Today is Friday; 25th of the Iranian month of Khordad 1397 solar hijri; corresponding to 1st of the Islamic month of Shawwal 1439 lunar hijri; and June 15, 2018, of the Christian Gregorian Calendar.

2781 solar years ago, on this day in 763 BC, the Assyrians recorded a solar eclipse that was later used to fix the chronology of Mesopotamian history in today’s Iraq and the neighbouring lands

Today is Eid-e Fitr, one of the major Islamic festivals. After the month-long fasting of Ramadhan, Muslims celebrate this day as thanksgiving to the Almighty Lord. The day starts with the special congregational Eid Prayer, which is indeed a glorious sight with rows upon rows of believers bowing and prostrating in unison. In order to further purify hearts and souls, each individual sets aside for the poor and needy of the society, three kilograms of one of the main forms of diets, such as wheat, barley, rice or dates, or its equivalent in money as the Zakat-e Fitr. The Eid is celebrated with exchange of visits among families and friends.

1396 lunar years ago, on this day in 43 AH, the Omayyad governor of Egypt, Amr Ibn al-Aas, died at the age of 93 in acute mental agony while admitting his crimes against Islam, including how he had tried to cheat Imam Ali (AS) of the caliphate by declaring Mu'awiyya ibn Abu Sufyan as the caliph. He felt as if Mount Redhwa was hanging upon his neck and he was being dragged through the eye of a needle. Born out of wedlock in Mecca to a morally-loose bondwoman, named Layla bint Harmalah and called "Nabigha", his paternity was open to doubt in the freewheeling Jahiliyya days because of his mother’s promiscuous affair with at least five persons at the same time, including Abu Sufyan and Aas ibn Wa'el. Although Amr greatly resembled the stingy miser Abu Sufyan in appearance, his mother by citing the issue of maintenance claimed that the rather generous Aas had fathered her child. With the advent of Islam, Amr showed bitter hostility toward Prophet Mohammad (SAWA), and when the latter migrated to Medina, he was involved in almost all the battles imposed upon Muslims by the pagan Arabs of Mecca. Earlier, when a group of persecuted Muslims led by the Prophet's cousin, Ja'far Ibn Abu Taleb, sought asylum in Abyssinia he led an unsuccessful mission to the court of the Christian king, Negus, for the handover of the refugees. In 8 AH, two years before the passing away of the Prophet and on the eve of the surrender of Mecca to the Muslims, Amr, sensing the end of paganism, came to Medina, along with that other avowed enemy of Islam, Khaled ibn Waleed, claiming conversion to Islam, though none of his deeds ever supports his claim to be a Muslim. After the Prophet, when the neo-Muslim Arab armies swept across Syria and Palestine, he led the attack on the Roman province of Egypt. When Mu'awiyyah built his power base in Syria, he joined him as advisor in Damascus and was the evil mind in most of the plots against Imam Ali (AS) including the raising of copies of the holy Qur'an on spear-points during the War of Siffeen in order to deceive Muslims and avoid a definite defeat. Earlier during the battle, to escape certain death from the flashing blade of Imam Ali (AS), Amr while fleeing, shamelessly disrobed himself, making the Imam turn away from an abhorred sight. In 38 AH he again attacked Egypt and martyred its legal governor, Mohammad Ibn Abu Bakr.

1183 lunar years ago, on this day in 256 AH, the famous Iranian Sunni Muslim compiler of hadith, Mohammad Ibn Ismail ibn Ibrahim ibn Bardizbah Bukhari, passed away at the age of 62 while on a visit to Khartank, a village near Samarqand in what is now Uzbekistan. Born in Bukhara in a family which before conversion to Islam was either Zoroastrian or Jewish, he started collecting hadith from anyone who could relate. In his late teens, along with his brother and mother, he travelled to Mecca for pilgrimage. After visiting the centres of learning, exchanging information on hadith from over 1,000 persons, and recording more than 600,000 narrations, he returned to his hometown after a 16-year absence. Here he compiled his "al-Jame' as-Sahih", which is revered as "Sahih Bukhari" by Sunni Muslims, and contains 7,275 hadith selected as per his inclination. Although he has acknowledged some of the unparalleled merits of the Ahl al-Bayt, he did not visit the rightful heirs of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA) or met their disciples for precise information on authentic hadith. It is claimed that it was fear of the wrath of the Abbasid regime that made him omit any hadith related from such an outstanding authority as the Prophet's 6th Infallible Heir, Imam Ja'far Sadeq (AS), but he felt no inhibitions to include in his so-called "Sahih" narrations from dubious persons – even avowed enemies of the Prophet's Household. In 250 AH he settled in Naishapur in Khorasan, following his expulsion from Bukhara for issuing a weird fatwa against the letter and spirit of the shari'ah that persons drinking the milk of the same cow, goat or donkey, are foster siblings and hence ineligible for marriage with each other. Here he met another Iranian with Sunni inclinations, named Muslim Ibn Hajjaj, who became his student, and eventually collector of a separate book on hadith, known as "Sahih Muslim".

