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Important Events in Modern History of the Muslim World
Compiled by: Syed Ali Shahbaz
Napoleon Bonaparte of France invasion of Egypt
On July 25, 1799 AD, Napoleon Bonaparte of France, during his invasion of Egypt, defeated an Ottoman army of 10,000 led by Mustafa Pasha at Abukir. Napoleon, who undertook the invasion of Egypt in 1798 as part of his plan to protect French trade interests and undermine Britain's access to India, had boasted prior to his campaign: “Having occupied and fortified Egypt, we shall send a force of 15,000 men from Suez to the Sultanate of Mysore (in India), to join the forces of Tipu Sultan and drive away the English.”
Three years later in 1801, despite several victories, he was eventually forced to withdraw after unsuccessful attempts to pose as liberator from Ottoman rule or win the confidence of the Egyptians, even though he participated at al-Azhar in the birth anniversary celebrations of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA), clad in Arab clothes and turban, and telling the congregation that he has changed his name to Ali Bonaparte.
His abortive expedition into Syria, mounting political disharmony in France, conflict in Europe, and the defeat of the French fleet at the Battle of the Nile by the British led by Nelson, made him end the occupation of Egypt.
The Islamic Nation of Iraq
On October 3, 1932 AD, Iraq was granted independence by Britain, although the British did keep close control of affairs of the country they had created after World War I, until the overthrow in 1958 of the monarchy they had installed in Baghdad by importing Faisal I from the Hijaz – the son of their agent Sharif Hussein.
The land of Iraq is the original cradle of human civilization, and it is here the Father of the human race, Adam, as well as Prophet Noah repose in eternal peace. Throughout history the Land of the Rivers Tigris and Euphrates (Bayn an-Nahrayn or Mesopotamia) saw the rise and fall of great civilizations that contributed to the scientific progress of mankind, such as the Sumerian, the Akkadian, the Assyrian, the Chaldean, and the Babylonian.
In 539 BC, the emerging Achaemenian Empire of Iran, under Cyrus the Great, took control of Iraq, which remained in Persian hands for two centuries until their defeat by Alexander the Macedon in 331 BC in the Battle of Gaugamela near Mosul. In 247 BC, the Parthians defeated the Seleucid successors of Alexander to revive Iranian independence and a century later drove the Greeks out of Iraq, where they built their new capital, Ctesiphon (near modern Baghdad).
The Parthians were replaced in 224 AD by the Sassanid Dynasty which also maintained its capital in Ctesiphon till its fall to the Muslim Arabs in 637 AD, which means that for almost 8 hundred years this city in Iraq, also known as Mada'en was the capital of Iranian empires, until the advent of Islam.
The greatest glory for Iraq, however, was the shifting of the Islamic capital from Medina to Kufa in 36 AH (657 AD) by the Commander of the Faithful, Imam Ali ibn Abi Taleb (AS), whose martyrdom in this land after over four years of the only instance in history of the model government of social justice further increased its significance.
Iraq is also the place where the Prophet's grandson, Imam Husain (AS) attained immortal martyrdom in Karbala in 61 AH (680 AD) during history’s most heartrending tragedy. In 132 AH (749 AD), after the end of the 90-odd years of tyranny of the Damascus-based Omayyad dynasty, Iraq once again became the centre of the Islamic world, with the shifting of the capital to Hirah by the equally oppressive Abbasid caliphs, who built Baghdad in 145 AH (762 AD) on the Iranian model as the new capital.
With the weakening of Abbasid rule, Iraq became part of the empire of the Iranian Buwaihid dynasty in 945 AD, and 110 years later in 1055 AD it became part of the Iran-based Seljuqid Empire. In 1258 AD Baghdad was sacked by the Mongol hordes of Hulagu Khan and along with the rest of Iraq was part of the Iran-based Ilkhanid Empire for the next century.
Thereafter, it was contested by the Iran-based Turkic dynasties such as the Timurids, the Qara Qoyounlu, and the Aq Qoyounlu, until the emergence of the Safavids of Iran who made it part of the Persian Empire once again, before Shah Tahmasb lost it to te Ottoman Turks of Sultan Sulayman.
Shah Abbas I retook Iraq, while his successor lost it to the Turks. It was hotly contested by the Iranians and the Ottomans and the last Iranian king to hold Iraq was Nader Shah until his assassination in 1747.
