Important Events in the Islamic World

Compiled By: Syed Ali Shahbaz

Islamic Awakening in the Arab World
On January 14, 2011 AD, Tunisia’s pro-US and pro-Israeli dictator, Zain al-Abedin bin Ali, faced with a popular uprising, fled the country for Saudi Arabia along with his family and billions of dollars of public wealth. On taking power in 1987 he slavishly served American interests by brutally suppressing the Tunisian Muslim people, for which he was rewarded with asylum by Saudi Arabia.
His ouster freed Tunisia from over half a century of anti-Islamic rule and triggered uprisings in other countries, such as Egypt, Libya, Bahrain, Yemen, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia. So far the Egyptian and Libyan dictators have been ousted as part of the Islamic Awakening sweeping the region, and despite the US-backed brutal measures, the regimes in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, and Yemen, are not expected to remain for long in power.

Hassan al-Banna, Founder of Egypt's Ikhwan al-Muslimin (Islamic Brotherhood)
On February 12, 1949 AD, Hassan al-Banna, Founder of Egypt's Ikhwan al-Muslimin (Islamic Brotherhood), was executed by the monarchical regime of King Farouq on the instructions of Britain for alleged involvement in the murder of a minister. The authorities also banned the Muslim Brotherhood in view of its popularity amongst not only the Egyptian Muslims but in neighbouring lands such as Syria, Jordan, Palestine, and some North African states.
Al-Banna is still revered for his Islamic revivalist attempts, while after decades of ban the Muslim Brotherhood is now in power in Egypt, following the election of President Mohammad Morsi. The Brotherhood played a vital role in mobilising the public in the recent nationwide rallies that resulted in the ouster of the US- backed dictator, Hosni Mubarak two years ago.

Emad Mughniyeh one of the leaders of Lebanon's Islamic movement, the Hezbollah
On February 12, 2008, Emad Mughniyeh, popularly known as Haaj Redhwan, one of the leaders of Lebanon's legendry anti-terrorist movement, the Hezbollah, was martyred in Damascus, the capital of Syria in a terrorist car bomb blast by agents of the illegal Zionist entity operating in tandem with elements of certain Arab reactionary states, as part of their plot to try to destabilize Lebanon and Syria.
He was born in 1963 in the city of Tyre in southern Lebanon in a religious family. His education was disrupted because of Israeli attacks and occupation of parts of Lebanon that compelled him to take up arms against the enemies of his homeland and cooperated with the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) which was then active there. Later he joined the Amal Movement, and on the formation of the Hezbollah in 1982 he became one of its key members. Mughniyeh planned and executed many strategic operations to dislodge Israeli forces from southern Lebanon, and as a result was place on the hit list of the Zionist entity.
In 2006 when Israel launched the 33-day war on Lebanon, he played a prime role in thwarting the aggression and forcing the Zionist army to retreat. Israel thus had assassinated in a dastardly manner as part of its policy of US-supported state terrorism.

The major victories of the Islamic Salvation Front in Algeria
On January 11, 1992 AD, following the major victories of the Algerian Islamic Salvation Front in the political scenes, President Shazli Bin Jadid, resigned. In 1988, in the wake of wide-scale unrests, he had pledged reforms and revision of the Constitution, according to which the activities of parties would be recognized. This enabled the Islamic Salvation Front to openly announce its existence in September 1989 and it soon managed to attract hundreds of thousands of members.
The victory of the Islamic Salvation Front in the local elections of June 1990 put an end to the monopoly of the ruling party, the Algerian National Liberation Front, which was in power in Algeria for thirty years. Following public strikes in May and June 1991, President Bin Jadid was forced to hold legislative elections. The landslide victory of the Islamic Salvation Front in the parliamentary polls of December 1991 deeply alarmed Algerian military commanders, who on the orders of France annulled the results of the elections and forced Bin Jadid to resign.

Slaughter hundreds of thousands of Shi'ite Muslims in Iraq
On January 17, 1991 AD, a so-called multinational force, led by the US, launched operation 'Desert Storm' to dislodge Saddam's army from Kuwait, which the Ba'thists had occupied on August 2, 1990. It was actually the US that had given green light to Saddam to occupy Kuwait, and then assembled a coalition against him to drive his forces by manipulating the UN Security Council. Saddam's forces quickly fled Kuwait, and when the people of Iraq rose against his repressive minority regime, the US stopped the war, and permitted Saddam to mercilessly slaughter hundreds of thousands of Shi'ite Muslims, even desecrating the holy shrines in Karbala, of Imam Husain (AS) and Hazrat Abbas (AS). Saddam was assisted in his crimes against Iraq's Shi'ite Arab majority and the ethnic Kurds of the north, by the MKO terrorist outfit, which with US-West European support has a bloody record of martyring several senior Iranian officials, as well as thousands of ordinary citizens.

