Quds Day

Quds Day (Jerusalem Day, Quds is the Arabic name for Jerusalem), officially called International Quds Day (Persian: روز جهانی قدس‎‎), is an annual event held on the last Friday of Ramadan that was initiated by the Islamic Republic of Iran in 1979 to express support for the Palestinians and oppose Zionism and Israel's existence, as well as Israel's control of Jerusalem. In Iran, the government sponsors and organizes the day's rallies. Quds Day is also held in several other countries, mainly in the Arab and Muslim world, with protests against Israel.

History

An annual anti-Zionist day of protest was first suggested by Ebrahim Yazdi, the first foreign minister of the Islamic Republic of Iran, to the leader of the Iranian Revolution, Ruhollah Khomeini. Khomeini coopted Yazdi's idea, and on August 7, 1979, he declared the last Friday of the holy month of Ramadan each year as Quds Day, in which Muslims worldwide would unite in solidarity against Israel and in support of the Palestinians. Khomeini declared the liberation of Jerusalem a religious duty to all Muslims. That day, he stated:

International

International mostly means something (a company, language, or organization) involving more than a single country. The term international as a word means involvement of, interaction between or encompassing more than one nation, or generally beyond national boundaries. For example, international law, which is applied by more than one country and usually everywhere on Earth, and international language which is a language spoken by residents of more than one country.

Origin of the word

The term international was coined by the utilitarian philosopher Jeremy Bentham in his Introduction to Principles of Morals and Legislation, which was printed for publication in 1780 and published in 1789. Bentham wrote: "The word international, it must be acknowledged, is a new one; though, it is hoped, sufficiently analogous and intelligible. It is calculated to express, in a more significant way, the branch of law which goes commonly under the name of the law of nations. The word was adopted in French in 1801.Thomas Erskine Holland noted in his article on Bentham in the 11th edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica that "Many of Bentham's phrases, such as 'international,' 'utilitarian,' 'codification,' are valuable additions to our language; but the majority of them, especially those of Greek derivation, have taken no root in it."

Ali Khamenei

Sayyed Ali Hosseini Khamenei (Persian: سید علی حسینی خامنه‌ای‎‎ pronounced [ʔæˈliː hoseiˈniː xɒːmeneˈʔiː] ; born 17 July 1939) is the second and current Supreme Leader of Iran and a Muslim cleric. Ali Khamenei succeeded Ruhollah Khomeini, the leader of the Iranian Revolution, after Khomeini's death, being elected as the new Supreme Leader by the Assembly of Experts on 4 June 1989. He had also served as the President of Iran from 1981 to 1989. In 2012, 2013, and 2014 Forbes selected him 21st, 23rd, and 19th respectively in the list of The World's Most Powerful People.

Khamenei is a head of state, and is considered the most powerful political authority in Iran. Khamenei was the victim of an attempted assassination in June 1981 that paralysed his right arm. According to his official website, Khamenei was arrested six times before being sent into exile for three years during Mohammad Reza Pahlavi's reign. Six months after 2003 invasion of Iraq to disarm Iraq of weapons of mass destruction, Ali Khamenei issued a fatwa, that can be changed as and when deemed necessary, saying that the production, stockpiling, and use of weapons of mass destruction are forbidden under Islam. In 2015, an open letter to President Barack Obama from a nephew of Ali Khamenei stated that Khamenei is practicing the Shia doctrine of taqiya in which it is permissible for Muslims to lie to infidels, and in late 2015, Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani said that Khamenei previously pursued weapons of mass destruction.

Ruhollah Khomeini

Grand Ayatollah Sayyid Ruhollah Mūsavi Khomeini (Persian: روح‌الله خمینی‎‎, [ruːholˈlɑːhe χomeiˈniː], 24 September 1902 – 3 June 1989), known in the Western world as Ayatollah Khomeini, was an Iranian Shia Muslim religious leader, revolutionary, politician, the founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the leader of the 1979 Iranian Revolution which saw the overthrow of the Pahlavi monarchy and Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the Shah of Iran. Following the revolution, Khomeini became the country's Supreme Leader, a position created in the constitution of the Islamic Republic as the highest-ranking political and religious authority of the nation, which he held until his death. He was succeeded by Ali Khamenei.

Khomeini was a marja ("source of emulation") in Twelver Shia Islam, a Mujtahid or faqih (an expert in Islamic law) and author of more than 40 books, but he is primarily known for his political activities. He spent more than 15 years in exile for his opposition to the last Shah. In his writings and preachings he expanded the theory of velayat-e faqih, the "guardianship of the jurisconsult (clerical authority)", to include theocratic political rule by Islamic jurists. This principle (though not known to the wider public before the revolution), was appended to the new Iranian constitution after being put to a referendum.

The West Wing (season 7)

The seventh and final season of the American political drama television series The West Wing aired in the United States on NBC from September 25, 2005 to May 14, 2006 and consisted of 22 episodes. The series changed time slots from Wednesdays at 8:00 pm to Sundays at 8:00 pm, and the series struggled in its new time slot against ABC's Extreme Makeover: Home Edition and CBS's Cold Case.

The season was released on DVD as a six-disc boxed set under the title The West Wing: The Complete Seventh Season by Warner Home Video being released first in Region 2 on September 11, 2006 and then in Region 1 on November 7, 2006. All episodes from the season are available to purchase and download to registered users of iTunes Stores in certain countries and in the US through Amazon Video on Demand. In Canada, the seventh season was due to be simulcast on CTV; however, CTV dropped the series. In the United Kingdom the season premiered on March 10, 2006 on More4.

Crew

The season was produced by John Wells Productions in association with Warner Bros. Television. The executive producers were the production company's namesake and founder John Wells, Christopher Misiano, Alex Graves, political analyst Lawrence O'Donnell and Peter Noah; Noah was previously a supervising producer in the sixth season, and O'Donnell, who is a former Democratic chief of staff on the Senate Committee on Finance, provided insight into political life.The West Wing was created by Aaron Sorkin. For the seventh season, regular staff writers were Wells, O'Donnell, Noah, Eli Attie, Debora Cahn, Josh Singer and Lauren Schmidt, while cast member Bradley Whitford wrote his second episode of the series. The regular directors were Misiano, Graves, Andrew Bernstein and Lesli Linka Glatter.