Today is Saturday; 11th of the Iranian month of Dey 1395 solar hijri; corresponding to 1stof the Islamic month of Rabi as-Sani 1438 lunar hijri; and December 31, 2016, of the Christian Gregorian Calendar.
1321 solar years ago, on this day in 695 AD, Mohammad bin QasimThaqafi, the Arab governor of Iran, Multan and Sindh, on behalf of his tyrannical uncle, Hajjaj – original name Kulayb (whelp) –was born in obscurity. Among the reasons for his ruthless campaign to seize Sindh and try to push into India, was the refuge offered by the local rulers to Iranian and Arab Muslims, including the followers of the Prophet’s Ahl al-Bayt, fleeing the reign of terror of Hajjaj, on whose death, 50,000 men and women were found in the prisons. On the death of Hajjaj – the desecrator of the holy Ka’ba – his 20-year old nephew was recalled to Damascus, imprisoned, tortured and executed on the orders of the new Omayyad caliph, Sulaiman bin Abdul-Malik, who was a bitter enemy of the bloodthirsty Hajjaj.
791 solar years ago, on this day in 1225 AD, the L‎ dynasty of Vietnam ended after 216 years by the enthronement of the boy emperor Tr?nThلiTông, husband of the last L‎ monarch, L‎ChiêuHoàng, starting the Tr?n dynasty.
787 solar years ago, on this day in 1229 AD, the Spanish Muslim emirate of Majorca on the largest Mediterranean island of the same name in the Balearic Archipelago, was invaded and occupied by James I of Aragon, who changed the name of the capital from "Medina Mayurqa” to Palma, thus ending over five glorious centuries of Islamic culture and civilization. The first Muslims arrived on this island in 707, some four years before Spain was liberated by the Muslims. In 902, Issam al-Khawlani, in order to save the local people from the frequent raids of Vikings and other Christian marauders, liberated the whole Balearic Archipelago, ushering in a new period of prosperity under the Emirate of Cordoba. Agriculture and irrigation networks were developed and local industries set up by the Muslims. From 1087 to 1114 Majorca was ruled by the Taifa of Denia independently, and was able to ward off raids by Christian hordes from Europe including the Crusader marauders sailing towards Syria and Palestine to stir up sedition. It then came under the rule of the al-Morawwid Muslim dynasty of North Africa, and in 1176 was taken over by the al-Muwahhed dynasty until 1229, when the last emir of Majorca, Abu Yahya, was defeated by the Christian invaders, who forcibly Christianized the inhabitants after killing many of them. Minorca, (Manurqa in Arabic),  the other important island of the Balearic Archipelago, continued to be under Muslim control for another six decades, until it was also brutally invaded and occupied by the Christians of Aragon, who killed, Christianized and enslaved the Muslims.
563 lunar years ago, on this day in 875 AH, the Iranian poet, Mohammad ibn HossaamKhosefi, passed away. Born in the vicinity of the eastern Iranian city of Birjand, he led a simple life. His books include a Diwan of odes in praise of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA). His famous book is "Khavaran-Nameh” on the heroic feats of Imam Ali (AS), the Prophet’s 1st Infallible Heir.
524 solar years ago, on this day in 1492 AD, over a 100,000 Jews were expelled from Sicily by the Christian rulers because of their charging of high interest rates, usury, and above all the insulting of the fundamental beliefs of Christianity, such as the slandering of Prophet Jesus and his mother, the Virgin Mary (peace upon them).
502 solar years ago, on this day in 1514 AD, the Belgian physician and surgeon, Andreas Vesalius, was born in Brussels. He gained fame mainly for his efforts to identity the functions of different body limbs through autopsy. For this reason, he has been named as the father of science of anatomy. He died in 1564.
384 solar years ago, on this day in 1632 AD, the Safavid Emperor of Iran, Shah Abbas II, was born. He became king on 15 May 1642 on the death of his father Shah Safi. His rule was relatively peaceful and was free of any Ottoman attack. In 1648 he managed to retake Qandahar in what is now Afghanistan, and hold it against attacks by Mughal India. The early death of this capable ruler in 1666 at the age of 34 years was a great blow to Iran.
372 lunar years ago, on this day in 1066 AH, Mughal prince, Aurangzeb, in violation of a peace treaty, treacherously invaded the Qutb-Shahi kingdom of Iranian origin of the Deccan (southern India) and occupied Haiderabad, forcing Abdullah Qutb Shah to seek refuge in the impregnable fortress of Golkandah. Mughal Emperor Shahjahan intervened to end the siege and withdraw forces from Haiderabad by imposing heavy terms which included giving one of the daughters of Abdullah Qutb Shah in marriage to Aurangzeb’s son Sultan Muhammad, with territory and a crore of rupees as dowry. The Qutb-Shahis, who were strong allies of the Safavid Emperors of Iran, became virtual tributary of the Mughals. Prince Aurangzeb’s attack was in revenge for his repeated defeats at the hands of Iranians a few years earlier at Qandahar in what is now Afghanistan.
325 solar years ago, on this day in 1691 AD, the Irish physicist and chemist, Robert Boyle, passed away at the age of 64. He studied under his father, Richard Boyle, Earl of Cork, who was a famous English physicist, and soon honed his skills in physics. He is best known for Boyle's Law, which describes the inversely proportional relationship between the absolute pressure and volume of a gas, if the temperature is kept constant within a closed system.
159 solar years ago, on this day in 1857 AD, Queen Victoria of Britain chose Ottawa, then a small logging town, as the capital of Canada.
