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News ID: 44978
Publish Date : 07 October 2017 - 20:16

This Day in History (October 8)



Today is Sunday; 16th of the Iranian month of Mehr 1396 solar hijri; corresponding to 17th of the Islamic month of Muharram 1439 lunar hijri; and October 8, 2017, of the Christian Gregorian Calendar.
2336 solar years ago, on this day in 319 BC, Pyrrhus Greek general and statesman of the Hellenistic period, was born. He was king of the Greek tribe of Molossians, of the royal Aeacid house, and later he became king of Epirus and Macedon. He was one of the strongest opponents of early Rome. Some of his battles, though successful, caused him heavy losses, from which the term "Pyrrhic Victory” was coined.
1312 solar years ago, on this day in 705 AD, the 5th self-styled caliph of the usurper Omayyad regime, Abdul-Malik Ibn Marwan, died in Damascus at the age of 59 after a reign of 20 tyrannical years during which among a spate of crimes against Islam and humanity, he ordered his Godless general, Hajjaj Thaqafi, to defile the sanctity of the holy Ka’ba with fire and brimstone in order to kill the rival caliph, Abdullah Ibn Zubayr. Born in Mecca to the despicable Marwan, who along with his pagan father Hakam, was expelled by Prophet Mohammad (SAWA) for ridiculing Islam, he grew up in Medina, where his father as the cousin and son-in-law of Caliph Othman Ibn Affan manipulated all state affairs and was the actual cause of the latter’s murder. When Mu’awiyyah Ibn Abu Sufyan seized the caliphate from the Prophet’s elder grandson Imam Hasan al-Mujtaba (AS), Marwan was appointed governor of Medina, and years later in 63 AH, along with his son Abdul-Malik, was lucky to be allowed to leave for Syria on the seizure of Arabia by Abdullah ibn Zubayr. In 64 AH, he found himself propelled to the truncated caliphate following the horribly mysterious death of the tyrant Yazid – perpetrator of the tragedy of Karbala – abdication of the latter’s son Mu’awiyya II a few months later, and his own father Marwan’s rise as caliph and death in the harem nine months later. He faced an uncertain future with the Omayyad caliphate shrunken to Damascus and its environs as Mokhtar Ibn Abu Obaidah, the Avenger of the Martyrs of Karbala, was all set to wipe out the Omayyads with his string of victories against the killers of the Prophet’s younger grandson, Imam Husain (AS). At this crucial juncture, Abdullah Ibn Zubayr, again blundered and refusing to join forces with Mokhtar for obliterating the Omayyads, he instead he sent his brother Mus’ab to attack and kill Mokhtar, thereby giving breathing space to Abdul-Malik and in fact allowing him to regroup and attack the divided armies of Iraq and Hijaz. What followed was the revival of Omayyad tyranny and suppression of Muslims, especially the Prophet’s progeny and their followers. Abdul-Malik initiated brazenly racist and chauvinistic polices against the letter and spirit of Islam that made Arabs the dominant class, hand-in-hand with rabid Arabization that deprived Syrians, Egyptians, and North Africans of their native languages and rich cultural heritage.
541 lunar years ago, on this day in 898 AH, the prominent Persian poet and literary figure, Noor od-Din Abdur-Rahman Jami, passed away at the age of 82 in the northeastern Iranian city of Herat which is currently in Afghanistan. Born in the city of Jam, in Khorasan Province, he went to Samarqand to learn Islamic sciences, literature and history, and visited several other lands before settling in Herat, which was then the capital of the Timurid Dynasty. He has left behind a large number of works in prose and verse, including "Baharestan”. He composed beautiful odes in praise of the Ahl al-Bayt of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA).
537 solar years ago, on this day in 1480 AD, the Great Standoff on either side of the Ugra River in Russia between the forces of Ahmad Khan, the ruler of the Great Horde, and Grand Duke Ivan III of Russia, resulted in the withdrawal of both the adversaries and an odd celebration of victory by both of them. In 1476 Ivan III stopped paying the annual tribute to the Tatar-Mongol Muslims, which they had been collecting for the past two centuries. At the time, Ahmad Khan was busy with his struggle against fellow Muslim Tartars of the Crimean Khanate, and this led to formation of strange alliances. On one side was Christian Russia and Muslim Crimea, while on the other side was the Muslim Great Horde aligned with the Christian Poland-Lithuania union of King Casimir IV. After a brief battle, Ahmad drew back and decided to wait for Casimir's army. Ivan III also withdrew and decided against crossing the river. Ahmad Khan chose not to attack until the Lithuanians show up but they didn't because of Crimean raid on their territories. With the winter fast approaching Ahmad turned south, while Ivan returned to Moscow. As Nikolai Karamzin writes in his "History of the Russian State": "It should be an odd image: two armies ran away from each other, not pursued by anyone", and then celebrated it as victory. It is worth recalling that Russia was subjugated by Genghiz Khan's son Batu Khan in 1255, and the Golden Horde that he founded continued for a full century until 1359, reaching its peak during the 30-year reign of Uzbeg Khan who converted to Islam. The territory of the Golden Horde at its peak included most of Eastern Europe from the Urals to the right banks of the Danube River, extending east into Siberia. In the south its lands bordered on the Black Sea and the Caucasus Mountains up to the frontiers of the Mongol Ilkhanate Dynasty of Iran. The 1396 invasion of Tamerlane broke the Golden Horde into smaller khanates and by 1433 it was simply referred to as the Great Horde that controlled Russia.
