Today is Friday; 27th of the Iranian month of Farvardin 1395 solar hijri; corresponding to 7th of the Islamic month of Rajab 1437 lunar hijri; and April 15, 2016, of the Christian Gregorian Calendar.

1132 lunar years ago, on this day in 305 AH, the Muslim scholar and literary figure, Ibn Tarara, was born in Iraq. Among his works mention could be made of the voluminous book titled “al-Jalees as-Saleh al-Kafi wa'l-Anees an-Naseh ash-Shafi”. He passed away in 390 AH. 

621 solar years ago, on this day in 1395 AD, Amir Timur (Tamerlane) defeated Tokhtamysh, the ruler of the vast Golden Horde Khanate of Eurasia, at the Volga in the Battle of Terek River, during the bloody 16-year struggle between the two, known as the Tokhtamysh–Timur War. The Golden Horde capital city, Sarai, was razed to the ground and Amir Edigu, installed on the throne. Tokhtamysh escaped to Lithuania, where with help from Duke Vytautas, he made a bid to regain his throne, but the combined forces were defeated in the Battle of the Vorskla River in 1399 by Edigu and Timur’s general, Khan Temur Qutlugh. In the late 1370s, Timur had helped Tokhtamysh to assume supreme power in the White Horde against the latter's uncle Urus Khan. Tokhtamysh united the White and Blue Hordes to form the Golden Horde, and launched a massive military campaign between 1381 and 1382 to re-establish Turko-Tartar Muslim suzerainty over Russia. In 1383, after defeating Lithuania, Tokhtamysh thirsted for territorial ambitions in Iran and Central Asia, by turning against his ally, Timur, who resolved to punish him. After a series of defeats, Tokhtamysh was pursued and killed in Tyumen, Siberia, in 1406.

564 solar years ago, on this day in 1452 AD, the Italian painter, sculptor, architect and engineer, Leonardo da Vinci, was born. He designed buildings, bridges, canals, forts and war machines. He kept huge notebooks sketching his ideas. Among these, he was fascinated by birds and flying, and his sketches include such fantastic designs as flying machines. These drawings demonstrate a genius for mechanical invention and insight into scientific inquiry. He is regarded as one of the greatest painters of all times, best known for such masterpieces as “Mona Lisa” and “The Last Supper”. He died in 1519.

547 solar years ago, on this day in 1469 AD, the founder of the Sikh religion, Guru Nanak, was born in what is now Nankana Sahib, Punjab, near Lahore in Pakistan. On growing up he became disillusioned by the weird practices of the Hindus such as idol-worship, the divisive caste system, etc. He travelled widely, as far as Baghdad and holy Mecca, and as is clear from his teachings, he became profoundly impressed by the egalitarian teachings of the divine message of Islam. He thus taught that God is One, is Omnipotent, Omnipresent, without shape and form, not bound by time, and cannot be perceived by the physical eye of creatures. According to him the Sikhs should have control over their internal vices and adhere to the virtues clarified in their religious book, the Guru Granth Sahib. He died in 1539 at the age of 70. Among prohibitions in Sikhism are idol-worship and superstition, ban on consumption of all sorts of intoxicants (alcohol, drugs, and even tobacco), abstention from adultery and extra marital relations, and refraining from cutting hair. The Sikh population is estimated to be 30 million worldwide, with the majority of them living in India, especially in Punjab State.

527 solar years ago, on this day in 1489 AD, the Ottoman master architect, Me’mar Sinan, was born in Cyprus to Greek Christian parents. At the age of 22 he converted to Islam and joined the Sultan’s court in Istanbul, where he became the chief architect and civil engineer for Suleiman the Magnificent, Salim II, and Murad III. He designed and built over three hundred major structures, including mosques, bridges, caravanserais, etc, in Istanbul, Damascus, Aleppo and other cities. His masterpieces include, the beautiful Suleimaniyyah Mosque Complex in Istanbul. He is often compared to the Italian Sculptor, Michelangelo.

