which was fought against the pagan Arab tribes north of Medina on the road to Syria. The event occurred in the aftermath of the Battle of Mu'tah (in what is now Jordan) against a joint force of Christian Arabs and Romans that ended inconclusively, and which encouraged pagan Arab tribes to plan raids on Medina to wipe out Islam. When Prophet Mohammad (SAWA) learned about the plans of the Arab infidels he dispatched a force under the newly converted Amr bin Aas to Wadi al-Qura where the enemies were amassing; in order to invite them to Islam or disperse them. The Prophet then decided to entrust the command to his dear cousin and son-in-law, Imam Ali (AS), who duly invited the pagan Arabs to Islam. The infidels refused and prepared for battle. The Imam, despite the mountainous terrain and steep valleys, ably organized the defence. Then after several bouts of individual combat during which he made short work of the arrogant Arabs who challenged him, including their fearsome warlord, Hareth bin Makida, he launched a swift attack to soundly defeat them. The Muslims lost only two persons, while the pagan Arabs suffered huge casualties and completely surrendered to the Muslims along with their women, children and possessions. In Medina, the Prophet informed the people that in honour of Imam Ali's victory, God has revealed “Surah Adiyaat”. On his return to Medina, the Imam was greeted outside the city by the Prophet, who wiped the dust off the face of his dear cousin, kissed his forehead and with tears of joy, said: O Ali, I thank Allah, Who strengthened me through you. O Ali, like Moses, who prayed to Allah, to strengthen his arms by his brother (Aaron) and make him share his Prophethood, I also asked the same from Almighty Allah (for you) and He approved it.

Then the Prophet turned to the companions and said:

I love him by the command of Allah. O Ali, the one who befriends you has befriended me, and the one who loves me, loves Almighty Allah, and the one who loves Almighty Allah is loved by Him and Paradise is his abode. O Ali, the one who is inimical to you, is inimical to me, and the one who is inimical to me, is inimical to the Almighty Allah. And He will not accept any deed of the enemies of Ali (AS).

1114 solar years ago, on this day in 902 AD, Ahmad al-Mu’tadid, the 16th self-styled caliph of the usurper Abbasid regime, died in Baghdad at the age of 47 after a reign of 10 years. He had seized the caliphate on the death of his uncle al-Mu’tamid during whose last days he had imprisoned and killed his cousin, the heir apparent, Ja’far al-Muwaffadh. Born to Dirar, a Greek concubine of the caliph al-Mutawakkel’s son Talha al-Muwaffaq – the regent and virtual ruler of the state during the reign of al-Mu’tamid – he tried to prevent through deceit and bloodshed the further fragmentation of the fast shrinking Abbasid realm, but failed. He moved the capital back to Baghdad from Samarra and ruled with the help of the powerful Turkic guards – the caliph-makers. He built a series of secret prisons to detain thousands of people on suspicion. He is believed to have been poisoned to death, and during his last moments kicked to death one of the physicians attending him.

611 lunar years ago, on this day in 826 AH, the Islamic scholar, Shaikh Jamal od-Din Meqdad Hilli al-Asadi, passed away in holy Najaf. He was a prominent student of the First Martyr, Mohammad ibn Makki, and was an outstanding jurisprudent himself. Known popularly as Fadhel Meqdad, he groomed many scholars and wrote several books, including “Ayaat al-Ahkam”. The most important book written by him is “Kanz al-Irfan”, in which he has listed all those ayahs of the Holy Qur’an which form the basis of Fiqh, and had deduced from them several rules of Islamic jurisprudence. There are several books written in the same vein by both Shi’ite and Sunni scholars, but “Kanz al-Irfan” stands out prominently as one of the best, if not the best.

535 solar years ago, on this day in 1481 AD, Mahmoud Gawan, the able Grand Vizier of the Bahmani kingdom of Iranian origin of the Deccan in south India, was unjustly executed at the age of 71 by Mohammad Shah II, after being falsely accused of treason by his rivals at the court. Born in the Caspian Sea Province of Gilan in northern Iran, Mahmoud Gawan was a man of letters and a successful merchant plying the lucrative route from the Persian Gulf port of Gombroun (presently Bandar Abbas) to the Konkan coast of India with cargos of silken fabrics, pearls, Arabian horses, etc, for the Bahmani capital of Bidar – where Persian culture was prevalent and where earlier the elders of the Ne’matollahi Sufi order of Kerman (adhering to the path of the Prophet’s Ahl al-Bayt) were settled. On one such visit at the age of 42, he was given the title of “Malik-ut-Tujjar” (King of Traders) by Feroze Shah and offered a post at the court. He stayed in the Bahmani kingdom, and in the reigns of the subsequent kings, steadily rose in the administrative hierarchy because of his efficient management. He earned the titles “Wakeel us-Saltanah” and “Khwaja-e Jahan” or Prime Minister – a post that he held for almost two decades, during which he carried out many reforms, strengthened the military, increased the revenues through proper utilization of the agricultural lands, and eradicated corruption. As a great patron of arts and literature, he was in correspondence with the political elite and literati of the other parts of the Persianate World, ranging from Central Asia to the Ottoman Sultanate and the Subcontinent. He authored several books such as “Riyaz al-Insha” and built a magnificent college in Bidar, where scholars from Iran, Iraq, and Arabia used to teach. This aroused the jealousy of his rivals, who by bribing his servants obtained his seal, affixed it on a blank paper and forged a letter inviting the Rajah of Orissa to attack the Bahmani Kingdom. The letter was shown to the king who was in a drunken state and he promptly summoned Gawan and executed him. The end of this scholar statesman brought about the decline of the kingdom, which in the next two decades splintered into five independent sultanates.

