This Day in History

(June 25)

Date: 24 June 2015 - 21:33

News ID: ۱۵۳۷۵

Today is Thursday; 4th of the Iranian month of Tir 1394 solar hijri; corresponding to 8th of the Islamic month of Ramadhan 1436 lunar hijri; and June 25, 2015, of the Christian Gregorian Calendar.
1005 lunar years ago, on this day in 431 AH, Mohammad Ibn Mikaeel Ibn Seljuq, known as Toghril Beg, won the Battle of Dandanaqan, and seized Khorasan from the Ghaznavid Empire, thereby heralding the rise of the Seljuq Turks of Central Asia as a new power in Iran, and eventually Anatolia (Turkey), Syria, Iraq, and the Persian Gulf coastline of the Arabian Peninsula. Highly Persianized in culture and language, the Seljuqs who ruled for over a century-and-a-half, played an important role in the development of the Turko-Persian tradition, even exporting Persian culture to Anatolia.
981 lunar years ago, on this day in 455 AH, the Seljuqid ruler, Mohammad ibn Mikaeel ibn Seljuq, popularly known as Toghril Beg, died in Rayy, south of Tehran, where his grave in a conical mausoleum still stands. He established the vast Seljuqid Empire, by occupying Baghdad on the secret invitation of the scheming Abbasid caliph, al-Qa’em-Billah, to end the 110-year rule of the Iranian Buwaihid Dynasty of Iraq-Iran, after conquering territories in northwestern Iran and Anatolia (modern Turkey). To legitimize his rule and expand his empire, he forced the figurehead Abbasid caliph to give him his daughter in marriage, and to sign decrees for wars against the Byzantine Christian Empire in Anatolia and the Syrian territories of the Fatemid Ismaili Shi’ite Muslim caliphate of Egypt-North Africa. Born in Central Asia in what is now Kazakhstan to the chief of the Oghuz, he strove to unite the Turkic tribes of the vast Eurasian Steppes into a confederacy. Along with his elder brother, Chaghri Beg, he rose to prominence in the service of the Khaqan of the Qara-Khanid Dynasty of Bukhara that had displaced the Iranian Samanid Dynasty in Central Asia. He turned against the Qara-Khanids and in 1040 defeated the Ghaznavids of Khorasan-Afghanistan at the Battle of Dandanqanan. His hordes gradually swept across the Iranian Plateau before marching into Anatolia and Iraq. In 1058, he lost Baghdad to the Fatemids but recaptured it two years later. On his death in Rayy at the age of 73 the childless Toghril was succeeded after a brief struggle between the two sons of his deceased brother, Chaghri, by his surviving nephew Alp Arsalan – perhaps the greatest ruler of the Seljuq Dynasty. The Seljuqs who ruled for over a century-and-a-half, became Persianized and played a vital role in the development and spread of the Persian language and culture in Anatolia, where a branch of them ruled until 1307 as the Seljuq Sultanate of Roum
761 lunar years ago, on this day in 675 AH, Najm od-Din Ali Dabiraan Qazvini al-Katebi, the prominent Iranian astronomer, philosopher, logician, theologian and chemist, passed away. He was part of the scientific team assembled by his teacher, Iranian-Islamic genius Khwaja Nasir od-Din Tousi, at the famous observatory of Maragha, and wrote numerous books on various topics, including "Jame’ ad-Daqa’eq”. His work on logic, titled "ar-Risala ash-Shamsiyya”, was commonly used as the first major text on logic in madrasahs, until the twentieth century and is perhaps the most studied logic textbook of all time. His logic was largely inspired by the formal Avicennian system of temporal modal logic of the famous Iranian-Islamic polymath Abu Ali Ibn Sina, but is more elaborate and departs from it in several ways. While Ibn Sina considered ten modalities and examined six of them, Katebi considers many more modalized propositions and examines thirteen which he considers 'customary to investigate'.  Great scholars such as Allamah Hilli and Qotb od- Din Mahmoud Shirazi studied in his presence .
193 solar years ago, on this day in 1822 AD, a group of black people in the US whose ancestors were kidnapped by Europeans from Africa and sold as slaves in the America, returned to Africa and settled down in the land which is today known as Liberia today. This country was initially administered like one of the US states, but in 1847, it became a republic and its first president was Joseph Roberts, who had been enslaved in the State of Virginia.
