2025: January 5 (5 Rajab 1446 AH)
January 5
Events
- 1913 - First Balkan War: The Battle of Lemnos began. The Greek admiral Pavlos Kountouriotis forced the Turkish fleet to retreat to its base within the Dardanelles, from which it did not venture for the rest of the war.
- 2022 - Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev dismissed Prime Minister Asqar Mamin and declared a state of emergency over the 2022 Kazakh unrest.
- The 2022 Kazakh unrest, also known as January Events, Bloody January, or the January Tragedy, was a series of mass protests and civil unrest that began in Kazakhstan on January 2, 2022, after a sudden sharp increase in liquefied petroleum gas prices following the lifting of a government-enforced price cap on January 1. The protests began peacefully in the oil-producing city of Zhanaozen and quickly spread to other cities in the country, especially the nation's largest city. Almaty saw its demonstrations turn into violent riots, fueled by rising dissatisfaction with the government and widespread poverty. During the week-long violent unrest and crackdowns, 227 people were killed and over 9,900 were arrested.
- 1928 - Imtiaz Ahmed, a Pakistani cricketer (d. 2016)
- 1928 - Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, a Pakistani lawyer and politician, and the 4th President of Pakistan (d. 1979)
- 1941 - Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi, an Indian cricketer and coach (d. 2011)
- 1942 - Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Hamad Al-Sabah, a Kuwaiti royal and politician, 7th Prime Minister of Kuwait (d. 2024)
- 842 - Al-Mu'tasim, an Abbasid caliph (b. 796)
- 1972 - Tevfic Rustu Aras, a Turkish physician and politician, and the 6th Turkish Minister of Foreign Affairs (b. 1883)
- 2013 - Qazi Hussain Ahmed, a Pakistani scholar and politician (b. 1938)
- 2018 - Asghar Khan, a Pakistani three star general and politician (b. 1921)
- 2020 - Tafazzul Haque Habiganji, Bangladeshi Islamic scholar and politician (b. 1938)
- 5 Rajab: 'Ali al-Hadi
ʿAli ibn Muḥammad al-Hadi (b. 828 – 868 CC) was a descendant of the Prophet Muhammad and the tenth Imam in Twelver Shi'a, succeeding his father, Muhammad al-Jawad (d. 835). Born in Medina in 828, 'Ali is known with the titles al-Hadi (lit. 'the guide') and al-Naqi (lit. 'the distinguished'). After the death of his father in 835, most followers of al-Jawad readily accepted the imamate of 'Ali, who was still a child at the time. Drawing parallels with the story of the young Jesus in the Qur'an, Twelver sources attribute an exceptional innate knowledge to 'Ali which qualified him for the imamate despite his young age.
As with most of his predecessors, 'Ali al-Hadi kept aloof from politics until he was summoned around 848 from Medina to the capital Samarra by the Abbasid caliph al-Mutawakkil (r. 847-861), known for his hostility towards Shi'as. There al-Hadi was held under close surveillance until his death in 868 during the caliphate of the Abbasid al-Mu'tazz (r. 866–869). Still, he managed to communicate with an underground network of representatives who organized the financial and religious affairs of the Shi'a community on his behalf. Most Shi'a sources hold the Abbasids responsible for his death at the age of about forty through poison, with the notable exception of al-Mufid (d. 1022). His image in Twelver sources is that of a pacifist, persecuted Imam who endured numerous attempts by members of the Abbasid court to humiliate and dishonor him. These sources also allege more serious incidents of house search, temporary imprisonment, and even murder plots against al-Hadi.
The restricted life of al-Hadi in Samarra marks the end of the direct leadership of the Shi'a community by the Imams. A theological treatise on free will and some other short texts are ascribed to al-Hadi. Some miracles are also attributed to al-Hadi in Twelver sources, which often emphasize his precognition about various incidents. After his death, the majority of his followers accepted the imamate of his son Hasan al-Askari, who was also detained in Samarra until his unexplained death a few years later. Some instead followed Ja'far, another son of al-Hadi, who became known as Ja'far al-Kadhab (lit. 'Ja'far, the liar') in the Twelver sources. After the death of Ja'far, however, this branch was eventually absorbed within the mainstream Twelver Shi'a. The tombs of al-Hadi and his successor al-Askari are located in the al-Askari shrine in Samarra, modern-day Iraq. A sacred site for Shi'a pilgrims, the shrine has been targeted by ISIS (Daesh) extremist militants as recently as 2007.
- 5 Rajab: Hasan al-Basri
Abu Sa'id ibn Abi al-Hasan Yasar al-Basri, often referred to as Hasan of Basra or Hasan al-Basri, (b. 642 CC [21 AH] - d. October 15, 728 CC [5 Rajab 110 AH]) was an early Muslim preacher, ascetic, theologian, scholar, and judge.
Hasan was born nine years after the death of the Prophet Muhammad. One year after the Battle of Siffin (657), he moved to Basra, a military camp town situated 50 miles (80 km) northwest of the Persian Gulf. From this base, military expeditions to the east disembarked, and, as a young man (670–673), Hasan participated in some of the expeditions that led to the conquest of eastern Iran.
After his return to Basra, Hasan became a central figure in the religious, social, and political upheavals brought about by internal conflicts with the Muslim community. The years 684–704 marked the period of his great preaching activity. From the few remaining fragments of his sermons, which are among the best examples of early Arabic prose, there emerges the portrait of a deeply sensitive, religious Muslim. For Hasan, the true Muslim must not only refrain from committing sin but must live in a state of lasting anxiety, brought about by the certainty of death and the uncertainty of one’s destiny in the hereafter. Hasan said that the world is treacherous, “for it is like to a snake, smooth to the touch, but its venom is deadly.” The practice of religious self-examination (muhasabah), which led to the activity of avoiding evil and doing good, coupled with a wariness of the world, marked Hasan’s piety and influenced later ascetic and mystical attitudes in Islam.
The enemy of Islam, for Ḥasan, was not the infidel but the hypocrite (munafiq), who took religion lightly and “is here with us in the rooms and streets and markets.” In the important freedom-determinism debate, he took the position that people are totally responsible for their actions, and he systematically argued this position in an important letter written to the Umayyad caliph 'Abd al-Malik. His letter, which is the earliest extant theological treatise in Islam, attacks the widely held view that God is the sole creator of people’s actions. The document bears political overtones and shows that in early Islam theological disputes emerged from the politico-religious controversies of the day. His political opinions, which were extensions of his religious views, often placed him in precarious situations. During the years 705–714, Hasan was forced into hiding because of the stance he took regarding the policies of the powerful governor of Iraq, al-Hajjaj. After the governor’s death, Hasan came out of hiding and continued to live in Basra until he died. It is said that the people of Basra were so involved with the observance of his funeral that no afternoon prayer was said in the mosque because no one was there to pray.
Hasan al-Basri was known to his own generation as an eloquent preacher, a paragon of the truly pious Muslim, and an outspoken critic of the political rulers of the Umayyad dynasty (661–750). Among later generations of Muslims, he has been remembered for his piety and religious asceticism. Muslim mystics have counted him as one of their first and most notable spiritual masters. Both the Mu'tazilah (philosophical theologians) and the Ash'ariyyah (followers of the theologian al-Ashʿari), the two most important theological schools in early Sunni (traditionalist) Islam, consider Hasan one of their founders.
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