This Day in History

Date: 05 December 2020 - 21:43

News ID: ۸۵۱۲۵

(December 6)

Today is Sunday; 16th of the Iranian month of Azar 1399 solar hijri; corresponding to 20th of the Islamic month of Rabi al-Sani 1442 lunar hijri; and December 6, 2020, of the Christian Gregorian Calendar.
1258 solar years ago, on this day in 762 AD, Mohammad "Nafs Zakiyya” (Pure Soul), the great grandson of Imam Hasan Mojtaba (AS), the elder grandson of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA), was martyred at the age of 53 near the holy city of Medina during a battle against forces sent by Mansur Dawaniqi, the second self-styled caliph of the usurper Abbasid regime. His father was Abdullah al-Mahadh – a son of the survivors of the tragedy of Karbala, Hassan al-Muthanna and Fatema, the daughter of the Prophet’s younger grandson, Imam Husain (AS).
835 solar years ago, on this day in 1185 AD, Afonso Henrique, who rebelled against over five-and-a-half centuries of Muslim rule in the Iberian Peninsula and occupied the emirates of Lisbon and Badajoz, by renaming them as Portugal and styling himself King Afonso I, died after a 46-year rule. His success against Muslim was due to a chanced victory in the Battle of Ourique over Ali ibn Yusuf of the al-Murabetun Dynasty.
780 solar years ago, on this day in 1240 AD, Mongol armies of Batu Khan invaded the principality of Rus, occupied Kiev and destroyed it. For several centuries the Russians and Ukrainians acknowledged the Mongols and their Muslim Tatar successors as overlords.
316 solar years ago, on this day in 1704 AD, a battalion sent by Mughal Emperor, Aurangzeb under command of Iranian general, Mirza Askari Wazir Khan, routed the Sikhs at the Battle of Chamkaur in the Punjab, but failed to arrest Guru Gobind Singh, who was escorted by Ghani Khan and Nabi Khan to Jatpur where he was received by the local Muslim chieftain. He later went to Dina, where he wrote "Zafarnama” (Epistle of Victory) in Persian, in 111 verses, and mockingly sent it to Aurangzeb. According to another version, Gobind Singh wrote the "Zafarnama” the next year following the Battle of Muktsar on 29 December 1705. Wazir Khan, who was governor of Sirhind in Punjab was captured by the Sikhs in the Battle of Chappar-Chiri in 1710 and killed.
308 lunar years ago, on this day in 1134 AH, the Iranian poet and literary figure, Lotf-Ali Bayk Azar Bigdeli, was born in Isfahan. An eloquent speaker well-versed in poetry, he compiled a large number of works, including a divan of poems, and "Atashkada-e Azar”, which is an anthology of contemporary and past poets.
242 solar years ago, on this day in 1778 AD, French chemist and physicist, Joseph Gay-Lussac, was born. The invention of a type of alcoholometer, and densimeter, and identification of chlorine as an element, are some of his achievements. His most important scientific activities are laws on expansion of gases, which have been named after him. He died in 1850.
197 solar years ago, on this day in 1823 AD, Friedrich Max Muller, the German-born philologist and Orientalist, who lived and studied in Britain for most of his life, was born in Dessau. "The Sacred Books of the East”, a 50-volume set of English translations, was prepared under his direction.
152 solar years ago, on this day in 1868 AD, August Schleicher, German linguist and academic, died at the age of 47. His famous work was "A Compendium of the Comparative Grammar of the Indo-European Languages”, in which he attempted to reconstruct the Proto-Indo-European language. He was fluent in Arabic, Hebrew, Sanskrit and Persian.
103 solar years ago, on this day in 1917 AD, Finland emerged independent with a republican system following the fall of the Russian monarchy. Throughout history this land was divided between Sweden and Russia. Finland covers an area of over 338,000 sq km. It shares borders with Russia, Sweden, and Norway.
98 solar years ago, on this day in 1922 AD, The Irish Free State was established as a Dominion of the British Commonwealth of Nations under the Anglo-Irish Treaty signed by British and Irish representatives exactly twelve months beforehand.
67 solar years ago, on this day in 1953 AD, three Iranian students were shot and martyred by the Shah’s forces at Tehran University for protesting the visit to Iran of the then US vice-president, Richard Nixon, three-and-a-half months after the US-coup that toppled the government of Prime Minister Dr. Mohammad Mosaddeq and restored the fugitive Shah to power. The day after this tragic incident, Nixon was shamelessly awarded an honorary PhD by the regime at Tehran University. This day is thus marked as Student’s Day in Iran.
