This Day in History (May 15)
Today is Tuesday; 25th of the Iranian month of Ordibehesht 1397 solar hijri; corresponding to 28th of the Islamic month of Sha’ban 1439 lunar hijri; and May 15, 2018, of the Christian Gregorian Calendar.
1389 lunar years ago, on this day in 50 AH, the hypocrite Mughirah bin Shu'ba, who despite his claim of acceptance of Islam was one of those hardcore heathens pretending to a companion of Prophet Mohammad blessings of God upon him and his progeny), died after a life immersed in sins, including wine-drinking, adultery, looting of public treasury and the unpardonable crime of hitting Hazrat Fatema Zahra (SA) with the sheath of his sword when the threshold of the Prophet's daughter was burned and the door battered down upon her by rogues demanding that her husband Imam Ali (AS) take oath of allegiance to the regime that had usurped the caliphate. Born in Ta'ef and claiming to be a member of the Thaqif Tribe, he was a notorious idolater who sensing the end of the freewheeling days of the pagan Arabs, came to Medina in 5 AH, and feigned acceptance of Islam. The Messenger of Mercy very well knew this charlatan and kept a distance from him. Known for his hostility towards Imam Ali ibn Abi Taleb (AS), the divinely-designated Vicegerent, he was one of the chief conspirators of the sedition of Saqifa Bani Sa'da that saw the political rule of the Islamic state seized by unworthy persons following the passing away of the Prophet. He later served as governor of Basra and of Kufa, before becoming an advisor and boon-companion of the Omayyad tyrant, Mu'awiyah ibn Abu Sufyan. Known as one of the four notorious seditionists among the Arabs – the three others being Abu Sufyan, Mu'awiyah and Amr bin Aas – he indulged in the blasphemous practice of cursing Imam Ali (AS) from the pulpit of mosque. The Prophet's elder grandson and 2nd Infallible Heir, Imam Hasan Mujtaba (AS) during a famous debate in Damascus in front of the usurper caliph Mu'awiyah, addressing Mughirah said: "You are an enemy of God, a violator of the holy Qur'an, and a rejecter of the Prophet of God…” In short, it was on Mughirah's advice that the accursed Yazid, whom Mu'awiyah had begotten in the desert through an adulterous encounter with a Christian Bedouin woman and then forgotten, was brought to Damascus and nominated as the next Omayyad caliph, in violation of the Treaty signed with Imam Hasan (AS).
1019 solar years ago, on this day in 999 AD, following dethroning and blinding of the Iranian Samanid king of Central Asia, Mansur II, by his rebellious governor, Fayeq-e-Khasah and Turkic slave general, Bektuzun, the two entered into an agreement with the rising power of Sultan Mahmud the Turkic king of Ghazna, to divide the land of Khorasan between them, by retaining control of Merv and Naishapour, while ceding Herat and Balkh to Mahmoud. The Samanids, who ruled for 180 years from their capital Bukhara (presently in Uzbekistan) are credited with the emergence of the modern Persian language written in the Arabic script, which was once the lingua franca of the Islamic east, spread from Central Asia to Anatolia and the Subcontinent, and is now the official language of Iran, Tajikistan and Afghanistan. The Ghaznavids further promoted this trend, resulting in the composing of the poetical masterpiece, the Shahnameh of Abu’l-Qassem Ferdowsi.
844 solar years ago, on this day in 1174 AD, Nour od-Din Zangi, the powerful ruler of the Turkic dynasty of Syria, northern Iraq and southeastern Anatolia, founded by his father Atabeg Emad od-Din, after breaking away from the Iran-based Seljuqid Empire, died while preparing to invade Egypt to bring under control his rebellious Kurdish general, Salah od-Din, who had seized the Land of the Nile for himself from the Ismaili Shi’ite Fatemid Dynasty. Nour od-Din Zangi was a thorn in the side of the European Crusader occupiers of Palestine, but despite his claim to serve the cause of Islam, he was an enemy of the followers of the Prophet’s Ahl al-Bayt, whom he repressed and expelled in thousands from the city of Aleppo and adjoining areas. A few years after his death, Salah od-Din destroyed the Zangid Dynasty, married Nour od-Din’s widow, and continued the same policy of repression of the followers of the Ahl al-Bayt, although he is credited with the liberation of Bayt al-Moqaddas after 88 years of occupation by the illegal Latin Kingdom of Palestine, set up by the Crusader invaders.
