Today is Sunday; 10th of the Iranian month of Tir 1397 solar hijri; corresponding to 17th of the Islamic month of Shawwal 1439 lunar hijri; and July 1, 2018, of the Christian Gregorian Calendar.

1434 lunar years ago, on this day in 5 AH, the Battle of Khandaq or Ditch, also known as the Battle of Ahzaab or Confederates, which a 10,000-strong joint force of pagan Arabs and Israelites had imposed upon Muslims by laying siege to Medina as part of the plot to kill Prophet Mohammad (SAWA), ended in decisive victory for Islam, thanks to the valour of the Commander of the Faithful, Imam Ali ibn Abi Taleb (AS). To defend the city against the mighty horde led by Abu Sufyan, the archenemy of Islam, the Muslims dug a ditch around the sensitive parts of Medina on the suggestion of Salman Farsi, the Prophet's Iranian companion. When the joint Arab-Israelite force arrived, it was surprised to see a ditch around Medina, and decided to besiege the city in order to break the will of the Muslims. As days passed and no breakdown of morale occurred in Medina, the fearsome Arab pagan warlord, Amr ibn Abduwad, along with some of his accomplices, leapt his horse across the ditch at its narrowest point and challenged the terrified Muslims to personal combat. Except for Imam Ali (AS), none of the companions of the Prophet dared to rise up against this veritable giant who had a nasty reputation of physical strength. A duel took place, and the Imam, despite receiving a wound on his forehead, knocked out Amr to the ground. At this moment, the fallen foe, turned out to be a coward, and spat at the Imam in a bid to avoid certain death. At this insult, Imam Ali (AS) gently withdrew to allow his emotions to cool down so that personal feelings do not mix with pure and sincere jihad in the way of God. The Arab infidel rose to his feet and renewed the life-and-death struggle, but this time the flashing sword of Imam Ali (AS), the famous double-bladed Zul-Feqar, made short work of the opponent who fell down dead to the ground. He then scattered the companions of Amr, and this valorous feat sent shivers down the spine of the Arab-Israelite hordes, making them break ranks and flee. The Prophet expressed the famous hadith this day: "The Stroke of Ali on the Day of Khandaq is superior to the worship of mankind and jinn."

1232 lunar years ago, on this day in 207 AH, Abu Salt al-Harawi, the loyal servant and companion of Imam Reza (AS), the 8th Infallible Heir of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA), passed away at the age of 45 and was laid to rest in the environs of holy Mashhad, where a shrine stands today and is a site of pilgrimage. Born in the holy city of Medina in an Iranian family from the Khorasani city of Herat, as is indicated by his surname ‘Harawi”, his name was Abdus-Salaam, the son of Saleh bin Sulayman bin Ayoub. He had the honour of meeting Imam Reza (AS) in Medina, and became a loyal disciple to him, never separating until the 8th Imam’s martyrdom in Tous, Khorasan. He also holds the honour of being a narrator of Hadith from Imam Reza (AS). He has reported on the matchless virtues of the Prophet’s Ahl al-Bayt and travelled over Hijaz, and to Yemen, Basra, Kufa, and through Khorasan to report narrations. Another of his virtues was that he used to debate the Murji'ya, the Jahmiya and the Qadariya sects regarding the genuine teachings of Islam. Aba Salt was the lone person at the side of the 8th Imam on his martyrdom through poisoning by the Abbasid caliph Ma’moun. After the Imam’s martyrdom, he was imprisoned by Ma’moun and escaped from the prison following the miraculous appearance of the 9th Imam Mohammad Taqi (AS), after he had supplicated to God for release. According to the famous bibliographer an-Najashi he had compiled a book on the martyrdom of the 8th Imam titled “Maqtal ar-Reza”.

