Today is Saturday; 10th of the Iranian month of Esfand 1398 solar hijri; corresponding to 5th of the Islamic month of Rajab 1441 lunar hijri; and February 29, 2020, of the Christian Gregorian Calendar.
2065 solar years ago, on this day in 45 BC, the first Leap Day was recognized by proclamation of Roman dictator, Julius Caesar. Under the old Roman calendar, the last day of February was the last day of the year. February 29 is a date that usually occurs every four years, and is called leap day. This day is added to the calendar in leap years as a corrective measure, because the Earth does not orbit around the sun in precisely 365 days.
1349 lunar years ago, on this day in 92 AH, Tareq bin Ziyad, crossed the Mediterranean from the northwestern African coast and landed on the island known ever since in his memory as "Jabal at-Tareq” (Rock or Mount of Tareq, Latinized as Gibraltar). He was governor of Tangiers under Musa bin Nusayr, the conqueror and Emir of the Province of Ifriqiya (present day western Libya, Algeria, Tunisia, and Morocco). The Muslims under Tareq swept through Spain and soon conquered the whole Iberian Peninsula. Later, they crossed the Pyrenees into southern France and conquered it. Tareq was made governor of Islamic Spain but was eventually called back to Damascus by the jealous Omayyad caliph, Walid I, who also relieved Musa bin Nusayr of the overall charge of northwest Africa, Spain and the islands off the coast of France. There are three different accounts of the origins of Tareq given by Arab historians – he was a Persian from Hamedan; he was an Arab of the Sadf tribe; he was a Berber from North Africa. Musa bin Nusayr is also said to be the son of an Iranian Christian, according to the historian Tabari; while others say he belonged to the Lakhmid Arab clan who were clients of the Sassanid Dynasty.
1197 lunar years ago, on this day in 244 AH, the prominent Islamic scientist and lexicographer, Abu Yusuf Yaqub ibn Ishaq, popularly known as "Ibn Sikkit” was brutally martyred by the cruel Abbasid caliph, Mutawakkil, who ordered the pulling out of his tongue through the nape for speaking the truth. Born in Khuzestan, southwestern Iran, he studied in Baghdad under prominent scholars, and his fame led Mutawakkil to invite him to Samarra where he was appointed as tutor to two of the caliph’s sons. Mutawakkil, who is notorious for his sacrilegious destruction of the shrine of the Martyr of Karbala and his forcing of the Prophet’s 10th Infallible Successor, Imam Hadi (AS) to come to Samarra, once asked Ibn Sikkit whether his sons were superior to the Prophet’s two grandsons, Imam Hasan (AS) and Imam Husain (AS). The scholar boldly replied that even Qanbar, the black slave of Imam Ali (AS), was better than the caliph’s sons. The enraged caliph ordered his execution. Here is one of his poems worth pondering upon.
854 lunar years ago, on this day in 587 AH, the Iranian mystical philosopher, Shahab od-Din Sohrewardi, was martyred in Aleppo, Syria, by the Kurdish ruler, Malik az-Zaher, the son of Salah od-Din Ayyoubi. Born in Sohreward, near the northwestern city of Zanjan, he went to Iraq and Syria to develop his knowledge. During his short life of less than forty years he wrote valuable works that established him as founder of a new school of philosophy, called "Hikmat al-Ishraq” (Illuminationist Philosophy). He is thus known as "Shaikh-e Ishraq”. His views angered his opponents, who had him arrested or charges of heresy and subsequently martyred. Sohrewardi has left behind some 50 works in Persian and Arabic.
808 solar years ago, on this day in 1212 AD, Honen, Japanese monk, founded Jodo-shu as the first independent branch of Japanese Pure Land Buddhism. It is the most widely practiced branch of Buddhism in Japan, along with Jodo Shinshu.
