Today is Tuesday; 28th of the Iranian month of Shahrivar 1396 solar hijri; corresponding to 28th of the Islamic month of Zi’l-Hijjah 1438 lunar hijri; and September 19, 2017, of the Christian Gregorian Calendar.
1383 solar years ago, on this day in 634 AD, Damascus, fell to the Arab Muslims, only seven years after the Byzantine Emperor Heraclius’ much trumpeted triumph in Syria and Upper Mesopotamia over the Sassanid Empire in the 26-year long final and most bloody round of the Roman-Persian Wars that were being fought intermittently for the past 720 years since 92 BC. Heraclius’ loss of Syria to the Muslims, who subsequently overran the Iranian capital, Ctesiphon (near Baghdad in Iraq, meant the curtain had come down on four centuries of Byzantine-Sassanid rivalry for regional supremacy, as new players took charge of the battlegrounds of Syria and Mesopotamia that would now see some of the most crucial battles in Islamic history.
1375 lunar years ago, on this day in 63 AH, the Battle of Harrah and the brutal massacre of the people of Medina took place in less than two years after the tragedy of Karbala, when the Godless Yazid dispatched a huge army led by the notoriously immoral Muslim bin Uqbah to sack the city of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA). It happened that after the heartrending martyrdom of the Prophet's grandson, Imam Husain (AS), the people of Medina who had failed to support him, sent a delegation to Damascus to ascertain Yazid's character. The delegation found him completely devoid of all Islamic values, and as a result the people of Medina expelled the Omayyad governor and refused to acknowledge the legitimacy of Yazid's un-Islamic rule. The ungodly tyrant sent a force of 10,000 Syrians who attacked the defenders at Harrah, northeast of Medina. The well-equipped Omayyads after slaughtering a large number of Muslim defenders pursued them into the city and mercilessly butchered the people, including those that had sought refuge in the Prophet's Mosque and the Prophet's shrine. As many as 10,000 people, including 700 prominent persons comprising the Prophet's companions and scholars were massacred in cold-blood. Next, Muslim Ibn Uqbah, who has earned notoriety in Islamic history as the criminal transgressor who violated all bounds of sanctity, ordered his troops to plunder and desecrate the property and womenfolk of Medina for three days, before marching upon Mecca and blasphemously attacking the holy Ka'ba. For generations the heinous crime of Harrah was remembered. Of the women of Medina gang-raped by Yazid's soldiers, over a thousand gave birth to illegitimate children with no clue about their fathers. These are known in history as the "Offspring of the Sedition of Harrah”, and it is said that the schismatic ideas known as Wahhabism today, especially the prohibition on visiting the graves and recitation of Fateha for the dead, could actually be traced to these children of unknown and illegitimate parentage.
1153 lunar years ago, on this day in 285 AH, the Arab grammarian Abu'l-Abbas Mohammad al-Mubarrad died in Baghdad. He is regarded as leader of the Basran grammarians against the Kufan School. He has criticized some points in the grammar of the famous Iranian grammarian of Arabic language, Sibawayh, the greatest writer of his own school. His main work is the grammatical book "al-Kamel". Although a Sunni Muslim, al-Mubarrad has mentioned the account that Princess Shahr-Banu – daughter of Yazdegerd III, the last Sassanid Emperor of Iran – had married Imam Husain (AS) and was the mother of Imam Zayn al-Abedin (AS).
1151 solar years ago, on this day in 866 AD, Byzantine Emperor, Leo VI, was born. Of doubtful paternity, since his mother was the mistress of Emperor Michael III and at the same time the wife of the future Emperor Basil the Macedonian, he succeeded to the throne on the latter's death and ruled for 26 years till his own death in 912. His reign saw the loss of more territory to the Muslims in both Sicily and in Asia Minor, as well as islands in the Aegean Sea. The greatest setback for him was in 904, when the Greek Muslim admiral, Rasheeq al-Wardami, sailing from Syria, took control of Thessalonica, the second largest city of the Byzantium Empire. After a week's stay, during which he seized some 60 ships and forced the Christians to free over 4,000 Muslim prisoners, Rasheeq sailed back to the Levant. Born as a Christian and named Leo by his parents, Rasheeq was an officer in the Byzantine navy, before discovering the truth of Islam and joining the Muslims. Also known as Ghulam Zurafa, three years later in 907, he had sailed up the Dardanelles and besieged Constantinople, the capital of the Byzantine Empire, much to the horror of Emperor Leo VI. In May 912, just before the humiliated Leo VI died, Rasheeq al-Wardami and his fellow Greek Muslim admiral, Damian of Tarsus, known by his Muslim name, Ghulam Yazman, decisively defeated the Byzantine admiral, Himerios, off the island of Chios in the Aegean Sea, in retaliation for an attack by Christians on the Muslims of Cyprus.
661 solar years ago, on this day in 1356 AD, the Battle of Poitiers occurred during the "Hundred Years War” in Europe when an English army under the command of Edward the Black Prince defeated a French army and captured the French king, John II.
