Today is Saturday; 19th of the Iranian month of Khordad 1397 solar hijri; corresponding to 24th of the Islamic month of Ramadhan 1439 lunar hijri; and June 9, 2018, of the Christian Gregorian Calendar.

1950 solar years ago, on this day in 68 AD, the deceitful, cruel and bloodthirsty Roman Emperor, Nero, to evade a Senate-imposed death by flogging, committed suicide at the age of 31 by imploring his secretary Epaphroditos to slit his throat. Thus ended the 14-year reign of terror during which Nero tortured to death the monotheistic followers of Prophet Jesus (AS), killed his own mother Agrippina who had secured the throne for him through treachery, and torched the entire city of Rome while sadistically enjoying the sight of its burning from a hill. His widowed mother had married her own uncle Emperor Claudius and forced him to adopt Nero as son. Nero poisoned the emperor to death and on seizing the throne got rid by fatally poisoning the emperor’s teenaged son Britannicus. He eliminated all possible rivals, killed his wives at pleasure, and ordered the death of his own mother. In foreign policy, unable to face the might of Iran’s Parthian Empire, after hostilities in Armenia, he concluded peace. His death made the people joyous.

1437 lunar years ago, on this day in 2 AH, the avowed enemy of Islam, Abu Lahab, died after a blow to his head as a result of rage and anger on learning of the victory of Muslims over the pagan Arabs of Mecca at Badr – the first-ever armed encounter the polytheists imposed on Prophet Mohammad (SAWA). He was suffering from “adasa” – a malignant ulcer. For fear of the transmission of his disease to others, his fellow infidels left his corpse on the ground for a few days until it stank. It was then cast outside Mecca and was covered by stones thrown from a distance.

Notorious for his rough manners, Abu Lahab was a step uncle of the Prophet and was married to the equally treacherous Arwa Omm Jameel, the sister of Abu Sufyan, the other archenemy of Islam. On the Prophet’s public proclamation of the message of Islam, he became a sworn enemy of his nephew, and along with his wife, left no stone unturned to harm him. He joined the other infidel Arabs in imposing the 3-year social-economic boycott of the neo Muslim community, and was part of the conspirators, who plotted to murder the Prophet on the Night of Hijrah (migration). Abu Lahab used to raise his hands to curse the Prophet while his wife who took great pride in wearing an ostentatious necklace, would at night strew thorns and prickly plants in the Prophet’s path to injure his feet. God Almighty revealed Surah al-Masad meaning Palm Fibre in condemnation of the wicked husband-and-wife pair. It reads: “Perish the hands of Abu Lahab, and perish he! Neither his wealth availed him, nor what he had earned. Soon he will enter the blazing fire; And his wife [too], the firewood carrier (the informer); With a rope of palm fibre around her neck.”

1388 solar years ago, on this day in 630 AD, the victorious Iranian general Farrokhan titled “Shahrbaraz”, who had seized power as the 25^th Sassanid Emperor, was killed. “Shahrbaraz” means Boar of the Empire, since the boar was the animal associated with the Zoroastrian Izad Vahram (epitome of victory). Appointed “Iran Sepahbod” (or Commander of the Army of Iran) by Emperor Khosrow II (Pervez), he swept through Syria taking Damascus and Jerusalem from the Byzantine Empire in 613 and 614 respectively, before marching towards the capital Constantinople. However, when Heraclius assumed power as the new Byzantine Emperor and pushed back the Persians from Anatolia (modern Turkey) in the 620s, mutual suspicion arose between Khosrow and Shahrbaraz. Byzantine agents showed Shahrbaraz letters indicating that Khosrow was planning his execution. This kept one of the main Persian armies and its best general neutral during this crucial period, speeding the end of the long war and Byzantine victory. Following the Persian surrender, Shahrbaraz was heavily involved in the intrigues of the Sassanid court. On April 27, 630, he killed Emperor Ardashir III and seized power. He made peace with Heraclius and returned to him the relics of Jerusalem. In April 630 he failed to deal with the invasion of Armenia by a Khazar-Gokturk force under Chorpan Tarkhan. He was slain by the nobles and replaced by his wife – Khosrow’s daughter – Purandokht, as Empress of the rapidly declining Sassanid Empire, which six years later would be overrun by Arab Muslim armies.

1297 solar years ago, on this day in 721 AD, the Arab army suffered a setback at the Battle of Toulouse in southern France against Odo of Aquitaine. Faulty planning by the Omayyad governor of Spain, Samh ibn Malik al-Khawlani, made the huge Muslim force immobile against the lightly armed Christians. However, this did not end the Muslim march into Europe that continued as far as north-western France for another decade until the decisive defeat at the Battle of Tours.