In 1917, with the defeat of the Ottoman during World War I it passed into British hands. Today, after the end of the 35-year long tyrannical Baa'th minority rule, Iraq is once again independent under an elected government, supported by the majority of people.
Modern Iraq covers an area of more than 438,000 sq km. It shares borders with Iran, Turkey, Syria, Jordan, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia. It is worth noting that according to Islamic prophecies, in the end times, Kufa in Iraq, will be the seat of the global government of Prophet Mohammad’s (SAWA) 12th and Last Infallible Successor, Imam Mahdi (may God hasten his reappearance).
Turkey and the Island of Cyprus
On August 16, 1960, the Island of Cyprus gained its independence from British rule under the ZĂĽrich and London Agreement between Britain, Greece and Turkey, with quotas on ethnic basis for government posts and public offices, which were violated by the Greek majority. The present division of the island occurred in 1974, following the massacre of over 125 Muslims in Cyprus and the plot to merge with Greece, prompting the Turkish government to dispatch troops to seize the northern part of the island, which is known as the Turkish Democratic Republic of Cyprus.
Arabs and Greeks had fought for over 300 years over Cyprus, which was occupied in 1191 by King Richard of England who a year later sold the island to the Knights Templar, who in turn sold it to Guy of Lusignan. His brother and successor Amalric was recognized as King of Cyprus by the Holy Roman Emperor. Following the death in 1473 of James II, the last Lusignan king, the Republic of Venice assumed control of the island, and formally annexed Cyprus in 1489. The Ottoman Turks started their bid to drive out the Venetians and in 1539 almost succeeded before withdrawing.
In 1570, the island finally became part of the Ottoman Empire and remained so for the next three centuries, until it was leased to the British in 1878 on condition of protecting the decaying Turkish Empire from Russian attacks. In 1923, after the Ottomans had been forced to give up all of their European territories, except Istanbul, Britain forced the truncated state of Turkey to relinquish all claims to Cyprus, and in 1925 declared it as a crown colony.
Turkish forces landed on Cyprus
On July 20, 1974 AD, Turkish forces landed on Cyprus at the invitation of local Turkish Muslim Cypriot leader, Raoof Denktash, after a coup d’état by Greece to take over the entire island. Since then Cyprus is divided into the northern one-third controlled by Turks and the southern two-thirds controlled by the Greeks. UN measures for unity of this island state have remained inconclusive.
Cyprus first came under Muslim rule in the latter half of the 7th century AD when Arabs from Syria entered it, before being reoccupied by the Greek Byzantine Empire over two centuries later. It fell to the Venetians in the 15th century, and in 1570 was formally taken over by the Turkish Ottoman Empire, whose rule lasted till 1914 and the beginning of World War 1, although in 1878 it was leased to the British.
The scandalous Sykes-Picot Accord to divide the Arab lands of the Ottoman Empire
On May 9, 1916 AD, the scandalous Sykes-Picot Accord was signed by representatives of Britain, France, and Russia in Paris for dividing up the Arab lands of the Ottoman Empire and limiting the Turkish possessions to Anatolia or present day Turkey.
Even before the formal defeat of the Ottomans in 1917, lines were drawn on paper to share the spoils by the two principal European colonial powers. The British took control of Iraq and the Hijaz. Shaam or Greater Syria was split up into four parts, with the British taking Jordan and Palestine, and the French taking Syria and Lebanon.
The main goal of this plan was to set up in Palestine, an illegal entity called Israel as a homeland for European Jews.
Treaty of Ta’ef imposed on Yemen by Abdul-Aziz Aal-e Saud
On May 20, 1934 AD, the one-sided Treaty of Ta'ef was imposed on Imam Yahya of Yemen by Abdul-Aziz Aal-e Saud, ruler of the British created state called Saudi Arabia, according to which the regions of Najran, Jeezan, and Asir were occupied for a period of 40 years. In the 1990s, Yemen demanded the return of these vast territories, but with American backing Saudi Arabia has refused to return them in violation of the Treaty of Ta'ef.
Earlier Abdul-Aziz had seized the Hijaz and after violent massacres in the holy cities of Mecca and Medina, and the port city of Jeddah, blasphemously destroyed the holy shrines in the sacred Jannat al-Baqie Cemetery. The Saudis are also in occupation of the oil-rich eastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula on the Persian Gulf against the wishes of the local people.
