Today is Saturday; 21st of the Iranian month of Farvardin 1395 solar hijri; corresponding to 1st of the Islamic month of Rajab 1437 lunar hijri; and April 9, 2016, of the Christian Gregorian Calendar.

Today starts sacred Rajab, the month that opens the gates of Divine Mercy for the seekers of good and virtue, and the month in which fasting, along with certain other wonderful acts of worship, has been recommended. Rajab, in addition to the next two months of Sha’ban and Ramadhan, is a period of self-reform, self-consciousness, and self-development for progress on the path towards perfection for attaining the proximity of the Almighty Creator. It is the month of special acceptance of repentance in the Divine Court. In Rajab certain very significant events took place in the history of mankind, such as the day of the formal entrustment by God of the universal mission of Islam to Prophet Mohammad (SAWA), and the auspicious birth anniversary of the Prophet's First Infallible Successor, Imam Ali (AS) in the holy Ka’ba.

1823 solar years ago, on this day in 193 AD, Lucius Septimius Severus seized power of the Roman Empire on the death of Emperor Pertinax, after deposing and killing the incumbent emperor Didius Julianus, during the “Year of the Five Emperors”. Of Syrian-Punic origin, he then fought his rival claimants, the generals, Pescennius Niger and Clodius Albinus, to consolidate his power. Niger was defeated in 194 at the Battle of Issus in Cilicia in what is now south-central Turkey. Later that year Severus waged a punitive campaign beyond the eastern frontier by annexing the Kingdom of Osroene, which was under protection of the Parthian Empire, thereby starting a new phase of Roman-Iranian hostilities. The Battle of Lugdunum (modern Lyon in France) against Albinus was the bloodiest-ever battle between rival Roman armies that resulted in the death of over a 100,000 soldiers. A ruthless pagan, Septimius Severus persecuted monotheists, especially the followers of Prophet Jesus (AS), and waged war against Iran’s Parthian Empire in Iraq, sacking the capital Ctesiphon in 197. Like Trajan a century earlier, he was not much successful, as the Iranians regrouped and forced him to pull back. Although he briefly annexed the upper part of Mesopotamia in what are now northern Syria and southern Turkey, he failed to subdue the impregnable fortress of Hatra near Mosul in what was then the Iranian province of Khavaran, despite two lengthy sieges. After a reign of 18 blood-soaked years, he died in York in Britain and was succeeded by his equally bloodthirsty and treacherous son, Caracalla, who six years later in 217 was destined to meet a miserable death, following his deceitful slaughter of the unarmed wedding party of the Parthian Emperor’s daughter whom he had tricked into marriage.

1380 lunar years ago, on this day in 57 AH, Imam Mohammad Baqer (AS), the 5th Infallible Successor of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA), was born in Medina. He is acknowledged as “Baqer al-Uloum” or the “Splitter and Spreader of Sciences”, and during his fruitful life of 57 years, of which 19 years were as the divinely-decreed leader of mankind, he spared no efforts to enlighten minds and souls in those days of Omayyad tyranny, before bequeathing the legacy of his ancestor, the Prophet, to his son and successor, Imam Ja'far Sadeq (AS). Later in our programme, you will listen to a special feature on the 5th Imam.

1074 lunar years ago, on this day in 363 AH, Nu’maan ibn Mohammad at-Tamimi, known as Qazi Nu’maan, the Ismaili jurist and official historian of the Fatemid Shi’ie Muslim caliphate of Egypt-North Africa-Syria, passed away in Cairo. Born in what is now Tunis, he began his career in Ifriqiya (modern-day Tunisia, western Libya and eastern Algeria) under Mahdi Billah, the Founder of the Fatemid Dynasty, quickly rising to become the most prominent judge. In his fifty years of service, he wrote a vast number of books on history, biography, jurisprudence and exegesis of the holy Qur’an. After the Fatemid conquest of Egypt and Syria, he came to and settled in the newly founded city of Qahera (Cairo), the new capital of the empire. Nu’maan's most prominent work, the “Daim al-Islam” (دعائم الاسلام) or 'The Pillars of Islam', which took nearly thirty years to complete, was the official code of the Fatemid state, and serves to this day as the primary source of shar’ia law for some Musta’ali Ismaili communities, especially the Tayyibis, in Yemen and India. Another of his famous books is “Sharh al-Akhbar” in which he has reproduced in details the statements and sermons of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA) and the Ahl al-Bayt till Imam Reza (AS), the 8th Infallible Leader – although the Fatemids had parted ways with the mainstream Shi’ite Muslims after Imam Ja’far as-Sadeq (AS), the 6th Infallible Leader.

974 lunar years ago, on this day in 463 AH, the Spanish Muslim poet Abul-Waleed Ahmad bin Abdullah, Ibn Zaidoun, died. Born in Qortoba (Cordova) into the Arab tribe of al-Makhzoum, he brought into Spanish Arabic poetry the rhetorical command, the passionate power, and grandeur of style that marked contemporary poetry in the Islamic east. He was also involved in politics and was opposed to the ruling Omayyad regime.

