Today is Thursday; 2nd of the Iranian month of Ordibehesht 1395 solar hijri; corresponding to 13th of the Islamic month of Rajab 1437 lunar hijri; and April 21, 2016, of the Christian Gregorian Calendar.

1460 lunar years ago, on this day, 23 years before hijra, the Leader of all True Believers, Amir al-Momineen Imam Ali ibn Abi Taleb (AS) was born in the holy Ka'ba in Mecca. As the cousin, ward, son-in-law, and vicegerent of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA), the Imam needs no introduction. To his valour and wisdom, Islam will always remain indebted. We hereby congratulate the auspicious birth anniversary of the Model of Magnanimity, the Paragon of Patience, the Paradigm of Piety, the Epitome of Eloquence, and the Supreme Symbol of Social Justice, who reposes in eternal peace in the golden-domed shrine in Najaf, Iraq, where for over a thousand years, seekers of knowledge from all over the world, have humbly sought guidance for true faith from the person whom the Prophet had hailed as Gateway of the City of Knowledge.  

As of today, the 13th of Rajab, the three day period of "Ayyam al-Beedh" or White Days, starts, with devout Muslims observing fasts and holding the ritual called "Etekaf" in mosques to pray, contemplate and recite the holy Qur'an. Such temporary detachment from the hustle and bustle of the material world was recommended by Prophet Mohammad (SAWA) for cleansing and polishing the soul through inculcation of spiritual values, which result in proximity to God and forgiveness of sins. These days of the lunar month are considered white because their nights are bright with the moon reaching its zenith of resplendence.

1158 lunar year ago, on this day in 279 AH, the renowned Iranian Sunni Muslim authority on hadith, Mohammad ibn Eisa Tirmizi, passed away. He was born and died in Bagh, near Tirmiz in Greater Khorasan (currently in southern Uzbekistan near Afghanistan's border). He travelled widely to Kufa, Basra and Hijaz, in pursuit of knowledge. His teachers included Mohammad Bukhari, Muslim Naishaburi and Abu Dawoud Sijistani – all three of whom were renowned Iranian Sunni Muslim compilers of hadith. Tirmizi, who became blind in the last two years of his life, is the author of "al-Jame' as-Sahih", popularly called "Sunan at-Tirmizi", one of the six canonical hadith compilations of Sunni Muslims. He has included in his compendium authentic narrations on the unrivalled merits of the blessed household of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA), and has said that the term "Ahl al-Bayt" as used by God in the holy Qur'an (33:33) and by the Prophet in several hadith, is exclusive for Imam Ali (AS), Hazrat Fatema Zahra (SA), Imam Hasan (AS) and Imam Husain (AS), and does not include the Prophet's wives, as some allege. Tirmizi's grave is in Sherobad, 60 km north of Tirmiz, where he is popularly called Tirmiz Baba. Tirmiz is the hottest point in Uzbekistan with temperatures as high as 46 degrees centigrade, and the city traces its origin to Alexander's Greeks who called the place "thermos", meaning "hot".

1075 solar years ago, on this day in 941 AD, Abu’l-Hussain Bajkam al-Makaani, the Turkic military commander of the usurper Abbasid regime, was killed in Iraq in a skirmish with Kurd brigands during a hunting expedition. Originally a slave of a senior Iranian official of the Alawid (Seyyed) Dynasty of Tabaristan, Makaan ibn Kaki, who trained and educated him, Bajkam showed gratitude by adopting his patron's name (Makaan) as his surname (Makaani). Bajkam then entered the service of Mardavij, the founder of the Ziyarid dynasty of northern Iran, and after his assassination in 935, joined the Abbasids of Baghdad. In Iraq, he rapidly rose from Saheb ash-Shurta (Chief of the Police) to Amir al-Umara (Chief Commander), increasing his influence over the Caliphs ar-Raazi and al-Muttaqi. Bajkam was challenged by various opponents, including his predecessor as Amir al-Umara, Ibn Ra'eq, the Basra-based al-Baridis, the Hamadanids of Mosul and Syria, and the Buwaiyids of Iran. He was ruthless and power-thirsty and his death led to a void in central power, resulting in a period of instability in Baghdad, until the Buwaihid Amir, Moiz od-Dowla Daylami brought Iraq under his control.

