This Day in History (September 12)

Date: 11 September 2020 - 23:41

News ID: ۸۲۶۷۸

Today is Saturday; 22nd of the Iranian month of Shahrivar 1399 solar hijri; corresponding to 23rd of the Islamic month of Muharram 1442 lunar hijri; and September 12, 2020, of the Christian Gregorian Calendar.
2510 solar years ago, on this day in 490 BC, the Battle of Marathon was fought in the place of the same name in Greece, between Athenians and their allies, and a Persian expeditionary force sent by the Achaemenian Emperor, Darius I. It resulted in a surprise defeat of the Iranians, because the main army had sailed towards a different destination.
1273 lunar years ago, on this day in 169 AH, Mahdi al-Abbasi, the 3rd self-styled caliph of the usurper Abbasid regime, died a miserable death at the age of 44 after a 11-year reign, when the horse he was riding during a deer-hunt in Masabzaan in the Dinavar area of Kalhor in what is now Kermanshah Province of Iran, hurled him on a wall of a dilapidated structure and trampled him. Of dark complexion, and born to "Shikla”, a Negroid concubine of the tyrant Mansur Dawaniqi, he was known as "at-Tinnin” (the Dragon). He was deliberately named "Mahdi” by his father in a bid to distract attention from the Infallible Ahl al-Bayt and to mislead Muslims, in view of the famous hadith of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA) that the Last of his rightful successors who will fill the earth with justice, would rise as "Mahdi al-Qa’em” to end oppression on earth. An open drunkard who spent most of his time in the pleasures of the flesh in violation of the tenets of Islam, he was not just fond of music and songstresses, but universalized music in the Islamic realm. He bore an unabated hatred towards the Prophet’s progeny. When he found that Mansur had stored in a house, tagged bodies of Imam Hasan al-Mojtaba’s (AS) descendants killed by the regime, he ordered these bodies to be buried in a mass grave over which a market was built to remove any trace of them. Like the Omayyad tyrant, Mu’awiyya ibn Abu Sufyan, he spent huge sums of money on hadith forgery to try to negate from public minds the God-given right of leadership of the Ahl al-Bayt. The term "Ahl as-Sunnah”, coined by Mansur, was promoted to brainwash the neo-Muslim community, while the followers of the Ahl al-Bayt were persecuted as "Rawafedh” (Rejectors), despite the fact that the Prophet had explicitly used the word "Shi’ite” in praise of the true followers of his divinely-appointed successor, Imam Ali (AS). At least twice, he imprisoned the Prophet’s 7th Infallible Heir, Imam Musa al-Kazem (AS). So great was his fear among the people that many "Sadaat” or the Prophet’s descendants, in order to avoid imprisonment and possible death, used to live incognito by concealing their identity, such as Eisa, a son of Zayd the Martyr – the son Imam of Zain al-Abedin (AS) – who revealed his genealogy to his wife and children only on his deathbed. Mahdi al-Abbasi was succeeded by his son Musa al-Hadi, who, during his brief rule of a year and a few months, perpetrated the Fakh Tragedy – the most gruesome massacre of the Prophet’s progeny after the heartrending Tragedy of Karbala.
1004 lunar years ago, on this day in 438 AH, the famous Iranian Sunni Muslim exegete of the holy Qur’an, Ahmad Ibn Mohammad Ibn Ibrahim Tha’labi, passed away. He was born in Naishapur, in Khorasan, and lived most of his life in northeastern Iran. His masterpiece is the exegesis of the holy Qur’an "al-Kashf wa’l-Bayan”, also known as "Tafsir Tha’labi”. Another of his famous books is "Ara’es al-Majalis” which is an account of the Prophets beginning with Adam. In his works, he has admitted the unrivalled position of the progeny of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA), and the unsurpassed merits of Imam Ali (AS).
791 solar years ago, on this day in 1229 AD, a Christian mercenary army under the command of James I of Aragon disembarked at Santa Ponca, Majorca, with the purpose of conquering the Spanish Muslim Island. After over three-and-a-half months of resistance, the Spanish Muslim emirate of Majorca on the largest Mediterranean island of the same name in the Balearic Archipelago, was occupied by James I of Aragon, who changed the name of the capital from "Medina Mayurqa” to Palma, thus ending over five glorious centuries of Islamic culture and civilization. The first Muslims arrived on this island in 707, some four years before Spain was liberated by Tareq ibn Ziyad.
