About the Host & Producer:
My Story
Hey there Newspeelers,
This is Adel Aali, founder of the History Behind News program.
First and foremost, thank you for visiting my site. I hope you enjoy our program, and look forward to hearing from you and learning from you. Please don't hesitate contact me on Facebook or X (formerly Twitter).
I started HbN to provide a better understanding of news through history. And I am committed to making history that is researched and written by scholars accessible and enjoyable for everyone. Before podcasting, I practiced patent law and later dove deep into entrepreneurship and founded a startup based on my patented medical inventions.
I now have the privilege to produce and host HbN. Preparing for conversations with scholars and producing this program are lots of fun and also challenging - learning a new subject every week! It's tough but exhilarating.
For each and every one of them, my two objectives are constant:
1st objective: to help us Americans better understand our news.
Nah, I don't mean digging into the news. We already have many news outlets who do that for us. I am rather referring to the winding and, at times, unnavigable road behind the news that has brought us to the current moment, to the developing news at hand.
So, what was it like to travel on that road? What were the exigencies that forced our predecessors' decisions back then?
While hindsight is 20/20, many of our past decisions were made in the context of those times and without much knowledge of the curves and cliffs ahead. Needless to say, many of our ancestors veered us to the off-beaten paths. And that's how we got here!
About above image: I took this sunset shot of Jackson Lake in June 2022. The Grand Tetons is my and my family's favorite national park. It's simply breathtaking. And if you are there on a Monday night, be sure to spend it at the hootenanny in the town of Moose. We loved it! Hint: go there hungry and thirsty.
2nd objective: to stay as far away from history programs as possible.
What do I mean by this?
HbN is not a history program. Meaning, we don’t discuss history for its own sake. Rather, we discuss history only as it informs current news.
But sometimes even this history behind the news can be overwhelming.
Believe me, I know!
So what I think about when I ask questions from my distinguished guests, who can surely talk authoritatively about their subjects for hours on end, is whether or not the history being discussed is still helping us better understand the news, i.e., the stuff behind the news.
The challenge here is similar to the adage of not seeing the forest for the trees. But we don't need to be history buffs to appreciate history's impact on our lives. In fact, many history buffs are so focused on every detailed pixel of history that they lose sight of the big picture.
So, HbN is not a narrative history program. Instead, we strive to suck out the marrow of our past to nourish the present bones of our intellects. I know... that sounded a bit poetic (or perhaps pompous).
About above image: I took this picture of the Palace of Westminster in June 2023 (photos are restricted in certain areas). My family and I got the rare treat of watching the UK's Members of Parliament debate legislation (it was on animal rights - reconciling UK and EU laws after Brexit). London is a must-visit. We just loved it. Although I wouldn't really call it a vacation. It was more like sightseeing on steroids and information overload. We were out and about from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. - every day!
read, watch & listen to my blog
What Year Is It In Iran?
In Iran, it's the year 1403, 1445 and 2024. But not 2583.
Kings & Empires, Prophets & Religions, Revolutions & Calendars
Iranians rang in their New Year on March 19, 2024, at exactly 8:06:26 PM (Pacific Time).
But what year is it?
According to the "Iran Chamber Society", Iran has 3 calendars.
1403 is based on the solar Hijri calendar ("Iranian Calendar"), which was officially established in Iran on Mar. 31, 1925, by the founder of the Pahlavi dynasty (more on this below). This Hijri calendar begins with the Muslim prophet Muhammad's journey from Mecca to Medina on Sept. 24, 622 CE (to escape persecution). This is the calendar by which all government, business and everyday affairs are conducted in Iran.
1445 stems from the same date (Muhammad's journey), except that it is based on a lunar calendar ("Islamic Calendar"). In Iran, this calendar is mostly used for religious purposes. However, other Muslim countries, certainly Arab countries, do use this lunar calendar to a greater extent. Important to note that the dates of this calendar change every year (because it's lunar). As a case in point, the month of Ramadan this year spans from Mar. 10 to Apr. 9, 2024. But in 2020, for example, Ramadan was from Apr. 23 to May 23, 2020.
