Today is Thursday; 20th of the Iranian month of Ordibehesht 1397 solar hijri; corresponding to 23rd of the Islamic month of Sha'ban 1439 lunar hijri; and May 10, 2018, of the Christian Gregorian Calendar.

2046 solar years ago, on this day in 28 BC, a sunspot is observed by Han Dynasty astronomers during the reign of Emperor Cheng of Han, one of the earliest dated sunspot observations in China.

1426 lunar years ago, on this day in 13 AH, in Harb al-Jisr or Battle of the Bridge fought in Iraq, the Sasanian forces led by Bahman Jaduyeh defeated the Arabs under the command of Abu Ubayd in the only major Persian victory over Muslims. The Arab Muslims had already taken Hira on the banks of the River Euphrates after defeating the Christian Arab allies of the Sassanids. Abu Ubaid encountered the main Iranian army near what is now Kufa. The two forces faced each other on opposing banks of the River Euphrates, connected by a bridge or “jisr” in Arabic. When Abu Ubaid crossed the river, the sight of elephants in the Iranian army frightened the Arab horses. An elephant tore Abu Ubaid from his horse with its trunk and trampled him under foot. At their inability to push back the Iranians who had formed a rigged line close to the bridge, the Arabs panicked and fled. This was, however, a temporary setback. In the subsequent battles the Sassanids were defeated, and the Iranian people accepted Islam almost en masse.

1135 lunar years ago, on this day in 304 AH, Seyyed Hassan al-Utrush, known as “Nasser li’l-Haq” (Defender of Faith) passed away at the age of 75, after an eventful life and a 3-year reign as reviver of the Alawid state of Tabaristan in what is now the Caspian Sea Provinces of Gilan, Mazandaran and Golestan in northern Iran. His shrine in the city of Amol is still a site of pilgrimage. Born in Medina, he was fifth in line of descent from Imam Zain al-Abedin (AS), the great-grandson and 4th Infallible Heir of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA). His mother was an Iranian lady from Khorasan. When Hasan ibn Zayd, a descendant of the Prophet’s elder grandson, Imam Hasan al-Mujtaba (AS), was invited by the people of the Caspian coast of Iran to set up his rule over Tabaristan, Hassan al-Utrush joined him, but after falling out with his successor, Mohammad ibn Zayd, he left for the east where he allied himself with the ruler of Khorasan, Mohammad ibn Abdullah al-Khujistani, who imprisoned and scourged him, as a result of which he lost his hearing and received the sobriquet "al-Utrush" or "the Deaf". On release from prison, he returned to Tabaristan, but had to flee to Rayy when Mohammad ibn Zayd lost the battle and his life near Gorgan against the Samanids of Bukhara, who ended the Alawid state and occupied the region for fourteen years. Hassan al-Utrush now engaged in Islamic missionary activities and his efforts led to the people of Gilan and the Daylamites to become Muslims. His efforts were crowned by success, as the mountain Daylamites and the Gilites east of the Sefid Roud River hailed him as their Leader. The Samanid ruler Ahmad ibn Isma'il sent an army to oppose the revival of the Alawid state of Tabaristan, but al-Utrush inflicted a crushing defeat upon the invaders at Burdidah on the River Burroud, west of Chalous. He made Amol his capital and extended his sway till Gorgan. The famous Iranian Islamic historian Abu Ja’far Tabari, has said about him: "The people had not seen anything like the justice of al-Utrush, his good conduct, and his fulfillment of the right". Hassan al-Utrush wrote an exegesis of the holy Qur’an titled “Tafsir al-Kabir”, and his granddaughter Fatema, who was married to Seyyed Hussain ibn Musa – fifth in line of descent from the Prophet’s 7th Infallible Heir Imam Musa al-Kazem (AS) – was the mother of the celebrated scholars, Seyyed Murtaza Alam al-Huda and Seyyed Razi, the compiler of “Nahj al-Balagha” – the famous collection of the sermons, letters, and maxims of the Commander of the Faithful, Imam Ali (AS).

