Today is Sunday; 19th of the Iranian month of Farvardin 1397 solar hijri; corresponding to 21st of the Islamic month of Rajab 1439 lunar hijri; and April 8, 2018, of the Christian  Gregorian Calendar.

1801 solar years ago, on this day in 217 AD, Roman Emperor Caracalla was assassinated after a 6-year reign by his guards while urinating at a roadside in Edessa in northern Mesopotamia (presently in Turkey), a year after he tricked the Iranians into believing he was sincere in his peace and marriage proposal to the daughter of Parthian Emperor, Artabanus V (Ardavan), but then massacred the bride and guests at the wedding celebrations at the royal palace in Arabela – present day Arbil in Iraqi Kurdistan. Of mixed Punic and Syrian descent, he was named Lucius Septimius Bassianus on his birth in Lyon, France, to Emperor Septimius Severus. Of mean character, on the death of his father in York in Britain, he was proclaimed joint emperor with his brother, Publius Septimius Antoninus Geta, whom he treacherously murdered in front of his pleading mother. A contemporary account of Caracalla’s massacre of the Iranians says that a huge gathering had stood about casually, eager to see the bridegroom and expecting nothing out of the ordinary, when the signal was given by the Roman emperor to his army to attack and massacre all. Totally astounded at this onslaught the people fled – wounded and bleeding. Artabanus managed to escape with a few companions, while the rest of the Parthians, lacking their indispensable horses, were cut down – for they had sent the horses out to graze. The Roman army then carried out a campaign of massacres in northern Mesopotamia and around Media, where Caracalla dug open the royal tombs of the Parthians, and scattered their bones. The Iranians soon regrouped and fought the Romans to a bloody standstill at the Battle of Nisibis (in southeastern Turkey), making them pay war reparations of 200 million sestertii.

1617 solar years ago, on this day in 401 AD, the youngest emperor in Roman history, Theodosius II, was born to Emperor Arcadius at whose death seven years later he was crowned emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire. During his 42-year reign he presided over the outbreak of two christological controversies, that is, Nestorianism and Eutychianism, and fought an almost two-year inconclusive war with the Sassanid Empire of Iran. In 421, when Bahram V succeeded his assassinated father Yazdegerd I and continued the latter’s persecution of Christians as reprisal for attacks on Zoroastrian temples that led to killing of the Christian counselor, James Intercisus, in Jondishapur, Theodosius declared war, citing friction in trade ties and border issues. The conflict raged across the borders of the two empires, mostly in southeastern Turkey, northern Syria and to some extent in Armenia. In 422, the two sides signed a peace treaty restoring the status quo. Theodosius died at the age of 49

1191 lunar years ago, on this day in 248 AH, the scholar Abu Hatem Sahl ibn Mohammad Sijistani passed away. An expert in Qur’anic sciences, hadith, literary techniques and poetry, he was also involved in social affairs as well. Books authored by him include “Akhlaq al-Insan”, and “E’raab al-Qur’an”.

1142 solar years ago, on this day in 876 AD, the usurper Abbasid caliphate survived annihilation when pride and overconfidence cost the Iranian general, Yaqoub ibn Laith Saffari, victory in the Battle of Dayr al-Aqoul at Estarband, 80 km southeast of Baghdad. Yaqoub, who from his base in Zaranj in Sistan, after taking control of Sindh, Baluchestan and Kabul, had carried the banner of Islam to the then Buddhist areas of  Bamiyan, Balkh, Badghis, and Ghor (in present-day Afghanistan), now turned towards the west, and swept through Khorasan, conquering Fars and Khuzestan on his way to Iraq. The Abbasids, terrified at the idea of the Saffarids joining the raging Zanj revolt in Basra and southern Iraq, offered Yaqoub the governorships of Khorasan, Fars, Tabaristan, Gorgan, and Rayy, if he spared Iraq. Yaqoub, however, sensing the weakness of the caliphate, from which Egypt, North Africa, Syria and Central Asia, had already broken away, resolved to end Abbasid rule. He advanced north of Waset, but here the clever tactic of the pro-Abbasid Iranian general, Masrour al-Balkhi, in flooding the adjoining lands slowed down his march. This provided the Abbasids ample time to gather troops and Turkic mercenaries, and thus save their rule that had been established a century and 26 years ago in 750 by Abu’l-Abbas Saffah by overthrowing the Omayyads with Iranian help. The result of the battle, completely halted Yaqoub's advance, as he fell back broken-hearted after a valiant fight, and in the next three years that he was alive, did not make any campaigns in Iraq. In 879, his brother and successor, Amr ibn Laith concluded peace with the caliph. The Abbasids, who had become puppets of Turkic slave generals, continued to be in power, until all executive authority was taken away from them by the Iranian general, Moiz od-Dowla Daylami on the fall of Baghdad in 945 to the Buwaiyhids, who ruled Iraq and most of Iran for 110 years. Next the Seljuq Turks reduced the Abbasids to vassals. In 1258 the Abbasids were eventually thrown into the dustbin of history by Hulaku Khan’s Buddhist Mongol hordes. 

