Today is Wednesday; 9th of the Iranian month of Khordad 1397 solar hijri; corresponding to 14th of the Islamic month of Ramadhan 1439 lunar hijri; and May 30, 2018, of the Christian Gregorian Calendar.

1372 lunar years ago, on this day in 67 AH, Mukhtar Ibn Abi Obaidah Thaqafi, the Avenger of the Innocent Blood of Prophet Mohammad’s (SAWA) younger grandson and 3^rd Infallible Heir, Imam Husain (AS), achieved martyrdom in Kufa at the hands of Mus’ab Ibn Zubayr at the age of 66. Born in Ta’ef in Hijaz, to Abi Obaidah (a commander of the Muslim conquest of Iraq from the Sassanids), he was a devout follower of the Commander of the Faithful, Imam Ali (AS) – the Prophet’s First Infallible Heir. He was imprisoned by the usurper Omayyad regime on the threshold of the arrival of Imam Husain (AS) in Iraq. After the Imam’s tragic martyrdom in Karbala, he was released and returned to his homeland Hijaz. Following the tyrant Yazid’s death, he came back to Iraq, where he had the support of Arab tribes loyal to the Prophet’s Ahl al-Bayt and the “Mawali” (as Iranians were known), in his campaign to bring to justice the killers of Imam Husain (AS). He took the city of Kufa and brought vast tracts of Iraq and Iran under his control, at a time when the Omayyad usurpers and Abdullah Ibn Zubayr – who had established as ruler of Hijaz – were battling for power of the Islamic state that belonged to neither of them. Mukhtar repulsed the attacks of the Omayyad army from Syria, and in heroic combat, along with Ibrahim Ibn Malik Ashtar, killed the principal perpetrators of the heartrending tragedy of Karbala, such as Obaidollah Ibn Ziyad, Haseen Ibn Numayr and others. So strong was his sense of justice that he even did not spare the life of his own brother-in-law (sister’s husband), Omar Ibn Sa’d Ibn Abi Waqqas, who had commanded the Omayyad forces against Imam Husain (AS) and then imprisoned the Prophet’s family. Mukhtar and his companions, including Iranians and Arabs, meted out justice to such bloodthirsty murderers as Shemr Ziljowshan, Khouli, Harmala etc. After a rule of a year-and-a-half, he attained martyrdom because of the treachery of the Kufans during battle with the forces of Mus’ab Ibn Zubayr. His tomb is in the mausoleum of Imam Husain’s (AS) cousin, Muslim Ibn Aqeel, beside the Grand Mosque of Kufa.

1216 lunar years ago, on this day in 223 AH, Seyyed Hassan, known as Jalal od-Din Ashraf, the youngest son of Prophet Mohammad’s (SAWA) 7^th Infallible Heir, Imam Musa Kazem (AS), achieved martyrdom at the age of 53 in Gilan, northern Iran, and was laid to rest in the village of Kouchan, which soon grew into a site of pilgrimage as the bustling city of Astan-e Ashrafiyeh (Threshold of Ashraf). Born in Medina in 180 AH, shortly after his father was taken to Iraq as prisoner by the Abbasid tyrant, Haroun Rashid, he grew up under the guidance of his elder brother, Imam Reza (AS), on whose forced journey to Marv in distant Khorasan on the orders of the self-styled caliph, Mamoun, he was a youth of 21 years. Brave, pious, and prudent, he soon shifted to Baghdad but in 204 when Mamoun shifted his capital to this city after martyring Imam Reza (AS) in Tous, Khorasan, he moved to Qom. Two years later he was invited to Gilan by the people to confront remnants of the ousted Omayyad regime in the northern parts of Iran on the southern coast of the Caspian Sea. In 211 AH (828 AD), he established the first ever state in Iran by a member of the Prophet’s family. Twelve years later, on being severely injured in battle against the Abbasid forces at Lyalman (5 km from Lahijan), he trekked toward the mountains so that his body does not fall into enemy hands, and breathed his last some 9 km from Roudbar in the house of Shaikh Mufid od-Din. According to his will, his body was put in a coffin and floated down the Sefidroud River until it reached Kouchan where the people recognizing him laid him to rest amid lamentation. Soon a mausoleum was built over his grave and became known as Aastan-e Ashrafiyeh in his honour. It is worth noting that the rice grown in the paddy fields around the city and known as the “Astaneh” brand is famous for its aroma, which is believed to be among the blessings of the burial of the Prophet’s venerable descendant in this soil.

