Today is Friday; 6th of the Iranian month of Mehr 1397 solar hijri; corresponding to 18th of the Islamic month of Muharram 1440 lunar hijri; and September 28, 2018, of the Christian Gregorian Calendar.

2569 solar years ago, on this day in 551 BC, Confucius, the Chinese philosopher- politician was said to have been born. He is traditionally credited with having authored or edited many of the Chinese classic texts including all of the Five Classics, but modern scholars are cautious of attributing specific assertions to Confucius himself. Aphorisms concerning his teachings were compiled in the Analects, many years after his death. Confucius's principles have commonality with Chinese tradition and belief. He championed strong family loyalty, ancestor veneration, and respect of elders by their children and of husbands by their wives, recommending family as a basis for ideal government. He espoused the well-known principle "Do not do to others what you do not want done to yourself", the Golden Rule. The philosophy of Confucius, also known as Confucianism, emphasized personal and governmental morality, correctness of social relationships, justice and sincerity. Throughout history, Confucius is widely considered as one of the most important and influential individuals in shaping the lives of humanity. His teaching and philosophy greatly impacted people around the world and still remain in today's society.

2066 solar years ago, on this day in 48 BC, on landing in Egypt, Roman general and politician Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus or Pompey the Great, was murdered by his own confidante, Septimius, on the orders of King Ptolemy of Egypt at the age of 58, while fleeing from former friend Julius Caesar and trying to land in Alexandria. In the mid-60 BC, Pompey had joined Marcus Licinius Crassus and Gaius Julius Caesar for the rule of the Roman Republic, in the military-political alliance known as the First Triumvirate, which Pompey's marriage to Caesar's daughter Julia helped secure, until her death in childbirth. In 53 BC following the disastrous defeat and death of Crassus in the Battle of Carrhae (Harran on the Syrian-Turkish border), when the Iranians led by Sepahbod Surena routed the Roman army and captured several of the prestigious golden war standards, a humbled Pompey, who had earlier scoffed at the peace proposals of Parthian Emperor Phraates III (Farhad), decided to side with the conservative faction of the Roman Senate. Pompey and Caesar then contended for leadership of the Roman state, leading to a civil war. When Pompey was defeated at the Battle of Pharsalus, he first intended to seek refuge with the Iranian Parthians, but afraid of his misdeeds of the past, turned towards Egypt, where he was assassinated. His career and defeat are significant in Rome's subsequent transformation from Republic to Principate and Empire.

1402 solar years ago, on this day in 616 AD, Javanshir Arran-Shah, the king of the Iranian land of Arran in what is today the Caucasus Republic of Azerbaijan was born in the Gardman region of Armenia. He reigned from 637 to 680 and was either of Parthian or Persian origin, as his family, the Mihranids, claimed descent from the Sassanid Persians. He was placed on the throne by the Sassanid Emperor in place of his father, Varaz Grigor, who had converted to Christianity from Zoroastrianism. Javanshir, who also converted secretly to Christianity, sided with the Sassanid Dynasty during the Arab invasion of Persia and was personally rewarded by Emperor Yazdegerd III two golden spears, two golden shields and a flag, probably the Derafsh Kaviani. In 636, he and his forces, alongside the Armenian prince Musel III Mamikonian, took part in the famous Battle of al-Qadisiyyah in Iraq between the Persian and Arab armies. The Sassanid defeat made Javanshir lose hope and he fled to his kingdom, from where he wrote a letter to Emperor Constans II and became ally of the Byzantine Empire. After his alliance with the Byzantines, he joined forces with the Iberian king Adarnase I to attack garrisons of the declining Sassanid Empire in the Caucasus, expanding his dominion from Derbend in Daghestan to Aras River on what is today Iran’s northwestern border. Soon, faced with the advancing armies of the Muslims from the south and the Khazar offensive on the north, Javanshir recognized the suzerainty of the caliph, a move that facilitated the spread of Islam in his homeland. Javanshir was assassinated in 680 at the age of 64.

962 lunar years ago, on this day in 478 AH, the Iranian Shafe’i scholar, Abdul-Malik Ibn Abdullah Ibn Yusuf al-Juwaini, died in his hometown Naishabur, Khorasan. Known as Imam al-Haramain, because of his four years of teaching in the holy cities of Mecca and Medina, he was the teacher of the famous Iranian Sufi theologian, Shaikh Abu Hamed Ghazali.