621 solar years ago, on this day in 1397 AD, the 4th king of Korea’s Joseon Dynasty, who was posthumously called Sejong the Great, was born in an era when the Islamic calendar served as a basis for calendar reform owing to its superior accuracy over the Chinese-based calendars. The Joseon Dynasty used a Korean translation of the Huihui Lifa, which itself was a Chinese translation of the Islamic astronomy works of the Iranian Muslim scholar of Bukhara, Jamal od-Din Mohammad ibn ?aher ibn Mohammad az-Zaydi al-Bukhari (known in Chinese as Zhamaluding). Sejong, who ruled from 1418 to 1450, was against Chinese influences in language, culture and religion, and introduced "Hangul”, the native phonetic 28-alphabet system for the Korean language. He suffered from severe diabetes that eventually cost him his eyesight. He fell under the influence of inefficient persons, and in 1427 took the unwise decision of imposing a ban on the Huihui Korean Muslim community that had special status and stipends since the Yuan dynasty. The Huihui Korean Muslims were forced to abandon their headgear, to close down their Mosque. The tradition of Chinese-Islamic astronomy, however, continued to survive in Korea up until the early 19th century.
376 solar years ago, on this day in 1642 AD, Shah Abbas II was crowned the 7th Safavid Emperor of Iran at the age of 10 years in Kashan, three days after the death of his father Shah Safi. Born in Qazvin, he was tutored by Rajab Ali Tabrizi, and learned how to maintain order over the vast empire and other state affairs by two other nobles named Mohammad-Ali Beg and Jani Khan Shamlu. A year after coronation, he moved his court to the Safavid capital of Isfahan. Unlike his father, he took an active interest in government and military matters; and like his great-grandfather Shah Abbas I, he was famous for the construction of many buildings, such as the famous Chehel Sotoun in Isfahan. On the western front his rule was relatively peaceful and was free of any Ottoman attack. In 1648 he managed to liberate Qandahar in what is now Afghanistan from occupation of the Mughal Empire of the Subcontinent. The Mughal ruler Shah Jahan sent his son Aurangzeb with an army of 50,000 soldiers but was unable to reoccupy Qandahar. In 1651, in the North Caucasus, Safavid troops came into conflict with Russia in the region of Sunzha, culminating into the Russo-Persian War of 1651–53. The Safavid influence prior to the war extended to the feudal tenure of the Kumyks in Daghestan. After two successful years, the Iranian plans were to capture the city of Terek and to move all the way to Astrakhan on the northern side of the Caspian Sea, trouble on the eastern front with Mughal India distracted attention. The Russian government sent an embassy, led by Prince Ivan Lobanov-Rostovsky and Ivan Komynin, to Isfahan for peaceful settlement of the conflict, to which the Shah II agreed. The war ended with the Safavids managing to increase their influence in the North Caucasus even more. He was a capable ruler and during his 24-year reign, the country was relatively peaceful and free of any Ottoman attack. Shah Abbas’ sudden death in Khusrauabad near Damghan on the night of 25–26 October 1666, at the age of 34 was a great blow to Iran. He was buried beside his father in holy Qom.
370 solar years ago, on this day in 1648 AD, the first of the treaties of the Peace of Westphalia was signed between Prussia, Austria, France, and Sweden in Munster and Osnabruck, thereby ending the Thirty Years' War in the Holy Roman Empire, and the Eighty Years' War between Spain and the Netherlands. The last of these treaties was signed on October 24. Though these treaties ended the centuries' long bloody sectarian battles between the Catholic and Protestant sects of Christianity, they did not restore peace throughout Europe. France and Spain remained at war for the next eleven years, making peace only in the Treaty of the Pyrenees of 1659. Among the outcomes of the Peace of Westphalia was reduction of the power of the Pope and the Church and emergence of nation states.
