Once Again, Dearborn Michigan Celebrates International Quds Day – Established By Iran, Which Calls For Israel's Destruction – As It Has For The Past Two Decades; Following Last Year's Calls Of 'Death

Memri

17-04-2025

International Quds (Jerusalem) Day was established by the father of Iran's Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, in 1979 as the last Friday of Ramadan.[1]
Ostensibly a day of solidarity with Palestinians, Quds Day has been used by the Iranian Islamic regime to call on Palestinians to wage "armed resistance" against Israelis, and in doing so, to further the regime's goals – the destruction of Israel and the "export of the revolution" – that is, establishing Shi'ite-Iranian control in the region at the expense of the Sunni Arabs, in addition to spreading antisemitism and hatred of the Jews and Zionists.
Increasingly over the past few years, Quds Day is being marked in the U.S. and other Western countries, where rallies are being held calling for Israel's annihilation, "globalizing" armed struggle, and espousing antisemitic conspiracy theories, as well as calls for "Death to America" and "Death to Israel."
This year, in contrast to the preceding two decades,[2] pro-jihad elements and institutions in Dearborn, Michigan maintained a nearly complete blackout on information, announcements, posters, videos, and declarations in advance of and concerning Al-Quds day, which fell on March 28, 2025. Local media completely ignored it, except for one reporter at the Detroit Free Press who was also the only one to publish anything about the event in previous years. Nevertheless, MEMRI researchers were able to discover that the occasion was indeed being marked. For example, two posters promoted a March 28 Quds Day event at the Henry Ford Centennial Library in Dearborn, one posted on X by this reporter on March 28 and another posted the same day by the Qudscommittee account on Instagram.
To view a compilation video of Al-Quds Day 2025 events discovered by MEMRI, click here or below:
MEMRI extensively covered Quds Day 2024 in Dearborn and the surrounding areas. That year, at an April 5 rally in front of the Henry Ford Centennial Library in Dearborn, participants chanted "Death To America!" and speakers called the U.S. "one of the rottenest countries" on earth, and Israel "ISIS," "Nazi," and "a cancer." It should be noted that the term "cancer" or "cancerous growth" for Israel was coined by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the father of Iran's Islamic Revolution, in 1979 or earlier. The event was held by the Al-Quds Committee Detroit.
At the event, Michigan activist Tarek Bazzi stated that not only must "Genocide Joe" Biden go but so must the entire U.S. system. Quoting Malcolm X, he said: "We live in one of the rottenest countries that has ever existed on this earth." Bazzi added that "death to Israel" has become the "most logical chant shouted across the world today." Bazzi has been actively involved in every Quds Day event in the area since 2019.
The Iran-educated Shi'ite Islamic scholar Sheikh Usama Abdulghani, another affiliate of the Hadi Institute, said at the event that the founder of the Islamic Revolution Imam Khomeini had established Quds Day because of his realization that Israel was a "cancer" and an "evil settler colonialist project." He said that "people of conscience" recognize that Israel is "ISIS," "Nazis," and "fascists." Abdulghani too has been involved in Quds Day events since 2019.
Below are speeches and lectures by Dearborn Shi'ite Islamic scholar Usama Abdulghani in advance of and at the Dearborn Quds Day rally and alternative news media interviews with participants in a Detroit Quds Day rally.
Dearborn Shi'ite Islamic Scholar Usama Abdulghani At Quds Day 2025 Event, Henry Ford Centennial Library, Dearborn, March 28
In his speech at the 2025 Quds Day event, Dearborn Islamic Shi'ite scholar Usama Abdulghani said that "the No. 1 cause of death of children on Planet Earth is Israel," and reiterated the Islamic Republic of Iran slogan that "Israel is a cancer." As he spoke, participants held up signs stating "Zionists are the real baby killers," "1948-now Holocaust in Palestine," "The Zionist entity has no right to exist!!" and "The ultimate victory – end of Zionism!"
The Iran-educated Abdulghani, who is affiliated with the Hadi Institute in Dearborn, has spoken at every Quds Day event since 2019. MEMRI has published many of his speeches and lectures, including one in October 2024 in which he expressed his esteem for Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and congratulated "our martyrs" – Hamas leaders Ismail Haniyeh and Yahya Sinwar and Hizbullah leaders Hassan Nasrallah and Hashem Safieddine.
