Today is Saturday; 22nd of the Iranian month of Khordad 1400 solar hijri; corresponding to 1st of the Islamic month of Zil-Qa’dah 1442 lunar hijri; and June 12, 2021, of the Christian Gregorian Calendar.
1269 lunar years ago, on this day in 173 AH, Hazrat Fatema al-Ma’sumah (SA), the venerable daughter of Imam Musa al-Kazem (SA), the 7th Infallible Heir of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA), was born in Medina. She was a child prodigy and acquired higher status of knowledge while less than 8 years of age, to the extent she could provide satisfactory answers to some of the most complicated issues for which grey-bearded scholars had no clue. She grew up into a paragon of piety, and till she passed away in Iran at the age of 29 years she remained a spinster since no man of her times was worthy of her hand. The reason that she journeyed to Iran was to visit her dear brother, Imam Reza (AS), who was forcibly brought to Khorasan by the crafty Abbasid caliph, Mamoun, fearful of the popularity of the Ahl al-Bayt among the ummah. Near Saveh, southwest of present-day Tehran, her caravan was attacked by Abbasid agents, making her seek the safety of the nearby city of Qom, which was a sanctuary for the Prophet’s blessed household. After seventeen days of sojourn, her soul departed for the ethereal heavens from this city, where today her grand golden-domed mausoleum stands for pilgrims from all over the globe, while Qom has been transformed into the world’s spiritual capital with students coming from the four corners of the Planet to acquire Islamic knowledge.
1265 lunar years ago, on this day in 177 AH, Shurraiy Ibn Abdullah Ibn Sinan an-Nakha’i, the hadith scholar who ended up a turncoat and betrayed his profession of a judge, died at the age of 82. Born into an Arab family of Yemeni origin in the Iranian city of Bukhara in what is now the Central Asian republic of Uzbekistan, he used to be a follower of the Prophet’s Ahl al-Bayt, until he made the fatal mistake of contaminating his body and soul by agreeing to eat the rich food prepared through foul and unlawful means at the table of Mahdi al-Abbasi, the 3rd self-styled caliph of the usurper Abbasid regime. Thereafter he was made a judge in Kufa, and used to give dubious verdicts, in addition to forging hadith.
1225 solar years ago, on this day in 796 AD, Hisham I, the 2nd Omayyad emir of Muslim Spain died at the age of 40 after eight years of rule. Born to Abdur-Rahman I and his wife, Halul, a couple of years after his fugitive father, fleeing persecution of his clan in Syria and Egypt by the Abbasids, arrived in Andalusia, and was installed as ruler by Syrian commanders. During his rule, Hisham faced with threats from France, sent his general Abdul-Malik ibn Abdul-Wahid ibn Mughith across the Pyrenees mountains to defeat Louis the Pious’ Carolingian mentor William of Orange. Despite this victory, the Muslims did not advance further into France as they had done half-a-century earlier, advancing till Poitiers before their historic defeat in 732. In 794, Ibn Mughith suppressed a Basque rebellion and soundly defeated the Christian principality of Asturias in southern France. Hisham was succeeded by his son, al-Hakam, who was a very cruel ruler.
877 solar years ago, on this day in 1144 AD, the Iranian Sunni Muslim exegete of the holy Qur’an, narrator of hadith, and linguist, Abu’l-Qasim Mohammad Ibn Omar Zamakhshari, died at the age of 72 in the city of Gurganj in the ancient Iranian land of Khwarezm, which today is divided between the Central Asian republics of Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. He was born in the village of Zamakhshar and studied in Samarqand and Bukhara. He later lived in Baghdad for some years. He followed the rationalistic Mu’tazali doctrine and was known as “Jarallah” (literally ‘Neighbour of God’), since he stayed for several years in the city of Mecca, spending his time at the holy Ka’ba, the symbolic House of God Almighty. He wrote both in Persian and Arabic, and is best known for “al-Kashshaaf”, a commentary on the holy Qur’an, which is famous for its deep linguistic analysis of the ayahs. Another of his famous books is “Rabi al-Abraar”, a voluminous reference work in which he has exposed the dubious parentage of Mu’awiyah ibn Abu Sufyan. He has recorded many of the God-given merits of the Ahl al-Bayt of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA) and their superiority over all Muslims.
