Today is Thursday; 10th of the Iranian month of Khordad 1397 solar hijri; corresponding to 15th of the Islamic month of Ramadhan 1439 lunar hijri; and May 31, 2018, of the Christian Gregorian Calendar.

1436 lunar years ago, on this day in 3 AH, Imam Hasan Mojtaba (AS), the eldest grandson and 2^nd Infallible Heir of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA), was born in Medina. His name "Hasan", which means the "Most Excellent" was chosen by the Prophet on the commandment of God and is the Arabic equivalent of "Shabar" the name in Hebrew of the first born son of Aaron, the brother and vicegerent of Prophet Moses (AS). Imam Hasan (AS), along with his younger brother, Imam Husain (AS), was hailed by the Prophet as Twin Leaders of the Youths of Paradise. The two brothers along with their parents, Imam Ali (AS) and Hazrat Fatema Zahra (SA), were covered by the Prophet under his cloak as the Ahl al-Bayt on revelation of the Verse of Purity (holy Qur’an 33:33), and this immaculate group also accompanied the Prophet to the decisive debate of Mubahela with the Christians of Najran on revelation of ayah 61 of Surah Nisa in order to prove the truth of Islam. Six months after succeeding to the caliphate, following his father’s martyrdom, Imam Hasan (AS), in view of the widespread sedition and hypocrisy in the society, agreed to relinquish political rule to the charlatan Mu’awiya ibn Abu Sufyan in order to unmask him in his true heathen colours. Thus, his prudence and foresight saved Islam from civil war, at a time when the Byzantine Empire was waiting for weakening of Muslims to attack and occupy Syria and Bayt al-Moqaddas.

1056 lunar years ago, on this day in 383 AH, the famous literary figure, Abu Bakr Mohammad Ibn Abbas Khwarezmi, passed away in the northeastern Iranian city of Naishapour. He had a strong memory and was highly talented in memorization of Arabic poems and history. He had inclinations towards the household of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA) and has highlighted in his works the tyranny of the Omayyad and Abbasid caliphs. One of his famous works is “ar-Rasa’el”, which is a masterpiece of Arabic literature. He was the maternal nephew (sister’s son) of the famous Abu Ja’far Mohammad Ibn Rustom Tabari.

1054 lunar years ago, on this day in 385 AH, the famous scholar and Founder of the Islamic Seminary of holy Najaf in Iraq, Abu Ja'far Mohammad Ibn Hassan Tousi, popular as Shaikh at-Ta’efah, was born in Tous near holy Mashhad in Khorasan, northeastern Iran. On completing studies in his homeland, at the age of 23 he left for Baghdad for higher studies under the celebrated scholar Shaikh Mufid, who died five years later in 413 AH. Leadership of the Shi'ite Muslim scholars then fell to the renowned Sharif Murtaza, who remained in this position for 23 years until his death in 436 AH. During this period Shaikh Tousi was closely associated with Sharif Murtaza, and subsequently succeeded him as head of the community. So impressive was Shaikh Tousi's knowledge that the Abbasid caliph, al-Qader, attended his lectures. Eleven years later in 447 AH, when the Iranian Buwayhid dynasty was in the state of decline, the house of Shaikh Tousi in the Karkh locality, along with his library that contained some 90,000 books, was burnt down in sectarian riots. Shaikh Tousi, seeing the danger of remaining in Baghdad, moved to holy Najaf where his arrival made it the leading centre of Islamic scholarship, a role which it has maintained down to the present day. Some 13 years later, he passed away and was succeeded by his son Shaikh Hassan Tousi, who as an outstanding scholar was known as Mufid-e Thani or Second Mufid. He was laid to rest in his home, near the shrine of the Commander of the Faithful, Imam Ali ibn Abi Taleb (AS) – the vicegerent and 1^st Infallible Heir of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA). His house containing his tomb was converted into a mosque and is known today as Jame' at-Tousi. He authored over 50 books on various topics such as jurisprudence, exegesis of the holy Qur’an, hadith, theology, history and biography of narrators. Of the four authoritative resources of hadith of the School of the Prophet's Ahl al-Bayt, two were compiled by Shaikh at-Taifah Tousi. These two basic reference books are: “Tahzeeb al-Ahkaam” and “al-Istibsaar”. His exegesis on the holy Qur'an is titled “at-Tibyaan”. On the Lord of the Age, Imam Mahdi (God hasten his reappearance) he wrote the book “al-Ghayba” (Occultation). His another work is “Mukhtasar Akhbar al-Mukhtar”, a concise history of the uprising of Mukhtar ibn Abu Obaydah Thaqafi to avenge the martyrdom of Imam Husain (AS).