Algerian freedom-fighters led by Sufi scholar Amir Abdul-Qader
On May 27, 1837 AD, the Treaty of Tafna was signed by Algerian freedom-fighters led by Sufi scholar Amir Abdul-Qader and France, which invaded Algeria in 1830 to supplant the declining power of the Ottomans – who were preoccupied with the western-supported rebellion in the Province of Yunanistan that led to the emergence of Greece as an independent country.
As per the treaty, France had control of Oran and Algiers while the remaining two-third of the country was free. In 1839, the French renewed attacks, but met with stiff resistance and by 1842 Abdul-Qader had the upper hand, until the arrival of fresh troops from France and mass massacres of the Muslim people. Following Morocco's refusal to support him, Abdul-Qader surrendered to the French in 1847 and was sent to France as a prisoner. Years later, he was released, but not allowed to return to Algeria.
He went to Syria where he died at the age of 75 years in Damascus, after writing a treatise on philosophy. Algeria finally became independent in 1961 after a post-World War 2 struggle during which the French killed more than one million Muslims.
US civil rights activist, Malcolm X
On May 19, 1925 AD, US civil rights activist, Malcolm X was born as Malcolm Little, and after conversion to Islam, became known as al-Haj Malik ash-Shabazz. He was a courageous advocate for the rights of African Americans, a man who criticized white America in the harshest terms for its crimes against black Americans.
He has been called one of the greatest and most influential Afro-Americans in history. Malcolm X became a member of the Nation of Islam in 1952 and quickly rose to become one of its leaders. For a dozen years he was the public face of this controversial group, but disillusionment with its chief, Elijah Muhammad, led him to leave the group in March 1964.
After a period of travel in Africa and the Middle East, where he performed the Hajj pilgrimage to holy Mecca, he returned to the US, and founded "Muslim Mosque, Inc." and the "Organization of Afro-American Unity." On 21st February 1965, he was assassinated by FBI agents as he prepared to address the Organization of Afro-American Unity in Manhattan's Audubon Ballroom.
A man seated in the front row rushed forward and shot him once in the chest with a double-barreled sawed-off shotgun. Two other men charged the stage and fired semi-automatic handguns, hitting him several times. According to the autopsy report, Malcolm X's body had 21 gunshot wounds to his chest, left shoulder, and both arms and legs, many of them fatal; ten of the wounds were buckshot to his left chest and shoulder from the initial shotgun blasts. Recently his maternal grandson, also named Malcolm Shabazz was brutally killed in Mexico by US agents for being a staunch Muslim.
"Lawrence of Arabia"
On May 19, 1935 AD, the British politician and intelligence operative, Thomas Edward Lawrence, died in a driving accident at the age of 47. Born out of wedlock to a baron, and known as "Lawrence of Arabia", he was a notorious spy whose job was to befriend, deceive and destroy Muslim rulers in Arabia. During the years 1910 to 1914, under guise as a member of an archeological delegation in the countries of Iraq, Syria, and Palestine, he sowed the seeds of seditions among the Arabs and Turks as part of the British policy to disintegrate the Ottoman Empire.
It was through his efforts that the artificial country called Jordan was created for Abdullah, the son of the British agent, Sharif Hussain of Hejaz; while another son, Faisal, was first made king of Syria, and four months later when driven out from Damascus, was installed as king of Iraq in order to crush the aspirations of the Shi'ite Muslim majority.
Next, when Sharif Hussain was driven out from the Hijaz by the Wahhabi desert brigand from Najd, Abdul-Aziz Aal-e Saud, another artificial state called Saudi Arabia was created, on condition that no objection would be raised to the British plan to create for European Zionists an illegal entity called Israel in Palestine. Lawrence has shamelessly referred to part of these plots during World War I in his book titled: “Seven Pillars of Wisdom”.
The tiny Persian Gulf emirate of Kuwait
On June 19, 1961, Britain granted independence to the tiny Persian Gulf emirate of Kuwait, which throughout history, was part of the Iranian Achaemenid, Parthian and Sassanid Empires. With the advent of Islam, this area was classified with Iraq and was subsequently ruled by the Iranian Bouyid dynasty of Baghdad, followed by the vast Iran-based empires of the Seljuqids, the Ilkhanids, the Qara Qoyunlu, and the Safavids.
