Contemporary Events in the Muslim World
Deadly cyclone struck the Chittagong district of southeastern Bangladesh
On April 29, 1991 AD, a deadly cyclone struck the Chittagong district of southeastern Bangladesh with winds of around 155 miles per hour (249 km/h), killing at least 138,000 people and leaving as many as 10 million homeless.
Zakir Hussain, the 3rd President of India
On May 3, 1969 AD, Zakir Hussain, the 3rd President of India, died in office at the age of 72. He was born in Hyderabad Deccan into an Afridi-Pashtun family and was the first Muslim president of India. He was also a former Vice Chancellor of Aligarh Muslim University.
Genocide of Muslims in Algeria by France
On May 8, 1945 AD, Algerian Muslims while celebrating in Setif, news of victory of the Allied forces in Europe over the Germans, and at the same time demanding the independence of their own country, were attacked by French occupation forces. In the resulting clashes, in addition to hundreds of Algerian deaths, some 103 French forces also lost their life. Five days later, the French military, including the notorious Foreign Legion, carried out summary executions of Algerians, while inaccessible Muslim villages were bombed by French aircraft, and the cruiser Duguay-Trouin standing off the coast in the Gulf of Bougie, shelled Kerrata. In jails, Algerian prisoners were lynched by French guards or randomly shot. As a result, over 12,000 Algerian men, women and children, were massacred by the French occupation forces. Some figures speak of as much as 45,000 deaths. This bloody incident intensified demands for Algerian independence and nine years later in 1954, the general uprising started against French colonial rule. Finally in 1962 after much bloodshed and the killing of at least one million Algerian Muslims, the French were forced to grant independence to Algeria.
Qarabagh region of the Caucasus Republic of Azerbaijan occupied by Armenia
On May 9, 1992 AD, Armenia invaded the Caucasus Republic of Azerbaijan and occupied Qarabagh region, where a sizeable part of the population was Armenian Christians. Armenian troops occupied 20% of Azeri soil, and despite the ceasefire between the two countries as of 1993, this part of the Azerbaijan Republic is still under occupation. What is now called the Azerbaijan Republic was an integral part of Iran for some three millenniums until its occupation by Czarist Russia in the wars of 1813 and 1828 that led to the signing of the Golestan and Turkmanchai Treaties, according to which it should be returned to Iran after the specified number of years. Armenia, along with the eastern half of Georgia and most of the southern Caucasus including Chechen and Daghestan, were also traditionally part of the various Iranian empires.
The Western Saharan Liberation Front (Polisario)
On May 10, 1973 AD, the Western Saharan Liberation Front (Polisario) was formed for independence of the northwestern African Muslim region from Spanish colonial rule. Two years later, the Spanish were forced to leave West Sahara, but instead of granting independence, they handed over the region to Morocco and Mauritania. Pressed by Polisario, Mauritania gave up its claims, but the Moroccans have continued to occupy Western Sahara. With UN mediation, it was decided in 1991 to hold referendum for determining the fate of Western Sahara, but Morocco has continued to stall any public plebiscite ever since. Nonetheless, many countries have recognized Western Sahara as an independent country, and the Polisario Liberation Front as the representative of the Western Saharan people.
Ayub Khan, the second president of Pakistan
On May 14, 1907 AD, Ayub Khan, the second president of Pakistan was born in British India, in the village of Rehana in the Hazara region of the North-West Frontier Province (now Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa). An ethnic Pashtun of the Tareen tribe, from 1958 to 1959, he was the first of a long line of military dictators of Pakistan. A graduate of Britain’s Sandhurst military academy, he saw action during World War 2 and after independence became a general in the Pakistan army. After seizure of power he styled himself field marshal. He died in 1974.
The coastal city of Izmir was liberated from Greek occupation
On May 15, 1919 AD, the coastal city of Izmir was liberated from Greek occupation by Turkish forces led by Mustafa Kamal Pasha, who later emerged as a dictator and under western influence tried to eradicate the Islamic culture and religion of the Turkish Muslims.
US Warship “Stark”
On May 17, 1987 AD, during the 8-year war imposed by the US on Islamic Iran through Saddam, Iraqi jetfighters ‘mistakenly’ fired missiles at the US Warship “Stark” killing 37 American soldiers and wounding scores of others. The Ba’th minority regime of Baghdad immediately offered apology to the US, and Washington which was in league with Saddam against Iran, quickly responded by calling the attack and the death of its soldiers as a case of mistaken identity. Experts believe Iraq’s missile attack on the USS Stark and the death of US personnel was preplanned by both Washington and Baghdad to portray the Persian Gulf as unsafe so as to enable the US to send more warships for intimidating the Islamic Republic of Iran.
The French army invaded Algeria
On May 18, 1830 AD, the French army invaded Algeria, following demand by the Algerian rulers for repayment of debts totalling seven million Francs. The Algerian people, inspired by Amir Seyyed Abdul-Qader al-Hassani al-Jazaeri, fought against French colonial rule. Although the French occupied Algeria and plundered the wealth of this North African Muslim land, they were forced to leave in 1962, after killing more than a million people.
