April 2

April 2

Events

• 1921 – The Autonomous Government of Khorasan, a military government encompassing the modern state of Iran, is established.
• 1968 -- According to witnesses, Mary appeared in different forms over the Coptic Orthodox Church of Saint Mary in the Zeitoun district of Cairo, Egypt, for a period of 2–3 years, beginning on April 2, 1968, some ten months after the Six-Day War. It was a mass apparition, reportedly witnessed by many thousands of people, including Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser, and captured by newspaper photographers and Egyptian television. The apparitions each lasted from a few minutes up to several hours and were sometimes accompanied by dove-shaped luminous bodies. There have been conversions to Christianity and claims of miraculous cures^[112] associated with the apparitions. A month into the events, the apparitions up to that point were approved by Pope Cyril VI of Alexandria.

• 1992 – Forty-two civilians are massacred in the town of Bijeljina in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
• 2002 – Israeli forces surround the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem into which armed Palestinians had retreated.
• 2004 – Islamist terrorists involved in the 11 March 2004 Madrid attacks attempt to bomb the Spanish high-speed train AVE near Madrid; the attack is thwarted.

• 2015 – Gunmen attack Garissa University College in Kenya, killing at least 148 people and wounding 79 others.

Births

• 1953 – Malika Oufkir, Moroccan Berber writer^[10]

• 1974 – Tayfun Korkut, Turkish football manager and former player

• 1986 – Ibrahim Afellay, Dutch footballer

• 1997 – Abdelhak Nouri, Dutch footballer^[17]

Deaths

• 670 – Hasan ibn Ali the second Shia Imam (b. 624)^[18]

Al-Hasan ibn Ali ibn Abi Talib (Arabic: ٱلْحَسَن ٱبْن عَلِيّ ٱبْن أَبِي طَالِب‎, romanized: Al-Ḥasan ibn Alīy ibn Abī Ṭālib; 1 December 624 – 1 April 670 CE), also spelled Hasan or Hassan, was the older son of Ali and Muhammad's daughter Fatimah, and was the older brother of Husain, as well as the fifth^[a] of Rashidun, or "Rightly Guided Caliphs".^[8][9] Muslims respect him as a grandson of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. Among Shia Muslims, Hasan is revered as the second Imam. Hasan was elected for the caliphate after his father's death, but abdicated after six or seven months to Muawiyah I, the founder of the Umayyad dynasty^[10][11] to end the First Fitna.^[12] After Hasan's abdication, the caliphate turned into kingship.^[13][14] Al-Hasan was known for donating to the poor, his kindness to the poor and bondsmen, and for his knowledge, tolerance and bravery.^[15] For the rest of his life, Hasan lived in Medina, until he died at the age of 45 and was buried in the Jannat al-Baqi cemetery in Medina. His wife, Ja'da bint al-Ash'at, is commonly accused of having poisoned him.^{[10][11][16][17][18][19]}

• 872 – Muflih al-Turki, Turkish general

• 1891 – Ahmed Vefik Pasha, Greek playwright and politician, 249th Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire (b. 1823)

• 1948 – Sabahattin Ali, Turkish journalist, author, and poet (b. 1907)

Holidays and Observances