Today is Friday; 3rd of the Iranian month of Ordibehesht 1395 solar hijri; corresponding to 14th of the Islamic month of Rajab 1437 lunar hijri; and April 22, 2016, of the Christian Gregorian Calendar.

960 solar years ago, on this day in 1056 AD, the supernova in the Crab nebula was last seen by the naked eye. According to historical documents, as recorded by the Chinese court astronomer and astrologer of those days, Yang Wei-Te, in its first two months in the year 1054, the star was of yellow colour. It remained visible for 653 days, as is also attested by the Islamic astronomers of those days.  

757 lunar years ago, on this day in 680 AH, the Second Battle of Homs was fought in western Syria in which the Muslims under command of the Mamluk Sultan of Egypt and Syria, Mansour Qalawun, defeated the Mongols led by Mongke Timur, a brother of Abaqa of the Iran-based llkhanid Empire. After the Mongol defeats at the hands of the Mamluks at Ain Jalut in Gaza 11 years earlier and at Albistan 4 years earlier, the Ilkhan had dispatched a large army of 50,000 Mongols and 30,000 Christians led by King Demetrius II of Georgia and King Leo II of Armenia. The two armies met south of Homs, where initially the Mongol-Christian alliance had the upper hand and scattered the Mamluk's left flank, but the Muslims personally led by Sultan Qalawun routed the Mongol centre, wounding Mongke Timur and forcing his army to flee. The following year, Abaqa died and his successor, Nicholas Tekuder Khan, who was baptized as a Christian, reversed his policy towards the Mamluks, by converting to Islam, changing his name to Ahmad, and forging an alliance with the Muslims against the Crusaders.

400 solar years ago, on this day in 1616 AD, Spanish poet and novelist, Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, died in Madrid at the age of 59. Born near Madrid, his magnum opus “Don Quixote” is considered to be the first modern European novel. It follows the adventures of Alonso Quixano, who reads so many chivalric novels that he loses his sanity and decides to set out to revive chivalry, undo wrongs, and bring justice to the world, under the name Don Quixote. He recruits a simple farmer, Sancho Panza, as his squire, who often employs a unique, earthly wit in dealing with Don Quixote's rhetorical orations on antiquated knighthood. Cervantes’ influence on the Spanish language has been so great that the language is often called “la lengua de Cervantes” (the language of Cervantes). “Don Quixote” has been regarded chiefly as a novel of purpose. He wrote it to satirize the chivalric romance and to challenge the popularity of a form of literature that had been a favorite of the general public for more than a century. Cervantes enlisted as a soldier in a Spanish Navy infantry regiment and continued and was captured by Algerian-Ottoman naval forces. After 5 years of captivity he was released by his captors.

394 solar years ago, on this day in 1622 AD, the strategically located Hormuz Island in the Strait of the same name at the entry of the Persian Gulf was liberated from over a century of Portuguese occupation by a joint Iranian-English fleet. The victory entirely changed the balance of power and trade to the benefit of the Safavid Empire and the English East India Company. The Iranians first besieged Qeshm Island – the largest in the Persian Gulf and also under Portuguese occupation. Shah Abbas the Great dispatched his famous general Imam Quli Khan, the son of Allahverdi Khan, to negotiate with the English, and after the liberation of Qeshm, the joint Iranian-English fleet sailed to Hormuz and the Safavids captured the town by sinking the Portuguese fleet. Twenty years earlier, Shah Abbas I had liberated Bahrain from Portuguese occupation.

292 solar years ago, on this day in 1724 AD, Immanuel Kant, Russian-German philosopher was born in the Prussian city of Konigsberg, which since 1946 is in Russia and called Kaliningrad. He spent a lifetime, teaching, learning, and compiling numerous books in different scientific courses such as mathematics, natural sciences, astronomy, logic, and especially philosophy. Kant tried to introduce the role played by experience and wisdom in learning and also the boundaries of wisdom and senses in understanding the world. His philosophy is based on criticism of mankind’s wisdom and understanding and is therefore known as critical philosophy. His books include "Critique of Practical Reason".

138 lunar years ago, on this day in 1299 AH, the prominent Islamic scholar, Ayatollah Sadr od-Din Sadr, was born in the holy city of Kazemain in Iraq. After mastering Arabic literature and mathematics he attended the Najaf Seminary for higher studies, and soon attained the status of Ijtehad. At the age of 32 years he took up residence in the holy city of Mashhad, in Khorasan, northeastern Iran, and stayed for some 17 years, before returning to Iraq. He was invited to Qom by Grand Ayatollah Abdul-Karim Ha'eri, whom he succeeded as head of the Qom Seminary. He was an accomplished poet in Arabic, and composed a moving elegy on the desecration of the Baqie Cemetery by Wahhabi vandals. Among his valuable compilations, mention could be made of “Mukhtasar Tarikh al-Islam” (or A Concise History of Islam).

121 solar years ago, on this day in 1895 AD, the people of Cuba staged an uprising for liberation from the yoke of Spanish colonial rule. This was the third uprising of the Cubans during the second half of the 19th century for independence. To crush the Cuban revolutionaries, Spain dispatched 300,000 troops. Amid these events that dragged on for several years, the US blew up its own ship, USS Maine, in Havana harbour and by putting the blame on Spanish forces, declared war on Spain in 1898. At the end of the 4-year war that lasted till 1902, the US occupied Cuba, Guam Island in the Pacific Ocean and the Philippines.