242 solar years ago, on this day in 1776 AD, the first steam boat was built. Seventy years following the discovery of steam power by a French engineer, Denis Papin, a steam boat was built by Marquis Claude de Jouffroy d’Abbans. The usage of steam power in ships marked a major development in the navigation industry.
168 solar years ago, on this day in 1850 AD, the Bloody Island Massacre took place in Lake County, California, in which over a hundred women, children, and elderly of the Pomo Amerindians were slaughtered by a regiment of the United States Cavalry, led by Nathaniel Lyon, while all able bodied men were on a hunting trip. One of the Pomo survivors of the massacre was a 6-year-old girl named Ni'ka, later renamed Lucy Moore. She hid underwater and breathed through a reed. Her descendants formed the Lucy Moore Foundation. The US has a bleak and bloody history of genocide of the native Amerindians, who have almost been exterminated, while the remnants survive in camps without any birthrights.
159 solar years ago, on this day in 1859 AD, French scientist and physicist, Pierre Curie, was born in Paris. His talent in mathematics and physics made him conduct extensive research in these fields. In the year 1898, he managed to discover Radium with the assistance of his wife, Madame Curie. Pierre Curie died in the year 1906.
128 lunar years ago, on this day in 1311 AH, one of the prominent lecturers of ethics, Mullah Hussain-Qoli Darguzini Najafi Hamedani, passed away at the age of 73 in Karbala and was laid to rest in the mausoleum of the Chief of Martyrs, Imam Husain (AS) – the younger grandson and 3rd Infallible Heir of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA). Born in Shavand village near Hamedan in a family that traced its lineage to Jaber ibn Abdullah al-Ansari, the famous companion of the Prophet and his Infallible Heirs, after initial studies in his region, he travelled to Tehran for mastering jurisprudence under leading scholars, including the celebrated Shaikh al-Iraqayn Abdul-Hussain Tehrani. He then went to Sabzevar to attend the philosophy classes of the renowned Islamic philosopher, Mullah Hadi Sabzevari. Later he left for the famous seminary of holy Najaf in Iraq to benefit from the classes of the great jurisprudent Ayatollah Shaikh Morteza Dezfuli Ansari, and through him was guided to the classes on ethics of Seyyed Ali Shushtari. An accomplished scholar in many fields, Mullah Hussain Qoli was always watchful about his actions and his soul. Many acts of wonder have been attributed to him. His lectures on Ethics and Gnosis were attended by well-known ulema of Najaf, and he groomed as many as 300 scholars. Some of his famous students were: Seyyed Mohammad Sa’eed Habubi an-Najafi, Shaikh Mohammad Bahari, Ayatollah Mirza Mohammad Hussain Na’eni, Akhond Mullah Mohammad Kazem Khorasani and Seyyed Mohsin al-Amin al-Ameli – author of the encyclopedic work, "A’yaan ash-Shi’a”.
99 solar years ago, on this day in 1919 AD, the coastal city of Izmir was liberated from Greek occupation by Turkish forces led by Mustafa Kamal Pasha, who later emerged as a dictator and under western influence tried to eradicate the Islamic culture and religion of the Turkish Muslims.
78 solar years ago, on this day in 1940 AD, the German army, after a five-day offensive, occupied Netherlands during World War 2. The German forces started their attacks on France, Belgium, Netherlands, and Luxemburg, west of Germany, as of May 10, 1940, and after a while occupied all four countries.
25 solar years ago, on this day in 1993 AD, the UN General Assembly designated May 15 as "International Day of Families” to emphasize the importance to the family unit. The Day provides an opportunity to promote awareness of issues relating to families and to increase knowledge of the social, economic and demographic processes affecting families.
Ordibehesht 25 is commemorated every year in the Islamic Republic of Iran as Ferdowsi National Day, in honour of the great Iranian poet, Abu’l-Qasim Hassan Firdowsi, whose "Shahnamah” remains to this day as the finest example of Persian epic poetry.
