Today is Sunday; 14th of the Iranian month of Bahman 1397 solar hijri; corresponding to 27th of the Islamic month of Jamadi al-Awwal 1440 lunar hijri; and February 3, 2019, of the Christian Gregorian Calendar.

1485 lunar years ago, on this day in 45 years before Hijra, Abdul-Muttaleb, the paternal grandfather of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA), passed away in Mecca and was laid to rest in the Jannat al-Mu’allah Cemetery – unfortunately desecrated and destroyed by Wahhabi heretics 93 years ago in 1925 when the Godless Aal-e-Saud clan occupied Islam’s holiest city. His father was the monotheist Hashem, a direct descendant of the Prophet Abraham’s (AS) firstborn son, Prophet Ishmael (AS), while his mother was Salmah bint Amr of the Khazraj clan of Yathreb – which was to become known as Medinat an-Nabi or simply Medina, following the migration to that city of his grandson the Prophet. Named Shaibah by his mother, he was brought to Medina by his uncle Muttaleb, following the death of his father Hashem. When the people of Mecca saw Shaibah with his uncle, they thought he was his slave, and called him Abdul Muttaleb, which means slave of Muttaleb. Although Muttaleb tried to explain that the boy was his nephew, the name stuck. Muttaleb continued to manage his brother Hashem's duties until Abdul Muttaleb was old enough to take over. Abdul Muttaleb took over the duties of Saqaya and Rifada when his uncle Muttaleb died. He had many good qualities and made many changes to the lives and habits of the Quraish. In the year known as Aam al-Feel or Year of the Elephant in which his grandson the Prophet of Islam was to be born, a miraculous incident happened, when Abraha, the governor of Abyssinian-occupied Yemen, riding an elephant, marched upon Mecca to raze down the holy Ka’ba and in the process his soldiers seized the camel-herd of Abdul Muttaleb, who boldly approached the invader and demanded the return of his camels. When Abraha mockingly asked him as to why he is not requesting that the Ka’ba should be spared, Abdul Muttaleb said: I am the owner of camels, while the Ka’ba has its own Owner. No sooner did the elephantine army of Abraha tried to storm the city, a swarm of tiny birds appeared overhead by the command of God Almighty, raining death upon men and beasts by dropping pebbles upon them and reducing them to resemble chewed straw, as Surah al-Feel of the holy Qur’an states. To Abdul-Muttaleb goes the credit of having a divinely-inspired dream that led to the rediscovery and unearthing of the spring of Zamzam which God Almighty had caused to burst from under the feet of a thirsty little Ishmael, as his mother Hajar, frantically ran between the hillocks of Safa and Marwa, trying to find water for her seemingly dying son. When grandson Prophet Mohammad (SAWA) was born and the infant soon became orphan with the death of his father Abdullah, the doting grandfather Abdul-Muttaleb took care of the boy until his own death 8 years later, but before breathing his last, gave custody of the child to his other son, the monotheist Imran Abul Taleb – the guardian of both his nephew and the creed of Islam in Mecca. Abdul-Muttaleb’s another son was the valiant Hamzah, who was also a devout Muslim and achieved martyrdom in the Battle of Ohad, which the pagan Arabs imposed upon the Prophet.

990 lunar years ago, on this day in 450 AH, Abu'l-Abbas Ahmad ibn Ali an-Najashi, passed away in Matirabad near the city of Samarra in Iraq at the age of 78. He is considered the earliest and among the most authentic Shi'ite Muslim scholars of “Ilm ar-Rijaal”, which literally means "Knowledge of Men", and refers to a discipline of Islamic religious science in which the narrators of hadith are evaluated. His book “Rijaal an-Najashi” has been the most reliable source of information about early ulema and scholars of the School of the Ahl al-Bayt of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA), and paved the way for later generations to further explore this vital field. Najashi was a student of the celebrated Shaikh Mufid and other prominent scholars, while his father, Ali ibn Ahmad, had studied under the famous Iranian scholar, Shaikh Sadouq, when the latter visited Baghdad. Born with an inquisitive mind that enabled him to embark on a scrutiny of sources and narrators, Najashi belonged to a family of eminent scholars. His seventh ancestor, Abdullah an-Najashi, the governor of Ahvaz and Fars during the reign of Mansour Dawaniqi, the 2nd self-styled caliph of the usurper Abbasid regime, was a student of Imam Ja'far Sadeq (AS), the 6th Infallible Heir of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA). He compiled the Imam's answers to his queries under the title “Risalat-Abdullah an-Najashi”.

860 solar years ago, on this day in 1160 AD, the self-styled holy Roman emperor, Frederick Barbarossa of Germany, barbarically hurtled prisoners, including children, at the Italian city of Crema, forcing it to surrender. The siege was marked by several episodes of brutality against fellow Christians by the Germans, who hung Cremaschi prisoners to siege machines, resulting in bloody manslaughter. Barbarossa, who on the instructions of Pope Urban III had assembled a huge anti-Muslim army of crusaders in alliance with the kings of France and England, and marched overland towards Syria through the Byzantine Empire; miserably drowned in River Saleph (Goksu Nehri) in what is now Turkey, before reaching his cherished goal, i.e. the Islamic city of Bayt al-Moqaddas in Palestine. Barbarossa and his horse were struck by divine wrath and swept away to a terrible death that aborted the 3rd European crusade against Muslims. His leaderless army lost heart and fled, and many Christian knights, afraid of the prospect of fighting Muslims, committed suicide.