795 solar years ago, on this day in 1223 AD, during the Mongol invasion of the lands of the Cumans – a non-Muslim Turkic people whose expansive khanate stretched from the Black Sea to Lake Balkhash in what is now Kazakhstan, the Battle of the Kalka River in Ukraine, ended with a resounding victory for the armies of Genghis Khan led by Subutai the Valiant, who defeated the joint forces of the Russians and Cumans. Subutai had marched north from western Iran through the Caucasus after defeating the local peoples. Khan Koten of the Cumans, convinced the Volga Bulgars and Khazars to join him, but the Mongols managed to persuade him to abandon the alliance by reminding him of the Turkic-Mongol friendship and promising a share of the booty. The Mongols, after routing the joint armies of the Khazars and Bulgars, broke their promise and attacked the Cumans, destroying their armies and executing all the prisoners before sacking Astrakhan. Koten fled to the court of his son-in-law, Prince Mstislav the Bold of Kiev-Rus, who after a year of hesitation assembled an alliance of Russian princes to face the Mongols. After drawing out the Rus armies for nine days in a feigned retreat, the Mongol army turned to face their pursuers along the Kalka River, and defeated the joint Slavic-Turkic forces. The expedition was history's longest cavalry raid, with the Mongols riding 5,500 miles or 8,900 km in three years.

474 lunar years ago, on this day in 965 AH, the famous jurisprudent Shaikh Zayn od-Din al-Juba'i al-Ameli, known as “Shaheed Thani” (Second Martyr), was martyred at the age of 54. Born in Juba in the Jabal Amel region of what is now Lebanon, he is believed to have some connection with Tous in Khorasan, because he occasionally signed his surname as "at-Tousi ash-Shami" – the second part pertaining to Greater Syria since Lebanon like Palestine and Jordan is actually a part of Syria. After initial study under his father, he was groomed for some 8 years by the celebrated Shaikh Ali bin Hussain bin Abd al-Aali Muhaqqaq Karki, and by the age of 33 became a Mujtahed. He had also studied in Damascus under Sunni ulema, and became an authority on such texts as “Sahih Bukhari” and “Sahih Muslim”. He visited Egypt to study medicine, geometry, prosody and logic from different teachers. He performed the Hajj pilgrimage and visited Bayt al-Moqaddas, in addition to travelling to Iraq for the pilgrimage to the shrines of the Imams of the Ahl al-Bayt. During a visit to Istanbul had a lively discussion with the Chief Qazi of the state, Mohammad bin Mohammad Qazizadah ar-Roumi, to whom he presented a treatise titled “Ten Knowledges” that greatly impressed the latter. He was permitted to teach at the Nooriyah Islamic School in Ba’lbek, where he taught the five schools of Islamic jurisprudence, that is, Ja'fari, Hanafi, Shafei, Maliki and Hanbali. Apart from proficiency in jurisprudence, he was well versed in theology, philosophy, Gnosis, medicine and astronomy. He was a man of piety, known for his austere way of life. His students have recorded in his biography that he maintained his family by selling wood that he cut during the nights, and then sat to teach during the day. Some pseudo ulema, adverse to Islamic unity, conspired against him, labeled false accusations, and complained to the Ottoman Sultan. He was taken to Istanbul, but on the way to see the Sultan, he was brutally beheaded and his body thrown into the sea. His assassin was killed on the Sultan's orders. Later, a shrine was built by Turkmens at the site of his martyrdom when they realised his lofty stature. He authored several books, and his masterpiece is the commentary on the jurisprudential manual "Lum'at-ad-Dimashqiyya" (The Damascene Glitter) of the First Martyr, Mohammad Jamal od-Din al-Makki al-Ameli, titled "ar-Rawdhat-al-Bahiyah ft Sharh al-Lum'at-ad- Dimashqiyya" (The Beautiful Garden in Interpreting the Damascene Glitter).

