Today is Monday; 30th of the Iranian month of Mehr 1397 solar hijri; corresponding to 12th of the Islamic month of Safar 1440 lunar hijri; and October 22, 2018, of the Christian Gregorian Calendar.
Over three millennia ago, Prophet Aaron (Haroun), the elder brother of Prophet Moses (AS), passed away while on a visit to Mount Hor or what is now Jabal Haroun in Petra, Jordan, and was laid to rest on the same spot, where a shrine stands today. God has mentioned Aaron several times in the holy Qur’an as the trustworthy aide of Prophet Moses, who, as is evident in ayahs 29 to 36 of Surah Ta Ha, requests the Almighty Creator to appoint Aaron as his Assistant, a request that is granted, and the two proceed towards Egypt to invite the Pharaoh to monotheism. It is interesting to note that a Prophet of God can neither leave to his followers the choice of a vicegerent to him, nor can personally appoint anyone as "wasi” (testamentary legatee) or "khalifa” (caliph/successor), without divine consent. Since the Prophet is the emissary of God, his vicegerent or successor should also be appointed by God, as is proven by ayah 36 of Surah Ta Ha, and as was the divine commandment to Prophet Muhammad (SAWA) at Ghadir-Khom in 10 AH while returning from the Farewell Hajj pilgrimage to proclaim his cousin Imam Ali ibn Abi Taleb (AS) as vicegerent and caliph before a huge gathering of 120,000 Muslim pilgrims. That is the reason Prophet Muhammad (SAWA), as quoted by all denominations of Islam, remarked to Imam Ali (AS): "Your position to me is that of Aaron to Moses”.
1402 lunar years ago, on this day in 38 AH, arbitration was forced upon the Commander of the Faithful, Imam Ali ibn Abi Taleb (AS), during the War of Siffin against the heretical rebel, Mu’awiyya ibn Abu Sufyan, near Raqqa in Syria by a group of hypocrites, deceived at the raising of supposedly copies of the Holy Qur’an on spear-points and pleas for peace by crafty Omayyad commander, Amr ibn Aas, at a time when victory was only a matter of moments. This group of hypocrites who later became notorious as "khwarej” or renegades from Islam for their sedition in starting armed insurrection against the Imam by rejecting the result of their own imposed arbitration, were later wiped out in the Battle of Nahrawan.
1338 lunar years ago, on this day in 102 AH, Yazid Ibn Muhallab Ibn Abu Suffra Zalim ibn Suraaq al-Azdi, the powerful former governor of Khorasan, was killed in battle in Iraq with the forces of Yazid Ibn Abdul-Malik Ibn Marwan, the 9th ruler of the usurper Omayyad regime. The Omayyads chased, captured and killed all grown-up male members of the Muhallab clan. Of Omani origin, Yazid Ibn Muhallab’s father, Muhallab, despite being the son of Abu Suffra, one of the staunch followers of Prophet Mohammad’s (SAWA) First Infallible Successor, Imam Ali (AS), had sided with the Omayyad usurper Mu’awiyya Ibn Abu Sufyan, who sent him to Khorasan, where he ravaged the lands between Kabul and Multan. After Mu’awiyya, Muhallab stayed away from the movement of the Prophet’s grandson, Imam Husain (AS), left the Omayyads to side with Abdullah Ibn Zubayr against Mukhtar Thaqafi (Avenger of the blood of the Martyrs of Karbala) and then rejoined the Omayyads when Abdul-Malik Ibn Marwan’s tyrannical governor, Hajjaj Thaqafi, eliminated Ibn Zubayr. Muhallab was awarded with the governorship of Khorasan, and was succeeded by his son, Yazid Ibn Muhallab, who was later dismissed, imprisoned and tortured by Hajjaj. He escaped from prison, fled to Palestine, and after Hajjaj’s death was made governor of Iraq and subsequently of Khorasan, before being dismissed by the new caliph, Yazid Ibn Abdul-Malik, and meeting death in combat when he revolted in Basra. Such was the fate of those who desert the Prophet’s Ahl al-Bayt for worldly riches.
