This Day in History
(November 4)
Today is Wednesday; 14th of the Iranian month of Aban 1399 solar hijri; corresponding to 18th of the Islamic month of Rabi al-Awwal 1442 lunar hijri; and November 4, 2020, of the Christian Gregorian Calendar.
1442 lunar years ago, on this day, a few days after Hijra, work started for construction of the famous "Masjid an-Nabi” (Prophet’s Mosque) in Medina after the entry of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA) in this city which was then called Yathreb. The Prophet personally took part in the construction, and adjacent to it rooms or quarters were built for him, for his cousin, Imam Ali ibn Abi Taleb (AS), and some of his companions. The Prophet used to hold the daily congregational prayers in this mosque, and would use it as a place for handling the various affairs of the Muslim society. The "Masjid an-Nabi”, in whose precincts, the Prophet reposes in eternal peace, is the second holiest mosque for the Islamic Ummah after the "Masjid al-Haraam” (Sacred Mosque) which houses God’s symbolic house, the holy Ka’ba in Mecca. It is worth noting that on God’s commandment, the doors of the Sahaba opening into the courtyard of the "Masjid an-Nabi” were closed except for the doors of the houses of the Prophet and Imam Ali (AS).
1434 lunar years ago, on this day around 8 AH, Omm Kulthoum (SA), the second and youngest daughter of Imam Ali (AS) and Hazrat Fatema Zahra (SA) was born in Medina in the lifetime of her grandfather, Prophet Mohammad (SAWA). Like her elder sister, Hazrat Zainab (SA), and brothers, Imam Hasan (AS) and Imam Husain (AS), she was a picture of virtue, and on growing up married her paternal first cousin Awn ibn Ja’far at-Tayyar – who was martyred years later in 38 AH in the War of Siffeen – since as a member of the spotlessly pure Ahl al-Bayt no other man was worthy of her hand, except a faithful Hashemite. She was present in Karbala at history’s most heartrending tragedy; was taken in chains along with the rest of ladies and children of the Prophet’s blessed household to the court of the tyrant Yazid; delivered memorable sermons to unmask the hypocrisy of the Omayyad regime; and on return to Medina recited the famous elegy "Madinato Jaddona la taqbalina…” (O City of our Grandfather, don’t accept our coming).
609 solar years ago, on this day in 1411 AD, Khalil Sultan, the Timurid ruler of Transoxiana from 1405 to 1409, died in Rayy near modern Tehran. He was a son of Miran Shah and a grandson of the fearsome Turkic conqueror Amir Timur, who in 1402 gave him rule of Ferghana valley – spread across in what is now Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kirghizstan – on being impressed by his military prowess during the conquest of North India. Upon Timur’s death in 1405 Khalil viewed himself as successor and quickly casting aside his cousin, Pir Mohammad, the appointed heir, took control of the capital, Samarqand, including Timur’s vast treasury. Meanwhile, his uncle Shah Rukh, the youngest son of Timur and governor of Khorasan, pressed his own claim and advanced against him from Herat in what is now Afghanistan, but turned back when Khalil’s father Miran Shah, the governor of Azerbaijan marched in support. Khalil’s position, however, began to weaken. He was unpopular in Samarqand, because of his wife Shad Mulk’s undue influence on state affairs. A famine caused him to be even more despised, and he left Samarqand for his base Ferghana. His rule in Samarqand finally ended on May 13, 1409 when Shah Rukh entered the city unopposed and placed his own son, the famous astronomer-mathematician, Ulugh Beg, as ruler of Transoxiana. Shah Rukh showed clemency towards Khalil and appointed him governor of Rayy.
444 solar years ago, on this day in 1576 AD, during the Eighty Years’ War, Spanish forces invaded Flanders and captured the city of Antwerp in what is now Belgium. After three days of fighting the city was almost destroyed.
229 solar years ago, on this day in 1791 AD, US General, Arthur St. Clair, governor of Northwest Territory, was decisively defeated by an Amerindian army near Fort Wayne, Indiana on the banks of Wabash River. Miami Amerindian Chief Little Turtle led the powerful force of the native tribes of Miami, Wyandot, Iroquois, Shawnee, Delaware, Ojibwa and Potawatomi that inflicted the greatest defeat ever suffered by the US Army at the hands of Amerindians. The staggering defeat moved Congress to authorize a larger army in 1792.