155 solar years ago, on this day in 1861 AD, 22,990 millimeters of rain fell in Cherrapunji, Assam in northeast India – a world record.
141 solar years ago, on this day in 1875 AD, the Danish orientalist, Arthur Christensen, was born in Copenhagen. During his years of study, he became interested in countries of the Orient, especially the history of Iran and conducted research on the history of Persian literature. He wrote his dissertation on the quatrains of the famous Iranian Islamic astronomer-mathematician, Omar Khayyam. He also wrote articles on Ferdowsi and other poets. Among his important books is the administration and social structure of Iran in the Sassanid era. He died in 1945.
16 lunar years ago, on this day 1322 AH, the Iranian religious scholar Mullah Ali bin FathollahNahavandi passed away in holy Najaf and was laid to rest in the sacred Wadi as-Salaam Cemetery. A student of the celebrated Ayatollah Shaikh Morteza Ansari, he authored the books "Tashrih al-Osoul as-Sagheer” and "Muqaddamat-al-Wajeb”.
102 solar years ago, on this day in 1914 AD, Iran, despite declaring its neutrality was invaded during the First World War by the Ottoman Empire, which occupied the northwestern border regions and marched up to Tabriz. Russia, which for over a century had been gradually encroaching upon Iranian territories, saw this as an opportunity to confront the Turks and occupy other parts of Iran, marching almost to the capital Tehran. The inefficient Qajarid dynasty was powerless to confront the aggressors and mobilize the masses for defence of the homeland. In 1917, the revolution in Russia that overthrew the Czar and abolished monarchial rule, led to the pullout of the Russian forces from Iranian provinces. The Ottoman defeat in World War 1 also saw the Turks retreat from northwestern Iran. The victory of the Allied Powers, however, made the old colonialist power, Britain, to continue its domination of Iran.
30 solar years ago, on this day in 1987 AD, the combatant scholar, Ayatollah Abdur-Rahman HaideriEilami, passed away at the age of 61. Born in Eilam, he completed his higher religious studies in the holy cities of Karbala, Samarra, and Najaf in Iraq, where he was a student of the Father of the Islamic Revolution, Imam Khomeini (God bless him). He returned to Iran in 1976 and mobilized the Muslim masses against the repressive policies of the British-installed and US-backed Pahlavi regime. After victory of the Islamic Revolution, he was elected as the representative of the people of Eilam in the Majlis as well as the Assembly of Experts. During the 8-year war imposed on Islamic Iran by Saddam of Baghdad’s repressive Ba’th minority regime, he organized resistance against the invaders.  
27 solar years ago, on this day in 1989 AD, amid the peak of religious-nationalist sentiments in the Soviet Union, the people of the Caucasus Republic of Azerbaijan staged an uprising for rejoining Iran. This region was an integral part of Iran since 500 BC until the Russians occupied it in the first half of the 19th century, along with other Iranian regions in the Caucasus, such as Daghestan, Chechen, Armenia, and the eastern parts of Georgia. The Azeri people, residing north of the Aras River continued to maintain their bonds with Iran’s history and culture. When the Red Army moved to suppress the uprising, many Azeri Muslims swam across the Aras River in freezing temperatures to come to the safety of Iran.
24 solar years ago, on this day in 1992 AD, Czechoslovakia was peacefully dissolved in what was dubbed by the media as the Velvet Divorce, resulting in the creation of the Czech Republic and Slovakia. For almost two centuries a battleground between the Hapsburgs and the Ottoman Turks, who ruled Slovakia, in October 1918 after World War 1, Czechoslovakia was created from the ruins of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. From 1939 to 1945, it was incorporated into Nazi Germany and seized to exist de facto. Revived after World War 2, it came under Moscow’s influence and existed as a Soviet satellite state until the end of communist rule in 1989.
19 solar years ago, on this day in 1997 AD, Saddam of the tyrannical Ba’th minority regime of Baghdad, ordered a fresh summary execution of several thousand political detainees that lasted several weeks. During his 24-year rule as president which ended with the US invasion and occupation of Iraq in 2003, the heartless Saddam massacred several million Iraqis, mostly members of the country’s Shi’ite Arab majority.  
17 solar years ago, on this day in 1999 AD, Russian president, Boris Yeltsin, resigned and was succeeded by Vladimir Putin. Earlier in the decade, Yeltsin had replaced President Mikhail Gorbachev, the last president of the Soviet Union, which disintegrated in June 1991, resulting in the emergence of the Russian Federation. Yeltsin was deceived by the empty promises of the West, especially the US, which did not rescue Russia from the economic crisis. He also suffered a disastrous military defeat when his forces attacked the autonomous Chechen Muslim Republic, which was finally reoccupied by Moscow in 1994.   
5 solar years ago, on this day in 2012 AD, Iranian scientists successfully tested the first nuclear fuel rod produced from uranium ore deposits inside the country for use in the Islamic Republic’s wholly peaceful nuclear programme.
5 solar years ago, on this day in 2011 AD, the repressive Aal-e Khalifa minority regime of the Persian Gulf island state of Bahrain, mercilessly martyred 15-year old Seyyed Hashem Sa’eed by firing at his chest, at close range, a tear gas canister. The birthrights of the vast majority of people of Bahrain are being denied by the Aal-e Khalifa regime, with the support of the US and Saudi Arabia, whose occupation forces periodically desecrate religious places.  
(Courtesy: IRIB English Radio – http://parstoday.com/en)