The Role of the World Quds Day and Imam Khomeini’s Initiative in Consolidating Unity among the Muslim Ummah and Defending the Al-Aqsa Mosque
World Quds Day – The decades-old crisis surrounding Palestine has not only imposed its negative impacts on the Palestinian geographical territory and the West Asian region but has also badly affected the entire Islamic world and other world nations.
Using its influence over the hegemonic powers, Zionism has been trying to create this view in the world public opinion that the mentioned crisis is restricted to the occupied territories. But the late Imam Khomeini, founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran, made it clear that such a plot by the Zionist Israeli regime was a global arrogance.
The establishment of the military regime of Israel in Palestine by the West was aimed at preventing the emergence of any new Islamic civilization by escalating tensions, insecurity, and disputes in the region. Following the plot for the establishment of Israel and occupation of Palestine and the creation of the Zionist regime, the Islamic world has been involved in continuous tensions that have inflicted heavy losses on regional nations.
The U.S. has been making a grant of $4 billion to Israel annually and if we look at the Zionist regime’s damages to the entire region, we admire Imam Khomeini’s wise and accurate view which called the Zionist regime a “cancerous tumor” and it was for this reason that he initiated the World Quds Day as an effort on the part of the Muslim nations to remove this tumor.
Imam Khomeini, a magnificent leader of the oppressed people around the world in the twentieth century, has announced the World Quds Day on the last Friday of the holy month of Ramadan. Following his announcement people all over the world, irrespective of their sects and religions, cast and creeds, welcomed the instance and came out of their houses and mosques after Friday prayer and gathered in the streets to show their solidarity with the oppressed people of Palestine and also showed their will to defend the Al-Aqsa Mosque, the third most sacred place after Makkah and Medina.
The World Quds Day is not only a message to Zionism and imperialism that Palestinians are not alone and their rights would not be deprived anymore but this occasion is also a unique show of Muslim unity and the concept of Ummah. When both Shias and Sunnis chant slogans against the illegal occupation of Muslim land, it shows that the plot of division among the Ummah has failed and the conspiracy against the unity of Muslims by internal and external forces foiled. No leader of the Muslim world before Imam Khomeini talked so bluntly about the Palestinian cause.
The late Imam talked about Palestinian before Islamic Revolution and his vision was very clear about this issue. That is why just after the success of the Islamic Revolution he announced the World Quds Day. Today when we see that World Quds Day is being observed around the world even in the western country, this is, in fact, the success of the vision of Imam Khomeini. When we see that some Muslim states create hurdles or try to malign the gatherings of oppressed people we can easily understand that this is according to the agenda of Zionism. Sometimes marchers of Quds Day pay a heavy price for supporting the Palestinian cause. This is the impact of the vision of Imam Khomeini who motivated the entire Muslim world with his wisdom. The current political situation in the Middle East shows that Israel is the weakest country in the region despite the heavy cache of arms and continuous support of the United States. Imam Khomeini once mentioned that: “The issue of Quds is not a private or personal issue. It is neither the exclusive problem of one country nor a present-day problem of all Muslims. Rather, it is a phenomenon concerning all monotheists and faithful people of all ages – past, present, and future.
As Imam Khomeini wished, the World Quds Day will ultimately unite the entire oppressed people worldwide to form a global movement to settle international disputes. In fact, Imam Khomeini, via initiating the World Quds Day, offered the people around the globe to think about a world without Zionism, without colonialism, and without hegemonic powers. The growing mystery behind opposing Israel and honoring the World Quds Day has its roots in the deep pleasure of thinking about a world without Israel and arrogant powers.