1098 solar years ago, on this day in 916 AD, Amir Saif od-Dowla, the Hamdanid ruler of Aleppo and most of Syria, was born. Named Ali, he was the son of Abu'l-Hayja Abdullah bin Hamdan, and was a staunch follower of the Prophet's Ahl al-Bayt. He was the younger brother of Nasser od-Dowla the Amir of Mosul. He distinguished himself in battles against the Byzantines and could be called the Warden of the Marches of the Islamic frontier of those days by checking the bid by the Christians to plunder Syria. Saif od-Dowla was a man of letters and surrounded himself with prominent intellectual figures, notably the great Arabic poets, al-Mutanabbi and Abu Firas Hamdani, as well as the noted Iranian Islamic philosopher Abu Nasr Farabi. Saif od-Dowla himself was a poet; his delicate short poem on the rainbow shows high artistic ability.
585 solar years ago, on this day in 1429 AD, the eminent Iranian astronomer and mathematician, Ghiyas od-Din Jamshid Kashani, died under suspicious circumstances in Samarqand at the age of around 50. He was born in Kashan and went to Samarqand at the invitation of the Timurid scientist-ruler, Ologh Beg, to set up the famous observatory. He produced a Zij entitled the "Khaqani Zij”, which was based on Khwaja Naseer od-Din Tusi's "Zij-e Ilkhani”. He also produced tables on transformations between coordinate systems on the celestial sphere, such as the transformation from the ecliptic coordinate system to the equatorial coordinate system. He wrote the book "Sullam as-Sama” on the resolution of difficulties met by predecessors in the determination of distances and sizes of heavenly bodies such as the Earth, the Moon, the Sun and the Stars. He also invented a mechanical planetary computer which he called the Plate of Zones, which could graphically solve a number of planetary problems, including the prediction of the true positions in longitude of the Sun and Moon, and the planets in terms of elliptical orbits; the latitudes of the Sun, Moon, and planets; and the ecliptic of the Sun. In one of his numerical approximations of "P" (pronounced pie), he correctly computed 2 P to 9 sexagesimal digits. This approximation of 2 P is equivalent to 16 decimal places of accuracy. This was far more accurate than the estimates earlier given in Greek mathematics of 3 decimal places by Archimedes, Chinese mathematics of 7 decimal places by Zu Chongzhi and Indian mathematics of 11 decimal places by Madhava of Sangamagrama. The accuracy of Jamshid Kashani's estimate was not surpassed until Ludolph van Ceulen computed 20 decimal places of "P" nearly 200 years later.
381 solar years ago, on this day in 1633 AD, Italian astronomer, mathematician, and physicist, Galileo Galilei, was forced to renounce his scientific remarks and beliefs before the Church officials. Influenced by the Latin translations of the Arabic works of Islamic scientists, such as Iran’s Abu Rayhan Berouni, he wrote a book in the year 1632 in rejection of Ptolemy’s beliefs on the solar system, supporting the fact that the Earth orbits around the Sun. A year later, the Pope summoned him to Rome and termed his writings as blasphemous, and gave him the option of denying what he said or death.
214 lunar years ago, on this day in 1221 AH, the Ottoman state issued a decree confirming the Albanian general, Mohammed Ali Pasha, as governor of Egypt, a few years after his successful ending of the political and administrative crisis in the Land of the Nile. Later, following the sacrilegious Wahhabi attack on the shrine of Imam Husain (AS) in Karbala, Iraq, and the desecration of the holy cities of Mecca and Medina by Godless elements from the Najd, the Ottoman Sultan tasked Mohammad Ali to end the sedition. He successfully accomplished the mission by restoring order to the Hijaz and sending his sons to pursue the Wahhabis right into their heartland Najd, where he ordered the destruction of their capital, Diriyya, and sent the Wahhabi chieftain, Abdullah ibn Saud, in chains to Istanbul for execution for his unpardonable crimes. The dynasty founded by Mohammad Ali was known as "Khedive" from the old Persian word for prince or ruler and ruled Egypt for over a century and a half, till its overthrow in 1952 by Colonel Jamal Abdun-Nasser.
123 lunar years ago,on this day in 1312 AH, the Source of Emulation, Grand Ayatolllah Mirza Mohammad Hassan Shirazi, passed away at the age of 82 in Samarra, Iraq. He was born in the southern Iranian city of Shiraz and after completion of preliminary studies, left for the Najaf Seminary in Iraq, where he studied under the celebrated Ayatollah Sheikh Morteza Ansari Dezfuli. The name of Mirza Shirazi brings to mind the famous fatwa or edict he issued for boycott of Tobacco which forced the Qajarid king, Nasser od-Din Shah, to cancel the monopoly over tobacco production in Iran that he had granted to the British Talbot Company.
74 solar years ago, on this day in 1940 AD, France formally surrendered to Nazi German leader, Adolf Hitler, by signing a treaty, according to which Marshal Henri Petain was instated as the premier of France with Germany’s support. But, General Charles de Gaulle, with the support of French troops overseas, formed the French government in exile to continue the struggle for liberation of France.
73 solar years ago, on this day in 1941 AD, during World War II, Germany launched Operation Barbarossa against the Soviet Union, after occupying several east European countries. German troops advanced till the outskirts of Moscow, but were bogged down with the arrival of the winter. The Soviets also resolutely resisted and gradually forced the German troops to retreat.