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News ID: 81469
Publish Date : 05 August 2020 - 22:03

This Day in History (August 6)



Today is Thursday; 16th of the Iranian month of Mordad 1399 solar hijri; corresponding to 16th of the Islamic month of Zil-Hijjah 1441 lunar hijri; and August 6, 2020, of the Christian Gregorian Calendar.
1270 solar years ago, on this day in 750 AD, the 13th and last self-styled caliph of the usurper Omayyad regime, Marwan II, titled "al-Hemar” or the Donkey, was caught and killed in Egypt at the age of 62 after a 6-year rule while fleeing through Syria, following defeat in the Battle of Zab on the banks of the river of the same name in northern Iraq at the hands of the Abbasids on January 25 the same year. Thus ended the Godless rule of the Omayyads established in 66 on the seizure of the Islamic realm by Mu’awiyah ibn Abu Sufyan through a dubious treaty imposed upon Imam Hasan Mojtaba (AS), the elder grandson of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA). Prior to the decisive Battle of Zab, the hated Omayyads had suffered a series of defeats all the way from Iran to Iraq by the combined forces of the Abbasids, Shi’ite Muslims, and Iranians. At Zab, Marwan assembled a vast army made up of many veterans of earlier Omayyad campaigns against the Byzantine Empire, but the zeal of the opponents demoralized his forces and they fled in the face of determined attack. Marwan escaped the battlefield and was relentlessly pursued by the Abbasids, who cornered him in Abusir in Nile delta and executed him.
970 lunar years ago, on this day in 471 AH, the Spanish Muslim astronomer and mathematician, Abu Abdullah Moḥammad ibn Mu’az al-Jayyani, passed away at the age of over 90. Born in Cordova, after completing his studies in Islamic Spain, he went for higher studies to Cairo and stayed in Egypt for four years, before returning to his homeland, where besides his scientific activities, he served as Qazi (judge). He wrote important commentaries on the Greek scientist, Euclid’s Elements. He also wrote the first known treatise on spherical trigonometry as a discipline independent from astronomy. His work on spherical trigonometry contains formulae for right-handed triangles, the general law of sines, and the solution of a spherical triangle by means of the polar triangle. This treatise had a strong influence on European mathematics, while his definition of ratios as numbers and method of solving a spherical triangle when all sides are unknown, influenced scholars of the Renaissance period.
514 solar years ago, on this day in 1506 AD, the army of the Crimean Khanate led by Fateh Giray Khan lost the Battle of Kletsk to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, led by Court Marshall Michael Glinski. Established in 1449 by Tatar Muslims in what is now southern Ukraine, southern Russia and Moldova, the Khanate of Crimea ruled the area for over three centuries till it fell to Russian expansionism in 1783. It was closely allied to the Ottoman Empire and became its vassal state in its last century of rule. The Crimean Khanate established a flourishing Islamic culture, used the Perso-Arabic script, and built splendid mosques, bazaars, public baths, fountains, palaces, and libraries.  
510 solar years ago, on this day in 1510 AD, Da’ud Khan of the Faruqi Dynasty of Khandesh in Central India, died after a 7-year reign during which he was dependent on his two brothers, Hussain Ali and Yar Ali, with the former serving as vizier. Because of ill advice, Da’ud attacked the Nizamshahi Dynasty of Ahmadnagar, but the latter’s army marched into Khandesh, almost making him lose his kingdom which was only saved by his pleas of help to the Sultan of Malwa, who forced him to become his subordinate. His son and successor, Ghazni Khan, was killed by poisoning within ten days of his death, prompting the kingdoms of Berar and Ahmadnagar to install his cousin, Alam Khan, as ruler, a move that was opposed by Mahmoud Shah, the powerful sultan of Gujarat, who instead sent an army to crown another member of the Faruqi Dynasty as Adil Khan III. Founded in 1382 by Malik Ahmad Raja Faruqi, the son of a Rajput convert to Islam who served Sultan Feroze Shah Tughlaq of Delhi, Khandesh and its capital Burhanpur, were annexed by the Mughal Emperor Jalal od-Din Akbar in 1601. The Sultanate was a Persianate society, and made rich contribution to Persian literature, art and architecture. Islam was also promoted through peaceful means, as is evident today by the large number of Tadvi Bhils, and Raj Gonds, who are Muslims.