441 solar years ago, on this day in 1577 AD, Empress Noor Jahan of the Moghal Empire of the subcontinent was born as a commoner in the border town of Qandahar to the Iranian refugee, Mirza Ghiyas Beg Tehrani, who was fleeing Safavid Persia to India following the fall from grace of his aristocratic family. Named Mehr an-Nisa at birth, she was the fourth child of her father, whose talents were appreciated in India by Emperor Jalal od-Din Akbar who appointed him minister and conferred the title E’temad od-Dowla upon him. Mehr an-Nisa was brought up at the Moghal court and was married to an Iranian émigré, Ali Quli, titled Shir-Afgan for his bravery in grappling with a tiger. Her husband died in a skirmish and the widow returned along with her orphaned daughter to the Moghal court where Emperor Noor od-Din Jahangir enamoured by her beauty proposed marriage to her. He subsequently made her the empress with the official title “Noor Jahan” (Light of the World). She was noted for her wisdom, administrative abilities, and scholarly pursuits. She was the power behind the throne. Although she didn’t bear the emperor any child, she remained loyal to him even after his death, and was later buried in the same mausoleum in Lahore in what is now Pakistan. Her brother Asef Khan rose to become minister, while she arranged for her daughter from her previous marriage, to marry Jahangir`s youngest son, Prince Shahryar, and her niece Arjmand Banu (later Mumtaz Mahal – buried in the famous Taj Mahal) to marry Prince Khurram, (the future Emperor Shah Jahan). A staunch follower of Prophet Mohammad’s (SAWA) Ahl al-Bayt, Noor Jahan, who punished the killers of the great Iranian scholar, Qazi Seyyed Noorollah Shushtari (Shaheed Sallis or the Third Martyr), died on 17 December 1645 at the age of 68.

209 solar years ago, on this day in 1809 AD, Austrian musician and composer, Joseph Haydn, died at the age of 77. In 1781, his acquaintance with the famous Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart led to improvement of his symphonies. His musical pieces include “The Creation”.

199 solar years ago, on this day in 1819 AD, US Poet Walt Whitman was born in West Hill, New York. He became America’s national poet with vibrant works such as “Leaves of Grass” (1855). His poems included: “When Lilacs Last in the Doorway Bloomed”. Some of his poems were inspired by his Civil War experience as a hospital volunteer in Washington. Although a staunch supporter of the Union cause, Whitman comforted dying soldiers of both sides. He died in 1892.

186 solar years ago, on this day in 1832 AD, French mathematician, Evariste Galois, died at the young age of 21 from wound suffered in duel. Born at Bourg-la-Reine, while still in his teens, he was able to determine a necessary and sufficient condition for a polynomial to be solvable by radicals, thereby solving a problem standing for 350 years. His work laid the foundations for Galois Theory and group theory, two major branches of abstract algebra, and the subfield of Galois Connections.

171 solar years ago, on this day in 1847 AD, following a series of border incidents in the 1830s by the Ottoman Empire against the Iranian port city of Khorramshahr in violation of the 1821 Treaty of Erzurum that pushed the two counties to the brink of war, Britain and Russia mediated the Second Treaty of Erzurum. The Ottomans had attempted to destroy Iranian commercial interests in Khorramshahr at the instigation of the merchants of Basra. A border commission made up of representatives of Iran, the Ottoman government, Britain, and Russia was set up. It sat from 1843 to 1847, and its work culminated in the second Treaty of Erzurum, which was signed on 16 Jamadi al-Akher 1263 AH corresponding to 31 May 1847. The treaty stipulated that Iran would cede the region west of the River Zuhab to the Ottomans in exchange for guaranteed sovereignty over islands and territory near the Persian Gulf. Particularly significant were two provisions in Article 2: First, Iran abandons all claim to the city and province of Suleimaniya (including Naftkhanah), and the Ottoman government formally recognizes the unrestricted sovereignty of Iran over the city and port of Khorramshahr, Khizr Island, the Abadan anchorage, and the land on the eastern bank of the Shatt Al-Arab (Arvandroud), which are in the possession of the tribes, recognized as belonging to Iran. Iran’s right to “navigate freely without let or hindrance on the Shatt Al-Arab from the mouth of the same to the point of contact of the frontiers of the two parties” was also recognized. The Ottomans also promised not to hinder Iran traders and pilgrims visiting the holy shrines in Iraq and Hijaz.