1134 solar years ago, on this day in 884 AD, Ahmad ibn Tulun, founder of the short-lived Tulunid Dynasty of Egypt, died after a 17-year rule during which he killed at least eighteen thousand people. His father, Tulun, was a Turkic slave sent as part of a tribute by the Iranian governor of Bukhara to the Abbasid caliph, Ma'mun. The Abbasids used to recruit Turkic slaves to serve as military officers. Ibn Tulun received military training in Samarra, the new Abbasid capital, where he was appointed commander of special-forces of the tyrannical caliph, Mutawakkil. After serving in military campaigns against the Byzantine Empire in Tarsus, he gained the favor of Musta'in, and in the reign of the next caliph, Mu'taz, he was sent as governor to Egypt. Since, the then capital of Egypt, al-Fustat, was too small to accommodate his armies, he founded a new city nearby called “Madinat al-Qatta'i” (or the Quartered City), to serve as his capital. It was laid out in the style of the grand cities of Iran, including a large public square, a palace, and a large ceremonial mosque, which was named after Ibn Tulun. This city was razed on the fall of the Tulunid Dynasty, and only the mosque has survived. Ibn Tulun asserted his independence from the Baghdad caliphate by minting coins in his name and seizing control of large parts of Syria. He defeated an Abbasid army sent to Egypt against him. Within two decades after his death, the inefficient rule of his son and grandsons brought about the collapse of the dynasty and re-imposition of Abbasid rule on Egypt.

1016 solar years ago, on this day in 1002 AD, the historian, hadith compiler and orator, Ahmad bin Ali bin Sabet, known as Khateeb al-Baghdadi, was born near Baghdad. Son of a preacher of Darzidjan, he studied under his father and other ulema, mastering the various sciences with special interest in hadith. At the age of 20 he went to Basra to collect hadith. He travelled east to Iran and made two trips to Naishapur in Khorasan, collecting in his journey more hadith in Rayy and Isfahan. Back in Baghdad, he acquired fame as a preacher and orator, and it is said that teachers and preachers of hadith would usually submit to him what they had collected, before they used them in their lectures or sermons. Initially a follower of the Hanbali School of jurisprudence, he switched to the Shafe'i School – a change that made Hanbalis his bitter enemies and heap accusations against him. This sectarian hostility made him leave for Damascus, where he preached for 8 years, and before returning to Baghdad, spent another year in Tyre, in what is now Lebanon. Khateeb al-Baghdadi was a prolific writer and has authored several books, the most famous of which is the voluminous history "Tarikh al-Baghdad". He has quoted many of the hadith on the merits of the Ahl al-Bayt or Blessed Household of Prophet Mohammad (blessings of God upon him and his progeny), whose principal members are: Hazrat Fatema Zahra, Imam Ali, Imam Hasan and Imam Husain (peace upon them).

947 lunar years ago, on this day in 492 AH, the Islamic city of Bayt al-Moqaddas was captured by European Crusaders from the Fatemid Ismaili Shi’a Muslim Dynasty of Egypt-Syria-Hijaz-North Africa, after a siege of over 40 days. The invaders savagely massacred men, women and children, numbering more than 70,000 people, including Iranian Muslims settled there.

706 lunar years ago, on this day in 733 AH, hadith scholar Sharaf od-Din Hussain ibn Abdullah Tayyebi, passed away. He wrote an exegesis of the Holy Qur'an

622 lunar years ago, on this day in 817 AH, prominent Persian poet and literary figure, Noor od-Din Abdur-Rahman Jami was born in Jam, in Khorasan, northeastern Iran. He went to Samarqand to learn Islamic sciences, literature and history, and visited several other lands, before settling in Herat. He has left behind a large number of works in prose and verse, including “Baharestan”. Jami, who passed away at the age of 81, also composed beautiful odes in praise of the Ahl al-Bayt of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA)

511 lunar years ago, on this day in 928 AD, Shah Beg Arghun, who established his rule over Sindh by defeating Jam Firuz of the Samma dynasty, died after invading Gujarat. He was succeeded by his eldest son, Shah Hussain. A Persianized Mongol, Shah Beg initially ruled Qandahar as a vassal of the Timurid rulers of Herat, but with the rise of another Timurid prince, Zaheer od-Din Babar in Kabul, he realized the futility of ruling Qandahar and decided to carve out a separate state by seizing Sindh.

452 solar years ago, on this day in 1566 AD, German physician and botanist, Leonhart Fuchs, died at the age of 65. His fame mainly rests on a large book about plants and their uses as medicines, that he authored and gave the title “Herbal Book”. It was first published in 1542 in Latin. It has about 500 accurate and detailed drawings of plants, which were printed from woodcuts. The botanical genus “Fuchsia” is named in his honour, and consequently the colour “Fuchsia”.

217 solar years ago, on this day in 1801 AD, the First Barbary War, occurred off the coast of Tripolitania in present day Libya between the North African Berber Muslim states and the intruding US fleet. The principalities of Tripoli, Algiers, and Tunis, which were quasi-independent entities nominally under the Ottoman Empire, along with the semi-independent Sultanate of Morocco, defeated the US navy. The war lasted four years, and the US, as per the advice of France and Spain had to pay war indemnities in order to procure the release of its prisoners. In 1815, the US, now no longer engaged in hostilities with the British, again attacked the North African states in the Second Barbary War (also known as the Algerian War). With Ottoman naval power on the wane and the Mediterranean Sea no longer the Turkish Lake of the past three centuries; the Barbary States were forced to seek peace by paying heavy damages to the US. Within decades, European powers built more sophisticated ships which the Turks and the Barbary States could not match in numbers or technology. These iron-clad warships of the late 19th century and the early 20th century ensured European dominance of the Mediterranean. As a result Algeria and Tunis were occupied by France, although the Turks continued to hold Tripolitania (Libya) till 1911, when it fell to Fascist Italy.

