The USS Liberty Incident
1st of Rabi' Al-Awwal 1387 AH/ June 8th, 1967 AD: An attack on a United States Navy technical research ship, USS Liberty, was launched by Israeli jet fighter planes, followed shortly by motor torpedo boats, on June 8, 1967, during the on-going Six-Day War. The combined air and sea attack killed 34 crew members and wounded 171 crew members. Israel claimed it thought the ship was the Egyptian supply ship El Quseir.
Death of George Orwell
1st of Rabi' Al-Awwal 1387 AH/ June 8th, 1967 AD: George Orwell, a British novelist, essayist, and critic, died. George Orwell was the pen name of Eric Blair, the author of Animal Farm (1945) and Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949). He was born in India and educated in England, and as a young man he spent seven years in Burma working for the Indian Imperial Police. He returned to Europe and in 1933 published his first book, Down and Out in Paris and London, a first-hand account of his self-imposed poverty.
Ankara Becomes Turkey's Capital
1st of Rabi' Al-Awwal 1342 AH/ October 13th, 1923 AD: Turkish nationalists replaced the Ottoman Empire (ending the Islamic caliphate) with the Republic of Turkey on 29 October 1923. A few days earlier, Ankara had officially replaced Istanbul (formerly Constantinople) as the new Turkish capital city, on 13 October 1923.
Campaign of Dawmat Al-Jandal
1st of Rabi' Al-Awwal 5 AH/ July 31st, 626 AD: The Prophet (peace be upon him) led a campaign to Dawmat Al-Jandal. This is an oasis on the frontier between Al-Hijaz and Al-Sham, midway between the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf. There, the Prophet (peace be upon him) could not find the tribes whom he had come to punish for their attack upon the caravans. For as soon as any heard that he was on his way, they would run, unmindful of what the Muslims might carry away of their property as booty. The geographic location of Dawmat al Jandal shows the ample extent of the Prophet (peace be upon him) and his companions' political influence and military sway. Such and like accounts give equally clear evidence of Muslim endurance, of their disregard for excessive heat, for the desolateness of the countryside and shortage of water. These reports testify to the Muslims' readiness to lay down their lives for the cause of Allah and to the determination of their faith in Him as One.
Muslim Brotherhood Dissolved
2nd of Rabi' Al-Awwal 1374 AH/ October 29th, 1954 AD: Gamal Abdul-Nasser dissolved Muslim Brotherhood after Al-Manshiya incident. A member of the Muslim Brotherhood fired shots at Nasser while the latter was making a speech; unharmed, Nasser stood firm and finished his speech, declaring that he was ready to die for his country. There are, however, some indications that Nasser and his close associates may have staged the assassination attempt; what is certain is that they had been considering doing so.
Shinnawi Becomes Azhar Imam
2nd of Rabi' Al-Awwal 1374 AH/ October 29th, 1954 AD: Shaykh Muhammad Ma'moon al-Shinnawi becomes the 37th Grand Imam of Al-Azhar [1948 - 1950].
Germany Invades Hungary
2nd of Rabi' Al-Awwal 1102 AH/ December 4th, 1691 AD: The German Army, led by Markgraph, defeats Ottomans and invades Hungary to end a 165 year of Ottoman sovereignty over Hungary.
Birth of Stuart Mill
3rd of Rabi' Al-Awwal 1221 AH/ May 20th, 1806 AD: John Stuart Mill was born. He was an English philosopher, political theorist, political economist, civil servant and Member of Parliament, was an influential British Classical liberal thinker of the 19th century whose works on liberty justified freedom of the individual in opposition to unlimited state control. He was a proponent of utilitarianism, an ethical theory developed by Jeremy Bentham, although his conception of it was very different from Bentham's. Hoping to remedy the problems found in an inductive approach to science, such as confirmation bias, he clearly set forth the premises of falsification as the key component in the scientific method.
Death of Abul-'Ala' Al-Ma'arri
3rd of Rabi' Al-Awwal 449 AH/ May 10th, 1057 AD: Abul-'Ala' Al-Ma'arri died. He was a great Arab poet, known for his virtuosity and for the originality and pessimism of his vision. Al-Ma'arri was a descendant of the Tanukh tribe. He was born in the Syrian town of Ma'arrat al-No'man near Aleppos. A childhood disease left him virtually blind. His early poems were collected in Saqt az-zand ("The Tinder Spark"), which gained great popularity. Al-Ma'arri enjoyed respect and authority locally and many students came to study with him. Al-Ma'arri wrote a second, more original collection of poetry, Luzum ma lam yalzam ("Unnecessary Necessity"), or Luzumiyat ("Necessities"), referring to the unnecessary complexity of the rhyme scheme. The skeptical humanism of these poems was also apparent in Risalat al-ghufran (Eng. trans. by G. Brackenbury, Risalat ul Ghufran, a Divine Comedy, 1943), in which the poet visits paradise and meets his predecessors, heathen poets who have found forgiveness. Al Fusul wal ghayat ("Paragraphs and Periods"), a collection of homilies in rhymed prose, has even been called a parody of the Qur'an.
Berliners wake to divided city
3rd of Rabi' Al-Awwal 1381 AH/ August 13th, 1961: Troops in East Germany have sealed the border between East and West Berlin, shutting off the escape route for thousands of refugees from the East. Barbed wire fences up to six feet (1.83 metres) high were put up during the night, and Berliners woke this morning to find themselves living in a divided city.
