Today is Thursday; 23^rd of the Iranian month of Esfand 1397 solar hijri; corresponding to 7^th of the Islamic month of Rajab 1440 lunar hijri; and March 14, 2019, of the Christian Gregorian Calendar.

1135 lunar years ago, on this day in 305 AH, the Muslim scholar and literary figure, Ibn Tarara, was born in Iraq. Among his works mention could be made of the voluminous book titled "al-Jalees as-Saleh al-Kafi wa'l-Anees an-Naseh ash-Shafi”. He passed away in 390 AH.

508 lunar years ago, on this day in 932 AH, the Timurid ruler of Kabul, Zaheer od-Din Babar, defeated Sultan Ibrahim Lodhi of Hindustan or Northern Subcontinent, at the Battle of Panipat. He then took control of Delhi and Agra, thereby laying foundations of the Mughal Empire that would reach its zenith during the rule of the 6^th and last "Great Mughal" Aurangzeb, encompassing what are now India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and eastern Afghanistan. After two centuries of glory, the Mughal Empire shrank to Delhi and its suburbs, ending in 1857 AD with the British capture of the last ruler, Bahadur Shah Zafar and his exile to Burma. Babur was born in Andijan in the Ferghana Valley in what is now Uzbekistan. He was the son of the local ruler Omar Shaikh Mirza, who in turn was a great-grandson of the fearsome Turkic conqueror Amir Timur. From his mother's side he was a descendant of the Mongol marauder, Genghis Khan. A Persianized Turk, Babar, as a protégé of Shah Ismail I, the Founder of the Safavid Dynasty of Iran, had earlier succeeded in gaining brief control of Timur's capital Samarqand, before being driven out by the Uzbeks. Babur's army, which conquered Delhi also included Qizilbash Iranian fighters, who as one of the most influential groups in the Mughal court, would promote Persian language and culture in the subcontinent, as well as the teachings of the Prophet's Ahl al-Bayt, which until then were brutally suppressed in Northern India.

454 lunar years ago, on this day in 986 AH, the Battle of Jıldır was fought in northeast Anatolia as the initial armed encounter of the 12-year war between the Ottomans and the Safavids for control of the Caucasus, thus ending the 23-year Peace of Amasya, two years after the death of Shah Tahmasb I of Iran and four years after the death of the Turkish sultan, Sulaiman – the two signatories to the peace treaty. These inter-Muslim hostilities were started by Murad III, who resenting the growing inclination of the Turkish tribes of Anatolia towards the school of the Prophet's Ahl al-Bayt, made a pact with France, stopped the Ottoman push into Europe, and massacred thousands of Shi'ite Muslims in his dominions. Although the Ottomans defeated the Persian army, seized Tiflis, the capital of Georgia from Iran, and went on to occupy Daghestan's capital Derbend on the Caspian Sea, their victories were temporary, as these areas were later liberated by Shah Abbas I.

238 solar years ago, on this day in 1781 AD, after only two years as ruler of Iran, Sadeq Khan Zand was killed by Ali Murad Khan Zand – who was to be killed himself four years later by his victim’s son, Ja’far Khan Zand. The fratricide amongst the Zands brought about the collapse of the 44-year dynasty founded by Nader Shah’s general, Karim Khan, who reigned for 29 years by placing Ismail III Safavi as a figurehead. In 1794, Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar established the Qajarid dynasty by eliminating the Zands.

229 solar years ago, on this day in 1790 AD, Ludwig Emil Grimm, German painter and engraver, and the youngest of the three talented Grimm Brothers, was born in Hanau. Upon completion of his studies, he published his first work; a sketchbook of engravings based on his Italian journey. In 1819 AD, he also contributed the frontispiece for the second edition of "Kinder- und Hausmärchen”, popularly known as "Grimm's Fairy Tales”.

190 lunar years ago, on this day in 1250 AH, Mohammad Shah succeeded his grandfather, Fath Ali Shah, to the Peacock Throne of Iran as the third Qajarid King. Son of Crown Prince Abbas Mirza, who predeceased Fath Ali Shah by less than a year, he immediately sidelined his prudent premier, Mirza Abu’l-Qasem Qa’em Maqaam Farahani, and replaced him with Mirza Aqasi, who was a pawn of the British and the Russians. During Mohammad Shah's reign, the parts of northwestern Iran in the Caucasus were occupied by Russia. Moreover, the rivalry of Russia and Britain for control of Iran increased. Hoping for assistance from Russia, Mohammad Shah deployed forces to control unrest in Herat, which was part of Iran’s soil and capital of Khorasan. However, due to Moscow’s breach of promise, coupled with London’s covert conspiracies, Herat was separated from Iran and annexed to British-controlled Afghanistan. Finally, this unwise Qajarid ruler died in 1264 AH, and was succeeded by his underage son, Nasser od-Din Shah.

