Today is Saturday; 10th of the Iranian month of Aban 1393 solar hijri; corresponding to 7th of the Islamic month of Moharram 1435 lunar hijri; and November 1, 2014, of the Christian Gregorian Calendar.
Over three millennium lunar years ago, on this day, God Almighty spoke for the first time with Moses, entrusting him with Prophethood and the immediate mission to invite the tyrannical Pharaoh to monotheism and to ask for the release of the children of Israel from bondage. As is evident by ayah 9 onwards of Surah TaHa of the holy Qur’an, while searching for fire in the wilderness, Moses saw flames atop Mount Sinai and was startled to see a bush on fire but with all its green leaves and branches miraculously intact, without being the least scorched. Here he heard the voice of the Almighty Creator asking him to take off his shoes, throw his walking staff down that miraculously turned into a snake and to remove his hand from the armpit to find the palm glowing with light.  
1374 lunar years ago, on this day in 61 AH, Omar Ibn Sa’d, the Omayyad commander besieging Imam Husain (AS) and his group in Karbala, stationed a force of 500 soldiers led by Amr Ibn Hajjaj on the banks of the Euphrates, to deprive the Prophet’s Household of water, on the orders of the tyrannical governor of Kufa, Obaidollah Ibn Ziyad. The plan was to force the Imam to surrender and give allegiance to the Godless rule of Yazid, but the grandson and 3rd Infallible Heir of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA) refused to yield to injustice despite the fact that he and companions, including women and small children were thirsty. On the 10th of Moharram, the Imam bravely drank the elixir of martyrdom along with his devoted followers in an epic combat.
834 lunar years ago, on this day in 601 AH, the historian and geographer, Yusuf Ibn Yaqoub Shaybani Dameshqi, known as Ibn al-Mujawir, was born in the Syrian capital, Damascus. He spent his childhood and youth in the Iraqi capital Baghdad, learning sciences under the prominent figures of his era. He traveled all over the Arabian Peninsula and wrote the important work, "Tarikh al-Mustabsir”, which contains valuable political, geographical, and social information of the whole region. He died at the age of 89 in 690 AH.
800 solar years ago, on this day in 1214 AD the important port city of Sinope on the northern-most edge of Anatolia on the Black Sea coast, surrendered to the Seljuq Turks led by Sultan Kaykavus, who defeated and captured King Alexios of Trebizond. It was a strategic victory that severed the link between the Christian kingdom of Trebizond and the Byzantine Empire, enabling the Muslims to complete the conquest of what is now Turkey. In ancient times, Sinope had been a battleground between Persians on one side, and the Greeks and Romans on the other. From 281 to 62 BC, it was part of the kingdom of Pontus (of Iranian origin), whose greatest ruler was Mithridates VI (Persian Mithradatha or "Gift of Mithra”), who during his 57-year reign, was one of the Roman Republic’s most formidable and successful enemies, during what are known as the Mithridatic Wars. Over three centuries after the Roman occupation Sinope was Christianized. The first time Sinope encountered Muslims was a combined force of Turks, Persians, and Arabs, dispatched by Abbasid Baghdad in 858. In 1081 it was captured by armies of the Isfahan-based Great Seljuq Empire in the reign of Malik Shah. After 1265, Sinope became home to two successive independent emirates following the fall of the Persianized Seljuqs: the Pervane and the Jandarids. The Ottoman Sultan Mohammad II forced Ismail, the last emir of Sinope to surrender in late June 1461 without a fight.
483 lunar years ago, on this day in 952 AH, on his return march from exile in Iran to reconquer Afghan-occupied Hindustan with Iranian help, Mughal Emperor Naseer od-Din Humayun takes Qandahar, which, as promised by him to Shah Tahmasp, is given to the Safavid Empire. Qandahar, which is currently in Afghanistan from the border between the Safavid and Mughal empires, and was often a bone of contention, exchanging hands many times.
348 solar years ago, on this day in 1666 AD, Shah Suleiman was crowned as the 8th Emperor of the Safavid Dynasty of Iran, with the title Shah Safi II, after the traditional 7 days of mourning for his father, Shah Abbas II. His mother was a Circassian, and being brought up in the harem he had little experience of the world outside. He also suffered from poor health. The first year of his reign was markedly unsuccessful. A series of natural disasters, combined with devastating raids by the Cossack Stenka Razin on Iran’s Caspian Sea coast, convinced court astrologers that the coronation had taken place at the wrong time, and the ceremony was repeated on March 20, 1667, with the Shah taking the new name of Suleiman I. He had little interest in administrative affairs, and left political decision-making to his grand viziers, whose power increased during his long reign of 28 years. As a result, corruption became widespread and discipline in the army was dangerously lax. The Shah made no attempt to exploit the weakness of Safavid Iran’s traditional rival, the Ottoman Empire after the Ottomans suffered a serious defeat at the Battle of Vienna in 1683. During his reign, Iran also suffered raids by the Uzbeks and Kalmyks. He was succeeded by his elder son, Sultan Hussain, a pious person.
