Today is Monday; 9th of the Iranian month of Mehr 1397 solar hijri; corresponding to 21st of the Islamic month of Muharram 1440 lunar hijri; and October 1, 2018, of the Christian Gregorian Calendar.

2349 solar years ago, on this day in 331 BC, Alexander of Macedon, during his invasion of the vast Persian Empire defeated Emperor Darius III in the Battle of Gaugamela near Mosul in present day Iraq, resulting in the fall of the Achaemenian Empire of Iran. Two years earlier, Darius III had suffered a surprising defeat in the Battle of Issus in Anatolia in what is now Turkey, at the hands of Alexander, who went on to occupy the Mediterranean coasts of Syria and then seized Egypt before MUSICing into Iraq for the decisive battle with the numerically superior and well-armed Iranians, equipped with 200 devastating war chariots and 15 Indian war elephants. Lack of discipline among Iranians made them lose the battle, and Darius while fleeing to the interior of Iran to reorganize his forces from the east, was treacherously murdered by his own general, Bessus.

1010 lunar years ago, on this day in 430 AH, the Iranian Shafei hadith scholar and historian, Ahmad Ibn Abdullah, known as Hafez Abu Nu'aym al-Isfahani, passed away in his hometown Isfahan. Initially taught by his scholarly grandfather and father, he later studied under leading scholars, including the famous hadith authority of Syria, at-Tabarani, who had settled in Isfahan. Abu Nu’aym Isfahani travelled widely, as far as Islamic Spain. He authored scores of books and treatises including “Dala’el an-Nubuwwa” (Proofs of Prophethood), “The History of Isfahan”, and the 10-volume work “Hilyat al-Awliya”, which is a biography of 650 pious figures, including six of the 12 Infallible Imams of the Prophet’s Household. Abu Nu’aym Isfahani was the ancestor of the famous Imami scholar, Allamah Majlisi, who says his forbear was a devout follower of Prophet Mohammad’s (SAWA) Ahl al-Bayt and because of the repressiveatmosphere of the times, he lived in a state of dissimulation (taqiyya).

714 lunar years ago, on this day in 726 AH, the renowned theologian Hassan Ibn Yousuf Ibn Ali Ibn Mutahhar al-Hilli, passed away at the age of 78 in his hometown Hilla and was laid to rest in Najaf in the holy mausoleum of the Commander of the Faithful, Imam Ali (AS). Renowned as "Allamah Hilli", he was a child prodigy, and after initial education under his qualified father, and acquiring of fiqh from his famous maternal uncle "Muhaqqiq Hilli", he proceeded to study from other masters of his era, including the celebrated scholars of Iraq, Seyyed Ali bin Tawus and Seyyed Ahmad bin Tawus, as well as Maytham al-Bahrani of Bahrain and the Iranian Islamic genius, Khwaja Naseer od­Din Tusi, who taught him philosophy and logic. Later, he held debates with scholars of the four Sunni schools of jurisprudence – Hanbali, Hanafi, Maleki, and Shafei. During one such debate in the Ilkhanid court, his rationality convinced the Buddhist-born and Christian-baptized Mongol Emperor of Iran-Iraq, Oljeitu Khodabanda, to become a Muslim and a staunch follower of the Ahl al-Bayt. Allamah Hilli's works include at least a hundred books and treatises on various subjects such as jurisprudence, theology, logic, philosophy, hadith, exegesis of the holy Qur'an and Rijal or evaluation of hadith narrators. Each book of this great mujtahid is enough to portray his precocity and genius. Among his works are "Ma'arej al-Fahm", "Qawa'ed al-Ahkaam", "Tadhkirat ul-Fuqaha" and "Tabsirat ul-Mutallimeen", the last being studied by seminary students till this day. He also wrote on proofs from the holy Qur'an, the hadith, and the intellect, on the right to caliphate of Imam Ali (AS) after the passing away of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA). This famous book is titled "Nahj al-Haq wa Kashf as-Sidq". Allama Hilli was succeeded by his worthy son, Mohammad, who is acclaimed as “Fakhr al­Muhaqqiqeen” (Pride of Researchers).

602 solar years ago, on this day in 1416 AD, Yaqub Spata, the Muslim ruler of Arta in Albania, was murdered by the Christian chief, Carlo I of Tocco, mainly for embracing the truth of Islam. Born in a Christian family, he was raised at the Ottoman court of Sultan Mohammad I, where he became Muslim and changed his name to Yaqub.

438 lunar years ago, on this day in 1002 AH, ambassadors of the sultanates of the Deccan (southern India) conveyed the refusal of the Nizamshahi, Adelshahi and Qotbshahi sultans to acknowledge Jalal od-Din Akbar Shah, the Mughal Emperor of Hindustan (northern subcontinent), as their overlord. Akbar was furious and sent armies to attack them, but did not succeed in subjugating the three Persianate sultanates which followed the creed of the Prophet’s Ahl al-Bayt, and considered the Safavid emperor of Iran as their overlord, reciting his name in the Friday sermons in their respective capitals – Ahmadnagar, Bijapur and Golkandah-Haiderabad.