179 solar years ago, on this day in 1841 AD, John Philip Holland, inventor of the modern submarine, was born in Liscannor, County Clare, in Ireland, into a family that had survived the Great Potato Famine. Following his immigration to America in 1873, Holland settled in Paterson, New Jersey where he taught at school and, with financial backing from the Irish Fenian Society, began developing his first submarine. In 1881, Holland launched the Fenian Ram, a 31-foot-long submersible powered by a 15-horsepower internal combustion engine. With Holland at the controls, the Ram dived 64 feet beneath New York Harbor that summer, only to be seized by the Fenians when they lost interest in the project. In 1895, the J.P. Holland Torpedo Boat Company won a contract from the U.S. Navy to build a submarine. After one discouraging failure, the second submarine, the Holland VI, passed her sea trials and was purchased by the US Navy on April 11, 1900 for $150,000.
62 lunar years ago, on this day in 1379 AH, the prominent religious scholar, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Yathrebi-Kashani passed away at the age of 68 in Kashan and was laid to rest in the mausoleum of Imamzadeh Habib ibn Imam Musa al-Kazem (AS). Born in the holy city of Karbala, at the age of 5 he returned to his ancestral town Kashan, along with his scholarly father, Ayatollah Seyyed Mohammad Reza Yathrebi-Kashani. He was initially taught by his father and other scholars of the Kashan Seminary, before travelling to Iraq for higher religious studies at the famous seminary of holy Najaf, where during his 7-year stay, his teachers included Grand Ayatollah Seyyed Mohammad Kazem Yazdi, Grand Ayatollah Sheikh osh-Shari’ah Isfahani, Grand Ayatollah Mirza Mohammad Hussain Na’ini, and Ayatollah Aqa Ziya od-Din Iraqi. In 1339 AH, he returned to Kashan on request of his father, and two years later, on the invitation of Grand Ayatollah Sheikh Abdul-Karim Ha’eri he became an instructor at the seminary in holy Qom, where his students included Ayatollah Seyyed Shahab od-Din Mar’ashi, Ayatollah Seyyed Mohammad Baqer Mohaqqiq Damad, Ayatollah Mirza Hashem Amoli, and the future Father of the Islamic Revolution, Imam Khomeini (RA). Seven years later, on his father’s death, he returned to Kashan to take up the latter’s responsibilities at the local seminary, which he ably discharged for over three decades.  
60 solar years ago, on this day in 1960, a major earthquake jolted the port city of Agadir in western Morocco on the Atlantic coast, resulting in the death of at least 12,000 people. It lasted for only 15 seconds, was followed by a Tsunami and was the most destructive earthquake in North Africa.
41 solar years ago, on this day in 1979 AD, the Father of the Islamic Revolution, Imam Khomeini (God bless him), returned to his seat of learning, holy Qom, after over 14 years in exile abroad, and 28 days after landing in Tehran to lead the people’s grassroots movement to victory. In 1964, after his critical speech in Qom against the injustices and anti-Islamic policies of the British-installed and US-backed Pahlavi regime, especially the disgraceful capitulation bill granting immunity to American criminals, he was arrested, brought to Tehran, and forced into exile – first to Turkey and then to holy Najaf in Iraq. On his return this day to Qom, where he had first moved in 1921 and stayed for the next 44 years to learn and then emerge as a leading Marja’ or Source of Emulation, he took up residence in a modest house. Several months later, responsibilities of supervising the smooth functioning of the Islamic Republic system in the face of internal and external plots, made him take up residence in Tehran for the remaining ten years of his fruitful life.  
32 solar years ago, on this day, in 1988 AD, following repeated defeats of the Ba’thist invaders at the Iranian borders, Saddam unleashed cowardly missile attacks on residential areas of Tehran and other cities. These US-supported dastardly missile attacks continued for almost 45 days, but failed to break the resistance of the Iranian people. As many as 16 missiles hit Tehran this day. It was the 4th time during the 8-year imposed war that Saddam had attacked Iranian cities.
28 solar years ago, on this day in 1992 AD, Muslims and Croats in Bosnia-Herzegovina began casting ballots in an independence referendum; Serbs boycotted the vote, and started military activities and finally genocide of the Muslims in a bid to stall independence.
(Courtesy: IRIB English Radio – http://parstoday.com/en)