This Day in History (July13)

Date: 12 July 2017 - 20:39

News ID: ۴۱۶۴۲

Today is Thursday; 22nd  of the Iranian month of Tir 1396 solar hijri; corresponding to 18th of the Islamic month of Shawwal 1438 lunar hijri; and July 13, 2017, of the Christian Gregorian Calendar.
1069 lunar years ago, on this day in 368 AH, the pleasure-seeking Ezz od-Dowla Daylami, son of Moiz od-Dowla the Buwaihid conqueror of Baghdad, was killed in battle with his cousin, Adhud od-Dowla, the son of Rukn od-Dowla, near the River Tigris after rebelling against the central authority of the then Shiraz-based Buwaihid confederacy. Adhud od-Dowla, a few years later after the passing away of his father, became the senior-most Buwaihid Amir of Iraq and Fars, at a time when Baghdad was wracked by violence and instability. He restored peace and patronized scholars such as the celebrated Shaikh Mufid, besides renovating the holy shrines in Najaf and Karbala. In addition, he is credited with sponsoring several scientific projects. An observatory was built by him in Isfahan, and the dam known till this day as "Band-e Amir” was built on his orders between Shiraz and Istakhr to irrigate some 300 villages in Fars Province. Among his other constructions was the digging of the Haffar Canal joining the Karun River to the Arvand Roud at the confluence of the Rivers Tigris and Euphrates. The port of Khorramshahr is built on the Haffar, at its joining point with the Arvand Roud. He embellished Baghdad with numerous public buildings including the famous public hospital known as "Bimaristan-e Adhudi”, where the great Iranian physician Zakariyya Razi used to practice. It is worth noting that the Commander of the Faithful, Imam Ali (AS), had centuries earlier prophesied the coming to power of the Iranian Buwaihid Dynasty and the death of one cousin at the hands of the other with the words: "The licentious son of the one-handed will be killed by his cousin, beside the Tigris.” The reference one-handed is to Moiz od-Dowla who had lost one of his hands in a battle.
840 lunar years ago, on this day in 598 AH, the prominent theologian, Mohammad Ibn Ahmad Ibn Idris al-Hilli, passed away at the age of 55. Born in the Iraqi city of Hillah, he was a child prodigy and became a prominent theologian at a fairly young age. He believed that selecting the right path is the duty of every sane and grown up person, and anyone who does not make use of this blessing of the intellect has committed a self-destructive blunder. Among the valuable books written by this great Islamic scholar is "as-Sara’er".
696 solar years ago, on this day in 1321 AD, the most prominent Sufi preacher of the Deccan (Southern India), Seyyed Mohammad Zaidi Hussaini, known popularly as "Band-e Nawaz Gesudaraz”, was born in Delhi into a family of migrants from Herat, Khorasan, that traced its lineage to Martyr Zaid, the son of Imam Zain al-Abedin (AS) – the great-grandson and 4th Infallible Heir of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA). He was a disciple of Seyyed Naseer od-Din, titled "Chiragh-e Dehli” (Lamp of Delhi), and spent several years in Qandahar (currently in Afghanistan) and Baluchestan as a preacher, before returning to Northern India. In 1398, at the age of 77, he moved south to Daulatabad in the Deccan, owing to the attack of Amir Timur on Delhi, and finally settled down in Gulbarga, at the invitation of Taj od-Din Firouz Shah of the Bahmani Dynasty of Iranian origin. He died 24 years later at the age of 101, and his shrine in Gulbarga is a site of pilgrimage. He wrote about 195 books in Arabic, Persian and the Deccani form of early Urdu. His book on Prophet Mohammad (SAWA) titled "Me’raj al-Asheqin” for the instruction of the masses is regarded as the first one of its kind in vernacular language, rather than in Persian or Arabic. He was a devout follower of the Prophet’s Ahl al-Bayt. Although the original inscriptions of his mausoleum no longer exist or have been tampered with, his wife’s mausoleum has remained in its original form, and on its entrance is inscribed in stone, the testimony of the Oneness of God, the Mission of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA), and the vicegerency of Imam Ali (AS).
317 solar years ago, on this day in 1700 AD, the Treaty of Istanbul was signed between Czarist Russia and the Ottoman Empire, ending the 14-year long Russo-Turkish War that had begun in 1686. Peter the Great saw the futility of continuing the war without his European allies against the Turks, and secured his occupation of the Azov region, thereby ending 230 years of Muslim rule, and gaining a vital outlet for Russia on the Black Sea. The treaty was superseded by the Treaty of the Pruth in 1711, which returned Azov to the Ottomans and remained with them until the 1783 war when the Russians again occupied it.