431 solar years ago, on this day in 1587 AD, Shah Abbas I was crowned the 5^th Safavid Emperor of Iran at the age of 16 years in Qazvin by a faction of the powerful Qizilbash guards led by Murshid Qoli Khan who deposed his father, the weak-willed and almost blind Mohammad Khodabandah after a reign of 9 years. He became ruler during troubled times, when discord was rife between factions of the Qizilbash army that had earlier killed his elder brother Hamza Mirza and mother Queen Khair un-Nisa Begum. Meanwhile, the Ottomans and the Uzbeks, exploiting the political chaos, had seized Iranian territory in the west and northeast respectively. Abbas soon reduced the influence of the Qizilbash in the administrative and military affairs, executed the killers of his mother and brother, and reformed the army, enabling him to fight the Ottomans and Uzbeks and retake Iran's lost provinces. He decisively defeated the Ottomans in several battles in the Caucasus, in Anatolia and in Iraq, where he rebuilt on a grand scale the shrines of the Infallible Imams in Najaf, Karbala, and Kazemain. He drove back the Uzbeks from Khorasan and rebuilt the shrine of Imam Reza (AS), the 8^th Infallible Heir of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA). During his 42-year reign, he also liberated Iranian territories from the Portuguese invaders in the Persian Gulf and from the Mughals of India in what is now Afghanistan. Shah Abbas I was a great builder and moved his capital to Isfahan, which he adorned with beautiful mosques, palaces, bazaars, caravanserais, gardens, and the famous Naqsh-e Jahan Square, to the extent that Isfahan came to be known as Nisf-e Jahan (Half the World). He patronized poets and painters, resulting in the birth of the Isfahan School that created some of the finest arts in Iranian history. He respected religious figures, and during his era some of the greatest ulema and philosophers, such as Shaikh Baha od-Din Ameli, Mir Baqer Damad and Mullah Sadra Shirazi flourished. Shah Abbas also promoted commerce, trade and diplomacy, establishing relations with European powers to keep the Ottomans in check, and strengthening ties with the Shi'ite Muslim sultanates of Haiderabad-Deccan and Bijapur in Southern India, where the name of the Safavid Emperor was recited in the Friday Prayer sermons. At the same time he maintained friendly relations with the Mughal Emperor Jahangir of Northern India.

191 solar years ago, on this day in 1827 AD, Russia, in violation of the Treaty of Golestan signed in 1813 with Qajarid Iran, following the end of its war and occupation of Daghestan and other regions in the Caucasus, sent an army under General Ivan Paskevich to start the 2^nd Russo-Persian war. The Russians seized the Khanate of Yerevan from Iran as well as Nakhchevan and what is now the Republic of Azerbaijan. Yerevan is currently capital of the Republic of Armenia.

131 solar years ago, on this day in1887 AD, the eastern part of Baluchistan was formally annexed by the British to their dominions in India to end any claims to this vast region by Afghanistan and Iran. This region which is now in Pakistan, originally belonged to Iran, both before and after the advent of Islam, and until the assassination of Nader Shah Afshar in the 1740s.

122 solar years ago, on this day in 1896 AD, Liaqat Ali Khan, the Indian Muslim statesman who became Pakistan’s first prime minister on its birth in 1947, was born in an aristocratic family in Karnal, East Punjab. He was educated at the Aligarh Muslim University in India, and at the Oxford University in Britain. Trained as lawyer, on his return to India, he rose to prominence as an influential member of the Muslim League led by Mohammad Ali Jinnah. On 16 October 1951, he was shot in the chest during a public meeting in Rawalpindi, Pakistan.

117 solar years ago, on this day in 1901 AD, with the death of Amir Abdur-Rahman Khan, the Pashto ruler of Afghanistan, the plight of the Hazara people neared its end. Although he is credited with what is called the unification of Afghanistan, his principal aim was to make the rule of ethnic Pakhtouns paramount by cruelly suppressing other ethnic and lingual groups such as the Tajik, Uzbek, Balouch and Hazara. He used to treat the Persian-speaking Hazara Muslims as slaves, because of their adherence to the path of the Ahl al-Bayt or Blessed Household of Prophet Mohammad (blessings of God upon him and his progeny). In 1880, the Hazara rose in revolt but were savagely crushed and many of them were forced to seek refuge across the borders in British India, especially in Quetta, as well as in Khorasan and the city of Mashhad in northeastern Iran. The Hazaras remained de facto slaves with no rights, until King Amanullah Khan declared Afghanistan's independence in 1919.

100 solar years ago, on this day in 1918 AD, Seyyed Abdullah was installed as the last Khan of Khiva of the Khongirad Dynasty at the age of 45 years on the death of his father Muhammad Rahim Bahadur. He had no real authority since Junaid, a Turkmen general, held executive powers. In 1920 the Bolsheviks overthrew the Khanate of Khiva and sent Abdullah as prisoner to Moscow where he died a few years later in a hospital. The Khanate of Khiva was set up in 1511 in the historical ancient Iranian region of Khwarezm, which briefly returned to Iranian rule under Nader Shah Afshar from 1740 and 1746.

