Today is the first of Sha'ban; the month of worship and acceptance of forgiveness in the divine court. Prophet Mohammad (SAWA) and the Infallible Imams have emphasized on fasting, charity and other virtuous acts in this month.
1489 solar years ago, on this day in 526 AD, as many as 300,000 people were killed when a devastating earthquake hit the sin-infested Byzantine city of Antioch in Syria (presently in Turkey and called Antakya). The city, founded by Seleucus I Nicator, the Greek general of the Macedonian marauder, Alexander the Great, was the capital of Syria from 300-to 64 BC. It was notorious for its vices, and was the epicenter of frequent earthquakes both during the Greek and Roman periods. In the Byzantine era, it was the centre of Hellenistic Jews and later of Christianity. Some years after the major earthquake when development was in progress, it was completely devastated by the Iranian Sassanid Emperor, Khosrow Anushirvan. In 1939, the French colonialists detached Antioch, Iskenderun and adjoining regions from Syria and gave it to Turkey, a move the government of Syria refuses to recognize, and calls it Liwa al-Iskenderun.
1117 lunar years ago, on this day in 319 AH, Head of the Baghdad branch of the Mu’tazila sect, Abu’l-Qasim Abdullah bin Ahmad al-Balkhi al-Ka’bi, died. He was from the Khorasani city of Balkh (presently in Afghanistan) and spent most of his life in Baghdad, where after him the Ka’biya sub-sect of the Mu’tazila was known. He was introduced to Mu’tazili doctrines by Abu’l-Hussain al-Khayyat. The Mu’tazila sect was founded in Basra, Iraq by Wasil ibn Ata. Among the books written by Abu’l-Qasim Balkhi are "The Glories of Khorasan”, "The Good Points about the Taherids” (dynasty of governors which ruled in Khorasan from 821 till 873 under the Abbasid caliphs), and an exegesis of the holy Qur’an to suit Mu’tazili ideas.
743 lunar years ago, on this day in 693 AH, the famous scholar and literary figure, Seyyed Ghiyas od-Din Abdul-Karim ibn Ahmad ibn Musa ibn Tawous Hilli, passed away in the Iraqi city of Kazemain at the age of 45 and his body was taken to holy Najaf for burial. He was born in the holy city of Karbala. His father Ahmad ibn Musa is the compiler of the famous book "Iqbaal al-A’maal”. The Tawous family was prominent in Iraq and Iran, and its members not only were educated and knowledgeable, but also widely respected by for their virtue, piety, and devotion to the cause of the Ahl al-Bayt. Abdul-Karim memorized the Holy Qur'an by the age of 11 and studied Arabic literature and theology under prominent figures, including his father, as well as Muhaqqiq Hilli and Khwajah Naseer od-Din Tusi. He is the author of such books as "Farhat al-Ghari be Sarhat al-Ghari”, and "Farhat al-Ghariy fi ta'yin Qabr Amir al-Mu'minin Ali”.
637 solar years ago, on this day in 1378 AD, Dawoud Shah, who over a month earlier had usurped the throne of the Bahmani Dynasty of Iranian origin of the Deccan (South India) by treacherously assassinating his nephew Mujahid Shah, was killed on the orders of his niece Rooh-Parwar Agha (sister of the deceased Mujahid Shah) and replaced by her younger brother, Mohammad Shah II. The court language of the Bahmanis, who traced their origin to the pre-Islamic Iranian hero Bahman, was Persian, and they promoted Iranian art and culture.
594 solar years ago, on this day in 1421, Khizr Khan, who governed Delhi, Punjab and parts of northern India, as viceroy of the Turkic conqueror, Amir Timur, and after him of his son and successor, Shahrukh, died in Delhi. Two days later he was succeeded by his son, Mubarak Shah, in whose reign the famous Persian history "Tarikh-e Mubarak Shahi” was written in India.
509 solar years ago, on this day in 1506 AD, Italian navigator, Christopher Columbus, died in Valladolid (corruption of the Arabic word "Balad al-Waleed” or City of Waleed, founded by Muslims in Spain) at the age of 55 in the state of poverty, still believing he had discovered the coast of Asia. Born near Genoa in Italy, he took up service with King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain, for finding a western sea route to Asia through the Atlantic, since the growing power of Ottoman Turks in southwestern Europe had blocked the land route to India and China. In 1492, following the fall of Granada (Gharnata), the last Muslim kingdom in Spain, he was provided ships and personnel, including Muslim navigators familiar with routes of the Atlantic. Columbus was acquainted with "Tabula Rogeriana” a Latin translation of the Muslim geographer al-Idrisi’s "Nuzhat al-Mushtaaq fi-Ikhteraaq al-Afaaq” – a description of the world and the first world map drawn in Europe. He landed on the eastern coast of Cuba, and thought he had reached an island off the coast of India; hence the use of the terms Indies” and "Indians” by him for American natives. He made four voyages to the New World, and mercilessly slaughtered the native people in his quest for gold and riches, which did not avail him in his last days.  