246 solar years ago, on this day in 1771 AD, the three-year scientific voyage of the British sailor, James Cook, to the Earth’s southern hemisphere came to its end. A team of biologists, during this voyage, studied the plants, animals, and residents of southern hemisphere, and another team observed the Planet Venus in this long journey, which commenced on July 26, 1768.
184 lunar years ago, on this day in 1254 AH, the well-known Islamic scholar and theologian, Mohaddith Mirza Hussain Noori, was born in the northern Iranian city of Nour in Mazandaran. Following the completion of his preliminary studies, he strove to scrutinize the vast hadith literature and became an authority in this regard. He is the author of several valuable books, including "an-Najm ath-Thaqeb” on the Imam of the Age, and the encyclopedic work in over twenty volumes titled, "Mustadrik Wasa’el ash-Shi’a”. He was the teacher of Shaikh Abbas Qomi, the compiler of the prayer-supplication manual, "Mafatih al-Jenan” or Keys to Paradise.
139 solar years ago, on this day in 1878 AD, as per the Treaty of Berlin, the European powers redrew the map of the Balkans. As a result, Serbia, Montenegro and Romania became completely independent of the Ottoman Empire.
103 solar years ago, on this day in 1914 AD, the prominent scholar of Persian literature and Iranian studies, Mohammad Moin, was born in Rasht, the capital of Gilan Province, in a religious family. He learned Arabic at a young age, and completed his studies at Tehran's Dar al-Fonoun Academy, where he obtained BA in literature and philosophy in 1934. He went to Belgium and graduated in applied psychology, anthropology and cognitive science. On returning to Iran he did his doctoral research under Ibrahim Pour-Davoud at Tehran University, and received a PhD with honours in Persian literature and linguistics. He is the first doctoral graduate in Persian literature from Tehran University. In 1942, he began lecturing at Tehran University, where he was later appointed full professor and subsequently promoted as Distinguished Professor to the Chair of Literary Criticism and Research in Literary Texts. In 1946, with the start of publication of the famous Persian lexicon "Lughat-Nameh Dehkhoda” by Allamah Professor Ali Akbar Dehkhoda, he began cooperation with him and contributed valuable articles to the project, for which he was awarded by several world universities and academic-literary foundations. His magnum opus is the six-volume "Farhang-e Moin" (Moin Dictionary). He passed away in 1971 and was buried in Astaneh Ashrafiyeh.
73 solar years ago, on this day in 1944 AD, Hungarian mathematician and educator, Erno Rubik, famous for inventing "Rubik's Cube”, was born in Budapest. In 1974 he invented the Cube which consists of 26 small cubes that rotate on a central axis. It has nine coloured cube faces, in three rows of three each, form each side of the cube. When the cube arrangement is randomized, the player must then return it to the original condition of faces with matching colours, which is one among 43 quintillion possible configurations.
27 solar years ago, on this day in 1991 AD, prominent Iranian thinker, Allamah Seyyed Taher Seyedzadeh Hashemi, passed away in Kermanshah, western Iran. He strove to promote Islamic teachings and in addition to compiling numerous books, he was a highly capable calligrapher. He was fluent in Arabic, Persian and Kurdish languages and wrote numerous odes in these three languages.
21 solar years ago, on this day in 1996 AD, some Iranian cities saw an influx of thousands of lizards and snakes over the past three months. Rising levels of groundwater were cited as possible reasons.
17 solar years ago, on this day in 2000 AD, the prominent scholar, Ayatollah Seyyed Mohammad Waheedi Shabestari, passed away at the age of 84. He studied at the Qom Seminary under leading scholars, such as Sheikh Mahdi Mazandarani and Mirza Mohammad Ali Shahabadi, and mastered jurisprudence, theology, philosophy and gnosis. He settled in his hometown Shabestar, in northwestern Iran, and embarked on promotion of the teachings of the Ahl al-Bayt of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA) in West Azarbaijan and Kurdistan Provinces, where he built several mosques and hussainiyehs. He was active in the Islamic movement against the despotic regime of the British-installed and American-backed Pahlavi Shah.
9 solar years ago, on this day in 2008 AD, Iran announced the country is exploring a newly discovered oil field believed to contain more than 1 billion barrels of crude oil.
5 solar years ago, on this day in 2012 AD, Iran’s famous film and theater director, Hamid Samandarian, passed away in his hometown Tehran, at the age of 81. He staged numerous dramas, including "No Exit” by Jean-Paul Sartre. He trained several Iranian actors and directors including; Ezzatolah Entezami, Reza Kianian, Golab Adineh, Mahdi Hashemi, Parviz Pour-Hussaini, and Ahmad Aghalou.
(Courtesy: IRIB English Radio – http://parstoday.com/en)