The Allied Powers attack Turkey during World War I
On January 18, 1915 AD, a secret pact was signed by France, Britain, and Russia during World War I against the Ottoman Empire, following its joining of the Axis powers, namely the German and the Austro-Hungarian Empires. To weaken the Turks, the Allied Powers attacked the Dardanelles Strait, which links the Black Sea to the Mediterranean Sea.

The combatant religious scholar of the Caucasus, Sheikh Shamil
On January 25, 1871 AD, the combatant religious scholar of the Caucasus, Sheikh Shamil, passed away in the holy city of Medina at the age of 75. He was born in Daghestan after the Russians had seized from Iran this large province on the western coast of the Caspian Sea. He grew up in an atmosphere of resentment against Russian encroachments on more Iranian territories in the Caucasus especially what is now called the Republic of Azerbaijan.
In the aftermath of the Russian wars against Iran in the early 19th century, Sheikh Shamil launched his armed struggle in 1834. After initial defeats at the hands of Muslim revolutionaries, the Russian forces deployed 50,000 troops in the Caucasus and temporarily suppressed Shamil's movement in 1839. But, the struggles of Sheikh Shamil resumed two years later and continued until the year 1859. However, given that the Russian troops were equipped with advanced weaponry, the uprising failed and Sheikh Shamil was imprisoned. On release he left the Caucasus for the Hejaz where he breathed his last.

The Britain's Bedouin agent, Abdul-Aziz ibn Saud, the Wahhabi chieftain
On January 27, 1927 AD, the Britain's Bedouin agent, Abdul-Aziz ibn Saud, the Wahhabi chieftain, who two years earlier had seized Najd from the Aal-e Rasheed dynasty, declared it as 'kingdom'. A year earlier on 8th January 1926, he had desecrated the Grand Mosque of Mecca (Masjid al-Haraam) by installing himself as king in its sacred precincts, after the bloodbath he unleashed in occupying the Hijaz, where he slaughtered tens of thousands of Muslims in Mecca, Medina, Ta'ef, Jeddah, etc, in addition to destroying the holy cemeteries and shrines of Jannat al-Baqie and Jannat al-Mo'alla.
On 20th May 1027, Britain declared him ruler of the kingdoms of Najd and Hijaz. Five years later on 23rd September, 1932, after he had seized the Shi'ite Muslim principalities of al-Ahsa, Qatif, etc, on the eastern Persian Gulf coast of the Arabian Peninsula, the British proclaimed him king of what he now began to call "Saudi Arabia" in his name. It is the only country in the world to be named after a ruling family, which continues to loyally serve the British and Americans by creating dissensions amongst Muslims.

The Moroccan freedom fighter and patriot, Amir Abdul-Karim al-Khattabi
On January 28, 1882 AD, the Moroccan freedom fighter and patriot, Amir Abdul-Karim al-Khattabi, was born. He struggled against the Spanish and French domination of Morocco and formed a resistance core in the mountainous regions. In World War I, Spain, intent on expanding its territory massacred many Muslims in Morocco. After the termination of war and the growth of the movement of Moroccan revolutionaries, France slaughtered thousands of Moroccan Muslims that virtually eliminated the revolution against the Spanish and French occupiers after 18 years of resistance. He was exiled to the island of Reunion in the Indian Ocean, and later moved to Egypt, where in the time of President Jamal Abdun-Naser, he presided over the Liberation Committee of the Maghreb from European colonial rule.
On February 6, 1963 AD, the Moroccan freedom fighter and patriot, Amir Abdul-Karim al-Khattabi, passed away in Cairo at the age of 80. He struggled against the Spanish and French domination of his homeland and formed a resistance core in the mountainous regions in what became known as the Berber Republic of Rif. In World War I, Spain, intent on expanding its territory massacred many Muslims. After the termination of war and the growth of the movement of Moroccan revolutionaries, France slaughtered thousands of Moroccan Muslims that virtually ended the anti-colonial movement after 18 years of resistance. He was exiled to the island of Reunion in the Indian Ocean, and later moved to Egypt, where in the time of President Jamal Abdun-Naser, he presided over the Liberation Committee of the Maghreb from European colonial rule. It was his guerrilla tactics that influenced Ho Chi Minh in Vietnam, Mao Zedong in China, and Che Guevara in Latin America.

