Today is Friday; 3rd of the Iranian month of Farvardin 1397 solar hijri; corresponding to 5th of the Islamic month of Rajab 1439 lunar hijri; and March 23, 2018, of the Christian Gregorian Calendar.

1347 lunar years ago, on this day in 92 AH, Tareq bin Ziyad, crossed the Mediterranean from the northwestern African coast and landed on the island known ever since in his memory as "Jabal at-Tareq" (Rock or Mount of Tareq, Latinized as Gibraltar). He was governor of Tangiers under Musa bin Nusayr, the conqueror and Emir of the Province of Ifriqiya (present day western Libya, Algeria, Tunisia, and Morocco). The Muslims under Tareq swept through Spain and soon conquered the whole Iberian Peninsula. Later, they crossed the Pyrenees into southern France and conquered it. Tareq was made governor of Islamic Spain but was eventually called back to Damascus by the jealous Omayyad caliph, Walid I, who also relieved Musa bin Nusayr of the overall charge of northwest Africa, Spain and the islands off the coast of France. There are three different accounts of the origins of Tareq given by Arab historians – he was a Persian from Hamedan; he was an Arab of the Sadf tribe; he was a Berber from North Africa. Musa bin Nusayr is also said to be the son of an Iranian Christian, according to the historian Tabari; while others say he belonged to the Lakhmid Arab clan who were clients of the Sassanid Dynasty.

1195 lunar years ago, on this day in 244 AH, prominent Islamic lexicographer, Abu Yusuf Yaqub ibn Ishaq, popularly known as “Ibn Sikkit” was brutally martyred by the cruel Abbasid caliph, Mutawakkil, who ordered the pulling out of his tongue through the nape for speaking the truth. Born in Khuzestan, southwestern Iran, he studied in Baghdad under prominent scholars, and his fame led Mutawakkil to invite him to Samarra where he was appointed as tutor to two of the caliph’s sons. Mutawakkil, who is notorious for his sacrilegious destruction of the shrine of the Martyr of Karbala and his forcing of the Prophet's 10^th Infallible Successor, Imam Hadi (AS) to come to Samarra, once asked Ibn Sikkit whether his sons were superior to Imam Hasan and Imam Husain (peace upon them), the grandsons of Prophet Mohammad (blessings of God upon him and his progeny). The scholar boldly replied that even Qanbar, the black slave of Imam Ali (AS), was better than the caliph's sons. The enraged tyrant ordered his execution. Here is one of his poems worth pondering upon.

"By Allah, if the Omayyads had killed the (grand)son of the Prophet unjustly,

His cousins (the Abbasids) did the same;

Here (in Karbala) is his tomb destroyed!

They felt sorry that they did not participate in killing him,

So they chased him in the grave."

In addition to his poems, Ibn Sikkit has left behind at least twenty books, including “Islah al-Manteq” on lexicography.

851 lunar years ago, on this day in 587 AH, the Iranian mystical philosopher, Shahab od-Din Sohrewardi, was martyred in Aleppo, Syria, by the Kurdish ruler, Malik az-Zaher, the son of Salah od-Din Ayyoubi. Born in Sohreward, near the northwestern city of Zanjan, he went to Iraq and Syria to develop his knowledge. During his short life of less than forty years he wrote valuable works that established him as founder of a new school of philosophy, called "Hikmat al-Ishraq" (Illuminationist Philosophy). He is thus known as "Shaikh-e Ishraq". His views angered his opponents, who had him arrested on charges of heresy and subsequently martyred. Sohrewardi has left behind some 50 works in Persian and Arabic.

366 solar years ago, on this day in 1652 AD, British ships attacked the Dutch Navy as part of the sea battles to put an end to Holland’s superiority in the waters of the North Sea, the English Channel, and the Atlantic Ocean. The attack tipped the colonial rivalry of the two countries in favor of London.

269 solar years ago, on this day in 1749 AD, French mathematician, physicist, and astronomer, Pierre-Simon Laplace, was born. He conducted research on the motion of the moon, planets, meteors, and the ebb and flow of seas. In regard to physics, he discovered the primary laws of electromagnetism and studied the latent heat, resulting from elasticity in objects. He has left behind numerous compilations. He died in 1827.

217 solar years ago, on this day in 1801 AD, Tsar Paul I of Russia was struck with a sword, strangled, and trampled to death inside his bedroom at St. Michael's Castle.

137 solar years ago, on this day in 1881 AD, German chemist and scientist, Hermann Staudinger, was born. He set the law on large molecular structures and won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in the year 1953. He died at the age of 84.

99 solar years ago, on this day in 1919 AD, Benito Mussolini formed the Fascist Party in Italy. Fascism, in general, refers to centralized despotic regimes which rule with an ideology based on racial discrimination and chauvinism by suppressing people and their ideas. Mussolini's hirelings, known as Blackshirts, from the colour of their clothing, unleashed a reign of terror facilitating his rise to power as prime minister in 1922. He next formed an alliance with German Nazi leader, Adolf Hitler, and embarked on expansionism resulting in World War II and his eventual defeat.