259 solar years ago, on this day in 1755 AD, a massive earthquake followed by a tsunami destroyed Lisbon, the capital of Portugal, killing almost ninety thousand people.
193 solar years ago, on this day in 1821 AD, Panama was annexed to Columbia following its liberation from Spanish colonial rule. Panama was seized by Spain in the year 1501, and following the discovery of gold mines in this country, the Americans interfered to loot this region. Finally, in the year 1903, the freedom-seeking struggles of the people of Panama bore fruit and this land gained its independence. The Republic of Panama, spread over 77,082 sq km, is located in southern Central America. The Panama Canal passes through this country connecting the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans.
130 years ago, on this day in 1884 AD, Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) was adopted universally at a meeting of the International Meridian Conference in Washington, USA. From then the International Date Line was drawn up and 24 time zones created. It is commonly used in practice to refer to Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). Greenwich village, located on the 0 Latitude, lies some ten km east of London.
100 solar years ago, on this day in 1914 AD, during World War I, the Iranian government announced neutrally. The political fragility of the Qajarid dynasty and the chaotic state of internal affairs, coupled with the bellicose and expansionist policies of the world powers, however, dragged Iran into the war. It was invaded by the British, Russian, and Ottoman forces, and major damages were inflicted upon the country.
96 solar years ago, on this day in 1918 AD, the Austro-Hungarian Empire disintegrated following its defeat in World War I, resulting in the emergence of Austria and Hungary as two independent states in Central Europe. Austria and Hungary respectively cover almost 84,000 sq km and 93,000 sq km.
60 solar years ago, on this day in 1954 AD, with the establishment of the Algerian Liberation Movement, the battle for independence from French colonial rule started. France had occupied Algeria in 1830 after defeating the Ottoman Turks. The Algerian people were never happy with French rule and there were sporadic uprisings until the establishment of the full fledged liberation movement after World War 2, especially, when Algerians came to know about the plan being drafted in Paris to annex their country to France. Finally, in 1962, the struggles of the Algerian Muslims bore fruit, after the death of a million people, and the French troops were forced to pull out of Algeria. Ahmed bin Bella, was elected as the first Algerian president, and three years later was overthrown in a coup by Defence Minister Colonel Houari Bo-Mohiyeddin. Algeria is the largest country in Africa, the Arab World and the littoral states of the Mediterranean Sea. It is also the tenth-largest country in the world. It is bordered in the northeast by Tunisia, in the east by Libya, in the west by Morocco, in the southwest by Western Sahara, Mauritania, and Mali, in the southeast by Niger, and in the north by the Mediterranean Sea. Algeria’s size is almost 2.4 million square km with an estimated population of 36.3 million as of 2011.
35 solar years ago, on this day in 1979 AD, the prominent religious scholar, Ayatollah Seyyed Mohammad Ali Qazi Tabatabaei, was martyred by the Forqan terrorist outfit. Born in Tabriz, northwestern Iran, he was initially taught by his father, before joining the seminary to study under the prominent ulema, including the Father of the Islamic Revolution, Imam Khomeini (RA). During his political struggles against the Shah’s despotic regime, he was imprisoned and banished to remote areas several times. After victory of the Islamic Revolution, he was appointed as Imam Khomeini’s representative and the Friday Prayer leader of Tabriz, where he achieved martyrdom.
34 solar years ago, on this day in 1980 AD, the Islamic Republic of Iran’s oil minister, Mohammad Javad Tondgouyan, along with several oil ministry officials, while on an inspection visit to oil installations in the southwestern parts of the country, was abducted by the invading Iraqi forces, a month after Saddam’s launching of the unprovoked war on Iran at the behest of the US. Initially, Saddam’s Ba’th minority regime denied the abduction, but finally it claimed he had committed suicide in captivity. Medical examinations of the corpse coupled with eyewitness accounts of Iranian POWs proved that the Iranian oil minister was martyred under torture by the Ba’athists.
28 solar years ago, on this day in 1986 AD, Iranian poet, Salman Herati, passed away at the relatively young age of 27. Born in a village near the city of Tonekabon, in northern Iran, after completion of his studies, he worked as a teacher. He composed beautiful odes, elegies, couplets, and quatrains, and has delicately described monotheism and Gnosticism in his poems. He left behind three collections of poems for teenagers, titled "A Gateway to Sun’s House”, "From This Star to That Star”, and "From the Green Sky”.
(Courtesy: IRIB English Radio – http://english.irib.ir)