Faisal, the son of Sharif Hussein of the Hejaz, as king in Baghdad
On January 29, 1921 AD, the British invaders after crushing the uprising of Iraq’s Shi’ite Muslim majority, installed Faisal, the son of Sharif Hussein of the Hejaz, as king in Baghdad, as a reward for treason against the Ottoman Empire during World War I. Britain had earlier promised to make Sharif Hussein the Sultan of Arabia, but it switched sides by giving a green signal to the other British agent, Abdul-Aziz ibn Saud of Najd, to attack, plunder and desecrate the holy cities of Mecca and Medina, and its holy shrines as well as the commercial centres of Jeddah and Ta’ef.
Before creating the spurious state of Saudi Arabia for Abdul-Aziz, the crafty British, as part of their divide-and rule policy, first placed Faisal as king of Damascus, and created a fake state called Jordan for Sharif Hussein’s another son, Abdullah. The French, who had occupied Syria, opposed the British decision and four months later Faisal was driven out of Damascus. Then, London appointed Faisal as king of Iraq, which he ruled until his death in 1933 and was succeeded by his son Ghazi. In 1958, Ghazi’s son, Faisal II was overthrown and killed in the military coup staged by General Abdul-Karim Qassem, thus ending foreign imposed dynastic rule in Iraq.

Sudan
On January 1, 1956 AD, Sudan gained independence from 57 years of joint Egyptian-British rule. Sudan has been under military rule during most of its post-independence years. Since 1989, General Omar Hassan al-Bashir is in charge of the country, being elected every five years as the civilian president. The British and the US have always schemed to undermine the government of Sudan and have incited separatist revolts, especially in the mostly Christian south and in the Darfur region in the west. Last July, they finally separated southern Sudan and declared it as independent. Sudan covers an area of over 2.5 million sq km, and is situated in eastern Africa. It shares borders with Egypt, Libya, Chad, Kenya, Ethiopia, Uganda, and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Brunei
On January 1, 1984 AD, Brunei was granted independence by Britain, although the British still hold the strings in this tiny oil rich country in Southeast Asia. The majority of people of Brunei are Muslims and they speak the Malay language like the Malaysians and Indonesians. Brunei covers an area of some 5700 sq km.

The Suez Canal
On February 3, 1915 AD, during World War I, the Suez Canal, which was seized by Britain, was attacked by the joint forces of the German and Ottoman Empires. In view of its vital link between the Mediterranean and the Red Seas, the control of Suez Canal was of paramount importance for both the Allied and the Axis Powers. Britain's loss of this Canal would have seriously endangered its colonies in Asia. British forces beat off the attack with the help of their Arab and Indian auxiliaries. The Suez Canal remained under British occupation until 1956, when Egypt’s President Jamal Abdun-Naser, nationalized it.

Adam's Bridge in Si Lanka
On February 4, 1948 AD, Sri Lanka gained independence from British colonial rule. Located off the southern coast of India and known as Ceylon, this emerald-shaped island was first occupied by the Portuguese and later by the Dutch, before the British seized it in 1798. The struggle of the people forced the British to grant the right to vote to people in 1931 and establishment of the parliament and the executive council. In 1972, Sri Lanka officially became a republic.
It is interesting to note that in Islamic texts Sri Lanka is called “Sarendibâ€‌ and is the location of the descent to earth, of the Father of the human race, Adam, after he fell to the temptations of the Satan to eat the fruit of the forbidden tree. There are huge footprints in stone attributed to Adam on the 2,243 meter-high Adam's Peak of a conical mountain located in central Sri Lanka. Incidentally the 30-km long chain of islands separating the Gulf of Mannar from the Palk Strait is called Adam's Bridge. Geological evidence suggests that these islands were a land connection between India and Sri Lanka, and the route was used by Adam to travel to India from where he went to Arabia to find his long separated wife, Eve.

Colonel Abdus-Salaam A'ref seizes power in Iraq
On February 8, 1963 AD, Colonel Abdus-Salaam A'ref, with the help of Ba'thist army officers, seized power in Iraq and declared himself president, after bombarding the residence of President Abdul-Kareem Qassem and killing him. Three years later in 1966, he was killed in a plane crash while returning to Baghdad from Basra, where in a speech broadcast live on radio he had indulged in blasphemous demagoguery by questioning the famous sermon of Prophet Mohammad's (SAWA) First Infallible Successor, Imam Ali ibn Abi Taleb (AS) concerning the fickleness of faith of the Iraqi people.