Today is Sunday; 30th of the Iranian month of Ordibehesht 1397 solar hijri; corresponding to 4th of the Islamic month of Ramadhan 1439 lunar hijri; and May 20, 2018, of the Christian Gregorian Calendar.

1492 solar years ago, on this day in 526 AD, some 300,000 people were killed when a devastating earthquake hit the sin-infested Byzantine city of Antioch in Syria (Antakya, presently in Turkey). Founded by Seleucus I Nicator, the Greek general of Alexander the Macedonian marauder, it was the capital of Syria from 300 to 64 BC. A centre of vices, it was the epicenter of frequent earthquakes during the Greek and Roman periods. In the Byzantine era, it was the centre of Hellenistic Jews and later of Christianity. Some years after this destructive earthquake when development was in progress, it was completely devastated by Iran’s Sassanid Emperor, Khosrow Anushirvan. In 1939 French colonialists detached Antioch, Iskenderun and adjoining regions from Syria and gave it to Turkey, a move the government of Syria has refused to recognize, and considers Hatay Province as Syrian territory, calling it Liwa al-Iskenderun (Iskendurun Province).

1386 lunar years ago, in 53 AH, the bloodthirsty Omayyad governor of Iraq and Fars, Ziyad Ibn Abihi (or son of unknown father), died in Kufa at the age 53. Born in Ta’ef to a slave-girl named Sumayya, used by her Arab master as a prostitute to augment his earnings, Ziyad, known as a person of doubtful paternity, became a Muslim – though in name only. His craftiness and brutal nature in handling the affairs of Fars (Iran), made Mu’awiyya ibn Abu Sufyan, the usurper of the caliphate, to declare him half-brother on testimony of the wine-seller of Ta’ef Abu Maryam Sululi that Ziyad was the result of cohabitation of Abu Sufyan with Sumayya. As an enemy of the Household of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA), Ziyad terrorized the followers of Imam Ali (AS), and martyred some prominent figures. On his death he was succeeded as governor by his equally bloodthirsty son, Obaidullah (also born out of wedlock), who earned lasting damnation for perpetrating the tragedy of Karbala and martyrdom of Imam Husain (AS).

863 lunar years ago, on this day in 576 AH, the Baghdadi grammarian, poet, and author, Mohammad Ibn Mohammad Ibn Muwaheb, famous as Ibn Khorasani, because of his origin in northeastern Iran, passed away at the age of 82. Among his works, mention could be made of a voluminous diwan of Arabic poetry.

831 lunar years ago, on this day in 608 AH, poet and scholar Abu’l-Qasim Hibatollah bin Ja'far, known as Qazi as-Sa'eed Ibn Sana ul-Mulk, famous for the treatise "Dar at-Tiraaz" which he devoted to the genre of “muwas̲h̲s̲h̲ah” poetry, passed away in Cairo at the age of 63. He belonged to a distinguished scholarly family of Fatemid Egypt, and was well versed in hadith and exegesis of the holy Qur'an, in addition to Arabic grammar. He lived in the Egyptian port city of Alexandria as well and for a time served as Qazi or judge in Damascus under the Ayyubid Dynasty of the Kurdish conqueror, Salaheddin Ayyoubi, in whose praise he composed some of his poems. His poetical compositions include an account of the Epic of Ashura (Moharram 10) and the tragic martyrdom of Imam Husain (AS), the grandson of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA).

640 solar years ago, on this day in 1378 AD, Dawoud Shah, who over a month earlier had usurped the throne of the Bahmani Dynasty of Iranian origin of the Deccan (Southern India) by treacherously assassinating his nephew Mujahid Shah, was killed on the orders of his niece Rooh-Parwar Agha (sister of the deceased Mujahid Shah) and replaced by her younger brother, Mohammad Shah II. The court language of the Bahmanis, who traced their origin to the pre-Islamic Iranian hero Bahman, was Persian, and they promoted Iranian culture, art and architecture.

597 solar years ago, on this day in 1421 AD, Khizr Khan, who governed Delhi, Punjab and parts of northern India, as viceroy of the Turkic conqueror, Amir Timur, and after him of his son, Shahrukh, died in Delhi. He was succeeded by his son, Mubarak Shah, in whose reign the Persian history “Tarikh-e Mubarak Shahi” was written.

