Today is Sunday; 31st of the Iranian month of Tir 1397 solar hijri; corresponding to 8th of the Islamic month of Zil-Qa’dah 1439 lunar hijri; and July 22, 2018, of the Christian Gregorian Calendar.

1180 solar years ago, on this day in 838 AD, the Muslims inflicted a shattering defeat on the Byzantine Christian army and its allies, the Kurdish and Persian Khurramites, in the Battle of Anzen – also known as Dazimon – which was fought in Anatolia in what is now Dazman in Turkey. The hostilities were started by Byzantine emperor, Theophilos, the previous year when he raided and occupied several Muslim border towns. In retaliation, a Muslim army of Arabs, Persians and Turks, was sent from Abbasid Baghdad under command of the Iranian general, Afshin Khaydaar bin Kavous who a year earlier as governor of Azarbaijan and Armenia had crushed the rebellion of Babak Khorramdin and captured him. The Muslim plan was to seize Amorion (Ammuriye in Arabic), one of the largest cities of the Eastern Roman Empire. Emperor Theophilos personally led a huge Christian army that included Asian and European contingents, the elite “Tagmata” regiments, and a regiment called the "Persian Tourma" made up of Iranian and Kurdish apostates under Nasr, who along with 16,000 had converted to Christianity and baptized himself as Theophobos. In the initial stages, the Byzantine force was successful, but it broke ranks and fled when General Afshin's horse-archers launched a fierce counter-attack. Emperor Theophilos and his guard were besieged on a hill, before managing to flee all the way to the capital Constantinople. It was one of the most disastrous blows the Byzantines had suffered, and a few weeks later the Muslims captured Amorion – whose ruins are located near the village of Hisarkoy, Turkey.

1060 lunar years ago, on this day in 379 AH, the Iranian Islamic astronomer, mathematician, and historian of science, Abu Hamed Ahmad Ibn Mohammed as-Saghani al-Asturlabi, passed away in Baghdad. He was from the town of Saghan in Khorasan near the city of Merv, which is presently in Turkmenistan, and lived most of his life in Baghdad. As is evident from his last surname “al-Asturlabi”, he was a maker of astrolabes and invented many other instruments, while working in the observatory built by Sharaf od-Dowla Daylami, the Iranian Buwaiyhid ruler of Iraq. He worked on the trisection of the angle. He wrote some of the earliest comments on the history of science. These included comparison between the "ancients" that is, the Babylonians, Egyptians, Persians, Greeks and Indians, and the "modern scholars", that is, the Muslim scientists of his time.

1054 lunar years ago, on this day in 385 AH, the Shafei hadith scholar Ali Ibn Omar Dar Qutni, passed away in his hometown Baghdad. After basic studies in Baghdad, Kufa, Waset and Basra, he traveled to Egypt and Greater Syria, in search of hadith. He was an authority on poetry and literature as well. Among his works, mention can be made of the book known as “Sunan Dar Qutni”, in which he has collected the hadith through different sources, and has mentioned some of the merits of the Infallible Ahl al-Bayt of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA).

751 lunar years ago, on this day in 688 AH, Iranian philosopher, Sufi writer, and Persian poet, Fakhr od-Din Ibrahim bin Bozorgmehr Iraqi, passed away in Damascus at the age of 80, and was laid to rest beside the tomb of the famous Spanish Muslim Gnostic, Sheikh Mohy od-Din ibn al-Arabi. Born in Hamadan, western Iran, he spent many years in Multan, (present day Pakistan) as well as in Konya and Toqat in present day Turkey. He was highly educated in both theology and literary disciplines and not only knew the Holy Qur'an, hadith and its exegesis, but also Persian and Arabic literature. In Multan he became a disciple of the Head of the Suhrawardi Sufi Order, Shaikh Baha od-Din Zakariyya, married his daughter, and stayed for twenty-five years. He then traveled first to Mecca and Medina, and later visited Konya, where he became a good friend of the famous Persian mystical poet, Mowlana Jalal od-Din Rumi. He also met Sadr od-Din Qunawi, who helped to shape him intellectually, as Shaikh Baha od-Din Zakariyya had shaped him spiritually. After Rumi's death, he moved to Toqat, at a time when there was much upheaval on the Byzantine border. The local ruler did not like him because of his influence over the people; so he fled to Cairo in Egypt. Later he settled in Damascus. His writings include “Lama’at” (Divine Flashes). His Diwan has been published in Iran under the title of “Kulliyaat-e Iraqi”. Another of his works is “Ushshaq-Namah” written during his stay in Multan and dedicated to the vizier Shams od-Din Juwayni.

562 solar years ago, on this day in 1456 AD, Ottoman Sultan, Mohammad II, suffered a defeat during his siege of Belgrade, three years after his capture of Constantinople that ended the Byzantine Empire. Hungarian warlord, John Hunyadi, led the counterattack on the Turks in which the Sultan was wounded and forced to retreat. This stopped the Muslim advance towards the heart of Christian Europe for 70 years until the fall of Belgrade to the Turks in 1521, although in the preceding years, the Ottomans continued to tighten their hold on the Balkans.

405 solar years ago, on this day in 1613 AD, with the coronation of Mikhail Romanov, the second and last imperial dynasty of Russia until the February 1917 Revolution that abolished the monarchy, began its rule. The later history of this dynasty is referred to as the House of Holstein-Gottorp-Romanov, since the direct line of the Romanovs ended with Peter II, and after an era of dynastic crisis, the throne of Russia went to Peter I’s maternal grandson, the son of the German Duke of Holstein-Gottorp – a cadet branch of the House of Oldenburg – who in 1762 ascended the Russian throne as Peter III. The repressive rule of the Czars worsened the plight of the Russian people, resulting in political and economic problems that led to the uprising that deposed Nicolas II in 1917. Later that year, the uprising of the Russian people was hijacked by the communists led by Vladimir Lenin, who established the far more repressive socialist regime that collapsed in 1991. From the 18th century, expansionist Russia continued to attack and occupy large parts of the Ottoman and Iranian empires, in addition to occupation of the Muslim lands of Central Asia.

370 solar years ago, on this day in 1648 AD, Some 10,000 Jews of Polannoe in Poland were killed by forces of the Cossack Bogdan Chmielnicki, for their treason against Christianity and their slandering of Prophet Jesus and the Virgin Mary.

279 solar years ago, on this day in 1739 AD, an Ottoman army defeated the Holy Roman Emperor's troops at the Battle of Crocyka in the Balkans and proceeded to retake Belgrade. The Austrians were forced to cede northern Serbia and part of Romania to the Turks.

86 lunar years ago, on this day in 1353 AH, the prominent jurisprudent Mullah Mohammad Hussain Fesharaki, passed away in his hometown Isfahan at the age of 87. After initial study under his elder brother Shaikh Mohammad Baqer Fesharaki, he left for Iraq for higher religious studies at the famous seminary of holy Najaf, where his teachers included Ayatollah Mirza Habibollah Rashti, Ayatollah Shaikh Zain al-Abedin Mazandarani, and Ayatollah Mirza Hassan Shirazi (famous for the fatwa against tobacco consumption in order to save Iranian economy from British exploitation). On his return to Iran, he served as teacher at the seminary of Isfahan, and was active both socially and politically, in order to counter un-Islamic trends and laws creeping into the Iranian society. He formed a council of ulema in Isfahan in support of the ulema of Tehran who were active against the despotic policies of the Qajarid monarchy, and in order to safeguard Iranian economy, issued a 5-point declaration specifying that the ulema will not attest any document written on imported paper, and will not perform the funeral prayer of any deceased person whose shroud is made of imported cloth instead of Iranian cloth. Even the British installed Pahlavi dictator, Reza Khan, despite his disdain and maltreatment of the ulema, was afraid of Ayatollah Mohammad Hussain Fesharaki.

72 solar years ago, on this day in 1946 AD, Zionist terrorists that included Menachem Begin and Yitzhak Shamir – later to become premiers of the usurper state of Israel – blew up a wing of the King David Hotel in Bayt ol-Moqaddas, which housed British administrative offices. Over 90 people were killed, including 28 Englishmen, Arabs and Jews. The terrorists were members of a Zionist outfit called Lehi (Lohamei Herut Israel), earlier known as the Stern Gang.

57 solar years ago, on this day in 1961 AD, France landed 7,000 troops on Bizerte, in Northeast Tunisia, following the blockade of this port city by the Tunisian army and navy, after the French refused to evacuate it. Due to Bizerte's strategic location on the Mediterranean Sea, France had kept control of Bizerte even after Tunisia gained its independence in 1956. The three day battle resulted in over 700 dead and 1,300 wounded. The French military finally abandoned Bizerte on 15 October 1963.

