Today is Friday; 22nd  of the Iranian month of Tir 1397 solar hijri; corresponding to 29th of the Islamic month of Shawwal 1439 lunar hijri; and July 13, 2018, of the Christian Gregorian Calendar.

2605 solar years ago, on this day in 587 BC, the 18-month siege of the holy city of Bayt al-Moqaddas by the Babylonian tyrant, Nebuchadnezzar II (Bokht an-Nasar), to crush the revolt of the Israelite Zedekiah (Sadqiya), who had sided with Pharaoh Hophra of Egypt, despite being installed as king by Nebuchadnezzar during his earlier invasion of Judah a decade earlier, ended with the fall of the city, which was plundered and razed to the ground, including Solomon’s Mosque for the worship of the One and Only God. The Prophet of God, Jeremiah (Irmiya), had cautioned the evil Zedekiah against such an action that would only bring war, woe and destruction upon the Israelites, who disregarding the monotheistic laws of Prophet Moses had turned to a life of idolatry and vice. Zedekiah, along with his followers attempted to escape, but was captured, made to see his sons put to death, before his own eyes were pulled out, and carried fettered as a captive to Babylon, where he remained a prisoner until death. Nebuchadnezzar, who transported almost all the population of Palestine to Mesopotamia (modern day Iraq), reportedly went mad for a period of seven years, as a result of divine affliction during his reign of 43 years. It is worth noting that the executed Godless Iraqi tyrant, Saddam of the repressive Ba’thist minority regime, used to regard himself as a reincarnation of Nebuchadnezzar, who was said to have been weaned on sow's milk.

1513 lunar years ago, on this day, 72 years before hijra (549 AD), Imran Ibn Shayba (Abdul-Muttaleb), known as Abu Taleb, the beloved uncle and guardian of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA) was born in Mecca. As consanguineous brother of the deceased Abdullah (the Prophet’s father), he took charge of his 8-year orphaned nephew on the death of his own father, Abdul-Muttaleb. He became head of the noble Bani Hashem clan following the death of his elder brother, Zubayr Ibn Abdul-Muttaleb. He subsequently became known as “Shaikh al-Bat-ha” (Senior-Most Chief of Mecca). As a follower of the monotheistic creed of his ancestor, Prophet Abraham (AS), he firmly believed in the message of Islam when God formally appointed his 40-year old nephew as the Last and Greatest Messenger to mankind. He thereafter protected the Prophet against the taunts and plots of the pagan Arabs. When the Meccans imposed the socio-economic boycott on the Prophet, he took his nephew and the whole neo-Muslim community under his protection to the safety of the gorge outside Mecca which is still called “She'b Abi Taleb”. The greatest contribution of Abu Taleb to Islam were his faithful and steadfast sons, Ja'far, Aqeel, and especially the Commander of the Faithful, Imam Ali (AS), whom God appointed as vicegerent to the Prophet. The marriage of Imam Ali (AS) with Hazrat Fatema Zahra (SA) meant that along with the Prophet, Abu Taleb became the grandfather of Imam Hasan (AS) and Imam Husain (AS) and subsequently the noble ancestor of the Ahl al-Bayt and all Seyyeds. His death at the age of 70, over two years before hijra, emboldened the pagan Arabs to plot against the Prophet, who on the command of God Almighty migrated to Medina.

1095 lunar years ago, on this day in 341 AH, Ma'adh Abu Tamim al-Mu'iz le Din-Allah, assumed power as the fourth caliph of the Fatemid Ismaili Shi’ite Muslim dynasty of North Africa in his capital Mahdiyya in what is now Tunisia. He reigned for 22 years during which he conquered Egypt, where in 362 AH, he shifted his capital to the newly built city “al-Qahera” (Cairo), built by his loyal Sicilian general, Jowhar as-Saqali. Jowhar, an ethnic Greek who embraced the truth of Islam and became a devout follower of the Ahl al-Bayt, also built in Cairo the grand al-Azhar Mosque, which derives its name from “az-Zahra” the famous epithet of Hazrat Fatema (SA), the daughter of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA). The Fatemids restored the full form of the “Azan” from the minarets of al-Azhar and other mosques, by bearing testimony to the vicegerency of Imam Ali (AS) after the mission of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA). The phrase "hayya ala khayr il-amal" (hasten to the best of deeds), which was dropped from the “Azan” by caliph Omar ibn Khattab, after the passing away of the Prophet, was also revived.

697 solar years ago, on this day in 1321 AD, the most prominent Sufi preacher of the Deccan (Southern India), Seyyed Mohammad Zaidi Hussaini, known popularly as “Band-e Nawaz Gesudaraz”, was born in Delhi into a family of migrants from Herat, Khorasan, that traced lineage to Martyr Zaid, the son of Imam Zain al-Abedin (AS) – the great-grandson and 4^th Infallible Heir of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA). He was a disciple of Seyyed Naseer od-Din, titled “Chiragh-e Dehli” (Lamp of Delhi), and spent several years in Qandahar (currently in Afghanistan) and Baluchestan as a preacher, before returning to Northern India. In 1398, at the age of 77, he moved south to Daulatabad in the Deccan, owing to the attack of Amir Timur on Delhi, and finally settled down in Gulbarga, at the invitation of Taj od-Din Firouz Shah of the Bahmani Dynasty of Iranian origin. He died 24 years later at the age of 101, and his shrine in Gulbarga is a site of pilgrimage. He wrote about 195 books in Arabic, Persian and the Deccani form of early Urdu. His book on Prophet Mohammad (SAWA) titled “Me’raj al-Asheqin” for the instruction of the masses is regarded as the first one of its kind in vernacular language, rather than in Persian or Arabic. He was a devout follower of the Prophet’s Ahl al-Bayt. Although the original inscriptions of his mausoleum no longer exist or have been tampered with, his wife’s mausoleum has remained in its original form, and on its entrance is inscribed in stone, the testimony of the Oneness of God, the Mission of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA), and the vicegerency of Imam Ali (AS).

600 lunar years ago, on this day in 839 AH, Taj od-Din Mohammad Shah, the 3^rd ruler of the Ghorid kingdom of Malwa in central India, was murdered only 4 years after succeeding his famous father, Husam od-Din Hoshang Shah, by his vizier, Mahmoud Khalji, who took the title of Ala od-Din Mahmoud Shah and established the Khalji dynasty that ruled the small kingdom for the next 96 years till its annexation by Bahadur Shah of Gujarat. Shadiabad (present Mandu), the capital of Malwa is famous for its Islamic style architectural wonders, built by the Ghorids, Khaljis, and later under the brief rule of Baz Bahadur. Malwa was a Persianate society throughout its 170-year history as an independent kingdom under three separate dynasties, with its rich contribution to Persian arts and literature.

318 solar years ago, on this day in 1700 AD, the Treaty of Istanbul was signed between Czarist Russia and the Ottoman Empire, ending the 14-year long Russo-Turkish War that had begun in 1686. Peter the Great saw the futility of continuing the war without his European allies against the Turks, and secured his occupation of the Azov region, thereby ending 230 years of Muslim rule, and gaining a vital outlet for Russia on the Black Sea. The treaty was superseded by the Treaty of the Pruth in 1711, which returned Azov to the Ottomans and remained with them until the 1783 war when the Russians again occupied it.

247 solar years ago, on this day in 1771 AD, the 3-year scientific voyage of the British sailor, James Cook, to the southern hemisphere ended. A team of biologists on his ship studied the plants, animals, and residents of the lands visited, while astronomers observed the Planet Venus during this long journey, which had commenced on July 26, 1768.

234 lunar years ago, on this day in 1205 AH, the great scholar, Mohammad Baqer ibn Mohammad Akmal, popular as “Waheed-e Asr” (Unique of the Age) and also known as Allamah Waheed Behbahani, passed away at the age of 90 in Karbala in Iraq and was laid to rest in the holy mausoleum of Imam Husain (AS). Born in Isfahan, he was the grandson (that is, daughter’s son) of the celebrated scholar, Allamah Mohammad Baqer Majlisi. On the occupation of Safavid Iran by the Afghans he moved to Behbahan near the Persian Gulf, before migrating to Iraq, where he headed the Usuli intellectual challenge to the Akhbari dominance led by Yusuf al-Bahrani. Waheed Behbahani, at first tentatively challenged the neo-Akhbari tendencies, before building up followers and scholastic confidence to lead the Usuli revival. The Akhbaris believed that the sole sources of law were the Holy Qur'an and the Hadith, in particular the Four Books accepted by Shi’a Muslims, maintaining that everything in these sources was in principle reliable, and outside them there was no authority competent to enact or deduce further legal rules. The Usuli believed that the Hadith collections contained narrations of very varying degrees of reliability, and that critical analysis was necessary to assess their authority. On this view, the task of the “faqih” (jurisprudent) is to establish intellectual principles of general application, known as usul al-fiqh, from which particular rules may be derived by way of deduction: accordingly, “ijtihad” or legal scholarship has the tools in principle for resolving any situation. Known as “Ostad-e Koll” (Master of All), and “Muhaqqiq Thalith” (3^rd Great Researcher), Allamah Waheed Behbahani groomed a large number of scholars and wrote several books, such as “al-Ijtehad wa’l-Akhbar”, “Masabih az-Zalam” (in 11 volumes), “ar-Rasa’el al-Usuliyyah”, “Tanbih al-Ghafeleen wa Ayqaz al-Raqedeen”, “at-Tuhfat al-Husainiyyah”, and Persian translation of the holy Qur’an.

211 lunar years ago, on this day in 1228 AH, the Golestan Treaty was imposed on Qajarid Iran by Czarist Russia in the village of the same name in the Caucasus, following ten years of warfare that led to the loss of vast areas of northwestern Iran. As per the treaty that was mediated by the crafty British, the Russians occupied what are now the republics of Daghestan and Georgia, as well as Baku in northern Azerbaijan. Thirteen years later in 1241 AH, Russia once again invaded Iran, and occupied other regions, such as Armenia, Nakhichevan and what is now the Republic of Azerbaijan.

140 solar years ago, on this day in 1878 AD, as per the Treaty of Berlin, the European powers redrew the map of the Balkans. As a result, Serbia, Montenegro and Romania became completely independent of the Ottoman Empire.

104 solar years ago, on this day in 1914 AD, the prominent scholar of Persian literature and Iranian studies, Mohammad Moin, was born in Rasht, the capital of Gilan Province, in a religious family. He learned Arabic at a young age, and completed his studies at Tehran's Dar al-Fonoun Academy, where he obtained BA in literature and philosophy in 1934. He went to Belgium and graduated in applied psychology, anthropology and cognitive science. On returning to Iran he did his doctoral research under Ibrahim Pour-Davoud at Tehran University, and received a PhD with honours in Persian literature and linguistics. He is the first doctoral graduate in Persian literature from Tehran University. In 1942, he began lecturing at Tehran University, where he was later appointed full professor and subsequently promoted as Distinguished Professor to the Chair of Literary Criticism and Research in Literary Texts. In 1946, with the start of publication of the famous Persian lexicon “Lughat-Nameh Dehkhoda” by Allamah Professor Ali Akbar Dehkhoda, he began cooperation with him and contributed valuable articles to the project, for which he was awarded by several world universities and academic-literary foundations. His magnum opus is the six-volume "Farhang-e Moin" (Moin Dictionary). He passed away in 1971 and was buried in Astaneh Ashrafiyeh.

74 solar years ago, on this day in 1944 AD, Hungarian mathematician and educator, Erno Rubik, famous for inventing “Rubik's Cube”, was born in Budapest. In 1974 he invented the Cube which consists of 26 small cubes that rotate on a central axis. It has nine coloured cube faces, in three rows of three each, form each side of the cube. When the cube arrangement is randomized, the player must then return it to the original condition of faces with matching colours, which is one among 43 quintillion possible configurations.

48 lunar years ago, on this day in 1391 AH, Ayatollah Moḥammad Taqi Amoli passed away in his hometown Tehran at the age of 85 and his body was taken to Mashhad for burial in the mausoleum of Imam Reza (AS). After initial studies under his scholarly father, he went to holy Najaf in Iraq for higher religious studies. His teachers were such great scholars as Ayatollah Mirza Hussain Na'ini, Ayatollah Aqa Ziya od-Din Iraqi, and Ayatollah Seyyed Abu’l-Hassan Isfahani. On his return to Tehran he began teaching and writing. A pious person who avoided publicity, he groomed several scholars and wrote many books such as “Glosses on Sharh Isharat of Ibn Sina”, “Glosses on Manzuma (versified philosophy) of Mullah Hadi Sabziwari”, and “Glosses on Kitab al-Makaseb of Ayatollah Shaikh Morteza Ansari”.

28 solar years ago, on this day in 1991 AD, prominent Iranian thinker, Allamah Seyyed Taher Seyedzadeh Hashemi, passed away in Kermanshah, western Iran. He strove to promote Islamic teachings and in addition to compiling numerous books, he was a highly capable calligrapher. He was fluent in Arabic, Persian and Kurdish languages and wrote numerous odes in these three languages.

22 solar years ago, on this day in 1996 AD, some Iranian cities saw an influx of thousands of lizards and snakes over the past three months. Rising levels of groundwater were cited as possible reasons.

18 solar years ago, on this day in 2000 AD, the prominent scholar, Ayatollah Seyyed Mohammad Waheedi Shabestari, passed away at the age of 84. He studied at the Qom Seminary under leading scholars, such as Sheikh Mahdi Mazandarani and Mirza Mohammad Ali Shahabadi, and mastered jurisprudence, theology, philosophy and gnosis. He settled in his hometown Shabestar, in northwestern Iran, and embarked on promotion of the teachings of the Ahl al-Bayt of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA) in West Azarbaijan and Kurdistan Provinces, where he built several mosques and hussainiyehs. He was active in the Islamic movement against the despotic regime of the British-installed and American-backed Pahlavi Shah.

10 solar years ago, on this day in 2008 AD, Iran announced the country is exploring a newly discovered oil field believed to contain more than 1 billion barrels of crude oil.

6 solar years ago, on this day in 2012 AD, Iran’s famous film and theater director, Hamid Samandarian, passed away in his hometown Tehran, at the age of 81. He staged numerous dramas, including “No Exit” by Jean-Paul Sartre. He trained several Iranian actors and directors including; Ezzatolah Entezami, Reza Kianian, Golab Adineh, Mahdi Hashemi, Parviz Pour-Hussaini, and Ahmad Aghalou.

AS/MG