512 solar years ago, on this day in 1506 AD, Italian navigator, Christopher Columbus, died in Valladolid in Spain at the age of 55 in the state of poverty, still believing he had discovered the coast of Asia. Born near Genoa in Italy, he took up service with King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain, after years of unsuccessful lobbying with the Italian republics of Genoa and Venice and the kingdom of Portugal, for finding a western sea route to Asia through the Atlantic, since the growing power of Ottoman Turks in southwestern Europe had blocked the land route to India and China. In 1492, following the fall of Granada (Gharnata), the last Muslim kingdom in Spain, Ferdinand and Isabella provided him ships and personnel, including Muslim navigators familiar with the sea routes of the Atlantic for the voyage. Columbus was acquainted with “Tabula Rogeriana” the Latin translation of the Muslim geographer al-Idrisi’s “Nuzhat al-Mushtaaq fi-Ikhteraaq al-Afaaq” – a description of the world and the first world map ever drawn in Europe. He landed on the eastern coast of Cuba, and thought that he had reached an island off the coast of India; hence the use of such terms as “Indies” and “Indians” by him for the American natives. In all, he made four voyages to the New World, and mercilessly slaughtered the native people in his quest for gold and riches, which did not avail him in his last days. Columbus was initially interred in a monastery in Valladolid – corruption of the Arabic word “Balad al-Waleed” or City of Waleed, founded by Muslims. Three years later, his remains were moved to a monastery in La Cartuja near Seville. In 1537, Maria de Rojas y Toledo, widow of Columbus' son Diego, sent the bones of her husband and his father to the cathedral in Santo Domingo on the Caribbean island of Hispaniola for burial. There they lay until 1795, when Spain ceded Hispaniola to France, and dug up from behind the main altar in the newly built cathedral, what it thought were Columbus’ remains and shipped them to a cathedral in Havana, Cuba, where they remained until the US-Spanish War in 1898. Spain then brought them back to Seville. In 1877 workers digging at the Santo Domingo cathedral unearthed a leaden box containing 13 large bone fragments and 28 small ones. It was inscribed "Illustrious and distinguished male, don Cristobal Colon." The Dominicans said these were the real remains of Columbus and the Spaniards had taken the wrong ones in 1795.

498 solar years ago, on this day in 1520 AD, the Spanish conquerors of Mexico brutally massacred the Aztec people while celebrations were taking place at the Festival of Tocatl in the city of Tenochtitlan. The Europeans are notorious for their genocide of the native populations of the Americas and plundering of their resources.

396 solar years ago, on this day in 1622 AD, Osman II, the 16th Ottoman Sultan and the 8th self-styled Turkish caliph, was strangled to death by his vizier, Qara Davoud Pasha, at the age of 18, after a 4-year reign. He was replaced by his deposed uncle, Mustafa I, who a year later was again deposed in favour of his 11-year old nephew Murad IV. Osman II was son of Sultan Ahmad and his Greek wife Maria – renamed Mah-Firuzeh Khadija. He ascended the throne at the age of 14, as a result of a palace coup against his uncle Mustafa I. His killing was due to his plans to reorganize the army and the administrative system following the treaty imposed on humiliating terms in the Moldavian Wars when he personally led the Turkish forces into Poland, after securing the eastern borders with Safavid Iran by the Treaty of Serav with Shah Abbas I. He was fluent in Arabic, Persian, Greek, Latin and Italian.

387 solar years ago, on this day in 1631 AD, the city of Magdeburg in Germany was seized by forces of the Holy Roman Empire and most of its inhabitants massacred, in one of the bloodiest incidents of the Thirty-Year-War. Johann Tserclaes, Count of Tilly, who led the imperial forces, stormed the city and massacred about 20,000 inhabitants before burning down Magdeburg.

373 solar years ago, on this day in 1645 AD, in China the Manchurian Qing forces, led by Prince Dodo occupied the city of Yangzhou and for 10 days massacred almost the entire 800,000 population for supporting the Ming loyalist government.

