Wikipedia:Main Page history/2019 November 7

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From today's featured article

Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan, depicted on a gold dinar

The Second Fitna was a civil war in the Islamic community that began with the death of Mu'awiya I in 680. The first Umayyad caliph, he had become the sole ruler of the caliphate at the end of the First Fitna in 661, when Ali was assassinated and Ali's successor abdicated. After Mu'awiya's death one of Ali's sons, Husayn ibn Ali, was invited to overthrow the Umayyads but was killed with his small company at the Battle of Karbala. His supporters continued the fight but were crushed by the Umayyads at the Battle of Ayn al-Warda in 685. A second challenge by Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr was initially successful, as most provinces recognized him as caliph. Under the leadership of Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan (depiction shown), the Umayyads reasserted control over the caliphate after defeating Ibn al-Zubayr's forces at the Battle of Maskin and killing him in the Siege of Mecca in 692. The events of the Second Fitna intensified sectarian tendencies in Islam, leading to what would become the Sunni and Shi'a sects. (Full article...)

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Robert Hunter

... that Robert Hunter (pictured) wrote the lyrics to the Grateful Dead song "Dire Wolf" after watching a film adaptation of The Hound of the Baskervilles the night before?
... that Togashi Masachika was restored to power by a rebel army, only to be later forced to commit suicide by a similar force?
... that Edite Estrela MEP received 80,000 emails in opposition to a nonbinding European Union resolution in favor of sex education and other reproductive rights?
... that Melissa Leilani Larson's play Pilot Program imagines a future where members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are asked to practice polygamy again?
... that the Qarhan Playa's Bieletan subbasin – including the Suli, South Suli, Dabiele, and Xiaobiele salt lakes – is China's largest source of brine lithium?
... that for his role in the annexation of Crimea in 2014, Yevgeny Bushmin was awarded the medal "For the Return of Crimea" by Russia, and placed under sanctions by the United States?
... that the Union Literary Institute was established after the Indiana General Assembly barred African Americans from attending public schools?
... that wheelchair rugby co-inventor Duncan Campbell is nicknamed "the Quadfather"?

In the news

Duane Vermeulen

In rugby union, the World Cup concludes with South Africa defeating England in the final (player of the match Duane Vermeulen pictured).
A series of earthquakes hits Mindanao, Philippines, killing at least 21 people.
A fire on a passenger train near Liaquatpur, Pakistan, kills at least 75 people.
In baseball, the Washington Nationals defeat the Houston Astros to win the World Series.

On this day

November 7

Mass Rapid Transit train in Singapore

1665 – The London Gazette, the oldest surviving English-language newspaper, was first published as the Oxford Gazette.
1885 – Construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway, the first transcontinental railroad across Canada, concluded with the driving of the "last spike" in Craigellachie, British Columbia.
1916 – In the congressional elections, Jeannette Rankin became the first woman elected to the United States House of Representatives.
1949 – Oil was discovered in the Caspian Sea off the coast of Azerbaijan, leading to the construction of Neft Daşları, the world's first offshore oil platform.
1987 – Singapore's first Mass Rapid Transit line was opened (train pictured), beginning with train services between Yio Chu Kang and Toa Payoh stations.

Ibn Hazm (b. 994) · Paul Sandby (d. 1809) · Ellen Stewart (b. 1919)

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Today's featured picture

The Pool of Bethesda is a pool of water in the Muslim Quarter of Jerusalem, on the path of the Beth Zeta Valley. It is known from the New Testament story of healing the paralytic at Bethesda, from the fifth chapter of the Gospel of John; the gospel describes a pool in Jerusalem, near the Sheep Gate, which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. Until the 19th century, there was no evidence outside of John's gospel for the existence of this pool; therefore, scholars argued that the gospel was written later, probably by someone without first-hand knowledge of the city of Jerusalem, and that the pool had only a metaphorical, rather than historical, significance. In the 19th century, archaeologists discovered the remains of a pool fitting the description in the gospel.

This picture is an 1877 oil-on-canvas painting of the Pool of Bethesda by English painter Robert Bateman, now in the collection of the Yale Center for British Art in New Haven, Connecticut. The Johannine narrative describes the porticos as being a place in which large numbers of infirm people were waiting, which corresponds well with the site's 1st century AD use as an asclepeion. Some ancient biblical manuscripts argue that these people were waiting for the troubling of the water; a few such manuscripts also move the setting away from Roman rituals into something more appropriate to Judaism, by adding that an angel would occasionally stir the waters, which would then cure the first person to enter.

Painting credit: Robert Bateman

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