This Day in History

(June 2)

Date: 01 June 2015 - 21:51

News ID: ۱۴۵۵۷

Today is Tuesday; 12th of the Iranian month of Khordad 1394 solar hijri; corresponding to 14th of the Islamic month of Sha’ban 1436 lunar hijri; and June 2, 2015, of the Christian Gregorian Calendar.
1560 solar years ago, on this day in 455 AD, the Vandals led by King Genseric entered Rome and for two weeks plundered the capital of the Western Roman Empire, following the killing of Emperor Valentinian III and the forced marriage of his daughter Eudocia to Palladius, son of the new Emperor Petronius Maximus in violation of the treaty between the two sides. Eudocia was betrothed to Genseric’s son, Huneric, and thus her marriage was an affront to the ambitions of the Vandal king who set sail from North Africa to attack Italy. Despite the pleas of Pope Leo I to spare the city, Genseric looted great amounts of treasure, damaging objects of cultural significance such as the Temple of Jupiter Optimus by stripping away the gilt bronze roof tiles – hence the modern term vandalism. The usurper Petronius Maximus fled rather than face the Vandals, but was caught and killed by the Roman citizens along with his son Palladius. The Vandals departed with many shiploads of captives from Rome and sold them into slavery.
1124 solar years ago, on this day in 891 AD, Talha ibn Ja’far Muwaffaq-Billah, the regent who in alliance with the powerful Turkic Guard was the virtual ruler of the usurper Abbasid Caliphate for most of the reign of his brother, Mu’tamid, the 15th self-styled caliph, died in Baghdad. In 861, he was present at the murder of his father, the tyrant Mutawakkil in Samarra by the Turkic guards. According to the historian Tabari he had been drinking with his father that night, and came upon the assassins while going to the toilet. It is not known whether he was an accomplice in his father’s murder with his elder brother, Muntasir, who immediately declared himself the caliph. At the time his cousin, Muhtadi, the 14th self-styled Abbasid caliph was killed by the Turks in June 870, he was in Mecca and immediately hastened to Samarra, where he and his Turkic associate Musa ibn Bugha effectively sidelined the new caliph, Mu’tamid to assume control of the government. Within a short time, he was conferred an extensive governorate covering most of the lands still under caliphal authority: western Arabia, southern Iraq with Baghdad, and Fars in central Iran. His successful defence of Iraq against the Saffarids of Iran and the suppression of the Zanj Rebellion of the black people made him more powerful. A year after Muwaffaq’s death Mu’tamid died, and the caliphate was seized by his son, Ahmad ibn Talha with the title Mu’tadid-Billah, by sidelining the dead caliph’s son and heir apparent, Mufawwad.
1005 solar years ago, on this day in 1010 AD, the Battle of Aqbat al-Bakr took place around Espiel in Islamic Spain, resulting in a defeat for the Caliphate of Cordoba by a joint army of Muslim and Christian mercenaries. The forces of Cordoba were commanded by the self-styled Omayyad caliph, Sulayman ibn al-Hakam, and the Muslim rebel forces of the Andalusian-Castilian Alliance trying to overthrow him were under the command of Mohammad ibn Hisham, and Christian warlords including Ermengol I, Hugh I, and Ramon Borrell. Although the caliphate of Cordoba survived for another two decades before it disintegrated in 1031 into several Muslim Taifas (or principalities), the Christians became emboldened by their unholy alliance with Muslims that four centuries later would result in the end of Muslim rule in Spain and Portugal.
917 solar years ago, on this day in 1098 AD, the 8-month siege of the Syrian Muslim city of Antioch (currently in Turkey) ended as the Crusaders from Europe occupied it, but failed to take the citadel. The invading force was made up of Christian knights and experienced warriors under the joint command of Godfrey of Bouillon, Bohemund of Taranto, and Raymond IV of Toulous. This expedition was organized by Pope Urban II in response to an appeal from Byzantine Emperor Alexios I Komnenos, who requested that west European Christians come to his aid to fight the Seljuq Sultanate of Asia Minor. The organized force caught the Muslims by surprise, because of over-confidence of the Turkish defenders, who viewed this batch of experienced warriors as another of the Peasants’ Army that was defeated a year earlier. In brief, the Crusader invaders marched south along the coast, occupying several cities, and in 1099 seized the holy city of Bayt al-Moqaddas from the Ismaili Shi’ite Fatemid Dynasty of Egypt-North Africa, massacring 70,000 Muslim men, women and children, including local Christians and Jews.
797 lunar years ago, on this day in 639 AH, the Shafe'i theologian and scientist, Kamal od-Din Ibn Younus, passed away in his hometown Mosul. A product of the famous Nizamiyya Academy of Baghdad founded by the Iranian vizier of the Seljuqid Dynasty, Nizam ol-Molk Tusi, he had studied mathematics and geometry under the Iranian scientist, Sharaf od-Din Tusi. He was also an astronomer and physician, and among his books is "al-Asrar as-Sultaniyyah” on astronomy.
594 lunar years ago, on this day in 842 AH, the North African Maliki jurisprudent and literary figure, Mohammad ibn Ahmad Ibn Marzouq al-Hafeed, passed away. After performing the Hajj, he travelled over most of North Africa, Egypt, Syria and Constantinople. He was a member of Ibn Marzouq Family of Tilmisan that produced theologians, literary figures. He has left behind several books, including a book in verse on the science of hadith, titled "al-Hadiqah”.
