Today is Wednesday; 25th of the Iranian month of Mehr 1397 solar hijri; corresponding to 7th of the Islamic month of Safar 1440 lunar hijri; and October 17, 2018, of the Christian Gregorian Calendar.

1390 lunar years ago, on this day in 50 AH, according to a narration, Imam Hassan al-Mujtaba (AS), the elder grandson and 2nd Infallible Heir of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA), was martyred at the age of 47 through a fatal dose of poison, given on the orders of the usurper Mu'awiyyah Ibn Abu Sufyan. He was over seven years at the passing away of the Prophet, who hailed him along with his younger brother, Imam Husain (AS), as Leaders of the Youth of Paradise. At the age of 37, the mantle of Imamate came to rest on his shoulders, following the martyrdom of his father, Imam Ali Ibn Abi Taleb (AS). Some seven months later, because of the treachery of those who claimed to be his followers, but had succumbed to threats and bribes of the enemies of humanity by refusing to decisively confront them, he relinquished the caliphate and retired to his hometown Medina, after stipulating certain conditions for the next ruler. The Omayyad rebel Mu'awiyyah ibn Abu Sufyan seized the caliphate, broke all accords, violated the laws of Islam, and finally administered poison to Imam Hasan (AS). Some consider Safar 28 as the day of martyrdom of Imam Hasan (AS). 

1312 lunar years ago, on this day in 128 AH, Imam Musa al-Kazem (AS), the 7th Infallible Heir of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA) was born in Abwa between the holy cities of Mecca and Medina. At the age of 20, the mantle of divine leadership came to rest on his shoulders following the martyrdom of his father, Imam Ja’far Sadeq (AS), through poisoning. His period of Imamate was 35 years, during which he was subjected to hardships by the Abbasid tyrants – Mansour, Mahdi, Hadi, and Haroun. His epithet “Kazem” means Restrainer of Anger, and despite frequent bouts of imprisonment he showed profound patience and forbearance, even in the dungeons of Haroun, who martyred him through poisoning in 183 AH in Baghdad. Today, his magnificent gold-plated shrine is the centre of pilgrimage in Kazemayn.

1152 solar years ago, on this day in 866 AD, al-Musta'in-Billah, the 12^th caliph of the usurper Abbasid regime, was killed in the prison of Baghdad after being deposed and replaced by his cousin, Mu’taz ibn Mutawakkel, by the Turkic guards. The executioner brought the severed head to the capital Samarra at a time when the new caliph was playing chess, and told him: “Behold your cousin's head!” The heartless Mu’taz –who two years later was to martyr through poisoning Imam Ali an-Naqi (AS), the 10th Infallible Heir of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA) – replied: "Lay it aside, till I have finished the game." Then having satisfied himself that it was really the head of Musta'in, he ordered 500 gold pieces be given to the assassin as reward. Musta’in, a grandson of the infamous Mu’tasem-Billah, was propelled to power as caliph in 248 AH by the Turkic guards on the mysterious death of his cousin, Muntasir – a devotee of the Prophet’s Ahl al-Bayt who had killed his own father, the notorious Mutawakkel for showing hatred towards Imam Ali ibn Abi Taleb (AS). Musta’in ruled for four years before falling out with his benefactors who chased him to Baghdad and after a skirmish following exchange of harsh words, forced him to abdicate the caliphate, and eventually killed him in prison.

785 lunar years ago, on this day in 655 AH, the Sufi scholar of Punjab, Shaikh Baha od-Din Zakariyya al-Quraishi, passed away in Multan at the age of 100. He was a student of the famous Iranian Sufi, Shahab od-Din Suhrawardi, who initiated him in the mystical order at his hospice in Baghdad. The mausoleum of Baha od-Din Zakariyya in Pakistan, mounted by a hemispherical dome, is visited by devotees throughout the year. Almost all Sufi orders trace their spiritual lineage to Imam Ali ibn Abi Taleb (AS), the First Infallible Heir of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA).