The Ottoman Turks briefly took over this mostly deserted land, which in the 18th century saw an influx of nomads from Najd in the desert interior of the Arabian Peninsula who occupied it and began to call it Kuwait. In 1756, they chose a certain Sabah bin Jaber as the tribal chief, whose descendants have continued to rule Kuwait.
In 1899, British colonialists, as part of their policy to curtail the power and influence of the Ottoman Turks, declared Kuwait as a protectorate. With the discovery of oil, tiny Kuwait became rich overnight, and even after independence from Britain, it's foreign and defence policies are virtually controlled by the West, especially the US, in view of persistent claims by neighbouring Iraq.
From August 1990 to March 1991, Kuwait was occupied by Saddam, the Ba'thist dictator of Baghdad, who was forced to evacuate it as a result of the First Persian Gulf War launched by the US-led multinational alliance. Kuwait covers an area of 18,000 sq km and shares land borders with Iraq and Saudi Arabia.
The Mahdi of Sudan
On June 29, 1881 AD, Mohammad Ahmad, the leader of the Samaniyya Sufi Order of Sudan, wrongly declared himself to be the Mahdi, during a period of widespread resentment among the Sudanese people because of the oppressive policies of the Turko-Egyptian rulers. The Mahdiyya, as his movement was called, was influenced by earlier messianic trends in West Africa in reaction to the growing military and economic dominance of European powers.
Until his sudden death at the age of 40 years on 22nd June 1885, nearly six months after his capture of Khartoum, he led a successful military campaign against the British-commanded Turko-Egyptian government of the Sudan. He traced his descent to a family of descendants of the Prophet Mohammad (SAWA) through the line of his elder grandson, Imam Hasan al-Mojtaba (AS). Mohammed Ahmad's posthumous son, Abdur-Rahman al-Mahdi, became leader of the neo-Mahdist movement in the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan and later the Ummah Party, which was supported by the crafty British, who however, foiled his ambition to become King of Sudan when the country gained independence 1956.
In modern-day Sudan, Mohammad Ahmad is sometimes seen as a precursor of Sudanese nationalism. The present leader of the Ummah Party, former Sudanese prime minister, Sadeq al-Mahdi, is his great great-grandson as well as the self-styled Imam of the religious order, Ansar.
Ismail Mohammad, Chief Justice of South Africa as well as of Namibia
On July 5, 1931 AD, Ismail Mohammad, Chief Justice of South Africa as well as of Namibia, was born in Pretoria into a Muslim family of Indian merchants. Educated at the Indian School, he became a qualified lawyer, but was refused admission to the Pretoria Bar Association as it was reserved for white lawyers during the apartheid era.
Later he succeeded in joining the Johannesburg Bar Association. In the 1960s he served as a lawyer in Botswana, Lesotho, Swaziland and Zimbabwe. In 1974 he became the first non-white in South African history and co-authored the constitution of Namibia. In 1984, he was made an English Barrister.
In 1991 he became Chair of the Convention for a Democratic South Africa, and the country's first non-white judge of the Supreme Court. He became a judge of the Constitutional Court in 1995. In 1996 he was made Chief Justice of South Africa by President Nelson Mandela. Ismail Mohammad passed away in 2000 at the age of 69.
The Comoros “Qamar” Islands
On July 6, 1975 AD, the Comoros Islands gained independence from French colonial rule. Comoros is actually the French corruption of “Qamar” for Moon in Arabic since the islands are known as Juzur al-Qamar (Moon Islands). According to accounts, in 632, upon hearing of Islam, the islanders are said to have dispatched an emissary, the navigator Qumralu, to Arabia—but by the time he arrived there, Prophet Mohammad (SAWA) had departed from the world.
Nonetheless, after a stay in Medina, he returned to Qanbalu Island and led the gradual conversion of his islanders to Islam. Some of the earliest accounts of the Comoros were derived from the works of the famous Islamic geographer, al-Masudi, who mentions the early Islamic trade routes and how the islands were frequently visited by Muslims including Iranian and Arab merchants and sailors from Basra in search of coral, ylang-ylang, ivory, beads, spices, and gold.
They also brought Islam to the people of Comoros and Zanzibar. By the 12th century AD, masses of people converted to Islam in these islands and the Islamic culture and civilization quickly spread. In the 16th Century AD, Comoros Islands were for a while occupied by Portugal.