1182 lunar years ago, on this day in 257 AH, the Godless Ali bin Mohammad, a person of obscure origin and said to be a descendant of slaves, who styled himself Sahib az-Zanj or Leader of the black-skinned people of East African origin, entered the Iraqi port city of Basra, after his sedition met with failure in Bahrain, and launched a general massacre of the populace, burning entire localities including the Jame’ Mosque, where he killed the eminent grammarian Abbas bin Faraj Riyyashi while in prayer. He is said to have lived for a while in the Abbasid capital, Samarra, where he mixed with some of the influential slaves of Caliph Muntasir and saw the deep financial discrimination among Muslim citizens as a result of state policy. He then moved to the Persian Gulf island of Bahrain, where he pretended to be Shi’ite or follower of the household of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA), in order to rouse the people into rebellion against the caliphate. His following grew so large that land taxes were collected in his name, but the rebellion eventually failed, and he relocated to Basra. Here he claimed himself to be a Kharijite or renegade from Islam and started collecting around him the bonded labourers of the marshlands. Soon, supported by the Arab Bedouin as well as black-skinned people, he styled himself Emir and embarked on plunder, death and destruction. His rebellion, which coincided with the secession of Egypt by Ahmad ibn Toloun and Yaqoub bin Laith Saffar’s uprising in Iran, lasted 14 years, during which he seized southern Iraq up to Wasset and parts of Iran’s Khuzestan, defeating several armies sent by the Abbasid caliphs, until he was defeated and killed in 267 AH. He left a trail of destruction and famine, with agricultural lands desolate and as many as half-a-million people killed. It is interesting to note that the Commander of the Faithful, Imam Ali (AS), prophesied the revolt of Saheb az-Zanj two centuries earlier, citing Prophet Mohammad (SAWA) as his source of information, as is evident from the following passage in Sermon 127 of the Nahj al-Balaghah:

“O' Ahnaf! It is as though I see him advancing with an army which has neither dust nor noise, nor rustling of reins, nor neighing of horses. They are trampling the ground with their feet as if they are the feet of ostriches.”

1150 solar years ago, on this day in 868 AD, according to the Gregorian calendar, Imam Ali an-Naqi al-Hadi, (AS), the 10th Infallible Heir of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA), was martyred through poisoning in the city of Samarra in Iraq at the age of 42 by Mo’taz, the self-styled caliph of the usurper Abbasid regime. The date of his martyrdom, as per the hijri calendar, is 3rd Rajab, which is annually marked as a day of mourning. Imam Hadi (AS), during his 34-year Imamate, groomed up the faithful for the crucial period of occultation of his grandson, the 12^th Imam. Besides enlightening the ummah on the genuine teachings of the Prophet, he bequeathed to humanity priceless gems of guidance in the form of “Ziyaraah” or standard salutations for the chosen of God, such as the “Ziyarat-e Jame’a” and the “Ziyarah” for the Commander of the Faithful, Imam Ali (AS), on the historic day of Ghadeer, when on divine commandment the Prophet proclaimed his dearest cousin and son-in-law as vicegerent.

921 solar years ago, on this day in 1097 AD, the Battle of Dorylaeum took place between the European crusader invaders and the Seljuqs, near the city of the same name in Anatolia in what is now Turkey. The Muslim army led by Khilij Arslan I and his allies, Hassan of Cappadocia, and Ghazi ibn Danishmend, was made up of Turks, Iranians, Kurds and Caucasians, who after a hard fought battle in which the crusaders were almost routed, withdrew from the battlefield. The crusader invaders were led by Bohemond of Taranto and supported by the Byzantine army.

818 solar years, on this day in 1200 AD, sunglasses were invented in China from flat panes of smoky quartz to protect the eyes from glare. Ancient documents describe the use of such crystal sunglasses by judges in ancient Chinese courts to conceal their facial expressions while questioning witnesses.

767 solar years ago, on this day in 1251 AD, Mongke Khan was crowned as the 4th Khaqaan (Great Khan) of the Mongol Empire and ruled for 8 years during which western Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Anatolia (present Turkey) were overrun and incursions made into the subcontinent (present day Pakistan). Son of Tolui and grandson of the bloodthirsty Chengiz Khan, he carried out administrative reforms of the vast empire, by employing Chinese, Muslim, and Uyghur officials. Nine of his 16 chief provincial officials were Muslims, such as Mahmud Yalavach in China, Masoud Beg in Turkestan, and Arghun Agha in Iran. He ordered his brother, Hulagu Khan to exterminate the Ismailis of Alamut in Iran (1256) and destroy Baghdad (1258). Despite his unsuccessful plan to forge an alliance with Christian Europe for attacking the Mamluk Empire of Egypt-Syria, he favoured Muslim perceptions. He and Hulagu made the people of the holy city of Najaf an autonomous tax-exempt ecclesiastical polity. He also exempted clerics, monks, churches, mosques, monasteries, and doctors from taxation.