495 solar years ago, on this day in 1520 AD, the Spanish conquerors of Mexico brutally massacred the Aztec people while celebrations were taking place at the Festival of Tocatl in the city of Tenochtitlan. The Europeans are notorious for their genocide of the native populations of the Americas and plundering of rich natural resources.
393 solar years ago, on this day in 1622 AD, Osman II, the 16th Ottoman Sultan and the 8th self-styled Turkish caliph, was strangled to death by his vizier, Qara Davoud Pasha, at the age of 18, after a 4-year reign, and replaced by his deposed uncle, Mustafa I, who a year later was again deposed in favour of his 11-year old nephew Murad IV. Osman II was son of Sultan Ahmad and his Greek wife Maria – renamed Mah-Firuzeh Khadija on becoming Muslim. He ascended the throne at the young age of 14, as a result of a palace coup against his uncle Mustafa I. The cause of his killing was his plans to reorganize the army and the administrative system in the wake of the treaty imposed on humiliating terms in the Moldavian Wars when he personally led the Turkish forces into Poland, after securing the eastern borders with Safavid Iran by signing the Treaty of Serav with Shah Abbas I. He was fluent in Arabic, Persian, Greek, Latin and Italian.  
384 solar years ago, on this day in 1631 AD, the city of Magdeburg in Germany was seized by forces of the Holy Roman Empire and most of its inhabitants massacred, in one of the bloodiest incidents of the Thirty-Year-War. Johann Tserclaes, Count of Tilly, who led the imperial forces, stormed the city and massacred about 20,000 inhabitants before burning down Magdeburg.
369 solar years ago, on this day in 1645 AD, the Manchurian Qing forces, led by Prince Dodo occupied the city of Yangzhou and for 10 days massacred almost the population for supporting the Ming loyalist government. It is said 800,000 people were butchered.
213 solar years ago, on this day in 1802 AD, Napoleon Bonaparte reinstated slavery in the French colonies, revoking its abolition by the French Revolution, thus depriving a sizeable number of fellow humans of their rights of liberty and freedom.
209 solar years ago, on this day in 1806 AD, the English philosopher and economist, John Stuart Mill, was born. He initially worked as a journalist and a writer, before being elected as representative of the House of Commons for a single term. He followed the views of Auguste Comte and believed in the originality of experience. In economics, he supported profiteering coupled with social justice. Among his books is "Principles of Political Economy”.
170 lunar years ago, on this day in 1266 AH, the prominent Islamic scholar, Sheikh Mohammad Hassan Najafi, famous as "Saheb-e Jawaher”, because of writing the famous jurisprudential work, "Jawaher al-Kalaam”, passed away. Son of Sheikh Mohammad Baqer, he was a student of Shaikh Ja'far Kashef ul-Gheta, and took over forty years to complete his monumental work which is still held in high esteem in Islamic seminaries. The book is an extended exposition of "ash-Shara’e al-Islam” of Muhaqqiq Hilli. In the preface to "Jawaher al-Kalaam”, which is indeed a comprehensive encyclopedia of discursive Fiqh, the author says that his purpose in writing this work is to acquaint jurisprudents with the hidden delicacies of the "ash-Sharae’e al-Islam”, illustrate its problems, explicate the mistakes made by other commentators of the book, and deal with the views of jurists and their arguments.
88 solar years ago, on this day in 1927, the crafty British, as per the Treaty of Jeddah, handed over to the desert brigand Abdul-Aziz ibn Saud, the historical land of Hijaz and its religious and commercial centres, such as the holy cities of Mecca and Medina, the seaport of Jeddah and the agriculture-rich resort of Ta’ef. A couple of years earlier, the Wahhabi heretics had occupied Hijaz by driving out the other British agent, Sharif Hussain, and slaughtering over a hundred thousand Muslims, in addition to desecrating the holy shrines of the sacred cemeteries of Jannat al-Baqie in Medina and Jannat al-Mu’alla in Mecca. Five years later in 1932, Hijaz was formally joined with Najd to create the spurious country called Saudi Arabia, which annexed the oil-rich eastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula on the Persian Gulf against the wishes of the local people, and then seized from Yemen the provinces of Najran, Jizan, and Asir.
81 solar years ago, on this day in 1934 AD, the one-sided Treaty of Ta’ef was imposed on Imam Yahya of Yemen by Abdul-Aziz ibn Saud, ruler of the British created state called Saudi Arabia, according to which the regions of Najran, Jeezan, and Asir were occupied for a period of 40 years. In 1974 and again on its unification in 1990, Yemen demanded the return of these vast territories, but Saudi Arabia, backed by the US, has refused to return them, in violation of the Treaty of Ta’ef. Currently, Saudi Arabia has unleashed state terrorism on Yemen, and is criminally bombarding the country, killing so far some four thousand men, women and children.
8 solar years ago, on this day in 2007 AD, Nigeria sued US drug firm Pfizer for using 200 children as "guinea pigs" for a drug test in 1996 that led to multiple deaths and deformities. In 2010 a leaked WikiLeaks cable said Pfizer hired investigators to unearth evidence of corruption against Nigeria’s then Atrorney-General Michael Aondoakaa to pressure him to drop legal action over the company’s experimental antibiotic, Trovan.