The Sultan of Oman who had brought Zanzibar under his control, managed to put an end to this occupation. In 1842, parts of Comoros were occupied by the French. Finally, following the struggles of people of these islands, the Islamic country of Comoros officially announced its independence in 1975.
President Ahmad Abdullah Mohammad Sambi, who was elected in the first democratically-held elections in May 2006, served as head of the government for a five-year term till 2011. Educated in the holy city of Qom and popularly known as “Ayatollah” because of his Islamic attire and green turban, he is of Hadhrami ancestry from Yemen and claims descent from Ali al-Uraydhi, a son of Imam Ja’far Sadeq (AS), the 6th Infallible Heir of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA).
The Anglo-Egyptian War in 1882
On July 11, 1882 AD, the British fleet started the bombardment of the port city of Alexandria in Egypt as part of the Anglo-Egyptian War, following a coup by Colonel Ahmed Orabi against Towfiq Pasha, the Khedive of Egypt and Sudan, because of grievances over disparities in pay between Egyptian and European employees, as well as other concerns. As a nation Egypt was in limbo.
Although a province of the Ottoman Empire, the Turks neither governed nor cared for Egyptian affairs, because of their own internal decline. Consequently, Egypt had been looted and misgoverned for decades by the Khedives, who in turn were exploited by the British and the French. This naturally caused resentment among nationalist forces in Egypt, manifested by Orabi’s coup.
The British who had no right to meddle in the internal affairs of Egypt, bombarded Alexandria for three days, followed by marines occupying it. Much of the city was destroyed by fires that broke out as a result of the bombardment. The British then restored to power Khedive Towfiq, who declared Orabi a rebel. Orabi counteracted by obtaining a fatwa from the al-Azhar Shaykhs stating that Towfiq was a traitor who betrayed his religion and brought on the occupation of Egypt by a foreign nation.
Orabi ordered conscription and the British army tried to reach Cairo through Alexandria, but was stopped for five weeks at Kafr ad-Dawwar by Orabi. In August, a British army of over 40,000, commanded by Garnet Wolseley invaded the Suez Canal Zone. Orabi redeployed to defend Cairo while his main force dug in at Tel al-Kabir, north of the railway and the Sweetwater Canal, both of which linked Cairo to Ismailia on the Suez Canal. Wolseley, on being informed of the weak defences of the Egyptians, attacked them and killed two thousand Egyptian Muslims.
Orabi’s forces were routed, and British cavalry pursued them and captured Cairo, which was undefended. Khedive power was restored while the British occupied Egypt until the Anglo-Egyptian Treaties of 1922 and 1936, giving gradual control back to the corrupt and inefficient Khedives, who were finally overthrown in the 1952 revolution by Colonel Jamal Abdun-Nasser and General Mohammad Najib.
The famous Egyptian religious scholar, Shaikh Mohammad Abduh
On July 11, 1905, the famous Egyptian jurist and reformist religious scholar, Shaikh Mohammad Abduh, passed away in Alexandria, at the age of 56 years. He was a product of al-Azhar where he studied logic, philosophy and mysticism. When the great Iranian pan Islamist scholar, Seyyed Jamal ad-Din Asadabadi, arrived in Egypt, Abduh became his student and was deeply influenced by him.
On being appointed editor-in-chief of al-Waqa'e al-Misriyya, the official newspaper of the country, he dedicated to reforming all aspects of Egyptian society. In his articles he criticized corruption, superstition, and the luxurious lives of the rich. He was exiled from Egypt in 1882 for six years, which he spent in Lebanon and Paris, where he joined Seyyed Jamaleddin in publishing the Islamic revolutionary journal "al-Urwat-al-Wusqa" which promoted anti-colonial views.
Abduh also visited Germany and Britain and during his exile dedicated his efforts toward furthering respect and friendship amongst Muslims and Christians. He returned to Egypt in 1888, in 1890, he became a consultative member of the Court of Appeal and in 1899, he was appointed Mufti of Egypt – a position he held until he died.