96 solar years ago, on this day in 1922 AD, Grand Ayatollah Abdul-Karim Haeri Yazdi revived the ancient Islamic seminary of Qom by shifting to this holy city the seminary of Arak, thus laying the foundations for the flowering of Islamic sciences in Iran. Qom, where Hazrat Fatema al-Ma’souma (peace upon her) – daughter of the Prophet’s 7^th Infallible Heir, Imam Musa Kazem (AS) – rests in peace, has now become the centre of diffusion of the genuine teachings of the Ahl al-Bayt all over the world, attracting students from numerous world countries. Imam Khomeini (RA), as the prominent student of Ayatollah Haeri, transformed Qom into the centre of revolutionary activities against the despotic Pahlavi regime, and made it the religious capital of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

78 solar years ago, on this day in 1940 AD, The Lahore Resolution, known as “Qarardad-e Pakistan” was put forward at the Annual General Convention of the All India Muslim League. This was the first formal step by Muslims of the Subcontinent for setting up a separate country in the Muslim majority areas of British-ruled India. Seven years later in 1947 the birth of Pakistan took place in the western border provinces, and in East Bengal which is today called Bangladesh, but not all Muslim-majority regions of the Subcontinent could be incorporated in the new country because of geographical difficulties, since many areas such as the United Provinces lay in the heart of India and not on the borders. Moreover, the crafty British left the issue of Muslim-majority Kashmir unresolved as a bone of contention between Pakistan and India.

68 solar years ago, on this day in 1950, the UN World Meteorological Organization was established. It originated from the International Meteorological Organization (IMO), which was founded in 1873. WMO is based in Geneva, Switzerland, and every year the 23^rd of March is marked as World Meteorological Day.

62 solar years ago, on this day in 1956 AD, Pakistan formally became a republic by adopting a new constitution, and with election of Governor-General Iskandar Mirza as president.

60 lunar years ago, on this day in 1379 AH, prominent religious scholar, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Yathrebi-Kashani passed away at the age of 68 in Kashan and was laid to rest in the mausoleum of Imamzadeh Habib ibn Imam Musa al-Kazem (AS). Born in holy Karbala, at the age of 5 he returned to his ancestral town Kashan, along with his scholarly father, Ayatollah Seyyed Mohammad Reza Yathrebi-Kashani. He was initially taught by his father and other scholars of the Kashan Seminary, before travelling to Iraq for higher studies at the famous seminary of holy Najaf, where during his 7-year stay, his teachers included Grand Ayatollah Seyyed Mohammad Kazem Yazdi, Grand Ayatollah Sheikh osh-Shari’ah Isfahani, Grand Ayatollah Mirza Mohammad Hussain Na’ini, and Ayatollah Aqa Ziya od-Din Iraqi. In 1339 AH, he returned to Kashan on request of his father, and two years later, on the invitation of Grand Ayatollah Sheikh Abdul-Karim Ha’eri he became an instructor at the seminary in holy Qom, where his students included Ayatollah Seyyed Shahab od-Din Mar’ashi, Ayatollah Seyyed Mohammad Baqer Mohaqqiq Damad, Ayatollah Mirza Hashem Amoli, and the future Father of the Islamic Revolution, Imam Khomeini (RA). Seven years later, on his father’s death, he returned to Kashan to take up the latter’s responsibilities at the local seminary, which he ably discharged for over three decades. 

58 solar years ago, on this day in 1960 AD, Sa’eed Nursi, Islamic scholar, educationist and pan-Islamic political reformer of Turkey, who was deeply influenced by the thoughts of the famous Iranian pan-Islamic activist, Seyyed Jamal od-Din Assadabadi, passed away at the age of 82. Born in Nurs village in eastern Anatolia to a Kurdish family of Shafe’i persuasion, his knowledge earned him the title “Badi oz-Zamaan” (Wonder of the Age), He wrote the “Risala-e Nour”, a voluminous Qur'anic commentary in response to the provocative newspaper statement of British Secretary for the Colonies, William Gladstone, "so long as the Muslims have the Qur'an, we shall be unable to dominate them. We must either take it from them, or make them lose their love of it.” He said in reply: "I shall prove and demonstrate to the world that the Qur'an is an undying, inextinguishable Sun!" Nursi believed that modern science and logic was the way of the future, and advocated teaching religious sciences in secular schools and modern sciences in religious schools. As a supporter of Ottoman rule, he inspired the faith movement that has played a vital role in the revival of Islam in Turkey. This brought him into conflict with Mustafa Kemal, after the end of monarchic rule and emergence of the laic Turkish Republic where Islam and Islamic culture were brutally suppressed. He was arrested many times between 1930 and 1950, but until his death continued his activities.

13 solar years ago, on this day in 2005 AD, Iranian philosopher and thinker, Allameh Seyyed Jalal od-Din Ashtiyani, passed away after a long bout of illness at the age of 80. He was a product of the Islamic seminary of Qom, where he studied under Grand Ayatollah Seyyed Hussain Boroujerdi, Allamah Seyyed Mohammad Hussain Tabatabaei, and the Father of the Islamic Revolution, Imam Khomeini (RA). He later on took up residence in the holy city of Mashhad, and spent the rest of his life lecturing at this city’s seminary and university, studying and compiling books. He was highly interested in Islamic philosophy and mysticism and mainly focused on the ideas and thoughts of the famous Gnostic of Islamic Spain, Mohi od-Din Ibn Arabi, and the prominent Iranian philosopher, Mullah Sadra. He has left behind a large number of books, including “Tafsir-e Surah Hamd” or Exegesis of the Opening Chapter of the holy Qur'an.

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