173 lunar years ago, on this day in 1268 AH, the highly efficient Iranian Prime Minister, Mirza Taqi Khan Amir Kabir, was killed on the orders of the Qajarid king, Nasser od-Din Shah in the "hammam” (bathhouse) of the famous garden-pavilion of Feen in the city of Kashan, where he was exiled, after dismissal from his post, following court intrigues by local agents of foreign powers, on loss of their illegal interests, because of his political and administrative reforms. He had risen from the lower rungs of the society through hard work, honesty, and voracious appetite for knowledge and eagerness to learn new techniques. He became prime minister of Mohammad Shah and within three years carried out important reforms. On Mohammad Shah’s death, when Naser od-Din Shah ascended the throne as a boy, Amir-e Kabir acted as his guardian and saved Iran from the colonial designs of the British and the Russians. His achievements include the vaccination of Iranians against smallpox; economic development of the fertile Khuzestan Province; foundation in Tehran of the Dar ol-Fonoun Academy (for teaching medicine, surgery, pharmacology, natural history, mathematics, geology, and natural sciences to train the civilian and military staff); cancellation of the one-sided treaties with the Russians and the British; launching of a newspaper; crackdown on the seditious Babi-Bahai plot against Islam and the country; and execution of the heretic Mohammad Ali Bab. With Amir Kabir died the prospects of an independent Iran led by meritocracy.
119 solar years ago, on this day in 1901, Greek archaeologist Spyridon Nikolaou Marinatos, whose most notable discovery was the site of an ancient port city on Thera Island in the southern Aegean Sea, was born.
102 solar years ago, on this day in 1918 AD, the Austro-Hungarian Empire surrendered to Allied Powers, a week prior to the end of World War I. It was the most important ally of Germany and broke up into several countries.
74 solar years ago, on this day in 1946 AD, the constitution of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) came into effect. The aim behind its foundation was to establish scientific and cultural links and bonds among world nations and to publish books in different languages.
60 solar years ago, on this day in 1960 AD, at the Kasakela Chimpanzee Community in Tanzania, Dr. Jane Goodall observed chimpanzees creating tools, the first-ever observation in non-human animals.
42 solar years ago, on this day in 1978 AD, during the nationwide mass protests in Iran against the oppressive British-installed and American-backed Pahlavi regime, Premier Ja’far Sharif-Imami and his cabinet were forced to resign after five weeks in office. He was one of the most corrupt officials of the Shah’s regime and was appointed to deceive the people and derail the Islamic Movement from its course. Following the resignation of Sharif-Imami, the instigator of the Black Friday massacre in Tehran, General Gholam-Reza Azhari formed a military cabinet, but the Father of Islamic Revolution, Imam Khomeini (RA), called on the Iranian people to continue their struggle until the collapse of the Pahlavi regime.
33 solar years ago, on this day in 1887 AD, the First Tehran International Book Fair was held in the Iranian capital with participation of publishers from 32 countries. It has since become a regular annual fixture in Tehran, attracting publishers worldwide and drawing huge crowds.
30 solar years ago, on this day in 1990 AD, Iranian pharmacist and biochemist, Dr. Faramarz Ashuri, discovered the anti-radiation feature of a number of natural substances, after fourteen years of research, while in Japan. His discovery is used for prevention and treatment of ailments resulting from ionized radiations, by making the human body resistant.
25 solar years ago, on this day in 1995 AD, Premier Yitzhak Rabin of the illegal Zionist entity was killed. In his previous term as premier from 1974 to 1977, he was forced to step down because of financial corruption. Rabin’s assassination by a fellow Zionist showed the disputes amongst officials of the usurper state of Israel. Rabin was a commander of Zionist terrorist groups and led numerous attacks on Arabs and Palestinians, committing heinous crimes including torture and murder.
7 solar years ago, on this day in 2013 AD, prominent Iranian revolutionary politician and merchant, Habibollah Askar Ouladi-Mosalman, passed away in Tehran at the age of 81.