222 solar years ago, on this day in 1793 AD, Maximillian Robespierre, a member of France’s Committee on Public Safety, initiated the "Reign of Terror”, a purge of those suspected of treason against the French Republic. Months of the Great Terror, followed the Revolution in France as thousands died beneath the guillotine.
190 lunar years ago, on this day in 1246, the famous Arabic poet, Seyyed Haidar ibn Seyyed Sulaiman al-Hilli, was born in Iraq. He was a master of elegies on the tragic martyrdom of Imam Husain (AS), the younger grandson and 3rd Infallible Heir of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA).
151 solar years ago, on this day in 1864 AD, the series of battles and wars in the northwestern Caucasus, starting with the Russian encroachment on the Persian Empire, and known as the Russian- Circassian War, ended after approximately 101 years with the signing of loyalty oaths to the rule of the Tsars by the subdued Circassian Muslim leaders. Started in 1763 with Catherine the Great’s attack on the Persian Empire, since the northwestern Caucasus was part of Greater Iran, the seesaw struggle saw Russia steadily advance into the Caucasus by setting up forts as springboards for further conquests, as Iran gradually retreated, leaving the area to the local Circassians to defend themselves from 1817 onwards. The long war claimed the life of over a million Muslims, while, of the 500,000 Circassians deported by Russia in the 1860s, a large fraction of them died in transit from disease. Some of the Circassians settled in Iran. Following the end of the 101-year war, many of the Circassians migrated to Anatolia, ending up in what are now modern Turkey, Syria, Jordan, Israel, Iraq and Kosovo.
135 lunar years ago, on this day in 1301 AH, the Iranian author and poet, Mirza Morteza Khan, who wrote under the penname "Farhang”, was born in Tehran. As a teenager he joined the freedom fighters during the Constitutional Movement, and started work as a journalist. As part of his political activities, he published three papers, namely "Farhang”, "Khavarestan”, and "Pa-e Takht”. For a period he was in Istanbul, the capital of the Ottoman Empire, and lived for some years in Austria, France and Switzerland, promoting Islamic sciences and teachings.
133 solar years ago, on this day in 1882 AD, Italian adventurer, Giuseppe Garibaldi, who unified Italy as one single kingdom under King Emmanuel II of Sardinia, died at the age of 75. In 1860, he had set sail from Genoa to conquer the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies – Kingdom of Sicily and Kingdom of Naples – that had been set up 1816. Earlier he was involved in military enterprises in Brazil, Uruguay and some parts of Europe, and had served as General of the Roman Republic in 1849. He is considered one of the three "Fathers of the Fatherland”, along with Count Camillo Cavour, King Victor Emmanuel II for unifying Italy.
91 solar years ago, on this day in 1924 AD, after centuries of oppression, displacement, torture and genocide by the white Anglo-Saxon occupiers from Europe, the original native people of what is called the United States of America were granted citizenship in their own occupied ancestral lands, with the signing of the so-called Indian Citizenship Act by President Calvin Coolidge. The Amerindians are still discriminated in the US and Canada.
69 solar years ago, on this day in 1946 AD, following a referendum, Italy became a republic – a day celebrated since as Republic Day. This was also the first time that Italian women were entitled to vote.[ Victor Emmanuel III's son, Umberto II, was forced to abdicate and exiled.
46 solar years ago, on this day in 1969 AD, the Source of Emulation, Grand Ayatollah Seyyed Mohsen al-Hakeem, passed away in holy Najaf, Iraq, at the age of 84. After attaining the status of Ijtehad he lectured at the Najaf seminary and guided the people amid different political and social upheavals in Iraq and abroad. Following the six-day Zionist war against four Arab countries and occupation of large chunks of their soil, he sent a telegram to heads of Muslim states, calling on them to set aside differences and think of the interests of the Ummah. He has left behind numerous compilations, including "Haqayeq al-Osoul”, and "Nahj ul-Fuqaha.”
19 solar years ago, on this day in 1996 AD, a list of countries that are considered the most corrupt by international business people had the following top ten: Nigeria, Pakistan, Kenya, Bangladesh, China, Cameroon, Venezuela, Russia, India and Indonesia.
15 solar years ago, on this day in the year 2000 AD, the combatant scholar Hojjat al-Islam Seyyed Ali Akbar Abu Torabi, lost his life in a car accident along with his father, Ayatollah Seyyed Abbas Abu Torabi, at the age of 61. Born in holy Qom he studied under prominent ulema, inlcuding the Father of the Islamic Revolution, Imam Khomeini (RA). Beginning from 1963 and the Khordad 15 Uprising, he was arrested and tortured by the Shah’s regime on several occasions. In September 1980, a year-and-a-half after victory of the Islamic Revolution, when the US imposed the 8-year war on Iran through its agent, Saddam, he rushed to the battlefronts, and towards the end of the year was taken captive by the B’athist troops, who tortured him for ten years in prison camps, but failed to break his steadfastness. In 1990, he was freed along with other Iranian captives and was appointed by the Leader of Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, as representative for POW affairs. Twice he was elected as lawmaker.
(Courtesy: IRIB English Radio – http://english.irib.ir)