780 solar years ago, on this day in 1238 AD, the Muslim emirate of Valencia in Spain was forced to surrender to the besieging King James I of Aragon, on certain conditions that were never kept by the Christians who persecuted Muslims and converted mosques into churches, beside expelling over 50,000 of the people of this land, which for five hundred years had nurtured many great Islamic scholars and poets. Known as "Balansia" to Muslims and also called "Madinat-at-Turab" (or City of Sands), its keys were delivered to King James by the Muslim king, Zayan, with the words: "In the city of Valencia live Muslims, the nobles of my people, along with Christians and Jews. I hope you continue to govern in the same harmony, all working and living together in this noble land. Here, during my reign, Easter processions went out and Christians professed their religion freely, as our Qur'an recognizes Christ and the Virgin. I hope you bestow the same treatment to the Muslims of Valencia."

Poets such as Ibn al-Abbar and Ibn Amira, have mourned their exile from this beloved Islamic city in their poems. The Christians broke their promise and gradually obliterated all traces of Islam and Muslims.

480 solar years ago, on this day in 1538 AD, during the Ottoman-Venetian War, the Turkish navy led by Khayr od-Din Pasha (Barbarossa or Red-beard to the Europeans), scored a decisive victory over a so-called Holy League fleet assembled by Christian powers in the Battle of Preveza off the western coast of the Province of Yunanistan (modern day Greece). The cause of the battle was capture the year before by Khayr od-Din Pasha of a number of Aegean and Ionian islands under control of the Republic of Venice, namely Syros, Aegina, Ios, Paros, Tinos, Karpathos, Kasos and Naxos. The Ottomans also annexed the Duchy of Naxos, besieged the Venetian stronghold of Corfu, and ravaged the Spanish-held Calabrian coast in southern Italy, ringing alarm bells in Rome and making Pope Paul III to assemble the Christian Alliance, which suffered a resounding defeat. At the end of the Battle of Preveza, the Muslim Turks sank 10 ships, burned 3, and captured 36 others, besides taking about 3,000 Christian prisoners. The Ottoman navy did not lose any ship. This day is a Turkish Navy National Holiday. The next year in 1539, Khayr od-Din Pasha returned and captured almost all the remaining Christian outposts in the Ionian and Aegean Seas.

225 solar years ago, on this day in 1793 AD, Mubarak od-Dowla, the Nawab Nazem of Bengal, Bihar, and Orissa, died after a 23-year reign, and was succeeded by his son, Babr Jang, Wazir od-Dowla. He belonged to the Persianate Najafi Seyyed family of Mir Ja’far Ali Khan, who was installed as ruler in 1757 after the Battle of Plassey, betraying his suzerain, Nawab Siraj od-Dowla of the dynasty of Iranian origin.  

180 solar years ago, on this day in 1838 AD, Akbar Shah II, the titular emperor of the great Moghal Empire died and was succeeded on the throne of Delhi by his son, Mohammad Bahadur Shah II Zafar. In 1857, the curtain came down on the empire founded in 1525 by the Central Asian adventurer, Zaheer od-Din Babar (protégé of Shah Ismail Safavi of Iran), as Bahadur Shah Zafar, in whose name the people of northern India rose against the British, was dethroned, humiliated and exiled in 1858 by the colonialists to Yangon (Rangoon) in Burma, where he died in 1862. Zafar was an accomplished poet in both Urdu and Persian.

147 lunar years ago, on this day in 1293 AH, the Islamic scholar, Haydar Qoli Khan Afghani, known as Sardar Kabuli, was born in Kabul. He travelled to Iran and Iraq to attend the classes of the leading ulema, and among his teachers in holy Najaf was the authority on Hadith, Ayatollah Mohaddith Mirza Hussain Noori. Besides his native Persian, Sardar Kabuli also mastered Arabic, Urdu, English and Hebrew languages, and became an authority in logic, mathematics, astronomy, history, geography, jurisprudence, hadith and Arabic literature. He obtained the “ijaza” or permission to relate hadith from prominent authorities in this field such as Mohaddith Shaikh Abbas Qomi, Ayatollah Seyyed Hasan Sadr, and Ayatollah Shaikh Aqa Bozorg Tehrani. He settled in Kermanshah in western Iran where he enlightened people with the teachings of the Ahl al-Bayt of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA). He wrote a valuable book on the virtues of the Prophet’s 1st Infallible Heir, Imam Ali (AS). He translated into Persian, the famous book “al-Muraja’at”, on exchange of letters between Allamah Seyyed Abdul-Hussain Sharaf od-Din of Lebanon and Dean of Egypt’s al-Azhar Academy, Shaikh Saleem al-Bishri. He gave it the title “Monazeraat”. He also translated from the Hebrew the “Gospel of Barnabas”. Sardar Kabuli passed away at the age of 79 and was laid to rest in the holy shrine of Imam Ali (AS) in Najaf.

