Today is Monday; 19th of the Iranian month of Azar 1397 solar hijri; corresponding to 2nd of the Islamic month of Rabi as-Sani 1440 lunar hijri; and December 10, 2018, of the Christian Gregorian Calendar.

1144 lunar years ago, on this day in 296 AH, Abdullah ibn Mu'taz was murdered at the age of 48 after a reign of a single day and night as caliph of the usurper Abbasid regime. He was installed by a faction of the powerful Turkic slave guards following the death of al-Muktafi, the 17th self-styled Abbasid caliph, and then deposed the next day by the Vizier. He went into hiding, was found, and strangled to death by a servant of his relative, the 13-year old al-Muqtadir, who was now installed as caliph. Abdullah lived a hedonistic life, writing poetry devoted to the pleasures of the immoral life he led – as is evident by his work “Kitab al-Badi”. He was a son of Mu'taz, the 13th self-styled caliph, who during his brief 3-year reign – before being deposed, brutally beaten and murdered by the Turkic guards – martyred Imam Ali an-Naqi (AS), the 10th Infallible Heir of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA). Like the rest of the clan, Abdullah ibn Mu'taz was also notorious for his enmity towards the Prophet's blessed Ahl al-Bayt. He wrote an ode in praise of what he viewed as merits of the tyrannical and immoral Abbasids over the rest of the Bani Hashem. These superficial verses on the forged merits of the Abbasid usurpers were given a fitting answer in a brilliant piece of versified eulogy by the poet and scholar Ali ibn Mohammad at-Tannoukhi, who points to the God-endowed merits of the Ahl al-Bayt, whose virtues are praised in the holy Qur'an and Hadith.

820 solar years ago, on this day in 1198 AD, the famous Spanish Muslim philosopher and polymath, Mohammad Ibn Ahmad Ibn Rushd, known to Medieval Europe as “Averroes”, passed away at the age of 72, while on a visit to Marakesh, from where his body was brought back to Spain and buried in his birthplace Cordoba. He was an expert in the sciences of the day, including medicine, astronomy, jurisprudence, Qur’an and hadith, at a time when the Christian World was living in ignorance and darkness. At the age of 25, he conducted astronomical observations in Morocco, discovering a previously unobserved star. He gave one of the first descriptions on sunspots. Ibn Rushd made remarkable contributions to medicine. His well-known book in this field is “Kitab al-Kulliyaat fi’t-Tibb”, whose Latin translation known as “Colliget” aroused much interest in medieval Europe. He has thrown light on various aspects of medicine, including the diagnoses, cure and prevention of diseases. He was called “the jurisprudent philosopher” and as a follower of the Maliki School, he compiled a summary of edicts (fatwa) of previous jurists. His works include interpretation of Qur’anic concepts. Ibn Rushd’s most important original philosophical work is “Tahafut at-Tahafut” (Incoherence of the Incoherence), which is a refutation of the Iranian Shafei theologian, Ghazali’s “Tahafut al-Falasefa” (Incoherence of the Philosophers). Ghazali had criticized as self-contradictory and an affront to Islamic teachings, the presentation of Aristotle’s thoughts by the famous Iranian Islamic genius, Abu Ali Ibn Sina. Ibn Rushd proved Ghazali's arguments as mistaken.

508 solar years ago, on this day in 1510 AD, Portuguese invaders, led by Afonso de Albuquerque and a fleet of pirates under command of the local mercenary Timmayya (Timoji), seized the port city of Goa on the western coast of India from the Bijapur Dynasty of the Deccan, founded by the Iranian adventurer from Saveh, Yusuf Adel Khan. Earlier Goa was part of the Bahmani Empire founded in 1347 by the general of Iranian stock, Ala od-Din Hassan Bahman Shah. The Portuguese carried out large scale massacres of both Muslims and Hindus in Goa and the Konkan coast, and forced the survivors to become Christians. Several Iranian Muslim families in Goa, especially ladies, were abducted and carried off to Portugal. For 450 years the Portuguese ruled Goa until its annexation by India in 1961.