642 solar years ago, on this day in 1377 AD, some 5,000 people of the Italian city of Cesena were slaughtered by troops of Pope Gregory XI for refusing to follow the irrational laws of the Catholic Church. The various Christian sects have a long bloody history of internecine warfare.

568 solar years ago, on this day in 1451 AD, the 6th Ottoman Sultan, Murad II, died after a reign of almost three decades during which he expanded the Turkish Empire into Europe, defeating the Christian coalition of the holy Roman Empire, Poland and Serbia-Hungary in several battles in the Balkans and in Hungary. He was, however, unsuccessful in the east in Anatolia (modern Turkey) against fellow Turkic rulers, especially the forces of the Iran-based Empire of Shahrokh (son of the central Asian conqueror, Amir Timur). Murad was succeeded by his son, Sultan Mohammad II, who accomplished his father's goal of exterminating the Byzantine or Eastern Roman Empire and liberating the city of Constantinople; subsequently renamed Islambol or Istanbul – as it is known today. On entering this once formidable city, he recited the Persian couplet of the famous Iranian poet, Shaikh Mosleh od-Din Sa'di:

"The spider weaves the curtains in the palace of the Caesars;

The owl calls the watches in the towers of Afrasiyab."

An accomplished scholar with fluency in several languages such as Turkish, Persian, Arabic and Greek, he was a builder of schools, mosques and libraries. During his 30-year reign, he consolidated Ottoman rule in southwestern Europe and in Anatolia.

551 solar years ago, on this day in 1468 AD, Johannes Gutenberg, the inventor of the Printing Press, died. Born in Germany he lived in Strasburg in present day France. In 1443, he invented the Printing Press and introduced modern book printing, taking a major stride in circulation of books.

531 solar years ago, on this day in 1488 AD, Portuguese explorer Bartolomeu Dias, who on reports of Spanish Muslims travelling to India via the Atlantic, had been sent on an expedition by King John II of Portugal, sighted the southern coast of Africa and landed at Mossel Bay (South Africa). He had to turn back when his crew refused to sail north. On the return journey he saw the southern tip and named it Cape of Storms, a name that was changed to Cape of Good Hope by King John to encourage explorers. In 1500 Dias died when his ship was scuttled by a storm in the Cape.

510 solar years ago, on this day in 1509 AD, the Battle of Diu off the coast of Gujarat, western India, took place between the Portuguese marauders assisted by the Raja of Cochin, and a coalition of navies of the Sultan of Gujarat, the Mamluk ruler of Egypt, the Ottoman Sultan, and the Zamorin of Calicut, resulting in a stalemate, at the end of which, the Portuguese admiral, Francisco de Almeida, treacherously slaughtered the unsuspecting Egyptians and Indians in the most barbaric way. This happened despite the release of the well-fed and well-treated Portuguese prisoners from Gujarat taken in the victorious Battle of Chaul a year earlier. For almost 40 years, the Portuguese and the Gujarat-Egyptian-Ottoman coalition fought seesaw battles off the Indian coast. The "Mirat-e Sikandari", a Persian history of the Indian Muslim Kingdom of Gujarat details some of these battles. Among the heroes of these battles were Amir Hussain al-Kurdi, the Egyptian governor of Jeddah, Malik Ayaz of Gujarat, who was a Russian convert to Islam, and Bayram Pasha the Ottoman.

262 lunar years ago, on this day in 1178 AH, the Hadith scholar, Abdul-Karim Ibn Ahmad al-Halabi, passed away. He was from Aleppo as his surname suggests, and though he went blind, he wasn’t demoralized and remained a prominent scholar. He has left behind numerous compilations, including “Ad’iyat as-Safar” or supplications to God for safety while on journey.

140 solar years ago, on this day in 1879 AD, the first usable incandescent filament electric light bulb was demonstrated to an audience of 700 by its inventor Joseph Wilson Swan in Newcastle-upon-Tyne in England. Swan soon established the world's first electric light bulb factory at Benwell in Newcastle. Later, Swan's bulbs were used to light up Mosley Street in the Newcastle city centre, the first street in the world to be lit by electric light. By 1881, Swan had introduced his bulbs in London where 1,200 of them were used in lighting the Savoy Theatre in front of an astonished audience.

104 solar years ago, on this day in 1915 AD, during World War I, the Suez Canal, which was seized by Britain, was attacked by the joint German and Ottoman forces. In view of its vital role in linking the Red Sea and the Mediterranean, its control was of paramount importance for both the Allied and the Axis Powers. Britain's loss of the canal would have endangered its colonies in Asia. The British beat off the attack through their Arab and Indian auxiliaries. In 1956, Egypt’s President Jamal Abdun-Nasser ended the British occupation of Suez Canal.

80 solar years ago, on this day in 1939 AD, Akbar Adibi, Iranian scientist, and father of electronics in Iran, was born in Songhor in Kermanshah Province. After obtaining masters in Electrical Engineering from Tehran University in 1965, he worked for the Alestom Power Plant and taught at the university. In 1973 he left for the US, where at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) in 1973, he obtained two Master of Science degrees – the first in Microprocessor-based Computer Systems and the second in Solid State and Semiconductor Device. He completed his PhD in 1977 on Barrier Solar Cells. On return to Iran he resumed his job of lecturer at Tehran Polytechnic, which after the victory of Islamic Revolution became the Amir Kabir University. His notable achievements are: The creation of Iran’s first Solar Cell in 1978, more than 100 articles in internal and international publications, becoming Full Professor in 1995, earning the prestigious Khwarezmi National Prize for his contribution as one of the best projects in 1995, earning the respected title of "The Most Recognized and Elite University Professor of Iran" in 1996, and being named the "Father of Electronics and VLSI in Iran". He was a member of numerous academic societies, including; New York Academy of Sciences, New York Planetary Society, Optical Society of America, and Iran's IEEE Student Branch Counselor. He was involved in many industry-based projects, namely; the design and implementation of a 32 channel PCM system, the design and construction of a DSP-based high voltage network protection system, and the design of a DCS-based control, until his death due to heart failure on August 26, 2000. Adibi is the author of several technical books such as “Pulse Techniques”, “Theory and Technology of Semiconductor Devices”, and “Digital Electronics”. He believed that electronics and VLSI technology could help Iran lower its dependency on oil.

76 solar years ago, on this day in 1943 AD, during World War 2, one of the bloodiest battles in history, the over 6-month long Battle of Stalingrad, ended in victory for the Soviet Union and surrender of 110,000 German troops. The combined casualties of the two sides were almost two million. The German army after advancing into the Soviet Union had launched an all-out attack on the important city of Stalingrad as of July 17, 1942. However, due to freezing weather, shortage of food and equipment, and the counter offensive of Soviet troops, the demoralized Germans were encircled and forced to surrender, resulting in a severe blow to Adolf Hitler's ambitions. The Nazi debacle in Stalingrad led to a string of defeats for Germany and turned the tide of the war in the favour of the Allied Powers. Stalingrad is currently known as Volgograd.

53 solar years ago, on this day in 1966 AD, the first-ever soft landing on the moon took place when the unmanned Soviet Luna 9 spacecraft safely landed in the Ocean of Storms three days after its takeoff from Earth. It was the first ever soft landing on another celestial body, and opened the way for manned trips to the moon, by removing doubts that the surface was an unsafe dusty quicksand. On striking the surface, the Soviet probe ejected a 250-lb capsule which then rolled upright and unfolded four spring actuated petals to steady itself. A TV camera with a revolving mirror system enabled Luna 9 to take pictures, including panoramic views of the lunar landscape and closer views of nearby rocks, which were transmitted back to earth until 6 February when the batteries ran out and contact with the spacecraft was lost.

47 solar years ago, on this day in 1972 AD, the 7-day blizzard struck northwestern Iran and killed at least 4,000 people, making it the deadliest snowstorm in history. There were no survivors in Kakkan, and near the border with Turkey. Sheklab Village and its 100 inhabitants were buried.

40 solar years ago, on this day in 1979 AD, in a press conference amidst nationwide festivities marking his return home from exile, the Father of the Islamic Revolution, Imam Khomeini (RA), announced he would set up an interim revolutionary government to set the stage for a referendum after drafting of Islamic Iran’s Constitution. He warned the fugitive Shah’s Prime Minister, Shapour Bakhtiar, that in case of continued suppression of the people, he will issue a Jihad decree. The Imam also called on the army to join the people. Meanwhile, it was announced that till then 35,000 Americans had left Iran’s soil and 10,000 others would soon leave Iran.

29 solar years ago, on this day in 1990 AD, the prominent Iranian expert of Persian language and literature, Dr. Seyyed Hassan Saadaat Naseri, passed away while on a scientific mission to Afghanistan. He spent a lifetime lecturing on Persian language and literature. He compiled valuable works in the cultural, literary and religious fields.

13 solar years ago, on this day in 2006 AD, the Muslim world erupted in anger at the sacrilegious cartoons re-published in Europe. In Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Turkey, Malaysia, Palestine, and Pakistan, demonstrators called for boycott of European goods. The flag of Denmark, where the insulting cartoons first appeared was burned.

12 solar years ago, on this day in 2007 AD, Takfiri terrorists detonated a truck bomb in the Sadriyeh Market of Baghdad Sadr City, martyring over 150 Muslims and injuring over 350 others. Created by Saudi Arabia and the Zionist entity, with the blessings of the US, the goal of the Godless Takfiris is to tarnish the image of Islam.

10 solar years ago, on this day in 2009 AD, the Islamic Republic of Iran successfully launched into orbit a missile carrying “Omid” (hope in Persian), its first domestically-made satellite. In 2005, Iran had launched its first commercial satellite on a Russian rocket in a joint project.

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