48 lunar years ago, on this day in 1391 AH, Ayatollah Mirza Ahmad Najafi Khorasani Kifayi, passed away in holy Mashhad at the age of 91 and was laid to rest in the mausoleum of Imam Reza (AS) beside the grave of his elder brother Mirza Mahdi Ayatollahzadeh. Born in holy Najaf in Iraq to the celebrated scholar Mohammad Kazem Akhound Khorasani – author of the famous jurisprudential work “Kifayat al-Osoul” – he attended the classes of leading scholars such as Ayatollah Seyyed Abu’l-Hassan Isfahani, and his own eldest brother, Mirza Mohammad Aqazadeh Khorasani, before studying for ten years under his father, and attaining the status of Ijtehad. Of good appearance and blessed with a sharp wit and keen insight, he was also active in politics, supporting the Constitutional Movement in Iran against the despotism of the Qajarid Dynasty, and participating in the 1920 Revolution in Iraq against the British as the trusted assistant of Ayatollah Mirza Mohammad Taqi Shirazi. When the British martyred Ayatollah Mohammad Taqi Shirazi through poisoning and crushed the revolution, Ayatollah Mirza Ahmad Kifayi fled to Hijaz, staying for a year in the holy cities of Mecca and Medina. He returned to Najaf, but a couple of years later in 1923 (1341 AH), along with several ulema of Iranian origin, was expelled to Iran by the imported dynasty of Faisal of Mecca, whom the British installed as king in Baghdad. He took up residence in holy Mashhad, where his eldest brother was already based, and besides teaching at the seminary, played a vital role in thwarting the Russian plot to seize Khorasan. He also opposed the British installation of the illiterate soldier, Reza Khan Pahlavi, as king of Iran. The new regime imprisoned in Tehran and martyred his eldest brother Ayatollah Mirza Mohammad Aqazadeh. He now took charge of the seminary of Mashhad, before being banished to Tabriz in Azarbaijan, where during World War 2, he spared no efforts to awaken the people against the plot of the Tudeh communist party to detach this northwestern part of Iran and turn it into a Soviet republic. He returned to Mashhad during the reign of Mohammad Reza and revived the seminary. He held in high esteem the young and aspiring Father of the Islamic Revolution, Imam Khomeini (God bless him), hailing him during the 1963 Khordad 15 Uprising against the Pahlavi potentate, as “Iran’s Prime Personality” – a prediction that came true a decade and a half later.    

20 solar years ago, on this day in 1998 AD, Iran conducted a successful Shahab 3 missile test with a medium-range of 1,250 km as part of efforts for self-sufficiency in the defence field.

19 lunar years ago, on this day in 1420 AH, Ayatollah Mirza Rahim Samet passed away at the age of 99 in his hometown Qazvin. Born in an academic family to the Prayer Leader Mirza Hussain Qazvini, he traced his descent to the famous Safavid era scholar Rafi od-Din Mohammad Va’ez Qazvini (died 1089 AH), the author of “Abwaab al-Jenaan”. After preliminary religious education in Qazvin, he left for Qom for higher studies and for five years attended the classes of leading ulema, including Ayatollah Hojjat Koh-Kamarei. He then travelled to Iraq and during his ten years at the seminary in holy Najaf, where he attained the status of Ijtehad, he studied under such prominent ulema as Ayatollah Seyyed Abu’l-Hassan Isfahani, Ayatollah Zia od-Din Iraqi, and Ayatollah Mirza Hussain Na’ini. On his return to Iran, he took up teaching in his hometown, and for almost half-a-century was head of the Qazvin seminary. He groomed a large number of students and wrote several books.

16 solar years ago, on this day in 2002 AD, while Palestinian women and children were asleep at night, Zionist aircraft attacked the Gaza Strip with F-16 jetfighters, martyring Commander of the armed wing of the Hamas Movement, Sheikh Salah Shahadeh, along with 16 civilians, while over 150 others sustained injuries. Nine innocent children were among the martyrs of this air raid. Sheikh Salah Shahadeh, who was martyred in this terrorist attack along with his wife and daughter, had spent a total of 12 years in the Zionist regime’s dungeons and was tortured on several occasions.

15 solar years ago, on this day in 2003 AD, Uday and Qusay, the two bloodthirsty sons of Saddam, the ousted brutal dictator of the Ba'th minority regime of Iraq, were gunned down in the vicinity of the northern Iraqi city of Mosul by their own former benefactors, the Americans, while trying to flee the country along with other officials. Uday and Qusay were involved in many of the heinous crimes committed by Saddam against the Iraqi people and maintained important portfolios while their father was in power.

AS/ME