(Courtesy: IRIB English Radio – http://parstoday.com/en)
1389 lunar years ago, on this day in 50 AH, the hypocrite Mughirah bin Shu'ba, who despite his claim of acceptance of Islam was one of those hardcore heathens pretending to a companion of Prophet Mohammad blessings of God upon him and his progeny), died after a life immersed in sins, including wine-drinking, adultery, looting of public treasury and the unpardonable crime of hitting Hazrat Fatema Zahra (SA) with the sheath of his sword when the threshold of the Prophet's daughter was burned and the door battered down upon her by rogues demanding that her husband Imam Ali (AS) take oath of allegiance to the regime that had usurped the caliphate. Born in Ta'ef and claiming to be a member of the Thaqif Tribe, he was a notorious idolater who sensing the end of the freewheeling days of the pagan Arabs, came to Medina in 5 AH, and feigned acceptance of Islam. The Messenger of Mercy very well knew this charlatan and kept a distance from him. Known for his hostility towards Imam Ali ibn Abi Taleb (AS), the divinely-designated Vicegerent, he was one of the chief conspirators of the sedition of Saqifa Bani Sa'da that saw the political rule of the Islamic state seized by unworthy persons following the passing away of the Prophet. He later served as governor of Basra and of Kufa, before becoming an advisor and boon-companion of the Omayyad tyrant, Mu'awiyah ibn Abu Sufyan. Known as one of the four notorious seditionists among the Arabs – the three others being Abu Sufyan, Mu'awiyah and Amr bin Aas – he indulged in the blasphemous practice of cursing Imam Ali (AS) from the pulpit of mosque. The Prophet's elder grandson and 2nd Infallible Heir, Imam Hasan Mujtaba (AS) during a famous debate in Damascus in front of the usurper caliph Mu'awiyah, addressing Mughirah said: "You are an enemy of God, a violator of the holy Qur'an, and a rejecter of the Prophet of God…” In short, it was on Mughirah's advice that the accursed Yazid, whom Mu'awiyah had begotten in the desert through an adulterous encounter with a Christian Bedouin woman and then forgotten, was brought to Damascus and nominated as the next Omayyad caliph, in violation of the Treaty signed with Imam Hasan (AS).
1019 solar years ago, on this day in 999 AD, following dethroning and blinding of the Iranian Samanid king of Central Asia, Mansur II, by his rebellious governor, Fayeq-e-Khasah and Turkic slave general, Bektuzun, the two entered into an agreement with the rising power of Sultan Mahmud the Turkic king of Ghazna, to divide the land of Khorasan between them, by retaining control of Merv and Naishapour, while ceding Herat and Balkh to Mahmoud. The Samanids, who ruled for 180 years from their capital Bukhara (presently in Uzbekistan) are credited with the emergence of the modern Persian language written in the Arabic script, which was once the lingua franca of the Islamic east, spread from Central Asia to Anatolia and the Subcontinent, and is now the official language of Iran, Tajikistan and Afghanistan. The Ghaznavids further promoted this trend, resulting in the composing of the poetical masterpiece, the Shahnameh of Abu’l-Qassem Ferdowsi.
844 solar years ago, on this day in 1174 AD, Nour od-Din Zangi, the powerful ruler of the Turkic dynasty of Syria, northern Iraq and southeastern Anatolia, founded by his father Atabeg Emad od-Din, after breaking away from the Iran-based Seljuqid Empire, died while preparing to invade Egypt to bring under control his rebellious Kurdish general, Salah od-Din, who had seized the Land of the Nile for himself from the Ismaili Shi’ite Fatemid Dynasty. Nour od-Din Zangi was a thorn in the side of the European Crusader occupiers of Palestine, but despite his claim to serve the cause of Islam, he was an enemy of the followers of the Prophet’s Ahl al-Bayt, whom he repressed and expelled in thousands from the city of Aleppo and adjoining areas. A few years after his death, Salah od-Din destroyed the Zangid Dynasty, married Nour od-Din’s widow, and continued the same policy of repression of the followers of the Ahl al-Bayt, although he is credited with the liberation of Bayt al-Moqaddas after 88 years of occupation by the illegal Latin Kingdom of Palestine, set up by the Crusader invaders.