211 solar years ago, on this day in 1809 AD, Alfred Tennyson, British Poet Laureate during much of Queen Victoria’s reign, was born. He excelled in penning short lyrics, such as "Break, Break, Break”, "Tears Idle Tears” and "The Charge of the Light Brigade” – the last one pertaining to the abortive charge of the British Light Brigade in the Battle of Balaklava during the Crimean War. He also wrote some notable blank verse including "Idylls of the King” and "Ulysses”. A number of phrases from Tennyson’s work have become commonplaces of the English language, including "Nature, red in tooth and claw”, "Tis better to have loved and lost/Than never to have loved at all”, "Theirs not to reason why/ Theirs but to do and die”, "To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield”, "Knowledge comes, but Wisdom lingers”, and "The old order changeth, yielding place to new”. He is the ninth most frequently quoted writer in The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations. Tennyson died in 1892 at the age of 83.
195 solar years ago, on this day in 1825 AD, Bolivia was liberated from Spanish colonial rule after sixteen years of seesaw struggle following the revolution launched in 1809 by the famous South American freedom-fighter, Simon Bolivar. Bolivia covers an area of 1.1 million sq km, and shares borders with Peru, Chile, Argentina, and Brazil. In the 2006 general elections, for the first time in its history, Bolivia saw the emergence of a member of the long-suppressed indigenous Amerindian majority population, as president. President Juan Evo Morales, ever since his victory, has been the target of propaganda and ridicule, by the US and West Europe for his independent policies.
149 lunar years ago, on this day in 1292 AH, the first edition of the Persian language newspaper "Akhtar” was published in Istanbul, Turkey, by Aqa Mohammad Taher Tabrizi. It was the first Iranian paper published overseas in modern style. Many prominent figures published their articles in "Akhtar”, which gained fame in Iran, Caucasus, Ottoman Turkish Empire, India and Iraq. It played a crucial role in enlightening and informing the Iranian people, and also played a part in the victory of the Tobacco Movement against the British.
139 solar years ago, on this day in 1881 AD, Scottish physician Alexander Fleming, was born. In the company of two other scientists, Florey and Chain, he discovered Penicillin. The three scientists were jointly awarded the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 1945.
75 solar years ago, on this day in 1945 AD, when World War II was almost over, the US, in a blatant act of state terrorism, dropped an atomic bomb on the city of Hiroshima, far away from any warfront. The lethal bomb named "Little Boy” by the sadistic Americans, instantly killed over 90,000 men, women and children, and left almost a hundred thousand others injured. In addition, some tens of thousands of Japanese were to die in subsequent years from burns and radiation poisoning from the bomb whose destructive power was equivalent to 20,000 tons of TNT explosives. The destructive effects of this dastardly US atomic bombardment of Hiroshima remain to this day. A few days later, the US again resorted to yet another crime against humanity by dropping a second atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Nagasaki. Despite calls worldwide for disarmament, the US and its dangerously armed accomplices refuse to oblige, and are testing still more lethal weapons of mass destruction including nuclear weapons.
58 solar years ago, on this day in 1962 AD, the island state of Jamaica in the Caribbean Sea, gained independence from British colonial rule. European invaders, starting with the Spanish and followed by the French, in one of the most blatant acts of genocide, exterminated the island’s indigenous people. Later, in view of the agriculture potential of Jamaica, especially in sugarcane cultivation, they kidnapped thousands of black people from Africa and forced them to work as slaves.
55 solar years ago, on this day in 1965 AD, Indian troops crossed into Pakistan, and fighting spread to Punjab and the disputed Muslim-populated Himalayan land of Kashmir as Pakistanis crossed into Indian-controlled areas. The 2nd Indo-Pakistani military conflict thus started without a formal declaration of war, which was formally announced belatedly towards the end of August. The war ended in early September, with both sides suffering heavy casualties and unable to defeat the other. The Tashkent Declaration of January 1966 under the auspices of the Soviet Union resulted in a peace meeting between Pakistan’s President Field-Marshal Mohammad Ayoub Khan and India’s Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri, who after talks died due to a massive heart attack.