1000 solar years ago, on this day in 1018 AD, renowned Iranian vizier of the Seljuqid Dynasty, Hassan Ibn Ali Tousi, known by his title Khwaja Nizam ul-Mulk, was born in Radkan in the vicinity of the northeastern Iranian city of Tous, near holy Mashhad in Khorasan. His father was a financial officer of the Ghaznavid Dynasty. He initially served the Ghaznavids as chief administrator of Khorasan. Four years later with the rise of the Seljuqs, he served Alp Arslan and Malik Shah I as vizier. Under his guidance the Seljuq armies contained the Ghaznavids in Khorasan, rolled back the Fatemids in Syria, defeated other Seljuq pretenders to the throne, turned Georgia into a tributary state, compelled the submission of regional governors, and kept the Abbasid caliphs in a position of impotence. In addition to his administrative duties, he established in various cities, including Isfahan, Naishapur, Mosul, Basra, and Herat, educational institutes known as “Madrasa-e Nizamiyyah”, which were named after him. In many aspects, these schools turned out to be the predecessors and models of universities that were established in Europe in later centuries. Nizam ul-Mulk is also widely known for his voluminous treatise on kingship titled "Siyasat-Nama" or "Siyar al-Molouk" (The Book of Government). He also wrote a book titled “Dastour al-Wuzara”, for his son Abulfath Fakhr ul-Mulk on administrative norms.  He was assassinated near Nahavand en route from Isfahan to Baghdad at the age of 75. His son-in-law Muqatel bin Atiyyah, who was eyewitness to a polemical debate, says he was assassinated in the same year as Malik Shah I, after a debate between Sunni and Shi'ite scholars, which resulted in his conversion and that of the Seljuq sultan to the school of the Ahl al-Bayt.

804 lunar years ago, on this day in 635 AH, Sultan Abul-Ma'ali Mohammad al-Ayyubi, known as al-Malik al-Kamel, the 5^th ruler of the Ayyubid Kurdish dynasty of Egypt, died after a 20-year reign. Son and successor of Sultan al-Adel, brother of the founder Salah od-Din Ayyubi, he defeated two European invasions – 5th and 6th Crusades. His most ignominious act was handing over of Bayt al-Moqaddas, Bethlehem and certain other parts of Palestine to Fredrick Barbarossa of Germany, an act that infuriated the Muslims.

747 solar years ago, on this day in 1271 AD, the 4^th Turkic Mamluk Sultan (slave-king) of Egypt and Syria, Rukn od-Din Baybars al-Bandouqdari, conquered the fortress of Krak des Chevaliers by defeating the crusaders and expelling them back to Europe. Known in Arabic as “Hisn al-Akraad” (Castle of the Kurds), it sits atop a 650-metre high hill east of Tartus, Syria, in the Homs region on the way to Tripoli in Lebanon. The castle was made a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 2006. Recently this fortress was liberated by Syrian troops from the Takfiri terrorists who are backed by US, Turkey, Israel and Saudi Arabia. Baybars, earlier as a general, had taken part in the resounding defeat of the 7^th crusade led by the French king, Louis IX, at the Battle of Fareskour in Egypt (1250) and the decisive Muslim victory over the Mongols at Ain Jalut in Palestine (1260).

736 solar years ago, on this day in 1282 AD, Ahmad Fanakati, the Persian Muslim of Central Asia, who for twenty years served as finance minister of the Mongol Yuan Dynasty of China and Chief Minister of Emperor Kublai Khan, was assassinated  by his jealous Chinese rivals, Wang Zhu and Gao Heshang. Born in Fanakat (or Banakat), a town on the upper Syr Darya or River Jaxartes in what was then Qara Khitai kingdom, he joined the service of the Mongols when they conquered his homeland. He was entrusted with state finances in 1262. He was successful in managing the financial affairs of Northern China that brought huge tax revenues to Kublai's new government. In 1270, he assumed the full power of the new financial department known as the Department of State. After the conquest of the Song dynasty in 1276, Ahmad Fanakati entered the financial matters of Southern China. He prepared a state monopoly in salt, which came to account for a large portion of state income. In his 20-year term of office, he created his strong faction with his clan and Persian and Turkic Muslims from Central Asia. Ahmad is usually portrayed as an evil bureaucrat in Chinese records, but other sources positively evaluate his assistance to Kublai's administration. Recent Mongolian studies also tend to make positive reference to his role in establishing the dynasty's unique financial system.

