This Day in History

Date: 03 December 2019 - 21:59

News ID: ۷۳۴۹۰

(December 4)

Today is Wednesday; 13th of the Iranian month of Azar 1398 solar hijri; corresponding to 7th of the Islamic month of Rabi as-Sani 1441 lunar hijri; and December 4, 2019, of the Christian Gregorian Calendar.
2549 solar years ago, on this day in 530 BC, Iran’s pre-Islamic monotheist Emperor, Cyrus the Great, the Founder of the Persian Achaemenid Empire, died in battle while fighting the Massagetae tribe along the Syr Darya or River Jaxartes in Central Asia, after a reign of 30 years. Under his rule, the empire embraced all the previous civilized states of Mesopotamia, Asia Minor, and the ancient Levant. He eventually conquered most of Southwest Asia and much of Central Asia and the Caucasus. From the Mediterranean Sea in the west to the Indus River in the east, Cyrus the Great created the largest empire the world had yet seen.
909 solar years ago, on this day in 1110 AD, with the arrival of a 60-ship fleet led by King Sigurd of Norway, the European Crusader invaders who had earlier occupied the holy Islamic city of Bayt al-Moqaddas, brutally sacked the city of Sidon in what is now Lebanon. After a 47-day siege to take the city from the control of the Ismaili Shi’ite Muslim Fatemid Dynasty of Egypt, the Christians massacred the people and looted their property.
888 solar years ago, on this day in 1131 AD, the Iranian mathematician, astronomer, and poet, Ghiyas od-Din Omar Ibn Ibrahim Khayyam, passed away in his hometown Naishapour, Khorasan, in northeastern Iran. His most important philosophical work is "ar-Risalah fi’l-Wujud” (Treatise on Being”), written in Arabic, which begins with Qur’anic verses and asserts that all things come from God and that there is an order to all things. Khayyam is known to English-speakers for his "Rubaiyyaat” (quatrains), published in 1859 by Edward Fitzgerald, although in the Islamic east he remains the astronomer and mathematician that he was, rather than a poet, since whatever he composed of poetry were casual expressions during his rare leisure hours after strenuous scientific studies and experiments. He was buried in the courtyard of the shrine of Imamzadah Mahruq, a descendant of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA).
807 lunar years ago, on this day in 634 AH, the Iranian polymath Qotb od-Din Mahmoud ibn Zia od-Din Masoud Kazerouni, known as Mullah Qotb Shirazi, was born in Kazeroun, near Shiraz. He compiled the books "Miftaḥ al-Miftah” on Arabic grammar and rhetoric, and "Ikhtiyaraat al-Muzaffariya” on astronomy. Among his works is "Nihayat al-Idraak fi Dirayaat al-Aflaak” on the movement of planets. Mullah Qotb also identified observations by Ibn Sina on the transits of Venus and Mercury, centuries before European scientists.
485 solar years ago, on this day in 1534 AD, Baghdad was seized from Iran by Sultan Sulaiman, two years after start of the 23-year long intermittent Ottoman-Safavid War.
340 solar years ago, on this day in 1679 AD, English philosopher Thomas Hobbes died at the age of 91. His important book is "Leviathan”, in which he argues that the only way to secure civil society is through submission to the absolute authority of a sovereign.
291 lunar years ago, on this day in 1150 AH, the Ottoman army led by Hekimoghlu Ali Pasha, defeated the Holy Roman Empire near the Bosnian town of Banja Luka. This was a crushing blow by the Muslims of Europe to the ambitions of the Germans and the Austrians in the Balkans.
224 solar years ago, on this day in 1795 AD, Scottish essayist, historian and orientalist, Thomas Carlyle was born. He mastered German and Arabic languages, and later taught Arabic at Cambridge University. During trips to Muslim lands, he became familiar with Islamic culture and civilization, and was highly influenced by the divine religion of Islam. On the Holy Qur’an, he calls it a direct voice from the heart of the universe for mankind. He has hailed Prophet Mohammad (SAWA) as a person of deep and a great spirit, and far from worldly ambitions.
On the martyrdom of Imam Husain (AS), he has written:
"The best lesson which we get from the tragedy of Karbala is that Husain and his companions were the steadfast believers of God. They illustrated that numerical superiority does not count when it comes to truth and falsehood. The victory of Husain despite his minority marvels me!”