Cameroon
On May 20, 1960 AD, Cameroon became a republic following independence from joint British and French colonial rule. Cameroon is located in West Africa with a coastline on the Atlantic Ocean. It covers an area of 475,000 sq km and shares borders with Nigeria, Chad, Central Africa, Congo, Gabon, and Tropical Guinea. Over one-fourth of the population is Muslim, who form the majority in the northern and western parts.
Circassian War
On May 21, 1864 AD, Russia declared an end to its Circassian War in the Caucasus by forcing into exile almost the entire population of the Muslim Cherkes. The day is designated as the Circassian Day of Mourning. More than 1.5 million Circassian Muslims were expelled — 90% of the total population at the time. Most of them perished en route, victims of disease, hunger, and exhaustion. They were dispersed all over the world. Some traveled 3000 km on foot or on ox carts. Some roamed for 25 years before settling down. Today over 4 million Circassians live outside their homeland in over 40 countries across of the world.
General Mohammad Suharto
On May 21, 1998 AD, General Mohammad Suharto, after ruling Indonesia with an iron fist for 33 years, was forced to resign. He had seized power in a coup staged against the pioneer of Indonesia’s independence and elected president of the country, Ahmed Sukarno. During Suharto’s autocratic rule, political freedoms were intensely restricted, although in the 1980s and 1990s the country made headways in economy. In the wake of grinding economic crisis in East Asia in the year 1997, student unrests were fueled and the economic demands of people turned political, with calls for the dismissal of Suharto. Finally the economic corruption of Suharto and his family brought him down.
The US economic siege of the Islamic Republic of Iran
On May 22, 1980 AD, the US economic siege of the Islamic Republic of Iran started. Washington, which following the victory of Islamic Revolution had lost all its illegitimate interests in Iran, in a bid to pile pressure on the Muslim people of Iran and to force the holy Islamic system to compromise, imposed economic sanctions. The US miserably failed, thanks to the steadfastness of the Father of Islamic Revolution, Imam Khomeini (RA), who said the economic life and existence of nations is not dependent on world powers. He told the nation: “Don’t be scared of this economic siege. If they impose it on us, we become more active and it would be to our benefit.”
The Hashempura Massacre
On May 22, 1987 AD, the Hashempura Massacre occurred in Meerut in Uttar Pradesh state, India, when 19 personnel of the Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) rounded up 42 Muslim youth from the Hashempura Mohalla, took them to the outskirts near Murad Nagar in Ghaziabad District, where they were shot and their bodies were dumped in water canals. A few days later corpses were found floating in the canals. In May 2000, 16 of the 19 murderers surrendered, and were released on bail. In 2002 the Supreme Court transferred the trial of the case to a Sessions Court at the Tis Hazari complex in Delhi, where it is the oldest pending case. On 24 May 2007, twenty years after the massacre, two survivors and members of the victims’ families filed applications at the Lucknow court as per The Right to Information Act, seeking information of the case. The inquiry revealed that all police culprits remained in service, and none had any mention of the incident in their Annual Confidential Report (ACR).
North Yemen and South Yemen decided to merge into a single state
On May 22, 1990 AD, North Yemen and South Yemen decided to merge into a single state, after decades of separation, following the treaty of 1914 between the Ottomans and the British. The North’s president, Col. Ali Abdullah Saleh – ousted in 2012 – retained power as President of united Yemen. Yemen was ruled intermittently for almost a millennium by descendants of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA), who mostly belonged to the Zaydi Shi’ite sect. The majority of the people of Yemen are Shi’ite Muslims, mostly Zaydis, followed by Ismailis and a minority of Ithna Ash’aris (Twelvers). Parts of Yemen, such as Najran, Jizaan, and Asir are under Saudi occupation, despite the long-expired treaty of 1934 calling for their return after a 40-year period.
Omani sailors who dominated Zanzibar and the eastern coast of Africa defeated the Portuguese
On 12th of the Islamic month of Rajab in 1110 AH, Omani sailors who dominated Zanzibar and the eastern coast of Africa defeated the Portuguese in the sea Battle of Mombasa, off the coast of what is now Kenya.
The Zionist entity illegally settled 14,400 Ethiopian Jews in occupied Palestine
On May 24, 1991 AD, the Zionist entity illegally settled 14,400 Ethiopian Jews in occupied Palestine. But, these black Jews are faced with numerous economic and social discriminations in Israel, and merely treated as cheap labor.
Zionist troops were forced to retreat from southern Lebanon
On May 24, 2000 AD, Zionist troops were forced to retreat from southern Lebanon due to the resistance and steadfastness of Lebanese people, led by the legendry anti-terrorist movement, Hezbollah. It was the first defeat of Israel in confrontation with popular and Islamic forces, which were inspired by the Islamic Revolution of Iran.
The 6-nation Persian Gulf Cooperation Council (PGCC)
On May 26, 1981 AD, the 6-nation Persian Gulf Cooperation Council (PGCC), was set up by Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Qatar, and Oman. The goals were given as economic, political, and military coordination to deter foreign threats to the region, but the PGCC has turned out to be an instrument of US neo-colonialist policies in the Persian Gulf, and indulges in sowing seeds of discord and fanning ethnic tensions among Muslims of the region.