116 solar years ago, on this day in 1902 AD, the Boer War ended with the British victory over the Dutch of South Africa and signing of the Treaty of Vereeniging, ending the 3-year uprising by the Afrikaners, led by Louis Botha, the commandant general of the Transvaal forces. The combination of superior fire power and a brutal war of attrition launched by Lord Kitchener forced the Boers to give in. The British burned the farms of Africans and Boers alike and collected as many as a 100,000 women and children in carelessly run and unhygienic concentration camps on the open veldt. Britain annexed Transvaal.

108 solar years ago, on this day in 1910 AD, South Africa was formed with the merger of two British colonies. In the mid-17^th century, the Dutch, and two centuries later, the British, seized large parts of this land and oppressed the local black people. In 1899, Boers, who were the Dutch immigrants in South Africa, revolted against British domination, but were defeated. In 1931, the Union of South Africa gained independence from Britain and came under white minority racist rule, known as Apartheid that denied the indigenous black people and all other non-white people, basic rights. In 1991, as a result of the struggle of the black people, Apartheid fell apart, and representative rule of the majority was established. South Africa covers an area of more than 1.2 million square km and shares borders with Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Namibia, Lesotho, and Swaziland. Of South Africa’s 52 million population Muslims account for almost 3 percent and although made up of South Asians, are rapidly winning converts from both the black and white people.

84 solar years ago, on this day in 1935 AD, in Quetta in what is now capital of Pakistan’s Baluchistan State, a magnitude 7.7 degree earthquake killed some 50,000 people.

48 solar years ago, on this day in 1970 AD, the Ancash earthquake caused a landslide that buried the town of Yungay in Peru, resulting in the death of more than 47,000 people.

31 solar years ago, on this day in 1987 AD, the World Health Organisation (WHO) designated May 31 as World No Tobacco Day (WNTD) which is observed worldwide every year. It is intended to encourage a 24-hour period of abstinence from all forms of tobacco consumption around the globe. The day is further intended to draw attention to the widespread prevalence of tobacco use and to negative health effects, which currently lead to nearly 6 million deaths each year worldwide, including 600,000 of which are because of non-smokers being exposed to second-hand smoke.

26 solar years ago, on this day in 1992 AD, the researcher and lecturer of Tehran’s Sharif University of Science and Technology, Dr. Jalal Samimi, following twenty years of study, discovered the five sources of Gama Rays at the centre of the Milky Way Galaxy. Born in the city of Zabul, southeastern Iran in 1940, he obtained PhD in Physics, and conducted several experiments in regard to nuclear emulsion.

23 solar years ago, on this day in 1995 AD, Ayatollah Sheikh Azizollah Khosrowi Zanjani passed away at the age of 87. A student of the Father of the Islamic Revolution, Imam Khomeini (RA), he followed the footsteps of his teacher in the struggles against the despotic Pahlavi regime. After establishment of the Islamic Republic, he strove to serve the goals of the system of government in Iran.

11 solar years ago, on this day in 2007 AD, in southern Thailand Buddhist terrorists sprayed gunfire into a mosque, killing 7 Muslim worshippers. Black-clad raiders roared into Kolomudo, a Muslim village, firing assault rifles and hurling grenades from a pickup truck at a group of teenagers relaxing near the mosque. When the attack was over, five of the youths lay martyred. A roadside bomb killed 11 paramilitary troops almost simultaneously, while a 12th soldier died the next day.

10 solar years ago, on this day in 2008 AD, Chinese authorities evacuated nearly 200,000 people and warned more than 1 million others to be ready to leave quickly as a lake formed by a devastating earthquake that occurred on May 12 threatened to breach its dam. The confirmed death toll from the earthquake, reached nearly 69,000, with another 18,000 still missing.

8 solar years ago, on this day in 2010 AD, the illegal Zionist entity indulged in a terrorist act of piracy in international waters by hijacking the Gaza-bound Freedom Flotilla carrying humanitarian relief for the Palestinian population of this impoverished enclave. The flotilla consisted of six ships with food and medicine, along with 663 activists from 37 countries. Zionist soldiers boarded it and brutally attacked the unarmed activists, martyring at least nine Turkish citizens and injuring over fifty others. This gruesome and barbaric raid drew worldwide condemnation and reinforced the resolve of activists and aid convoys to break the siege of Gaza Strip. Unfortunately, the US has continued to support the barbarism of Israel.

AS/MG