167 lunar years ago, on this day in 1273 AH, the Treaty of Paris ended the Anglo-Persian War, which the British had imposed on Iran by attacking and occupying Bushehr on the Persian Gulf as well as Khorramshahr, in order to pressure Nasser od-Din Shah Qajar to surrender the city of Herat and its surroundings in Khorasan to their Afghan ally. Herat, the then capital of Khorasan, had been part of Iran from time immemorial till the war broke in 1272 AH when its rebellious governor declared independence and placed the area under British protection. As per the Treaty of Paris, the weakened government of Iran withdrew from Herat and was forced to drop all claims to this historical Iranian city and most of eastern Khorasan, which is now part of Afghanistan today. The British had launched their sea attacks on Iran from their naval bases in Mumbai by deploying battalions of sepoys (corruption for the Persian word "sipahi" for Indian soldiers), who earlier in the year had been used to overthrow Wajed Ali Shah of the Naishapuri Dynasty of Iranian origin of Awadh in northern India.

140 solar years ago, on this day in 1879 AD, prominent physicist-mathematician, Albert Einstein, was born in Germany. He became a Swiss citizen in 1905. The same year he published three articles, which laid the foundation of three new branches in physics. In 1912 he was awarded the Nobel Prize for physics, given his studies on photons. In 1917, he published the general relativity theory, which led to new viewpoints in sciences. In 1933, he migrated to the US to escape Adolf Hitler’s totalitarian rule. As the forerunner of the age of atom, his theories became highly influential in development of nuclear studies, including the manufacture of atomic bombs. He was very disappointed after he realized that unintentionally he had set the stage for development of weapons of mass destruction by the US. He died in 1955, and it is said that in his closing years he was no longer an atheist but his viewpoints had moved closer to the concept of God and spiritual values in Islam, especially in accordance with the school of the Ahl al-Bayt of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA).

136 solar years ago, on this day in 1883 AD, the German philosopher and founder of Marxism, Karl Marx, died at the age of 65. He initially studied law and later history and philosophy. For a while, he was the editor-in-chief of a publication, and in cooperation with his compatriot, Friedrich Engels, published his beliefs in the book "The Communist Manifesto”. Two years later, Marx was banished from Germany due to political activities and took up residence in England for the rest of his life. His other important book is "Das Capital”. The core philosophy of Marxism is materialism. According to his theory with the rise of the working class, capitalism will end and a proletariat dictatorship will be formed, before giving way to a uniformed community. Marx’s thoughts were presented in different frameworks for more than a century across the world. With the collapse of the Communist Soviet Union in 1991, Marx’s thoughts were exposed as baseless. The process of world developments has proved the falsity of Marx’s interpretation of history and community.

62 solar years ago, on this day in 1957 AD, with the help of the notorious US spy ring CIA and the illegal Zionist entity, the British-installed and American-backed Pahlavi potentate, Mohammad Reza, set up the dreaded SAVAK, which is abbreviation of the Persian term Sazeman-e Ettela’aat va Amniyat-e Keshvar, meaning Organization of Intelligence and National Security. It was dissolved on the eve of the triumph of the Islamic Revolution in 1979. SAVAK has been described as Iran's "most hated and feared institution”, because of its practice of torturing and executing opponents of the Pahlavi regime. At its peak, SAVAK had as many as 60,000 agents, who tortured and murdered thousands of the Islamic activists, including Ayatollah Mohammad Reza Sa’idi. It had virtually unlimited powers. It operated its own detention centers, like Evin Prison. In addition to domestic security, SAVAK’s surveillance extended to Iranians abroad. Brute force was used on victims, and other methods of torture such as the bastinado; sleep deprivation; extensive solitary confinement; glaring searchlights; standing in one place for hours on end; nail extractions; snakes (favoured for use with women); electrical shocks with cattle prods, often into the rectum; cigarette burns; sitting on hot grills; acid dripped into nostrils; near-drownings; mock executions; and an electric chair with a large metal mask to muffle screams while amplifying them for the victim. Prisoners were also humiliated by being raped, urinated upon, and forced to stand naked.

65 solar years ago, on this day in 1954 AD, the Battle of Dien Bien Phu, which determined the fate of French colonial forces in Indochina, started. In this battle, the Viet Minh forces, fighting for Vietnam’s independence, clashed with French colonial troops, who had sheltered in the Dien Bien Phu Castle. Finally, on May 7, following the submission of French commander, Colonel Christian de Castries, and the triumph of Viet Minh forces, the battle ended and with it French colonial rule over Vietnam.