115 solar years ago, on this day in 1900 AD, the Taoist monk Wang Yuanlu discovered the Dunhuang Manuscripts, a cache of ancient texts that are of great historical and religious significance, in the Mogao Caves of Dunhuang, China. Dating from the 5th to early 11th centuries, the manuscripts include works ranging from history and mathematics to folk songs and dance. Most of the religious manuscripts are Buddhist, but other religions including Daoism, Nestorian Christianity and Iranian Manichaeism are also represented. The majority of the manuscripts are in the Chinese and Tibetan languages. Other languages represented are Khotanese, Sanskrit, Sogdian, Tangut, Old Uyghur language, and Hebrew. The manuscripts are a major resource for academic studies in a wide variety of fields including history, religious studies, linguistics, and manuscript studies.
112 solar years ago, on this day in 1903 AD, George Orwell, British novelist, essayist and critic, was born in India as Eric Arthur Blair. He took his pen name in 1932. His books included "Animal Farm" (1945) and "1984" (1949), which attacked totalitarianism. He died in 1950.
65 solar years ago, on this day in 1950 AD, in the wake of wide-scale provocations by the US, North Korea had no choice but to swiftly advance into the south. A UN resolution, however, not only halted the offensive but provided the US to invade North Korea. The timely entry of the Chinese army led to the retreat of US forces and liberation of North Korea.
52 solar years ago, on this day in 1963 AD, the Father of the Islamic Revolution, Imam Khomeini (God bless his soul), was transferred from holy Qom to the Eshratabad military barracks in Tehran by the notorious intelligence outfit, SAVAK, following the historic mass uprising of 15th Khordad (June 5). Forty days later, the Pahlavi regime exiled him to Turkey, from where a year later he moved to Iraq and took up residence in Najaf near the holy shrine of the Commander of the Faithful, Imam Ali ibn Abi Taleb (AS), before returning to Iran in February 1979 to lead the Islamic Revolution to victory that ended 2,500 years of monarchy.
40 solar years ago, on this day in 1975 AD, Mozambique in southeast Africa became independent from Portuguese rule, after offering tens of thousands of martyrs. Mozambique lies on the Indian Ocean coast of Africa, and shares borders with Tanzania, Malavi, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and South Africa. Muslims account for over 20 percent of the population of Mozambique, which is actually is a Portuguese corruption of the name of the chief Arab trader of the land, Mosa al-Bique.
27 solar years ago, on this day in 1988 AD, Saddam of the repressive Ba'th minority regime of Iraq, with US support, ordered chemical bombardment of Iranian combatants stationed in Majnoun Islands during the 8-year imposed war. In these barbaric air raids, hundreds of Iranian combatants were martyred or wounded. The world turned a blind eye to the use of internationally banned chemical weapons against Iran by Saddam, who parallel with the victories of Iranian combatants intensified usage of chemical weapons. The Ba'thist army used chemical weapons against Iran at least on 200 different occasions during the 8-year war, wounding and martyring nearly 30,000 Iranian soldiers and civilians.
24 solar years ago, on this day in 1991 AD, Croatia and Slovenia became independent from the Federation of Yugoslavia, or more properly from the Serbs. Croatia and Slovenia are located in the Balkan region, which for several centuries was ruled by the Ottoman Turks. Still a sizeable Muslim minority exists in both the countries.
2 solar years ago, on this day in 2013 AD, Hamad bin Khalifa Aal-e Thani of the Persian Gulf Sheikhdom of Qatar, formally handed power to his 33-year son Sheikh Tamim, following orders from the US, and refusal by Washington to review its decision regarding the client regime in Doha.
(Courtesy: IRIB English Radio – http://english.irib.ir)