Reframing al-Quds Day as a unifying Islamic symbol: the battle over Jerusalem between Iran and the Arab world

Since 1980, on the last Friday of Ramadhan, millions of Muslims all over the world have held parades to celebrate Jerusalem Day—al-Quds Day—to symbolically strengthen the Palestinian people in their struggle against Israel. It was established by Ayatollah Khomeini, who saw himself as the potential leader of the Muslim world, and Iran proclaimed it to be a national day on a par with other national and religious days and events such as Nowruz, A’shuraa, Ramadhan. This article explores the legitimacy of the status of al-Quds Day for Arab and Muslim countries and its change over time from being enthusiastically celebrated within the Arab world to becoming a marginal event that many Arab and Muslim states have been trying to ignore. The article’s main argument is that although al-Quds Day is still considered to have symbolic value for Islam and unification, the use made of it to further Iranian political interests seems to have diminished its legitimacy and reputation among non-Shiite communities in the Middle East.