In the closing ceremony of the 8th Sepah’s Book of the Year Award, Majlis Speaker Ali Larijani said that the event should not be regarded as a mere award-giving ceremony. “Rather it should be rearded as the holder of one of Sepah’s (Islamic Revolution Guardians Corps) most fundamental principles in encouraging people to read more books.”

IBNA: The ceremony was held this morning (June 23, 2012) at the conference hall of IRGC’s chief staff building in the presence of the Majlis Speaker Ali Larijani, the Supreme Leader’s representative in IRGC Hujatoleslam Ali Saeidi and a number of IRGC writers and poets.

In his opening speech, Hujatoleslam Ali Saeidi, Supreme Leader's representative to the IRGC, elaborated on the relations between IRGC, Imam Hussein and the day of the guardians. “IRGC should have a lot in common with Imam Hussein’s modus operandi if it is to be linked to the man,” he asserted.

“Hussein (peace be upon him) is an epitome of courage, strength, sacrifice, faith and martyrdom,” he added. “IRGC needs to display such characteristics in its organization if it wishes to be adorned by the name of Hussein.”

He went on to expound of the IRGC’s performance during the past 33 years in various fields of security, military, information and construction. “Guarding the Islam is categorized into guardianship of brains and borders. When it comes to guardianship of borders, physical forces are called into action. On the other hand, the IRGC is very rich when it comes to guarding the brains and we hope it will be able to make use of its riches as much as possible.”

Later in the ceremony, Ali Larijani, speaker of the Islamic parliament (Majlis), delivered a speech in which he praised the arrangement of the conference as a welcome initiative.

“IRGC’s activities have always been intertwined with cultural activities which may be because of its founder’s attitude,” said he in his address.

He further highlighted Imam Khomeini’s statement on the cultural nature of the Islamic Revolution and said, “IRGC’s actions are culture-based. It was formed under demanding conditions when the Kurdistan crisis broke out.”

He further insisted that the ceremony should not be regarded as a simple award-giving gathering.

He called on in-depth studies to instill the IRGC patterns in the society so that a better understanding of friends and foes will be obtained.

“Such gatherings with their emphasis on books are a step forward,” he said. “I hereby thank the representative of the Supreme Leader in IRGC for arranging the gathering.”

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