1046 lunar years ago, on this day in 393 AH  at-Ta'i-Lillah, the 24th caliph of the usurper Abbasid regime, died twelve years after he was deposed and replaced by his cousin, al-Qader-Billah, by the Iranian Buwayhid ruler, Baha od-Dowlah Daylami. The Buwayhids had installed him as caliph on the death of his father, al-Muti-Lillah, who also owed his caliphate to this powerful dynasty ruling Iraq and Iran. During the caliphate of at-Ta’i, the Abbasid dominions further shrunk in size, with the Hijaz and over half of Syria falling to the Fatemid Shi’ite Ismaili Dynasty of Egypt, while the Turkic chieftains vied for power in the rest of Syria.

986 solar years ago, on this day in 1032 AD, Salar Masoud Ghazi, a descendent of the Prophet’s vicegerent, Imam Ali ibn Abi Taleb (AS), through Mohammad al-Hanafiya, attained martyrdom in the town of Bahraich, 125 km northeast of Lucknow in what is now Uttar Pradesh state of India. He was a pious person, and after arriving in India with the armies of the Turkic conqueror, Sultan Mahmoud Ghaznavi, he penetrated the interior of India to propagate Islam. Revered till this day as Ghazi Miyan by both Muslims and Hindus, his tomb is the site of pilgrimage in India.

870 lunar years ago, on this day in 569 AH, the exegete of the Holy Qur'an, Arabic grammarian and poet, Sa'eed Ibn Mubarak Ibn Dahhan, passed away in Mosul at the age of 74 during a visit to the vizier, Jamal od-Din Isfahani, shortly after losing his eyesight, while trying chemical experiments to preserve some of his books from his flooded library in Baghdad after the Tigris overflowed its banks. His remaining works include "Fosoul" on the art of prosody, and one "Qasida".

803 solar years ago, on this day in 1215 AD, the Magna Carta (Great Charter) was adopted and sealed by King John of England at Runnymede, granting his barons more liberty. The British claim that it asserted the supremacy of the law over the king.

619 solar years ago, on this day in 1389 AD, the Ottomans triumphed in the Battle of Kosovo against the Serbs, but Sultan Murad I lost his life, as a result of a surprise attack by a lone Serb warrior, while reviewing his success after the battle. Son of Orhan Bey and grandson of Osman, the Central Asian Turk who founded the Ottoman principality in what is now western Turkey, Murad through his conquests transformed the family fiefdom into a sultanate that subsequently became a vast empire straddling southwest Europe, west Asia and northern Africa.

351 solar years ago, on this day in 1667 AD, the first recorded blood transfusion was administered by Dr. Jean-Baptiste Denys from an animal to human. He successfully transfused a few ounces of blood from a lamb into a-15-year old boy. Another experimental transfusion later in the same year resulted in the patient’s death and Denys was charged with murder.

310 solar years ago, on this day in 1708 AD, the uprising of Scottish independence seekers for liberation of their homeland from the yoke of the English was brutally suppressed. Scottish people have a history of resentment against British colonial rule, and have staged uprisings in various periods of history. In 1999, London was forced to agree to the formation of a separate parliament in Scotland.

