Today is Sunday; 15th of the Iranian month of Farvardin 1395 solar hijri; corresponding to 24th of the Islamic month of Jamadi as-Sani 1437 lunar hijri; and April 3, 2016, of the Christian Gregorian Calendar.
1045 lunar years ago, on this day in 392 AH, the historian, hadith compiler and orator, Ahmad bin Ali bin Sabet, known as Khateeb al-Baghdadi, was born near Baghdad. The son of a preacher of Darzidjan, he studied under his father and other ulema, mastering the various sciences, with special interest in hadith. At the age of 20 he went to Basra to collect hadith. He then travelled east to Iran and made two trips to Nishapur in Khorasan, collecting in his journey more hadith in Rayy and Isfahan. Back in Baghdad, he acquired fame as a preacher and orator, and it is said that teachers and preachers of hadith would usually submit to him what they had collected, before they used them in their lectures or sermons. Originally a follower of the Hanbali School of jurisprudence, he switched to the Shafe’i School – a change that made Hanbalis his bitter enemies and heap accusations against him. This sectarian hostility forced him to leave Baghdad for Syria and settle in Damascus, where he preached for 8 years, and before returning to Baghdad, spent another year in Tyre, in what is now Lebanon. Khateeb al-Baghdadi was a prolific writer and has authored several books, the most famous of which is the voluminous history titled "Tarikh al-Baghdad”. He has quoted many of the hadith on the merits of the Prophet’s Ahl al-Bayt, especially Imam Ali (AS) and Hazrat Fatema Zahra (SA). He died in Baghdad at the age of 73.
893 lunar years ago, on this day in 544 AH, the Islamic scholar, Abu Ja’far Ahmad ibn Ali Baihaqi, passed away. Popularly known as "Bu Ja’farak”, he was from Baihaq (or Sabzevar as it is known today) in Khorasan, northeastern Iran. He was an authority on grammar, lexicography and Qur’anic sciences. He authored several books, including "Taj al-Masader” and "al-Muhit fi Lughat-al-Qur’an”.
691 solar years ago,  on this day in 1325 AD, the second most prominent mystic of India, Seyyed Nizam od-Din Awliya, passed away at the age of 87 in New Delhi, where his tomb is a site of pilgrimage. He traced his descent to Imam Ali an-Naqi al-Hadi (AS), the 10th Infallible Successor of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA), and belonged to the Cheshti Sufi order founded in the Subcontinent by the Iranian saint of Ajmer, Seyyed Moin od-Din Cheshti, who is famous for his tribute in Persian poetry to the Chief of Martyrs, Imam Husain (AS). Nizam od-Din wrote several books including the spiritual treatise "Fawa’ed ol-Fu’aad” in Persian and trained many disciples such as the great Persian poet of the Subcontinent, Amir Khosrow Dehlavi. Nizam od-Din Awliya’s criticism of the eccentric policies of Sultan Mohammad Tughlaq had enraged the king and made him issue threats of punishment after returning to Delhi, at which the mystic smiled and calmly said in Persian "Hanouz Dilli dour ast” – which means Delhi is still very far. The Sultan died on his way.
446 lunar years ago, on this day in 941 AH, Baghdad was seized from Iran and annexed to the Ottoman Empire along with most of Iraq by Sultan Suleiman, after Shah Tahmasb I withdrew his troops and did not offer resistance. Suleiman, fresh from his victories in the West that brought under his control extensive territories in south-central Europe, turned towards the east, since like his father, Sultan Selim I, he was in constant fear of Safavid influence in Anatolia and Syria. During his 46-year reign which coincided with the longer 52-year reign of Shah Tahmasp, he launched massive invasions of the Persian Empire three times by giving a sectarian Sunni-Shi’ite colour to his campaigns, but on all three occasions he failed to shatter the resolve of the Iranians, from the Caucasus in the north till the confluence of the Tigris and Euphrates in the south, losing on one occasion 30,000 soldiers. In the end the two empires signed a peace treaty. The name Baghdad is Middle Persian and means "God-given”. The city was built as "Madinat as-Salaam” (or City of Peace) on the banks of the River Tigris by the Abbasid caliph Mansour Dawaniqi near Ctesiphon or Mada’en, the ancient pre-Islamic capital of the Iranian Parthian and Sassanid Empires, which along with their predecessor, the Achaemenid Empire, exercised control over Iraq for over a thousand years – except for a brief interlude when Alexander of Macedonia overran the Persian Empire. After the advent of Islam, Iranians, now devout Muslims, continued to dominate Iraqi affairs, playing a significant role in the uprising of Mukhtar ibn Abi Obaidah Thaqafi to avenge the martyrdom of Prophet Mohammad’s (SAWA) grandson, Imam Husain (AS). During Abbasid times, in addition to viziers and state officials, most of the Islamic scholars and scientists of Baghdad, were Iranians who wrote in Arabic and even perfected Arabic grammar. With the weakening of the Abbasids, Baghdad again became the seat of power of the Iranian Buwaihid dynasty, and in later centuries, despite Ottoman control, whenever a strong ruler emerged in Iran, such as Shah Abbas I or Nader Shah, Baghdad and most of Iraq reverted to Iranian control.
