This Day in History (March 10)

Date: 09 March 2018 - 21:56

News ID: ۵۰۹۱۶

Today is Saturday; 19th of the Iranian month of Esfand 1396 solar hijri; corresponding to 21st of the Islamic month of Jamad as-Sani 1439 lunar hijri; and March 10, 2018, of the Christian Gregorian Calendar.
2259 solar years ago, on this day in 241 BC, the Battle of the Aegates Island, off the coast of Sicily, was won by the Romans who sank the Carthaginian fleet to bring the First Punic War to its end after 23 years of seesaw fighting, mainly on the Mediterranean island of Sicily and its surrounding waters and also to a lesser extent in North Africa. Carthage, located in what is now Tunisia, was the dominant Western Mediterranean power at the beginning of the conflicts, controlling an empire extending from the coasts of what is now Libya to Morocco, as well as southeastern parts of Spain and the islands of Corsica, Sardinia, Sicily, Malta, and the Balearic Archipelago .The series of wars between the two powers vying for supremacy were known to the Romans as the "Punic Wars" because of the Latin name for Carthaginians: "Punici”, derived from Phoenicia, in what is now Lebanon, to which the  Semitic-speaking peoples of Carthage in North Africa traced their origins.
1378 lunar years ago, on this day in 61 AH, Hazrat Omm Kulthoum (SA), the second and youngest daughter of Imam Ali and Hazrat Fatema Zahra (SA) was born in Medina in the lifetime of her maternal grandfather, Prophet Mohammad (SAWA). Like her elder sister, Hazrat Zainab (SA), and brothers, Imam Hasan (AS) and Imam Husain (AS), she was a picture of virtue, and on growing up married her paternal first cousin Awn ibn Ja’far at-Tayyar, since as a member of the spotlessly pure Ahl al-Bayt, no other man was worthy of her hand, except a faithful Hashemite. Awn was martyred in 38 AH in the War of Siffeen. Omm Kulthoum (SA) was present in Karbala at history’s most heartrending tragedy; was taken in chains along with the rest of ladies and children of the Prophet’s blessed household to the court of the tyrant Yazid; delivered memorable sermons, especially in Kufa, to unmask the hypocrisy of the Omayyad regime; and on return to Medina recited the famous elegy "Madinato Jaddona la taqbalina…” (O City of our Grandfather, don’t accept our coming).
1120 lunar years ago, on this day in 319 AH, famous hadith scholar, Mohammad bin Abdus-Samad al-Baghdadi, passed away. Like his ancestors he dedicated his efforts to collecting authentic narrations from the original sources, quoting Imam Ali ibn Abi Taleb (AS) and Prophet Mohammad (SAWA). He has also chronicled the event of the Treaty of Hudaibiyya including the Prophet's statement on this day regarding the "wilayah” or divinely-decreed authority of Imam Ali (AS), through Jaber ibn Abdullah al-Ansari. His compilation of hadith is esteemed by researchers. One of his narrations from the Prophet reads: "Those who like to live like me, die like me, and enter the Paradise that Allah has promised me, should follow (Imam) Ali ibn Abi Taleb (AS) and his (infallible) progeny, because they will not deviate you from the path of guidance and will never lead you astray.”
1055 lunar years ago, on this day in 384 AH, literary figure, historian, and judge, Muhassin ibn Ali at-Tanoukhi, passed away at the age of 55. His books include "al-Faraj Ba’d ash-Shiddah” on historical and social developments, and "al-Masajed”. He also left behind a Diwan of Arabic poetry.