188 solar years ago, on this day in 1830 AD, American poet, Emily Dickinson, was born in Amherst, Massachusetts. She led a rather secluded life. After studying at Amherst Academy and then for one year at the Mount Holyoke Female Seminary, she lived with her family and never married. Although she wrote poetry constantly, she never seriously pursued publishing her work. Only about 10 poems were published in her lifetime, and those were submitted for publication without her permission. After her death in 1886, more than 1,700 of her poems, which she had bound together in bundles, were discovered and published.

141 solar years ago, on this day in 1877 AD, after a 5-month siege and heroic defence of the city of Plaven, in what is now northern Bulgaria, by the Ottoman forces during the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-78, the greatly outnumbered Muslim garrison of 25,000 surrendered to the 100,000 strong joint Russian and Romanian force. As a result, Bulgharistan, which for almost five centuries was an Ottoman vilayat, was declared as an independent princely state in March 1878 by the Russians. The Bulgars are an ethnic Turkic people of the Eurasian steppes who were Christianized.

122 solar years ago, on this day in 1896 AD, Swedish chemist, Alfred Bernhard Nobel, died at the age of 63. Following years of research and experiments, in 1867 he invented dynamite for quarrying minerals and building roads in mountainous terrains. He was dismayed when his invention was diverted by European regimes for sabotage and killing of fellow humans. For this reason, he initiated the awarding of a prize every year for a person who strives most for global peace and security. After him the Trust decided to give Nobel Prize every year in the field of physics, chemistry, medicine, and literature as well, in addition to peace. Unfortunately, because of US hegemony, these prizes, especially the ‘peace prize’, have lost their meaning, and are awarded to mass murderers and agents of the West in Muslim and other countries.

117 solar years ago, on this day in 1901 AD, the Nobel Prize Awards were distributed for the first time in Stockholm, Sweden, in accordance with the will of inventor Alfred Nobel. The day was the 5th anniversary of Nobel's death. The Swedish Academy of Sciences awarded the first Nobel Prize in Physics to Wilhelm Röntgen for his discovery of X-rays and the first Nobel Prize in Chemistry to Jacobus H. Van't Hoff for his work on rates of reaction, equilibrium and osmotic pressure. The first Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was given to Emil von Behring, for his work on serum therapy, particularly for its use in the treatment of diphtheria.

113 lunar years ago, on this day in 1327 AH, the combatant scholar, Ayatollah Ali Fomani Rashti, attained martyrdom at the age of 59. Born in Rasht, Gilan Province, at the age of 20 he left for Iraq for higher religious studies at the seminaries of the holy cities of Karbala and Najaf, where he attained the status of Ijtehad. On his return to Iran, he settled in his hometown where in addition to his holding of classes he was actively involved in the Constitutional Movement.

87 lunar years ago, on this day in 1353 AH, the prominent scholar, Ayatollah Seyyed Musa Zarabadi Qazvini, passed away at the age of 59. Born in Qazvin, after higher religious studies in Tehran, he returned to his hometown where he led the people’s movement against despotism and strongly criticized the deviation of the Constitutional Movement from its goals. He authored several books including “Risala-e E’teqaadaat”.

70 solar years ago, on this day in 1948 AD, the International Human Rights Declaration was ratified by the UN General Assembly. It is made up of an introduction and thirty articles, with Article I referring to the equality of all mankind. The realities, however, are different. The big powers have a selective and dualistic approach to human rights, which are practically used as tools by the West to impose political and economic pressures on independent countries.