57 solar years ago, on this day in 1962 AD, the courageous religious leader and well-known political figure of Iran’s contemporary history, Ayatollah Seyyed Abu’l-Qasem Kashani, passed away. He attained the status of Ijtehad – independent reasoning based on Holy Qur’an and Hadith – at the Najaf Seminary at a young age, simultaneous with his struggles against British colonial rule over Iraq, in the company of other ulema. He was expelled from Iraq by the British, and on arriving in Iran, he launched his struggle against British colonial infiltration, which led to his imprisonment for several years. Following his release, the people of Tehran elected him to the parliament. With Ayatollah Kashani’s support for Dr. Mohammad Mosaddeq and the continued struggles of the masses, Iran’s oil industry was nationalized and Mosaddeq was chosen as the Prime Minister. But, when the Shah appointed the British stooge, Qawwam os-Saltanah, as the Premier; Ayatollah Kashani issued a statement calling on the people to enter the scene. As a result, the July 21, 1952 uprising took place. The terrified Shah removed Qawwam and Dr. Mosaddeq was reinstated as the Premier. Following the US-staged coup in 1953 and the fugitive Shah’s return to Iran, his agents put Ayatollah Kashani under surveillance until his death on this day, after his lifelong struggles against domestic despotism and foreign hegemony.

41 solar years ago, on this day in 1978 AD, the Zionist army invaded and occupied southern Lebanon, in what it called Operation Litani, on the pretext of stopping attacks by Palestinian combatants. The invasion, resulting in the massacre of Lebanese and Palestinian civilians, brought the region south of River Litani under complete control of the usurper state of Israel, which deprived the Lebanese of river waters. When UN Security Council Resolution 425 stationed 4,000 peace-keepers and forced the Zionists to withdraw, Israel formed a Christian militia under its Lebanese agent, S’ad Haddad in order to have presence by proxy. In 1982, the Zionists once again attacked and occupied southern Lebanon, resulting in the massacre of over 5,000 Palestinian men, women, and children in the refugee camps of Sabra and Shatilla. However, with the emergence of the legendry anti-terrorist movement, the Hezbollah, and its heroic resistance, Israel was forced to pull back from the outskirts of Beirut, and in 2000, it finally retreated from Lebanese soil, although some farmlands are still under occupation.

24 solar years ago, on this day in 1995 AD, Sheikh Abdul Ali Mazari,
Secretary-General of Afghanistan’s Hizb-e Wahdat, was tortured and martyred at the age of 49 by the Taliban terrorists in midair during a helicopter flight and his body thrown out. An ethnic Hazara and a Shi’a Muslim, he was born in the city of Mazar-e Sharif; hence his surname Mazari. He fought against the Soviets during their occupation of Afghanistan, and his initiative led to the creation of the Jonbesh-e Shomal or Northern Movement, in which the country's most significant militias joined ranks, leading to the downfall of Kabul’s communist regime. He believed the solution to the internal divisions in his homeland was in a federal system of governance, with each ethnic group having specific constitutional rights. The Saudi supported militias, especially Abdur-Rasoul Sayyaf’s faction caused sedition and indulged in open street battles. On March 12, 1995, the Taliban terrorists deceitfully invited him for dialogue and then imprisoned him along with his five companions in Chaharasyab, near Kabul. He was martyred while on a flight to Qandahar. Later his body and those of his companions were handed over to Hezb-e Wahdat, all mutilated and showing signs of torture. Mazari's body was carried on foot from Ghazni in the west to Mazar-e-Sharif in the north by his followers over a period of forty days. Hundreds of thousands attended his funeral in Mazar-e Sharif.

13 solar years ago, on this day in 2006 AD, Iraqi police over the past 24 hours found the bodies of at least 87 people martyred by execution-style shootings of the Saudi-funded Takfiri terrorists. Of these, 29 of the bodies, dressed only in underwear, were dug out of a single grave in a Shiite neighborhood of Baghdad.

13 solar years ago, on this day in 2006 AD, Iranian lawmakers approved $15 million to investigate and counter US attempts to infiltrate the Islamic Republic of Iran. Ever since, Washington was thrown out following the victory of the Islamic Revolution in 1979, it has tried in vain to re-impose its influence on Iran and has resorted to various plots – all of which have been defeated thanks to the people’s vigilance.

9 solar years ago, on this day in 2010 AD, Iran busted a US-funded cyber network group linked to MKO hypocrites to collect data on Iranian nuclear scientists. Some 30 culprits with links to the MKO terrorists were arrested and admitted their treason.

8 solar years ago, on this day in 2011 AD, the repressive Aal-e Khalifa minority regime of the Persian Gulf island state of Bahrain imposed martial law in a bid to quell the people’s popular uprising. At the same time, the regime invited some 1,000 Saudi troops to invade Bahrain and crush the Islamic movement.

(Courtesy: IRIB English Radio – http://parstoday.com/en)