This Day in History (January 19)

Date: 18 January 2017 - 20:11

News ID: ۳۵۷۵۳

Today is Thursday; 30th of the Iranian month of Dey 1395 solar hijri; corresponding to 20th of the Islamic month of Rabi as-Sani 1438 lunar hijri; and January 19, 2017, of the Christian Gregorian Calendar.
1447 solar years ago, on this day in 570 AD, as per the Georgian calendar is the birthday in Mecca of the Almighty’s Last and Greatest Messenger to all mankind with the universal message of Islam, Prophet Mohammad (blessings of God upon him and his progeny). According to the lunar calendar he was born in the month of Rabi al-Awwal – on the 17th as per the family accounts of the Ahl al-Bayt. His family, the monotheist Hashemite clan of the Quraish, was descended directly from Prophet Ishmael, the firstborn son of Prophet Abraham. His mission was foretold by all previous prophets, including Moses and Jesus.
494 solar years ago, on this day in1523 AD, in Switzerland, Huldrych Zwingli published his 67 Articles, the first manifesto of the Zurich Reformation which attacked the authority of the Pope and the Catholic Church.
419 solar years ago, on this day in 1597 AD, the Rajput rebel, Pratap Singh, who along with Afghan mercenaries fought several unsuccessful battles against Mughal Emperor Mohammad Jalal od-Din Akbar of Hindustan (northern subcontinent), died of injuries at the age of 57 in his principality of Mewar. He was succeeded by his son, Amar Singh who after initial rebellion, found it prudent to submit to the authority of the next emperor, Mohammad Noor od-Diin Jahangir, and was appointed governor of Mewar.
388 solar years ago, on this day in 1629 AD, Shah Abbas I, regarded as the greatest emperor of the Safavid dynasty of Iran, passed away at the age of 58. The son of Shah Mohammad Khodabanda, he ascended the throne as a 16-year youth during troubled times, when the country was rife with discord between the different factions of the Qizilbash army, who killed his elder brother Hamza Mirza and mother Queen Khair on-Nisa Begum Mahd-e Olya – descended from Imam Zain al-Abedin (AS), the 4th Infallible Heir of the Prophet (SAWA). Meanwhile, Iran's enemies, the Ottomans and the Uzbeks, exploited the political chaos to seize territory in the west and northeast. Abbas soon reduced the influence of the Qizilbash in the administrative and military affairs, executed the killers of his mother and brother, and reformed the army, enabling him to fight the Ottomans and Uzbeks and retake Iran's lost provinces. He decisively defeated the Ottomans in several battles in the Caucasus, in Anatolia and in Iraq, where he rebuilt on a grand scale the shrines of the Infallible Imams in Najaf, Karbala, and Kazemain. He drove back the Uzbeks from the northern and western parts of Khorasan, and in fulfillment of a vow walked on foot from his new capital Isfahan to distant Mashhad, where he rebuilt the shrine of Imam Reza (AS), the 8th Infallible Heir of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA). He also liberated Iranian territories from the Portuguese invaders in the Persian Gulf and from the Mughals of India in what is now Afghanistan. Shah Abbas I was a great builder and moved his capital from Qazvin to Isfahan, which he adorned with beautiful mosques, such as Masjid Sheikh Lotfollah and the largest one named after, and which is now called Masjid-e Imam. He also built the Aali Qapu Palace and the world famous Naqsh-e Jahan Square, to the extent that Isfahan came to be known as Nisf-e Jahan or Half of the World. He patronized poets and painters, resulting in the birth of the Isfahan School that created some of the finest arts in Iranian history, by such illustrious painters as Reza Abbasi and others. He respected religious figures, and during his era some of the greatest ulema and philosophers of Iran, such as Shaikh Baha od-Din Ameli, Mir Baqer Damad and Mullah Sadra Shirazi flourished. During his 42-year reign, Shah Abbas also promoted commerce, trade and diplomacy, establishing relations with European powers to keep the Ottomans in check, and strengthening ties with the Shi'ite Muslim sultanates of Golkandah-Haiderabad and Bijapur in the Deccan (southern India), where the name of the Safavid Emperor was recited in the Friday Prayer sermons. At the same time he maintained friendly relations with the Mughal Emperor Jahangir of Hindustan (North India). He was succeeded by his grandson, Shah Safi.
304 lunar years ago, on this day in 1134 AH, the Iranian poet and literary figure, Lotf-Ali Bayk Azar Bigdeli, was born in Isfahan. For a while he lived in Qom and Shiraz, and upon returning from the Hajj Pilgrimage, resided in his hometown, Isfahan. Despite famine and insecurity in the wake of internal wars plaguing Iran, he continued his studies under ulema and poets. An eloquent speaker well-versed in poetry, he compiled a large number of works, including a divan of poems, and "Atashkada-e Azar”, which is an anthology of contemporary and past poets.
281 solar years ago, on this day in 1736 AD, the English inventor and engineer, James Watt, was born. He discovered steam power, which led to a revolution in industry, especially in the land and sea transportation network. Steam ships and locomotives were the result of his discoveries.