112 solar years ago, on this day in 1904 AD, US physicist and the builder of atomic bomb, Robert Oppenheimer, was born. Prior to the break out of World War II, he conducted extensive studies on atoms, the nuclear fusion process and the explosive release of massive energy. During World War II, he was appointed as the caretaker of US Defense Department’s research unit, and the three initial atomic bombs were developed under his supervision. However, when the US killed tens of thousands of people in the atomic bombardment of Japan in 1945, Oppenheimer regretted his actions and called for usage of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes.

101 solar years ago, on this day in 1915 AD, modern chemical weapons were first used in a war. German troops released chlorine gas from several metal cylinders on the front lines at Ypres, Belgium during WW I. The cloud of yellow-green gas with a strong odour was blown by wind over the French trenches, painfully killing 5,000 soldiers. Chlorine causes suffocation, constriction of the chest, tightness in the throat, and edema of the lungs. As little as 2.5 mg per litre (approximately 0.085 percent by volume) in the atmosphere causes death in minutes.

68 solar years ago, on this day in 1948 AD, the illegal European Zionist migrants in Palestine attacked and occupied the Mediterranean port city of Haifa, martyring 500 Palestinians and wounding several hundred others. When the terrified Arab women, children and old men fled to the harbour for possible evacuation to safe places, the Zionists brutally attacked them, martyring over 100 other innocent Palestinians and injuring more than 200. These and other massacres were a prelude to the illegitimate birth of Israel on Palestinian soil on May 14, 1948.

55 solar years ago, on this day in 1961 AD, the actions of the French secret army for continued domination of Algeria resulted in the killing of at least 1,200 people in the capital, Algiers. The backlash forced French president, General Charles de Gaulle, to grant autonomy to Algeria, but the Algerian combatants, who demanded complete independence, continued to confront the French troops. The concessions that de Gaulle granted to the Algerian Liberation Front were opposed by some French commanders and troops in Algeria. The secret army committed numerous crimes in Algeria, but it disintegrated with the detention of its leaders.

46 solar years ago, on this day in 1970 AD, Earth Day and Earth Week were marked for the first time as a result of a lifelong campaign by peace activist, John McConnell, for ensuring clean and healthy environment in view of the hazards posed by industrialization.

37 solar years ago, on this day in 1979 AD, Sepahbod (General) Mohammad Vali Qarani was martyred at the age of 66 by the terrorist grouplet Forqan, within months of being appointed Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces. He joined the army during the days of the Pahlavi regime and earned steady promotion for his dedicated service to the country. He was, however, shocked by rampant corruption and immorality prevailing among the military. In 1957, he was accused of plotting a coup and was imprisoned. He was released, but again imprisoned in 1963 on charges of close contacts with the Father of the Islamic Revolution, Imam Khomeini (RA), during the 15th of Khordad (June 5, 1963) uprising. For the next 15 years he was in prison and was released on the eve of the victory of the Islamic Revolution. Following the establishment of the Islamic Republic he was appointed to the highest ranking military post, but was martyred in a few months by the enemies of Iran and Islam.

32 solar years ago, on this day in 1984 AD, the war of tankers was started by Ba’thist Iraq following blocking of Iraqi exports of oil via the Shatt-al-Arab waterway, and Syria’s closure of Iraq's pipeline to the Mediterranean. Iraq attacked Iranian tankers and the vital oil terminal at Kharg Island. It then attacked Kuwaiti and Saudi tankers in a bid to lay blame on Iran, so that the US would intrude into the Persian Gulf, especially after Iran closed the Hormuz Strait. The Iranians limited their retaliatory attacks to Iraqi shipping, leaving the Hormuz Strait open to general passage to thwart the plot. Nonetheless, as Iraq’s lawlessness continued, Kuwait officially requested US to provide its tankers with naval escort.

22 solar years ago, on this day in 1994 AD, 7,000 ethnic Tutsis were slaughtered in stadium of Kibuye in Rwanda by the Hutu. Initially gasoline was used to set ablaze a building where 500 Tutsis were hiding. In 2001 Benedictine Sister Maria Kisito stood trial in Belgium for providing the gasoline.

19 solar years ago, on this day in 1997 AD, Ayatollah Mirza Ali Gharavi Alyari Tabrizi, passed away in his hometown Tabriz at the age of 96 and was laid to rest in the holy shrine of Hazrat Ma’soumah (SA) in Qom. A product of the seminary of holy Najaf in Iraq, he attained ijtehad and was an expert in jurisprudence, ethics, theology, gnosis, and philosophy. On his return to Iran, he taught for 65 years at the Tabriz seminary and wrote several books, including a commentary in 15 volumes on “al-Orwat-al-Wosqa”.

Ordibehesht 3rd is commemorated every year in the Islamic Republic of Iran as National Day for the celebrated Islamic scholar and scientist of the Safavid era, Baha od-Din Mohammad al-Ameli, popularly known as Sheikh Baha’i. Born in Ba’lbak in the Jabal Amel region of what is now Lebanon, he came to Iran while still a child with his father and developed into not just an expert in jurisprudence, theology, hadith, and Arabic and Persian literature, but also in astronomy, mathematics, medicine, and architecture. He was appointed Sheikh ol-Islam by Shah Abbas the Great and besides writing over a hundred valuable books and treatises on religion, astronomy, literature, and various other topics, he designed the famous Naqsh-e Jahan Square and the Grand Shah Abbas Mosque of Isfahan (Imam Mosque). His treatise on mathematics was in use as a textbook until the end of the 19th century. He was among the teachers of the famous philosopher, Mullah Sadra. Sheikh Baha’i passed away at the age of 77 in Isfahan, and according to his will, his body was taken to Mashhad and buried in the premises of the holy shrine of Imam Reza (AS), the 8th Infallible Heir of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA).