Today is Saturday; 22nd of the Iranian month of Ordibehesht 1397 solar hijri; corresponding to 25th of the Islamic month of Sha'ban 1439 lunar hijri; and May 12, 2018, of the Christian Gregorian Calendar.

1334 lunar years ago, on this day in 105 AH, Yazid II, the 9th self-styled caliph of the usurper Omayyad regime, died of tuberculosis at the age of 37 after a 4-year reign, a fortnight after the death of his paramour, the slave girl Hayyaba, in whose debauched love he had neglected state affairs in pursuit of drinking and other wanton pleasures. His father was Abdul-Malik ibn Marwan while his mother Atika was daughter of the Godless tyrant Yazid ibn Mu’waiyya – perpetrator of the heartrending tragedy of Karbala. On the suspicious death of Omar ibn Abdul-Aziz, he was installed as caliphs and immediately reversed the latter’s positive policies by seizing the large orchard of Fadak in Medina from the Prophet’s noble progeny. Oblivious of the civil wars in Spain and North Africa as well as in Khorasan, where the Abbasids were building a power base for toppling the Omayyads, he was so infatuated with Hayyaba that when she died, he kept her corpse in his palace unburied, indulging in lewd acts, until the stench made the courtiers to press him to bury her. When Hayyaba’s corpse was lowered in the grave, Yazid II, who had clearly lost his mind, ordered it to be brought up and indulged in senseless behaviour, until forcibly separated. He was succeeded by his half-brother, the bloodthirsty Hisham.

1302 lunar years ago, on this day in 137 AH, Iranian agent of the usurper Abbasid regime, Abu-Muslim Khorasani, whose string of military victories against the Omayyads, starting from Khorasan and continuing all the way up to Syria, resulted in regime change, was killed by his own masters, who feared his growing power might pose a danger to their newfound caliphate. The Abbasids and their agents had deceived the masses, especially Iranian Muslims, through their slogan of restoring power of the Islamic state to its rightful owners, the Prophet’s progeny, but after exterminating the Omayyad usurpers, digging up their graves and burning the bones of the dead caliphs, including those of Mu’awiyya ibn Abu Sufyan, they usurped the power themselves. As part of the elaborate propaganda to mislead the masses, Abu Muslim, who launched his uprising against the Omayyads in Balkh, actually on behalf of Abu’l-Abbas as-Saffah (the blood-shedder), shortly after the martyrdom in Jowzajan of Yahya ibn Zayd ibn Imam Zayn al-Abedin (AS), ordered his followers to wear black, brought down from the gallows the headless corpse of the young martyr, buried it, and instructed the naming of boys born that year in Khorasan as Yahya. This led to the mass popularity of the uprising and decisive victories against the hated Omayyads. In the meantime, the Prophet’s 6th Infallible Heir, Imam Ja’far Sadeq (AS), on being offered the caliphate by one of the victorious generals of the uprising, coolly burned the letter without opening it, thereby implying that such dubious political authority that depends upon the whims and inclinations of unprincipled elements, is definitely not the God-given “wilaya” which he already possessed. Thus, Mansour Dawaniqi, on succeeding his brother Abu’l-Abbas as-Saffah as the second caliph of the usurper Abbasid dynasty, had Abu-Muslim Khorasani murdered.

1111 solar years ago, on this day in 907 AD, General Zhu Wen forced Emperor Ai into abdicating the throne, thus ending the Tang Dynasty of China after nearly three hundred years of rule. He established himself as emperor of the Later Liang Dynasty, and ushered in the era of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, since despite his conquest of much of central China, most of Shaanxi, Shanxi, and Hebei remained outside his reach.

1096 solar years ago, on this day in 922 AD, Ahmad bin Fadhlan became the first Muslim envoy to arrive in the lands of the Bulgars and the Vikings, north of the River Volga, from the Abbasid court in Baghdad. His travel account, published in several languages including the original Arabic, provides a description of the Volga Vikings, including an eye-witness account of a ship burial. The day of his arrival is an official holiday in modern republic of Tatarstan in the Russian Federation. Ibn Fadhlan also gives an excellent description of the Russian tribes, who were pagans in those days.

1015 solar years ago, on this day in 1003 AD, Gerbert d'Aurillac of France, who later became Pope Sylvester II and inspired by Latin translations of Islamic scientific works, introduced to Europe  the Arabic numerals of the famous Iranian Islamic scientist, Mohammad ibn Musa Khwarezmi, died. He extensively utilized Islamic scientific works to build for the first time in Europe clocks, the hydraulic organ, astronomical instruments, and the abacus for use in mathematical calculations. It is said that he began to lead Christian Europe out of the Dark Ages, thanks to his study of Islamic sciences.