219 solar years ago, on this day in 1798 AD, August Comte, the French philosopher, mathematician, and founder of the Philosophical School of Positivism, was born. He died in 1857 at the age of 59.
208 solar years ago, on this day in 1809 AD, American writer, editor, and literary critic, Edgar Allan Poe was born in Boston. He is best known for his poetry and short stories, particularly his tales of mystery and the macabre. He is widely regarded as a central figure of Romanticism in the United States and American literature as a whole, and he was one of the country's earliest practitioners of the short story. Poe is generally considered the inventor of the detective fiction genre and is further credited with contributing to the emerging genre of science fiction. He was the first well-known American writer to try to earn a living through writing alone. He died in 1849 at the age of 40 years.
71 solar years ago, on this day in 1946 AD, the first ever complaint heard by the newly formed United Nations Security Council was made by Iran and directed against the Soviet Union. Iran officially complained the Soviet interference in its internal affairs and the refusal of Moscow to withdraw Soviet occupation troops from Iranian territory. The very first session of the UN had begun just days earlier, on January 10, 1946, in London. The issue, however, was resolved without UN intervention, when the Soviet Union pulled out its troop from Iran resulting in the collapse of the so-called communist republics Moscow had set up in Azarbaijan and Kurdistan.
57 lunar years ago, on this day in 1381 AH, Ayatollah Sheikh Hashim Mudarris Qazvini passed away. Born in Qazvin, after completing his religious studies in his hometown, he joined the Islamic seminary at Isfahan for higher studies, before moving six year later to holy Mashhad, where he taught for forty years. Among his students was the future Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei.
38 solar years ago, on this day in 1979 AD, the news of the imminent return home of the Father of the Islamic Revolution, Imam Khomeini (RA), were greeted with rejoicings by the Iranian nation. The news created panic among the Shah's agents, many of whom fled the country in view of their criminal record. In desperation, the Shah's Prime Minister, Shapour Bakhtiyar, ordered his troops to attack defenseless people, in a bid to maintain in power the British-installed and US-supported Pahlavi regime. However, such actions failed to break the resolve of the Iranian people and made them more determined to continue their struggle till final victory.
36 solar years ago, on this day in 1981 AD, the US signed an agreement with the Islamic Republic of Iran pledging to return tens of billions of dollars of illegally frozen assets, and end interference in Iranian affairs, in exchange for release of the 52 Americans detained by Iran, following the capture of the US den of espionage into which the US embassy had virtually turned. The US never kept its promise, neither returning the Iranian money in the US, nor ending its plots against the Islamic Republic.
33 lunar years ago, on this day in 1405 AH, Grand Ayatollah Seyyed Ahmad Khwansari passed away at the age of 96 in Tehran and was buried in the holy shrine of Hazrat Fatema al-Ma’soumah in Qom. His lineage goes back by 30 ancestors to Imam Musa Kazem (AS), the 7th Infallible Heir of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA). His father Mirza Yusuf and his grandfather Mirza Baba were both religious scholars. His initial teachers were his elder brother Seyyed Mohammad Hassan and his sister's husband, Seyyed Ali Akbar Bidihindi. At the age of 16 he travelled to Iraq for higher studies at the seminary of holy Najaf, where his teachers included Akhond Khorasani, Sheikh ash-Shari’ah Isfahani, Mirza Mohammad Hussain Na'ini, Ziya od-Din Iraqi, Seyyyed Mohammad Kazem Tabataba'i al-Yazdi, and Sheikh Abdul-Kareem Ha'iri al-Yazdi. On his return to Iran, he taught theology, Islamic philosophy, and jurisprudence at the seminary of holy Qom. For a while, he was sent by Grand Ayatollah Seyyed Hussain Boroujerdi to Tehran, where beside his religious activities, he joined the ulema in the struggle against the despotic rule of the British-installed and US-backed Pahlavi regime. His students included the philosopher, Ayatollah Martyr Morteza Motahhari. He wrote several books, the most important of which is "Jame’ al-Madarek” in Arabic the field of jurisprudence in 14 volumes that took some three decades to complete, and is a commentary on "al-Mukhtasar an-Nafe’” of Muhaqqiq Hilli.
7 solar years ago, on this day in 2010 AD, Palestinian activist of the Islamic Resistance Movement, Hamas, Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, was assassinated in Dubai by agents of the illegal Zionist entity, Israel, who had entered the UAE on fake western passports. Born in 1960 in a religious family in the Jabaliyya refugee camp in the Gaza Strip, he graduated in mechanical engineering and was familiar with several languages. He was among the founders of the military branch of Hamas, and for this reason, was the target of several abortive Zionist assassination bids. Several months after his assassination, Israel admitted its dastardly act of terrorism. This atrocious crime was yet another proof of the state terrorism of the usurper state of Israel, with the support of Western regimes.
(Courtesy: IRIB English Radio – http://parstoday.com/en)