645 lunar years ago, this day in 792 AH, the Ottomans under the command of Sultan Murad I defeated the Serbian army led by Prince Lazar in the famous battle of Kosovo, also known as the Battle of Blackbird's Field, about 5 km northwest of modern-day Pristina. In this battle which brought the Balkans under Turkish control both Murad and Lazar lost their life.

510 solar years ago, on this day in 1506 AD, the 3-day Lisbon Massacre ended in the Portuguese capital with the slaughter of over 1,900 Jews by Christians of the Catholic sect. Known as the Easter Slaughter, Christian sailors from other parts of Europe whose ships were anchored in the port of Tagus, joined in the massacre by torturing, killing, and burning at the stake hundreds of people who were accused of being Jews and, thus, guilty of heresy. This incident took place thirty years before start of the Inquisition in Portugal and nine years after the Jews were forced to convert to Roman Catholicism in 1497, during the reign of King Manuel I.

490 solar years ago, on this day 1526 AD, the last ruler of the Pashtun Dynasty of Hindustan (or northern subcontinent), Ibrahim Lodhi, was defeated and killed in the First Battle of Panipat near Delhi, by the Central Asian invader, Mohammad Zaheer od-Din, Babar, who established the Mughal Dynasty that ushered in the golden age of Muslim rule in the Subcontinent. Babar, whose grave is in Kabul, which was his capital, was a great grandson of the fearsome Turkic conqueror, Amir Timur, and hence the Mughals are often called Timurids. Unlike their ferocious ancestor, Babar and his successors were highly cultured, patronized Persian art, literature and poetry, and maintained excellent relations with the Safavid Dynasty of Iran through frequent exchange of ambassadors and men of learning. The Mughal Empire reached its peak during the 50-year rule of the 6th Emperor, Mohammad Alamgir Aurangzeb, covering all of today's India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and western Afghanistan. Thereafter it weakened and shrunk to Delhi and its surroundings, until the British colonialists dethroned the last monarch, Bahadur Shah Zafar in 1857. Babar, besides being a poet in both Persian and his native Chaghtai Turkic, was inventor of the Babari style of Arabic calligraphy, in which he wrote a copy of the holy Qur'an, which is kept in the Qur'an Museum of the holy shrine of Imam Reza (AS) in Mashhad, Iran.

344 solar years ago, on this day in 1672 AD, Abdullah Qutb Shah, the 6th ruler of the Qara Qoyunlu Iranian-Turkic dynasty of the Deccan (southern India), died after a rule of 46 years that was marked by aggressions and gradual encroachment on his territory by the Mughals of Hindustan (northern India). He patronized art, architecture, literature, and sciences, as migration of scholars continued from Iran. An accomplished Persian poet, he established religious institutions in his capital, Haiderabad, which are still active today. His mother, the sagacious lady, Hayat-Bakhshi Begum, was daughter of the founder of Haiderabad, Mohammad Quli Qutb Shah, while his father Sultan Mohammad Qutb Shah was nephew and successor of the former. Abdullah maintained regular correspondence with Shah Abbas II of the Safavid Empire of Iran, whose name was read in the Friday Prayer sermons as emperor – a matter that irritated the Mughals. During his rule, several valuable works were written in Persian, such as “Akhlaq-e Abdullah Qutb Shahi” on ethics by the scholarly prime minister, Sheikh Mohammad ibn Khatoun, the lexicon “Burhan-e Qate’” by Ibn Khalaf Tabrizi, and Ali ibn Tayfur’s Persian translation of Ibn Babawaiyh Qomi’s celebrated book “Oyoun Akhbar ar-Reza” on the 8th Infallible Imam of the Prophet’s Household titled “Toḥfa-e Malaki”.

307 solar years ago, on this day in 1709 AD, the Georgian king of Kartli, George XI or Gurjin Khan, who was appointed by the Safavid Emperor, Shah Sultan Hussain, as governor-general of what is now western Afghanistan to suppress the Pashtun tribes, was treacherously murdered in Qandahar by Mirwais Khan Hotak, the Ghilzai clan chief, who had invited him to a banquet to carry out the plot. It was a tactical blunder by the Shah to appoint a brutal Christian, as governor of Muslims. For the moment Mirwais was recognized as governor, but a dozen years later, his son, Mahmoud Hotaki burst into open rebellion, defeated the Safavids, seized Isfahan, ousted Shah Sultan Hussain, and styled himself Shah of Iran.