508 solar years ago, on this day in 1510 AD, Zhu Zhifan, the Prince of Anhua of Shanxi, began his rebellion during the reign of his great-grand-nephew, Emperor Zhengde of the Ming Dynasty of China, by inviting to a banquet many senior officials and killing them with the intent of declaring himself emperor. On 30 May, his rebellion was put down and he was taken to Beijing where he was executed on orders of Emperor Zhengde, who had invited many Muslims from Iran and Turkestan to serve as advisors at his court. Works of art such as porcelain from his court contained Islamic inscriptions in Arabic and Persian.

497 lunar years ago, on this day in 942 AH, Ottoman Prime Minister “Damaad” Ibrahim Pasha, who was the Sultan’s son-in-law, inked a treaty with France for lease of the French Port of Toulon to set up a Turkish naval base for checking Spain’s ambitions. During the lease period, the French permitted the Ottomans to build mosques and use Toulon as a safe haven to raid Spanish coasts and dominate the Mediterranean Sea.

446 lunar years ago, on this day in 993 AH, the Ottomans, taking advantage of the power vacuum in Iran, breached the peace treaty with the Safavids to occupy Tabriz. The occupation lasted 18 years until Shah Abbas, after assuming power, inflicted a shattering defeat on the Ottomans to liberate Tabriz, the Caucasus, and eventually Iraq, where he reconstructed the holy shrines in Najaf, Karbala, and Kazemain on a grand scale.

376 solar years ago, on this day in 1642 AD, Iran’s 6^th Safavid Emperor, Shah Safi, died at the young age of 31 after a 13-year reign, and was succeeded by his son, Shah Abbas II. Named Sam Mirza at birth, he was the son of Mohammed Baqer Mirza, the eldest son of Shah Abbas I, and his Georgian wife, Dilaram Khanum. In 1629 he succeeded his grandfather, Shah Abbas I. An inefficient ruler, Shah Safi ruthlessly eliminated anyone he regarded as a threat to his power, and paid little attention to the affairs of government. He had no cultural or intellectual interests either, preferring to spend his time in addiction to opium. He, however, abhorred tobacco smoke like his grandfather, going as far as to have those caught smoking tobacco in public, killed. The dominant political figure of Shah Safi's reign was Saru Taqi, appointed grand vizier in 1634. Taqi was incorruptible and highly efficient in raising revenues for the state. Iran's enemies took opportunity to exploit Safi's perceived weakness. The Ottomans made incursions in the west in 1630 and 1634 (briefly occupying Revan and Tabriz) and in 1638 they seized Baghdad from Iran. In 1639, the Treaty of Zuhab ended wars between the Safavids and the Ottomans. Iran was also troubled by the Uzbeks and Turkmens in the northeast, and lost Qandahar in what is now Afghanistan to the Moghal Empire of the Subcontinent in 1638.

206 solar years ago, on this day in 1812 AD, Edward Lear, English artist of nature and landscape works, who is better known as writer of limericks and nonsense poetry, was born. As a draughtsman he illustrated birds and animals, and during his journeys used to make coloured drawings, which he reworked later, sometimes as plates for his travel books. He was hired as an illustrator by the London Zoological Society, and his precise and vivid drawings of parrots were published in 1832 in the book “The Family of the Psittacidae”. As an author, he is known principally for his popular nonsense collections of poems, songs, short stories, botanical drawings, recipes, and alphabets. In 1846 he composed “A Book of Nonsense” for the grandchildren of his patron, the Earl of Derby.

198 solar years ago, on this day in 1820 AD, British social reformer, Florence Nightingale, who founded the modern nursing practice, was born in Florence, Italy, to English parents, and was named after the city of her birth. The family returned to England the next year. Her contributions to public health were crucial. Her mission began from experience during the Crimean War as a nurse at the British hospital in Turkey, where she saw the appalling conditions of the sick: overcrowding, poor sanitation, lack of basic supplies, and even malnutrition. By the war's end in 1856, she increased efficiency and reduced the death toll. Inspired by Unitarian religious ideals she devoted her life to serving others, and continued to advocate reform in the military medical system, that included advice on hospital planning and organization.