781 solar years ago, on this day in 1240 AD, an inter-faith debate, known as the “Disputation of Paris”, started between a Christian monk and four rabbis, on the orders of King Louis IX of France. Nicholas Donin, a member of the Franciscan Order and a convert to Christianity from Judaism, represented the Christian side against the Jewish Rabbis named Yechiel of Paris, Moses of Coucy, Judah of Melun, and Samuel ben Solomon of Chateau-Thierry. Donin had translated the Talmud – a Jewish religious book written around 200 AD, and pressed 35 charges against it, by referring to a series of blasphemous passages about Prophet Jesus (AS) and his virtuous mother, the Virgin Mary (SA), whom the Jews slander. In one of the Talmudic passages, for example, Prophet Jesus (AS) is depicted as being cast into Hell, while another passage permits Jews to kill all non-Jews. The Talmud, which is a distortion of the monotheistic teachings of Prophet Moses (AS), also contains insulting remarks against Adam the father of mankind, and against Prophet Noah (AS). At the end of the long debate lasting several days, Christian theologians condemned the Talmud to be burned as a blasphemous book. On June 17, 1244 twenty-four carriage loads of Jewish religious manuscripts, collected from various parts of France, were set on fire in the streets of Paris.
798 lunar years ago, on this day in 644 AH, Sultan Naseer od-Din Mahmoud Shah of the Slave Dynasty of Northern India, crossed the Ravi River, a branch of the Indus River in Punjab, while his minister Ghiyas od-Din Balban, separating from the main army, led an expedition into the Joud Hills against the Rana who had guided the Mongol invaders in the previous year to ravage parts of the Sultanate. The Rana was duly chastised. Balban, who later married the Sultan’s daughter and succeeded him to the throne, ruling ably for twenty years, introduced the Persian etiquette at his court to control the turbulent Turkic Amirs.
640 solar years ago, on this day in 1381 AD, The Peasants’ Revolt occurred in England. Also known as Tyler’s Rebellion, it was not only the most extreme and widespread insurrection in English history but also the best-documented popular rebellion to have occurred during medieval times. The Tower of London was stormed and those summarily executed included the Lord Chancellor (Simon of Sudbury, the Archbishop of Canterbury, who was particularly associated with the poll tax), and the Lord Treasurer (Robert de Hales, the Grand Prior of the Knights Hospitallers of England). The names of some of the leaders of the revolt, John Ball, Watt Tyler and Jack Straw, are still familiar in popular culture, although little is known of them. The revolt later came to be seen as a mark of the beginning of the end of serfdom in medieval England, although the revolt itself was a failure. It increased awareness in the upper classes of the need for the reform of feudalism in England and the appalling misery felt by the lower classes as a result of their enforced near-slavery. It was brutally suppressed by the king and a large number of peasants were executed.
485 solar years ago, on this day in 1534 AD, the Turkish navy led by Khair od-Din Barbarossa allowed Giulia Gonzaga to kidnap people and plunder Naples in Italy.
481 solar years ago, on this day in 1540 AD, the country known as Chile in South America was occupied by the Spanish invaders, after earlier defeats at the hands of the indigenous Mapuche people. The Spanish brutally suppressed the Amerindians and plundered the rich resources of the land. In 1817, the Argentinean commander, Jose de San Martin, attacked the Spanish and liberated Chile in the following year.
471 solar years ago, on this day in 1550 AD, the city of Helsinki, Finland – belonging to Sweden at the time – was founded by King Gustav I of Sweden.
107 solar years ago, on this day in 1914 AD, the first experiment for harnessing of solar thermal energy took place on the outskirts of the Egyptian capital, Cairo. It was conducted by American physicist, Frank Schuman, who managed to run a 50 horse-power steam engine by harnessing the sun’s rays. This test shaped the basis of the solar-powered driving engines.
102 solar years ago, on this day in 1819 AD, English novelist, Charles Kingsley was born in Holne, Devon, Britain. He was a prolific writer and his works include, such famous classics as “Westward Ho!”, “The Water-Babies” and “Madam How and Lady Why”.
