Today is Tuesday; 31st of the Iranian month of Farvardin 1395 solar hijri; corresponding to 11th of the Islamic month of Rajab 1437 lunar hijri; and April 19, 2016, of the Christian Gregorian Calendar.

1485 solar years ago, on this day in 531 AD at the Battle of Callinicum near what later came to be known as ar-Raqqah in Syria, an Iranian army of 15,000 cavalry and 5000 Lakhmid Arabs led by the Sassanid general, Azarethes, defeated the forces of Byzantine or the Eastern Roman Empire, made up of 25,000 Greeks and Slavs and 3000 Ghassanid Arabs under the command of Belisarius. Initially, the Romans only wanted to ward off the Persians, without a risky battle, which eventually occurred and led to the defeat of the Byzantines when after a seesaw struggle for two-thirds of the day, a squadron of elite Iranian cavalry broke through the Byzantine right flank, driving Greeks and Ghassanid Arabs in different directions. Zacharias of Mytilene writing of the battle said: "[The Romans] turned and fled before the Persian attack. Many fell into the River Euphrates and were drowned, and others were killed."

1166 lunar years ago, on this day in 271 AH, the lexicographer, and exegete of Holy Qur’an, Mohammad Ibn Qassim al-Anbari was born in Baghdad. He had a powerful and photographic memory and was very modest in teaching. In his book "al-Musahef" he has mentioned the "tawatur" (continuously unbroken chain of narration) of the famous "Hadith Thaqalayn" in which Prophet Mohammad (SAWA) has explicitly stated: "I am leaving behind among you Two Weighty Things; the Book of Allah (Qur'an) and my progeny, the Ahl al-Bayt. Hold fast to them and you will never go astray, for the two never part with each other even when they return to me at the Fountain (of Kowsar in the Hereafter)." Among his other works, mention can be made of “Adaab al-Kateb”. He passed away in 328 AH.

866 lunar years ago, on this day in 571 AH, the prominent historian and hadith scholar, Hafez Ali ibn al-Hassan ibn Hebatollah, known popularly as Ibn Asaker, was born in Damascus. After mastering Islamic sciences in his hometown, he travelled widely to acquire further knowledge and benefitted from the scientific centers of the cities of Baghdad, Kufa, Mosul, Naishapour, Marv, Isfahan, and Hamedan. He has left behind 134 books, among which mention can be made of the voluminous “Tarikh Madinat ad-Dameshq”. He was follower of the Shafei school of Sunni jurisprudence, and has mentioned at least 400 ayahs of the holy Qur’an revealed by God on the unrivalled merits of the Commander of the Faithful, Imam Ali ibn Abi Taleb (AS).

565 solar years ago, on this day in 1451 AD, with the abdication of Alam Shah, the last king of the Seyyed Dynasty of North India, the ambitious Pashto warrior, Bahlol Lodi ascended the throne of Delhi as Bahlol Shah Ghazi. The dynasty founded by him lasted 75 years, ending with the defeat and death of his grandson, Ibrahim Lodi in the Battle of Panipat in 1526 against the Mughal conqueror Zaheer od-Din Mohammad Babar. The Lodis patronized Persian language and culture. Several histories were written and poetical works composed during their rule, such as the “Mathnavi Mehr va Mah”. The second king, Sikandar Lodi, had medical books translated into Persian from Sanskrit.

241 solar years ago, on this day in 1775 AD, the armed rebellion of the 13 New England colonies against the British crown – also known as the American Revolutionary War – started with a victory of the colonists at Battle of Concord. This was prelude to the birth of the United States of America, which has since expanded to its present size, large through a policy of expansionism and seizure of Mexican territory.

209 solar years ago, on this day in 1807 AD, the British forces, following their failure to confront the Egyptians, withdrew from Alexandria. The British plot was to seize Egypt in order to pressure the Ottoman Empire, but the Egyptian ruler, Mohammad Ali Pasha, with the assistance of Egyptian people and ulema, who had issued a fatwa for Jihad against the invading troops, defended the country.