621 solar years ago, on this day in 1397 AD, the 4th king of Korea’s Joseon Dynasty, who was posthumously called Sejong the Great, was born in an era when the Islamic calendar served as a basis for calendar reform owing to its superior accuracy over the Chinese-based calendars. The Joseon Dynasty used a Korean translation of the Huihui Lifa, which itself was a Chinese translation of the Islamic astronomy works of the Iranian Muslim scholar of Bukhara, Jamal od-Din Mohammad ibn ?aher ibn Mohammad az-Zaydi al-Bukhari (known in Chinese as Zhamaluding). Sejong, who ruled from 1418 to 1450, was against Chinese influences in language, culture and religion, and introduced "Hangul”, the native phonetic 28-alphabet system for the Korean language. He suffered from severe diabetes that eventually cost him his eyesight. He fell under the influence of inefficient persons, and in 1427 took the unwise decision of imposing a ban on the Huihui Korean Muslim community that had special status and stipends since the Yuan dynasty. The Huihui Korean Muslims were forced to abandon their headgear, to close down their Mosque. The tradition of Chinese-Islamic astronomy, however, continued to survive in Korea up until the early 19th century.
376 solar years ago, on this day in 1642 AD, Shah Abbas II was crowned the 7th Safavid Emperor of Iran at the age of 10 years in Kashan, three days after the death of his father Shah Safi. Born in Qazvin, he was tutored by Rajab Ali Tabrizi, and learned how to maintain order over the vast empire and other state affairs by two other nobles named Mohammad-Ali Beg and Jani Khan Shamlu. A year after coronation, he moved his court to the Safavid capital of Isfahan. Unlike his father, he took an active interest in government and military matters; and like his great-grandfather Shah Abbas I, he was famous for the construction of many buildings, such as the famous Chehel Sotoun in Isfahan. On the western front his rule was relatively peaceful and was free of any Ottoman attack. In 1648 he managed to liberate Qandahar in what is now Afghanistan from occupation of the Mughal Empire of the Subcontinent. The Mughal ruler Shah Jahan sent his son Aurangzeb with an army of 50,000 soldiers but was unable to reoccupy Qandahar. In 1651, in the North Caucasus, Safavid troops came into conflict with Russia in the region of Sunzha, culminating into the Russo-Persian War of 1651–53. The Safavid influence prior to the war extended to the feudal tenure of the Kumyks in Daghestan. After two successful years, the Iranian plans were to capture the city of Terek and to move all the way to Astrakhan on the northern side of the Caspian Sea, trouble on the eastern front with Mughal India distracted attention. The Russian government sent an embassy, led by Prince Ivan Lobanov-Rostovsky and Ivan Komynin, to Isfahan for peaceful settlement of the conflict, to which the Shah II agreed. The war ended with the Safavids managing to increase their influence in the North Caucasus even more. He was a capable ruler and during his 24-year reign, the country was relatively peaceful and free of any Ottoman attack. Shah Abbas’ sudden death in Khusrauabad near Damghan on the night of 25–26 October 1666, at the age of 34 was a great blow to Iran. He was buried beside his father in holy Qom.
370 solar years ago, on this day in 1648 AD, the first of the treaties of the Peace of Westphalia was signed between Prussia, Austria, France, and Sweden in Munster and Osnabruck, thereby ending the Thirty Years' War in the Holy Roman Empire, and the Eighty Years' War between Spain and the Netherlands. The last of these treaties was signed on October 24. Though these treaties ended the centuries' long bloody sectarian battles between the Catholic and Protestant sects of Christianity, they did not restore peace throughout Europe. France and Spain remained at war for the next eleven years, making peace only in the Treaty of the Pyrenees of 1659. Among the outcomes of the Peace of Westphalia was reduction of the power of the Pope and the Church and emergence of nation states.