137 solar years ago, on this day in 1881 AD, France occupied Tunisia, thereby ending the sovereign rule of the Hussainid Dynasty as nominal representatives of the Ottoman Sultan. Thereafter the Hussainids, who were descendants of Hussain Ibn Ali, the Muslim general of Greek origin from the island of Crete, continued to merely reign in name until 1957, when Tunisia gained independence from France and the dictatorial regime of Habib Bourqiba ended monarchic rule. Islam had entered Tunisia in the 2^nd half of the 7^th century AD and in 670 the Great Mosque of Qairouan was founded. Two-and-a-half-centuries later Tunisia became the seat of power of the Fatemid Ismaili Shi’a Muslim Empire with the founding of the city of Mahdia in 921. In 1534, it was taken over by the Ottoman Turks to thwart Spain’s bid to occupy it. On 14 January 2011, the Islamic Awakening ended the 54-year rule of the anti-Islamic regime, and in the first-ever popular elections that followed, an Islamic oriented-government was formed.

108 solar years ago, on this day in 1910 AD, British biochemist and discoverer of important molecules, Dorothy Mary Crowfoot Hodgkin, died at the age of 84. Born in Cairo, Egypt, she developed into an X-ray crystallographer, who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1964 for her discoveries of the structure of biologically important molecules, including penicillin (in 1946), vitamin B-12 (in 1956), and the protein hormone insulin (in 1969).

38 lunar years ago, on this day in 1401 AH, Chief Justice Ayatollah Dr. Seyyed Mohammad Husseini Beheshti, along with 72 officials of the Islamic Revolution, including ministers and MPs, was martyred in a terrorist bomb blast by the MKO hypocrites at the headquarters of the Islamic Republic Party in Tehran, a few days before start of the blessed fasting month of Ramadhan. Born in Isfahan, he studied religious sciences in Qom, and at the same time continued his academic studies at the university in Tehran, obtaining PhD in philosophy. He was active in political and cultural spheres, and as a loyal follower of the Father of the Islamic Revolution, Imam Khomeini (RA), was involved in the 15^th of Khordad uprising of June 5, 1963 against the British-installed and American-backed Pahlavi regime. Following the Imam's exile to Iraq, he spent several years at the Islamic Centre in Hamburg, Germany. His fluency in German, English, and Arabic helped him promote Islam in Europe. He returned to Iran in 1971 and continued his struggles against the despotic Shah. Following victory of the Islamic Revolution in 1979, he was assigned key posts. He played a major role in drafting the constitution of the Islamic Republic, establishing the Islamic Judicial system, foiling plots of anti-revolutionaries, and standing firm against US conspiracies. He wrote several books, including "God in View of Islam"; "Banking and Islam’s Financial Laws"; and "Role of Faith in Mankind’s Life". According to the late Imam, Ayatollah Beheshti was like a nation and his martyrdom exposed the ominous nature of the MKO terrorists.

15 solar years ago, on this day in 2003 AD, Prince Sadr od-Din Agha Khan, the French-American diplomat and art collector of Iranian origin, died at the age of 70 of cancer in Boston, and his body was conveyed to Switzerland, as per his wish, for burial with full diplomatic honours. Born in Neuilly-sur-Seine, France, to a French mother, he was the second son of the self-styled Imam of the Ismaili Nizari sect, Sultan Shah Mohammad Agha Khan, whose mother was a granddaughter of Fath Ali Shah the Qajarid king of Iran. Sadr od-Din used to describe Iran as the cradle of his family, though he never lived in Iran. He held French, Iranian, and Swiss citizenship, and was fluent in French, English, German and Italian, while also speaking some Persian and Arabic. He travelled widely with his father, and started a long international diplomatic career by joining the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) and retiring as Chief of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). His bid for election to the UN Secretary General’s post was thwarted by the US, because in his trips to Iran and Iraq during the 8-year imposed war, for finding solution to the issue of war refugees, he had become greatly impressed by the dynamic personality of the Father of the Islamic Revolution, Imam Khomeini (RA). Sadr od-Din assembled one of the finest private collections of Islamic art in the world, including a priceless collection of paintings, drawings, manuscripts and miniatures. His collection is vast and diverse, and includes Arabic, Persian, Turkish, and Indian pieces dating from the 10th century onwards. An example is a 1,000-year old Qur’anic page of North African origin, written with gold lettering in the Kufic script. His full collection is to be housed at a new museum being built by his nephew, Karim Agha Khan, in Toronto, Canada.

10 solar years ago, on this day in 2008, a 7.9-magnitude earthquake jolted southwestern China, claiming nearly 87,000 lives and injuring 380,000 others. This natural disaster also made millions of Chinese homeless.

AS/ME