234 solar years ago, on this day in 1782 AD, German pedagogue, Friedrich Wilhelm August Froebel, was born. He laid the foundation for modern education based on the recognition that children have unique needs and capabilities. He created the concept of the “kindergarten” and coined the word now used in German and English. He developed the educational toys known as Froebel Gifts.

224 solar years ago, on this day in 1792 AD, the Brazilian revolutionary, Jose da Silva Xavier, known as Tiradentes or Teeth-Puller for his apprenticeship to a dentist, was hanged, drawn and quartered in Rio de Janeiro, for leading the movement for independence from Portugal. His head was exposed in Vila Rica, and pieces of his body were exposed in the cities between Vila Rica and Rio, to discourage independence-seekers. After Brazil’s independence in the 19th century, Tiradentes has been considered a national hero and patron of the Military Police.

214 solar years ago, on this day in1802 AD, Wahhabi tribes from Najd, led by Abdul-Aziz ibn Mohammad ibn Saud – son-in-law of the heretical Mohammad ibn Abdul-Wahhab – attacked the holy city of Karbala in Iraq and martyred about 5,000 people, mostly Iranian pilgrims. They damaged the shrine of Imam Husain (AS) and stripped the dome of its gold covering. They then desecrated the other holy sites in Iraq, including the shrine of the Commander of the Faithful, Imam Ali (AS), in Najaf. The area till Basra lay desolate and the Wahhabis took with them millions in loot after destroying towns, displacing people, and killing many. The destruction brought memories of the sack of Baghdad by the Buddhist Mongols, although the non-Muslim Hulagu Khan was courteous enough to spare the holy cities. In 1803, Abdul-Aziz paid the price of his blasphemy when he was killed in his stronghold Dirriyah by a faithful Iraqi Muslim from Ammarah, who in order to avenge the desecration of the holy shrines, had travelled to Najd and infiltrated Wahhabi ranks. In the next couple of years, the Wahhabis, led by Saud bin Abdul-Aziz attacked the holy cities of Mecca and Medina and desecrated the holy shrines, including the sacred Jannat al-Baqi Cemetery. They wanted to destroy the Prophet of Islam’s shrine but were prevented. These sacrilegious acts made the Ottoman Sultan order his governor of Egypt, Mohammad Ali Pasha to punish the Wahhabi brigands. After driving them from the Mecca and Medina, the Egyptian ruler relegated command to his son, Ibrahim Pasha, who pursued the Wahhabis into their heartland Najd, destroyed their capital, Dirriyah, captured the chieftain Abdullah ibn Saud, and sent him to Istanbul in 1818 for public execution, because of complicity in his father’s sacrilege of holy sites in Mecca, Medina, Karbala, and Najaf. The Saudi clan is descended from Arabicized Israelite tribes who were bitter opponents of the Prophet and later, after reluctantly accepting Islam, became apostates by joining the imposter Musaylemah Kazzab. In the next generations they sided with the Khwarej or renegades, and were deeply distrusted by both the Omayyad and Abbasid caliphates. During Ottoman times, they used to loot trade and Hajj caravans, and in 1744, to legitimize their crimes and bloodshed under guise of faith, they entered into alliance with the heretic Mohammad ibn Abdul-Wahhab. In 1932, the British gifted them with a pseudo country called Saudi Arabia. Today, the Saudis are chief sponsors of Takfiri terrorism to create sedition amongst Muslims and tarnish the image of Islam in the interests of US and Israel.

188 solar years ago, on this day in 1828 AD, French critic and historian, Hippolyte Adolphe Taine, was born. He was the chief theoretical influence of French naturalism, a major proponent of sociological positivism and one of the first practitioners of historicist criticism. Taine is particularly remembered for his three-pronged approach to the contextual study of a work of art, based on the aspects of what he called "race, milieu, and moment".

110 lunar years ago, on this day in 1327 AH, Ayatollah Shaikh Fazollah Noori was martyred through hanging by deviationists who had infiltrated and derailed the Constitutional Movement from its original course. He refused to endorse the unnatural separation between religion and politics, and gladly courted martyrdom by branding the so-called constitutionalists in the parliament as apostates and Godless elements. Born in Mazandaran, he was a product of the seminary of holy Najaf in Iraq, where he had studied under the celebrated Ayatollah Mirza Hassan Shirazi – who had saved Iran’s economy from British exploitation by issuing the anti-Tobacco fatwa. On returning to Iran, Fazlollah Noori involved himself in the Constitutional Movement, along with Grand Ayatollah Seyyed Abdullah Behbahani, to limit the powers of the Qajar dynasty. He believed that Iran needs an Islamic parliament based on the holy Qur’an and the Shari’ah. He staged a sit-in to protest against removal of religiosity in the constitution. Fazlollah Noori played a prominent role in the victory of Constitutional movement, but upon seeing its deviation he began to oppose the westernized trend. He was after a religiously legitimate constitution founded on Islamic rules and rejected imitation of European colonialism. He warned of colonial conspiracy to replace Islam with secularism in the guise of constitutionalism and strove to prevent spread of western immorality and licentiousness in the society under name of democracy and freedom.