1085 lunar years ago, on this day in 354 AH, the famous Arabic poet, Ahmad bin Hassan Kufi, known by his penname “Mutanabbi”, was killed near Baghdad during an encounter with highway brigands at the age of 51. Gifted with sharp intelligence and wittiness, he started writing poetry as a nine-year old. Among the topics he versified were courage, the philosophy of life, and the description of battles. Many of his poems were and still are widely read by Arabic speakers. His great talent earned him respect from many political leaders of his time, and he praised kings and emirs in return for money and gifts. He joined the court of Sayf od-Dowla in Aleppo and during his 9-year stay in Syria versified his most famous poems. There was great rivalry between him and many of the scholars and poets at Sayf od-Dowla's court, including the latter’s cousin and brother-in-law, Abu Firas al-Hamdani. Mutanabbi lost Sayf od-Dowla's favour because of his political ambition to be a governor. He had no other choice but to leave Aleppo for Egypt to join the court of Abu’l-Misk Kafur. Here also he failed in his political ambitions and after his ridiculing of Kafur in satirical odes, he left for Iraq, where he was killed.

729 lunar years ago, on this day in 710 AH, prominent Iranian physician, astronomer, poet and philosopher, Qotb od-Din Mahmoud Ibn Zia od-Din Masoud Kazerouni, known as Mullah Qotb Shirazi, was born in the southern city of Kazeroun. He studied medicine under his father, who practiced and taught medicine at the Mozaffari Hospital in Shiraz. He studied the “al-Qanoun fi’t-Tibb” (The Canon of Medicine) of the Iranian-Islamic genius, Abu Ali ibn Sina, along with its commentaries. In particular he read the commentary of Fakhr od-Din Razi on this book and raised questions, resulting in the writing of his own commentary, where he resolved many of the issues of this book, especially in the company of the famous genius of his age, Khwaja Naseer od-Din Tusi, who established the observatory at Maragha in northwestern Iran. In Maragha, he learned other branches of science under the guidance of Naseer od-Din Tusi, who taught him astronomy as well as Ibn Sina’s masterpiece on remarks and admonitions titled “al-Isharaat wa'l-Tanbihaat”. One of the important scientific projects was completion of a new “Zij” (astronomical table). Qotb od-Din Shirazi then traveled to Khorasan, where he stayed to study under Najm od-Din Katebi Qazvini in the town of Jovayn. Later he journeyed to Qazvin, Isfahan, Baghdad, and Qonya in Anatolia or modern day Turkey, where he studied the “Jam'e al-Osoul” of Ibn Atheer with Sadr od-Din Qonawi. The governor of Qonya made him judge of the cities of Sivas and Malatya, where he compiled “Miftah al-Meftah” on Arabic grammar and rhetoric, and “Ikhtiyaraat al-Mozaffariya” on astronomy. He was sent as envoy by the Ilkhanid ruler of Iran-Iraq, Ahmad Tekudar, to Sayf od-Din Qalawun, the Mamluk ruler of Egypt, where he collected various critiques and commentaries on Ibn Sina’s Qanoun and used them in his commentary on the “Kulliyaat”. The last part of Qotb ad-Din Shirazi's active career was teaching in Syria the “Qanoun” and the “Kitab ash-Shefa” – the philosophical magnum opus of Ibn Sina. He died while on a visit to Tabriz. He wrote in both Arabic and Persian on a wide variety of topics including medicine, astronomy, geography, mathematics, philosophy and religion. Among his works is “Nihayat al-Idraak fi Dirayaat al-Aflaak” on the movement of planets, and he identified observations by Ibn Sina on the transits of Venus and Mercury, centuries before European scientists.

346 solar years ago, on this day in 1672 AD, Tsar Peter the Great of Russia was born to Tsar Alexis. He was crowned at the age of 10, but was soon dethroned by his half-sister Sophia and banished to a village in the vicinity of Moscow. After a while, he gathered a large number of troops and confronted his sister, winning the battle as well as the crown. He was an expansionist and waged wars on neighbouring states to enlarge the Russian Empire. To the south, he sought an outlet to the Black Sea which was controlled by the Ottoman Empire. Peter entered into an agreement with Poland to acquire Kiev in Ukraine, so as to use it as a base for launching attacks on the Tartar Muslims of the Crimean Peninsula on the Black Sea. Peter's primary objective became the capture of the Ottoman fortress of Azov, near the Don River. In the summer of 1695 he organized the Azov campaigns to take the fortress, but his attempts ended in failure. Peter returned to Moscow in November of that year and began building a large navy. He launched about thirty ships against the Ottomans in 1696, capturing Azov in July of that year. He soon realized that he cannot defeat the Ottomans alone, and travelled to Europe to seek alliances against the Turks, but to his dismay, found France and Austria, reluctant to start hostilities with the Ottomans. In the end he made peace with the Ottomans to keep control of Azov, and died in 1725 without succeeding in his expansionist goals of pushing into the Caucasus against the Turkish and Iranian territories. In 1703 he founded the city of Saint Petersburg on the estuary of Neva River flowing into the Baltic Sea, a fortnight after he had captured it during the Great Northern War what was then the Swedish fortress of Nyenskans in the land called Ingermanland inhabited by the Finnic tribe of Ingrians. Peter moved the capital from Moscow to St Petersburg in 1712. Between 1713-to-1728 and from 1732-to-1918, St Petersburg was capital of Russia, until Vladimir Lenin replaced it with Moscow.