192 solar years ago, on this day in 1824 AD, English poet, George Gordon Byron, died of severe bleeding at the age of 36 in Greece, where he was inciting the Greeks to rebel against the Ottoman Turkish Empire by planning to attack the fortress of Lepanto, at the mouth of the Gulf of Corinth. A controversial figure, his works are sentimental and critical. His first collection of poems was “Hours of Idleness”. His other works include “The Prisoner of Chillon”, and “Childe Harold”. He led an unprincipled life, travelling around Europe and indulging in scandalous affairs.

177 solar years ago, on this day in 1839 AD, the Treaty of London established the new country Belgium as a kingdom and guaranteed its neutrality. Made up of ethnic Dutch, French and German speakers, its capital Brussels today is the headquarters of the 28-nation European Union (EU).

134 solar years ago, on this day in 1882 AD, English naturalist, Charles Darwin, died. He is the author of the controversial theory of evolution which he presented in "Survival of the Fittest," and “On the Origin of Species.” His theories have been refuted by both Christian and Muslim scientists and scholars as absurd.

110 solar years ago, on this day in 1906 AD, French physical chemist and co-winner of the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1903, Pierre Curie died at the age of 46. His studies of radioactive substances were made together with his wife, Marie Curie, whom he married in 1895. They were achieved under conditions of much hardship - barely adequate laboratory facilities and under the stress of having to do much teaching in order to earn their livelihood. Together, they discovered radium and polonium in their investigation of radioactivity by fractionation of pitchblende (announced in 1898). Later they did much to elucidate the properties of radium and its transformation products. Their work in this era formed the basis for much of the subsequent research in nuclear physics and chemistry.

72 solar years ago, on this day in 1944 AD, Ayatollah Seyyed Mohammad Hassan Najafi Quchani, passed away in his hometown Quchan at the age of 67. After initial studies in Isfahan, he left for the famous seminary of holy Najaf in Iraq for higher studies under the prominent ulema of his time. After attaining the status of Ijtehad he returned to Iran, and spent the rest of his life in Quchan, grooming students and writing books. Among his prominent works is “Journey to the Unseen World”, in which he dwells on the human being’s instinctive desires to have an understanding of afterlife, or the life after death and the state of the Barzakh – the interval between death and Resurrection.

29 solar years ago, on this day in 1987 AD, the Iranian Islamic scholar and exegete of the Holy Qur'an, Mohammad Taqi Shariati, passed away at the age of 80. He studied Islamic sciences in the holy city of Mashhad, and published several books after setting up the Association for Publication of Islamic Facts. He was the father of the sociologist Ali Shariati, who was martyred by the Shah's dreaded security force, SAVAK, in London.

28 solar years ago, on this day in 1988 AD, the US launched unprovoked attacks on Iranian naval forces in the Persian Gulf in support of Saddam the Ba’th minority dictator of Baghdad, in an operation codenamed 'Praying Mantis'. This was the largest naval battle since World War II. The Iranian navy put up a brave fight in the face of heavy odds with the frigates Sahand and Joshan challenging the American ships, along with a flotilla of speed boats backed by aircraft. Because of superior fire power, the US navy damaged Joshan and sank a few boats, but after an exchange of missile volleys with Sahand, it backed off. Earlier the Americans had scuttled the merchant ship Iran Ajr and attacked Iranian oil platforms in the Persian Gulf.

23 solar years ago, on this day in 1993 AD, following the attack of FBI on the Headquarters of Davidian Sect in Waco, Texas, 80 men, women and children were brutally killed for opposing the Godless policies of the US regime.

21 solar years ago, on this day in 1995 AD, in Oklahoma City, US, a large car bomb exploded at the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building killing 168 people and injuring 500 including many children in the building’s day care center. As usual, the American press alleged the blast to be the work of what it called a Muslim terrorist. Within a week a suspect, Timothy McVeigh, was caught and charged, along with Terry Nichols, and since the two were white American Christians, all talks of terrorism quickly disappeared from the American press. The two were later convicted and sentenced to 12 years in prison in 1998. McVeigh was later convicted of federal murder charges and executed.

AS/ME