134 lunar years ago, on this day in 1306 AH, the prominent Gnostic and philosopher, Hakeem Mohammad Reza Sahba Qomshei, passed away in Tehran at the age of 65 and was laid to rest in the mausoleum of famous scholar, Shaikh Sadouq ibn Babawaih Qomi in Rayy. Born in the town of Shahreza (Qomshe) he was a product of the seminary of nearby Isfahan, where after mastering Islamic sciences, he groomed several students who later became scholars in their own right. He was an authority on the works and commentaries of such great philosophers as the Spanish Sheikh Mohy od-Din Ibn al-Arabi and Mullah Sadra of Shiraz. It could be said that his shifting from Isfahan to Tehran, transferred the gnostic and philosophical heritage of the former capital of Iran to the current capital. He wrote several books and treatises, and was an excellent poet as well.

131 lunar years ago, on this day in 1309 AH, the prominent jurisprudent, Grand Ayatollah Seyyed Ahmad Khwansari, was born. At the age of 20 he left for Iraq to study at the famous seminary of holy Najaf, where his teachers were Ayatollah Mohaqqeq Khorasani, Ayatollah Seyyed Mohammad Kazem Yazdi, Ayatollah Shaikh as-Shari’a Isfahani, and Ayatollah Mirza Hussain Na’ini. On his return to Iran, he taught at the seminary in Arak, and assisted Grand Ayatollah Shaikh Abdul-Karim Ha’eri Yazdi in re-establishing the seminary in holy Qom. He was prayer leader of the Faiziyyeh religious school, and later shifted to Tehran where he led the prayers at the Seyyed Azizollah Mosque, until the last years of his life.

127 solar years ago, on this day in 1891 AD, US author, Herman Melville, died at the age of 72. A sailor by profession, when his ship sank in one of his voyages, he was marooned on an island inhabited by primitive people. Melville wrote about this adventure and his escape from what he alleges cannibals in a book titled "Typee" which made him famous. His most important novel is “Moby-Dick”.

123 solar years ago, on this day in 1895 AD, French physician and chemist, Louis Pasteur, died at the age of 73. He presented new theories on contagious diseases such as rabies, and made major discoveries in this field. His innovative methods in treatment of infectious ailments and identification of microbes revolutionized the principles of hygiene. He created and tested vaccines for diphtheria, cholera, yellow fever, plague, rabies, anthrax, and tuberculosis.

117 lunar years ago, on this day in 1323 AH, the prominent Iranian religious scholar, Ayatollah Shaikh Mohammad Hassan Mamaqani, passed away. He lived a life of piety, having attained the status of Ijtehad – or independent reasoning based on the Holy Qur’an and Prophet’s Hadith. He has left behind a large number of valuable compilations in jurisprudence, including “Zara'eq al-Ahkaam” and "Mujalladaat al-Bashari". He has also written an annotation on the famous jurisprudential book "al-Makaseb" of Ayatollah Sheikh Morteza Ansari Dezfuli.

48 solar years ago, on this day in 1970 AD, Egyptian president, Col. Jamal Abdun-Nasser, died at the age of 54. He participated in the first war imposed by the illegal Zionist entity on Arab states in 1948. In 1952, along with Gen. Mohammad Najib, he staged a coup against King Farouq to end the monarchy and two years later after ousting Najib, he became president. He was a staunch anti-colonialist and in 1956 he nationalized the Suez Canal, a measure that prompted France, Britain and the Zionist entity to attack Egypt. In the 1967 war against the usurper state of Israel, he suffered a shattering defeat and lost the Sinai Peninsula, mainly because of his miscalculation in committing as many as 70,000 Egyptian troops to the civil war in Yemen.