1277 solar years ago, on this day in 741 AD, Charles Martel, the Frankish statesman and military leader who, as Duke of the Franks, was de facto ruler of Francia, died after 23 years in power. An illegitimate son of the German chief, Pepin, he was notorious for his barbaric nature as marauder of the frontiers of the Roman Empire. He took advantage of the infighting amongst the Muslims to lead the Christians to victory in the Battle of Tours, near Poitiers in France, southwest of Paris, where in 732 the Omayyad forces were defeated and their commander, Abdur-Rahman al-Ghafiqi, killed. In 737, he again crushed an Omayyad army at Arles in southern France. He then took the city by a direct and brutal frontal attack, and burned it to the ground. He then moved swiftly and defeated a mighty host outside of Narbonnea at the River Berre, but failed to take the city. Many historians, including Edward Creasy, believe that had Martel failed at Tours, the Muslims would probably have overrun Gaul, and perhaps the remainder of Western Europe. The British historian, Edward Gibbon believed that the Muslim armies would have conquered up to the River Rhine, and even England, had Martel not prevailed.
1112 solar years ago, on this day in 906 AD, Ahmad ibn Kayghalagh, a Turkic general of the Abbasid regime, joined by the governor of Tarsus, the Iranian Rustam ibn Baradu al-Farghani, led a deep raid into the Byzantine Empire, defeating Eastern Roman armies as far as Halys River (Qizilirmak in what is now Turkey), and seizing large booty, including some 5,000 prisoners. Some of the local Greek commanders surrendered to the Muslims and embraced Islam. Rustam al-Farghani on several occasions supervised the exchange of prisoners with the Byzantines. Ahmad ibn Kayghalagh, who was appointed governor of Syria and of Egypt, on being deposed and defeated by the Abbasid regime in 935, defected to the rising empire of the Fatemid Shi’a Ismaili Muslim Dynasty of North Africa and Sicily that would soon conquer Egypt, Syria and Hijaz.  
662 lunar years ago, on this day in 778 AH, the acclaimed Iranian poet, Khwajah Jamal od-Din Salman Saveji, was born in Saveh, southwest of modern Tehran. His father was a patron of literature and had an administrative job at the Mongol Ilkhanid court. He became an accomplished scholar and earned reputation as a prominent poet. He has composed poems in different styles. His poetical talents were such that the renowned Persian Poet, Hafez, has praised his poetry. A glance at Salman’s poetry makes one realize that he also had mystic tendencies. His Divan includes religious poems in praise of Almighty God and Prophet Mohammad (SAWA).
524 solar years ago, on this day in 1494 AD, the second expedition of the Italian sailor, Christopher Columbus, started from Spain with the assistance of Spanish Muslims, who very well knew the sea routes of the Atlantic Ocean including what the Europeans later called the American continent. Columbus landed on the Antilles islands in the Caribbean Sea. Two years earlier in 1492, he had made his first expedition to this new world, which he thought was India, and hence the Spanish called the indigenous American people, Red Indians.
384 solar years ago, on this day in 1634 AD, in the Battle of Southern Fujian Sea, the Ming dynasty of China defeated the Dutch East India Company.
381 lunar years ago, on this day in 1059 AH, Iran’s Safavid Empire retook the strategic border city of Qandahar in what is now Afghanistan from Daulat Khan the governor of the Moghal Empire of the subcontinent. Qandahar was bone of contention between the two otherwise friendly empires, and was mostly under Iranian rule.
311 solar years ago, on this day in 1707 AD, the Scilly naval disaster occurred as four warships of a British fleet sank near the Isles of Scilly off the southwestern tip of the Cornish peninsula of Britain, in severe weather, resulting in the death of 1,550 sailors, along with Admiral Cloudesley Shovell. It was one of the worst maritime disasters, as a result of the navigators' miscalculation.
228 solar years ago, on this day in 1790 AD, Warriors of the Miami tribe under Chief Little Turtle defeated US troops under General Josiah Harmar at the site of present-day Fort Wayne, Indiana, in the Northwest Indian War. The next year, the Amerindians again defeated a US army at St. Clair, killing about 1,000 soldiers. After St. Clair's disaster, President George Washington ordered General "Mad" Anthony Wayne to attack the natives, and in 1794 at the Battle of Fallen Timbers, he brutally massacred a large number of natives and forced the tribal leaders to cede extensive territory, including much of present-day Ohio, as per the Treaty of Greenville in 1795. The US has since unleashed genocide to eliminate the race and culture of the native Amerindian people.