781 lunar years ago, on this day in 658 AH, Damascus fell to the Iran-based dynasty of the Ilkhanid Mongols as the ruling Ayyubid Kurds (descendants of Salah od-Din) succumbed to the onslaught, two years after Hulagu Khan had sacked Baghdad and ended the Abbasid caliphate. The attack was led by Kitbugha Noyan, a Turkic Christian general of the Mongols, who built up an alliance with King Hethum I of Armenia and the European Crusader ruler of Antioch, Bohemond VI. The combined forces with the assistance of the Seljuqid Turk auxiliaries had earlier driven out the Ayyubids from Aleppo. On the fall of Damascus, the three Christian warlords (i.e. Kitbugha, Hethum and Bohemond) entered the Omayyad Mosque, turned it into a cathedral, and held mass at what is said to be the shrine of John the Baptist.
727 solar years ago, on this day in 1291 AD, Arghun Khan, the 4th ruler of the Mongol Ilkhanid Dynasty of Iran, Iraq, and parts of Syria and Anatolia, died after a reign of seven years during which he sent delegations, at least four times, to the Pope in Rome and to major European powers for forging a Buddhist-Christian alliance in a bid to exterminate Islam and Muslims. The plan never materialized because of the growing power and resolve of the Turkic Mamluk rulers of Egypt-Syria in defeating both the Buddhist Mongols and the European Crusaders. Arghun was son of Abaqa Khan and his Christian wife, Haimash Khatun, and the grandson of the destroyer of Baghdad, Hulagu Khan. He had seized the throne from his uncle Tekuder ‘Ahmad’ Khan and executed him for having become Muslim. He also martyred the Iranian vizier, Shams od-Din Mohammad ibn Baha od-Din Juwaini, who had served efficiently for 22 years under three Ilkhans – Hulagu, Abaqa and Ahmad Tekuder. He then appointed as vizier the Jewish Sa’d od-Dowla Ebheri, who openly hurt the sentiments of Iranian Muslims. Arghun baptized his sons, Ghazaan and Oljeitu as Christians, but the two brothers who eventually rose to the throne as the 7th and 8th Ilkhans, after the brief reigns of their uncle (Geikhatu) and father’s cousin (Baydu), became Muslims – along with over 100,000 other Mongols. They transformed the Ilkhanid Dynasty into a bastion of Islam with promotion of Persian culture and language and adherence to the path of the Prophet’s Ahl al-Bayt.
283 solar years ago, on this day in 1735 AD, an accord between Nader Shah Afshar of Iran and Czarist Russia was signed near Ganja in what is now the Azerbaijan Republic, according to which Russian troops were withdrawn from Baku. Russia also ended occupation of Daghestan when Nader Shah threatened to march upon Moscow.
214 solar years ago, on this day in 1804 AD, a ceremony was conducted to transfer ownership of the Louisiana Territory from France to the United States. This area like the rest of the southern and western states of the US was under Spain’s jurisdiction. On 30th November 1803 AD, Spanish representatives had transferred the Louisiana Territory in North America to a French representative, and just 20 days later, France sold the same land to the United States in a deal known as the Louisiana Purchase.
157 solar years ago, on this day in 1861 AD, Umar Ta’l seized the important West African city of Segou in Mali, after a series of victories that ended the animist Bambara kingdom, thereby preventing it from serving as a base for penetration of the region by the French colonialists. He thus founded a brief Islamic empire, encompassing much of Senegal, Mali and Guinea. Born in Futa Tooro, Senegal, he was a political leader, Islamic scholar, and military commander, who in his youth, after performing the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca, had stayed for six years in Damascus to acquire higher Islamic studies. In Syria, he was highly impressed by the trends and tactics of the Ottoman Turkish governor, Ibrahim Pasha, whom he befriended. On returning to West Africa, he assumed leadership of the Tijaniyya Sufi brotherhood in the Sudan. Umar Ta’l remains a legendary figure in Senegal, Guinea, and Mali, and is remembered as a hero of the anti-French resistance.
157 solar years ago, on this day in 1861 AD, Canadian Poetess, Pauline Johnson, was born. She was from the Mohawk Red Indian Tribe, which was forced to emigrate from the US to Canada. She left behind four collections of poems. She died in 1913.