2024 is the Gregorian Calendar that is widely used around the world, except that Orthodox churches, such as the Russian Orthodox Church, still use the Julian Calendar (that's why Orthodox Christians observe January 6th as the birth of Jesus).
2583... well, I got a bit creative in calculating this year. You see, in 1976, the Shah of Iran (son of the founder of the Pahlavi dynasty I mentioned above) changed Iran's solar calendar so that its origin goes back to the start of Cyrus the Great's reign instead of Muhammad's journey. Consequently, literally overnight, in 1976 Iran's calendar changed from 1355 (the Hijri solar calendar year then) to 2535 (the Shahanshahi "imperial" Calendar). Needless to say, Iran's Muslim clergies and devout Muslim population were none too pleased about this. So when the Shah was toppled in 1979 and Ayatollah Khomeini gained power, the Shah's calendar was immediately abolished and the solar Hijri calendar - Iranian Calendar - became the prime calendar again.
In this video, my guest scholar, Dr. Khodadad Rezakhani, answers this question: Is it the Persian or the Iranian New Year?
FYI: Cyrus the Great founded the Achaemenid Persian Empire, 550-330 BCE. In the following video, my guest scholar talks about Cyrus as the King of Persians, but Sasanian kings (a subsequent Persian Empire) as the kings of Iranians: https://bit.ly/YT-UME-S1E11.
How I calculated 2583:
In 1976, Iran's Imperial Calendar designated the year as 2535. Had that calendar been extant this year, in 2024 (48 years later), it would have been the year 2583 in Iran based on the Imperial Calendar.
A note about Iran's solar calendar system:
The Iranian solar calendar system has remained in continuous use since ancient times. It is the most accurate solar calendar system because it is observation-based, not rule-based. What this means is that the calendar is predicated on the movement of the Earth around the Sun - each year ends when the Earth completes its revolution around the Sun. That's why Iranians rang in their New Year on March 19, 2024, at exactly 8:06:26 PM (Pacific Time), as opposed to March 19 at midnight.
Where to connect with Unravelling the Middle East:
And on our 📽️YouTube channel, where can also take Middle East history quizzes and see our behind-the-scenes production.
Don't have time to watch?
No problem! You can 🎧 listen instead while driving, exercising, relaxing, or just doing the dishes.
Attributions:
🚩Details, Credits & Links:
►Middle East Maps: We use MapCharts.net for most of our maps, including the Middle East map in the video's intro. And sometimes we color, stylize and annotated those maps. See https://www.mapchart.net/world.html. License is CC BY-SA 4.0 DEED https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
►Cyrus the Great: c. 600 to Dec. 4, 530 BCE (aged 70, which is really old for that time) reign: 550-530 BCE (~ 20 years) He was the founder of the Achaemenid Persian Empire - referred to as King of kings. The Achaemenids (550-330 BCE) are thought of as the first truly international empire (as opposed to more regional empires such as the Assyrians). For the purposes of this episode, what's interesting is that Cyrus was referred to as the King of the Persians.
►Shapur I: 2nd Sasanian King. Reign: Apr. 12, 240 to May 270 CE Shahanshah (King of kings) of the Sasanian Empire (224-651 CE). In inscriptions of his victories over the Romans, Shapur I states "I am the lord of the Empire of Iranians". It was during the Sasanian that the term Eranshahr gained usage. But my guest scholar doesn't fully subscribe to this story, and explains why in our conversation.
🚩Santur Music Attribution:
🎶 Santur: Peyman Heydarian playing on the Santur some Iranian music. Recorded with a Sony PCM-D50 at the School of Oriental and African Studies of London on April 7th 2011. Music available on at https://freesound.org/people/xserra/sounds/125654/ Creative Commons / Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0 DEED) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This music has been cut in shorter pieces and its volume has been adjusted in different portions of our program.
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