107 solar years ago, on this day in 1909 AD, Mirza Mustafa Iftikhar ol-Ulema Ashtiyani, one of the leaders of the Constitutional Movement, was shot and martyred at the age of 43 during a sit-in protest of religious scholars at the shrine of Seyyed Abdul-Azim al-Hassani (AS) in Rayy, where he was laid to rest. Son of Ayatollah Mirza Mohammad Hassan Ashtiyani, who was active during the anti-Tobacco campaign, he studied under his father and other ulema to reach the status of ijtehad, before joining the people’s movement against the despotism of the Qajar dynasty. He strove to ensure that constitutionalism does not stray from the Shari’a.

106 solar years ago, on this day in 1910 AD, US author and humorist, Mark Twain, died at the age of 78. His childhood and teenage years were adventurous and these adventures later turned into the themes of his books. He wrote numerous stories for children and teenagers, including “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer”, and “Prince and the Pauper”.

78 solar years ago, on this day in 1938 AD, the Poet-Philosopher of the East, Allamah Dr. Mohammad Iqbal Lahori, passed away at the age of 61. He was an outstanding personality of the subcontinent who through his excellent poems in both Urdu and Persian, endeavoured to awaken the conscience of Muslims in undivided India and the Muslims world. He was acquainted with the English and German languages as well, and stayed in Germany and England for four years to learn western philosophy. Iqbal had predicted the birth of Pakistan, which happened nine years after his death. He has left behind many works in Urdu, Persian and English. His Persian poetry has been published several times in Iran, especially after the victory of Islamic Revolution. He also composed some excellent odes in praise of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA) as well as Imam Ali (AS), Hazrat Fatema Zahra (SA), Imam Hasan (AS) and Imam Husain (AS).

70 solar years ago, on this day in 1946 AD, British economist, John Maynard Keynes, died. His ideas profoundly affected the theory and practice of modern macroeconomics and shaped the economic policies of western governments. His ideas are the basis for the school of thought known as Keynesian economics and its various offshoots. Keynes at times explained the mass murder during the first years of the communist era in Russia on a racial basis as part of the “Russian and Jewish nature”. Writing in his "Short View of Russia" published after a trip to Russia that there is "beastliness on the Russian and Jewish natures when, as now, they are allied together" Keynes later in life became a supporter of Zionism.

37 solar years ago, on this day in 1979 AD, the Father of the Islamic Revolution, Imam Khomeini (RA), ordered establishment of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC). The main duty of IRGC is defence of the Islamic Revolution, and since its formation IRGC has decisively confronted anti-revolutionary groups and their plots to destabilize the country. The IRGC personnel showed their skill and valour during the 8-year war imposed on Iran by the US through Saddam, thereby thwarting enemy designs. After end of the imposed war, IRGC has maintained its military preparedness in the face of possible enemy threats against the Islamic Revolution and Iran by actively participated in various development projects.

36 solar years ago, on this day in 1980 AD, the University of Tabriz was liberated by the Muslim masses of this northwestern city from the occupation of the MKO hypocrites. Five days earlier, following the takeover of Tabriz University by Muslim students, the hypocrites who had entrenched themselves in the Teachers’ Training College were give a 3-day ultimatum by the Revolutionary Council, and when they refused to evacuate, the public burst into the campus to drive them out. Imam Khomeini (RA) supported the move and agreed with the closure of universities all over the country for conducting a fundamental review of the system of education in line with Islamic teachings. The universities were finally reopened on 18 December 1982.

18 solar years ago, on this day in 1998 AD, Ayatollah Murtaza Boroujerdi was martyred in the holy city of Najaf at the age of 70 by agents of Saddam’s Ba’th minority regime, because of reviving the Friday congregational prayer at the Grand Mosque of Kufa. Two months later the regime also martyred another prominent religious scholar of Najaf, Ayatollah Gharavi.