741 solar years ago, on this day in 1277 AD, the Mamluk sultan of Egypt-Syria, az-Zahir Rukn od-Din Baibars al-Bunduqdari, died in Damascus at the age of 55. He was one of the commanders of the Muslim army which inflicted a devastating defeat on the Seventh Crusade of King Louis IX of France in 1250. Ten years later he led the vanguard of the Egyptian army at the Battle of Ain Jalut in 1260, which marked the first crushing defeat of the Mongol army of Buddhist and Christians, and is considered a turning point in history. A Qipchaq Turk, who as a child was sold into slavery, he rose to become the first of the Bahri Mamluk sultans, and managed to pave the way for the end of the Crusader occupation by uniting Egypt and Syria into one powerful state that was able to fend off threats from both Crusaders and Mongols. He was buried in the az-Zahiriyah Library in Damascus.

587 solar years ago, on this day in 1431 AD, the Battle of La Higueruela (literally: "the little fig tree") was fought beside the River Genil near Granada between the Spanish Muslim forces of Mohammad IX (15th ruler of the Nasrid Sultanate) and the Christian mercenary army of John II of Castile. The battle resulted in a temporary setback for Mohammad IX, who was forced to abdicate in favour of Yusuf IV (grandson of Mohammad VI), but was restored to the throne the next year with the death of his rival. During the next two decades until his death in 1453, except for a 3-year period when he again lost power before making another comeback in 1448, Mohammad IX actively defended Granada and liberated many of the Christian-occupied parts of the Spanish Muslim emirate.

372 solar years ago, on this day in 1646 AD, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, German mathematician, philosopher and political adviser, was born. He was both a metaphysician and a logician, and is said to have invented the differential and integral calculus, independent of Isaac Newton, although it is believed he might have had access to translations of the works of Islamic mathematicians, who had discovered various calculus several centuries earlier.

185 solar years ago, on this day in 1863 AD, during the US civil war, the Battle of Gettysburg began in and around the town of the same name in Pennsylvania between the Union and Confederate armies, and is the largest military conflict in North American history. The battle involved the largest number of casualties of the 5-year war and is described as the war's turning point. General Robert E. Lee's Confederate Army after initial success surrendered the initiative on the 3rd day to Union Major-General George Meade, and retreated to Virginia.

179 solar years ago, on this day in 1839 AD, Mahmood II, the 30th Ottoman sultan and the 21st self-styled Turkic caliph, died at the age of 50 after a reign of 31 years, during which he carried out administrative, fiscal and military reforms, including abolishment of the Jan-Nisari Corps, although his armies were routed in the Battle of Erzurum in 1821 by Iranian forces led by Qajarid Crown Prince, Abbas Mirza, as part of the Ottoman-Persian War of 1821-to-1823. A few years later in 1827, the combined British, French and Russian navies defeated the Ottoman Navy at the Battle of Navarino during the Greek rebellion, forcing Mahmood to recognize the independence of Greece with the Treaty of Constantinople in July 1832. Two years earlier in 1830, with France’s occupation of province of Algeria, the beginning of the gradual break-up of the Ottoman Empire had started. Non-Turkish ethnic groups living in the empire's territories, especially in Europe, started their own independence movements. Son of Abdul-Hamid I and his French concubine Naqshdil (Aimee du Buc de Rivery, cousin of Empress Josephine the wife of French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte who was captured at sea by Barbary seamen and sold in Istanbul), Mahmood, who was lucky to have escaped death at the hands of his fratricidal brother, Sultan Mustafa IV before becoming sultan, was succeeded by his son Abdul-Majid I.

176 lunar years ago, on this day in 1263 AH, the eminent scholar, Seyyed Ibrahim Karbalai, passed away in the holy city of Karbala in Iraq at the age of 49. Born in Iran, after preliminary studies at his homeland, he left for Iraq, where in holy Karbala he spent the rest of his life, studying and lecturing on Islamic sciences. Among the books remaining from this Islamic scholar, mention can be made of "Dala’el al-Ahkaam", and "Treatises on Hajj Pilgrimage".