41 solar years ago, on this day in 1977 AD, Iranian composer and trombone player, Hussain Nassehi, passed away at the age of 52. Born in Tehran he studied music at the Tehran Conservatory, where he later taught. Among his pupils were Hussain Dehlavi, Ahmad Pejhman and Parviz Mansouri. Most of Nassehi's works because of his political activities were never performed in Iran during the repressive Pahlavi era.

38 lunar years ago, on this day in 1402 AH, the great philosopher and famous exegete of the holy Qur’an, Ayatollah Allamah Seyyed Mohammad Hussain Tabatabaei, passed away at the age of 82, and was laid to rest in the mausoleum of Hazrat Ma’sumah (SA) in Qom. He was born in an academic and religious family in the city of Tabriz, northwestern Iran. His previous 14 ancestors were well-known scholars of Tabriz. Following completion of preliminary studies, he learned Islamic sciences and Arabic language, and after studying in holy Najaf, Iraq, where he attained the rank of Ijtehad, he returned to Iran and taught at Islamic seminaries. He studied under well-known scholars in Najaf, such as Ayatollah Mohammad Hussain Na'ini, Ayatollah Mohammad Hussain Gharawi Isfahani, Ayatollah Seyyed Abu’l-Hassan Jilwa, and the famous gnostic, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Qazi Tabatabaie. He was an innovative philosopher, an expert mathematician, and an active farmer, in addition to being an Islamic Gnostic. He was also well versed in literature and theology and steeped in spiritual values. He wrote several works in philosophy and Islamic sciences, including “The Principles of Philosophy and the Method of Realism” and the famous 20-volume exegesis in Arabic titled “al-Mizan fi Tafsir al-Qur’an”, which has been translated into English language as well. His sessions with French philosopher, Henry Corbin, were held every autumn for 20 years, from 1959-to-1979, in the presence of other scholars and seminarians. Vital issues about religion, philosophy, and also the challenges of the present world for those who seek truth and spirituality were discussed. The result was the writing of an interesting book by the Allamah titled “Musahibat ba Ostad Qorban” (Dialogues with Professor Corbin). His students include such famous personalities as Martyr Ayatollah Morteza Motahhari, Martyr Ayatollah Seyyed Mohammad Hussaini Beheshti, Martyr Ayatollah Ali Qoddousi, Martyr Ayatollah Mohammad Mufatteh, Imam Seyyed Musa as-Sadr, Ayatollah Abdullah Jawadi Amoli, Ayatollah Hassan Hassanzadeh Amoli, Ayatollah Mohammad Taqi Misbah Yazdi, Ayatollah Ja’far Sobhani, Grand Ayatollah Naser Makarem Shirazi, Ayatollah Ibrahim Amini, and Grand Ayatollah Hussain Noori Hamedani.

27 solar years ago, on this day in 1991 AD, Iranian author, translator, and political activist, Behzad Bashi, passed away. Fluent in English and well versed in Music, for thirty years he was active in the various sections of the Persian media – wire agencies, newspapers, radio, and TV – and because of his bold views against despotism, was subjected to bouts of imprisonment and banishment to the remote parts of the country by the Pahlavi regime. He translated into Persian “Feudal Society” as well as “Greater America and Human Rights”. During the last ten years of his life, following the victory of the Islamic Revolution, he wrote “History of Music in the Orient” and “The Comprehensive History of Music”.

22 solar years ago, on this day in 1996 AD, The UN Security Council issued a resolution, calling for end to excavation of a tunnel underneath the courtyard of the al-Aqsa Mosque by the illegal Zionist entity. The US, however, lobbied for removal of this clause from the resolution. The excavation at al-Aqsa triggered bloody confrontations between the Zionists and Palestinians, resulting in the martyrdom of hundreds of Palestinians and wounding of thousands. Israel, because of US support, continues its excavations in the surroundings of this sacred mosque.

18 solar years ago, on this day in 2000 AD, the al-Aqsa Intefadha of the Palestinian people started following desecration of this sacred mosque by Ariel Sharon, the ringleader of the Likud party and the mass murderer of Palestinians in the Sabra and Shatilla refugee camps of southern Lebanon. Sharon, who had entered the sanctified Muslim place of worship with his boots on, died in 2914 after lying in coma for eight long years, which is a sign of divine wrath.

AS/SS