He embarked on reforming the education system at al-Azhar having come to the conclusion that Muslims suffer from ignorance about their own religion because of the despotism of unjust rulers. He was a prolific writer, and among his works is a commentary on Nahj al-Balagha, the famous collection of the sermons, letters, and maxims of the Commander of the Faithful, Imam Ali (AS) – a book, reintroduced to the Egyptians, seven centuries after the end of Fatemid rule.
The Massacre of Bosnian Muslims in Srebrenica
On July 11, 1995 AD, during the Bosnian War, more than 8,000 Muslims of the city of Srebrenica were slaughtered by the Serbs. This crime against humanity was the biggest massacre in Europe since World War II. Although the UN Security Council had declared Srebrenica a safe haven in 1993 and its forces were stationed in this city, the Serb militias occupied the city and cold-bloodedly slaughtered the people.
At the site of carnage, the Dutch peacekeeping forces stationed in the region took no measures to save the lives of the Muslim civilians. The indifference of European states toward this human catastrophe was questionable. All the three fact-finding committees, formed after the end of the Bosnian War held the European Union and the United Nations responsible for the massacre of Muslims in Srebrenica.
Baa’th minority regime of Iraq deports Imam Khomeini (RA) from Iraq
n October 2, 1978 AD, following restriction placed on his political and religious activities by the Baa’th minority regime of Iraq, the Father of the Islamic Revolution, Imam Khomeini (RA) proceeded by car towards Kuwait on a valid visa. The Kuwaiti regime, however, denied him entry under pressure from the Shah's despotic regime. Imam Khomeini then obtained a visit visa for France and left for Paris.
On October 4, 1978 AD, the Father of Islamic Revolution, Imam Khomeini (RA), left Iraq for Paris on a visit visa, following the refusal of the Kuwaiti authorities to allow him inside despite his holding of valid visa. Both the Baa'th minority regime of Baghdad and Kuwait were under pressure from the despotic regime of the Shah to prevent the Imam from carrying out his revolutionary activities. His arrival in Paris proved a blessing in disguise as the world media became more easily accessible to him and his declarations. Less than four months later, the Imam arrived in Tehran after 14 years in exile, to a grand unprecedented welcome to mark the triumph of the Islamic Revolution and the end of the Pahlavi regime.
Muhammad Ali Pasha, the “Khedive” of Egypt and Sudan
On May 17, 1805 AD, the Albanian general, Mohammad Ali Pasha, who was dispatched to Egypt by the Ottoman Sultan, following the withdrawal of Napoleon Bonaparte and his occupying French forces in 1801, officially proclaimed himself the “Khedive” (Persian for Viceroy or Ruler) of Egypt and Sudan by eliminating all rivals.
During his almost half-a-century rule he transformed Egypt into a regional power which he saw as the natural successor to the decaying Ottoman Empire. He initiated wide ranging reforms and established for the first time a professional bureaucracy. In the 1820s, he sent the first educational mission of Egyptian students to Europe. This contact resulted in the birth of literature that is considered the dawn of the Arabic literary renaissance, known as the “an-Nahdha”.
To support the modernization of the industry and the military, Mohammad Ali set up a number of schools in various fields where French texts were studied. Rifa'a at-Tahtawi supervised translations from French to Arabic on topics ranging from sociology and history to military technology.
In 1835, Mohammad Ali Pasha founded the first indigenous press in the Arab World, the Bulaq Press, which published the official gazette of the government. Bulaq also published rare old Arabic books, as well as Persian and Turkish. He pursued military campaigns initially on behalf of the Ottoman Sultan, Mahmoud II, in Arabia and Greece (capturing Athens in 1827 before the combined attack of the British-French forced him to retreat). Later he came into open conflict with the Ottoman Empire, because of his personal ambitions, which brought Syria under his control for ten years and made him advance as far as Konya in 1832.
He launched the expedition into the Hijaz to liberate the holy cities of Mecca and Medina from desert brigands of the Najd led by Abdullah ibn Saud, who followed the heretical Wahhabi cult and had desecrated the holy shrines. After purging the Hijaz of the Wahhabis, Mohammad Ali Pasha sent his son, Ibrahim, in 1812, to completely destroy and rout out the Aal-e Saud from Najd itself.
After a two-year campaign, the Aal-e Saud clan was crushed and most of them captured. The leader, Abdullah ibn Saud, was sent to Istanbul, and executed for having desecrated the holy shrine of Imam Husain (AS) in Karbala, before his sacrilegious attack on the Hijaz. In short, Mohammad Ali established the dynasty that lasted till the military coup of 1952 and the ouster of King Farouq by General Mohammad Najib and Colonel Jamal Abd an-Nasser.