153 lunar years ago, on this day in 1286 AH, the prominent scholar Seyyed Mohammad Quli Kintoori passed away near Lucknow in northern India. Scion of a scholarly family from Naishapur in Khorasan, Iran, which had migrated to India and settled in Barabankavi and the town of Kintoor, he is the author of “Burhan as-Sa`adah”, and “Taqlib al-Maka’ed”, which are refutations of the 7th and 12th Chapters respectively of the seditious book of Shah Abdul-Aziz Dehlavi against the beliefs of the Ahl al-Bayt of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA) titled “Tohfeye- Ithna Ashariyyah”. He served in the judicial branch as a civil servant of the court of law, and presided as judge at the High Court of Meerut, where he authored the treatise “Adalat al-Alawiyya” on the exemplary judgements of Imam Ali (AS), the first Infallible Heir of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA). He also authored the book “Thathir al-Mu'minin an Najasat al-Mushrikin”. He strove to implement the Imami legal system in the kingdom of Awadh ruled by a family of Naishapur Seyyeds of Iranian origin, and adopted the code of governmental laws of the erstwhile Qotb Shahi kingdom of Golkandah-Haiderabad in the Deccan or southern India, ruled by an Iranian family from Hamedan. Mohammad Quli Kintoori was the father of the celebrated Ayatollah Seyyed Hamed Hussain Musavi the author of the famous book “Abaqaat al-Anwaar” on the merits of the Prophet’s Ahl al-Bayt, as mentioned in the holy Qur'an by God Almighty and the Hadith.   

151 solar years ago, on this day in 1867 AD, Britain granted self- rule to Canada, over which it had fought France for 75 years as of 1689. Canada covers an area of nearly 10 million sq km, and is the world’s second largest country. It is situated between the Pacific, Atlantic, and Arctic Oceans, and shares borders with the US.

58 solar years ago, on this day in 1960 AD, with the unity of British controlled Somaliland and Italian-held Somalia, the Muslim country of Somalia was formed and became independent after almost 8 decades of European colonial rule. From 1901 to 1920, the Somali people had staged a memorable uprising led by Mohammad ibn Abdullah Hessan for independence of their homeland. From 1969 to 1991, Mohammad Ziyad Barre took control of Somalia and brought relative stability, despite an eight-month inconclusive war with Ethiopia over the Somali-populated Ogaden region. Somalia is situated in East Africa with coastlines on the Indian Ocean and the Gulf of Aden. It covers an area of more than 637,000 sq km and shares borders with Kenya, Djibouti, and Ethiopia.

58 solar years ago, on this day in 1960 AD, Ghana became a Republic with Kwame Nkrumah as president. Elected prime minister in 1952, while the country was still under British colonial rule, in 1957, Nkrumah declared the independence of Ghana which three years later on this day became a republic. In 1966, Nkrumah was overthrown in a coup master-minded by the US, Britain and France, while he was on a state visit abroad. Thereafter, the country has seen several coups. Ghana covers an area of more than 238,000 sq km. It has a coastline on the Atlantic Ocean and shares borders with Togo, Burkina Faso, and Ivory Coast. Of its fast growing 20-percent plus Muslim population, many are followers of the School of the Ahl al-Bayt of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA).

56 solar years ago, on this day in 1962 AD, the small landlocked east African countries of Rwanda and Burundi gained independence from the UN and Belgium respectively. In 1994, a bloody war broke out between the two tribes of Hutu and Tutsi in Burundi, which claimed more than 800,000 lives.

50 solar years ago, on this day in 1968 AD, the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) was signed in Washington, London and Moscow by sixty-two countries, including Iran, with the objective of preventing the spread of nuclear weapons and weapons technology, promoting cooperation in the peaceful use of nuclear energy, and furthering the goal of nuclear disarmament. A total of 191 states are currently its members, though North Korea, which acceded to NPT in 1985, withdrew in 2003 because of US nuclear threats. Four countries have never joined the NPT: India, Pakistan and the illegal Zionist entity, all three of which are nuclear armed powers, in addition to the five self-imposed permanent UN Security Council member states –the United States of America, Russia, China, Britain and France. Unfortunately, the NPT has failed in its objectives, as is evident by the developing of new and more lethal nuclear weapons by the officially-recognized nuclear weapons states, and the politicization of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s peaceful nuclear project in a bid to deprive Iran of its inalienable rights.

21 solar years ago, on this day in 1997 AD, Britain returned the strategic Island of Hong Kong to China, after occupying it for 155 years during the Opium War which was imposed on China. Hong Kong is one of major commercial hubs of the world.

9 solar years ago, on this day in 2009 AD, in one of the most blatant cases of hatred of Islam in Germany, 31-year Marwa ash-Sherbini, a pregnant Muslim woman from Egypt, was stabbed to death in a Dresden courtroom in front of her son, while attending a court case against her neighbour for calling her a terrorist for wearing Hijab. Muslim-hater, 28-year old Alex Wiens stabbed her at least 16 times inside the courtroom, while the security guards, the judge and lawyers watched silently in tacit approval. But when her horrified husband, Alwi Okaz, who was in Germany on a research fellowship, leapt to her aid, he was shot by a security guard in the leg and also stabbed by Wiens.

AS/ME