280 solar years ago, on this day in 1737 AD, a devastating cyclone in India’s Bay of Bengal destroyed some 2,000 ships and other vessels. It was estimated that more than 30,000 people died in the densely populated area called the Sundarbans in what is now Bangladesh and the Indian state of Bengal.
178 solar years ago, on this day in 1839 AD, British businessman, Quaker, social reformer and chocolate manufacturer, George Cadbury, was born in Birmingham. In 1856, at age 21, he joined his father's chocolate business, with his elder brother, Richard, who had joined in 1850. Their father retired in April 1861 due to failing health, and they took over his declining enterprise and built it into the highly prosperous Cadbury Brothers Cocoa & Chocolate Manufacturing Firm. George was perhaps more important for his improvements in working conditions and for his successful experiments with a new cocoa bean processing technique. The new pure unadulterated Cadbury's cocoa essence was heralded as a major breakthrough and it resulted in the passing of the Adulteration of Foods Acts in 1872 and 1875. George Cadbury died in 1922. This British company was bought in 2010 by the American Mondelez International (originally Kraft Foods), which is facing strong criticism for "secretly" rolling out a new "cheap-tasting" Creme Egg. It has also replaced the hugely popular Cadbury's Dairy Milk shell with one made from a cocoa mix chocolate.
149 lunar years ago, on this day in 1289 AH, the great Iranian theologian and philosopher, Mullah Hadi Sabzevari, passed away at the age of 78. He was born in Sabzevar in Khorasan in a wealthy family, but lived a life of piety and asceticism, spending whatever he had for the poor and the needy. He studied, first in holy Mashhad and then in Isfahan for several years, and was an authority in the exegesis of the Holy Qur'an, logic, mathematics, literature, and medicine. He used to lecture both in Mashhad and his hometown Sabzevar, and trained a large number of students from Iran, Iraq, Bahrain, Turkey, Caucasus, Afghanistan and the Subcontinent. He was a great exponent of the Transcendent Philosophy of Mullah Sadra, and has written 52 books in Arabic and Persian, including the famous versified "Manzoumah” and its commentary, which, along with another of his famous work, "Asrar al-Hekam", are taught till this day in Iran and other countries. The poet-philosopher of the Subcontinent, Allamah Iqbal Lahori, has paid glowing tributes to Mullah Hadi Sabzevari as one of the most prominent Islamic thinkers.
147 solar years ago, on this day in 1870 AD, during the Franco-Prussian War, the Siege of Paris began, resulting in the surrender of Paris and a decisive Prussian victory on January 28, 1871.
36 solar years ago, on this day in 1981 AD, the city of Susangerd and its surrounding areas in southwestern Iran, were liberated by Iran’s Muslim combatants from Ba’thist occupation. Some 750 Ba’thist occupation soldiers were either killed or injured, while 40 tanks and personnel carriers of the enemy were destroyed. Several tanks and personnel carriers and a large amount of ammunition and communication equipment were captured by the Iranian soldiers.
26 solar years ago, on this day in 1991 AD, the US imposed a military pact on the Persian Gulf emirate of Kuwait, for stationing troops and equipment on the claim of preventing a repetition of Iraq's military aggression and occupation that had ended some six months ago. A year later, the former colonial power, Britain, followed by France also imposed similar pacts on Kuwait, as part of the plot to militarize the Persian Gulf. In the next few years, the US, along with Britain and France, imposed similar military pacts on Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, and the United Arab Emirates, in order to seize billions of petro-dollars by supplying obsolete military hardware which the Arab states cannot use. These pacts have led to a rise in the unwanted military presence of foreign powers and fueled insecurity in the Persian Gulf.
23 solar years ago, on this day in 1994 AD, 20,000 US troops invaded and occupied Haiti in the Caribbean Sea on the pretext of reinstatement of President Jean Bertrand Aristide, three years after the coup staged by General Raoul Cedras to seize power. Aristide, who had sought refuge in the US, was reinstated in October 1994. The real intention of the US was control of Haiti, and a decade later, Washington, by openly supporting rioters, kidnapped Aristide from the presidential palace and replaced him with another president. The recurring aggressions of the US on Haiti are a clear example of violation of international rules and regulations and military interference in the affairs of other countries.
12 solar years ago, on this day in 2005 AD, prominent Iranian geographer, Dr. Hussain Begzadeh Shokoei, passed away at the age of 72 in Tehran. Born in Tabriz, he was a member of cultural and geographical academies and made lasting contribution to Iran’s geography.   
11 solar years ago, on this day in 2006 AD, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in his address to the UN General Assembly for the second consecutive year, criticized the hegemonic policies of the US in Iraq and Lebanon. He said Washington was abusing its power in the UN Security Council to punish others while protecting its own interests and allies. The American press widely covered his speech, while President George Bush again shied away from accepting his Iranian counterpart’s proposal for a televised debate on major international issues.
(Courtesy: IRIB English Radio – http://parstoday.com/en)