242 solar years ago, on this day in 1776 AD, the first steam boat was built. Seventy years following the discovery of steam power by a French engineer, Denis Papin, a steam boat was built by Marquis Claude de Jouffroy d’Abbans. The usage of steam power in ships marked a major development in the navigation industry.
168 solar years ago, on this day in 1850 AD, the Bloody Island Massacre took place in Lake County, California, in which over a hundred women, children, and elderly of the Pomo Amerindians were slaughtered by a regiment of the United States Cavalry, led by Nathaniel Lyon, while all able bodied men were on a hunting trip. One of the Pomo survivors of the massacre was a 6-year-old girl named Ni'ka, later renamed Lucy Moore. She hid underwater and breathed through a reed. Her descendants formed the Lucy Moore Foundation. The US has a bleak and bloody history of genocide of the native Amerindians, who have almost been exterminated, while the remnants survive in camps without any birthrights.
159 solar years ago, on this day in 1859 AD, French scientist and physicist, Pierre Curie, was born in Paris. His talent in mathematics and physics made him conduct extensive research in these fields. In the year 1898, he managed to discover Radium with the assistance of his wife, Madame Curie. Pierre Curie died in the year 1906.
128 lunar years ago, on this day in 1311 AH, one of the prominent lecturers of ethics, Mullah Hussain-Qoli Darguzini Najafi Hamedani, passed away at the age of 73 in Karbala and was laid to rest in the mausoleum of the Chief of Martyrs, Imam Husain (AS) – the younger grandson and 3rd Infallible Heir of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA). Born in Shavand village near Hamedan in a family that traced its lineage to Jaber ibn Abdullah al-Ansari, the famous companion of the Prophet and his Infallible Heirs, after initial studies in his region, he travelled to Tehran for mastering jurisprudence under leading scholars, including the celebrated Shaikh al-Iraqayn Abdul-Hussain Tehrani. He then went to Sabzevar to attend the philosophy classes of the renowned Islamic philosopher, Mullah Hadi Sabzevari. Later he left for the famous seminary of holy Najaf in Iraq to benefit from the classes of the great jurisprudent Ayatollah Shaikh Morteza Dezfuli Ansari, and through him was guided to the classes on ethics of Seyyed Ali Shushtari. An accomplished scholar in many fields, Mullah Hussain Qoli was always watchful about his actions and his soul. Many acts of wonder have been attributed to him. His lectures on Ethics and Gnosis were attended by well-known ulema of Najaf, and he groomed as many as 300 scholars. Some of his famous students were: Seyyed Mohammad Sa’eed Habubi an-Najafi, Shaikh Mohammad Bahari, Ayatollah Mirza Mohammad Hussain Na’eni, Akhond Mullah Mohammad Kazem Khorasani and Seyyed Mohsin al-Amin al-Ameli – author of the encyclopedic work, "A’yaan ash-Shi’a”.
99 solar years ago, on this day in 1919 AD, the coastal city of Izmir was liberated from Greek occupation by Turkish forces led by Mustafa Kamal Pasha, who later emerged as a dictator and under western influence tried to eradicate the Islamic culture and religion of the Turkish Muslims.
78 solar years ago, on this day in 1940 AD, the German army, after a five-day offensive, occupied Netherlands during World War 2. The German forces started their attacks on France, Belgium, Netherlands, and Luxemburg, west of Germany, as of May 10, 1940, and after a while occupied all four countries.
25 solar years ago, on this day in 1993 AD, the UN General Assembly designated May 15 as "International Day of Families” to emphasize the importance to the family unit. The Day provides an opportunity to promote awareness of issues relating to families and to increase knowledge of the social, economic and demographic processes affecting families.
Ordibehesht 25 is commemorated every year in the Islamic Republic of Iran as Ferdowsi National Day, in honour of the great Iranian poet, Abu’l-Qasim Hassan Firdowsi, whose "Shahnamah” remains to this day as the finest example of Persian epic poetry.
(Courtesy: IRIB English Radio – http://parstoday.com/en)