284 lunar years ago, on this day in 1155 AH, the prominent gnostic and source of emulation (marja’), Seyyed Mohammad Mahdi Tabatabaie Bahr al-Uloum, was born in the holy city of Karbala, before the dawn of Eid al-Fitr, in a family related to the celebrated Allamah Majlisi. Initially taught by his scholarly father Seyyed Morteza ibn Mohammad Boroujerdi, he later studied under Shaikh Yousuf Bahrani (writer of the book of “Hada’eq an-Nasera”), before enrolling at the famous seminary of holy Najaf, where he studied under the famous Waheed Behbahani. At the age of 31 he went to Mashhad in Khorasan, Iran, where he lived for seven years, learning different sciences, as well as philosophy from Mirza Mahdi Shahid Khorasani. His teacher, because of his extensive knowledge, called him “Baḥr al-Uloum” (or Ocean of Knowledge). His sons, grandsons, and direct descendants continue to use this title as family name. Baḥr al-Uloum returned to Najaf to teach. He performed the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca in 193 AH, and also taught there. Among his students were: Seyyed Sadr od-Din Ameli, Shaikh Ja’far Najafi, Seyyed Jawad Ameli, Shaikh Abu Ali Haeri, Mulla Ahmad Naraqi, Seyyed Muhammad Mojahed, Seyyed Abu’l-Qasem Khwansari, Seyyed Dildar Ali Lakhnavi (of India). On the passing away of Waheed Behbahani, he became the Source of Emulation. On his authority, in view of his contacts with the Lord of the Age, Imam Mahdi (may God hasten his reappearance), he determined the exact spots in the Grand Mosque of Kufa and the Sahla Mosque, associated with the Prophets and the Imams. He wrote many works in diverse religious sciences including jurisprudence and hadith, such as “al-Masabih”, “ad-Durra-an-Najafiyyah”, “al-Fawa’ed ar-Rejaliyyah” and “Tuhfat al-Keraam” (on history of Mecca and Masjid al-Haraam). He passed away at the age of 57 in Najaf, and was laid to rest next to the grave of the founder of the thousand-year old Najaf Seminary, Shaikh at-Ta’efa Abu Ja’far at-Tusi.

266 solar years ago, on this day in 1752 AD, Benjamin Franklin's kite-flying experiment proved lightning and electricity were related while flying a kite with a key attached. He equipped his house with a lightning rod, connecting it to bells that ring when the rod is electrified. He explained how to perform a kite experiment in the 19^th October 1752 issue of the Pennsylvania Gazette. He had earlier proposed use of lightning rods to protect houses. He next devised an experiment involving a sentry-box with a pointed rod on its roof, to be erected on hilltop or in church steeple, with rod attached to a Leyden jar which would collect the electrical charge, and thus prove lightning to be a form of electricity.

133 lunar years ago, on this day in 1306 AH, Grand Ayatollah Seyyed Mohsin al-Hakeem Tabatabaie was born in a scholarly family in holy Najaf Iraq. He was a child prodigy, who after memorizing the holy Qur'an, strove to acquire higher degrees of knowledge and attained the status of Ijtehad. He taught jurisprudence and soon emerged as the leading scholar of the Najaf Seminary. Following the passing away of Grand Ayatollah Seyyed Hussain Boroujerdi in Qom, Iran, he became the sole Marja or Supreme Religious Authority with worldwide following. The hawza of Najaf grew immensely under his leadership. His historic opinion branding communism as kufr or atheism proved the beginning of the end of communism in Iraq. When the Father of the Islamic Revolution, Imam Khomeini (RA), was exiled from Iran by the Shah’s regime and took up residence in Iraq, he welcomed him in holy Najaf and provided support to him. Grand Ayatollah Hakeem’s suggestions and advices on political and social issues were valued by the Muslim Ummah. In 1967 AD, following the defeat of Arab armies in the six-day war he wrote to the heads of Muslim states to put aside their differences and unite against the illegal Zionist entity. During the last year of his life, following the coup that brought to power the tyrannical Ba’th minority regime in Baghdad, he was subjected to persecution and passed away at the age of 84. His sons and grandsons also emerged as leading scholars and were active on the political and social scenes. Many of them were martyred in a cowardly manner by Saddam and his henchmen, including son, Ayatollah Seyyed Mahdi in Khartoum, during an international conference in Sudan. Another of his sons, Ayatollah Seyyed Baqer al-Hakeem was the Leader of the Supreme Assembly for the Islamic Revolution of Iraq (SAIRI) and was martyred in a terrorist bomb blast after leading the Friday Prayer in the holy shrine of Imam Ali (AS) in Najaf. The present leader of the Iraqi Islamic Assembly, Hojjat al-Islam Seyyed Ammar al-Hakeem, is the grandson of the Late Grand Ayatollah al-Hakeem.

122 solar years ago, on this day in 1896 AD, the deadliest tsunami in Japan's history killed more than 22,000 people.