752 solar years ago, on this day in 1266 AD, the Muslim missionary of the Chishti Sufi Order of the Punjab region of the Subcontinent, Baba Fareed od-Din Ganj-e Shekar, passed away at the age of 93. His forefathers had migrated from Khorasan to the Subcontinent, where he convinced many Hindus to accept the truth of Islam. Although, he was fluent in Persian, in order to carry the message of Islam to the non-Muslim masses, he composed poems and treatises in Punjabi, thus laying the foundation for development of this vernacular language. Many of his odes were incorporated into the holy book of the Sikh religion by its founder Guru Nanak a couple of centuries later. The shrine of Ganj-e Shekar, who was a devotee of the Prophet’s Ahl al-Bayt, is in Pakistan’s Punjab, and is often the target of bomb attacks by the heretical Salafi groups.

646 lunar years ago, on this day in 794 AH, Zafar Khan, sent by the Tughlaq sultan of Delhi defeated and killed Malik Mufarrah Farhat u1-Mulk, the rebellious governor of Gujarat, at Kambhu near Nahrwala, founded the village of Jitpur on the site of the victory, and made the city of Anhilwada Patan his capital. Son of the Rajput convert to Islam Wajih ul-Mulk, whose sister was Firuz Shah Tughlaq’s wife, Zafar Khan consolidated his rule in Gujarat, and when the Tughlaq sultanate collapsed as a result of the invasion of the Central Asian conqueror, Amir Timur, he declared himself independent with the title Muzaffar Shah I. He died after a 20-year reign. His son Ahmad Shah I built the city of Ahmadabad as the new capital. The dynasty ruled for almost 200 years, until the conquest of Gujarat by the Moghal Empire. The sultanate reached its peak under Mahmoud Shah I Begara, extending east into Malwa and west to the Gulf of Kutch. During Muzaffarid rule, Ahmadabad grew to become one of the largest and wealthiest cities in the world, and the sultans were patrons of a distinctive architecture that blended Islamic elements with Gujarat's indigenous Hindu and Jain architectural traditions. The court language was Persian and the Sultans of Gujarat maintained infrequent ambassadorial relations with Iran.

570 solar years ago, on this day in 1448 AD, the Second Battle of Kosovo, led to the decisive victory of the Ottoman Turks under Sultan Murad II over a huge 100,000 strong army of several Christian countries led by Hungarian king, John Hunyadi. The Crusaders arrived at the Kosovo Field, the same place the famous First Battle of Kosovo had occurred 60 years earlier between the Serbs and Ottomans, and resulted in Turkish domination of the Balkans. In this Second Battle of Kosovo, the 60,000-strong Muslim army completely destroyed the numerically superior Christian army, and five years later ended the existence of the tottering Byzantine or Eastern Roman Empire by taking its capital Constantinople and renaming it Islambol (present day Istanbul).

288 lunar years ago, on this day in 1152 AH, Nadir Shah Afshar of Iran departed from Delhi with a booty estimated between 80-to-145 million rupees, which included the famous diamond encrusted Peacock Throne of Emperor Shahjahan, the Tent of Pearls and the world’s largest diamond, Koh-e Noor (Mountain of Light). Nader Shah had invaded the Moghal Empire due to the inability of Emperor Mohammad Shah ‘Rangileh’ to stop the infiltration of the Hotaki Afghan rebels fleeing into India after the end of their occupation of Iran. He won a decisive victory in the Battle of Karnal near Lahore, and then along with the defeated Mohammad Shah, whom he treated with respect, marched into Delhi, where he stayed for several days, before returning to Iran after restoring the Moghal Emperor to power.

201 solar years ago, on this day in 1817 AD, the Indian educator, politician, and Islamic reformer, Seyyed Ahmad Khan was born in Delhi in a family that had migrated from Iran. His father, Mir Mohammad Muttaqi and grandfather, Seyyed Hadi, were attached to the Mughal court. He was trained in Persian, Arabic, Urdu and religious subjects, as well as mathematics and astronomy, and was well versed in the mathnavi of the great Persian mystic, Mowlana Jalal od-Din Roumi. After the 1857 rebellion against British rule that abolished the Mughal dynasty, he wrote the book "Asbab-e Baghawat-e Hind" (Causes of the Indian Revolt) in which he rejected the notion that the conspiracy was planned by Muslim elites feeling insecure at the diminishing influence of Muslim rulers. He held the British responsible for their aggressive colonial expansion and ignorance of India's rich culture. He then launched the campaign for modern education of the Muslims of India by founding the Mohammedan Anglo-Oriental College, which later developed into the famous Aligarh Muslim University. His efforts gave rise to a new generation of Muslim entrepreneurs and politicians. He also founded the All-India Muslim League, which decades later under the leadership of Mohammad Ali Jinnah, resulted in the birth of Pakistan. When the British banned the study of Persian in order to cut the cultural links of Indian Muslims with Iran, Afghanistan and Central Asia, he took up the patronage of Urdu which led to its widespread use amongst Indian Muslims, and years later, following the Partition of India its adoption as the official language of Pakistan. Seyyed Ahmad Khan was knighted by the British as "Sir", and his views on nature were strongly criticized by the famous pan-Islamic Iranian thinker, Seyyed Jamal od-Din Asadabadi. He died at the age of 81.

