This Day in History (October 22)

Date: 21 October 2020 - 21:48

News ID: ۸۴۰۹۹

Today is Thursday, 1st of the Iranian month of Aban 1399 solar hijri; corresponding to 5th of the Islamic month of Rabi al-Awwal 1442 lunar hijri; and October 22, 2020, of the Christian Gregorian Calendar.
1325 lunar years ago, on this day in 117 AH, Hazrat Sakina (SA), the daughter of Imam Husain (AS), passed away in her hometown Medina and was laid to rest in the Baqie Cemetery. She was over 70 years of age, and her death occurred in the initial years of the imamate of Imam Ja’far as-Sadeq (AS), the son and successor of her nephew, Imam Mohammad al-Baqer (AS) and grandson of her brother, Imam Zain al-Abedin (AS). She was present in Karbala during the tragedy that befell the Prophet’s Household, resulting in the martyrdom of her father, her two brothers, Ali Akbar (AS) and the 6-month infant Ali Asghar (AS), her cousins, and her uncles, including the valiant standard-bearer, Hazrat Abbas (AS), who sacrificed his life while bringing water from the River Euphrates for the thirsty children. She was betrothed to her cousin, a son of Imam Hasan (AS) and Hazrat Qasem’s (AS) elder brother, who was martyred in Karbala. In the aftermath of the tragedy, Sakina (SA), along with other members of the Ahl al-Bayt including aunts, Hazrat Zainab (SA), Hazrat Umm Kulsoum (SA) and others; sisters, Hazrat Fatema (SA) and the 4-year-old Hazrat Ruqayya (SA) – who attained martyrdom in Damascus – had to suffer imprisonment for a while. Upon return to Medina, she devoted her life to prayer, fasting and worship of God, refusing to marry anyone since no man of her time was worthy of her hand. The same year (117 AH) her elder sister, Fatema, the wife of Imam Hasan’s (AS) son, Hasan al-Muthanna (who was severely injured in the tragedy of Karbala but survived) and the ancestress of the Hasanid branch of Tabatabie Saadat, also passed away in Medina.
1279 solar years ago, on this day in 741 AD, Charles Martel, the Frankish statesman and military leader who, as Duke of the Franks, was de facto ruler of Francia, died after 23 years in power. An illegitimate son of the German chief, Pepin, he was notorious for his barbaric nature as marauder of the frontiers of the Roman Empire.
1114 solar years ago, on this day in 906 AD, Ahmad ibn Kayghalagh, a Turkic general of the Abbasid regime, joined by the governor of Tarsus, the Iranian Rustam ibn Baradu al-Farghani, led a deep raid into the Byzantine Empire, defeating Eastern Roman armies as far as Halys River (Qızılırmak in what is now Turkey), and seizing large booty, including some 5,000 prisoners. Hijaz.
526 solar years ago, on this day in 1494 AD, the second expedition of the Italian sailor, Christopher Columbus, started from Spain with the assistance of Spanish Muslims, who very well knew the sea routes of the Atlantic Ocean including what the Europeans later called the American continent. Columbus landed on the Antilles islands in the Caribbean Sea. Two years earlier in 1492, he had made his first expedition to this new world, which he thought was India, and hence the Spanish called the indigenous American people, Red Indians.
386 solar years ago, on this day in 1634 AD, in the Battle of Southern Fujian Sea, the Ming dynasty of China defeated the Dutch East India Company.
313 solar years ago, on this day in 1707 AD, the Scilly naval disaster occurred as four warships of a British fleet sank near the Isles of Scilly off the southwestern tip of the Cornish peninsula of Britain, in severe weather, resulting in the death of 1,550 sailors, along with Admiral Cloudesley Shovell. It was one of the worst maritime disasters, as a result of the navigators’ miscalculation.
230 solar years ago, on this day in 1790 AD, Warriors of the Miami tribe under Chief Little Turtle defeated US troops under General Josiah Harmar at the site of present-day Fort Wayne, Indiana, in the Northwest Indian War. The next year, the Amerindians again defeated a US army at St. Clair, killing about 1,000 soldiers. After St. Clair’s disaster, President George Washington ordered General "Mad” Anthony Wayne to attack the natives, and in 1794 at the Battle of Fallen Timbers, he brutally massacred a large number of natives and forced the tribal leaders to cede extensive territory, including much of present-day Ohio, as per the Treaty of Greenville in 1795. The US has since unleashed genocide to eliminate the race and culture of the native Amerindian people.