216 solar years ago, on this day in 1802 AD, Napoleon Bonaparte reinstated slavery in the French colonies, revoking its abolition by the French Revolution, thus depriving a sizeable number of fellow humans of their rights of liberty and freedom.

212 solar years ago, on this day in 1806 AD, English philosopher and economist, John Stuart Mill, was born. He learned logic and economics from his father, and worked as a journalist and a writer. He was elected as the representative of the House of Commons for a single term. He followed the views of the French philosopher Auguste Comte, and believed in the originality of experience. In economics, he supported profiteering coupled with some vague concept of social justice. The books he wrote include “Principles of Political Economy”. He died in 1873.

116 solar years ago, on this day in 1902 AD, Cuba became independent on the withdrawal of US occupation forces, which had seized the country during the 4-year war against Spain, fought from 1898-to-1902. Before withdrawing, the US installed Tomas Estrada Palma as president, and imposed a constitution on Cuba that allowed Washington to interfere in its domestic affairs. This caused resentment among the people, and led to the victory of the Cuban Revolution in 1959 under Fidel Castro.

114 lunar years ago, on this day in 1325 AH, the prominent scholar Ayatollah Sheikh Hassan Ali Tehrani passed away and was laid to rest in the holy shrine of Imam Reza (AS) in Mashhad. Born in Tehran to the respected scholar Sheikh Mahmoud Tabrizi, after completing preliminary studies he left for Iraq for higher studies at the famous seminary of holy Najaf. He then moved to Samarra and studied under the great scholar, Ayatollah Mirza Hassan Shirazi (famous for his fatwa against tobacco consumption that saved Iran’s economy from British exploitation). On his return to Iran, after a brief stay in Tehran, he decided to settle in holy Mashhad where for long years till his death he was considered the most prominent teacher. An intensely pious person, whose discourses at mourning ceremonies for the martyrs of Karbala, drew large crowds, he was socially active as well, reviving mosques in and around the city that had fallen in disuse.

108 solar years ago, on this day in 1910 AD, Japan announced annexation of the Korean Peninsula and renamed it Joseon, after having occupied three years earlier by defeating Russia and China. The Korean people revolted against Japan during World War II, but after Japan’s defeat, became target of the US which divided Korea ino North and South at the 38^th Parallel. The US brutally bombarded North Korea in the 1950s, and still has thousands of occupation forces in South Korea, in violation of international laws. Washington periodically resorts to hooliganism, and is currently holding provocative military exercises to thwart any bid for unity of the two Koreas by keeping tensions high.

91 solar years ago, on this day in 1927 AD, the British, as per the Treaty of Jeddah, handed over to the desert brigand Abdul-Aziz ibn Saud, the historical land of Hijaz and its religious and commercial centres, such as the holy cities of Mecca and Medina, the seaport of Jeddah and the agriculture-rich resort of Ta’ef. A couple of years earlier, the Wahhabi heretics had occupied Hijaz by driving out the other British agent, Sharif Hussain, and slaughtering over a hundred thousand Muslims, in addition to desecrating the holy shrines of the sacred cemeteries of Jannat al-Baqie in Medina and Jannat al-Mu’alla in Mecca. Five years later in 1932, Hijaz was joined with Najd to create the spurious entity called Saudi Arabia, which annexed the oil-rich eastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula on the Persian Gulf against the wishes of the local people, and then seized from Yemen the provinces of Najran, Jizan, and Asir.

84 solar years ago, on this day in 1934 AD, the one-sided Treaty of Ta’ef was imposed on Imam Yahya of Yemen by Abdul-Aziz ibn Saud, ruler of British created Saudi Arabia, according to which the regions of Najran, Jeezan, and Asir were occupied for a period of 40 years. In 1974 and again on its unification in 1990, Yemen demanded return of these vast territories, but Riyadh, backed by the US, has refused to return them in violation of the Treaty of Ta’ef. Currently, Saudi Arabia has unleashed state terrorism on Yemen, and has been criminally bombarding it, killing so far 20,000 men, women and children.