The following is the transcript of his speech at the Quds Day 2025 event, as posted on X.
To view the video of Abdulghani's speech, click here or below:
Usama Abdulghani: "One person, not 50,000. If one person is killed, then it's like you've killed everyone on planet earth. Ayat of the Quran, Surah 5 verse number 32, Whoever slaughters someone without killing them for another person or corruption in the land, it is as if they have killed everyone. The Zionist might wonder: 'Why don't you back down? Is 50,000 shuhada [martyrs], is that enough?' How many children right now, the number one cause of death of children on planet earth is Israel! 15,000 babies! That's not enough! The real numbers are much more than this.
"But you and I, we cannot watch while people are slaughtered. Why do you push back? Why do you push back? In Islam, we cannot allow ourselves to be oppressed, nor can we watch when anyone else is oppressed. It doesn't matter their religion, Shia, Sunni, Jew, Christian. No one, none of God's creations can be oppressed. The Quran says in Surah 2 verse number 279, 'You don't oppress anyone, you don't allow yourselves to be oppressed.' Silence enables bullies. Silence is a stance. That's why we have to speak up.
"Last, why do the people overseas who are oppressed, who are under threat by this Zionist colony, why do they have the right, the God-given right to armed self-defense? Why is that okay? Brothers and sisters, Israel is a cancer. Left unchecked, a cancer will ravage the host body. Israel is an expansionist entity. Unchecked, Israel will not stop with Gaza, will not stop with Palestine, will not stop with the West Bank. Israel doesn't honor any treaties. Even if you're like [Syrian interim president and Hay'at Tahrir Al-Sham leader Muhammad Al-] Joulani [i.e. Ahmed Al-Sharaa], even if you're on their side, they are taking Syria. They're coming after Lebanon. They're coming after Egypt. This doesn't stop unless you push back. So, what we say is that it's enough. We watched killings, rape, land theft, murder, slaughter... "
In Advance Of Quds Day, Abdulghani Calls For Eliminating Israel, Calling It "A Goat To Be Slaughtered," And Says That The U.S.'s Crackdown On Protesters Is A Sign Of Weakness – March 18, 2025
Abdulghani said in his March 18, 2025 lecture at the Shiite Hadi Institute Youth Community Center in Dearborn that escalation by the "empire" in Israel and in the U.S., where people are "being disappeared for protesting," is a sign of weakness, not strength. Israel, he added, is now weaker than it has ever been, and, asking whether things can ever go back to the way they were before October 7, he added: "We're going to have to do something, we're going to have to finish the mission." He used the imagery of a goat kicking in its death throes as it is being slaughtered to explain the actual strength of Israel and America. He said:
"The empire that we can see, both on Israel – they're provoking, they're starting – and also, even from our side over here, we see that the empire is doubling down. There are innocent people being disappeared for protesting. What you and I need to keep in mind is this iron fist of the empire is not a sign of strength. This is weakness.
[...]
"Israel is now weaker than they have ever been...
[...]
"Can things ever go back to how they were before October 7 [2023]? We're going to have to do something. We're going to have to finish the mission. When a goat is being slaughtered, a goat kicks its feet. That's not a sign that the goat is powerful."
To view this clip on MEMRI TV, click here or below:
Also In Advance Of Quds Day, Abdulghani Calls Out Wall Street Journal Op-Ed By MEMRI Executive Director Steven Stalinsky On "Dearborn, America's Jihad Capital," Stresses That This Quds Day, The Enemy Will Be Watching Our Protests – March 22, 2025
In a video posted on the Instagram account of Light of Guidance on March 22, 2025, Abdulghani called for increased attendance at the upcoming Quds Day rally in Dearborn, adding that "the enemy" would be observing it to see whether President Trump's policies had inhibited attendance. He also reminded his audience of the Wall Street Journal op-ed by MEMRI Executive Director Steven Stalinsky calling Dearborn "America's Jihad Capital." It should be noted that at last year's Quds Day rally in Dearborn, where Abdulghani spoke, a protester led the crowd in a chant of "Death to America!"
This video was compiled from a speech delivered by Abdulghani at the Hadi Institute on March 18, 2025, with added graphics, including a screenshot of Stalinsky's Wall Street Journal piece and scenes of student anti-Israel protests on university campuses.