186 solar years ago, on this day in 1834 AD, Fath-Ali Shah, the second king of the Qajarid Dynasty of Iran, died, and was succeeded by his grandson, Mohammad Shah, the son of the deceased crown prince, Abbas Mirza, who had died a year earlier. Son of Hussain Qoli Khan, the brother of Agha Mohammad Khan, the founder of the dynasty, Fath-Ali Shah was governor of Fars before succeeding his childless uncle. Much of his 37-year long reign that saw the gradual loss of vast areas of Iran in the Caucasus, Khorasan, Sistan-Baluchestan, Central Asia and the Persian Gulf, was marked by the resurgence of Persian arts and painting, as well as a deeply elaborate court culture. He led a life of luxury oblivious of the poverty of the people and the political humiliation to Iran’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, as a result of the Russian-imposed Golestan and Turkmanchai Treaties, coupled with growing British pressures and encroachments. His successor, Mohammad Shah ruled for 14 years and died in 1848 at the age of 40, leaving his 13-year minor son, Nasser od-Din Shah, as the next king.
174 lunar years ago, on this day in 1268 AH, the famous Dar al-Fonoun, was set up in Tehran by the enlightened Qajarid Prime Minister Mirza Mohammad Taqi Khan Amir-e Kabir, as a specialized modern academic centre for teaching a wide variety of subjects. In addition to military training and horsemanship, it taught engineering skills, medicine, surgery, arts, metallurgy, pharmaceuticals, etc. Many of its graduates rose to high governmental posts and distinguished themselves in several fields. The foundation of this institute was a milestone in the history of Iran’s educational system.
124 solar years ago, on this day in 1896 AD, American biochemist, Charles Glen King, who discovered vitamin C, was born.
109 solar years ago, on this day in 191l AD, in a blatant act of violation of Iran’s sovereignty, the British set up a joint force of English and Indian troops to police the southern parts of Iran and provide to security to colonial trade, at the expense of the weak Qajarid government of Iran, which had already succumbed to the pressure of Tsarist Russia to set up a similar force of Qazzaqs in the northern parts. Even the parliament voted against the British measures, it was powerless in the face of the domineering colonialist powers.
64 solar years ago, on this day in 1956 AD, the premiers of France, Britain, and the Zionist regime of Israel, in a meeting behind closed doors in France, hatched the plot to attack Egypt. After the Egyptian President, Jamal Abdun-Nasser, announced the nationalization of Suez Canal in the year 1956, France and Britain were intent on occupying this Canal due to losing their illegitimate interests in the region. Moreover, the illegal Zionist entity called Israel, which considered Egypt as its main enemy, intended to use this opportunity to deal a major blow against this leading Arab country. A week after the secret meeting of French, British, and Israeli regime premiers, the armies of these states attacked Egypt. But, during this offensive, the invaders failed to reach their goals.
45 solar years ago, on this day in 1975 AD, British historian, Arnold Toynbee, died at the age of 86. His 12-volume analysis of the rise and fall of civilizations, titled "A Study of History”, took 27 years to complete, and is a synthesis of world history, based on universal rhythms of rise, flowering and decline, which examined history from a global perspective.
43 solar years ago, on this day in 1977 AD, Ayatollah Seyyed Mostafa Khomeini, the elder son of the Father of the Islamic Revolution, Imam Khomeini (RA), was martyred in the holy city of Najaf in Iraq by agents of Iran’s Pahlavi regime, at the age of 47. He was born in the holy city of Qom, where he mastered Islamic sciences and reached the level of Ijtehad at the young age of 27. For ten years he lectured at the Najaf Islamic Seminary, and was always alongside his father in the struggle against the despotic Shah’s regime. His martyrdom accelerated the pace of struggles of the Iranian people and led to the victory of the Islamic Revolution a year and four months later.
41 solar years ago, on this day in 1979 AD, the US regime, despite warnings from the provisional revolutionary government of Iran, allowed the deposed Shah to come to New York – on the excuse of medical treatment – a provocative move by the Americans that led revolutionary students to take over the US embassy in Tehran, which was violating diplomatic norm by serving as an espionage den for Washington in the region.