505 lunar years ago, on this day in 932 AH, the Timurid ruler of Kabul, Zaheer od-Din Babar, defeated Sultan Ibrahim Lodhi of Hindustan or Northern Subcontinent, at the Battle of Panipat. He then took control of Delhi and Agra, thereby laying foundations of the Mughal Empire that would reach its zenith during the rule of the 6th and last "Great Mughal" Aurangzeb, encompassing what are now India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and eastern Afghanistan. After two centuries of glory, the Mughal Empire shrank to Delhi and its suburbs, ending in 1857 AD with the British capture of the last ruler, Bahadur Shah Zafar and his exile to Burma. Babur was born in Andijan in the Ferghana Valley in what is now Uzbekistan. He was the son of the local ruler Omar Shaikh Mirza, who in turn was a great-grandson of the fearsome Turkic conqueror Amir Timur. From his mother's side he was a descendant of the Mongol marauder, Genghis Khan. A Persianized Turk, Babar, as a protégé of Shah Ismail I, the Founder of the Safavid Dynasty of Iran, had earlier succeeded in gaining brief control of Timur's capital Samarqand, before being driven out by the Uzbeks. Babur's army, which conquered Delhi also included Qizilbash Iranian fighters, who as one of the most influential groups in the Mughal court, would promote Persian language and culture in the subcontinent, as well as the teachings of the Prophet's Ahl al-Bayt, which until then were brutally suppressed in Northern India.

451 lunar years ago, on this day in 986 AH, the Battle of Jıldır was fought in northeast Anatolia as the initial armed encounter of the 12-year war between the Ottomans and the Safavids for control of the Caucasus, thus ending the 23-year Peace of Amasya, two years after the death of Shah Tahmasb I of Iran and four years after the death of the Turkish sultan, Sulaiman – the two signatories to the peace treaty. These inter-Muslim hostilities were started by Murad III, who resenting the growing inclination of the Turkish tribes of Anatolia towards the school of the Prophet's Ahl al-Bayt, made a pact with France, stopped the Ottoman push into Europe, and massacred thousands of Shi'ite Muslims in his dominions. Although the Ottomans defeated the Persian army, seized Tiflis, the capital of Georgia from Iran, and went on to occupy Daghestan's capital Derbend on the Caspian Sea, their victories were temporary, as these areas were later liberated by Shah Abbas I.

309 solar years ago, on this day in 1707 AD, Swiss mathematician, physicist, and astronomer, Leonhard Euler, was born. He made discoveries in mechanics and has left behind valuable notes about the changes in planets. He authored several books in chemistry and metaphysics. At the age of 60, he went blind and died in 1783.

260 solar years ago, on this day in 1755 AD, British writer Dr. Samuel Johnson published his “Dictionary of the English Language”, a selective English lexicon, after 9 years of work. The 1st edition had 42,773 entries.

251 solar years ago, on this day in 1765 AD, Russian poet and literary figure, Mikhail Vasilyevich Lomonosov, died at the age of 54. Through extensive research, he standardized the Russian literary language and is known as Father of Russian Literature.

187 lunar years ago, on this day in 1250 AH, Mohammad Shah succeeded his grandfather, Fath Ali Shah, to the Peacock Throne of Iran as the third Qajarid King. Son of Crown Prince Abbas Mirza, who predeceased Fath Ali Shah by less than a year, he immediately sidelined his prudent premier, Mirza Abu’l-Qasem Qa’em Maqaam Farahani, and replaced him with Mirza Aqasi, who was a pawn of the British and the Russians. During Mohammad Shah's reign, the parts of northwestern Iran in the Caucasus were occupied by Russia. Moreover, the rivalry of Russia and Britain for control of Iran increased. Hoping for assistance from Russia, Mohammad Shah deployed forces to control unrest in Herat, which was part of Iran’s soil and capital of Khorasan. However, due to Moscow’s breach of promise, coupled with London’s covert conspiracies, Herat was separated from Iran and annexed to British-controlled Afghanistan. Finally, this unwise Qajarid ruler died in 1264 AH, and was succeeded by his underage son, Nasser od-Din Shah.

164 lunar years ago, on this day in 1273 AH, the Treaty of Paris ended the Anglo-Persian War, which the British had imposed on Iran by attacking and occupying Bushehr on the Persian Gulf as well as Khorramshahr, in order to pressure Nasser od-Din Shah Qajar to surrender the city of Herat and its surroundings in Khorasan to their Afghan ally. Herat, the then capital of Khorasan, had been part of Iran from time immemorial till the war broke in 1272 AH when its rebellious governor declared independence and placed the area under British protection. As per the Treaty of Paris, the weakened government of Iran withdrew from Herat and was forced to drop all claims to this historical Iranian city and most of eastern Khorasan, which is now part of Afghanistan today. The British had launched their sea attacks on Iran from their naval bases in Mumbai by deploying battalions of sepoys (corruption for the Persian word "sipahi" for Indian soldiers), who earlier in the year had been used to overthrow Wajed Ali Shah of the Naishapuri Dynasty of Iranian origin of Awadh in northern India.