147 solar years ago, on this day in 1871 AD, the Treaty of Frankfurt was signed following the Franco-Prussian War that saw the German-speaking people emerge as a united entity called Germany, due to the efforts of “Iron Chancellor” Otto von Bismarck. Germany became a major power and was no longer known as Prussia.

141 solar years ago, on this day in 1877 AD, the Ottoman provinces of Wallachia and Moldavia, along with Transylvania, which was under Austrian rule, declared themselves independent as a new country called Romania, taking advantage of the declining state of Turkish Empire, which for almost five centuries had established Muslim rule in southwestern Europe. A war followed and four years later Romania became formally independent on March 26, 1881.

124 lunar years ago, on this day in 1315 AH, the Arabic poet, Seyyed Ja’far al-Hilli, passed away at the age of 39. He wrote moving elegies on the tragedy of Karbala.

105 lunar years ago, on this day in 1334 AH, the jurist and pious scholar, Shaikh Baqer ibn Mullah Mohammad Qomi, passed away. He was in Samarra for a long time and then returned to holy Najaf where he used to lead the congregational prayers.

46 solar years ago, on this day in 1972 AD, Ayatollah Kohistani Behshahri, passed away at the age of 83 in his hometown Kohistan near Behshahr, Mazandaran. A product of the holy Najaf seminary of Iraq, where he reached the status of Ijtehad after studying under such prominent ulema as Grand Ayatollah Mirza Hussain Na’eni and Grand Ayatollah Seyyed Abu’l-Hassan Isfahani, he established the Islamic seminary in his hometown and groomed a number of students, including the revolutionary figure, Martyr Hojjat al-Islam Seyyed Abdul-Karim Hashemi-Nejad, who was a member of the Assembly of Experts.  

45 solar years ago, on this day in 1973 AD, the Western Saharan Liberation Front (POLISARIO) was formed for independence of the northwestern African Muslim region from the Spanish colonial rule. Two years later, Spain was forced to leave West Sahara, but mischievously handed over the region to Morocco and Mauritania. Pressed by POLISARIO, Mauritania gave up its claims, but the Moroccans have continued to occupy Western Sahara. With UN mediation, it was decided in 1991 to hold referendum for determining the fate of this land, but Morocco has continued to stall any plebiscite ever since. Nonetheless, many countries have recognized Western Sahara as an independent country, and the POLISARIO as representative of the Western Saharan people.

35 solar years ago, on this day in 1983 AD, the repressive Ba’th minority regime of Saddam, detained 90 members of the family of Grand Ayatollah Seyyed Mohsin al-Hakeem, and martyred six of them. Two years later, 10 other family members of the Grand Ayatollah were martyred. Saddam's policy was to demoralize and terrorize Iraq's Shi'ite Arab majority, especially since the Late Grand Ayatollah's son, Seyyed Mohammad Baqer al-Hakeem had set up in exile in Tehran, the Supreme Assembly of the Islamic Revolution of Iraq.  Incidentally, on this day in 2003, Baqer al-Hakeem returned triumphantly to his US-occupied homeland after two decades of exile in Iran, and a few months later was martyred by terrorists.

29 solar years ago, on this day in 1989 AD, Iranian author, researcher, and lecturer, Hojjat al-Islam Dr. Seyyed Javad Mostafavi, passed away. An authority on Islamic sciences, following the victory of the Islamic Revolution, he served as chancellor of the University of Islamic Sciences in holy Mashhad. Among the works written by him are “al-Kashef” and “Miftah al-Wasa’el”.

24 solar years ago, on this day in 1994 AD, Nelson Mandela was inaugurated as South Africa's first black president, after decades of struggle against the apartheid rule of the White European minority.

15 solar years ago, on this day in 2003 AD, leader of Iraq's Supreme Islamic Assembly, Ayatollah Seyyed Mohammad Baqer al-Hakeem, returned triumphantly to his US-occupied homeland after two decades of exile in Iran, following the overthrow of Saddam’s repressive Ba’th minority regime. The Ayatollah was martyred a few months later after the Friday Prayer in holy Najaf while leaving the shrine of Imam Ali ibn Abi Taleb (AS), by American affiliated Ba’thist-Takfiri terrorists.

AS/ME