Today is Wednesday; 14th of the Iranian month of Aban 1399 solar hijri; corresponding to 18th of the Islamic month of Rabi al-Awwal 1442 lunar hijri; and November 4, 2020, of the Christian Gregorian Calendar.
1442 lunar years ago, on this day, a few days after Hijra, work started for construction of the famous "Masjid an-Nabi” (Prophet’s Mosque) in Medina after the entry of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA) in this city which was then called Yathreb. The Prophet personally took part in the construction, and adjacent to it rooms or quarters were built for him, for his cousin, Imam Ali ibn Abi Taleb (AS), and some of his companions. The Prophet used to hold the daily congregational prayers in this mosque, and would use it as a place for handling the various affairs of the Muslim society. The "Masjid an-Nabi”, in whose precincts, the Prophet reposes in eternal peace, is the second holiest mosque for the Islamic Ummah after the "Masjid al-Haraam” (Sacred Mosque) which houses God’s symbolic house, the holy Ka’ba in Mecca. It is worth noting that on God’s commandment, the doors of the Sahaba opening into the courtyard of the "Masjid an-Nabi” were closed except for the doors of the houses of the Prophet and Imam Ali (AS).
1434 lunar years ago, on this day around 8 AH, Omm Kulthoum (SA), the second and youngest daughter of Imam Ali (AS) and Hazrat Fatema Zahra (SA) was born in Medina in the lifetime of her grandfather, Prophet Mohammad (SAWA). Like her elder sister, Hazrat Zainab (SA), and brothers, Imam Hasan (AS) and Imam Husain (AS), she was a picture of virtue, and on growing up married her paternal first cousin Awn ibn Ja’far at-Tayyar – who was martyred years later in 38 AH in the War of Siffeen – since as a member of the spotlessly pure Ahl al-Bayt no other man was worthy of her hand, except a faithful Hashemite. She was present in Karbala at history’s most heartrending tragedy; was taken in chains along with the rest of ladies and children of the Prophet’s blessed household to the court of the tyrant Yazid; delivered memorable sermons to unmask the hypocrisy of the Omayyad regime; and on return to Medina recited the famous elegy "Madinato Jaddona la taqbalina…” (O City of our Grandfather, don’t accept our coming).
609 solar years ago, on this day in 1411 AD, Khalil Sultan, the Timurid ruler of Transoxiana from 1405 to 1409, died in Rayy near modern Tehran. He was a son of Miran Shah and a grandson of the fearsome Turkic conqueror Amir Timur, who in 1402 gave him rule of Ferghana valley – spread across in what is now Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kirghizstan – on being impressed by his military prowess during the conquest of North India. Upon Timur’s death in 1405 Khalil viewed himself as successor and quickly casting aside his cousin, Pir Mohammad, the appointed heir, took control of the capital, Samarqand, including Timur’s vast treasury. Meanwhile, his uncle Shah Rukh, the youngest son of Timur and governor of Khorasan, pressed his own claim and advanced against him from Herat in what is now Afghanistan, but turned back when Khalil’s father Miran Shah, the governor of Azerbaijan marched in support. Khalil’s position, however, began to weaken. He was unpopular in Samarqand, because of his wife Shad Mulk’s undue influence on state affairs. A famine caused him to be even more despised, and he left Samarqand for his base Ferghana. His rule in Samarqand finally ended on May 13, 1409 when Shah Rukh entered the city unopposed and placed his own son, the famous astronomer-mathematician, Ulugh Beg, as ruler of Transoxiana. Shah Rukh showed clemency towards Khalil and appointed him governor of Rayy.
444 solar years ago, on this day in 1576 AD, during the Eighty Years’ War, Spanish forces invaded Flanders and captured the city of Antwerp in what is now Belgium. After three days of fighting the city was almost destroyed.
229 solar years ago, on this day in 1791 AD, US General, Arthur St. Clair, governor of Northwest Territory, was decisively defeated by an Amerindian army near Fort Wayne, Indiana on the banks of Wabash River. Miami Amerindian Chief Little Turtle led the powerful force of the native tribes of Miami, Wyandot, Iroquois, Shawnee, Delaware, Ojibwa and Potawatomi that inflicted the greatest defeat ever suffered by the US Army at the hands of Amerindians. The staggering defeat moved Congress to authorize a larger army in 1792.