151 solar years ago, on this day in 1865 AD US President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth, a few days after victory of the Unionists in the Civil War against the Confederates and the end of slavery.

104 solar years ago, on this day in 1912 AD, two hours and 40 minutes after colliding with an iceberg, the luxury British ocean liner “Titanic” sank in the North Atlantic Ocean off Newfoundland with the loss of about 1,522 lives. Only 705 passengers and crew survived the disaster.

80 solar years ago, on this day in 1936 AD, the 3-year long "Great Arab Revolt" against British occupation of Palestine and the illegal migration of European Jews to this Muslim land, started, five months after martyrdom of the famous combatant, Ezz ed-Din Qassam. His death at the hands of the British generated widespread outrage as huge crowds accompanied Qassam's body to his grave in Haifa. The revolt consisted of two phases. The first phase was directed primarily by the urban and elitist Higher Arab Committee (HAC) and was focused mainly on strikes and other forms of political protest. The uprising was brutally suppressed by the British Army and its armed Zionist agents, who killed over 2,000 Palestinians. However, the figure is far higher as recently disclosed by the Walid Khalidi estimates which put the number of casualties for the Arabs at 19,792, with 5,032 dead. Of these 3,832 Palestinians were directly killed by the British, while the remaining 1,200 were killed by Zionist terrorist gangs. In addition, over 14,760 Palestinian men, women and children were wounded. In other words, over ten percent of the adult male Palestinian Arab population between the ages of 20 and 60 years was killed, wounded, imprisoned or exiled.

36 solar years ago, on this day in 1980 AD, French existentialist philosopher, novelist and dramatist, Jean-Paul Sartre died in Paris at the age of 74. His work included "Being and Time" and "Nausea". He won the 1964 Nobel Prize for literature.

34 solar years ago, on this day in 1982 AD, , Khalid Ahmad al-Islambouli, the 27-year old Egyptian army officer who executed Egypt's President Anwar Sadaat in revolutionary style during the annual 6th October victory parade in 1981 for having signed in 1978 the treasonous Camp David Accord with the illegal Zionist Entity, was martyred after a sham trial by a military tribunal, along with his three fellow revolutionaries – Junior Sergeant Abdul-Hameed Abdus Salaam, Corporal Ata Tayel Hameeda Raheel, and Corporal Hussain Abbas. During the trial Khalid Islambouli proudly told the audience: O People! We have killed the Pharaoh.

30 solar years ago, on this day in 1986 AD, the US attacked the Libyan cities of Tripoli and Benghazi, on the pretext of an alleged Libyan bomb explosion in a restaurant in Germany that killed three US soldiers. The US air raid left several innocent Libyans martyred and wounded.

24 solar years ago, on this day in 1992 AD, Afghan Mujahedeen overthrew the Communist regime of President Najibullah in Kabul three years after the Soviet withdrawal from this Muslim country.

22 solar years ago, on this day in 1994 AD, an agreement was signed in Morocco to set up the World Trade Organization (WTO) by member countries of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), which now became moribund. The US and certain Western states exploit WTO to make world countries bow to their illegal interests. Economists believe that the removal of trade tariffs is to the benefit of Western states and to the detriment of Third World Countries.

18 solar years ago, on this day in 1998 AD, Cambodian dictator Pol Pot died of a heart attack in Anlong Veng, northern Cambodia at the age of 73. It was later reported that he killed himself with malaria pills and tranquilizers after learning that an aide planned to hand him over to the US. The combined effects of executions, forced labour, malnutrition and poor medical care caused the deaths of approximately 25 percent of the Cambodian population during his rule – in all, an estimated 3 million people, out of a population of slightly over 8 million.

12 solar years ago, on this day in 2004 AD, senior Iranian diplomat, Khalil Na’eemi, was martyred by terrorists in Baghdad, Iraq. He had served with distinction in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and the foreign ministry in Iran, as a staunch follower of the Father of the Islamic Revolution, Imam Khomeini (God bless him).

5 solar years ago, on this day in 2011 AD, Iranian officials said experts have determined the US and the illegal Zionist entity were behind a mysterious computer worm known as Stuxnet that has harmed Iran's peaceful nuclear program.

AS/MG