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News ID: 86068
Publish Date : 30 December 2020 - 21:11

This Day in History (December 31)



Today is Thursday; 11th of the Iranian month of Dey 1399 solar hijri; corresponding to 16th of the Islamic month of Jamadi al-Awwal 1442 lunar hijri; and December 31, 2020, of the Christian Gregorian Calendar.
1325 solar years ago, on this day in 695 AD, Mohammad bin Qasim, 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 followers of Prophet Mohammad’s (SAWA) Ahl al-Bayt, fleeing the reign of terror of Hajjaj – the desecrator of the holy Ka’ba – on whose death, 50,000 men and women were found in dungeons. On Hajjaj’s death his 20-year old nephew was summoned to Damascus from Sindh, imprisoned, tortured and executed on the orders of the new Omayyad caliph, Sulaiman bin Abdul-Malik, who was a bitter enemy of the bloodthirsty family.
1104 lunar years ago, on this day in 338 AH Ali ibn Buyeh Daylami, titled Emad ad-Dowlah, the founder of the Buwaiyhid dynasty of Iran-Iraq-Oman, died. He first entered the services of the Iranian Samanid dynasty of Bukhara in Central Asia under Nasr II, and later joined Maakaan, who ruled Gorgan and Rayy as a governor of the Samanids. He managed to occupy a high position and gained army commissions for his two younger brothers, Hassan and Ahmad. When Maakaan rebelled against the Samanids by seizing Khorasan, and was attacked by Mardavij the Ziyarid prince, Ali, along with his brothers, switched sides. Soon Ali was granted administrative rule over Karaj (near modern Tehran). When warned of Mardavij’s plan to eliminate him, Ali with a small number of Daylamite troops decided to expand his position. Moving against the heretical Khurramites, who controlled the surrounding mountains, he gained control of the region, and in order to further secure his position, he decided to take control of Isfahan, which was then under control of the Abbasid governor Yaqut. Mardavij’s appearance, however, forced him to abandon Isfahan. Ali now took Arrajan, between Fars and Khuzestan, and after a series of battles, entered Shiraz. Mardavij continued to pose a threat but before he could invade Khuzestan, he was assassinated. Bolstered by many of Mardavij’s Turkish mercenaries that had joined him, as well as the collapse of Ziyarid control over central Iran, Ali decided that Isfahan should be taken and sent his brother Hassan to accomplish this. After Hassan took Isfahan, Ali sent his other brother Ahmad to take Kerman. Ali next sent Ahmad to Khuzestan, from where he entered Iraq, and finally Baghdad. The Abbasid caliph conferred upon him the title of Mo’iz ad-Dowla, while Ali and Hassan were given the titles of Emad ad-Dowla and Rokn ad-Dowla, respectively. The Buwaiyhid dynasty ruled Iran, Iraq and Oman for 110 years, and were patrons of learning and literature, both Arabic and Persian. They encouraged the development of science and technology, and built many architectural monuments, including hospitals, bridges, dams, mosques, and the holy shrines of the Infallible Imams and Imamzadehs.
795 solar years ago, on this day in 1225 AD, the Lý dynasty of Vietnam ended after 216 years by the enthronement of the boy emperor Trần Thái Tông, husband of the last Lý monarch, Lý Chiêu Hoàng, starting the Trần dynasty.
791 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.
782 lunar years ago, on this day in 660 AH, famous scholar, Izz od-Din Abdul-Aziz Ibn Abdus-Salaam, passed away in Cairo at the age of 83, spending his last 21 years in Egypt.
528 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).
506 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 identify 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.
329 solar years ago, on this day in 1691 AD, the Irish physicist and chemist, Robert Boyle, passed away at the age of 64.
163 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.
159 solar years ago, on this day in 1861 AD, 22,990 millimeters of rain fell in Cherrapunji, Assam in northeast India – a world record.
145 solar years ago, on this day in 1875 AD, the Danish orientalist, Arthur Christensen, was born in Copenhagen.
106 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.  
34 solar years ago, on this day in 1987 AD, the combatant scholar, Ayatollah Abdur-Rahman Haideri Eilami, passed away at the age of 61.
31 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.
28 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.
23 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.  
21 solar years ago, on this day in 1999 AD, Russian president, Boris Yeltsin, resigned and was succeeded by Vladimir Putin.
9 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.