65 solar years ago, on this day in 1953 AD, Abdullah Yusuf Ali, Indian-born Sunni Muslim scholar and translator of the holy Qur’an into English, passed away in London, and was buried at the Muslim cemetery at Brookwood, Surrey, near Woking. Born in Bombay in a merchant family, he received a religious education and went on to memorize the entire Qur'an. He learned Arabic and studied English literature during his education at several European universities. His best-known work is “The Holy Qur'an: Text, Translation and Commentary”, published in 1938 in Lahore. Unfortunately, in the later, revised editions of this book, the author’s notes on the exclusive God-given virtues of the Ahl al-Bayt of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA) – Imam Ali (AS), Hazrat Fatema Zahra (SA), Imam Hasan (AS) and Imam Husain (AS) – have been removed, including those pertaining to ayah 107 of Surah Saffat, where Abdullah Yusuf Ali had explicitly mentioned in his original work while explaining the term “Zibhin Azim” (Great Sacrifice) that ransomed Abraham’s offering of Ishmael: “This was the type of service which Imam Husain (AS) performed, many years later in 60 AH, as I have noted in a separate pamphlet.” This and similar remarks by the author on the merits of the Ahl al-Bayt have been erased and are not found in the distorted editions of his work that are available today.

55 solar years ago, on this day in 1963 AD, Zanzibar gained independence from Britain as a constitutional monarchy under Sultan Jamshid bin Abdullah. Consisting of a number of islands off the east coast of Africa, Zanzibar, a series of parliamentary elections resulted in the Arab-Omani minority retaining the hold on power it had inherited from Zanzibar's former existence as an overseas territory of the Sultanate of Oman. Frustrated by under-representation in Parliament despite winning 54% of the vote in the 1963 election, the Afro-Shirazi Party (ASP) allied itself with the left-wing Umma Party, and early on the morning of 12 January 1964 mobilised around 600–800 revolutionaries. Having overrun the island state's police force and appropriated their weaponry, the insurgents proceeded to Zanzibar Town where they overthrew the Sultan and his government. Reprisals against Arab and South Asian civilians on the island followed; the resulting death toll is disputed, with estimates ranging from several hundred to 20,000. Moderate ASP leader Obeid Karume became the new president and head of state, and positions of power were granted to Umma party members. In April the same year, the Afro-Shirazi Party joined Zanzibar with Tanganyika to form the Federal Republic of Tanzania. It is worth recalling that a thousand years ago, Islam had been brought to east Africa by Iranians from Shiraz, whose descendants are still found in Zanzibar, Tanzania, and Kenya.

54 solar years ago, on this day in 1964 AD, the exegete of the holy Qur’an, Seyyed Hussain Ithna Ash’ari E’temadi, passed away in his hometown Rayy, south of Tehran, at the age of 66 and was buried in the mausoleum of Seyyed Abdul-Azim al-Hassani. An expert in literature, he completed his religious studies in holy Qom, and on return to Rayy, led the daily ritual prayers in the mausoleum of Seyyed Abdul-Azim. He breathed his last due to a heart attack while preaching from the pulpit. His famous work is the exegesis of the holy Qur’an titled “Tafsir Ithna Ash’ari”.

40 solar years ago, on this day in 1978 AD, the Nobel Peace Prize was scandalized in violation of the will of Swedish inventor Alfred Nobel, by awarding it jointly to notorious terrorist Menachem Begin (premier of the illegal Zionist entity), and Egyptian president Anwar Saadaat, for his treason against the Palestinian cause by signing the disgraceful Camp David Accord under US auspices.

34 solar years ago, on this day in 1984 AD, by the order of the Father of the Islamic Revolution, Imam Khomeini (RA), the High Council of Cultural Revolution was formed, made up of the heads of three branches of the government (Executive, Legislature, Judiciary), prominent ulema and cultural figures for giving direction to the country’s higher educational system and cultural centres. Following the victory of the Islamic Revolution in 1979, anti-social elements, communists and agents of the US and the West, had taken control of universities and higher education centres, as part of the plots against the Islamic Republic. The plot was nullified by the closing of the universities and purging of the anti-Islamic teaching staff. The universities reopened after three years and thus the High Council of Cultural Revolution was formed in order to provide guidelines to universities and cultural centres on the basis of Islamic teachings, and in line with the policy of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

6 solar years ago, on this day in 2012 AD, Iran announced that it has decoded all of the data from a RQ-170 Sentinel craft, an advanced CIA spy drone captured in eastern Iran earlier this month.

AS/SS