336 solar years ago, on this day in 1680 AD, Shivaji, the Maratha guerilla chieftain of the Bhosle clan who carved out a kingdom in western India, died at the age of 50. His father was Shahji, a general in the service of the Adel-Shahi and Nizam-Shahi Persianate dynasties of the Deccan, who was named "Shah” by his father Maloji in honour of the Muslim mystic "Shah Sharif” of Ahmadnagar, whose prayers had granted him two sons – the second was named Sharifji. Shivaji was not on good terms with his own father, and unlike him, rebelled against the Adel-Shahi sultanate of Bijapur, whose famous general of eastern Iranian origin, Afzal Khan, he deceitfully slew at Pratapgarh in 1659 during a supposedly unarmed meeting between the two sides for submission to the central authority and end of insurgency. An expert in guerilla warfare, Shivaji was invited to Agra by Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb and according to protocol, restrictions were placed on his movements from the mansion where he was lodged. On learning that Aurangzeb was planning to send him and his guerilla forces to the northwestern frontier for the campaign to retake Qandahar – in what is now Afghanistan – from the Safavid Empire of Iran, Shivaji became fearful and fled south without notice. Back in the Deccan, by 1674 he carved out an independent enclave from the declining sultanate of Bijapur and chose Raigarh as his capital, which was his base for raiding the territories of the Qutb-Shahis, the Adel-Shahis and the powerful Mughal Empire that brought retaliation from Aurangzeb. In the areas under his control, he replaced the Persian language with his mother-tongue Marathi for official use. In the next century, the Marathas expanded their power in the north as far as Delhi, Punjab and the borders of Kashmir, bringing them into direct confrontation with the Afghans. Their pillaging and looting had alienated the Sikhs, the Jats, and even fellow Hindu Rajputs, enabling Ahmad Shah Durrani to inflict a crushing defeat on them at the Battle of Panipat in 1761 from which the Marathas never recovered, and were gradually absorbed by the British.
126 solar years ago, on this day in the year 1890 AD, Chancellor, Otto von Bismarck, was dismissed by the German Emperor, Wilhelm II, following disputes between the two, despite his efforts to unite Germany as a nation state in 1871. After his dismissal he started writing his political testament, in which he highly criticized the German emperor. Bismarck died in 1898.
87 solar years ago, on this day in 1929 AD, Renowned Muslim architect, Fazl ur-Rahman Khan, who initiated important structural systems for skyscrapers and is considered the "father of tubular designs for high-rises”, was born in Dhaka in what is now the capital of Bangladesh. Khan, who died in 1982 at the age of 53, was also a pioneer in computer-aided design (CAD). He designer the 108-storey Willis Tower (formerly Sears Tower of Chicago), the second-tallest building in the United States (and tallest in the world for many years) and the 100-story John Hancock Center. He came to the US in the 1950s on scholarship from what was then the government of East Pakistan (currently Bangladesh) and became an American citizen in 1967. Khan helped usher in a renaissance in skyscraper construction during the second half of the 20th century. The Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat named their lifetime achievement medal after him. He was also responsible for designing notable buildings in Bangladesh, Australia and Saudi Arabia.
75 solar years ago, on this day in 1941 AD, during the struggles of the Iraqi people against the British regime and its puppet monarchy, Baghdad was taken over in a coup by two-times nationalist prime minister, Rashid Aali Gilani, who resented London’s plot to involve in the Second World War. The British forces brutally suppressed the uprising. Gilani, who came from a distinguished Sunni Muslim Iraqi family of Iranian origin, sought refuge in Iran. However, on 25 August 1941, the armed forces of Britain and the Soviet Union invaded Iran to remove Reza Khan Pahlavi from power and install on the Peacock Throne his 21-year old son, Mohammad Reza as the new puppet. Gilani, sensing danger, left for Berlin, where he was recognized as the leader of the Iraqi government in exile. Upon the defeat of Germany, he again fled and found refuge, this time in Saudi Arabia. Gilani only returned from exile after the revolution that overthrew the Iraqi monarchy in 1958. Once again he attempted to seize power, and plotted a revolt against Colonel Abdul Karim Qassem’s government. The revolt was foiled and he was sentenced to death. Later pardoned, he went into exile in Beirut, Lebanon, where he died in 1965.
18 solar years ago, on this day in 1998 AD, the acclaimed Iranian author and translator, Ahmad Aram, passed away at the age of 94. He studied medicine and conducted extensive researches in philosophy, history, Qur’anic sciences, and mathematics. Fluent in French, Arabic, and English, he spent a lifetime, writing, compiling and translating 140 books and 60 scientific articles. He was a permanent member of the Iran Cultural Centre
14 solar years ago, on this day in the year 2002, the Zionist army brutally attacked the city of Jenin as part of the campaign to terrorize Palestinians in the West Bank in a bid to end the Second Intefadha. Nearly 200 tanks, dozens of choppers, and 10,000 troops participated in the aggression, pounding Jenin continuously. Despite the power cut, severance of water supplies, and obstruction of relief aid, the Palestinian people and combatants resisted for nine days. Israel brutally suppressed and massacred hundreds of men, women and children; demolished their homes and hearths, hospitals, and the infrastructure; to the extent that 70% of the city was flattened and 5,000 Palestinians were made homeless.
(Courtesy: IRIB English Radio – http://parstoday.com/en)