173 lunar years ago, on this day in 1268 AH, the highly efficient Iranian Prime Minister, Mirza Taqi Khan Amir Kabir, was killed on the orders of the Qajarid king, Nasser od-Din Shah in the "hammam” (bathhouse) of the famous garden-pavilion of Feen in the city of Kashan, where he was exiled, after dismissal from his post, following court intrigues by local agents of foreign powers, on loss of their illegal interests, because of his political and administrative reforms. He had risen from the lower rungs of the society through hard work, honesty, and voracious appetite for knowledge and eagerness to learn new techniques. He became prime minister of Mohammad Shah and within three years carried out important reforms. On Mohammad Shah’s death, when Naser od-Din Shah ascended the throne as a boy, Amir-e Kabir acted as his guardian and saved Iran from the colonial designs of the British and the Russians. His achievements include the vaccination of Iranians against smallpox; economic development of the fertile Khuzestan Province; foundation in Tehran of the Dar ol-Fonoun Academy (for teaching medicine, surgery, pharmacology, natural history, mathematics, geology, and natural sciences to train the civilian and military staff); cancellation of the one-sided treaties with the Russians and the British; launching of a newspaper; crackdown on the seditious Babi-Bahai plot against Islam and the country; and execution of the heretic Mohammad Ali Bab. With Amir Kabir died the prospects of an independent Iran led by meritocracy.
119 solar years ago, on this day in 1901, Greek archaeologist Spyridon Nikolaou Marinatos, whose most notable discovery was the site of an ancient port city on Thera Island in the southern Aegean Sea, was born.
102 solar years ago, on this day in 1918 AD, the Austro-Hungarian Empire surrendered to Allied Powers, a week prior to the end of World War I. It was the most important ally of Germany and broke up into several countries.
74 solar years ago, on this day in 1946 AD, the constitution of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) came into effect. The aim behind its foundation was to establish scientific and cultural links and bonds among world nations and to publish books in different languages.
60 solar years ago, on this day in 1960 AD, at the Kasakela Chimpanzee Community in Tanzania, Dr. Jane Goodall observed chimpanzees creating tools, the first-ever observation in non-human animals.
42 solar years ago, on this day in 1978 AD, during the nationwide mass protests in Iran against the oppressive British-installed and American-backed Pahlavi regime, Premier Ja’far Sharif-Imami and his cabinet were forced to resign after five weeks in office. He was one of the most corrupt officials of the Shah’s regime and was appointed to deceive the people and derail the Islamic Movement from its course. Following the resignation of Sharif-Imami, the instigator of the Black Friday massacre in Tehran, General Gholam-Reza Azhari formed a military cabinet, but the Father of Islamic Revolution, Imam Khomeini (RA), called on the Iranian people to continue their struggle until the collapse of the Pahlavi regime.
33 solar years ago, on this day in 1887 AD, the First Tehran International Book Fair was held in the Iranian capital with participation of publishers from 32 countries. It has since become a regular annual fixture in Tehran, attracting publishers worldwide and drawing huge crowds.
30 solar years ago, on this day in 1990 AD, Iranian pharmacist and biochemist, Dr. Faramarz Ashuri, discovered the anti-radiation feature of a number of natural substances, after fourteen years of research, while in Japan. His discovery is used for prevention and treatment of ailments resulting from ionized radiations, by making the human body resistant.
25 solar years ago, on this day in 1995 AD, Premier Yitzhak Rabin of the illegal Zionist entity was killed. In his previous term as premier from 1974 to 1977, he was forced to step down because of financial corruption. Rabin’s assassination by a fellow Zionist showed the disputes amongst officials of the usurper state of Israel. Rabin was a commander of Zionist terrorist groups and led numerous attacks on Arabs and Palestinians, committing heinous crimes including torture and murder.
7 solar years ago, on this day in 2013 AD, prominent Iranian revolutionary politician and merchant, Habibollah Askar Ouladi-Mosalman, passed away in Tehran at the age of 81.