244 solar years ago, on this day in 1774 AD, Austrian orientalist, Joseph von Hammer-Purgstall, was born in Graz. He mastered Arabic, Persian and Turkish, and on entering the diplomatic service in 1796, was appointed in 1799 to a position in the Austrian embassy in Constantinople. For fifty years Hammer-Purgstall wrote prolifically on the most diverse subjects and published numerous texts and translations of Arabic, Persian and Turkish authors. By traversing so large a field, he laid himself open to the criticism of specialists, and he was severely handled by Friedrich Christian Diez who, in his “Unfug und Betrug” (1815), devoted to him nearly 600 pages of abuse. He also came into conflict on the subject of the origin of “The Thousand and One Nights” with his English contemporary Edward William Lane. The Austrian Oriental Society, founded in 1959 to foster cultural relations with the Near East, is formally named “Österreichische Orient-Gesellschaft Hammer-Purgstall” in recognition of Joseph von Hammer-Purgstall's accomplishments. He wrote several books including an English language translation (1834) of the first two volumes of Ottoman scholar Avliya Chelebi's travelogue titled “Siyahat-Nameh”.

203 solar years ago, on this day in 1815 AD, the Vienna Congress, attended by European kings and ministers, drew to its close. Commenced in September 1814, following the defeat of Napoleon Bonaparte, it restored to power the dynasties overthrown by the French Emperor. It redrew the new political map of Europe that saw Belgium annexed by the Netherlands and Norway annexed by Sweden, while Poland was divided among Russia, Prussia, and Austria. Prussia also annexed many of the German states, while Italy remained divided into several small states. Several French colonies abroad were handed to Britain.

148 solar years ago, on this day in 1870 AD, the English author and novelist, Charles Dickens, died at the age of 58. He was the founder of Realism Style in English literature. His books include "Oliver Twist" and "David Copperfield" which brought him world fame. Among his other famous novels, mention can be made of "Great Expectations" and "The Tale of Two Cities". Dickens who was editor of “Bentley’s Miscellany” a general interest monthly magazine, from January 1837 to 1839, paid tribute to the Martyr of Karbala in it, by writing: “If Husain had fought to quench his worldly desires…then I do not understand why his sister, wife, and children accompanied him. It stands to reason therefore, that he sacrificed purely for Islam.”

134 solar years ago, on this day in 1884 AD, Germany forced Togo in West Africa to become its protectorate by signing a treaty with King Mlapa III. In 1905, this former slave trade centre for European merchants was declared the German colony of Togoland. During World War I it was invaded by British troops from the neighbouring Gold Coast or today’s Ghana and French troops from Dahomey, which is now the republic of Benin. As a result, Togoland was separated into two League of Nations mandates administered by Britain and France. After World War II, these mandates became UN Trust Territories. In 1957, the residents of British Togoland voted to join the Gold Coast as part of the new independent nation of Ghana in 1957, while in 1959, French Togoland became an autonomous republic within the French Union. The next year it was declared the Togolese Republic. It has a coastline on the Gulf of Guinea and shares borders with Benin, Ghana, and Burkina Faso. Some 25 percent of its people are Muslims.

56 solar years ago, on this day in 1962 AD, the University of Algiers in the Algerian capital was set ablaze by French agents, as a result of which 500,000 volumes of books were destroyed. The majority of burnt books were important and unique reference works.

51 solar years ago, on this day in 1967 AD, during the 6-day war, the usurper state of Israel seized the Golan Heights from Syria, and later illegally annexed it. Despite several UN Security Council Resolutions, the illegal Zionist entity, with the backing of the US, has refused to withdraw from occupied Syrian territory.

50 solar years ago, on this day in 1968 AD, the prominent Islamic scholar and mystic, Ayatollah Seyyed Mohammad Hassan Elahi Tabatabai, passed away at the age of 62. Born in Tabriz, northwestern Iran, he left for holy Najaf in Iraq at the age of 19 for higher Islamic studies. After attaining Ijtihad he returned to his hometown, Tabriz, and started teaching. Among his valuable works is “A Treatise on the Science of Music and Spiritual Relations with Sounds”.

40 lunar years ago, on this day in 1399 AH, the Father of the Islamic Revolution, Imam Khomeini (RA), took the decisive step of designating the last Friday of the fasting month of Ramadhan as the Qods International Day in order to mobilize Muslims for liberation of Bayt al-Moqaddas and Palestine. Since then, every year, millions of people in Iran and world countries stage rallies demanding the end of the illegal Zionist entity.

7 solar years ago, on this day in 2011, the famous Indian artist and painter Maqboul Fida Hussain, died in self-exile in Qatar at the age of 96. Born into a family of Bohras of the Sulaymani Ismaili Shi'ite sect, he is considered the Picasso of India and was forced to leave his homeland because of threats against his life by Hindu extremists.

AS/MG