485 lunar years ago, on this day in 953 AH, renowned religious scholar, architect, engineer, mathematician, astronomer and poet, Baha od-Din Mohammad ibn Hussain al-Ameli, known popularly as Sheikh Bahai, was born in Ba’lbek, Lebanon. His father was one of the prominent ulema of the Jabal al-Amel region of Lebanon, who brought him to Iran in his childhood. Given his sublime talents, Sheikh Bahai mastered a number of sciences of his day in a short period. He has left behind more than 100 books and treatises in Arabic and Persian. He passed away at the age of 77 in the Safavid capital, Isfahan, and according to his will, his body was taken to Mashhad and buried in the premises of the holy shrine of Imam Reza (AS), the 8th Infallible Successor of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA). Shaikh Bahai is regarded as a leading scholar of his age and a "mujaddid" or revivalist. His erudition won him the admiration of Shah Abbas I, and he was appointed the Shaikh ol-Islam or the Chief Theologian of Isfahan. He wrote works on a wide variety of topics such as exegesis of the holy Qur’an, hadith, grammar, jurisprudence, mathematics, astronomy, and poetry. Among his famous works are "Jama’e Abbasi" on jurisprudence, "Kashkoul" on philosophy and poetry, "Khulasat al-Hisaab" on mathematics, and "Tashrih al-Aflaak" or Anatomy of the Celestial Spheres, a summary of theoretical astronomy where he affirms the view that supports the positional rotation of the Earth as it orbits around the sun. A number of architectural and engineering designs in Isfahan stand proof to the genius of Shaikh Bahai, including the Naqsh-e Jahan Square and the Grand Shah Abbas Mosque known as the Imam Mosque today. He also designed and constructed a furnace for a public bathroom, which still exists in Isfahan. The furnace was warmed by a single candle, which was placed in an enclosure. The candle burned for a long time, warming the bath's water. According to his instructions, the candle would be put out if the enclosure was ever opened. This happened during the repair of the building and no one has been able to make the system work again. He also designed the "Minar Jonbaan” (Shaking Minaret), which still exists in Isfahan.
483 solar years ago, on this day in 1534 AD, the English Parliament on the orders of King Henry VIII severed its ties with the Roman Catholic Church when Pope Clement VII refused to annul his marriage with his first wife, Catherine of Spain. The Anglican Church now replaced the Catholic Church in England, with the Archbishop of Canterbury taking on the duties of the Pope.
275 lunar years ago, on this day in 1164 AH, Nasser Jang Nizam od-Dowla, the 2nd ruler of the Asaf Jahi Dynasty of the Deccan (southern India), before start of battle with the French was treacherously shot by his own subordinate Himmat Khan, the Afghan Nawab of Kadapa, who quickly mounted the ruler’s elephant, cut off his head, and proclaimed his imprisoned nephew, Muzaffar Jang, as the next ruler. The French colonialist protégé was not destined to rule long and was killed treacherously within a few months by the Afghan Nawab of Karnool. Nasser Jang, who ruled for only two years, was entrusted with the governance of the Deccan a decade earlier during the 4-year absence of his father, the celebrated Asaf Jah Nizam ul-Mulk, at the court of the Mughal Emperor in Delhi during the invasion of India by Nader Shah Afshar of Iran.
161 solar years ago, on this day in 1856 AD, the Second Opium War between several western powers and China begins with the "Arrow Incident” on the Pearl River when Chinese police boarded the British vessel Arrow, arrested 12 Chinese crewmen on suspicion of piracy and lowered the British flag. The France, the US, and Russia, soon joined the British in subjecting China to a multipronged offense that ended in 1860 after the deliberate burning of the Summer Palaces by the western armies to humiliate the Chinese.  "Opium War" refers to one of the British tactical objectives: legalising the opium trade, expanding coolie trade, opening all of China to British merchants, and exempting foreign imports from internal transit duties.
136 solar years ago, on this day in 1881 AD, Vietnam was hit by a massive storm that destroyed houses and farms, claiming the lives of nearly 300,000 people.