Liberation of the Holy Land of Palestine from illegal occupation of Zionists
On May 14, 1948 AD, the most scandalous event of the 20th century occurred with the illegitimate birth in Palestine of the Zionist entity called Israel. Prior to seizing power, the illegal Zionist migrants of Europe had resorted to all sorts of racist and terrorist acts against the sons of the soil, and with British connivance drove into exile some 700,000 Palestinian Muslims and Christians on this day. Since then, the Zionist entity has imposed several wars on Arab states and seized their territory, in addition to terrorizing Palestinians and denying them their birthrights. With the help of the US, Britain, France and certain other countries, Israel has acquired a nuclear arsenal of around 400 atomic warheads, and indulges in almost daily threats of attacking the Islamic Republic of Iran. On May 14, every year the Palestinians and Muslims throughout the world hold rallies to show their determination for liberation of their homeland from the clutches of the European Jews and the eventual end of Israel.
On May 17, 1939, the British occupation authorities of Palestine released a so-called White Paper on the threshold of World War II for illegally settling 100,000 more European Zionists, as a prelude to the planting of the usurper state of Israel. The Palestinians rejected the plan, which they sensed was a prelude for complete occupation of their homeland. In 1942, in a conference held in the US, European Zionists formally called for the establishment of a usurper Jewish state in Palestine called Israel.
The Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Sultan, Bayezid II
On May 3, 1481 AD, the 7th Ottoman Sultan, Mohammad II (known as al-Fateh or the Conqueror), died, after a reign of 32 years and was succeeded by his son, Bayezid II. He transformed the Ottoman state into an empire by conquering Constantinople and ending Byzantine or the Eastern Roman Empire. He set out to revitalize the city, renamed it Islambol (today’s Istanbul) and made it the capital of his empire. The first decree issued by him was security and freedom of the residents who were almost all Christians. Hours later, he rode to the Hagia Sofia to proclaim the Islamic creed, converting the grand cathedral into an imperial mosque. When he stepped into the ruins of the Boukoleon, the Palace of the Caesars, built over a thousand years before by Theodosius II, he recited the famous Persian couplet of the Iranian poet, Shaikh Sa’di: "The spider weaves the curtains in the palace of the Caesars; The owl calls the watches in the towers of Afrasiab."
He began to build the Grand Bazaar, and also constructed during this period was Topkapı Palace, which served as the official residence of the Ottoman sultans for the next four hundred years. The city, built by Rome's first Christian Emperor, Constantine I, on the coastlines of Bosphorus Strait was thus transformed from a bastion of Christianity to a symbol of Islamic culture. Sultan Mohammad II extended Muslim rule as far as the borders of Italy and his death probably saved Rome from possible subjugation. He initiated administrative reforms and was fluent in several languages, including Turkish, Arabic, Persian, Hebrew, Greek and Latin. He invited scholars to his court, including the Iranian polymath, Ala od-Din Ali ibn Mohammad Qushji, who as a disciple of the astronomer-king Ulugh Beg, was an astronomer, mathematician and physicist from Samarqand.
Hungary, the Ottoman province of Majarestan
On May 1, 1544 AD, Hungary was conquered by the Ottoman Turks and for over some two centuries remained as the province of Majarestan.
Romania cecedes from Ottoman Empire
On May 10, 1877 AD, the Ottoman provinces of Wallachia and Moldavia, along with Transylvania, which was under Austrian rule, declared themselves independent as a new country called Romania, taking advantage of the declining state of Turkish Empire, which for almost five centuries had established Muslim rule in southwestern Europe. A war followed and four years later, Romania became formally independent on March 26, 1881.
The Ottomans achieved a resounding victory over the Spaniards and other European Christian powers
On 4th of the Islamic month of Rajab in 948 AH, the Ottomans achieved a resounding victory over the Spaniards and other European Christian powers who tried to attack Algeria with a huge army. More than twenty thousand European invaders were killed and their corpses scattered for several kilometers along the Algerian coast. The Ottomans captured about 130 ships, and reaffirmed their superiority in the Mediterranean over the European powers.