61 solar years ago, on this day in 1960 AD, the renowned Islamic scholar, Mirza Mohammad Hussein Fazel Touni, passed away in Tehran at the age of 82. Born in the northeastern Iranian town of Ferdows, he was a polymath in theology, principles of theology, philosophy, mysticism, mathematics, astronomy, and Arabic literature. He later served as a professor at Tehran University’s Faculty of Literature, teaching Arabic language and literature as well as philosophy. Among his books are “Hekmat-e Qadim”.
31 solar years ago, on this day in 1990 AD, Ayatollah Shaikh Ali Mushkaf, passed away at the age of 89. After preliminary religious studies in Isfahan, he departed for holy Qom, where he studied under Ayatollah Shaikh Abdul-Karim Ha’eri, Seyyed Mohammad Koh-Kamari, and Seyyed Mohammad Taqi Khwansari. He went to holy Najaf in Iraq where he reached the status of ijtihad. On his return to Iran, he settled in Isfahan. Among the books written by him, mentioned could be made of “Hashiya bar Kifayat al-Usoul.” He also compiled the notes he had taken while studying under such great scholars as Ayatollah Abdul-Karim Ha’eri, Ayatollah Ziya od-Din Iraqi, and Grand Ayatollah Seyyed Abu’l-Hassan Isfahani.
30 solar years ago, on this day in 1991 AD, the first free presidential polls were held in the Russian Federation after the disintegration of the Soviet Union and resulted in the election of Boris Yeltsin as president.
26 solar years ago, on this day in 1995 AD, Ayatollah Mirza Kazem Dinawari, passed away at the age of 93. A product of the Islamic seminary of holy Najaf in Iraq, on return to Iran, he was engaged in teaching and grooming students.
10 solar years ago, on this day in 2011 AD, the repressive Aal-e Khalifa minority regime of the Persian Gulf island of Bahrain, sentenced 20-year old university girl student, peace activist, and budding Arabic poet, Ayat Hassam Mohammad al-Qurmezi, to imprisonment on absurd charges, including inciting hatred, after some two-and-a-half months of torture following her kidnapping from her home at gunpoint, for reciting poems critical of the regime. There were widespread protests in her support in many countries including the Islamic Republic of Iran. Even after release, she has remained under house arrest. On Wednesday, February 23, 2011, during the early days of the uprising of Bahrain’s long-suppressed majority for their denied rights, Ayat al-Qurmezi delivered a poem from the podium to the gathering of pro-democracy demonstrators at the Pearl Roundabout in Manama that was critical of the regime’s policies and specifically those of Khalifa ibn Salman Aal-e Khalifa, the longtime tyrannical prime minister. On March 6, 2011, she read out another poem to a huge gathering at the same venue (since demolished) censuring the self-styled king, Sheikh Hamad bin Isa Aal-Khalifa. Her widely applauded poem included the verse: “We are the people who will kill humiliation and assassinate misery. Don’t you hear their cries? Don’t you hear their screams?” Another verse of her poem has an imaginary dialogue between the Devil and Sheikh Hamad, in which the Satan complains to his pupil: “Hamad, the Bahraini people have shaken me. Don’t you hear their cries?”
5 solar years ago, on this day in 2016 AD, Hamid Sabzevari, the father of revolutionary poetry in Iran, passed away at the age of 91 at a Tehran hospital and was laid to rest in his hometown, Sabzevar, in Khorasan Province, northeastern Iran. Named Hussain Aqa-Momtaheni at birth, he began composing poetry at the age of 14. He composed poems in different styles including couplets, sonnets and blank verse. In 1979, during the days leading to the victory of grassroots Islamic movement of the Iranian people, he composed the famous poem “Khomeini, O Imam!” in praise of the Father of the Islamic Revolution. The poem was performed and recorded by a group of students, weeks before the victory of the Islamic Revolution. He is the composer of “USA, USA, Shame on Your Deceits”, which was performed by a chorus following the capture of the den of spies that the US embassy in Tehran had turned into. Another of his famous poem is “This Is the Call of Freedom from the Orient”.