64 solar years ago, on this day in 1956 AD, Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, leader of India’s so-called ‘Untouchable Caste’, economist, and the main architect of the national constitution, died at the age of 65.
61 lunar years ago, on this day in 1381 AH, Ayatollah Sheikh Hashim Mudarris Qazvini passed away. Born in Qazvin, after completing his religious studies in his hometown, he joined the Islamic seminary at Isfahan for higher studies, before moving six years later to holy Mashhad, where he taught for forty years. Among his students was the future Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei.
37 lunar years ago, on this day in 1405 AH, Grand Ayatollah Seyyed Ahmad Khwansari passed away at the age of 96 in Tehran and was laid to rest in the holy shrine of Hazrat Fatema al-Ma’soumah (SA) in Qom.
28 solar years ago, on this day in 1992 AD, to the shock of the civilized world, the historic Babri Mosque in Faizabad, India, was desecrated and razed to the ground by anarchic elements. The mosque built in 1528 by Mir Baqi Tashqandi, the Persian minister of Zaheer ud-din Mohammad Babar, the Founder of the Mughal Empire in the Subcontinent, was an architectural masterpiece topped by three domes and exquisite Persian and Arabic inscriptions. A whisper from the "mehrab” or prayer niche could be heard clearly at the other end, 200 feet away and through the length and breadth of the central court. The deployment and projection of voice from the pulpit was such that modern architects have attributed this intriguing acoustic feature to a large recess in the wall of the mehrab and several recesses in the surrounding walls which functioned as resonators; this design helped everyone to hear the speaker at the mehrab. The sandstone used in the Babri Mosque also had resonant qualities which contributed to the unique acoustics. A passive environmental control system comprised the high ceiling, domes, and six large grille windows, which helped keep the interior cool by allowing natural ventilation as well as daylight. Mir Baqi, who as Governor of Awadh helped the fledgling Mughal Empire subdue and pacify the region, had built the Babri Mosque for Shi’a Muslims, but in the subsequent centuries it was taken over by Sunni Muslims. In 1936 during the British era, Shi’a Muslims had filed a lawsuit for return of the Babri Mosque to them on the basis of historical documents, but the petition was rejected. It is worth mentioning that Hindus had no claim to this place of worship of the One and Only Creator, until over three centuries after its construction, the Babri Mosque was mischievously registered as a monument built on the ruins of a temple, by a British official, following the fall of the Shi’ite-Muslim kingdom of Awadh of Iranian origin to the colonialists, despite the fact that no Rajput history written by Hindus had made such a claim, such as "Ramcharit Manas” of Tulsidas (1574). Several decades later, seditious groups, intent on harming national unity, stealthily installed idols in one of sections of the mosque, and the court battle that followed led to the unjust division, and later the lock-up of the Babri Mosque. Finally anarchic elements, exploited by unprincipled politicians, alleging that it was the site of birth of a pre-historic figure called Ram, destroyed it and unleashed clashes all over the country, resulting in the death of over 2000 people, mostly Muslims. Although the Archeological Survey of India failed to find any traces of previous construction, let alone temple relics at the site of the destroyed mosque, the court issued a controversial verdict allotting only a third of the place for construction of a mosque – the rest to be reserved for a temple – a decision which India’s 250 million Muslims have rejected and filed appeal at the Supreme Court for restoration of the whole site for the worship of the One and Only God.
27 solar years ago, on this day in 1993 AD, Javad Ma’roufi, one of the most notable composers of Persian classical music and one of the first pianists who wrote Persian pieces for the piano, passed away in his hometown Tehran at the age of 82. Amongst his celebrated pieces are "Khabha-ye Tala’I” (Golden Dreams) and "Jila”.