122 solar years ago, on this day in 1896 AD, American biochemist, Charles Glen King, who discovered vitamin C, was born. After five years of painstaking research extracting components from lemon juice, in 1932, he isolated vitamin C. Its structure was quickly determined and it was synthesized by scientists such as Haworth and Reichstein in 1933. Also known as ascorbic acid, (a- = not, without; scorbus = scurvy), vitamin C is a colourless crystalline water-soluble vitamin found especially in citrus fruits and green vegetables. Most organisms synthesize it from glucose but man and other primates and various other species must obtain it from their diet. It is required for the maintenance of healthy connective tissue; deficiency leads to scurvy. Vitamin C is readily destroyed by heat and light.
107 solar years ago, on this day in 191l AD, in a blatant act of violation of Iran’s sovereignty, the British set up a joint force of English and Indian troops to police the southern parts of Iran and provide to security to colonial trade, at the expense of the weak Qajarid government of Iran, which had already succumbed to the pressure of Tsarist Russia to set up a similar force of Qazzaqs in the northern parts. Even the parliament voted against the British measures, it was powerless in the face of the domineering colonialist powers.  
107 solar years ago, on this day in 1911 AD, the prominent scholar, Ayatollah Mullah Ali Zanjani passed away. A student of Shaikh Mohammad Taqi (author of "Hidayat-ol-Mustarshidin”), and contemporary of the celebrated Ayatollah Shaikh Morteza Ansari Dezfuli, he in turn groomed outstanding ulema such as Mirza Habibollah Rashti. He strove to solve the problems of people and was a prolific author as well. Among his books, mention could be made of an exegesis of the holy Qur’an, and "Jawame’ al-Usoul”.
66 solar years ago, on this day in 1952 AD, Iranian foreign minister, Dr. Hussein Fatemi, announced severance of political ties with Britain. This decision was made by Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddeq after a vote from the parliament. Dr Fatemi summoned the British Charge D' Affaires and pointed out that the reason behind the severance of ties with Britain has been the indifference of the British regime toward the Iranian nation's demands for fulfillment of the people's rights in relation to nationalization of Iran's oil industry.
100 solar years ago, on this day in 1918 AD, the last phase of World War I started with the attacks of the allied forces in northwestern Europe. The German forces initially strongly resisted the offensive, but the Allied forces eventually prevailed, thus ending World War I in November 1918 after four years of war.
62 solar years ago, on this day in 1956 AD, the premiers of France, Britain, and the Zionist regime of Israel, in a meeting behind closed doors in France, hatched the plot to attack Egypt. After the Egyptian President, Jamal Abdun-Nasser, announced the nationalization of Suez Canal in the year 1956, France and Britain were intent on occupying this Canal due to losing their illegitimate interests in the region. Moreover, the illegal Zionist entity called Israel, which considered Egypt as its main enemy, intended to use this opportunity to deal a major blow against this leading Arab country. A week after the secret meeting of French, British, and Israeli regime premiers, the armies of these states attacked Egypt. But, during this offensive, the invaders failed to reach their goals.
43 solar years ago, on this day in 1975 AD, British historian, Arnold Toynbee, died at the age of 86. His 12-volume analysis of the rise and fall of civilizations, titled "A Study of History”, took 27 years to complete, and is a synthesis of world history, based on universal rhythms of rise, flowering and decline, which examined history from a global perspective. After initially supporting the Zionist movement at the turn of the 20th century, he gradually changed his outlook and by 1950, two years after the illegitimate birth of Israel, was a strong opponent of the Zionist entity, and supported the Arab cause.
39 solar years ago, on this day in 1979 AD, the US regime, despite warnings from the provisional revolutionary government of Iran, allowed the deposed Shah to come to New York – on the excuse of medical treatment – a provocative move by the Americans that led revolutionary students to take over the US embassy in Tehran, which was violating diplomatic norm by serving as an espionage den for Washington in the region.
(Courtesy: IRIB English Radio – http://parstoday.com/en)