131 solar years ago, on this day in 1887 AD, the German physicist and mathematician, Gustav Kirchhoff, died. Born in 1824 AD, he studied sun rays and later with the cooperation of one of his colleagues, discovered their scope. He also elaborated on the laws of diversion of electrical currents.

106 solar years ago, on this day in 1912 AD, Bulgaria, Greece and Serbia declared war on the tottering Ottoman Empire, joining Montenegro in the First Balkan War that resulted in further loss of the Turkish Muslim territories in Europe.

57 solar years ago, on this day in 1961 AD, at least 400 peaceful Algerian Muslim protesters were mercilessly massacred by the Paris police at the instigation of Nazi collaborator Maurice Papon, then chief of the Prefecture of Police.

45 solar years ago, on this day in 1973 AD, Arab oil exporting states imposed oil sanctions on the US, Britain, and companies selling oil to the illegal Zionist entity, because of their support for Israel's October 6 war against Syria and Egypt. The swift oil price hike was an unexpected blow for Western regimes, and its consequences showed that Islamic countries, if united, are capable of countering the West's plots against Muslims.

38 solar years ago, on this day in 1980 AD, Iranian Prime Minister, Mohammad Ali Rajai, delivered a keynote address at the UN General Assembly, unmasking the Western-backed atrocities of the Pahlavi regime against the Iranian people as well as the US imposition of war on Islamic Iran through Saddam. He also elaborated on the global topics of importance, such as the Zionist usurpation of Palestine and the conspiracies hatched by colonialists across the world. Following the speech, representatives of the US administration requested a meeting with him, but he rejected it because of US crimes and meddling in the affairs of Iran and other countries. Less than a year later Rajai was elected president of Iran, but was soon martyred in a bomb blast triggered by the US-backed MKO.

32 solar years ago, on this day in 1986 AD, Iranian researcher and translator, Hussein Khadiv Jam, passed away at the age of 59. He was an authority on Persian literature, and served as lecturer at the University of Mashhad in Khorasan. He has left behind thirty books, including the translation of the book: "Kimiya-e Sa'adat" on ethics, written in Arabic by the medieval Iranian Sunni theologian and philosopher, Mohammad Ghazali.

29 lunar years ago, on this day in 1411 AH, Source of Emulation, Grand Ayatollah Seyyed Shahab od-Din Mar'ashi Najafi, passed away at the age of 96 and was laid to rest at the doorstep of his famous library in holy Qom. He mastered theology, hadith, jurisprudence, exegesis of the Holy Qur'an, philosophy, and principles of ethics at the seminaries of holy Kazemain and holy Najaf in Iraq. After attaining the status of Ijtehad he returned to Iran and started to lecture and research at the Qom Seminary. He was a supporter of the Father of the Islamic Revolution, late Imam Khomeini (RA), in the struggles against the Shah’s despotic regime. He has left behind a large number of books on theology, jurisprudence, hadith, history and genealogy. He also founded the public library in holy Qom, which houses more than 300,000 books – many of them rare manuscripts collected by him.

20 solar years ago, on this day in 1998 AD, Hakeem Mohammed Saeed, Pakistani Islamic medicinal expert, scholar and philanthropist, was killed by terrorists at the age of 78. Born in Delhi to a family of herbal medical practitioners, who had established the Hamdard Waqf Laboratories, he learned Arabic, Persian, Urdu, English and studied the Holy Qur’an. In 1948, he migrated to Pakistan and settled in Karachi, where he set up the Hamdard Foundation, whose herbal medical products have become household names in the subcontinent. His cherished dream was to revive the golden age of the Islamic civilization, particularly in the medical fields, and he authored or compiled about 200 books in medicines, philosophy, science, health, religion, natural medicine, literary, social, and travelogues.

AS/SS