97 solar years ago, on this day in 1921 AD, the police chief of Khorasan, Colonel Mohammad Taqi Khan Pesyaan, was killed by agents of the regime. He was a highly influential figure and strove for Iran’s independence. Following the British-engineered coup to install the colonialist agent Reza Khan as prime minister of the young Qajarid king, he commenced his struggle against infiltration by foreign powers and their local lackeys in government affairs. He was joined by officers in Khorasan Province and soon took charge of all provincial affairs in the name of the beleaguered government of Ahmad Shah Qajar. As a result battles started with Reza Khan’s agents, leading to his martyrdom in one such clash.

69 solar years ago, on this day in 1949 AD, the People's Republic of China was officially announced by communist party leader, Mao Zedong. After the end of World War 2 and the withdrawal of Japanese occupation forces, Mao emerged victorious from his struggle for control of China with the US-backed nationalist leader, Chiang Kai-shek, who fled to the island of Formosa, which is known today as Taiwan.

63 solar years ago, on this day in 1955 AD, the Muslim populated Eastern Turkestan region, which the Qing Dynasty of China had conquered in the second half of the 9^th century from Yaqoub Beg the Tajik and restored the previous Khaja Dynasty to power, was renamed by the communist regime of Beijing as The Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. It is China’s largest administrative division and the eighth largest subdivision in the world, spanning over 1.6 million km, but only about 9.7% of the land area is fit for human habitation. Xinjiang contains the disputed territory of Aksai Chin, which is administered by China and claimed by India. Xinjiang borders Mongolia, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India. The rugged Karakoram, Kunlun, and Tian Shan mountain ranges occupy much of Xinjiang's borders, as well as its western and southern regions. Xinjiang also borders the Tibet Autonomous Region and the provinces of Gansu and Qinghai. The most well-known route of the historical Silk Road ran through the territory from the east to its northwestern border. In recent decades, abundant oil and mineral reserves have been found in Xinjiang, and it is currently China's largest natural gas-producing region. Xinjiang, which is geographically divided into the Dzungarian Basin in the north and the Tarim Basin in the south by a mountain range, is home to several ethnic groups, including the Uyghur, Han, Kazakhs, Hui, Tajiks, Kyrgyz, Mongols and Russians. Muslim Turkic peoples in Xinjiang include Uyghurs, Uzbeks, Kyrgyz, Tatars and the Kazakhs; Muslim Iranian peoples include Pamiris and the Sarikolis/Wakhis; and Muslim Sino-Tibetan peoples such as the Hui. With a documented history of at least 2,500 years, a succession of people and empires have vied for control over all or parts of this territory. In the last decades, the separatist conflict, mostly by the Uyghur Muslims, has plagued the region, with occasional clashes with Chinese forces, which after the failure of decades of communism, have resorted to the policy of suppression of Islamic tenets and culture. The Uyghur language, though officially discouraged is still written in the Perso-Arabic letters. The capital of Xinjiang is Urumqi and among its major cities are Kashgar, Khotan, and Yarkand with their rich Islamic culture, including use of Persian language.

58 solar years ago, on this day in 1960 AD, Nigeria gained independence from British colonial rule. Islam entered Nigeria a thousand years ago and various Muslim dynasties emerged in the northern parts culminating in the Fulani Empire or the Sokoto caliphate which the British conquered in 1903. The southern parts of Nigeria were mostly animists and since the 17^th century were used by the Portuguese, the Spanish, the French, and the British as major centres of slave trade to the Americas. The British merged the north and the south before independence. Some 65 percent of the 155 million population of oil-rich Nigeria is made up of Muslims including 10 million Shi’ites or followers of the Prophet’s Ahl al-Bayt. Nigeria covers an area of 923,768 sq km. it is located in West Africa and has a large coastline on the Atlantic Ocean, sharing borders with Cameroon, Chad, Niger, and Benin.

33 solar years ago, on this day in 1985 AD, warplanes of the illegal Zionist entity pounded the headquarters of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) in Tunis, martyring seventy people and injuring hundreds of others. The PLO headquarters were shifted to the Tunisian capital following Israel’s invasion and occupation of southern Lebanon in 1982. The UN failed to condemn this blatant act of state terrorism because of US veto at the Security Council.

22 solar years ago, on this day in 1996 AD, the scholar Ayatollah Seyyed Mohammad Hussaini, popular as Aqa Najafi Hamedani, passed away at the age of 82 in Hamadan. Born in holy Najaf in Iraq, in his childhood he came to Hamedan along with his scholarly father and after preliminary studies, returned to Najaf at the age of 21 for higher studies. He attended the classes of leading scholars such as Ayatollah Mohammad Hussain Gharavi Isfahani, the Gnostic Ayatollah Qazi Tabatabai, and Grand Ayatollah Mirza Hussain Na’eni, whose daughter he married. After staying for 22 years in Iraq and attaining the ranks of Ijtehad, he returned to Hamedan, where he spent the rest of his life teaching and writing books.  His major work is the18-volume exegesis of the holy Qur’an titled “Anwaar-e Darakhshaan” in Persian.

AS/SS