640 lunar years ago, on this day in 799 AH, Mahmud I, the 5^th king of the Bahmani kingdom of Iranian origin of the Deccan (southern India) died in his capital Gulbarga after a 19-year reign. His 17-year old son Ghiyas od-Din succeeded him as Tahmatan Shah, but two months later was blinded and imprisoned by the Turkish slave Tughalchin Khan, who placed the younger brother, Shams od-Din on the Turquoise Throne. Five months later, Tughalchin and his puppet were deposed by Mahmud Shah’s cousin Taj od-Din Firouz Shah, the greatest ruler of the dynasty, who reigned for 25 years, assisted by the able Iranian vizier, Mir Fazlollah Inju of Shiraz. The Bahmanis patronized and promoted Persian language and poetry, as well as Iranian art, culture, and architecture by inviting from Iran thousands of qualified persons in various fields. The famous Iranian poet Hafez Shirazi was also invited, but changed his mind midway through the journey, sending an excellent piece of poetry to the Bahmani court. The renowned Gnostic of Kerman, Shah Ne’matollah Wali, was also requested to come to the Deccan, and instead sent his grandson – and later son – who preached teachings of the Prophet’s Ahl al-Bayt.

557 solar years ago, on this day in 1461 AD, Austrian mathematician and astronomer, Georg von Peurbach, died at the age of 37 in Vienna. He studied the Islamic scientist, Ibn Haytham’s book “On the Configuration of the World”, and replaced the Greek scientist Ptolemy's chords in the table of sines with the Islamic Arabic numerals that were introduced 250 years earlier in place of Roman numerals and which today are in use in the whole world (e.g. 1,2,3,4,5 etc.)

159 solar years ago, on this day in 1859 AD, Austrian-German philosopher, Edmund Gustav Albrecht Husserl, who established the school of phenomenology, was born in Prostejov (presently in Czech Republic). He believed that experience is the source of all knowledge. He died in Nazi Germany in 1938.

140 lunar years ago, on this day in 1299 AH, Grand Ayatollah Seyyed Sadr od-Din Sadr was born in holy Kazemayn in Iraq. Son of Grand Ayatollah Seyyed Ismail Sadr and grandson of Grand Ayatollah Sadr od-Din bin Saleh after whom the Sadr Family of scholars is known, at the age of 29 he enrolled at the seminary of holy Najaf to complete religious studies under such prominent ulema as Akhound Khorasani, Ayatollah Seyyed Kazem Yazdi, and Ayatollah Mirza Hussain Na’ini. He then 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 Ayatollah Seyyed Mohammad Baqer Sadr of Najaf. Grand Ayatollah Sadr od-Din Sadr passed away in Qom at the age of 74.     

68 solar years ago, on this day in 1950 AD, India and Pakistan inked the Liaqat-Nehru Pact in New Delhi after six days of talks. The signatories were Indian Prime Minister JawaharLal Nehru and Pakistani Prime Minister Liaqat Ali Khan. The treaty sought to guarantee the rights of minorities in both countries after the partition of the Subcontinent – Hindus in Pakistan and Muslims in India.

48 solar years ago, on this day in 1970 AD, the Bahr al-Baqar massacre was carried out by aircraft of the illegal Zionist entity, which bombed an Egyptian school in Sharqiyya (80 km north of Cairo), resulting in the martyrdom of 46 children and injury of 50 others. Earlier, on February 12 the same year, Israeli warplanes had bombarded an Egyptian factory, martyring and wounding 168 workers. On March 31, 1970, Zionist warplanes pounded the city of Mansurah, martyring 12 civilians and wounding 35 others. The usurper state of Israel has a bleak and bloody record of crimes against humanity.

23 solar years ago, on this day in 1994 AD, in Rwanda more than 1,400 Tutsis were massacred by Hutu militia at a church atop a hill in Kesho. About this time, when the commander of UN forces in Rwanda warned Ghana’s Kofi Annan, the head of the UN Peacekeeping operations that the Kigali government was planning to slaughter Tutsis, Annan’s office ordered General Romeo Dallaire of Canada against protecting the informant or confiscating arms stockpiles of the Hutus. Annan, who went on to become the UN Secretary-General in 1997, later claimed that he lacked the military might and political backing to stop the slaughter of more than 500,000 people.

10 solar years ago, on this day in 2008 AD, Iran’s SenIran Auto plant in Thies, Senegal's second largest city, built its first Iran-Khodro Samand sedan. Iran Khodro is the largest carmaker in the Middle East, Central Asia and North Africa regions with annual production of over a million vehicles including cars, trucks and buses.

8 lunar years ago, on this day in 1431 AH, Source of Emulation in Lebanon, Grand Ayatollah Seyyed Mohammad Hussain Fazlollah, passed away at the age of 77. Born in holy Najaf in Iraq in a Lebanese family, he studied under prominent ulema, including Grand Ayatollah Seyyed Mohsin al-Hakeem, Grand Ayatollah Seyyed Abu’l-Qasem Khoi, and Ayatollah Sadra Baad-Koubaee. He played a major role in reclaiming the denied rights of Shi'ite Muslims in Lebanon. He was a supporter of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Islamic Resistance Movement of Lebanon against Israeli occupation. He was the target of several assassination attempts by the Americans. He has left behind valuable books, including a 25-volume Exegesis of the Holy Qur'an.

AS/MG