Carlyle, who died at the age of 86, authored several books, including "The French Revolution”, "Past and Present”, and "On Heroes and Hero Worship and the Heroic in History.”
209 lunar years ago, on this day in 1232 AH, Moroccan exegete of the Holy Qur’an and literary figure, Abul-Fayz Hamdoun ibn Abdur-Rahman al-Faasi, passed away at the age of 58. Born in Fez (as his surname al-Faasi suggests), during the Hajj pilgrimage to holy Mecca, he met and conferred with prominent Shi’ite Muslim scholars such as the celebrated Ayatollah Sheikh Morteza Ansari Dezfuli. He authored several books on theology, Qur’anic sciences, logic, etc.
190 solar years ago, on this day in 1829 AD British Governor-General of India, William Bentinck, issued a regulation declaring that anyone who abets "sati” or the Hindu custom of burning a widow on her husband’s pyre, is guilty of culpable homicide.
184 solar years ago, on this day in 1835 AD, British writer and painter, Samuel Butler, was born. Two of his most famous pieces are the satire "Erewhon” and a semi-autobiographical novel published posthumously, "The Way of All Flesh”. He is also known for examining Christian orthodoxy, studies of Italian art, and works of literary history and criticism. Butler made prose translations of the ancient Greek classics "Iliad” and "Odyssey”, which remain in use to this day.
163 solar years ago, on this day in 1856 AD, a month after Iran’s liberation of its northeastern city of Herat in Khorasan on 1st of November 1856, Britain declared war on Iran as its fleet sent from Bombay to the Persian Gulf, attacked Khark Island and Bushehr. An alarmed Nasser od-Din Shah Qajar sent an envoy to France for mediation, and the result was imposition of the Treaty of Paris on Iran, which was forced to drop all claims to this historical city and most of eastern Khorasan, which is now part of Afghanistan today, on condition of British withdrawal from Khark, Bushehr and Khorramshahr.
120 solar years ago, on this day in 1899 AD, vaccine to prevent the typhoid fever was used for the first time. It was developed by British pathologist, bacteriologist, and immunologist, Edward Wright.
36 solar years ago, on this day in 1983 AD, when the US, in yet another act of state terrorism, attempted an air strike on Syrian positions in Lebanon, two of its aircraft were downed and a pilot captured. The Syrians then shelled the positions of the American intruders and killed eight Marines.
29 solar years ago, on this day in 1990 AD, the prominent Iranian researcher, author and member of the academic board of the UNESCO International Studies Department, Dr. Mohammad Hussein Mashayekh Faridouni, passed away at the age of 76. He has also written an excellent work titled "Nawa-e Sha’er-e Farda” (Voice of the Poet of the Future) on the Persian works of the famous Poet and Philosopher of the East, Allamah Mohammad Iqbal Lahori of the Indo-Pakistan Subcontinent.
29 solar years ago, on this day in 1990 AD, the First Islamic conference on solidarity with the Intefadha of the Palestinian people was held in Tehran. Thinkers from several countries reviewed the chronic crisis of the usurpation of Palestine by the Zionists of Europe and the growing influence of the Islamic Revolution on the Palestinian people. Iran is a firm supporter of the Palestinian cause and believes that Israel has no right to exist in Palestine, which should be returned in its entirety to the Palestinian people.
8 solar years ago, on this day in 2011 AD, Iranian defence experts brought down intact in eastern Iran through cyber control, a US spy drone RQ-170, which violated Iranian airspace from American-occupied Afghanistan. Among the most modern types of pilotless aircraft, these drones are designed to evade radars. These are equipped with an automatic pilot system designed to make them automatically explode in case of severance of links with their base operator. By gaining control of this radar-evasive drone, the Islamic Republic of Iran showed its ability in cyber warfare to the confusion of US military experts and officials. Iranian experts by decoding the advanced drone gained access to confidential data and technology behind its production.
(Courtesy: IRIB English Radio – http://parstoday.com/en)