475 lunar years ago, on this day in 962 AH, the Peace of Amasya was signed by the Ottoman Turkish and Safavid Persian Empires to end hostilities between the two sides, after three massive but unsuccessful invasions in the course of 22 years by Sultan Suleiman, who was outwitted by the tact and diplomacy of Shah Tahmasb I. The frontier of the two empires was delineated through Anatolia, Iraq, and the Caucasus, with Georgia being divided between the Ottomans and the Safavids. The Ottomans, in return for their control of Baghdad and most of Iraq, allowed Iranian pilgrims to continue visits to Najaf and Karbala, as well as to Mecca and Medina for Hajj.

431 solar years ago, on this day in 1585 AD, a massacre took place in the city of Harlem in Holland on the orders of Spain’s King Philip II, to crush the Dutch freedom-seekers. It was the worst of several periodic massacres launched by Spain to keep Holland under its control. The Harlem massacre saw the death of some 6,000 Dutch independence-seekers. Finally in 1609, Holland gained independence from the yoke of Spain.

428 solar years ago, on this day in 1588 AD, the English Philosopher, Thomas Hobbes, was born. He believed that human beings by nature are selfish and power-hungry with the tendency to dominate. He thus advocated establishment of a powerful government to provide peace and security for the vulnerable people. His most important book is “Leviathan”. He died in 1679.

367 solar years ago, on this day in 1649 AD, Elihu Yale, the Welsh philanthropist for whom Yale University in what is now the United States of America is named, was born in Boston, Colony of Massachusetts. He came to England and joined the East India Company which appointed him governor of Fort St. George, Madras, which the English had leased from the Persianate Qutb-Shahi Dynasty of Golkandah-Haiderabad. The Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb soon conquered the whole of Deccan and demanded allegiance of the English, which Yale complied willingly, and promised to supply troops in the event of war. Yale, who had learned Persian and provided passage to Iran (at a high cost) for Ibrahim Beg the Safavid Ambassador to the Deccan court, amassed a fortune, largely through secret contracts with Madras merchants, against the East India Company’s directive. By 1692, his repeated flouting of regulations and growing embarrassment at his illegal profiteering resulted in his being relieved of the post of governor, under pressure of the Mughal government, because of Yale’s levying of heavy taxes on the local inhabitants and indulgence in slave trade. On his instructions, the English would kidnap young children and sell them to distant parts of the world. In 1699, having accumulated considerable wealth through every foul mean, he returned to England and settled in Wrexham. In 1718, when on request for help from the Collegiate School in New Haven in the Colony of Connecticut, Yale sent 417 books and a substantial sum of money, the officials in gratitude, named the new building Yale. Soon the entire institution became Yale College, and eventually Yale University, which has the third largest library in the US, and contains rare Persian and Arabic manuscripts as well.

294 solar years ago, on this day in 1722 AD, on Easter Sunday Dutch explorer Jacob Roggeveen discovered a Polynesian Island 1400 miles from the coast of South America and named it Easter Island. He noted that the island was treeless and wondered how its massive statues were erected. Much of the population was later wiped out and the island became a possession of Chile. An indigenous script called ‘rongorongo’ survived but by 2002 was still not deciphered. In 2005 Steven Roger Fischer authored “Island at the End of the World: The Turbulent History of Easter Island.”

222 solar years ago, on this day in 1794 AD, Georges Danton, one of the leaders of the French Revolution, was hanged at the age of 65. An eloquent speaker, he believed that the monarchic system should be ousted to prevent oppression and chaos in society. He was the victim of a plot by his revolutionary rival, Maximilian Robespierre, who now unleashed the four-month Reign of Terror on France.

73 solar years ago, on this day in 1943 AD, during World War II, US bomber aircraft massacred more than 900 Belgian civilians, including 209 children, in addition to wounding 1300 others, in the town of Mortsel. This and other war crimes of the Allied forces in Germany and other parts of Europe, as well as in Japan, have been hushed up by the western media and politicians.

60 solar years ago, on this day in 1956 AD, the ruthless 2-day raid on the city of Gaza by troops of the illegal Zionist entity ended, resulting in the martyrdom of at least 56 Palestinian women, children, and elderly people. The usurper state of Israel was emboldened to commit such heinous crimes by the ominous silence of the West and international circles.

41 solar years ago, on this day in 1975 AD, Chiang Kai-shek, Chinese general, politician, president of the Republic of China (1928-1948), and then president of the breakaway island state of Formosa (Taiwan), died at the age of 88. His dream to retake mainland China which he lost to the communists led by Mao Zedong during the civil war of 1949 never materialized, despite his backing of nationalist, ethnic and religious forces including the Muslims of Xinjiang and Yunnan.

3 solar years ago, on this day in 2013 AD, noted Kashmiri historian, Dr. Mohammad Ishaq Khan, died in Srinagar, Indian-controlled Kashmir, at the age of 69. His most widely read book is “Kashmir’s Transition to Islam: The Role of Muslim Rishis”, which has been described as an authoritative and seminal work on the social dimension of Islam in Kashmir. His last work, published posthumously is “Merited Invocation”, which is an English translation along with notes and annotations of the Persian book “Awraad-e Fathiyya” of the famous Iranian missionary, Mir Seyyed Ali Hamedani, to whom goes the credit of spreading Islam in Kashmir. Ishaq Khan wrote several researched articles published in international magazines such as: “Reflections on Time and History vis-à-vis the Qur’an”, “Islam in Kashmir: Some distinctive features”, “Persian Influences in Kashmir in the Sultanate Period”, “The Rishi Movement as a Social Force in The Making of Indo-Persian Culture”, and “The Evolution of Shari’ah consciousness in Kashmir: An Interpretation of Mir Seyyed Ali Hamedani’s Historical Role”.

AS/AS/ME