Today is Thursday; 18th of the Iranian month of Dey 1399 solar hijri; corresponding to 23rd of the Islamic month of Jamadi al-Awwal 1442 lunar hijri; and January 7, 2021, of the Christian Gregorian Calendar.
519 solar years ago, on this day in 1502 AD, Italian pontiff, Ugo Boncompagni, who as Pope Gregory XIII was head of the Catholic sect of Christianity from 1572 to 1585, was born in Bologna. Later in life, after fathering an illegitimate child through adultery, he joined the Church. He is known for commissioning the Gregorian calendar that bears his name and was imposed in the 20th century on the rest of the world by the western powers.
463 solar years ago, on this day in 1558 AD, France liberated the port of Calais on the English Channel – the last possession of England on mainland Europe.
283 solar years ago, on this day in 1738 AD, a peace treaty was signed between the Maratha chieftain Peshwa Baji Rao and the Rajput general Raja Jai Singh II, the representative of Nizam ul-Mulk Asaf Jah I of Haiderabad-Deccan at Doraha village near Bhopal, following the stalemate in the decisive Battle of Bhopal that was fought between the two sides on 24th December 1737 and ended the ambitions of both the Marathas and the Nizam to become the paramount power in the Subcontinent during decline of the once powerful Moghal Empire. The Maratha rebels led by Baji Rao, had earlier raided Delhi and extracted huge sum of money from Moghal Emperor Mohammad Shah, who appealed to Nizam ul-Mulk to come to his help. The latter left the Deccan and reached Delhi, but finding the situation in the faction-riddled capital precarious, decided to check the Maratha advance by assembling a combined Muslim-Hindu army. He was, however, outclassed from taking Gujarat which fell to the Marathas, emboldening them to march towards the north. At Bhopal in central India, Nizam ul-Mulk consolidated his forces and a fierce encounter occurred during which the Marathas managed to besiege his army in the strong fortress of Bhopal, but failed to defeat him. The stalemate ultimately forced Baji Rao to sign a peace treaty. Nizam ul-Mulk decided to concentrate on the Deccan to nullify the menace of the Marathas, whose renewed bid to be masters of India after his death in 1748, was completely smashed at the 3rd Battle of Panipat in 1761 by the Afghan ruler, Ahmad Shah Abadali.   
236 solar years ago, on this day in 1785 AD, Frenchman Jean Pierre Blanchard and American scientist and physician John Jeffries made the first air crossing of the English Channel from England to France in a hot-air balloon - the first international flight. The voyage was successful, though not without difficulty, because to maintain height they were forced to jettison everything in the basket, including rope and most of their clothes.
135 lunar years ago, on this day in 1307 AH, the Islamic scholar of Northern India, Seyyed Mohammad Ibrahim, titled "Seyyed ul-Ulema” passed away. To him goes the credit of persuading the British occupiers of Lucknow to vacate the grand Asefi Mosque, the Alamgir Mosque and the magnificent Asefi Imambara (Hussainiyya), which they defiled for 27 years, using it as a gunpowder storage house, following their forcing into exile of the last King of Awadh, Wajed Ali Shah of the Naishapuri Dynasty founded by the Iranian adventurer, Seyyed Mohammad Amin Musavi entitled Sa’adat Khan Burhan ol-Mulk. After return of these religious structures to the Shi’ite Muslims Seyyed ul-Ulema revived the congregational prayers at the two mosques and the mourning ceremonies for the Martyr of Karbala, Imam Husain (AS) at the Hussainiyya. Soon the Friday and Eid Prayers were revived at the Asefi Mosque. Over a century earlier, it was Seyyed ul-Ulema’s famous ancestor, Seyyed Dildar Ali Naqavi Naseerabadi, who had led the first exclusive public congregational prayers of Shi’ite Muslims in Lucknow on 13th Rajab 1200 AH, on the birth anniversary of the Commander of the Faithful, Imam Ali ibn Abi Taleb (AS), followed by establishment of the weekly Friday prayers.
78 solar years ago, on this day in 1943 AD, the Yugoslav physicist, Nikola Tesla, died at the age of 87. His studies and inventions were mainly in the domain of electricity current. One of his discoveries is the alternative current.