142 solar years ago, on this day in 1876 AD, Scottish-American inventor, Alexander Graham Bell, after years of experiments and designs of various apparatuses by different scientists, spoke the famous sentence "Mr. Watson—Come here—I want to see you" into the liquid transmitter he had invented, while Watson, listening at the receiving end in an adjoining room, heard the words clearly. This was in effect the first telephone call. The conversation between Bell and his assistant, Thomas Watson, happened in Boston. The same day, an ebullient Bell wrote his father of his "great success" and speculated that "the day is coming when telegraph [phone] wires will be laid on to houses just like water and gas - and friends converse with each other without leaving home." Bell received the first telephone patent three days before. Later that year, Bell succeeded in making a phone call over outdoor lines
122 solar years ago, on this day in 1896 AD, Italian troops during their invasion of Abyssinia (present day Ethiopia), were crushed in Adowa region. Italian forces intended to occupy Abyssinia and to establish a link between two of their colonies in the Horn of Africa – Eritrea and Somaliland. Despite the modern military equipment of the Italian army, the Abyssinian forces triumphed and inflicted major fatalities and financial losses on the aggressors. Italy, under Fascist dictator, Benito Mussolini, occupied Ethiopia from 1936 until its defeat in 1941 during World War 2.
50 solar years ago, on this day in 1968 AD, during the Vietnam War, the Battle of Lima Site 85, resulted in the largest single ground combat loss of United States Air Force members during the American aggression.
43 solar years ago, on this day in 1975 AD, during the Vietnam War, the Ho Chi Minh Campaign was launched by North Vietnamese troops on Ban Mê Thu?t, South Vietnam, as a prelude to the capture of Saigon on the final push for victory over the US-supported secessionist state of South Vietnam.
29 solar years ago, on this day in 1989 AD, Iranian astronomer and mathematician, Dr. Abbas Riazi Kermani, passed away at the age of 72. Following completion of his academic studies, he left for France. In Paris, he continued his studies in mathematics and astronomy and got a PhD in Astronomy from Sorbonne University. After returning to Iran, he started lecturing at Tehran University and other higher education institutes. In 1966, he prepared Iran’s official calendar. He wrote several books, including: "Moqadama bar Nujoum-e Aali” (An Introductory to Astronomy).
28 solar years ago, on this day in 1990 AD, Pakistani poet, Dr. Abdul-Hamid Irfani, passed away at the age of 80. He played a leading role in reviving the Islamic culture and countering the West’s cultural invasion, as one of the prominent students of the acclaimed philosopher-poet of the subcontinent, Allamah Iqbal Lahori. Dr. Irfani compiled more than 40 books in different fields; several of which have been published in Iran. In 1945, two years before the birth of Pakistan, he was sent to Iran as an English lecturer by the British Indian government. After independence in 1947, he stayed in Iran as the cultural and press attache at the embassy of Pakistan in Tehran. On returning to Pakistan, Dr, Irfani lectured at Lahore’s Punjab University.
25 lunar years ago, on this day in 1413 AH, Ayatollah Seyyed Mohammad Hussain Mir-Jahani Tabatabaei passed away at the age of 94 and was buried in his hometown Isfahan. A product of the Islamic seminary of holy Najaf in Iraq, on return to Iran he lived mostly in holy Mashhad, teaching and writing books. He was noted for his devotion to the Prophet’s Ahl al-Bayt. Among his works are: "Misbah al-Balagha”, "Nawa’eb ad-Dohour”, and "Wilayat-e Kulliyeh”.
12 solar years ago, on this day in 2006 AD, the repressive Aal-e Khalifa minority regime attacked with firearms and tear gas, thousands of peaceful protestors in Manama, capital of the Persian Gulf Island state of Bahrain, demanding restoration of their birthrights and release of prisoners. Over a dozen people were injured.
(Courtesy: IRIB English Radio – http://parstoday.com/en)