Turkish language’s Arabic-Persian alphabet changed to the Latin script by Turkey’s dictator, Mustafa Kamal
On April 29, 1928 AD, at the behest of West European powers, Turkey’s dictator, Mustafa Kamal, forced the Turkish Muslim people to change their centuries-old writing of the Turkish language from the Arabic-Persian alphabet to the Latin script. The goal was to deprive Turkey and the Turks of their Islamic identity and make them culturally subordinate to Europe. Mustafa Kamal, who styled himself Ataturk (Father of Turks), was an avowed opponent of Islam, and in addition to forcibly replacing the traditional dress of the Turkish people with the European style of dressing, he banned the recitation of the Azan or the Call to Prayer from the mosques. Although these laic measures harmed the Turkish Muslims and for several decades made them subservience to the West, they failed to undermine their strong faith in Islam.
Montenegro
On May 21, 2006 AD, following a referendum, Montenegro declared its independence from Serbia. From 1499 till the second part of the 19th century, it was part of the Ottoman Turkish Empire, and after World War became part of the Socialist Republic of Yugoslavia. Following disintegration of Yugoslavia, and the break out of the Kosovo crisis in late 1990s, Montenegro severed its political and economic ties with Serbia. Finally, in 2003, the two countries agreed to form The Serbia-Montenegro Federation, before going their separate way by holding the referendum of 2006. Montenegro covers an area of almost 14,000 sq km. It is situated in Balkan Peninsula and lies on the coastlines of Adriatic Sea. It shares borders with Serbia, Bosnia, and Albania. Some 30 percent of its citizens are Muslims.
The Ottomans under the command of Sultan Murad I defeated the Serbian army
On 13th of the Islamic month of Rajab in 792 AH, the Ottomans under the command of Sultan Murad I defeated the Serbian army led by Prince Lazar in the famous battle of Kosovo, also known as the Battle of Blackbird's Field, about 5 km northwest of modern-day Pristina. In this battle which brought the Balkans under Turkish control both Murad and Lazar lost their life.
The Ottoman fleet defeats a combined Christian fleet
On 18th of the Islamic month of Sha’ban in 967 AH, the Ottoman fleet led by Admiral Piyale Pasha (a Croat Muslim) and the Bey of Tripoli Turgut Ra’ees (a Greek Muslim), defeated a combined Christian fleet, led by the Spanish, in the Battle of Jerba at the island of the same name near Tunis, in one of the major marine battles in the world that prevented North Africa from falling to the expansionist designs of Spain and other Christian powers. In this battle over two thirds of the huge Christian armada was destroyed and as many as 18,000 killed in addition to 5,000 captured and taken to Istanbul, while the Ottoman loss was only one thousand soldiers.
Since losing to Khayreddin Pasha’s (Barbarossa) Ottoman fleet at the Battle of Preveza over two decades ago, and the disastrous expedition of Emperor Charles V against Algiers, some three years later, the major European sea powers in the Mediterranean, especially King Philip II of Spain together with Venice, appealed to Pope Paul IV in Rome and his allies to organize a Christian expedition against North Africa, two years after Piyale Pasha and Turgut Raees had captured the Balearic Islands and raided the Mediterranean coasts of Spain. The battle again proved the naval superiority of the Muslims and was over in a matter of hours, with about half the Christian ships captured or sunk.
The prominent Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire, Mohammad Pasha Sokolovich
On June 30, 1579 AD, the prominent Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire, Mohammad Pasha Sokolovich, was assassinated at the age of 73. He was a Serb by birth who converted to Islam at an early age and raised among the special Jan-Nsari Corps.
He rose through the ranks of the Ottoman imperial system, eventually holding positions as head of the imperial guard, High Admiral of the Navy, Governor-General of Rumelia, Third Vizier, Second Vizier, and as Grand Vizier, which position he held for over 14 years under three Sultans: Suleiman, Selim II, and Murad III. In addition to his native Serbo-Croat, he was fluent in Turkish, Persian, Arabic, and Venetian-Italian.
He had taken part in wars against Safavid Iran as head of a force of Serbs and Greeks, but later, due to Shah Tahmasp's diplomacy and proposal of a lasting peace accord, he advised the Ottoman Sultan to accept it. He was a great builder and constructed many mosques, schools, musafer-khanas and bridges in Istanbul, Belgrade, Sarajevo, and Mecca.
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