798 lunar years ago, on this day in 639 AH, the Muslim botanist and physician, Rashid od-Din Souri, died. As his surname Souri suggests, he was from the region of Sour or Tyre in what is now Lebanon, and is considered the founder of modern botany. His most important compilation is an illustrated encyclopedic book on herbs and plants.

775 solar years ago, on this day in 1241 AD, in the Battle of Liegnitz, Mongol forces defeated the Polish and German armies. The Mongols invaded Hungary, but the death of the Khaqaan (Great Khan), Ogedei, made them withdraw from Europe.

738 solar years ago, on this day in 1288 AD, Mongol invasions of Vietnam ended in a disastrous defeat for the invaders in the naval Battle of Bach Dang River in present-day northern Vietnam, resulting in the capture and execution of Mongol Muslim commander, Omar Khan. It was one of the greatest victories in Vietnamese military history.

680 solar years ago, on this day in 1336 AD, Amir Timur Gorkani, the fearsome Turko-Mongol conqueror, was born in the city of Kesh, now known as Shahr-e Sabz, 80 km south of the famous Iranian city of Samarqand, in what is now Uzbekistan. He started life as leader of a band of raiders, and during one such raid was shot by arrows that crippled his right leg for life; hence his epithet in Persian “Taimour-e Lang” (Timur the Lame), corrupted by Europeans to “Tamerlane”. He took over the Chaghatay Mongol Khanate of Central Asia and Khorasan, destroyed the Golden Horde of Eurasia, defeated the Mamluk Empire of Egypt-Syria, conquered the Sultanate of Delhi, and subjugated the emerging Ottoman Empire, whose sultan, Bayazid I, he captured in battle and took as prisoner to Samarqand. Timur died in 1405 at the age of 69, while intending an expedition against China, after conquering all the lands from the Mediterranean coast of Syria to the River Ganges in India, and from the Persian Gulf in the south to Moscow in the north. He was of ferocious nature and at times used to destroy entire cities and massacre whole populations. At the same time he patronized art, architecture and literature, especially the Persian language. He was buried in his capital Samarqand in a beautiful mausoleum called Gur-e Amir. His empire was inherited by his youngest son, Shahrukh, whose mother was an Iranian and who during his long and peaceful reign did not pursue any policy of expansionism. A century after Timur’s death, his empire was no more as all his descendants vanished from the political scene, except for a great-great grandson, Zaheer od-Din Mohammad Babar, who established the Mughal Empire of the Subcontinent that ended in 1857 with the fall of Delhi to the British and the exiling to Burma of Bahadur Shah Zafar.

588 lunar years ago, on this day in 849 AH, the famous Egyptian hadith scholar, lexicographer, and exegete of the holy Qur'an, Abdur-Rahman Jalal od-Din Suyuti, was born in Asyut in a family of Persian origin that had migrated from Iran during the Mamluk period and settled in Upper Egypt from where it derived the family name as-Suyuti. A follower of the Shafe’i School, he was an expert in hadith, history, jurisprudence, exegesis of the Holy Qur'an, and Arabic grammar and literature. His learning and knowledge earned him the title “Ibn al-Kutub” (Son of Books). His books are still taught today in Islamic seminaries. In his exegesis titled "ad-Dur al-Manthour" (Scattered Pearls), he has pointed to the ayahs revealed by God Almighty on the outstanding merits of Prophet Mohammad's (SAWA) Ahl al-Bayt, i.e. Hazrat Fatema Zahra (SA), Imam Ali (AS), Imam Hasan (AS) and Imam Husain (AS). He also wrote a separate book on the Merits of the Ahl al-Bayt. Suyuti traveled to Syria, Hijaz, Yemen, India and Morocco, and settled down towards the end of his life in his homeland Egypt. Among his works mention are “al-Itqaan fi Uloum al-Qur’an” which means The Perfect Guide to the Sciences of the Qur’an, the two books on hadith titled “al-Jaame' al-Kabeer” and “al-Jaame' as-Sagheer” and the “Tarikh al-Khulafa” (History of the Caliphs), in which he has exposed the true nature of many of the tyrannical caliphs of the Omayyad and Abbasid regimes.

390 solar years ago, on this day in 1626 AD, English philosopher and mathematician, Francis Bacon, died at the age of 65. He initially engaged in politics and was imprisoned on the charge of bribery. While serving his prison term, he took to writing and advocated revival of science and philosophy. He authored several books, including “New Atlantis”, which presents a utopian picture of life.

339 lunar years ago, on this day in 1098 AH, the prominent Iranian Islamic scholar of the Safavid era, Hussain ibn Mohammad, popularly known as “Mohaqqiq Khwansari” passed away. He was an expert in jurisprudence, theology, and other Islamic sciences. He groomed numerous students. Among his valuable works, mention could be made of a translation of the Holy Qur'an into Persian along with annotations. In the field of jurisprudence, he wrote "Mashareq ash-Shomous", which is in fact a splendid elucidation of the book titled “Durou" written by the First Martyr.