897 lunar years ago, on this day in 542 AH, the Malekite hadith scholar, Mohammad Ibn Ali Ibn Mohammad al-Jullabi al-Maghazeli, passed away at the age of 95 in Baghdad. He was the son of Ali Ibn Mohammad al-Jullabi al-Maghazeli, the author of the famous book "Manaqeb (Imam) Ali Ibn Abi Taleb (AS)", which he used to teach and explain to students.

766 solar years ago, on this day in 1252 AD, Ferdinand III of Castile died at the age 53 after a reign of 35 years during which he occupied one by one the Spanish Muslim cities of Badajoz, Merida, Cazorla, Ubeda, the old capital Cordoba (Qurtuba), Huelva, Murcia, Cartagena and finally Seville (Ishbiliya) the greatest of Spanish Muslim cities. Some other regions he kept as vassal states under Muslim governors, while in areas directly under his rule, Christian rule was heavy-handed on the new Muslim subjects. This eventually led to the Mudejar Uprisings of 1264-66, which resulted in mass expulsions of Spanish Muslim populations from their homeland. Ferdinand III was buried in the Mosque turned Cathedral of Seville and his tomb is inscribed in four languages: Arabic, Hebrew, Latin, and an early version of Castilian Spanish.

595 solar years ago, on this day in 1423 AD, Austrian mathematician and astronomer, Georg von Peurbach, was born near Linz. He studied the Islamic scientist, Ibn Haytham’s book “On the Configuration of the World”, and replaced the Greek scientist Ptolemy's chords in the table of sines with the Islamic Arabic numerals that were introduced 250 years earlier in place of Roman numerals and which today are in use in the whole world (e.g. 1,2,3,4,5 etc).

587 solar years ago, on this day in 1431 AD, during the Hundred Years War the 19-year-old Joan of Arc was burned at the stake by an English-dominated tribunal in Rouen, France. The Roman Catholic Church marks this day as the celebration of Saint Joan of Arc, the French national heroine, known as Jeanne d’Arc. Also called the Maid of Orleans, she started her uprising for the liberation of parts of French territory from the occupation of England. She led the French army to several important victories, paving the way for the coronation of Charles VII. She was captured by the Burgundians, transferred to the English in exchange for money, put on trial by the pro-English Bishop of Beauvais for charges of insubordination and heterodoxy, and burned as a heretic.

425 solar years ago, on this day in 1593 AD, English poet and dramatist, Christopher Marlowe, was reportedly stabbed to death. It was later speculated that his death was faked and that he fled to Italy and continued writing plays that were produced by William Shakespeare. The mystery has never been solved. Marlowe was the foremost Elizabethan tragedian of his day. He greatly influenced William Shakespeare. Among his plays are: “Dido, Queen of Carthage”, “Tamburlaine” in two parts on the fearsome Turkic conqueror Amir Timur, “The Jew of Malta”, “Doctor Faustus” and the “The Massacre at Paris”.

383 solar years ago, on this day in 1635 AD, the Thirty Years War ended with the signing of the Peace of Prague. It was principally fought in Central Europe, involving most of the countries of Europe that were once part of the Holy Roman Empire. It was one of the most destructive conflicts in European history, and one of the longest continuous wars in modern history. Initially, religion was a motivation for war between Protestant and Catholic states. In this general phase, the war became less specifically religious and more a continuation of the Bourbon–Habsburg rivalry for European political pre-eminence, leading in turn to further warfare between France and the German powers. A major consequence of the Thirty Years' War was the devastation of entire regions, denuded by the foraging armies. Famine and disease significantly decreased the population of the German states, while Italy and most of the combatant powers were bankrupted. The result was the Peace of Westphalia in 1648.

240 solar years ago, on this day in 1778 AD, French philosopher, François Voltaire, died at the age of 83. He popularized the English scientist Isaac Newton's work in France by arranging a translation of "Principia Mathematica" to which he added his own commentary. Voltaire's commentary bridged the gap between non-scientists and Newton's ideas at a time in France when the pre-Newtonian views of Descartes were still prevalent. Although a philosopher, Voltaire advocated rational analysis. He died on the eve of the French Revolution.