58 solar years ago, on this day in 1960 AD, Cameroon became a republic following independence from joint British-French rule. Located in West Africa with a coastline on the Atlantic Ocean, it covers an area of 475,000 sq km and shares borders with Nigeria, Chad, Central Africa, Congo, Gabon, and Tropical Guinea. Muslims account for a fourth of the population, and are majority in the north and west.

36 solar years ago, on this day in 1982 AD, on suggestion of the then Speaker of the Majlis (parliament), Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, the Islamic Azad University (IAU), was established in Tehran. With branches throughout Iran and also in some countries abroad, it is one of the largest comprehensive systems of universities, colleges, and community colleges in the world. Over the years, IAU has promoted “higher education for all” as its key objective. Currently it has an enrollment of 1.7 million students. It has university branches in UAE, Britain, Lebanon and Afghanistan.

16 solar years ago, on this day in 2002 AD, East Timor, with a population of about 800,000, celebrated independence from Indonesia, but a legal battle loomed with Australia over the Greater Sunrise natural gas field in the Timor Sea. The field lies 95 miles south of East Timor and 250 miles north of Australia.

26 lunar years ago, on this day in 1413 AH, Ayatollah Mirza Hashem Amoli, passed away at the age of 91. Born near Amol in Mazandaran, he studied in Tehran under Ayatollah Seyyed Hassan Modarres for twelve years, before moving to holy Qom. After attaining Ijtehad, he moved to holy Najaf in Iraq and stayed there for thirty years. On his return to Qom he firmly supported the Father of the Islamic Revolution, Imam Khomeini (RA) in the struggle against the despotic British-installed and US-backed Pahlavi regime. His students include Mostafa Mohaqeq Damad, Mohammad Mohammadi Gilani, Ayatollah Mohammad Mofatteh, and Ayatollah Mohammad Yazdi. Ayatollah Amoli was the father of Dr. Ali Larijani, the Speaker of the Iranian parliament (Majlis) and of Ayatollah Sadeq Larijani, the Judiciary Head.

11 lunar years ago, on this day in 1328 AH, the famous researcher, author and religious scholar, Allamah Seyyed Morteza Sharif Askari, passed away at the age 96 in Tehran and was laid to rest in Qom in the holy mausoleum of Hazrat Fatema Masouma (SA). Born in Samarra in a family of scholars who mostly held the title of “Shaikh al-Islam” during the Safavid era and were active in Sabzevar and Saveh, guiding masses towards the School of the Prophet’s Ahl al-Bayt, after initial studies in his hometown he came to Qom for higher studies, because the British-installed dictator Reza Khan Pahlavi had stopped transfer of money to Iranian students in Iraq. He benefited from the classes of Ayatollah Abdul-Karim Haeri, and on his return to Samarra, studied other branches of science, such as philosophy, history, and exegesis of the holy Qur’an. In Iraq during the 1950s he found that the young generation was being attracted to secular universities, and this made him embark on an ambitious project to establish the Islamic University in Baghdad where along with modern sciences, religious courses and exegesis of the holy Qur’an were taught. This university was closed during the 1970s by the repressive Ba’th minority regime, which persecuted him, forcing him to move to Iran, where he continued his research and teaching activities till the end of his fruitful life. He wrote several books, shedding light on the facts of Islamic history and refuting the baseless accusations against Shi’a Muslims. Some of his works are: “Abdullah ibn Saba and Other Historical Legends”, and “150 So-Called Companions”. The latter work is a thorough research of primary Islamic books of hadith and history to expose as fictitious some 150 persons who never existed but were unfortunately regarded as companions of the Prophet and spurious accounts of the Prophet’s life narrated from them, in order to mislead Muslims and keep them ignorant of the divinely-decreed rights of the Ahl al-Bayt.

11 solar years ago, on this day in 2007 AD, Nigeria's largest state, Niger, sued US drug firm Pfizer for using 200 children as "guinea pigs" for a drug test in 1996 that led to deaths and deformities. In 2010 a WikiLeaks cable said Pfizer hired investigators to unearth evidence of corruption against Nigeria’s former Attorney-General Michael Aondoakaa to pressure him to drop legal action over its experimental antibiotic, Trovan.

AS/MG