151 solar years ago, on this day in 1865 AD, the 4-year long US Civil War, during the presidency of Abraham Lincoln, effectively ended with the surrender of the Northern Virginia army of 26,765 troops led by Confederate general, Robert E. Lee, to Unionist general, Ulysses S. Grant, at Appomattox Courthouse, Virginia. The cause of the war was the refusal of the southern states to grant freedom to the black African people who were enslaved to work on plantations and in households, as cheap sources of labour. Within a week of General Lee’s surrender, President Lincoln was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth, who was in contact with the Confederate secret service.

119 solar years ago, on this day in 1897 AD, the Iranian Gnostic, Abu’l-Hassan Tabatabai, known by his penname “Jelweh”, passed away at the age of 74. Having completed his studies in Isfahan, he came to Tehran at the age of 35 and till the end of his life groomed students and wrote books in the Iranian capital. Besides his diwan of Persian poetry, his books include Annotation of Mullah Sadra’s “Mabda wa Ma’ad”, and Ibn Sina’s “Shifa”.

68 solar years ago, on this day in 1948 AD, the Zionist terror group Irgun slaughtered residents of the Palestinian village of Dayr Yasin, west of Bayt al-Moqaddas. Some 270 men, women and children were massacred by these illegal migrants from Europe, as part of the plot to set up the illegal state of Israel.

36 solar years ago, on this day in 1980 AD, Grand Ayatollah Seyyed Mohammad Baqer as-Sadr, and his venerable sister, Amena Haidar, known popularly as Bint al-Hoda, after days of torture in prison were martyred by Saddam, the tyrannical ruler of the Ba'th minority regime of Baghdad. Ayatollah Sadr was a brilliant scholar and studied under such immortal ulema as Grand Ayatollah Mohsin al-Hakeem and Grand Ayatollah Abu’l-Qassem Khoie. At a young age had reached the status of Ijtehad – or independent reasoning based on Holy Qur'an and Prophet's Hadith. His lectures at the Najaf Seminary, during which he used to critically evaluate the western and eastern materialistic schools of thought, were widely attended by youths and academicians. He wrote outstanding works on Islamic economic and philosophy titled “Iqtasadona” (Our Economics) and “Falsafatona” (Our Philosophy). The awareness which he instilled in the Iraqi people, especially political consciousness, greatly alarmed the oppressive Ba'thist regime, in view of his attachment to the Father of the Islamic Revolution, Imam Khomeini (RA). Following the victory of the Islamic Revolution in Iran and the jubilation of the Iraqi people for repeating this experience in Iraq, Ayatollah Sadr and his equally learned and socially active sister, were imprisoned, tortured and brutally martyred by Saddam. Grand Ayatollah Baqer as-Sadr authored many valuable books. His religious-political legacy is alive today, since many of the statesmen in the Iraqi administration are either his students or inspired by his thoughts.

25 solar years ago, on this day in 1991 AD, the Caucasus land of Georgia emerged as an independent republic. Georgia was long part of Iran both before and after the advent of Islam. After being a bone of contention between the Safavid and Ottoman Empires, it was occupied by Czarist Russia in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Today, Georgia, which has allowed the US to tighten its yoke upon it, is grappling with independence seeking moments in the Muslim populated region of Abkhazia on the Black Sea and South Ossetia in northwest. Georgia covers an area of almost 70,000 sq km. It has a long coastline on the Black Sea and shares borders with Russia, the Azerbaijan Republic, Armenia, and Turkey.

17 solar years ago, on this day in 1999 AD, Lieutenant General Ali Sayyad Shirazi, the acting commander of Islamic Republic of Iran’s Armed Forces General Headquarters and a veteran of the 8-year holy defence during the war the US had imposed through Saddam, was martyred at the age of 55 in Tehran when he opened the gate of his house by MKO terrorists dressed as cleaners. Born in a village in northeastern Iran, following completion of high school he joined the military academy. He was an opponent of the Shah’s despotic regime and suffered imprisonment as a result. He was freed from prison with the victory of the Islamic Revolution in February 1979, and on rehabilitation in the armed forces, selflessly served the Islamic Republic by actively participating in the battles against the Ba’thist invaders on the warfronts. In 1981, the Father of the Islamic Revolution, Imam Khomeini (RA) appointed him commander of the Army’s Ground Forces. Martyr Sayyad Shirazi played a pivotal role during the 8-year imposed war and continued his yeoman services in its aftermath till he achieved martyrdom.

13 solar years ago, on this day in 2003 AD, with the advancement of the US army, Baghdad fell and Iraqis took to the streets to celebrate the end of the repressive Ba’th minority regime of Saddam. In the next 8 years, the US killed, either directly or indirectly, as many as 1.2 million Iraqi men, women, and children, before withdrawing in December 2011.

5 solar years ago, on this day in 2011 AD, Bahraini journalist, Zakariya Rashid Hassan al-Ashiri, was tortured to death in prison by agents of the repressive Aal-e Khalifa minority regime, a week after his arrest. He was the first journalist in Bahrain to die in direct relation to his work since the Committee to Protect Journalists started keeping records in 1992. He regularly reported on human rights, business, culture, and politics. Photos later surfaced of al-Ashiri's corpse, which displayed cuts and gashes, and added further evidence that he was beaten to death.

AS/AS/ME