191 lunar years ago, on this day in 1248 AH, the Iranian scholar, Shams od-Din Behbahani, passed away. A student of the famous researcher, Mohaqqeq Behbahani, in addition to his mastery over theology and jurisprudence, he was a pious mystic who spent most of his life compiling books. He has written a detailed annotation on “Ma’alem al-Osoul”, and treatises on the principles of religion.

156 solar years ago, on this day in 1862 AD, Azarbaijani philosopher and renowned poet of the Caucasus region, Mirza Ali Akbar Zain al-Abedin Taherzadeh, known by his penname Saber, was born in the city of Shervan in what is now the Republic of Azerbaijan, which before the Russian occupation in the first half of 19th century was an integral part of Iran. He was fluent with the Azeri, Persian, Arabic, and Russian languages, and wrote many ghazals in imitations of Persian poets, particularly Nizami Ganjavi. In 1885, he embarked on a tour of several cities of Iran and Central Asia. Political satire was an important part of his work, and the butt of his satire ranged from Emperor Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany to Mohammad Ali Shah Qajar of Iran, and from the Ottoman Sultan Abdul Hamid to the defeat of Russian armies by Japan as well as the scenes of social and domestic life at home. Part of Saber’s life coincided with the Constitutional Revolution in Iran and his vibrant and biting political satire was recited by the Constitutionalists in the trenches of Tabriz. He also made a fine verse translation of some passages of Ferdowsi’s “Shahnama” into Azeri. Many of Saber’s poems are in admiration of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA) and the Infallible Imams of the Ahl al-Bayt.

150 lunar years ago, on this day in 1289 AH, prominent religious scholar of India, Seyyed Mohammad Taqi, popular as Mumtaz ul-Ulema, passed away in the city of Lucknow. His library is famous in India, and he authored several books such as “Irshad al-Momineen”, “Hadiqat al-Wa’ezeen”, and “Zaheer ash-Shi’a”.

106 solar years ago, on this day in 1912 AD, US inventor and aviator, Wilbur Wright, with his brother Orville, invented the first powered airplane, Flyer, capable of sustained, controlled flight (17 Dec 1903), died at the age of 45. Orville made the first flight, airborne for 12 seconds. Wilbur took the second flight, covering 853-ft (260-m) in 59 seconds. By 1905, they had improved the design, built and made several long flights in Flyer III, which was the first fully practical airplane (1905), able to fly up to 38-min and travel 24 miles (39-km). Their Model A was produced in 1908, capable of flight for over two hours of flight. The history of aviation is as old as Man’s quest to fly since antiquity. The earliest known record are of kite flying from China around 200 BC, when a general flew a kite over enemy territory to calculate the length of tunnel required to enter the region. It is also said, Yuan Huangtou, a Chinese prince, was briefly airborne by tying himself to a kite. In the heyday of Islamic science and civilization, there are records pertaining to the Spanish Muslim polymath, Abbas ibn Firnas, who flew from Jabal al-Arus Hill by employing a rudimentary glider in the 9th century AD. Some six centuries after Ibn Firnas, the Italian Leonardo da Vinci developed a hang glider design in which the inner parts of the wings are fixed, and some control surfaces are provided towards the tips (as in the gliding flight in birds). In 1783, with the first successful floating of a balloon with a person on board, the aviation industry was born and led to the invention of the airship, the zeppelin and the modern aircraft.

105 solar years ago, on this day in 1913 AD, the First Balkans War ended with the Treaty of London, and the emergence of Albania as an independent nation. It began in October 1912, and pitted the Balkans League, made up of Serbia, Greece, Montenegro and Bulgaria, against the weakened Ottoman Empire. As a result, almost all remaining European territories of the Ottoman Empire were seized by Christian powers and partitioned among them.

94 solar years ago, on this day in 1924 AD, the Iranian physician and lexicographer, Mirza Ali Akbar Khan Nafisi, titled “Nazem ol-Atibba”, passed away in Tehran. He was a product of Tehran’s famous Dar al-Fonoun Academy. In addition to his services to medicine, he also served the cause of Persian language. His important work in this domain is the 5-volume lexicon “Farhang-e Nafisi”, which took him 25 years to compile.