Death of Fatih Sultan Mehmet
4th of Rabi' Al-Awwal 886 Ah/ May 3rd, 1481 AD: Mohammed II (1432-1481), called Fatih or Conqueror, in modern Turkish, Fatih Sultan Mehmet. He was the Ottoman Turkish sultan from 1451 to 1481 AD. His conquest of Constantinople in 1453 guaranteed the consolidation of the Ottoman Empire.
Troops kill 24 at ANC rally
4th of Rabi' Al-Awwal 1413 Ah/ September 7th, 1992 AD: At least 24 people have been killed and 150 injured when soldiers fired on an African National Congress demonstration on the border of Ciskei in South Africa. The march was organized to demand an end to the Ciskeian military government of Brigadier Joshua Gqozo and the re-absorption of the so-called black homeland into South Africa.
Battle of Hacova Erupts
4th of Rabi' Al-Awwal 1413 Ah/ September 7th, 1992 AD: The Battle of Keresztes or Battle of Mezokeresztes (Turkish: Haçova Muharebesi) took place between a combined Habsburg-Transylvanian force and the Ottoman Empire, near the village of MezÅ‘keresztes (or in Turkish Haçova) in northern Hungary. Ottoman forces slaughtered more than 30,000 Hungarians and Germans, captured 100 enemy cannon, and took other spoils.
Death of Helen Keller
5th of Rabi' Al-Awwal 1388 Ah/ June 1st, 1968 AD: Helen Adams Keller died. She was an American author, political activist and lecturer. She was the first deafblind person to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree. The story of how Keller's teacher, Anne Sullivan, broke through the isolation imposed by a near complete lack of language, allowing the girl to blossom as she learned to communicate, has become known worldwide through the dramatic depictions of the play and film The Miracle Worker. A prolific author, Keller was well traveled and was outspoken in her opposition to war. She campaigned for women's suffrage, workers' rights, and socialism, as well as many other progressive causes.
Al-Hafiz Heads Syria
5th of Rabi' Al-Awwal 1383 Ah/ July 27th, 1963 AD: Amin Al-Hafiz became Syria's chief of state. He is a Syrian army officer and politician. He served (1963-65 AD) as chief of state in Syria's Ba'athist government but had to flee to Lebanon (1965) after radical Ba'athist military officers, led by Nurreddin Attassi and Hafez al-Assad, toppled his government in a coup. He moved his exile to Iraq in 1968 and was sentenced to death in absentia in 1971. Under Bashar al-Assad, who became president in 2000, Hafez was permitted to return (2003) to Syria.
Chehab Heads Lebanon
5th of Rabi' Al-Awwal 1378 Ah/ September 19th, 1958 AD: Fuad Chehab becomes president of Lebanon. He was Lebanese military leader, and president (1958-6). Chehab is generally deeply respected for honesty and integrity. He took over after the Civil War of 1958, when the tensions that would result in the long civil war 17 years later were exposed. He, nevertheless, managed to bring stability and progress to Lebanon.
Reunification of Cyprus Rejected
5th of Rabi'ul-Awwal 1425 AH/ April 24th, 2004 AD: Greek Cypriotes rejected by referendum, known as Cypriot Annan Plan referendum, the UN plan for peaceful reunification of the island under a loose confederate authority. On the other hand, the simultaneously held referendum among the Turkish Cypriotes upheld the plan. If accepted by both ethnic communities, it could have provided for gradual withdrawal of Turkish and Greek forces, for gradual return of many of the Greek refugees and for shrinking of the territories now controlled by Turkish Cypriotes from 37% to 28% of the island. It also could have made possible for the entire population to enter the European Union on May 1st, not just the area controlled by the Greek Cypriotes.
Death of Schopenhauer
5th of Rabi'ul-Awwal 1377 AH/ September 21st, 1957 AD: Arthur Schopenhauer died. He was a German philosopher. He studied in several fields before earning his doctorate in philosophy. He regarded the Upanishads, together with the works of Plato and Immanuel Kant, as the foundation of his philosophical system, a metaphysical doctrine of the will developed in reaction to the idealism of G.W.F. Hegel. His magnum opus, The World as Will and Representation (1819 AD), consists of two comprehensive series of reflections on the theory of knowledge and the philosophy of nature, aesthetics, and ethics.
Grigori Rasputin Assassinated
5th of Rabi'ul-Awwal 1335 AH/ December 30th, 1916 AD: Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin was assassinated. He was a Russian mystic who is perceived as having influenced the latter days of the Russian Tsar Nicholas II, his wife the Tsaritsa Alexandra, and their only son the Tsarevich Alexei. It has been argued that Rasputin helped to discredit the tsarist government, leading to the fall of the Romanov dynasty, in 1917. Contemporary opinions saw Rasputin variously as a saintly mystic, visionary, healer and prophet or, on the contrary, as a debauched religious charlatan. There has been much uncertainty over Rasputin's life and influence as accounts of his life have often been based on dubious memoirs, hearsay and legend.
Rashid Al-Maktoum Died
6th of Rabi'ul-Awwal 1411 AH/ October 6th, 1990 AD: HH The Emir Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum died. He was the Vice-President and Prime Minister of United Arab Emirates and Emir (Ruler) of Dubai. He ruled for 32 years, until his death. Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum can be called the first visionary of modern U.A.E. It was during his rule that Dubai grew from a small trading town into a major cosmopolitan city.
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