621 solar years ago, on this day in 1309 AD, the siege of the Spanish Muslim island of Gibraltar was started by Ferdinand IV of Castile with the help of Christian mercenaries from other parts of Europe. The kingdom of Gharnata (Granada) was forced to surrender this important base of 600 years of Spanish Islamic culture, which today has become a bone of contention between Britain and Spain. Gibraltar is a corruption of the Arabic term "Jabal at-Tareq” meaning Rock of Tareq in honour of Tareq Ibn Ziyad, who landed on this island on his way to liberate Spain.
337 solar years ago, on this day in 1683 AD, the Ottoman army which was on the verge of conquering Vienna, the capital of Austria as part of its sweep into the heart of Europe, was surprisingly defeated by a coalition of European powers, including Poland. The setback suffered by the Turks marked the end of Ottoman aspirations to conquer all of Europe.
334 solar years ago, on this day in 1686 AD, the Sultanate of Bijapur fell to the Mughal Emperor, Mohammad Aurangzeb, thereby ending the 192-year rule of the Adel-Shahi dynasty of the Deccan (southern India) set up by the Iranian adventurer from Saveh (near Tehran), Yusuf Adel Khan. In the 1490s, after asserting independence from the tottering Bahmani Empire (also of Iranian origin), Bijapur declared Shi’a Islam as the state religion, several years before the founding of the Safavid Empire in Iran and declaration of the same by Shah Ismail I. Thousands of Iranians of all professions, including scholars, ulema, poets, painters, architects, craftsmen, merchants, soldiers and ordinary persons, migrated to Bijapur and contributed to the Persianate administration and flowering of the rich Indo-Persian style of art and architecture, such as the famous Ibrahim Rowza (proto type of the future Taj Mahal in Agra) and Gol-Gombad – the world’s second largest dome.
297 solar years ago, on this day in 1723 AD, during the chaotic situation in Iran following the occupation of the country by the rebellious Hotaki Afghans who dethroned and imprisoned Shah Sultan Hussain Safavi in Isfahan, the year-long Russo-Persian War ended with the signing of a humiliating treaty by the weak Shah Tahmasp II, who ceded to the Russians the cities of Derbend in Daghestan and Baku in what is now the Republic of Azerbaijan, as well as the Caucasus province of Shirvan, and parts of Astara, Gilan, and Mazandaran. A decade later after the rise of Nader Shah Afshar and his crushing victories over the Afghan usurpers, the Russians were forced to withdraw from the northwestern parts of the country including Derbend and Daghestan, when the Iranian king threatened to march on to Moscow.
123 solar years ago, on this day in 1897 AD, the French chemist and physicist, Irene Curie, was born in Paris to the celebrated physicists, Madam Curie and Pierre Curie, who discovered several radioactive elements. Irene also made discoveries in regard to radioactive materials, including production of artificial radioactive material.
113 solar years ago, on this day in 1907 AD, Ayatollah Mirza Ibrahim Khoeyi, was martyred during the Constitutional Revolution in his hometown Khoey in northwestern Iran at the age of 76. His body was taken to holy Najaf, Iraq for burial.
106 solar years ago, on this day in 1914 AD, the famous Urdu poet of Pakistan, Raees Amrohi, was born in Amroha in what is now the Uttar Pradesh of India. His real name was Seyyed Mohammad Mahdi, which indicates the family’s descent from Prophet Mohammad (SAWA). His poetical works include "Paas-e Ghubaar”, "Hikayaat”, "Ba-Hazrat-e Yazdaan”, and "Malboos-e Bahaar”. Books written by him include "Alam-e Barzaq”, "Jinnaat” (2 volumes), and "Ana min al-Husain”.
100 solar years ago, on this day in 1920 AD, the prominent activist of the Constitutional Era, Sheikh Mohammad Khiyabani, was martyred, thus ending the uprising in the northwestern Iranian city of Tabriz against the despotic Qajar Dynasty.
46 solar years ago, on this day in 1974 AD, Ethiopian king, Haile Selassie I ("Conquering Lion of Judah”), was deposed by the military, thus ending the Christian monarchy of the ancient land of Abyssinia.
34 solar years ago, on this day in 1986 AD, the famous Pakistani calligrapher, Hafez Mohammad Yousuf Sadidi, died in Lahore at the age of 66. He learned calligraphy under prominent artists such as Mohammad Sharif and Taj od-Din Zarrin. He wrote a book, titled: "Ta’lim an-Naskh”.