42 lunar years ago, on this day in 1400 AH, Grand Ayatollah Seyyed Mohammad Baqer as-Sadr, and his venerable sister, Amena Haidar, known popularly as Bint al-Hoda, after days of torture in prison were martyred by Saddam, the tyrannical ruler of the Ba’th minority regime of Baghdad. Ayatollah Sadr was a brilliant scholar and studied under such immortal ulema as Grand Ayatollah Mohsin al-Hakeem and Grand Ayatollah Abu’l-Qassem Khoie. At a young age he reached the status of Ijtehad – or independent reasoning based on Holy Qur’an and Prophet’s Hadith. His lectures at the Najaf Seminary, during which he used to critically evaluate the western and eastern materialistic schools of thought, were widely attended by youths and academicians. He wrote outstanding works on Islamic economic and philosophy titled "Iqtasadona” (Our Economics) and "Falsafatona” (Our Philosophy). The awareness which he instilled in the Iraqi people, especially political consciousness, greatly alarmed the oppressive Ba’thist regime, in view of his attachment to the Father of the Islamic Revolution, Imam Khomeini (RA). Following victory of the Islamic Revolution in Iran and the jubilation of the Iraqi people for repeating this experience in Iraq, Ayatollah Sadr and his equally learned and socially active sister, were imprisoned, tortured and brutally martyred by Saddam. Grand Ayatollah Baqer as-Sadr authored many valuable books. His religious-political legacy is alive today, since many of the statesmen in the Iraq are either his students or inspired by his thoughts.
42 solar years ago, on this day in 1979 AD, following the Vietnamese army’s attack on Cambodia, Khmer Rouge dictator, Pol Pot, fled the country. The main features of Pol Pot’s regime were violent methods and forced eviction of people from cities, and eradication of any sign of civilization. In less than three years 2 million people, especially the Cambodians of Vietnamese origin, were killed.
35 solar years ago, on this day in 1986 AD, Egyptian border policeman in Sinai desert, Suleiman Khater, attained martyrdom in prison. In protest to the scandalous Camp David accord between Egypt and the Zionist entity, he executed a number of Israelis in the Sinai Peninsula on October 1985. Following his detention by the Hosni Mubarak regime a kangaroo court sentenced him to life imprisonment. After a while, his body was found hanging in the prison, and the Egyptian regime claimed he had committed suicide.
28 solar years ago, on this day in 1993 AD, the Islamologist and translator of Holy Qu’ran into Japanese language, Toshihiko Izutsu, passed away at the age of 79. He was born in Tokyo and in 1960 he obtained a PhD in linguistics. He concurrently taught linguistics and philosophy of language. He received the highest scientific medal from the Japanese emperor and has left behind a large number of books on mysticism, the Holy Qur’an, and philosophy. For a while he taught in Iran as well. His books include "History of Islamic Thought”. He highlighted the rich contribution of Iranians throughout history to the Islamic culture, civilization, and thought.
14 solar years ago, on this day in 2007 AD, the Iranian historian and researcher, Hojjat al-Islam Ali Davani, passed away at the age of 78. His books include "The Movement of Iranian Ulema”, which is in ten volumes. He was compiling the "Alawid Encyclopedia” when death overtook him.
11 lunar years ago, on this day in 1430 AH, the great Gnostic Grand Ayatollah Shaikh Mohammad Taqi Bahjat passed away in holy Qom at the age of 96 and was laid to rest in the mausoleum of Hazrat Fatema Ma’souma (SA). Born in Foumen in Gilan Province, after preliminary studies in his hometown he left for the holy city of Karbala in Iraq at the age of 14 for higher studies. Four years later he moved to holy Najaf, where he attended the classes of prominent ulema, including Ayatollah Murtaza Taleqani, Seyyed Abu’l-Hassan Isfahani, Mirza Mohammad Hussain Naeeni, and Seyyed Ali Qadhi Tabatabaei. Ayatollah Bahjat paid special attention to piety, self-cultivation and moral perfection. After 15 years of study in Iraq during which he mastered several branches of Islamic sciences including the philosophy of Abu Ali Ibn Sina, he returned to Iran and settled in holy Qom, where he attended the classes of Grand Ayatollah Hujjat Kuhkamrei and Grand Ayatollah Seyyed Hussain Boroujerdi. On attaining Ijtehad, he started teaching theology and jurisprudence for almost 50 years at his house. He composed poems of praise and eulogy of the Infallible Ahl al-Bayt of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA), especially the Martyr of Karbala, Imam Husain (AS). He has left behind a large number of compilations, including: "Jama’e al-Masa’el”, and "Zakhirat-al-Ebaad”.