105 solar years ago, on this day in 1912 AD, the First Balkan War began with tiny Montenegro declaring war on the Ottoman Empire, with the support of major west European powers. The Balkan Wars were two conflicts that took place in the Balkan Peninsula in south-eastern Europe in 1912 and 1913. By the early 20th century, Bulgaria, Greece, Montenegro and Serbia had seceded from the Ottoman Empire. In 1912, these countries formed the Balkan League. The First Balkan War broke out when the League attacked the Ottoman Empire on 8 October and was ended seven months later by the Treaty of London. After five centuries, the Ottoman Empire lost virtually all of its possessions in the Balkans, and large number of European Muslims began to be persecuted in these regions.
89 solar years ago, on this day in 1928 AD, troops stormed the house of prominent leader of Iran's Constitutional Movement, Ayatollah Seyyed Hassan Modarres, and arrested him along with his family and friends on the orders of the British-installed dictator, Reza Khan Pahlavi. The Ayatollah, who in 1925 had unsuccessfully opposed the dissolution of the Qajarid dynasty by the Pahlavi upstart, was exiled to Khaf and then to Kashmar in southern Khorasan, where in 1937 he was poisoned on the orders of Reza Khan and attained martyrdom.
46 solar years ago, on this day in 1971 AD, prominent researcher, writer and preacher, Seyyed Mohammad Musawi Shirazi, son of Sultan al-Va’ezin Ali Akbar Shirazi, passed away at the age of 75. Born in Tehran, he left for Iraq with his father at the age of 12 and in the holy city of Karbala completed his studies. On his return to Iran, he resided for a time in Kermanshah, before embarking on research and scholarly tours abroad that took him to Iraq, Syria, Jordan, Palestine, Egypt and the Subcontinent. During these trips he held dialogues and debates with Sunni Muslims as well as followers of other creeds, such as Jews, Christians, and Hindus. In India, in 1927, he had a marathon 8-hour long discussion with the Leader of the independence movement against the British, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, which was widely reflected in the Indian press. His most famous debate, however, was in Peshawar in what is now Pakistan in 1927 that lasted for ten days (beginning on January 27), with two prominent Sunni religious scholars of Afghanistan – Hafiz Muhammad Rashid, and Sheikh Abdu's-Salaam; both of whom from Kabul. A condition of the dialogue was that only sources acceptable to both sects would be cited. The dialogue was held in Persian, common to both parties, while four reporters recorded its details in the presence of approximately 200 people (both Shi’as and Sunnis).  The dialogues were a model of mutual respect and in spite of the seriousness of the subject, there was no breach of decorum. The transcript of the dialogue was first published in the newspapers each day the following morning. Later it was published in book form titled "Shabha-e Peshawar” (translated into English as Peshawar Nights) that became a classic authority in the Islamic World. He also authored the book titled "Sad Maqala-e Sultani” (100 Essays on Refutation of Judaism and Christianity) as well as the 2-volume "Grouh-e Rastaragaan” also known as "Firqa’e Najiyya” – reference to the famous hadith of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA): After me the Ummah will split into 72 sects of which only one will attain salvation and enter paradise.
30 solar years ago, on this day in 1987 AD, Saddam of Baghdad’s repressive Ba’th minority regime ordered chemical bombardment of Sumaar near Qasr-e Shirin in western Iran, resulting in the martyrdom of several civilians. During the 8-year war he imposed on Iran on the orders of the US, Saddam, who was supplied these internationally banned weapons by the West, especially Germany, used them on numerous occasions, resulting in the martyrdom and injury of around a hundred thousand Muslim combatants and civilians. Many of the chemically-scarred Iranians are still leading a painful life three decades after having fallen victim to toxic weapons, while the West, despite its claim to prohibition of use of weapons of mass destruction, including chemical weapons, has ignored the plight of the world’s prime victim of unconventional warfare and terrorism – the Islamic Republic of Iran.  
30 solar years ago, on this day in 1987 AD, US helicopter gunships in the Persian Gulf, in a blatant act of state terrorism and open support for Saddam of Baghdad’s repressive Ba’th minority regime, whose armies were losing on the war fronts, in an unprovoked attack, sank three Iranian patrol boats.
27 solar years ago, on this day in 1990 AD, Zionist troops attacked Palestinian worshippers at the al-Aqsa Mosque, martyring 20 and wounding scores of others.
12 solar years ago, on this day in 2005 AD, a 7.6-magnitude quake hit Kashmir killing thousands of people in parts of Pakistan, India and Afghanistan. The epicenter was Muzaffarabad. As many as 90,000 people were killed in the border regions of the three countries while 3.3 million people lost their homes and hearths.
(Courtesy: IRIB English Radio – http://parstoday.com/en)