88 solar years ago, on this day in 1930 AD, the prominent poet and religious scholar, Seyyed Ahmad Peshawari, known as “Adib Peshawari”, passed away in Tehran. He was born near Peshawar in what is now Pakistan. He came to Iran to attend the classes of Islamic scholars such as Mullah Hadi Sabzevari. He also studied literary and philosophical books and wrote Persian poetry. His firm faith in Islam and indifference toward worldly matters are clearly evident in his poems. He has a Divan of poetry in Persian language.

71 solar years ago, on this day in 1947 AD, the jurist Ayatollah Seyyed Mohammad Baqer Qazi Tabatabaei, passed away at the age of 78 in his hometown Tabriz, northwestern Iran, after forty years of scholarly pursuits, preaching and grooming of students. A product of the famous seminary of holy Najaf in Iraq, where he studied for 13 years under the leading scholars such as Mirza Hassan Shirazi, Seyyed Kazem Yazdi and Seyyed Abu'l-Hassan Isfahani, attained the status of Ijtehad, he authored several books including "Makhzan al-Fawa'ed fi Hashiyat-al-Fara'ed". His equally worthy son Ayatollah Seyyed Mohammad Ali Qazi Tabatabaei, became the first prayer leader in Iran to be martyred in the prayer niche in 1979 following the triump of the Islamic Revolution.  

58 solar years ago, on this day in 1960 AD, Boris Leonidovich Pasternak, Russian poet, novelist, and literary translator, died at the age of 70. His first book of poems “My Sister, Life” (published in 1917), is one of the most influential collections ever published in the Russian language. Outside Russia, he is best known as the author of “Doctor Zhivago”, a novel written in 1957 and turned into a famous Hollywood film on a story that takes place between the Russian Revolution of 1905 and the First World War.

37 solar years ago, on this day in 1981 AD, President Zia ur-Rahman of Bangladesh was assassinated. A highly decorated officer of the united Pakistan army, he organized Bengali resistance against the brutal crackdown on what was then East Pakistan by the Pashtun-Punjabi army units of West Pakistan. Later he had the honour of announcing the Declaration of Independence of Bangladesh on 26 March 1971 at Kalurghat, Chittagong, and the next day repeated an edited version of the declaration on behalf of independence leader, Sheikh Mujib ur-Rahman – who was killed in a coup in 1975. On 21 April 1977, Major-General Zia ur-Rahman as Chief of Staff of the armed forces, took charge of the government, following Justice Sayem's resignation, and later in 1977 became the seventh President of Bangladesh. He issued a proclamation order amending the secular constitution drafted by Mujib ur-Rahman, by increasing the direct influence and role of Islam in state affairs. In the preamble, he inserted the salutation "Bismillahir-Rahmanir-Rahim" (In the Name of Allah, the All-Beneficent, the All-Merciful). In Article 8(1) and 8(1A) the statement “absolute trust and faith in Almighty Allah” was added, replacing the commitment to secularism. He further introduced provisions to allow Muslims to practice the social and legal injunctions of the Shari’ah and Sunnah. In Article 25(2), he introduced the principle that “the state shall endeavor to consolidate, preserve and strengthen fraternal relations among Muslim countries based on Islamic solidarity.” Islamic religious education was introduced as a compulsory subject in Bangladeshi schools, with provisions for non-Muslim students to learn of their own religions. He established a multiparty system, and also reached out to the hill tribes, the Hindu and Buddhist religious minorities, and the Urdu-speaking Bihari Muslim ethnic minority.

25 lunar years ago, on this day in 1414 AH, American-Zionist soldier of German Jewish parentage, Baruch Goldstein, opened fire on rows of Palestinian Muslims praying in congregation at the shrine of Prophet Abraham (AS) in the city of al-Khalil in the West Bank of River Jordan in the blessed fasting month of Ramadhan. As a result of this cowardly act of terrorism 29 people were martyred and scores of others wounded. This act of terrorism led to the anger of the civilized world. As a result, the Arab compromisers had no other choice but to postpone their dubious negotiations with the illegal Zionist entity.

AS/ME