120 solar years ago, on this day in 1898 AD, an expansionist US, through a bill in the House of Representatives approved annexation of the kingdom of Hawaii, despite the opposition of the natives, five years after Queen Liliuokalani was forced to abdicate her throne by a group of US businessmen and sugar planters. She was the last reigning queen of the Hawaiian Islands in the Pacific Ocean, having ascended the throne in 1891 upon the death of her brother, King Kalakaua. In 1895, following her failed attempt to regain the throne, she was forced to renounce her royal status and shipped to the US, where her petition to seek compensation for the loss of her property was rejected. The Hawaiians signed what they called the "Monster Petition" which Queen Liliuokalani personally delivered to the US government, but this was also ignored. Hawaii thus became US territory against the wishes of the Hawaiian people and in 1959 was declared as the 50th state.

105 solar years ago, on this day in 1913 AD, the Battle of Bud Bagsak ended in the southern Philippines resulting in the crushing of the 14-year resistance of Filipino Muslims by the American occupiers, who killed their leader Datu Amil and his force of 500 in the 4-day battle. In all, some 20,000 Filipino men, women, and children were slaughtered by the US forces in addition to scores of thousands wounded. The US seized Spanish-controlled Philippines in 1898 at the start of the 4-year war against Spain, and the next year, in violation of all international rules claimed jurisdiction over the independent Muslim ruled archipelago of the Sultanate of Sulu in the south – a provocative move that led to the 14-year war. The Muslims of Philippines, which for five centuries were the dominant power in the south and had thwarted Spanish attempts to subjugate them, became the victims of American expansionism and forcibly made part of the administration in Manila. General John ‘Black Jack’ Pershing, who led the US forces in the battle for Mount Bagsak, later wrote to his wife in the US: "The fighting was the fiercest I have ever seen... They (the Muslims) are absolutely fearless, and once committed to combat they count death as a mere incident." The US went on to occupy Mindanao, Sulu, and Palawan, reduced the Sultan of Sulu to a mere figurehead religious leader, and illegally incorporated the Muslim “Moroland” into the Philippines. The word "Moro" is a term for ethnic Muslims used by the Spanish who used to refer to the Muslims of Iberia (Spain and Portugal) as “Moor”. The American occupiers even ignored the Treaty of Peace between Filipino Muslims and the Spanish signed on July 22, 1878.

100 solar years ago, on this day in 1918 AD, Ayatollah Seyyed Mustafa Mujtahedi Kashani passed away. After preliminary studies in his hometown Kashan and later in Isfahan, he attained the status of Ijtihad at the Islamic seminary of holy Najaf. In addition to being an accomplished poet in both Arabic and Persian, he was active in the struggle against despotism and foreign hegemony, as was evident by his support for the Constitutional Movement in Iran against the Qajarid Dynasty and British encroachment in the region. He was among the ulema, who issued the fatwa for jihad against the British occupation of Iraq, and was personally present at the scenes of confrontation against the foreign forces. His son was the famous Ayatollah Seyyed Abu’l-Qassim Kashani, who led the Iranian people during the oil nationalization campaign in the 1950s.

91 solar years ago, on this day in 1927 AD, famous Urdu poet, humourist, travelogue writer and columnist, Sher Mohammad Khan, known popularly by his penname “Ibn-e Insha”, was born in Phillaur, Punjab, in a family that hailed from Rajasthan. On the partition of the Subcontinent the family moved to Pakistan, and he lived most of his life in Karachi, working for various governmental services including Radio Pakistan, the Ministry of Culture and the National Book Centre. He also served the UN for some time and this enabled him to visit many places – including Iran – all of which served to inspire the travelogues he would then pen.

24 solar years ago, on this day in 1994 AD, Vatican, the seat of the Catholic sect of Christianity, shocked devout Christians by establishing full and formal diplomatic relations with the illegal Zionist entity, Israel, under pressure of the US. The Zionists ridicule the most fundamental beliefs of Christianity by slandering Prophet Jesus and his Virgin Mother, Mary (peace upon them).  

17 solar years ago, on this day in 2001 AD, the Leaders of China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan formed the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation in the city of the same name. It is a political and economic organisation, and the Islamic Republic of Iran, along with India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Mongolia, enjoys observer status at it.

8 solar years ago, on this day in 2010 AD, Iran signed contracts worth 21 billion dollars with local firms to develop six gas fields.

7 solar years ago, on this day in 2011 AD, the Islamic Republic of Iran launched another satellite into the earth’s orbit as part of its peaceful aeronautics programme to gather meteorological data.

AS/SS