To view this clip on MEMRI TV, click here or below:
Usama Abdulghani: "Brothers and sisters, for the Day of Quds this year, it's different. The enemy is measuring the response. You and I remember last year, when the word that they put out was that Dearborn is the Jihad capital.
"They're watching our protests this year. Is it going to be the case that Trump was able to put the fear of God in the believers, when the enemy is actually weaker, when the university students are not intimidated, when they're actually having emergency rallies already for Palestine.
"Do we start to fail? What you and I need to keep in mind is this iron fist of the empire is not a sign of strength. This is weakness. This is not that the empire is so strong, we better back down, we better not show our faces. Israel is now weaker than they have ever been. Militarily, how is Israel? Can they bring up military reserves? What is their economy like? What is their world standing like? Can things ever go back to like how they were before October 7th? So inshallah brothers and sisters, tonight, the night of Qadr, because Allah can see your hearts, make that firm intention that in addition to worshipping, you're going to have that stance."
TMJ News Network Interviews Quds Day Protestors In Detroit, March 28, 2025
At a Quds Day rally in Detroit on March 28, a reporter from TMJ News interviewed participants, as an unseen speaker gave a speech and led the crowd in a chant of "Free, free Palestine!"
TMJ bills itself as an "independent media platform committed to uncovering truth" launched by "a group of dedicated professionals – writers, journalists, filmmakers, and creatives – who had enough. Enough of mainstream media twisting the truth. Enough of stories being misrepresented. Enough of the soft war narratives designed to confuse and pacify the masses." It describes itself as "exist[ing] to serve the people, hold power accountable, and provide an alternative to corporate-controlled news... Your movement to resist the occupation of the mind."
Below are transcripts from the interviews:
Detroit Rally Participant: "All People Of Conscience" Should "Show Up To This Protest, Show Your Support For The Resistance" – i.e. Hamas And Hizbullah
Interviewer: "What brought you here today?"
Rally Participant: "In the name of God, the All-Compassionate, the All-Merciful, I came in today for the Al-Quds protest. That's an international protest that Imam Khomeini started about several decades ago and happens the last Friday of every Ramadan, and I find it incumbent upon all Muslims throughout the world – non-Muslims, Christians, Jews, all people of conscience – to show up to this protest, show your support for the resistance as well."
Interviewer: "Would you say that even after, you know, a year and a half of genocide has been going on, people have been protesting, some people might argue that, at this point, protesting is not helpful. What do you think about that? Would you say it is still important to come out here, even after one and a half years plus of killing and murder?"
Participant: "Yeah definitely. With the fact that the violence and the oppression is increasing so much more, we have to resist even more so to show our support. And if you look at the global support for Palestine, it's much stronger now than it was ever before. I mean, you see protests in London, you see protests in New York, you see protests from the Atlantic all the way to the Pacific. And this seems like it's going to get only stronger."
To view this video, click here or below:
Detroit Rally Participant: Like "Sheikh Usama [Abdulghani] Said, I Definitely Think It [The Government Crackdown] Is A Major Sign Of The Weakening Of The Government"
Interviewer: "What do you think of the recent incarcerations of the protestors and student activists? And what does that mean, you know, in terms of everything going on right now with the U.S. government making crackdowns on people?"
Participant: "I definitely, just to echo what Sheikh Usama [Abdulghani] said, I definitely think it's a major sign of the weakening of the government and they're at their last straw. You know, they're just also trying every bit to keep everyone under their control..."
Interviewer: "So it's like a fear tactic?"
Participant: "100%. I don't think it's a sign of strength and I don't think it's for us to show fear and, kind of, give in. I think it's our time to step up to the plate. And if this is, if this is the little that we're going to suffer for the greater good, then that's what we have to go through."
Interviewer: "And usually every year there's such a big turnout. Do you think this is a byproduct of, you know, the crackdown on the Muslim community here in Dearborn?"
Participant: "I definitely think it could be, unfortunately. But, Glory be to Allah, I've always heard when it comes to the nearing of the zuhur [return of Imam Al-Mahdi], God is going to test us where he's going to filter and sift and filter and sift to really prove to ourselves and to Allah, the praised and exalted, who the true believers are. Who's really willing to put themselves at risk for the truth. And so this could be a symbol of it."
To view this clip, click here or below: