Today is Sunday; 23rd of the Iranian month of Ordibehesht 1397 solar hijri; corresponding to 26th of the Islamic month of Sha’ban 1439 lunar hijri; and May 13, 2018 of the Christian Gregorian Calendar.

684 lunar years ago, on this day in 755 AH, the Hanafi jurist and Arabic poet, Abu Taleb Fakhr od-Din Ahmad bin Ali Hamdani, popular as Ibn Fasih, passed away in Damascus at the age of 75. Born in Kufa, he studied and taught in Baghdad, before moving to Syria. He versified several works of jurisprudents, which is indicative of his mastery over the Arabic language.

370 solar years ago, on this day in 1648 AD, construction of the Red Fort at Delhi was completed by the 5^th Mughal emperor, Shah Jahan, exactly ten years on the date its construction work had started. The residence of the Mughal emperors of India for over 200 years, until 1857, it was designed by the architect Ahmad Lahori. It has an area of 254.67 acres, enclosed by 2.41 km of defensive walls, punctuated by turrets and bastions and varying in height from 18 meters on the river side to 33 meters on the city side. The marble, floral decorations and double domes in the fort's buildings exemplify later Mughal architecture. It showcases a high level of ornamentation, and the fort's artwork synthesizes Persian and Indian art. With the end of Mughal rule, the British sanctioned the systematic plunder of valuables from the fort's palaces. All furniture was removed or destroyed; the harem apartments, servants' quarters and gardens were destroyed. Only the marble buildings on the east side at the imperial enclosure escaped complete destruction, but were looted and damaged. While the defensive walls and towers were relatively unharmed, more than two-thirds of the inner structures were destroyed by the British. Earlier, before the British seizure, the silver ceiling of the Diwan-e Khas was looted by the Maratha marauders. On 15 August 1947, the first Prime Minister of India Jawaharlal Nehru raised the Indian national flag above the Lahore Gate. Ever since, on Independence Day, the prime minister raises the flag and gives a speech that is broadcast nationally.

305 solar years ago, on this day in 1713 AD, Alexis Claude Clairaut, the French mathematician, astronomer, and geophysicist, was born in Paris. He was a child prodigy, and at the age of twelve he wrote a memoir on four geometrical curves. Clairaut took part in an expedition to Lapland for estimating a degree of meridian arc. He wrote his theory on the shape of the Earth, and subsequently wrote various papers on the orbit of the Moon, and on the motion of comets as affected by the perturbation of the planets. Misled by his fame and his liking for the perishing pleasures of life, he adopted a wayward lifestyle and was a spent force, when he died at the age of only 52 years.

265 solar years ago, on this day in 1753 AD, the French politician, general and mathematician, Lazar Carnot, was born. As an engineer and military strategist, he was one of the leaders of the French Revolution against the monarchy, and was subsequently named Minister of War.

172 solar years ago, on this day in 1846 AD, the US, as part of its expansionist policy declared war on Mexico, and occupied large areas which today form most of the southern states including New Mexico, most of Texas, and California.

127 solar years ago, on this day in 1891 AD, the great scholar, Grand Ayatollah Mirza Hassan Shirazi, issued the historic Fatwa against the 50-year tobacco concession given to a British company by King Nasser od-Din Shah Qajar of Iran. Following the Fatwa of Mirza Shirazi issued from his base in Samarra, Iraq, the Iranian people, including Qajarid courtiers and the wife of the Shah, refrained from purchase, sales and usage of tobacco, forcing the government to cancel the concession. This development once again proved the strength of the Muslim Iranian people led by the ulema.

101 solar years ago, on this day in 1917 AD, three children in the town of Fatima in Portugal reportedly saw an apparition of what they called "Our Lady of Fatima" and "Our Lady of the Rosary". They spoke of seeing a lady "more radiant than the sun, shedding rays of light clearer and stronger than a crystal ball filled with the most sparkling water and pierced by the rays of the sun." The three were immediately jailed by the local Christian authorities of the Catholic sect and threatened with painful death. They were reportedly released, although it cannot be confirmed whether or not they were the same children. Their names were given as Lucia Santos, and her cousins Jacinta and Francisco Martoin. Of the three, two died soon afterwards, while Lucia Santos was confined to convents as a nun until she died in 2005 at the age of 97. The Vatican acted as her spokesman by releasing what it called the "Three Secrets of Fatima", although scholars suspect deliberate distortion of the whole event, and what was actually predicted or told to the children. First and foremost, nowhere in Christian texts, has the Virgin Mary been ever called Fatima, or was associated with the rosary (prayer beads). As researchers point out, the name of the town in Portugal, "Fatima" is Arabic, and it was founded by the Muslim rulers of the Iberian Peninsula. The name "Fatema" is popular and venerated throughout the Islamic World because of it being the name of the daughter of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA), who is also called "az-Zahra" or the Most Radiant. Another interesting fact that scholars note is the association of the Prophet's daughter with the rosary or prayer beads, which she first made out of clay, and which subsequently became famous as "Tasbih Fatema" when her father taught her the glorification of the Lord Most High on the prayer beads. Hence Hazrat Fatema (SA) is known as the “Lady of the Rosary”. The most important factor to note is that in 1571 AD, Pope Pius V held a feast of what he called "Our Lady of Victory" in honour of the Virgin Mary, after the Christians had managed to hold back Turkish Muslim armies from overrunning Western Europe; but in the subsequent years, following fresh Turkish victories, Pope Gregory XIII changed the name of the feast to "Our Lady of Rosary" since victory was not possible against the Turks. It is not known what prompted the Pope to associate the word Rosary with Mary for the first time ever in history, or whether it was part of the Catholic propaganda to counter the trend among the growing number of Muslims in southeastern Europe to recite the Rosary of Hazrat Fatema (SA). Thus, the most likely answer for the apparition that the three children saw this day in 1917 was that it was of the Prophet's daughter – perhaps prophesying the conversion of Europe to Islam.

51 solar years ago, on this day in 1967 AD, Dr. Zaker Hussain became the third President of India and the first Muslim President of the Indian Union. He held this position until August 24, 1969 when he died in office. He was born in Hyderabad-Deccan in an Afridi Pashtu family which later migrated to northern India. He was a cultured person and well versed in English, Urdu, and Persian languages.

40 solar years ago, on this day in 1978 AD, Iranian weightlifter Hussein Reza Zadeh, was born in Ardabil. He is a former world and double Olympic champion in Olympic weightlifting. He is also a world record holder in the clean and jerk and considered as one of the greatest weightlifters of all time.

39 solar years ago, on this day in 1979 AD, following the victory of the Islamic Revolution, Iran annulled forever the “Capitulation Bill” that was imposed by the US on the Pahlavi regime on immunity of American nationals. In 1964, the British-installed Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, had entered into a humiliating capitulation treaty with the US by granting American citizens all immunity against crimes they commit in Iran – a measure that was strongly denounced by the Father of the Islamic Revolution, Imam Khomeini (RA) that led to his exile from Iran. Capitulation was enforced as a law subsequent to the Russo-Iran Wars of the first half of the 19^th century. It was first imposed on Iran by Tsarist Russia through the humiliating Golestan and Turkmenchay Treaties. Thereafter, Britain and other European powers compelled Iran to grant them special rights and privileges. In 1921, a day prior to the coup in Iran against Ahmad Shah Qajar, the Soviet Union had unilaterally cancelled the Tsarist colonial institution of capitulation treaties, including the 99-year treaty with Iran. Six years later in 1927, in order to mislead the Iranian people, who loathed him for his anti-Islamic policies, Reza Khan passed a spurious decree on supposed revocation of the capitulation treaty period, mainly pertaining to the Russian treaties that had already expired, but immediately sent letters of assurances to the British, German, American, and French embassies in Tehran, acknowledging their capitulation rights over Iran and the Iranian people.

18 lunar years ago, on this day in 1421 AH, Ayatollah Seyyed Mahdi Rouhani passed away at the age of 78 in his hometown Qom and was laid to rest in the holy shrine of Hazrat Ma’soumah (SA). At the age of 20 he had left for Iraq for higher studies at the famous Islamic seminary of holy Najaf, and on return to Iran, attended the classes of Grand Ayatollah Seyyed Hussain Boroujerdi, before becoming an accomplished teacher on higher levels of Islamic sciences. He focused on the commonalities in the previously revealed heavenly scriptures like the Torah and Evangel, with the Holy Qur’an – God’s final and universal revelation for all mankind. He became the first scholar to start discussions at the Qom seminary on a critique of Marxism and dialectical principles. When Imam Khomeini (RA) launched the people’s grassroots movement, he joined the masses, and on the victory of the Islamic Revolution and establishment of the Islamic Republic, he served for three terms as the elected representative of the people of Qom at the Assembly of Experts.

13 solar years ago, on this day in 2005 AD, the Andijan massacre occurred in the city of the same name in Uzbekistan, where government forces massacred over a thousand men, women, and children, who were protesting the poor economic conditions, in addition to their political grievances.

AS/MG